The Closet.

There once was an old house with no closets.  No place to hang clothes, no place to store boxes, no hiding spot for those before-company-comes cleaning frenzies.  What's a girl to do? BUILD ONE!  This old house once had a closet, many moons before we bought it, but somewhere along the line it had been ripped out (an unfinished project).  I could tell where the wall and shelving used to be.  I decided to reconstruct it exactly where it had been before.

But, I am not a carpenter. I had no idea what I was doing.  How hard could it be?  People do this type of thing over the weekend, right?

Wrong.

Last Fall I started to frame it up.  The floor is crooked, the walls are crooked, nothing is square.  I discovered what a Plumb Bob was and what it's used for.  And of course I wanted to be green and frugal so I reused some lumber we had left over from the million other projects this place needed.  I'm almost embarrassed to post this pic, for fear that some random builder know-it-all will condemn my work!  It sat like this for months. (what??  I've been busy!  chasing Jack is a full-time job and leaves little room for construction work!)

Eventually I had it solid enough to support the weight of my big & strong husband. That was the test; could he hang from the structure without lumber wiggling or creaking?  Why yes! Yes he could!  I was afraid to mess around with drywall so I used knotty pine tongue and groove boards for the wall.  Add a few shelves and a closet pole... *eureka*    Nina has a closet! 

But it wasn't very purdy.

Another trip to Menards for 1x4's,1x6's and trim, another date with the compound miter saw, and a Pepsi or two resulted in a wall!  I built a wall!  I stole the baseboard moldings from inside the closet and cut them for my new wall.  Looks spiffy, huh?  Eventually everything will get painted.  Eventually.

I still have plenty of work to do before I'll say I'm done.  I plan on adding 6 panel bi-fold doors and then fashioning two large doors for the top.  Or maybe just long curtains for the whole thing.  Depends on how lazy I am, I guess!

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Winter, I don't love you anymore.

Snow, snow, bitter cold, snow, bitter cold, bitter cold, snow... blah blah blah.  Is it spring yet?  I'm tired of shoveling.  And tired of shivering while I wait for the bed to warm up.  Speaking of warm beds, have you ever slept on a wool mattress pad? It is absolute heaven.  Seriously.  I put it on top of the mattress, but under the sheet (because sleeping on fur just seems so... Neanderthal, and I don't want Tom to think he can drag me around by my hair).  It adds a silky softness and keeps me warm all night.


(No, I didn't spend that much. In fact, it was a gift from mom. She really bought it for herself but didn't care for it. So LUCKY ME!)

I've also been cooking a lot of soup this winter, probably to stay warm from the inside out. *chuckle* I'm sure you're dying for some soupy inspiration. Here was last weeks delicious recipe.

Spicy Turkey Bean Soup

1 lb ground turkey
chicken broth, about 6 cups
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
a few stalks of celery, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 can kidney beans
ground cumin, 2 tsp
chili powder, 2 tsp

Brown the meat and onions, add broth, vegetables and seasonings and simmer for 25 minutes. That's it! YUMMY. And probably healthy.

Doh! I almost forgot to tell you! I bought Jillian Michaels - 30 Day Shred last night at Target. Sweat my ASS of this morning. What a great workout! I am starting to get really sore as I sit here blogging in bed. I wonder if I'll be able to walk in the morning.

Check ya later Internets!

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Lists.

The beauty of a list: measure your progress, keep your goals in focus, the satisfaction of crossing off completed items...

Goals for the next 7 days

*find/make curtain rod for above kitchen sink
*sew bag for clothespins
*sew curtains for laundry room
*put up shelving in laundry room
*reattach floor molding in laundry room
*dig out cloth diapers for Jack
*yoga/stretching EVERY day
*knit a hat (I should say, relearn how to knit first - have totally forgotten how to purl)

OK, off to make my daily bowl of oatmeal. Over & Out!

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New moon tonight, and I'm crabby.

New moon tonight. I'm crabby. Any correlation? Maybe. Or maybe it's just PMS. See, it all started when Tom called this morning at 6:45. He was on his way home and asked if I wanted breakfast from McDonalds (of course not! today was Day One of Oatmeal for Breakfast for 50 Days! how could he even ASK such a thing!) I doubt he knew that I was starting one of my resolutions (the Eat More Oatmeal Resolution) so I really can't blame him. I was just so... disgusted... at the thought of eating McDonalds. But here's the kicker: not only was I disgusted at the thought of eating it myself, I was also disgusted at the thought of HIM eating it. So... I was instantly crabby. Irrational? Yes. My poor husband was just hungry. And it made me crabby. Oh, and if your curious about my decision to eat oatmeal for breakfast for 50 days, it's because I got a SMOKIN' deal on oatmeal. Oat Revolution! Instant Oatmeal was $1 per box at Coburn's yesterday... so I bought 10. Yup, breakfast for twenty cents a serving? Economical AND healthy! Tasty, too.

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I tried a recipe out of Mother Anderson's Dutch Kitchen cookbook Sunday for ribs. I boiled them for 1.5 hours with 6 bayleaves and one chopped onion, then placed ribs in a shallow pan, added BBQ sauce then broiled them for 20 minutes (brushing more sauce on every 6 minutes or so). Simple and delicious. I was impressed.

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Our neighbor died yesterday. His name was Orville. The very first day that we came to look at this house, he sauntered into the yard to talk a little bit. He told us stories of previous owners, of the town, of all the neighbors. Over the next few months he'd stop by to talk whenever we were outside. He was full of knowledge and quick to offer advice on fixing this or that. He was a neat old guy. We'll miss that old Chevy driving down the block and the man driving it who would always wave Hello.

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I did a little 'deep cleaning' today. I want to talk about the rug in the living room. It's shaggy and doesn't respond well to the vacuum cleaner. It's too cold to shake it outside, so I flipped it over and beat it onto the wood floor with the intent to sweep everything up. OH MY GOD was there a lot of crumbs hiding in that thing. I'm talking enough crumbs to bread a few filets of fish. Anyone want to come over for dinner? hehehe

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I did one hundred crunches tonight. Well, as much as a crunch as I could get with Jack sitting on my belly. I hope to wake up tomorrow with washboard abs. That would be real nice.

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Oh, and Jack's new word today was BEAN (as we were eating beans).

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