When I used to watch "Oprah" every afternoon at 4pm while knitting, painting or cooking from my tiny condo kitchen, I remember it all like it was yesterday how I would listen and laugh at her talk shows. How I would sometimes pause whatever project I was working on during the show to take in her deep conversation, topic or point of view. How I would pause in my busy homemaking ways drawn in to her relating or thinking she just shared something I had been going through at the same time! Then she did some shows on remodeling your home, I really paid attention for I was in the middle of my own remodeling too.
The hot tea simmered in the cup on the coffee table as Oprah came on, I had finished painting the entry way and closet of my home so I laid on the plastic floor wrap to watch the show and warm up with a drink. I remember this afternoon with paint clumped in my hair and all over my finger tips so I pealed away the flaky rubbery set drops from myself as the show began.........
I sat there watching the remodeling episode of bathrooms in deep excitement, I was hoping to learn how to change the look of y own bathroom and then Oprah said it, she said something, a line that I would use all the rest of my life!
Oprah said "We all need a Pleasant Pooping Place." the crowd laughed as I was in true awe over her cleverness of words!
Those days of national TV shows like Oprah where housewives like myself tuned in at the same time everyday whenever possible, made that kind of experience something to share!
HERE are my own bathroom and toilet room tips;
ONE WORD to never forget when facing any bathroom is to be CLEAN!
Tip 1.
Sweep first, take a broom to the high corners for cob webs and down the dry walls for hairs and bugs. Sweep the floors after dry wiping shelves and counters. This is a good first step to a Pleasant pooping place......Dust all decor, (although I personally believe in a simple bathroom, nothing to gather moister or hold onto more dirt)
Tip 2.
Spray cleaners over all sinks, tubs and toilets (I use pet friendly safe cleaners, no bleach...what if your big dog like to drink water from the bowl? Remember this could be deadly if forgotten or traces of chemicals left behind) Things like apple cider vinegar with baking soda or thieves herbal historical safe liquids are best used at this time.
Tip 3.
To wipe everything that was sprayed down use old cloth rags (I use paper towels on the mirrors for less streaking by the way) THIS is a very important step in cleaning your bathroom start at the top to swipe clean everything down, once the rag touches the floor it STAYS THERE. (I had to teach this to my newly wed husband who took the rag from wiping down the toilet and laid it on the counter I screamed so loudly like I had been knifed in the chest from across the bathroom that 10 years later he will tell you NEVER pick up a bathroom cleaning rag from the floor! Hahahahaha oh poor guy I was in shock awhile after that moment.)
To clean is to remember from the top down, the bathroom dirt hits the floor in a few dirty rags left there until the next step.
Tip 4.
Once the dirty rags have scrubbed out the sink, tub, shower walls and even wiped the toilet handle then use them on the floor for tucked away corners, floor boards and heating vents.With a new cloth wipe down the door frame even the handle holds germs. Once the top to bottom cleaning is done gather the floor rags to the laundry.
Tip 5.
I always spray the bathroom floor then wipe by hand my way out of the bathroom with a big towel. This is my favorite step in cleaning a bathroom.
Tip 6.
When the laundry comes back, freshly cleaned towels are hung back up by the shower along with cleaned floor rugs and hand towels. Also one tid bit that is most important for every bathroom especially if you have guests in your home....is to keep a back up roll of toilet paper at the ready and visual at ALL times. For your poor company will be stuck or remember that uncomfortable moment in visiting you with Noooo T.P. YIKES!
Tip 7.
In my pleasant pooping places I create a calming clean environment with fresh flower vases and all my linens smelling like lavender from the oil spray I have even the shower curtains smell wonderful by the time I done with this cleaning project and I do all of this twice a week or more....because JUST like Oprah said
"We all need a Pleasant Pooping Place."
In the last few months I have been in several different kitchens cooking and cleaning, The funny stories of each situation comes from house-sitting, dog-sitting or being a nanny maybe even cooking for my Mom in her cottage.....Whatever the situation I find myself in I noticed I have seen many different kitchen setups lately and struggle to know where things are that I need.....MY own home has a Kitchen Triangle that leaves me in one graceful move to a finished cooked product. I love all kinds of foods, I love the smell of coziness from cooking right, from cooking good! The triangle can save you so much time and effort that I now realize after seeing other peoples places that as a homemaker I have a gift to share in helping your kitchen, So let me help in helpful tips, like this;
Seeing a wider variety of kitchens allows me to realize that not everyone knows about the kitchen triangle, OR they are not into cooking like I am.....This is okay I don't judge BUT I do move in their kitchen with great difficulty and awareness thinking to myself if they used the kitchen regularly then hot pads in the dinning room would be moved to stove or oven. And a double oven may sounds like a big help but is actually distracting from the first oven.....I ask another question like how much food do you make a day to need 2 ovens??? When is it for show more then the survival part of eating? The Kitchen, that most important room of all in a house has been remodeled in all kinds of awesome, cool, modern new ways......yet to what cost or gain?
Tip 1, A clean kitchen is more then mopping the floors once a week. Papers, boxes or even shoes should never be in the kitchen. From the top down the kitchen is a safe spotless room for your foods. Anything touching the floor shouldn't go back up to the stove and when all appliances are clean the food is safer. Remember when the refrigerator gets emptied the time to wipe it out top to bottom is easier and every dollar spent is cooked up, not wasted. Tip 1 simply means BE clean before cooking.
Tip 2, Have a game plan to what you already have in the kitchen, use everything up before going grocery shopping out of habit. My leftovers often can be added to a new idea of a different dish and I love rotating meals around like lets say on Monday morning we have tons of cooked bacon so I chop it up for dinner by adding it to the ground beef in the skillet for something new in the hamburger and Yummmy! Tip 2 don't start cooking with no ideas
Tip 3, Keep your kitchen utensils close by. It was amazing to me in some of these fancy rich kitchens how far away all the cooking tools were from the heated stove! I was bewildered many times by the kind of running around it take me to even grab a spatula or a fork! One kitchen comes to mind when in their office setup I finally found a kitchen towel to dry my hands, this is the moment I announced out loud "They do NOT cook very often in this home apparently...????"
Without a very sharp set of knifes, multiple stirring spoons or spatulas close to your prep station of the kitchen the time cooking over the hot skillet could mess up or burn the meal..... Like I did when trying to take out a baking sheet from the oven using only a hand towel since the hot pads were in the craft closet of this other kitchen moment?
Now I could share many funny stories like this, in what I saw while cooking in another person's kitchen. The kitchens I loved the most were of people who cooked often and had this triangle down!
Tip 3 keep your tools at the ready!
Remember that once you have the kitchen triangle down then cooking is a beautiful graceful dance in the kitchen, full of artistic foods to share!
Welcome home to the kitchen!
I remember the very first time I discovered back to back episodes on Netflix instant watch, my Soap Opera delight was even a surprise to me as I had never gave these kind of shows a second thought when they first aired on TV. I had or still have a reluctant feeling towards TV. Ironically I love that I can escape into the screen lately... Currently I am enjoying all the back to back episodes of "Desperate Housewives." It is really funny to me right now how my life is like this, I look forward to the distraction of watching other peoples lives. I haven't been writing as much lately I've noticed as well.....maybe this is simply a "down" time for me? I do not know to be honest and I doubt so many things in this season changing. Perhaps I am more reflective then I realize even though I am not able to know what I am experiencing?
Watching a show like "Desperate Housewives" has me laughing, crying, or rolling my eyes but no matter the crazy story line in the show I look forward every night to a few episodes and LOVE IT SO MUCH!
Out of a neighborhood full of beautiful people on wisteria lane, these four women who become good friends bring me back to watch what happens every night, I know the show will come to an end eventually but for now I let myself lay on the couch cuddling with my dogs, sipping on a glass of red wine in these cold fall nights.......thinking I really do like Soap Operas after all!
I truly do love bacon and have cooked every variety out there in thickness or textures.. I could however talk about bacon for hours and actually I HAVE! HA!
This picture is of the platter served downtown Boise at John Barryhill's BACON bistro connected to the same building as his piano restaurant.
The food is always very good here, the atmosphere is a comfortable classy way to share a cocktail over the light tunes of a real piano player.
I enjoy the brunch shop full of bacon varieties and quick lunch menus. Out of these pieces on the sample platter the different in bacon was amazing and my most favorite one was the Barryhill bacon for what that flavor I believe makes bacon a wonderful meat to enjoy, not to mention the fat is the very best thing for your body to process. Staying smart by contributing to the fatty brain structure craving those things that keep it strong and so if that means I have to eat MORE bacon well my growing educating mind will LOVE the rest of my life style like this then!
HAVE a HAPPY good BACON day!
Lately I have not written on here as much, I feel a bit surprised that so many things are happening but I am not having the time to write and share them in the way that I love to do! While walking the dog of the family whom I nanny for, each afternoon I ask myself reflective questions and see the stories of my life pile up in what would be good to write about....then I get home late in the evenings with so many other things to do That I find myself wondering where is my life going so quickly? Why haven't I been able to just sit still and write again?
My dreams while I sleep have been just as interesting as each day I live in this new scheduled life, I hope to write more about them when I can find the time...
Dreams I have make me wonder what does it mean? Some people say dreams do not mean anything, I disagree for maybe some do and some don't I can not know for sure either way.....dreams are a powerful thing to me and everyday I hope to make sense of them for whatever reason.
Dreams to dreams I am basically racing around saving drowning kittens, kids walking out in front of a fast car or dogs trapped on a busy freeway! There are some conversational dreams or feelings about people needing to be rescued as well.....I often wake up wondering why I am so worried or stressed over not having saved everything/everyone in time?
Dreams will always reveal something we carry inside, something that might never come together to make much sense but is there just the same.
In my sleep I was walking through a big barn maybe from the TV show "Walking Dead" through the bales of hay were such tiny cute kittens, rather more like tons of kittens of all colors. I kept trying to carry them all in my arms afraid a fire would catch them but the fire was far off over the horizon, I took off my shirt in hopes to catch all the kittens like a basket. My shirt turned into a big basket of kittens I couldn't lift it up and I realized that I was running out of time as the fire grew closer and the kittens seemed to be everywhere in danger! I began explaining out loud to strangers in my dream that as a really strong person I could carry most anything! So carrying these kittens shouldn't be a big deal but no matter what I did the basket was so very heavy! Oh those many, many kittens didn't stay put from me trying to save them as well and then I woke up worrying that no kittens had survived that fire because I couldn't lift the basket which was once just my shirt.....
(Meaning maybe we start out one way and then change to deeper more heavier issues in ourself?)
When my husband was having a bad day after his law school classes, I decided he needed a happy "pick-me up" before heading home to study some more. As we swung into get milkshakes, I choose a pumpkin pie flavor only to melt at such yumminess as I ate it!
It didn't take long through out the following week to crave more pumpkin things, I stated "I just want pumpkin ice cream again." as my husband chuckled shaking his head "Good luck in finding that...." While we ran through the grocery store late in the night both in a hurry to get home and get something for dinner as well, then when I causally tossed a carton of pumpkin ice cream into my husband's shopping cart, he burst out laughing with surprise saying "Only YOU would find pumpkin ice cream!" I shrugged back at him as he kept on laughing, I tossed out as I hurried to complete our list "Well It's only seasonal....and now my new favorite dessert too!"
The creamy thick roasted orange color of pumpkin ice cream has speckles of nut meg and cinnamon mixed in with a heated spicy after taste, the depth of such delights come from the cozy feeling of it smoothly sliding down the taste buds in one's perfect ideal flavor for fall! I noticed how one bowl of pumpkin ice cream is extremely satisfying, both filling and fun to eat! Just like in all things pumpkin the thick heavy fibers bring to mind how romantic and comforting the fall season is!
I loved the long walk to the concert held outside St. Chapelle this summer, I happily parked without a doubt that this walk will be BEAUTIFUL in the full hot summer sunshine! I have always loved HEAT, warmth and sweat never bother me. Idaho late summers are so intensely hot and I loved it fully!
This is my favorite picture of this past summer time, the one I took while on my walk to go dancing at the High street band.
Maybe it was the fact I grew up with this as my backyard view, or maybe because I was only a few short miles away from my actual childhood farm....Sharing this same blue sky and holding thousands of mixed memories with a rainbow of emotions. I took this picture in my happy moment knowing sadly summer will leave us soon enough to just stare at this captured beauty in full true love.......
It is simply delish to eat a big bowl of heavy cream over fresh mixed berries and sprinkle cinnamon on top! THIS has become my most favorite of dessert and power foods in my day! I love the heavy thick cream and the sweet natural sugars from the berries, the hit from the cinnamon is perfectly smooth and refreshing! TRY SOME as soon as you can!
The Kitten that lived with us a few days has not yet come home.....Bubbles was so adorable and needy. I left the door open to the backyard as all my pets went in and out on that sunny afternoon....Bubbles was happy and chased the chickens then I never saw him again. I hope and pray he is safe, that he is loved as I had loved him!
Maybe Bubble did say Goodbye to go off and see the rest of the world or maybe someone around here is giving him shelter with good foods. I hope for the best story outcome in his young life!
These last few days has me listening for him, looking down the street and wondering if he will ever come back one day......
It is true we didn't have an extra dime to care properly for him, we didn't have the greatest peace among the jealous cats and worrying dogs when he skipped about. BUT I loved having Bubbles on my shoulder purring and rubbing into my cheek when my life feels so out of control, there among craziness was a kitten to make me stop and smile at the life force that follows me around!
The best thing about this kitten was when I took a shower he jumped right into the claw foot tub without any fear and licked the drops of water splattering him in the face as I washed and laughed so hard at such a moment of delight! While I said back to him;
"YOU are a very rare kitten to LOVE water like THAT! My Crazy Bubbles!"
May you be safe this winter where ever you are, my boy!
Securing the house for winter, the car for bad weathered roads and the gardens for the best sleep...Is what I have been throwing myself into this month of October. I always get a restless feeling in this month to take a road trip! I want to get out and about before we are "Snowed In". Most everyone teases me, especially my husband Tony for being so "Old fashion" in preparing for WINTER.
The times have changed when heaters and endless comfort make winters not feel tough or cold. BUT I have been this way my whole life! I can't explain the panic I get in realizing winter is coming and time to be safe is at hand!!!
Life in the modern world is very freely open to taking on the weather with no fear of running out of foods or wood for warmth. I can hear my self saying out loud, "Winter is coming so the car needs serviced and new tires...." Laughter of those over hearing makes me shrug. I say things like "My list for foods storage and yard projects are almost done for winter." or "We need to get that put away or covered before winter." Most everyone looks at me like I am weird, Tony always adds "Because this is the little house on the Prairie!" Then he laughs full heartedly!
My winter list of snow shovels, warm boots and batteries, along with soups and blankets just do not strike me as ridiculous......
Like I said I have been this way my whole life, as a kid I hated being out in the snow or cold without warm clothing on. Once I got my driver's license I tried to never drive on fresh snow fall roads or make sure the car is upgraded to handle the cold.
This morning way early I drank my coffee in the true cold fall day getting the car service and tires rotated, brakes and filters replaced. The security of both my car and home before winter makes me relax more and know no matter what comes with the weather I will be ready!
Like the Ant among all these grasshoppers, I will play better if I get all my work done first!
TODAY AT THE PARK.....WAS BEAUTIFUL!
In comparison to my life a year ago, I would say I am in the middle of chaos. Last year was a stressful sad time learning to handle the aftermath of my mother's stroke. I shall always refer to 2011 as the year of tears. This year can be summed up as the year of chaos! No doubt for all the dramas and adjustments in having to move. The crazy ways of chickens and dogs sharing a yard, my life and time among boxes, cats and a roommate. It has me all convinced that THIS is a crazy year!
While my husband has started his law school and his new class schedule keeps us up very late almost every night! Augh! or Yawn!
My pets are restless in adjusting to our new home and our new routines.....
My mind is on a million projects for my yard and gardens, only to never actually BE home enough to complete them! Sadness!
Things like that can leave me feeling crazy in this chaos....magical moments are just slipping by!
Chaos is when life is moving, happening at such a high speed at the very same time that everything needs to be done at once or when everyone needs a bit of your time at the exact same moment! Noises all run into each other and you should have been at 2 places at once!
I can't borrow fears or worries of something falling through, of not being able to create a home that I am use to, Instead I have learned to live among the chaos....THIS is what surprises me the most! The fact I can see outside of my life as it is right now and know it will all move on to be organized one day again.
I am grateful for each simple walk in the park, each sunset at night and every strong cup of coffee in the mornings, Mostly on the rare mornings of being startled awake by my roommate and his girlfriend making coffee and such in the kitchen. I often lay there counting my blessings in my busy, changing life to both help me fall back to sleep or "Count it all Joy". I think even in this chaos of things beyond my control I just let go and live in it all of this as is! I am made happier in thinking like that then in thinking I am WAY to old for such chaos.....
I think what I am trying to say is that I would never ever want to go backwards in my life, would NEVER want to be a kid again that is for sure! I just want to understand why I am spinning in circles while moving forwards right now......Like a storm, like I am sucked out to sea, sooooo I ride these waves in the ocean telling myself over and over again the way I see this situation or story of my life is within my power and choice to make it crazy or good. I just hope I can make the right choices as I swim!
