New Year 2017

This is the day we are supposed to make a list of all the ways we will be better this year. You know, all those things we will beat ourselves up for when we don’t do them. I read on someone else’s blog an idea that appeals more to me.

Instead of making a list of resolutions, make a reverse bucket list. One that lists all those great things you have already done in your life. Having lived nearly 70 years now I’m sure I can come up with some fun things to put on that list.

How about you?

TTYL,

Linda

Minimalist Kitchen Storage

This kitchen feels small. I like small. But I also like storage for our stuff.

Dave and I spent some time in here before moving in analyzing what could be done.

Then Alexa and I spent some time in here analyzing what could be done.

There are two tall pantry cupboards with pull-out drawers. Dave wanted the trash and recycling to fit in the first one, I wanted the appliances to go in that one so I wouldn’t have to move them far for cooking, and Alexa wanted the other one for all her cook-up gear.

appliance  cook-up

That pretty much meant all the dishes had to go in the upper and lower corner cupboards which left two very small cupboards to hold our dry goods, the stove’s drawer to hold bakeware, and a cupboard I can’t reach to hold excess paper goods and light bulbs.

dishes  dry-goods  bakeware  overflow

Cleaning products and my beverages went under the sink.

under-sink

We only have four small drawers so we assigned them to silverware, cooking utensils, paper goods, and storage containers.

drawers

We couldn’t fit kitchen linens in here but the bathroom cuboards had plenty of room for them.

And it all worked.

And all three of us got our first choice of what went where.

Maybe this kitchen is not so small after all.

TTYL,

Linda

Our WE wall

Many folks have a ME wall; a.k.a. a brag wall.

Jocks have trophy cases.

Professors have diplomas and awards.

We don’t have any of those things on our WE wall. What we have are things that tell you about us.

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We have a big screen TV on which we watch something from Netflix most evenings.

We have my Lego block RV that represents two of my past enjoyments.

Now we have the 1966 blueprint of the railroads in the Twin Cities to represent the hobby we started in 1987 in which Dave still participates.

If you are paying attention, you can learn about us just by seeing this wall.

I suspect a lot of future visitors will ask about that blueprint. It’s way too big to be overlooked.

TTYL,

Linda

My New RV

Our daughter and I have always been interested in architecture. We have each drawn many floor plans just for fun. When she was six years old, Dave & I bought her first set of Lego blocks and she and I sat on the floor together building houses.

Each year for several years we bought her more Lego blocks and she and I continued to play with them together. Then she and Dave started buying Lego sets for me since I was obviously enjoying them as much as she was and I was harder to buy for.

Eventually we owned enough Logo blocks to cover half our ping pong table with town buildings.

lego-town-2

Then she grew up and left home and we downsized so all the Lego blocks were sold.

Recently I mentioned to friends that I missed having that creative outlet.

They encouraged me to buy some new Lego blocks.

So I went online and found this:

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You all can imagine how much that appealed to me.

Nearly 800 blocks is a lot to dig through so the first thing I did was sort them.

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Instead of having shoe boxes of parts filling the other half of our ping pong table, I had Ziploc sandwich-size bins filling almost half my desk which still felt like a lot to sort through to find the next right piece.

Then I built the Class A motorhome following the instructions that came with this set. We often built something from the instructions first to learn about specific parts included with each set. And this set had a lot of them.

So, now I will play dealer and show you the photos of this particular unit. First the standard photos of the exterior showing the awning opened and closed and the slide open and closed. (Yes, it has a slide!)

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Next usually comes interior details. Of course, I cannot actually walk into this rig with my camera. But the Lego designers thought of that so made the roof easily removable and the rear section hinged so you can open it for easy access.

img_0089 rear-open

Inside above you can see the dinette with its drop down table on the left. On the right is the cupboard/refrigerator where you store food. The set comes with two sandwiches and a turkey leg for food.

Moving up to the front area you see this:

front-half

On the left coffee cups hanging above the stove and sink, the slide with the bed in it, and the toilet. On the right are storage bins and lamps. Past the arch are the driver and passenger seats.

And, of course,

underbed

the bed in the slide lifts to reveal storage under it. Yes, that’s a suitcase under there. You never know when a family emergency means you might have to leave the RV and fly home so we always took our suitcases with us.

And here’s a typical scene:

map-tv

One of the RVers sitting at the table studying a map while being distracted by the flat screen TV on its swing out arm.

Whoever designed this RV knew what they were doing when it came to the details.

Now, I wonder how long it will set on our end table being admired before I feel compelled to tear it apart to build a sticks n bricks house?

TTYL,

Linda

 

 

 

Today’s View

Winter arrived last night. It rained. It snowed. It got cold.

Dave’s car pool to last night’s model railroad operating session had to use traffic maps to avoid accidents. Fortunately, they did not participate in any.

Our building’s snowplows went right to work on the parking lot. Then plowed again, very noisily, much later than I would have liked.

Today we have this view out our windows:

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Merry winter, everyone.

TTYL,

Linda