The Sandcastle

The trick to having a varied wardrobe with few pieces is to buy pieces you can mix and match. I have three main colors and most of those are solid colored pieces so they have no patterns to clash with one another. Fortunately, I live in Minnesota where you can layer pieces most of the year.

Here are pictures of four pieces, two black and two persimmon, layered in various ways. The pictures themselves are terrible because I took them with my phone and because I didn’t spend a lot of time styling the clothes but they are enough to give you and idea of how I mix them.

      

That’s seven looks from those four pieces. If I wear them with black slacks one time then persimmon slacks the next time that makes enough variety for two weeks.

Before I add any of the four pieces of sapphire blue.

Or any of the five cardigans, hoodies, or blazers I also own in these colors.

And one more persimmon shirt I didn’t show you plus duplicates of the shawl collared black shirt.

I haven’t done the math to see how many outfits I can actually assemble from these fifteen pieces but I’m pretty sure I could wear something different every day for a month or more.

Before I add scarves.

TTYL,

Linda

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

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.

  

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.

      

Cleaning products and my beverages went under the sink.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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:

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.

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!)

   

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.

 

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:

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,

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:

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