Time To Organize That Pantry!

I know! I know!

It is January, and everyone should be in the organizing mood. Every magazine is packed full of ideas. Okay, I get it!

We are reorganizing our pantry! Not because of the magazines, or the television shows, or because it is almost spring.

There is a MOUSE in the pantry!!!!

EEK!

Lately I had smelled the most lovely aromatic spices when I opened our pantry doors. Actually thought I was just getting into the mood for our trip to Morocco in a month. Little did I know that Monsieur Mouse had found an unopened package of Moroccan flavored couscous, soup noodles, chocolate chips, vanilla pudding mix, and most recently my assortment of salted nuts ( that was the clue).

Plus, he had made a cozy home of shredded Walmart and Dollar Store bags behind some empty plastic trash bins. Think he was taking a doze last night when we discovered his new home, since we saw him scurry away to another corner of the closet.

Hub set out two mouse traps baited with peanut butter last night and this morning one trap was set off. By Flip!!! While we were taking out future "meals" for the gourmet mouse, our beagle sneaked in around us and snapped one of the traps. Luckily not on his nose! But don't think he will be trying that again. He can wait to be served his PB and cookie treat!

We set two more traps ( this time with chocolate chips), piled up the kitchen table with boxes and bags of yummy, tempting ingredients, and will now "organize and mouse-proof as much as we can before sanitizing and reorganizing the pantry as soon as we catch the mouse.

That is our first mouse in 7 years of living in this house!

Who invited him for Bed and Breakfast, anyway? 

Just Completed a Marathon!

True! 

I just finished walking 42 kilometers (26 miles)!

And it only took me two (2) weeks !

Here is my badge!

Now on to the next badge--100 kilometers!

Is It Spring Yet?

Oh, how it seems like it today! 

I "freed" Flippy today, and he headed straight to the woods. No time to go pick up his girlfriend Kara! Just straight to the hunting ground.

So I walked my 2,000 steps around the meadow by myself. Even took a moment to rest on the metal bench we put out on our hill overlooking our pond. Saw two fish coming up for food or a breath of cold, fresh air.

Now back to my cupboard organizing. (And, yes, Mom, that still gets in the way of my cleaning the house.)

Spring will be here before you know it!

Update 4:00 pm:

We spent 4 hours cleaning the fence row and planting trees along the driveway.  How is that for taking advantage of springlike weather?

10,000 Steps! No Way!!

Our engineer son keeps us in the technology. I am now blogging on my new iPad Air 2 with a pedometer safely clipped onto my shirt pocket. Besides using the new weight scale we received back last fall, I am trying my best to walk 10,000 steps each day. That is a challenge for me even with a reasonably big house. Not being the "little miss homemaker," I have to force my steps.

Two weeks ago, I began doubling my daily walk around the meadow and pond. Out of necessity I added a "begin the day" walk with Flip since we have been keeping him inside because of his hurt leg (or paw or something). He can still walk, but every single time we let him go play with Kara he comes back limping. So staying close to home is his fate at the moment. Saves on the "dog showers"! He isn't a fan of those, and we aren't jumping to suds him up either. Plus a simple walk around limits tick hitchhikers!

Anyway, this is my meager results so far today as far as the 10,000 steps go.

I'll be lucky if I make the 6,000 mark after our evening walk. Oh, well, I am trying! 

It is freezing down here in southwest Louisiana. And the ground is saturated from all the rain we have had recently. Most of those 3,896 steps were made in mudholes on our path.

Rubber boots don't make the best walking shoes :(.

Update at 10:50 pm:::

Better than I thought. ;))))

35 Year Old Memories

Last year I found letters that I wrote to my mom and dad after I moved to The Netherlands. I have enjoyed reading them and thought some Wetcreek Blog followers would enjoy them, too.

Here is one that I wrote exactly 35 years ago from our apartment in Crooswijk in Rotterdam:

10 januari 1980

Dear Mother and Daddy,

While my curlers heat up, I'll write you a few lines. I've been busy at home this week plus I've caught up with my sleep. I could have worked Tuesday, but the principal called too late (The Hague High School). I am applying for a job as administrative assistant at Seatrain Europa. It is an English or American container company. My friend M. (A's sister) works there and will tell the personnel man about me. I'm mailing a letter to him today. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Clip Art Source

http://www.mycutegraphics.com/graphics/food/cookie/cookies-and-ice-cream.html

We've had chocolate chip cookies and homemade ice cream this week. The freezer works great, and I served ice cream to three of our friends last night. I told them that they were probably the only Dutch people in Holland to eat choc. chip cookies and homemade ice cream last night. Everyone enjoyed the treats. I can't tell if J. likes either. He still hasn't gotten rested from the trip. Maybe he will "sleep out" on Sunday.

I got new potting soil yesterday from a nice garden center, so I'll repot plants this afternoon. Our friend A. only watered them once while we were gone, but that was enough with the cool apartment. I've got all kinds of ideas for improving the looks of the apartment, but J. says to save my ideas for a house. Since we will probably stay here another year or so, I think I'll try some of my ideas anyway.

I'll close and see if I can make a few curls. Write when you can. Give everyone our love.

Linda and J.

January 6, 1980 (Love Letters to Mother and Daddy are Back)

Jan. 6, 1980

Sunday afternoon

Dear Mother and Daddy, 

I am writing from the S's living room. We came here Friday evening, and I am ready to go home. But J. must change the oil in my car, and we have shopping to do at a discount house tomorrow in Deventer. I have more than enough sleep, but I needed it. I slept only about 45 minutes while J. drove to Dallas. We stopped at a rest stop for about one hour outside of Dallas, but it was too cold and too noisy to sleep.

We arrived in Dallas around 5:00 a.m. and deposited the car. We waited for about three hours before we boarded our plane to Toronto. We both slept during the 2 1/2 hour flight, but we were still exhausted. We went through customs in Toronto, but our suitcases were not opened. After waiting another 4 or 5 hours, we boarded the plane for Amsterdam. The flight was only 6 1/2 hours. We tried to sleep, but it isn't always easy. J. watched the movie, but I slept. We arrived in Amsterdam around 6:30 a.m. Amsterdam time on Thursday. We didn't have to go through customs, so we were out of the terminal by 7:00. J. fetched the car, and it was frozen solid. We probably looked like traveling snowmen.

We were home by 9:00 and checked the corning ware. One saucepan and a petite pan were smashed. Also the ceramic picture frame that S. and M. gave me, but I will glue it back together. Everything else was o'kay.

We slept until 3:30 p.m. and then unpacked some more. Our friend M. called and invited us to dinner. Thank goodness for friends! I didn't have to cook.

Friday, J. went back to work. I ate breakfast with him but went back to bed when he left. I slept until 12:30 noon. Unpacking the rest and washing clothes was my job that afternoon. When J. came home at 6:00, we ate a heated up frozen dinner from the freezer and then drove here.

Yesterday A. and I went shopping for new clothes for her. I think she will leave with the two kids in about three weeks or so. P. has already found a house, but I don't know if they will rent it.

We had a great time visiting you, and it wasn't easy to leave. I don't mind living here but I can't come home as often as I would like. The children will be grown when I see them again, and I hate that. Please don't let them forget us.

I'll close now and write more later in the week. Tell everyone hello for us. I love you and miss you.

Love,

Linda and J.

P.S. No snow. Everything has melted since the weather warmed up and it rained. We saw a few snowmen in the yards, but they looked sad. Snow here is like in La., so I hope that I won't see much more.

Linda

PS.

Mother, I received a card from Reader's Digest. I should receive the 1st issue soon. Also, I am mailing F. a birthday card to your house. Please see that he gets it.

Linda

Off!

"Af" (Off) in Dutch can sometimes mean "finished." Or in English it can mean you are "starting" as in the shout, "They are off!" 

But this new year of 2015 I am "starting" with a "finished" ( well almost anyway) mini-quilt top. Hand-pieced ( no machine stitches on the patches!) by me!

I have given this piece a name. "OFF"

Everything is just a little "off." I carefully cut out the pieces, but never used any measuring device when stitching them together by hand. I did plan to include all of the pockets and "fold and quilt" pieces, but the layout is purely random as I pulled them out of my little plastic bag. Knowledge of the "jelly roll race" and having tried that on other fabric with my sewing machine, I decided this "off" project would also need to be a no thinker.

Here is the story: 

At the end of the summer, my favorite local thrift shop had ladies cotton blouses on sale for 10 cents each. I bought a few cotton ones that had nice, cheerful fabric and planned on cutting them up for use somewhere in my crafts. I think the first day I came home with 20 shirts. When I realized what I could probably do with these cuties, I went back for more. Most of the blouses had never even been worn, but as always my washable thrift buys went straight to the washing machine. 

Then the slicing and dicing began. All of the 40+ cotton blouses were chopped into manageable chunks minus their collars and facings, and then the quilt parts were rotary cut. Since some of the shirts had such snazzy pockets, I saved those for detail. And having recently read about "fold and quilt," I saved a few sheerer pieces for that effect.

Having coordinated my colors and laid everything out on our daybed upstairs, I was ready to machine piece this quilt top. Then we began packing for our fall trip to The Netherlands. There was an "aha" moment. I could hand stitch the pieces on the long plane ride! So I crammed my needle, thread, quilt pieces, and scissors (oops, those somehow sneaked into the plane) into a ziplock bag and spent hours carefully hand stitching while flying over the Atlantic.

Not having the possibility to lay all of my pieces out in the way I had planned, I reverted to the Jelly Roll Race method of sewing each piece end to end. As most of the pieces were cut the same size and not very long at that, my rolling idea is slightly "off." Hence the oddball name ( or oddball quilt top!).

Last night I began adding a border. 

I don't always follow the "correct" way to sew or craft, but I plan to also add a filling and backing and even hand quilt the mini-quilt. 

So I guess that means that 2015 is "off" to a good start! 😉

Happy New Year!