Kitchens Are For Eating??????

Well, I guess MOST people use their kitchen eating area for, well.....eating, but not me! My husband and I eat in the living room! I used to have a table (actually a couple different ones) in this area, but well, we just weren't using it, and I started envisioning different uses for my space. I started imagining somewhere cozy to sit, to visit, or well, just to enjoy an inviting space.

On Friday, I continued my ongoing mission to declutter my cupboards, closets, etc, etc, and I decided it was time to re-organize this area just a little. Now, I have used this area for quite some time with these pieces of furniture, but I moved them around just a little, and since not many of you had seen my kitchen before, I thought I would share. I always love changing things around. It just gives me a happy feeling.

Yes, I am one of those who fill her walls with things she loves, most of which came from a thrift store. The mahogany table below the plates was bought for $20 at an indoor flea market, as was the lawyer's chair. The library table was my dad's, and I just couldn't part with it. He has been gone for many years, and when I see the table, I think of him. The chair at the library table was a Goodwill find.

The stand next to the library table was bought at a consignment shop. The corner cupboard, I did buy new. Now, a rocking chair, I know, does not normally belong in a kitchen, but it sure gets used a lot. The quilts were made by me. All my plants are silk so I can't kill them, and so I don't have to work at keeping them nice looking. Every so often, I give them a shower, and they are good to go again.
I put a piece of plexiglass on top of my dad's library table, because there is gap that runs down the middle, and since I have a HUGE love of doilies and lace, I placed a lace table topper under the plexiglass. It hides the gap, makes the top smooth, and gives me the look I love. The B, and the keys on the wall were also Goodwill finds, and I just love them.
Opposite the windows, and you can see the windows in the reflection on the glass of the picture frame, is a short wall which was good for nothing. It's the backside of an entry closet. After many attempts of trying to figure what to do with it, and tripping over things, and stubbing toes on objects I tried to set there, my sweet chauffeur husband built me a fence! Oh have I had fun! This picture just give you the orientation of the wall with the rest of the kitchen. You can see one of the hallways beyond the kitchen.


Continuing around the kitchen past the rocking chair...........
Now we are at the end of the counter you just saw, standing in the doorway to the garage and basement, and looking into the kitchen at the other side of the kitchen.
.............and back around to the fence.
Thank you for letting me show you my kitchen spot!
Oh, and do I cook much? HECK NO!

Downtown Fire--A Week Ago & Today

A week ago tomorrow, on January 19, at approximately 2:30am, a fire broke out in an upstairs apartment on Main street in the town of Maquoketa. Our town has a population of just a few over 6,000, so it isn't too big. Our Main street business district is 3 city blocks long. The first picture you see here, is a newly renovated building, within the last 5 years, which houses professional businesses, including a Dental office. The building is owned by the dentist and his family. This is not where the fire started, but I just wanted to show you all the buildings involved. This building is called the Main Street Plaza, and the dental office is called 'Smiles On Main.' This building is smack dab in the center of the block. It also received the least damage of them all. Firefighters worked hard to keep the fire from entering this building, because if it had, the whole east side of this center block might have perished.
Next to the Main Street Plaza sat Sue's Hallmark. Sue has had the store since 1980. Sue's, and the Main Street Plaza shared an adjoining wall, so it was difficult to keep the fire from entering this building.

This is all that remained of Sue's when the fire was under control. Sad looking, isn't it?

Next to Sue's Hallmark, going South, was the Breitbach Floor covering store. The fire was believed to have started in an upstairs apartment of this building. Next to Breitbach's, was Jackson County Home Furnishings, and this business actually housed the next building to the south as well. The Jackson County Home Furnishings building, at one time, was the Ben Franklin Store. To the south of the first JCHF's store, for many years, was the JC Penney store. The firefighters had their work cut out for them as the city water supply ran quite low, and water froze in the hoses, in the subfreezing temperatures. Water actually had to be hauled from the river to help. A local concrete company helped, and several FD's tanker trucks passed each other going back and forth to the river for water.
The building on the end, which got significately less fire damage, was the Pickle Barrel Sub Shop, which was scheduled to open soon. The owners had been doing renovations, and it would have opened soon. The condition of this building has not been determined yet, so the future of the Sub shop is questionable at this time too. Maquoketa is already making plans to rebuild, and are questioning the design of this building, versus new construction, so plans are indefinate at this time. This store has housed many businesses, the latest one, before Pickle Barrel Subs, was a Scrap booking store. Before that, it was a book store, and a Men's clothing store. For many years before that though, like for decades, it was a hardware store. I remember going in there about 33 years ago, and it had bins, and bins of hardware, and the side walls were shelves filled with merchandise that went to the ceiling. It had those sliding ladders you see sometimes in huge libraries.

By the end of Saturday night, a week ago, most of the buildings had been knocked down, to control the fire. The back walls are still standing at this time. Fire crews had left the scene early evening, but were called back to contain a couple hot spots. They say there was some coal in the basement of one of the buildings, which kept things hot.
Today, almost one week later, this is how our downtown looks. This is a photo of the front of the buildings on Main street. Notice the huge gap from one building to the next.
This is the back of the buildings taken from behind the stores. All the ice on the lines are gone now, but at one time, it all just looked like scenes from a futuristic movie, like 'Terminator', when wreckage and devastation were present.
If you would like to read all about our fire, and our town, go to http://www.kmaq.com/ddreport/ and there will be links to view hundreds of photos submitted during this devastating time. Total, we lost 4 buildings, damages to 2, and about 8 businesses were affected. Reports say we had about 27 different fire departments on the scene at one time, and firefighters fought the fire for over 36 hours. God bless the firefighters, and everyone who worked so hard to save our town.

Quilt Top

Here is the quilt top I made during our Saturday's quilting group, using 5" squares that I cut out of fat quarters I had. I think it turned out cute, and I am actually thinking of making a quilt for myself. I'll post another picture when I finally get it finished.....whenever that might be!

First Attempt At Free Motion Quilting

This was supposed to be a doll quilt, but it ended up being about the size of a placemat, so I guess it will be a 'bear' quilt, or a placemat. It was the perfect size to practice Free Motion quilting off the frame, though. I was pleased.

Tomorrow I will post the picture of the quilt top I made today. It is small top for a little girl I know and love. Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll get it quilted too. In the time I am wasting trying to do it without setting up the quilter, I should just set up the quilter and be finished with it.

Tomorrow is another day. I didn't get enough sleep last night (this morning), and it has been a busy day. It was our once a month quilting day and we had a GREAT time, as always. (This post has been revised since the first comments were made. I needed to use the correct terms. Sorry! =-D)

No Cavities!

I worked today until 11am. I could have worked all day, but I had an appointment for a cleaning. (Hiding my head in shame....) I have not been to the dentist for about two years. We won't talk about excuses, just that I finally WENT. The last time I was scheduled, I kept having to reschedule because I was working so many Fridays. I finally just cancelled, and never made another one. I have only worked about four Fridays in the last two years. Sooooooooooooo...I finally decided it is TIME to go. I called and made an appointment. The routine at work is, if you need a Friday off, even if you don't know if you will have to work or not, you need to notify the supervisor the Friday BEFORE, with a note saying you have plans. That way, if work IS mandatory for Friday, you have an OUT. If you don't post a note, you work. It's that simple, or you do a LOT of BEGGING.

So, when I made my appointment for today, I immediately posted a note in the supervisor's office for today off. I got asked to work anyway. (Go figure!) It wasn't mandatory, but it was necessary, and they asked nice. I told them I couldn't stay all day, and they appreciated what I COULD do for them. So I worked from 6-11. I told the girls at the dentist's office that if I want to work more Fridays, I guess I'll just make dentist appointments for every Friday!

I went home, had lunch, got ready, and went to the dentist. I don't think I have had a more THOROUGH cleaning in all my life. Of course, with two years worth of plaque, I suppose she needed to really 'dig'. I was dreading the dentist's evaluation, because I thought for sure it would be bad news, and the worst, at that. Instead, I heard, 'Your gums look good'...' You are doing a great job'...'Your partial looks great too. You are doing a great job of keeping it clean'. Would you like to set up another appointment for six months?' So, I was pleased.

The dentist I go to is 18 miles south of me, and the next big town has a Joann Fabrics store. It's only another 15 miles, so might as well go to Joann's, right? I did. I picked up some magnetic purse closures, some buttons, and a pair of Fiskar's Razor Edge Scissors. I am keeping these separate for cutting quilts off the frame. I have a couple pair with tiny serrated edges, but they are almost worthless. Not sure why I can't keep them sharp. They may become my paper scissors. I had a couple of Joann gift cards with money left on them, so I used them for my purchases. I didn't have a coupon. The checkout girl asked if I had one, and I said no. She asked if I was on the mailing list, and I said yes. She gave me a coupon! She saved me over $11! BLESS YOUR HEART JOANN'S GIRL!!!!

You will be proud of me!!! I drove right on by all the thrift shops and came home. I am trying to be better about not spending money. The dentist's copay was $27, Joann's was free with the gift cards, and I didn't buy any gas today, so it didn't cost me much for today's travels+++Plus+++ I made money this morning. I'd say, it was a pretty good day!

When Louie came home from work, we visited awhile, had supper, watched Two and a Half Men, and worked on our tax worksheet. Our tax appointment is in the morning. We have been going to the same gal for 32 years. We started going to her 4 months after we were
married. Each year, we fill out a worksheet with all the information, and she takes that, gives us an estimate of our return results, and when we get our W-2's and all necessary papers, we drop them off, they call us when the papers are ready to sign, they file them electronically, and usually within a week, we have our refund. Since quilting is tomorrow, I am sending Louie by himself. I can't wait until he gets home to tell me what we will be getting back!! I have windows to pay for! Some of my first blogs (on another blog site) were about installing new windows. By the way, they are VERY nice!

I think it is time for bed. I have quilting girls coming in the morning! Everyone have a GREAT weekend!

7 Random and Wacky things about me

I got tagged by Jen and Cindy, so let's see if I can come up with seven random and wacky things about me.

1. I am really an introverted person. I am very uncomfortable in crowds of people I do not know, and even some I do know. I tend to 'space out' and 'hide' within myself as a defense.

2. Going to the dr, or even thinking about going to the dr makes my blood pressure go up.

3. When I was in high school, I wanted to be a beautician, but in reality, I was way too shy at the time (I probably would have had a stroke!), I didn't have any money or any means to go, and at that time, the dress code for school was dress, or skirt, and nylons....yuck! So, I got a job at Swift and Company, processing chickens and turkeys, got married, and lived happily every after with Louie.

4. About three years ago, my friend Patty, and I took a class to get our motorcycle license. My first bike was a Honda Rebel, my second bike was a Honda Silverwing, and now I don't have a bike. I would rather ride on the back of our Goldwing, but I will never give up my license....just 'in case'!

5. My friend Christie 'nagged' at me for about 4 years before I finally tried quilting, and I loved it!

6. I was a 'fat' little cheerleader in 7th and 8th grade (Jr. High). My mom had to have my skirt completely taken apart and repleated in my size so I could cheer.

7. I fought against Louie's wishes to get a computer after most everyone else already had one, because I heard you always had to buy updates. When we finally did get one, I 'hogged' it all the time, and now I am addicted to it........but that's ok, because I have met some wonderful friends through this crazy box!

Ok, boring, but that's the best I can do!

Louie's Newly Organized Office

This shows the doorway into Louie's office from inside Louie's office. This room is in our basement. It used to be a crappy old furnace and water heater room, and a place to store junk. In one day, several years ago, we bought the desk, the paint, the trim, and the floor tiles and before we went to bed, Louie had an office. The doors are bifold, and can be closed to hide the view from the living room, or for privacy in Louie's office. Once inside the door, if you look sharp left, this is what you see....We added this wall after we moved in, and I had Louie make little shelves on the backside, using the exposed 2 x 4's to store all of our movies. It worked out really nice. The valances hide some wiring and rough edges.Straight across from the movies, is this curtain, which hides the furnace. We used to have portable stand up office/cubicle divider walls to hide the furnace, with these same valances, but it was such a pain each time we needed to clean a filter, or have the furnace man work on the furnace. He will be so thrilled to know he doesn't have to deal with THAT anymore! We replaced the walls with valances and shower curtains. I sewed the flag to the second shower curtain. It had been pinned to the portable wall, and Louie enjoyed having it in his office.Around the corner on the back side of the furnace, this curtain hides the water heater. The garbage can is for packing peanuts for our ebay packing. The black curtain above the metal cabinets hide all the stuff on top of the cabinets, and believe me, there is lots of 'stuff' on top.

This picture shows most of the two portable office wall/dividers used for office cubicles. I decided to use them here, to hide all the clutter. They are standing up against stacks of totes full of stuff to sell on ebay. (You can see one of the totes, as the wall only goes over as far as to hit the edge of the shelf.) The 'Tumbling Blocks' quilt is Louie's favorite, and NOT my favorite, so I put it over the wall in his office for him to enjoy. I did this quilt before I got my quilter, so there is no fancy stitching, just in 'the ditch', and I used that 'aweful' fusible batting, but at the time, it was the easiest way for me to keep it all straight, flat and smooth so I could quilt it without a puckered mess. At the time, it seemed like the only way to go, but once you get a quilter, things change. The chairs are some we use on quilting day, and having them in Louie's office serves as a place to store them when the quilting girls have gone home, and to also make the space look homey and inviting.This concludes our tour around the room and back at Louie's desk. I am pleased at how it looks now, as it doesn't look like a cluttered storage area. Doing this project gave me such a feeling of accomplishment and great joy at how it turned out....and to think I almost had Louie haul those walls away. (Just an interesting fact....Louie and I bought those office walls at the Salvation Army 'As Is' store probably 11 years ago or more for $1, just for hiding the furnace. It served it's purpose very well. It was a bargain then, and bargain now.....Fun facts from the 'Thrift Store Junkie!' And here is Louie's desk with all of his diecast cars lined up and covered with dust (it must have been a dust storm, that's all I can think of!) He spends a great deal of time down here, playing games, surfing the net, and this is where all the ebay ads get written.

Thank you for taking the tour with me. I enjoyed your company! Come back again!