Searching for a New Best Friend

One year ago, I went on craigslist and found this:

And saw her:

 

The first time I'd checked for a pup since our heartdog passed and I found not only the breed mix and color I was hoping for but, after texting with the breeder, she was going to be available on the perfect date!  

The stars and the planets were in perfect harmony...meant to be!

Thoughts from a girl with a leaf rake

I raked leaves today.  The sound a leaf rake makes is characteristic of autumn to me.  A metallic scratchiness as I gathered cherry leaves that fell today onto our brick patio.  Quieter on the lawn as I raked a random collection of leaves into a pile. When I switched from my metal rake to a slim rake with plastic tines as I attempted to clear apple leaves that have begun falling into the raspberry bed, it was so quiet that I could hear other leaves falling in the yard and a few swirls of leaves as the breeze moved them along paths predetermined by physics.  No power needed to fuel my rake beyond a few calories I could easily spare.  No blast of noise to be heard a block away.   

I raked leaves today.  Not for the first time this season.  These leaves are destined to be mulched and added to our compost pile.  All that energy wasn't going into body bags headed into the landfill.  These leaves were my yearly "brown" treasure to balance the "green" contribution to compost. Yeah, there were some bags that went curbside last week when the compost bin seemed full.  But a week and a soaking rainstorm has settled it enough that I can see there's room for more.  These leaves will become a rich, dark, organic addition spread throughout the yard next spring.  Magically, these apparently dead leaves will be transformed into white peonies, pink roses, tender lettuce, tart cherry tomatoes and fried zucchini slices. I don't have to do anything but put them in a pile.  Worms and bacteria will do the rest. 

I raked leaves today.  They weren't as pretty as the glowing orange leaves from the sugar maple so lovely that I took reference photos of them for a future watercolor painting.  The simple forms of the yellow-gold cherry leaves couldn't compete with the huge heart-shaped leaves from the redbud.  But there was one oak leaf easily as large as my footprint that steadfastedly refused to be added to any pile.  It was a nondescript simple unlovely brown escapee that seemed destined to reside in its own world quite separate from the smaller hawthorn and apple leaves. I was good with that.  The simple truth is that there will be more leaves to be raked.  I will have other chances to get every. single. leaf.  But not yet.  My garden looks like autumn, leaves nestling in nooks between rocks that will be challenging to clear, a few late-blooming mums.  And roses! and petunias! and a purple alyssum seedling that chose November in which to bloom. An odd mix of spring, summer and fall jumbled together.  Maybe it's okay to be a little ragged and a tad unkempt and a bit out-of-step as we prepare ourselves for challenges ahead. Maybe it's supposed to be that way.

I raked leaves today.  I was cold enough to need my heather-blue knit vest indoors, but I was glowingly warm from a bit of exercise on a mild sunny day outdoors.  Better yet, I felt relaxed and happy.  Mother Nature and I were in harmony.  We'd collaborated.  She dropped the leaves so  I could rake them into piles.  She stopped the photosynthesis so I could enjoy the colors hidden in the leaves since springtime.  She offered lessons on change, on mindfulness, on responsibility and I absorbed them.  

I raked leaves today.  It was a good day.

I Spell Relief "V-A-C-C-I-N-E"

After the stress and difficulty of trying to find available vaccine and then trying to get an appointment, the relief I feel after receiving my first Covid19 shot is just off the charts.

I saw another blogger mention vaccinefinder.org site as a useful place to find one's local vaccine possibilities and it worked great for Nevada although I was less successful in helping family in Oregon.  I was able to choose a location, a time and even which vaccine I preferred.  

The pharmacy could have organized the wait line better, but the actual facility was well organized.  I know we spent less time filling out paperwork, getting our shot and waiting the requisite fifteen minutes of monitoring than we did waiting in a very unorganized and definitely not socially-distanced line. But it was worth it!

I could picture little yellow minions running up to the mRNA bits circulating in my arm, chattering to each other in alarm and then getting down to business dealing with the new invader.  I can hardly wait until they meet the enemy on the 29th when we are scheduled to receive our second dose!  

Our side effects?  So minimal that they are almost not worth mentioning!  The mild soreness at the injection site didn't stop me from completing my upper body weightlifting routine or interfere with a good night's sleep.  

I don't know how we'll feel after the second injection, but knowing that we are one step closer to visiting the grand-daughters and the great-grandson will be worth any discomfort.  

It's completely amazing to me that Pfizer and Moderna both completely prevented any deaths in the clinical trials.  And that hospitalizations due to severe symptoms were non-existent.  I have so much respect and admiration for the scientists who worked on vaccine research that I can't even put it into words.  

It feels like a whole new world of possibilities has opened up.  Visiting with elderly relatives maskless!  Eventually travelling to hug our favorite kidlets!  Buying groceries knowing that I won't die or require hospitalization.  Might even chance some retail therapy to buy something that I don't need, on a whim.

Thank heavens I've lived in a time when polio and smallpox were conquered, when my children were protected from whooping cough and chicken pox (we have an extensive family history of shingles that I'm thrilled they won't have to suffer), and now we are fortunate to be rescued from the novel coronavirus. A safe vaccine that was created in less than a year, thanks to previous experience with SARS and cancer therapies. 

So, if you are on the fence, jump off and join me!  The grass really IS greener on this side!

Stay safe and healthy, friends.  Be kind and be thoughtful.

Be (Inspire)d #1

The future belongs to those who believe in the  beauty of their dreams.   

~Eleanor Roosevelt

Yes, it's Meadowsweet Cottage.  Wondering where the blog title is?  Me too! 

I'm reworking the header and realized I need to edit the image of the truck to include the blog name.  Silly me! It's been awhile since I played the blogging game so bear with me while I figure this out with a new photo editor.  I miss Picasa3!

The Assertive Gene

as-ser-tive, 

adjective, 

having or showing a confident and forceful personality

I'm mulling over why so many of us women have trouble being assertive after an online discussion on the topic this morning.  But I can see why, after reading this definition.  It's intimidating.  And a bit unnerving.  I really like the "confident" part.  I think all of us would like to be confident in our choices and our lives, but "forceful"?  

Yeah, no.  

I'd rather be subtle, tactful and pragmatic, peacemaker that I am. I would like to be a force to be reckoned with though.

I do have some maxims that I try to live up to: 

• Ask for what you want. Because people aren't mind readers and you have nothing to lose by asking.
• Don't get mad, get even (aka win, not whine). I can either internalize the negativity and selfishness that life seems to be dealing out now or I can donate to my local food bank, support my PBS and NPR stations and volunteer for a candidate--and feel my heart expand instead.
• Catch them with sugar not vinegar. I'm happy to be polite and listen in the hopes to learn about how you think and then exchange ideas and facts. 
• Don't overthink it. Tact is good, but sometimes just saying right out loud what you know to be true and right is powerful and righteous.

I am beyond fortunate that my grandma and my mom showed me how to be a strong and confident woman in the time before feminism was even a word.  My grandmother was a risk-taker who immigrated alone, with no English, when she was just a teenager, right after WWI.  She took on the state who asserted eminent domain and won.  My mom always drove equally with my dad on trips and worked outside the home when most women did not.  She was a full contributing partner, not a passive sidekick.  

I'm more tactful than either of them.  But I have opinions and thoughts and can be as stubborn as a limpet in a tidepool. 

I may not know if my self-confidence is environmental or genetic, but I'm grateful that it's the rich soil my personality is rooted in.

Especially now since speaking out against injustice and racism and inequality is important. It's not a time to be quiet. It's time to shout out in support of justice, of brotherhood, of equality.  Although I thought these ideals were self-evident, I've woken up to find that not everybody believes that same. It's time to listen, to exercise empathy, to share experiences and the wisdom the years have taught us. 

Be assertive. Be a force for good.

Thanks for hanging in there and listening. 

 

My Sunday Guidepost #115

Caring for others creates the spirit of a nation.

~Pat Nixon

So Close He Can Taste It

It's official: our boomerang child is buying has bought a house!

Right now this spacious, airy place is a delicious vanilla concoction that's visually appealing to a wide variety of buyers.  The walls are a soft tan, the carpet a mid-brown tweed, the tile a pale ivory, the kitchen has new granite countertops.

Yes, there's bright brass obnoxiously winking at him from the master bathroom.  And the cabinets are finished in what he not-so-fondly refers to as pickled pink oak. 

Worst of all:   Every. Single. Major. System. in the house has issues.  Thank heavens for a great home inspector!  Most of the problems are relatively minor and none of us expected a house built in 1997 to be flawless.  But some (a non-functioning A/C unit, incorrect plumbing, and a leaky water heater come to mind) would have been dealbreakers if the sellers had not relented with a fairly substantial credit.  Our son really was willing to walk away and continue looking. Good boy!  He liked this house a lot, but decided that being disappointed and needing to look further would be far better than regretting buying a money pit.

I think the cardinal rule of real estate is that the perfect home for you IS out there, you just have to keep believing, not get discouraged and know that the Universe will provide.

Conversely, if what seems like your dream home slips away to another buyer or falls out of escrow for any of a hundred reasons, then know that it's not meant to be.

This house was a four-day nail-biter while the sellers reviewed multiple offers.  Then the home inspection was a gigantic disappointment that could have sent him back to the MLS listings.  But the stars aligned in the end and the escrow went smoothly and is closing just one day late--a minor miracle in itself.

So...today our son signed all the papers and tomorrow it's just a matter of waiting for the keys!

Wasn't it just yesterday that I took a picture of this little boy going out our front door ready for his first day of kindergarten and now I'll be taking a photo of him opening his own front door for the very first time!

Stay creative,

16 for 2016. Well, almost.

Oh golly, it's been so long since I've posted that I'm having a hard time actually writing something, anything, without editing it before I've even finished a sentence!  But, hey, that now that I've finished one whole sentence the rest should be easy, right?

I've been crafting my own personal bucket list for the year and naturally I got a wild hare to have sixteen items.  Because Twenty Sixteen!

So far though, I only have twelve thingies on it.  Which is great because now I have room to add great ideas as they occur to me.

Some goals were no-brainers...like realizing that I am determined to meet my cousin Linda who loves thrifting as much as I do (even if she is a genius at seeing and snapping up great buys) and attend either the Alameda Flea Market or the one on Treasure Island with her. We've been trying to get there for a few years without notable success so I've moved it way high on my priority list.

Other easy-peasy ones:  camping (because that's on my list every year) and finishing my Irish Chain quilt (the top is one hundred percent pieced so backing, batting and quilting are next).

Some are from the To-Do list, which shouldn't really be part of a bucket list, BUT...checking them off would make my life so much nicer.  It would be great if our master bath toilet actually flushed reliably on the first try.  Equally lovely would be a garage door opener that closed.  Currently I hold the button down for eighteen seconds while it closes and then depart the garage via the small garage door.  I'm grateful that it opens without incident, but holding that button down is getting old, old, old.

I even surprised myself by realizing that I want to volunteer by either using my DIY skills for Habitat or exercising my bent for all things vintage (history major here) by linking up with the historical society.  Leading a walking tour of our historical districts would suit me just fine.

Also, I plan to polish up my hostessing skills and revive Game Night for the neighborhood.  Time to make plans and send invitations.  (Right after I embark on a major house cleaning. Yeah, I know the neighbors would enjoy themselves in a slightly-cluttered house as much as a nice tidy one, but otherwise my sweetie will drive me insane with last-minute cleaning just when I need to focus on final party prep.  Truthfully, it wouldn't hurt me one little bit to organize myself enough to have a company-ready home most the time.  In fact, it would probably make me feel pretty good.)  But I digress.

You may have noticed these don't add up to twelve.  Could be you'll hear about the other ideas on the 2016 list when they become reality.  Wish me luck!

I'm now hitting the Publish button.  (Not waiting on photos.  Not going over it and over it with endless edits.  Otherwise this will join the other one hundred-fifty posts in my Drafts folder.)


Stay shiny, be inspired, focus on the good, enjoy life,
 

Be the Ripple

Loved this so much I just had to share! Watch it all the way through or you won't get the punchline.

It is just me, or does it help to have a hankie too?


 

A simple act of caring creates an endless ripple. 

February seems like the appropriate month in which to make some ripples!

 Definitely stay shiny!
  

MLK

Rather than treating Monday as just a welcome extra day to the weekend, I thought I'd look up some quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr.  I found a few lesser-known ones that resonated with me:

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. 

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. 

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity. 

I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

It's always heart-warming to watch the kindergartners reactions to the MLK biography we always read to them.  Through their eyes I've come to understand that love and empathy are innate; it's hatred and intolerance that are learned. 

Be (INSPIRE)d,
 

Reflections on Blogging in 2013

Thirty-three posts in 2013 isn't bad.

It's not great but it's much better than 2012 when my sweetie's health and chemo weekends occupied my time and energy and many posts were just my weekly guidepost quote.  Can I just say how grateful I am for clear CAT scans and minimal doctor visits?!  To relax into "normal" without that constant worry is a huge gift that I'm enjoying while I can.  I was nervously productive in waiting rooms and chemo suites--you should see how many yoyo's I sewed and the embroidery I stitched--but the joy wasn't there so I never blogged about any of it.

My non-blogging excuses in 2013 revolved around a malfunctioning camera; no one wants to see blurry photos.  Thankfully another camera appeared into my life (I apparently can't write without a photo to inspire me).  Since I killed the first camera by taking it to a foggy, windy, sandy beach you might think that Camera Numero Dos would be carefully shielded from the elements.  Heh, heh--maybe not. I took it with me last week so I could take photos of the grands on a winter beach.

Now I'm getting error message 6120 and soon will be delving into the mysteries of digital camera mechanics.  The photo above was totally worth it though!  Even though the camera whirs before giving me access and the lens cap only half works, it focuses.  I can live with that. 

 

I've done the SLR thing with a film camera and I'd rather not haul anything bulky so no expensive DSLR's are in my future. I'm happy with my simple cell to no smartphones either.  Point-and-shoots suit me.  And my almost-fully-functional camera will keep me blogging.

I've noticed that many bloggers have dropped off the blogoscope in the past couple years.  Have you seen that too or is it only my imagination? I know that as I read the "big bloggers" with their daily posts and amazing projects I get a little discouraged sometimes.  I can't compete with their readership or productivity.

Maybe you feel the same way, but you know what?  Most of them have good ideas but they don't feel like friends. You do.  I miss catching up regularly with my cherished online friends as they paint, build, re-arrange, glue gun, plant, harvest, decorate and share their lives.  I enjoy your comments and love to comment on your doings too.  It's a dialogue that just doesn't happen with mega-bloggers, as least for me.

Let's think of ourselves as filling a niche!  The friendship/inspiration/encouragement niche--it's far more important to me than catching up on the latest decorating trends.  Keep on blogging so I can keep on reading and commenting and loving you from afar.

I confesss that I've lagged in the blogging department because I'm so far behind the decorating curve that I feel out of it.  My style will never see me willingly live with a stainless steel fridge or paint one single thing in my house gray or decorate with chevrons.  Also, I lived through mid-century modern once and once was enough.  I like colorful interiors with plenty of art and furniture that tells a story.  I like cottage and country and flowers.  I might just be a few decades ahead of the latest trends in my hopeless enjoyment of unpainted oak, white appliances and brass.  I'm grateful that there are a few others out there who love the same cheery things I do. And happy some friends are showing me how to embrace just enough change and challenge myself.

Facebook and Pinterest have vacuumed up some of our precious blogging time.  It's soooo easy to make a short  Facebook entry to let family know what I'm doing.  I spend time on Pinterest regularly, but it's been solid inspiration rather than pipedreams.  I have a slew of projects that came right from my boards.  Finished projects, people!   

As I wrote this, I figured I should logically add a Pinterest button.  Now you can peek at my boards! 'Cause I figured out how to add one to my homepage...all by myself.  I totally rock.


There were twenty-three drafts in 2013 (as oppposed to forty-eight in 2012!) that never saw the light of a computer monitor. Subjects ranging from Mr. Roger's birthday to the truth about chickens.  No loss.

But there's a how-to draft showing my ever-improving velvet pumpkin skills.  A draft featuring a colorful new guest room quilt--my first quilt made for an actual bed (not a picnic or a wall hanging or a holiday pillow).  Also, helping to make my niece's dream wedding a reality was a highlight and I've barely shared it.  Especially since it sparked a long-dormant dream into the planning stages of creative and hopefully lucrative fun.  I definitely must turn some of the drafts into published posts.

So there you have it.  Looking back at what I did right--and what I could have done better--always helps me make my fresh starts more productive.  I really want to live my mantra for this year!

Be (INSPIRE)d,
 

I Wanna...

Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.  Have my photo taken in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor.  Explore the Presidio. And get to the new-and-improved DeYoung Museum.

I was just in The City (San Francisco to those of you who didn't grow up in the Bay Area).  I used to love buying peppermint-striped carnations from the outdoor vendors and love beads from the hippies back in the day.  Eating abalone at Grotto Number Nine at Fisherman's Wharf after seeing the Ice Capades was awesome when I was a kid.

I retrieved my basic SF skills which include a bunch of very aggressive behaviors like driving with my window rolled down, one hand on the horn, one hand ready to gesture the window and one hand (presumably) on the steering wheel.  Oh, and the other hand on the stick ready to shift into first while on a completely vertical hill.  Tricky unless you're a cephalapod or an alien.


Even though we survived the drive and eventually shelled out for the parking garage beneath Union Square--which we decided was worth the price rather than continue to drive past two-hour parking meters with no loose change and waste our limited time--I am not a shopper.  I belong in neither Barney's nor Bloomindale's--not after my holiday filled with treats and their stores filled with gigantic ten-foot-high mirrors.  I'll go back when I lose forty pounds and win the lottery. Or when I have any interest in clothes that don't have to survive kindergarteners armed with Sharpie markers, glue sticks and watercolors.

Thankfully the Disney Store (crayons for our little grand-daughter) was more my speed.  Bloomingdale's was an educational color lesson:  "That dress is blue.  Can you say 'blue'?"  The Ferrari store taught Rosie Rosebud to "find the horsie".  And I think the salespeople in Tiffany's were impressed at our exercise of "don't touch" skills around their display cabinets.

Even though my sweetie and I agreed that San Fran, driving and shopping is a fairly toxic mix, even if certain other family members reveled in it, I did end up with a to-do list of activities that we might enjoy with the use of rapid transit and lots of green space to soothe us.

Anyone planning a winter/spring trip needs to know that Coit Tower is currently closed.  Lombard Street is still crooked but the hydrangeas aren't blooming and they're the best part of the drive down.  The new span of the Bay Bridge is open although it looks like they might not have attached all the cables yet.  The old bridge is being dismantled, bit by bit, but any of us who remember the Loma Prieta quake might get the creeps seeing parts of the upper deck missing (again). 

Which reminds me that I think they've maybe created some attraction on Treasure Island mid-Bay that I might have to add to my list of places to explore. 

But you're never getting me to Pier 39, Union Square or those New York stores that migrated west again.  Ever ever.

Except Tiffany's.  Anyplace that decorates with aqua is okay with me.

Namaste,

This Year's Word Is...

more than one word actually.

"Bring Joy" was 2013.  It fit my glass-half-full personality.  Sometimes I succeeded in living up to it, sometimes I admittedly failed.  It did remind me that It's Not All About Me.  I'm not the most self-centered person in the Great Basin, but I do have some strong opinions and sometimes it's good to rein in and admit that there are other POVs.  The unexpected outcome of "Bring Joy" was that, by trying to make other people happy, I was happier too.  I love a win-win!

Even though 2013 is over, "Be Joyful" wasn't just a passing thought.  Using it to sign off in my (all too infrequent) posts reinforced it over and over.  My 2013 motto will hang around--it's a part of my life now.  That's success!

The thought for 2014--"Be Inspired"--was an easy pick but it needed some tweaking. The concept wasn't quite challenging enough.  Because honestly it's easy to be inspired nowadays. Pinterest and wonderful blogs and on-going meditation series and online dog seminars have encouraged me to cook new recipes, crochet from a written pattern, improve my photos, explore gratitude, sew my first big quilt, finish more projects than usual and delight my dog with lots of play that was actually training.  

I wanted to continue that trend but I am feeling the need to be more than I am.  So while I will continue to be energized by all the amazing people out there, I think it's my turn to motivate and encourage and I'm focusing on the "inspire" part too. I know I'm not going to start the next big design trend or have a tutorial go viral or post amazing renovation projects three days a week.  But the common thread in those things is that people do as well as dream.

I guess that's my goal.  Hello, Twenty Fourteen...it's time to 

BE INSPIRED

What's your word/motto/thought for the year?

Bring joy,
 

The New Fridge--Life's Good

When we last left our heroine, she'd bravely made a choice without moaning or groaning more than absolutely necessary.  Let's resume our story as she begins life anew.

I'm adjusting to our new LG refrigerator--now happily ensconced in her cubby.  It's wonderful to have a freezer that freezes!

 

It's the simple pleasures, ain't it?

We bid a fond farewell to our reliable Frigidaire workhorse.  Well, sort of farewell--it's attractively occupying our eating nook right now as we wait for the energy company to come recycle it (and rebate us $50).

 

Fridges that sit in the middle of the room--a decorating trend I'm starting right now.  Remember, you saw it first at Meadowsweet Cottage.  And yes, feel free to Pin It.  Maybe I should slap a watermark on the photo just so I get credit?  On second thought...no.

I'm getting used to the increased width and depth of our newbie quickly.  The height is another kettle of crawdads entirely--the cutting boards which tucked nicely atop the old fridge are still looking for a new home in the kitchen and are currently scattered in three places (the cereal cupboard, the appliance drawer and atop the new beast where I can't reach them).

I confess that the textured surface I was sure I was going to hate is smoother (in a good slippery sense) than I thought. 

 

I'll think positive and hope that cleaning the shallow grooves is easier than I anticipated.  I am VERY glad that we went with the smooth finish on the front though!  And white was definitely the right choice.

I love the French doors although we haven't entirely succeeded yet in figuring out where things should go.  The split shelves inside have allowed us to customize the heights to accommodate two liter bottles and leftover containers.  Plus my guys are enjoying the ease of the deli tray after having to bend way down to access the old cheese shelf.

 

And the narrow drawer between the veggie and fruit drawers has proven ideal for egg storage.  It's probably not designed for that, but it works.  Now that I think of it--what was that lil drawer created to hold?  I think it's funny that our freshly-laid butt fruit (don't you hate it when somebody creates a clever-but-fairly-rude phrase that you just can't purge from your brain) ended up in one of the fruit and vegetable drawers.  Bet the designer didn't see that one coming!

Not that I know where to find my Miracle Whip or his mayo, or if the salad dressing goes in the right or left door yet.  We'll eventually figure out a logical way of organizing things so that we all know where to look and where to put away without standing there with the doors open while we puzzle it out.  I just discovered the butter dish today--I couldn't see it way up high where my sweetie put it (in the butter nook of all places).

The bottom freezer rocks.  My sweetie has a convenient tray for his frozen juice cans which also holds ice packs for migraines, sore muscles and owies.

 

The two drawers make it as easy to organize as my two shelves did but it's definitely easier to find what you want on the bottom of a drawer compared to the back of a shelf!

You can laugh, but our ice cubes now come from an older-than-old double metal Frigidaire ice tray contributed by the Queen Mother. 

 

My family doesn't throw anything away--we just store it until someone else needs it.


It's been an smoother change than I anticipated.  Once I finally made what I thought was the best choice (click the link to enjoy my making a fool of myself just because I was forced to get a new fridge), I just mentally shifted gears and didn't look back.  Now if I could just grow another three inches so I could reach the top... 

LG doesn't know I exist.  Neither does Frigidaire.  But my offer to help them design the perfect refrigerator still stands.

Bring joy,

My Thirty-Four Year Old Fridgidaire...Farewell, Friend

I'm a little fond of our fridge--a Gemco purchase for our first home way back in 1979.  It's lived through two kitchen remodels.  It survived babies and toddlers and teen-aged boys with hollow legs, and two adults with an empty nest. It's outlived our washer (same vintage) and our dishwasher (a whippersnapper by comparison) and two station wagons.

 

Yep, it's been running flawlessly for a long, long time.  Although it now does tend to freeze stuff stuck too far back in the summer.  It might have a barely noticeable dent or two.  The door seal is a bit torn in one area. And a green glo-stick leaked and stained the freezer fluorescent yellow when the kids were small.  And, okay, the meat drawer is a distant memory.  But...basically it's still chugging along.

That's actually the problem.  It's now running 24/7 in an effort to keep the freezer compartment cold, and failing.  Our frozen fruit for smoothies is slightly squishy rather than frozen solid.  Giant sigh.  The day I've been dreading finally arrived.  We need a new refrigerator and I knew I wouldn't find anything I liked as well as our old one.  I was right.  Sometimes I hate being right.

We spent the weekend refrigerator shopping.  Which, let me tell you, is a whole different category than mere appliance shopping, for say, a microwave or range or dishwasher.  Those were relatively easy.  I'd rather spend a day in a room with garter snakes than go refrigerator shopping.  Garter snakes just make me scream and levitate three feet laterally.  Modern refrigerators make me moan, groan, gripe, wail, curse and drive my husband crazy.  Snakes do one thing and do it well.  Refrigerators do over a dozen things but none of them in a combination that suits me.  I'm picky simply practical and unimpressed by bells and whistles.

My Frigidaire is easy to clean.  It's large enough to hold plenty of food and still small enough that it doesn't dominate our kitchen but plays nicely.  I can store my extensive collection of wood cutting boards, my family-sized serving bowls, two recipe boxes and all my metal measuring cups on top and still reach them easily (I'm only five foot two).  Our galley kitchen is small and I use every inch of storage including the refrigerator top.

New fridges are so deep that they either stick out into the room or come at a premium price. They are mostly stainless steel and I'm sooo not a gray person.  New fridges have water dispensers and ice-makers and I need neither.  New. Fridges. Do. Not. Have. Egg. Storage.  Someone apparently circulated a memo regarding eggs being jostled as the door opens and closes.  Seriously, people?  Your store-bought eggs are already probably at least a month old, what possible harm could come from storing them in a nice egg bin in the door?  My eggs seemed to weather frequent door openings and shuttings for thirty-four years with no adverse effects.  I'm just sayin'.
 
Worst of all...the new refrigerators are textured.  Have appliance designers ever cleaned a refrigerator?  Do they all have maids? Do they enjoy scrubbing grease off a textured surface?  Sheesh.  The smooth top of my fridge still needs more than a bit of elbow grease to sparkle. It takes me thirty minutes to remove the stuff on top, climb up on a stool with a warm soapy washrag, scrub it my smooth surface, climb down again, rinse my cleaning cloth, climb up again, scrub, dry it all off and replace my goodies.  I can only imagine how long it would take to scrub the greasy residue off those textured surfaces!

(I know...what a tragic First World problem--choosing a new refrigerator.  I should be ashamed. I am ashamed.  Just a tad.)

Shopping day one involved a patient husband researching refrigerators and dragging a kicking and screaming wife into Home Depot.  Shopping day two involved a patient husband listening to my moaning and rants in Lowe's, Best Buy, Sears and a different Home Depot and ignoring some tears.  Shopping day three involved a patient husband taking me back to several stores to take a second look as I began to accept the fact that I was never going to find the perfect fridge and would have to compromise.  Late shopping day three involved a husband who'd pretty much had it up to here.  I suspect he then slyly played the I-think-this-stainless-steel-model-would-be-our-best-choice card which steered (or panicked) me into immidiately choosing a model available in a less obnoxious appliance color--white.

Voila!

 

Our choice has been made--astonishingly, amazingly unlikely as it would have seemed when we started.  I'm not going to like it as much as our old one.  It probably won't last as long as our old one. I'm sure enough of that we bought an extended warranty and we NEVER buy the extra warranty.  But I can live with it.  And I'm busily figuring out how to reconfigure all the junk (see photo 1 above) that's currently living in, on and around Frigidaireland--a task I'm realizing was long overdue.

 

Throughout most of the process I wondered if I was being unreasonable.  I found out I wasn't the only picky customer out there.  One lady wanted an almond microwave with no negative reviews.  One gentleman wanted a shiny stainless steel front, not brushed.  I guess we all have an idea of what we want and sometimes it doesn't exist, at least in the here and now.

I have to say that every salesperson we encountered was patient, helpful without being pushy, informative and just plain nice.  Even with picky customers like moi.  They're probably the only reason we survived and are still talking.

There are over seven hundred fifty refrigerator models available at one of the big box stores but not one shallow, short, smooth, white one with adjustable shelves.  So, our deep, tall, smooth (sort of), white LG arrives Friday.   I'm good with what we're getting, but if I were to design refrigerators some would be smooth on all surfaces including the top and sides.  Some might be deep and wide for large families but would be available as a traditional, shallow counter-depth model too.  I'd design some wide and some narrower, some tall and some petite.  I'd offer them in every color and finish.  (Okay, not every color although it would be fun to have turquoise or cherry red or sunshine yellow or apple green to choose from.) All my fridges would have infinitely adjustable shelves.  I might even design some without honkin' big pulls. And, oh yes, they'd all have thirty-four year warranties.

I'm available for hire should any appliance makers want some real world input!

Bring joy,
 

Welcome, Springtime

Ring tingaling, ring tingaling, hurray, hurray for the first day of spring!

changeable weather

forsythia bloom

open window

bird song

garden chores

cloud pictures

short sleeves

pastel eggs

baby animals

swelling buds

tiny green leaves

daffodils dancing

easter baskets

warm soil

peter cottontail and robin redbreast

Henry James said "summer afternoon...the two most beautiful words in the English language";
 "Spring morning" would be my own personal second pick.

 Bring joy,
 

Magnolia Pearl Forever

Remember when I said in a perfect world I'd be wearing this romantically frilly, bohemian outfit?

Well, the world is now officially perfect.

I let out a most unladylike yelp of joy Friday afternoon when I received an email telling me I'd won this Magnolia Pearl ensemble.  I'm pretty sure they heard me all the way to Texas!  After emailing my address to Fiona and Twig (aka photographer extraordinaire Anne Lorys) who hosted the giveaway, I began day-dreaming about wearing my newly-acquired bohemian outfit when it arrives in the mail.

Daydream number one:  I'm lounging in my newly-recovered hammock, sipping an icy limeade, watching the resident goldfish swimming in Lilypad Pond and keeping an eye on the Bombshells (egg-laying machines named after Rita Hayworth and Sophia Loren) so they don't dig up my newly-planted flowers or steal lunch from my veggie patch.  Naturally I'm feeling fabulous in Magnolia Pearl.  I loves me some natural fibers--I'm a cotton/linen/silk girl.

Daydream number two:  I'm sitting on a huge boulder with my sweetie, watching a fire-dance troup perform during Artown.  The Truckee River is reflecting a full moon, the July night is warm with just the merest hint of a breeze.  And I'm the best-dressed girl there.  People ask what I'm wearing.  "Magnolia Pearl, of course," I reply.

Daydream number three:  I've magically grown curly hair, my grandma's high-top boots finally shrunk to fit me, I've lost twenty pounds and I'm enjoying a margarita at one of the neighbor barbecues with some friends who haven't seen me for a while.  (I really like this daydream.)

Not only will I soon have something amazingly, incredibly fun to wear, I also found the perfect name for the newest little member of our cottage family.

Meet my sweet little Barred Plymouth Rock chick: 
M a g n o l i a    P e a r l. 

She'll remind me that I'm lucky every time I see her.  

The world is full of wonder.  Your wildest dreams do come true sometimes. Happiness comes unexpectedly if you just open your heart without expectation.

I'm well aware that this treasure is also the Universe sending me one of its messages.  I'm listening and acting on it.  But that's another story...

Bring joy,


p.s.  The Magnolia Pearl ranch is still for sale, waiting to bless another owner.  But after seeing the place that will become their new home, I can almost understand how Robin and John could bear to part with their old digs.  A new canvas, a new adventure!