March Musings

We made it to March, friends, and in just over a week we change the clocks - woo hoo, spring is surely on the way! 

Repurposing An Old Dresser As A Kitchen Island

As many of you know, my younger daughter and her sweetie of 9 years recently bought their first house together. 

I'm so proud of them, and really enjoying watching them begin to 'nest' in their new space.

What's Cooking In Mountain Mama's Kitchen

I have a very exciting weekend in the kitchen planned....what, that doesn't sound exciting to  you? Well, if you're any sort of a foodie you'll understand what I mean.

I've been drooling over a few recipes out there in blog land, and have a number of things planned to create in my little country kitchen this weekend.

Easy Peasy Roasted Tomato Sauce

We've had an Indian Summer for the past few weeks, which has been a welcome extension of the growing season.

We had a very cool August, a very hot September, and now October has been warmer than usual as well.

That was....until just a couple of nights ago, when the temps were predicted to dip to 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

Home Sweet Home

My heart goes out to all those folks in Texas that have lost loved ones, and also to those that have lost their homes.

 

The loss of a life is devastating. The loss of a pet, equally so for those of us who count our pets as our family.

 

And the loss of a home is without a doubt also a tragic thing.

What I've Been Up To

You know when I go missing for a while I'm usually crazy busy. Not only at home, but also at work. 

Yup, I'm one of those bloggers who has a full time job. 

I miss being here, but there are only so many hours in the day. 

Small Changes Around Here

It's funny, I've owned my house for nearly two years now, yet it still seems so 'new' to me at times.

I feel like there are still so many things I want to change, but bit by bit I'm making this little house my own. 

Gifts For The Foodie In Your Life

It's no secret that I'm a foodie. Big time. I absolutely love to cook, and love to find new gadgets and tools to make my meals even more amazing.

My sweetie is my guinea pig. He eats each and every one of my experiments without question.....and usually without complaint.

There aren't many fails, although there have been one or two.

Simple Spring Updates

I'm sure you've all figured out by now that I'm all about color. My home will never be a simple, neutral palette - as much as I admire it in others' homes. I just wouldn't be able to live with it on a daily basis....I crave color. 

Despite my color craving, I do tend to dial it back a notch as the winter wanes on. In fall and winter I want to surround myself with deep, warm colors, plush textures, anything that screams cuddle up and get cozy. 

But at this time of year when the days start getting longer and the light is changing and the birds are singing their sweet songs I crave a change. I need to lose some of the rich colors and embrace the light and bright. 

It was another crazy busy weekend on the mountain top....I worked Saturday, again. Don't even talk to me. 

We had a charity auction to attend on Sunday. Mimosas, anyone?

And in between there arrived a large pile of firewood on my driveway that needed to be stacked. Welcome to my weekend workout!

So I found myself on Sunday night after a couple of mimosas I enjoyed at the auction catching up on the chores I never got to do around the house all weekend.

Change is Good!

It's the very first Monday after the new year and when I woke this morning the sun was streaming through the windows in the most gorgeous way. 

The sunshine in this house drew me in the very first time I toured and I believe I fell in love immediately. 

The sun was shining on all the areas I "de-Christmasized" over the weekend. In between bouts of nausea. 

I was a busy girl despite the nasty bug that tried to get me down!

The dining room table is no longer stretched. As a matter of fact, I removed both leaves for now....just for a change. I love a little round table, it's my favorite kind. It feels very cozy having a meal at a small round table. 

And yes, those most certainly are my fall pumpkins and squash that were on my center island in Autumn. I will cook them this winter at some point. 

During Christmas they hid under the guest bed. The dust bunnies kept them company. 

The top of the bookcase once again holds plants and candles in lieu of Santas. 

The tree stays up, as is tradition in our family, until at least January 6th. Which not only is Little Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany but is also my dad's birthday. 

A holiday in and of itself. 

The mantel has been stripped of the twinkly stars and stockings and has been left with winter greens and my red wooden wreath and cones. They, of course, also look like Christmas trees.....when it's Christmas. 

When it's not Christmas they revert to cones. 

Because I said so. 

No more Christmas linens....but I did keep the red going for now. I will lighten up at a later date for a change of scenery but for now the red just feels warm and welcoming. 

Because, baby it's cold outside!

The bottles at the bar no longer sport scarves, hats, and sweaters. 

Except for one. Mr. Maker's Mark still has his sweater and earmuffs on. 

He's special. He's sweetie's favorite. 

The snowmen are gone and the colorful bottles have returned to the kitchen windowsill. They just make me smile. 

The little birdbath I hung outside the kitchen window is frozen solid now. Poor birdies. The creek at the end of the driveway is still running, though, so the critters are ok for water. At least for now. 

A few more days like this may change that. 

My farm animals have returned to the stove area, dangling their little legs over the edge. 

Anyone for a cup of tea?

I hung up this absolutely adorable winter dishtowel from World Market - they seriously have the cutest dishtowels ever! 

Did I mention I might have a slight obsession?

And this little guy, who was a gift from my younger daughter, keeps my glasses handy next to the stove...and brings a smile to my face every time I see him. 

Change is good. 

Today is a good day. 

The House Hunt

Today's my anniversary. 

Yes, another one. 

What? I can have more than one!!

Exactly one year ago today I walked in the front door, for the very first time, of what was to become my new house ....and I fell in love. 

Interestingly enough, I was ready to make an offer on another house. A completely different type of house. 

This house was no longer on the market. 

But during a site visit with a potential client, we started chatting about little things - what do you do for work, where do you live, etc....and I mentioned my house hunt and that I was ready to put an offer on a house. 

She told me I really had to see this one before I put in that offer. 

Yeah, sure. I've seen so many bombs....whatever. Ok, give me their contact info. 

And I reached out to make an appointment to view the house. 

That was no longer on the market. 

The rest was history. 

Kismet. 

Was this the style of house I was looking for? I'd say no....I set out looking for a small cottage yet when I walked into this Chalet style home I knew it was perfect for me. 

It checked off so many of the boxes on my Must Have list. 

1. Must be on a quiet road and not directly on the road but rather set back, safe for the dogs. Check!

I'd say this is a pretty quiet road, wouldn't you? My road is one of  the prettiest in the area....I loved this road long before I found a home here! Lucky me!

2. Must have a decent size deck for entertaining - check!

My deck wraps around and I actually have the fire pit area, a dining table with 4 chairs, a garden swing, and another smaller dining table all in separate areas on the deck. Works for me!

3. Must have a fireplace or wood stove to keep energy costs down. Check!

Granted, it did not look like this when I bought the house - there was an ancient wood burning insert that I had to take out and replace. It was most definitely not up to code and anything but energy efficient! But the stone hearth was there and I fell immediately in love with that. 

4. Must have room for a vegetable garden yet not be too much land for me to take care of. Check!

The fenced veggie garden was already in place, it just needed some TLC. And the house sits on 1.5 acres, but some of it is wooded so it's not overbearing for me to take care of. I use a push mower (cordless rechargeable one from Worx tools) and take care of the lawn myself for the most part. Once per month I have someone come in and cut the grass and weed-wack. I hate to weed-wack!! I just hate the way everything comes flying back at me, bouncing off every part of my head and body!! No, thank you! 

5. Must have a minimum of 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. A master suite with Jacuzzi tub and walk in closet would be a huge bonus!

Well, it didn't have a master suite. But it did have 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths. 3 bedrooms/1 bath upstairs and 1 bedroom/1 bath downstairs. Perfect for sharing a home with my adult daughter! I combined 2 bedrooms upstairs to create my master suite so the home now has 3 bedrooms, 3 full baths. Perfect. 

6. Must have decent bathrooms and kitchen - check!

I really didn't want to get into ripping out kitchens and bathrooms. I wanted to be able to move in right away and any improvements would be done while I was living in the house. 

I love my kitchen. It's nothing fancy but it suits me to a T. It's got a great work flow and it's open to the dining room. What more could I ask?

7. Must have room for me to host Christmas dinner for 15+ people. 

This house nearly lost me on that one. I fretted about the fact that the dining room won't be large enough to seat all my family for Christmas dinner. 

And then I just said, "Get Over Yourself, Lady!"

It's one day a year. 

And the rest of the year the dining room is absolutely perfect for us. 

8. Must have a nice view. Check!

The house sits on a hill and has views of the mountain ranges on 3 sides. That works for me!

9. Must have a garage and ample storage for garden tools, etc. Check!

I have a two car garage plus a garden shed...and of course my wonderful garden cottage. Nuf said. 

10. Must have a basement or a slab. NO CRAWL SPACE. They just totally creep me out. There's not one chance in H**L I'll ever go into a crawl space. Ever. For anything. Ever. All the pipes could burst at one time and I still won't go in there. So that was an absolute deal breaker for me. 

Nothing creepy about this lower level living space!! My daughter's room is behind the white door at the bottom of the stairs - en suite, with private bath and private entrance. Perfect situation for two adult women living together! There's also laundry, partial kitchen, and my other daughter's living space down here....as well as a tiny office and utility room. 

11. Must have nice neighbors. 

I think we're good. 

Welcome to my dream house. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can view the photos from my initial house tour on my Before & After post. 

Puttering

It's a damp, cold, miserable kind of a November day in the mountains today....but I don't really mind that much. It's a good excuse to be indoors doing one of the things I love most on my day off - puttering. 

I love when I have a rare day that I don't have to go anywhere. Nowhere. No deadlines, no timetables, no schedule. I can just putter around my house doing bits of this and that. 

At my leisure. In between checking out blogs and rambling around the internet. 

Best kind of day EVER. 

I started my day with a cup of Cappuccino, as I love to do on my day off. Super awesome weekend treat to myself. Perfect way to start my morning. 

After feeding the birds I made a nice weekend breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar, a side of crispy bacon, and raspberry white chocolate scones. Decadent! And no, I didn't make the scones - my sister brought them when she came to visit a few weeks back and I froze the leftovers. Yumzers!

After washing up the pans I decided to make Sunny Simple Life's Homemade Bleach Cleaner - it was so easy to make! 

I took everything off my kitchen counters, sprayed them down with the cleaner, let it sit for about 15 minutes while I bounced around blogland, and then wiped them down. They came out great!! And I really feel like they are SUPER CLEAN - I'm always a big fan of using bleach to kill any germs. And I am one of those people who actually likes the smell of bleach so that's a plus. It definitely killed the smell of the bacon in the house which is a big bonus for me!!

That went so well I decided to try out Sunny Simple Life's Super Frugal Easy Way to Stretch Your Laundry Soap. 

Sunny Simple Life

I have to tell you, I'm very impressed! I ordered the Fels - Naptha Laundry Soap on Amazon  since I don't have a dollar store around here but even at the Amazon price this is is most definitely a super frugal easy way to stretch the laundry detergent. I got two bars for under $6 and I think they will easily last me for MONTHS!

I was a little worried about how it would smell since I have never tried this product before...I thought perhaps it would smell like petroleum jelly or similar. Nope! Lovely fresh citrusy smell - I'm lovin' it!!

The stretched laundry detergent is getting the first workout on the fur-babies blankets. Even if I just use this "stretched" detergent for sheets, blankets, comforters, bath rugs, towels....the stuff that doesn't really get stains but just needs freshening - it will still save a ton of $$$ on laundry detergent. Thanks, Sunny Simple Life!!

My next task was to blow off the deck and deck stairs - I have such a great blower that I love - as a matter of fact I bought a bunch of their garden tools when I bought my house. I didn't want to have to mess with gas/oil mixtures, winterizing machines, etc. I read about the WORX brand tools somewhere and had to give them a try. 

Via

I have to say I'm very pleased with my little blower. It's so light and easy to use - even my daughter who is about 90 lbs soaking wet has no problem using it. When I beg her. 

Anyway. 

I wanted to get the leaves off the deck so I could put down these mats and stair treads I got from Improvements Catalog. 

Via

I ordered 6 stair treads and 2 mats for the top of the stairs. Let me tell you - those mats are HEAVY!! I had to have my daughter help me carry them up the stairs!

Here's how they look on my stairs - I'm loving them! These old wooden stairs get mighty slippery and I was nervous we were going to tumble down them in the winter. 

My sweetie will have to figure out how to trim that bottom one to fit around the moldings - I don't even know if that's possible - they are so thick and heavy, made from recycled tires. 

I'm really happy with them! And I was just finishing up this little task when a storm blew in with mixed rain and snow....so I ran into the house and put on the kettle for a cup of tea. 

Brrrrrr. 

My next project is going to be in the kitchen - I'm trying out a new recipe that has been up on my fridge for a while - Slow Cooker Gigante Beans with Tomatoes and Pancetta from Alexandra's Kitchen. 

Alexandra's Kitchen

I'm going to start with this recipe but adapt it (as I usually do with recipes) to suit my needs - I am going to use fresh tomatoes to use up some more of the billions of green tomatoes that are ripening slowly in the dining room. 

And bacon instead of Pancetta, since that's what I have. 

Doesn't this look absolutely scrumptious?? I love her blog....you should go check it out!

This will be tomorrow's dinner. From what I read it's even better the second day - and this means no cooking for me tomorrow evening, which frees me up to run to the market after work. 

Perhaps. If I feel like it. 

Depending on how my Monday goes. They aren't always good days. . 

Tonight's dinner will be roasted chicken in my new best friend  - which I absolutely adore, by the way. It's been over a month now since she came to live with me and I tend to reach for her first before any of my other pots. It heats up so evenly, cooks beautifully, and cleanup is an absolute breeze. I'm so thrilled. 

Martha Stewart

So, spiced roast chicken, sweet potatoes, stuffing, carrots from the garden - who's in?

Happy Sunday, Friends!!

Kitchen Clutter Busters

I am a foodie. I don't make any secret of it. I stand up proudly and say "My name is Debbie and I am a foodie!. It's been ZERO days since I've eaten something perhaps I shouldn't have."

I love to cook. I love to eat good food. I wake up thinking of what I'm preparing for dinner that evening. I love to buy good food at farmers markets and gourmet shops.  I can spend an hour in a good kitchen shop with cooking implements. I can spend two hours in a cheese shop. 

All this foodieness means my kitchen has a LOT of stuff to store. 

And I have learned through the years some great tricks to make my kitchen work more efficiently. And since I am, as my sweetie says, a bit ANAL about neatness I have also learned some ways to corral the clutter. 

Just a warning, this is not a "pretty" post. This is most definitely a "practical" post. So if you are only looking for pretty eye candy you may want to look elsewhere! 

And there are a lot of pictures. No surprise, coming from me, right? 

So grab your beverage of choice and settle in for a few minutes. 

Ok here we go! 

Here's what the kitchen looks like....from a distance. 

Nice and tidy, right? Well, there's a lot going on in there to keep it looking that way. 

Let's start with the counters. I have to have clean counters with lots of cleared space for prepping and cooking. But there are also items that I need quick and easy access to. 

Like the house phone. And my car keys. And a pair of eyeglasses. Or 12. Yup, getting old....can't see. Tissues for my allergies. Apparently also part of getting old since I've never had allergies until recently. 

And of course I need 5 boxes of incense on the kitchen counter. And 2 bottles of medicine for my fur babies. And little farm animals with dangly legs. 

In order for all this stuff to be out and accessable but not drive me out of my mind I gather it all on a tray in the corner. Eyeglasses are in the little wooden rooster box. Car keys are in the green pottery bowl. A notepad and pen. And the 5 boxes of incense. Of course. 

Did I mention that despite the fact that I love food and love to cook I absolutely HATE the smell of the kitchen after the meal is over? 

Yup, that's where the incense comes in to play as a necessary item. 

Ok, moving on. 

On the right side of the stove I have my cutting boards in a nice metal rack that I picked up at Home Goods. I also keep my olive oil, pepper and sea salt grinders, and olive oil mister all ready for action in a small basket. 

And my little ceramic pig with the chipped ears. Just because. 

Above the cutting boards I keep my potholders, oven mitts, and tea cozy - they hang on this wonderful magnetic hook. I love my magnetic hooks!

On the counter between the kitchen and dining room is my produce rack. Well, it's actually a plant rack  and I bought it a few years back from Sierra Trading Post for about $20, but they have been sold out for ages. It works great for keeping onions and potatoes separated so they last longer and gives me a tier for fruit as well. 

The counter by the sink has my draining rack and also a few cleaning products in a metal holder for quick access - my Mrs Meyers Lavender Counter Spray, my Caldrea Lavender Pine Dish Soap, and a hand lotion from Williams Sonoma.  I don't remember which one.....since I never remember to use it. No wonder my hands feel like sand paper! 

Under the sink I keep some of my often used and favorite cleaners organized in an old office caddy. It works great for keeping the bottles upright and easy to grab. 

I also have some items in an over door basket so they don't get lost under the sink - an old dish sponge for dirty jobs, a brush and old toothbrush, and a spare dish sponge. 

The current dish sponge gets stored in this little basket that sticks to the side of the sink using suction cups. This lets the sponge dry out between uses and inhibits the growth of bacteria. I also throw it into the dishwasher regularly. 

To the left of the sink is this little storage drawer unit for K Cups. Which gives me a handy place to have a little lamp next to the kitchen sink, which I love for cozy evenings. 

To the left of the K Cup storage is another basket, right next to the back door. Miscellaneious items end up in this basket....things that need to go out to the garage, or to the garden shed, or home with my sweetie. It's just a catch-all to keep the daily clutter contained. And it's a great spot for my garage door opener!

At the base of the center island is one of my all time favorite handy-dandy organizers - I bought this a few years back when I was living in a super cute apartment with a teeny tiny kitchen. This little rolling organizer was an absolute life saver in that apartment - it cleared out an entire cabinet and slid right in between the fridge and the stove. I got so used to keeping my cooking oils, vinegars, etc on this unit that even though I probably could store this stuff in my pantry in my new home I continue to use this baby. Love it. 

In the cabinets I use these cabinet shelves  that come in different sizes to expand my storage space. 

I also use these little clear bins to corral packets and such. 

And of course baskets from the dollar store always come in handy!!

When I moved into this house I ordered this extra deep cutlery organizer which made a huge difference in keeping this drawer organized. The organizer I had previously was too shallow and things were always spilling out of the sections. 

That old shallow organizer was re-purposed in the kitchen gadget drawer, and it works perfectly to keep all those items organized. 

Another extra deep drawer organizer went into the "junk drawer" which my sweetie calls the "tool drawer." And while you're browsing around in there please take note of the package of firecrackers in the very front right of the drawer for easy access.....for when the bear comes back. Yup, just a part of mountain living. 

In the fridge I use more of those clear bins that I can easily pull out to see what's in the back. On the top shelf I use a lazy susan  that also makes it easier to see what I have and get to it without moving a bunch of stuff around. 

My fridge needs a good clean-out at this point....don't look too closely please...what can I say, I've been BUSY!

On the right side of the fridge is another magnetic hook where I keep my aprons as well as my fine mesh sieves. There's also a magnetic organizer where I keep take-out menus, pens, note pads, etc. I don't know where I got that one, I've had it so long, but here's one like it that I actually like better!

Across from that is the railing for the stairway to the lower level. 

I keep this metal basket from Decor Steals on the ledge for any items that need to be brought downstairs. You notice it's empty now....that's because I emptied it and carried everything downstairs. No fear my daughter would bring anything down on her 40 trips per day down to her room. 

Ahem. 

Also by the top of the stairs is a this great wall file, also from Decor Steals - that place is awesome, don't you think? This is a great spot to put all the papers that need to go downstairs to my office. 

And the sage I'm drying for my other daughter so she can smudge her apartment. 

That's it, the whole shebang!  Well, except for the pantry....but that will be a whole other day....when I get around to giving it a bit of a tidy up. 

What are your favorite kitchen organizing tricks and tips?