Nothing better than starting the day outside with a nice drink!

I'm here in drizzly North Dakota; having a cup of Tetley's. I should remember to make something a bit more festive for Tuesday Tea, but my mind isn't what it use to be. (and it wasn't "what it use to be" back when it was!)

I'm stuck in inertia again.

I'm attempting to clean the one den window. I've gotten as far as hosing off the largest mess from the outside. Harvesting has begun and the clouds of dirt blowing around make the job rather futile, but I have to make an effort! I've moved the bachelor's chest from under the window on the inside and filled my bucket with hot water and a dash of Mr. Clean.

I did get the main bedroom window done yesterday, and I got the screen cleaned put back on so if we get another cool night like Saturday's I can open the window for some refreshing air.

I am so fortunate that I have a woman to come in for four hours once a month to help me with the harder tasks. That is a blessing, except, for one reason or another, she's not been able to be here since March. She also wasn't here all last summer until it was too late and cold to get to the windows, so for the first time in my life the fall window cleaning slid by undone.

Our planting and growing season is so short, fast, and furious I've had to move "spring" window cleaning to "fall" or I couldn't get the plants out in time.

I can't risk the windows not being done for another year so I've set a goal of thoroughly cleaning one window every couple of days. I'm removing and cleaning the screens and hosing off the outsides of the windows, and then going inside to use the tilt-in feature to clean both sides of both panes, sills, frames, etc.

I have not cleaned the blinds yet, but they can wait until all the windows are finished. If worse comes to worse I can do them in the tub, although I really prefer to hang them on the pegs I put into the outside garage wall so they are at a comfortable working height. I can hose them down, clean both sides, dry them and let them air in no time at all out there.

I love clean windows. The one bedroom window I've finished is the hardest. The house, although one-story, is set up high. This window is directly over the large, deep window well for the basement egress window. Wes has to use a ladder to help me get the screen in. Of course, this is the one screen that doesn't slip in a lock without a hassle! I can manage all the other screens myself, but it's much quicker with a helper.

Okay, I'm off to clean this window. I can do this; I will do this; I must do this! :)

I guess everyone is to busy to come to tea.

I don't seem to usually make it to tea time on Tuesday, but today I am here, though the only tea I had so far was some ice tea with breakfast. It was delicious.

I have been useless these past four or five days because I have had muscle spasms in my neck and head. Ouch! It started on Thursday. I gave it a little time to calm down, but it only seemed to get worse.

My chiropractor doesn't work on Fridays, so I had to wait until Monday to call. They got me in this morning to see him. He is just the best. He checked my neck and back and both were in good alignment. But of course my neck muscles were too tight. So he fixed that and I need to go back on Thursday. But the severity of the pain lessened almost immediately and the frequency lessened as well. By dinner time now, the pain is pretty much gone. I'm so grateful for this man.

So I will rest up today and maybe start doing a little bit more tomorrow. I'll see how it goes. I'm just glad that I have seen this much improvement, this fast. Yay!!

I hope everyone else is doing much better than me.

Hi I am just dropping in for a bit. Maybe more later.

Eld your pretty white railing looks so fresh. Enjoy your dinner out.

Caroline do not beat yourself up. I am re-arranging the living room and finding all kinds of nasties that have been over looked for more than awhile. I do not remember when I did the last really deep living room clean.

ImHappy I took many cemetery photos for find a grave years ago. It was fun to get requests and be able to share the photos with relatives that could not travel.

So as said above I am trying to re-arrange the living room. I have gotten nowhere with it but made a HUEG mess. At least some cleaning along the way. Have not moved any furniture. I did the graph paper and paper cut outs and still pushing them around.

Goal is I want to be able to look out the front windows from the recliners and my work table. So moving the TV to that front window even though I will only have internet TV through my ROKU box. I canceled DISH ASAP after Joe was gone. We only had 9 days left and the TV has not even been turned on. I did get some movies at the library to watch too. I thought this might motivate me to get this change made.

It is hard because I want to add the work table into an already kind of full room. The room is large at 12' 8" by 19 foot. There are a few pieces I do not want to move. the top of the gun cabinet will be great for holding my mosaic supplies after I remove the guns which I plan on doing. So it stays put. Funny thing on that gun cabinet is the center of the three doors does not open. I NEED to figure that out and get it open and put hinges on it. Never investigated on how to do that because the other two doors are locking. But soon I will no longer need locks with no guns in there . Wish you were all here to brain storm this with me.

Back to work. OH my tea today is iced Peach Berry and it is very mild and good.

Murrays Mom we were posting at the same time. So sorry to hear about your neck. I know that feeling all too well and it is not good. I hope the relief continues It is good you are going back Thursday just to keep the healing going.

Thanks, Shades! And guess what? I took pictures for FindAGrave for quite awhile. It's been a few years now since I've stopped, but I really enjoyed it and I liked getting to know the people in charge of the cemeteries.

Also I am an avid furniture mover. Nothing I like better than to rearrange a room full of furniture! I don't know why, but it's very satisfying to me. I wish I was closer to you. I'd be happy to come join you and "git 'er done"!!

I would LIKE to rearrange furniture but when you live in an old house with doors and windows the moving part is impossible. I have resisted the urge to bring the little table in just to see how it looks ;-) The big question is where to stash the round oak table. I will keep it. Somewhere. I'm going to see if I can rearrange the garage, take the table off the base and store it out there. I started inventorying the stuff out there that could go to the building that has been partly cleared of stuff that went to the machine shed. I move it from building to building and back again. I wish I had a nice clean building without mice.

I would like to wash windows, too, but living 50 feet from a highly traveled gravel road makes window washing a waste of time.

The pouring rain just stopped.

Oh Murrays Mom I wish you were closer too. Been working on this all day and just now I think I finaly have an arrangement that will work and fit. YES it will be a bit crowded because I am lining the walls to make it work. Even so I think it will be fine and nothing lost but my time and energy if it does not.

So now onto the really hard part of breaking down all of what is already here and my studio table area in the studio. Yes it is crazy to want to work in my living room when I already have a studio. I just want to be able to feel more connected to the out side world now I am alone. Joe was enough for me and I am pretty good at being a loaner always have been. Why Joe and I got along so well. Neither of us needed to be in each others pocket 24/7. Now I want to see what is going on.

The three biggest things in the room are not moving except the long low table the TV used to be on and it is only moving down about 2 foot and still in front of the window. No more TV on it. Yes the TV will still be in front of part of the other window and it will be fine. I have not figured out yet if I have a spot for a mannequin in the direct front window. I am working on it. LOL I might have to pour white paint into Louise's legs and coat her inside because she glows a bit of orange flesh with the sun coming through her. Weirdness at its best.

I actually have been working really hard today tearing apart what I have apart now and I also made changes to the front porch to be sure I could make it look nice from inside the living room because it is going to be very visible. The not so nice view of the kitty beds will be hidden some what by the love seat in front of the window. A good thing.

It is my birthday today. I worked very hard and late last night to get the paper work done and scanned and sent to the funeral parlor so business can get going. I did not want to deal with any of it on my birthday. Even so I forgot to write and mail the check until I woke up this morning so still had to do that. I can feel hubby going at ta girl keep up the good work do not let me down now. Most of the accounts that needed notifying are done and changed and now I have to wait for death certificates for the others . Credit apps too from a few. OH Darn I just remembered one more. Where is my list to jot it down?? ARGH.

My best friend knows I can not eat cake or other goodies and do not want or need more stuff so she brought me a Rib Eye Steak and a Candle. So funny. Once cooked I will photo it with the candle in it. Every time I think of it I laugh. Her birthday is tomorrow and I want to see if we can get to town.

Back to work for a bit then I am going to nosh down on that steak. It has been a grueling 4 days. I am almost down to 140 pounds. That would be 90 pounds gone. I am sure I will gain some of it back when things settle down. That is ok. OH I did put whipped cream in my coffee this morning as a treat for me. It is totally allowed on my WOE.

Happy Birthday Shades! Yes, whipped cream is certainly acceptable. Take care yourself in all the little ways to make getting through these next day bearable.

Sending strength and caring thoughts your way.

Shades, I have to ask. What is a WOE?

good to 'hear' from you Shades. Glad you're keeping busy. I think it's great that you're moving your work table into the LR! You'll have more natural light and be more in the center of things instead of closed away. Make it into what works for you!

a rib-eye for your BD! what a great gift! I don't usually eat steak (or much meat) but for some reason I've had my mind on a good rib eye lately. they were on sale last week but I didn't get one (I was there one of the days I was sick and totally forgot about it). i'll be checking the ads shortly for this week to see if on sale somewhere again. It'll be several meals for me.

My heart and prayers continue to be with you as you go thru this week and process the many changes in your life.

Happy birthday, Chris. I see you're keeping busy with things you want to do interspersed with things you have to do. Your Someday has arrived.

Thanks Steph and Imhapopy. Yes my someday has arrived. See there really is a someday and I am getting after it. I di dnot finish the living room. It got too late last night so I am starting in on it as soon as I post this.

Caroling WOE is way of eating. I can not really say it is my diet because I am not dieting it is just the way I eat now that can keep me thin forever. I feel so much better being lighter in weight. Easier to squat down and get back up when needed. I do find it harder to carry things heavy though which I find so interesting because I was carrying so much more weight around daily. I can barely life 40 pounds now. Seems it should be easier but it is not.

OK I am off to get this room finished I hope. then maybe tomorrow I can have a play day. Course doing the living room was kind of fun for me. I think I am going to like it. It is now smaller and cozy in able to get the work bench on one end of the 19 foot long room. And since the TV is no longer the point of focus I can do this.

OK finally after a few snaffues with my plans not working I think I finally have it. I will need to take another photo as I think I have figured how to get Louise in the dinning room with Thelma. Was just sitting here looking that way and it kind of came to me so will give it a try after I rest a bit. Still a way to go with the little things. For now it is presentable.

Standing in dinning room looking towards living room and I want to add some more plants to the stand Eve and the horse are on. The room looks dark because it actually is so light and bright it dies some thing goofy to the camera.

From living room back to dinning room.

And finally my work table behind the green recliner in the living room. Going to love working in this space. Already LOVE having the curtains wide open to see out and let the light in. HA the table will not look like this for long.

oh, what awesome natural light coming in! It'll be great to do you work in there!

kitty is checking out the changes.

Instead of a pot of tea today I just made a cup. It was Earl Grey Supreme from Harneys. Very aromatic! Taste good too. Used up the last of the honey in the bottle so will have to make a trip to the natural food store where I buy a brand made locally.

I'm drinking lots of ice tea too. How do you brew yours murraysmom? I cold brew, I'm lazy. ha. Just fill the pitcher with cold water, throw in a big handful of tea bags (I use a generic brand black tea) and a big dried sprig of spearmint tea, cover, and put in the fridge overnight. I bought a baggie full of dry spearmint sprigs and leaves from an Amish produce stand for $1. It smells wonderful and makes the tea so refreshing.

First of all, a belated Happy Birthday to you, Shades!!! I don't think I was even on the computer yesterday so I am sorry I missed everyone's posts. And Shades, your rooms are spectacular!! I love how light they are and how wonderful to be so cozily surrounded by the things you love! Just great!!

Schoolhouse, when I make ice tea I just boil a couple of cups of water and then leave about 5 tea bags in the boiled water for a long time until it's black and then pour it into a pitcher and add cold water and some ice. I use what I want right then and then put the pitcher in the refrigerator. I like it unsweetened, but I'm sure you could add sugar by the glassful if you want.

Yours sounds really good and actually I have mint growing right outside my back door and I could add some of those leaves. Great idea.

Okay, I found last week's Tea thread. So much to catch up on, more old voices I remember dropping by, very friendly place still.

Sorry I missed your birthday, Shades. I know you were content and pleased to adjust your days to the new reality. Life goes on, as they say.

Here are a few photos of the White Dove, my cottage, after its remodel. I thank every one here who helped with the lengthy planning that made this effort a success. I think it is successful anyway. We just about rebuilt the whole place. It went from a 2br/1b to 2br/2ba + sitting room. We added 300 sq ft to it, so I suppose that makes it 1300sq ft max. Each bedroom is now a suite although the front BR's bath serves for visitors.

The window seat added in the dining room is under the south-facing pair of windows, flanked by base and wall cabinets which hold silverware and dishware and extra linens, and beneath the windowseat is two heavy duty file drawers for old papers. Low use storage there. I also mounted the TV on the wall opposite the windowseat, swivel/tilt bracket, and drilled a hole in the wall to access the closet behind which is the "electronics closet" for the wiring and such that creates such a mess in most instances. The closet is a godsend also for bulk storage of printing paper, T-paper, and P-towels, plus the storage of bathroom stuff for the world's smallest 3/4 bathroom.

Since I eliminated the addition of a formal entryway to the front (it was expendable when the expected objections of my DH surfaced, and so I had chosen it as the sacrificial lamb to keep the rest of my plan), I added a shutter screen to the living room, plus folding plantation shutters to the 60" wide cased opening between LR and DR. Now it can serve as a guest room.

All walls in the house are now Behr Ultrapure White latex enamel, except where I have Behr Threaded Gold latex enamel--dining/kitchen/sitting room. I'll save the rest of the descriptive stuff for a separate thread so you can find the entire photo collection there. I have a great many of my photos in several albums on Flickr, under my name Moccasinlanding.

Windowseat not finished but the frame is there. Trim not around "infinity" kitchen window either, but note there is no SILL. In bottom left, note the stainless undercounter GE 2 drawer fridge adjacent to the big fridge. Really handy.

TV on wall, has hole drilled in plaster wall to hide wiring and other electronics in a closet created for that purpose, plus there is my modem/router/printer/paper supplies, etc. The open arched shutter doors lead to the world's smallest bathroom and the adjacent front bedroom. Note yellow walls like sunshine, new flooring is Bellawood Select Ash 5" wide which I had repurchased more than 2 years before the remodel began.

This is a photo painted with Waterlogue app on my iPad. Taken from the doorway between the LR/DR facing the back door and window wall across the new back elevation. Note we knocked out the wall separating the two rooms, but left signs with a cased opening in front, but NO cased opening where the back wall of the original house ended. The added area is 10x31 in entirety, but half was added to the kitchen, half created the sitting room as part of the master suite (not visible from this photo).

Out front, I had a local iron fabricator make the curved hand rails after our cement contractor poured a wide short walkway. DH built the 2-legged bench (quite a story about THAT save for another time), and so far I haven't laid the old bricks around the bench--not in this photo, but it is done. The lamp is in the sun porch, which is sort of obscured by beaded curtains from SHOPWILDTHINGS. The remodel included new architectural shingle roofing, changed from my preference which was standing seam metal to placate DH.

More another time.

Wow, wow, wow, Moccasin!!! Your house looks like it came straight out of Architectural Digest!!! It's so beautiful and such clean lines. I love it. And I love the yellow colors, my favorite as well. Very cool lights over your sink and the window is amazing. I really love your entrance, the rounded steps and curved railings and archway. Love it, love it, love it!! I look forward to seeing more!!!

Thank you, MurraysMom! Sometimes I cannot discern details from the thumbnails of my photos, so I don't show what I expected. Guess I'll have to write a full description and then pick photos afterward for the bottom.

Glad you like it. The work made a big difference in the house. We'll never get our investment out of the house, but we are not planning to ever move;

Feet first, ask they say. Only way I'll leave.