Progress, Plans, and Plants

Yesterday (Friday) was cold but not wet, so it was a good day to get some indoor jobs done. I filled in nail holes in the baseboard, changed the linens and towels throughout the house, did the laundry, and worked with Rick on the budget.  Rick also tried to work a bit more on the plastered area in the garage, but since the weather was damp, the plaster was not dry, so there was little he could do.  Ah retirement... so exciting, we sit and watch the plaster dry!

Yesterday afternoon, in an attempt to get out of the house, we went to the grocery store and then visited Hudson's Furniture Store where we had seen a potential desk for the Florida room.  The decorator, Denise, suggested that we get a large table desk that I could use for my laptop computer, but that we also could use for crafts, puzzles, and sewing.  We found an off white large table desk with a center pullout drawer to accommodate a laptop computer and two smaller, side storage drawers.  The straight legs are tapered at the bottom so they will match the style of our living room tables.  Hudson's was having a January sale, so if one can believe the ticketed price, we got a good deal on the desk which was marked 50% off.  If a store can sell something for 50% off and still make a profit, you know that the item was way overpriced to begin with.  At any rate, the desk will be delivered to the store a week from this Monday, so to save $45, we will pick it up ourselves.  That way, we will have control over how it is transported to our house, and we do not have to wait around for delivery men.  The store is only a few miles from our house, so if the weather stays dry, we will not have any problems getting it home.

Computer drawing of cabinets for the laundry room.

We discussed our plans for the laundry room yesterday also.  Rick proposed that we put in the same kind of cabinets in the laundry room that we currently have in the kitchen.  That really makes sense since the door between the kitchen and laundry room will stay open most of the time.  We contacted our original kitchen cabinet contractor, and he sent us drawings and a bid on the cabinets today.

Front view of the cabinet plan.

As you can see by the attached drawings, we will have two 36" cabinets above the washer and dryer, a 30" cabinet above the utility sink, and a base cabinet to hold the Swanstone utility sink. We plan to tile the floor, but we will NOT have granite in the room, and the utility sink will not be a below-counter sink as the drawings suggest.  I may have to get a tall step stool to reach everything in the cabinets, but storage in these basement-less houses is always at a premium, so I will be happy to have a clean, dry place to store seldom used items.

Rick had a really rough night and awoke with a migraine headache or a touch of the flu today.  I tried to do quiet things to let him rest, so I finished patching the rest of the nail holes in the baseboard, arranged some paperwork, and mopped the floors.  We took a walk this morning, thinking that fresh air would make him feel better.

Kumquats growing in the back yard!

Today was a beautiful day: 72 degrees with a mild breeze.  After lunch, I went outside to do a little gardening.  In the corner of our neighbor's backyard is a kumquat tree, and right now the kumquats are just getting ripe.  The neighbor behind us actually died last February, so the house is vacant.  Some of the kumquats are falling into our yard, so I picked one up to try it.  I learned on the Web that a kumquat, which look like a miniature orange, is actually a citrus fruit that is highly nutritious. Each fruit has 2 - 5 seeds that need to be removed since they are bitter.  Once they are out, the whole fruit is ground, rind and all, and used for everything from pies to bread to salsa.  I cut one open, took out the seeds, and sucked out the meat of the tiny fruit.  Let me tell you, the flesh of a kumquat is very, Very, VERY sour!  Wow!  It may look like a miniature orange, but it has the kick of a lemon.

Bananas (or plantains?) hanging over the sidewalk.

We took our second walk of the day this afternoon since Rick was feeling better.  I had him take the attached picture because I could not believe that I could see bananas (or perhaps plantains?) hanging over the fence over the sidewalk in our neighborhood.  Having plants blooming in January is surreal for us, especially since I know that Wisconsin is having snow flurries today.  Warm weather, walking outside, getting hot in the sun in January are all new experiences for us, but I think with a little time I could really get used to this!