NIXA JOURNAL: The Rest of the Story

The house tour continued:

The side of the dining room I couldn't photo because the days were so dreary.

The family room beyond the fireplace.

Behind the slider blind is a screened patio. I haven't evicted the outdoor cats yet, but I'll be cleaning up their heated houses and washing all the blankets I use for insulation and move them into my overstuffed garage until next winter.

The jars on the coffee table are filled with different kinds of cat food and treats.

I'm working on getting all these cookbooks in the two baskets into the shelves in the kitchen or into the bags to go to Rita.

I cut the pictures from a how-to-paint book and put them in cheap frames. Sun has done a number on the ones on the left, so time for a do over. Sometime. After termites.

Two ways to enter the kitchen - the doorway on the right or the doorway from the left. The doorway on the left also leads to my bedroom.

Kitchen

These shelves now contain all my cookbooks and all my loose recipes (in binders) except the Around the World collection I've had for years. They're in the garage in a tub while they await the decision of their fate - will they stay or will they go? I'd have to store them in the bathroom. They're really neat. A hardback book of the the country and then a small spiral-bound book with the recipes.

The three boxes on bottom are full of the cookbook discards, and the boxes on top of them (plus one more) were full of fiction from the garage and were picked up by Rita yesterday. She didn't have room for everything in her SUV. Do I deserve an attagirl?

There's a pantry on the side with the desk, and jammed, of course.

The kitchen photos were cut from an Avon calendar; mats cut by Michaels. Worked out great, because there were twelve months, and I needed seven pictures. You can't see it, but the names of the verbs are shown.

Beyond the kitchen is a breakfast area. Both chests are stuffed with cloth napkins. I think I got a little carried away.

I cut the pictures from a large wall calendar, bought some cheap frames and painted them, and had mats cut at Michaels.

Turn right between the kitchen and the breakfast area, and you're in the laundry room.

Off the laundry is a powder room, which is now the kitty bathroom.

This is the area between the living room, my bedroom, and the kitchen. The door straight ahead houses the furnace, water heater, ironing board, vacuum, and rug shampooer.

Bedroom

I bought my bedroom pictures online from All Posters and had them framed and matted at Martin's in Springfield. The prints cost $54 and the framing cost $661. Lesson learned.

And beyond is the dressing area. After I decluttered, a friend remarked that it almost looks Spartan now.

There's an empty shelf behind the door next to the tub where I could put those cookbooks. What do you think?

The door by the right sink leads to the toilet and shower.

Another stuffed linen closet.

The door by the left sink leads into my closet, my overflowing closet.

This perpetual calendar sits in my bathroom. When I saw this, I thought, "Wow! Things are so good already, maybe I'm going to win the lottery." Then I got the news that my garage has to be drilled for termites. I don't think I'll believe that calendar anymore.

But - in anything bad, there's also something good. I was already working on decluttering (hence my hours getting my recipes and cookbooks organized), but this news really lit a fire under my tail. I have to move everything out 3' from every garage wall so they can drill holes and put poison in the ground. How that poison can travel from the garage at the front of the house to the flower bed behind the house is a mystery to me. I found a few little white guys when digging in back, and then when the inspector came out, we had to really dig and dig to find any. I was told that Missouri has a law which says the garage thing has to be done. They can no longer spot treat. They did a spot treat on the side of my house in 2018 - SEVEN years ago. In checking with three other companies, I found that to be not true. No law. My guess is that they just want to make more money. I would have chucked the company who told me about the "law," but I've used them in the past and was satisfied, and they're a lot less expensive. And now you know why I had all those other boxes of books with the discarded cookbooks. I'm already working on the garage.

Brother Bill, Niece Christy, and Nephew Will came for Easter dinner, and I'd already discarded most of my Easter things, so I gathered up what I had, plus the white rabbits, plus the cabbage and carrots to pass along.

The table was rather blah.

But we had lots of food.

Ham with cherry sauce

Grilled pineapple slices

Cheesy potato casserole

Sweet potato disks

Baked beans

Steamed green beans

Deviled eggs

24-hour slaw

Pickles, radishes, celery sticks, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes

Sister Schubert wheat rolls

Peach Quick Cobbler

Strawberry Cake

Vanilla Ice Cream w/optional strawberry drizzle (actually strawberry freezer jam)

Iced Tea

Lindt chocolate bunnies for takeaways.

And then my other niece picked up most of the carrots and cabbage, and some of the white bunnies and Elly took the rest to the leave-and-take table at her apartments.

Then we had Cinco de Mayo

And Christy took the orange and goldenrod dishes, tablecloth, placemats, napkin rings, pepper dish, sombrero, centerpiece, glasses (plus four trays which match), the orange basket, and the orange owl salt and peppers.

I'd already discarded Easter and Cinco de Mayo in the past, so I had to improvise. Remember these?

If I do Easter or Cinco de Mayo again, it will have to be on everyday dishes with everyday placemats and no tablecloth. Like tomorrow, when we're having meatloaf and using the lime green dishes (like the orange and gold ones), so I can give them to Christy.

I have a new recipe which is quick and easy; good way to use overripe bananas or Bisquick. It's not very sweet, and doesn't taste much like bananas, but I like it. Perfect with a little butter and a cup of coffee or tea.

BANANA WALNUT BREAD

2 cups Bisquick®
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
1/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 350°F.

Combine the first three ingredients and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Stir in bananas and milk.

Add the dry ingredients with a large spoon, just until moistened.

Pour batter into a 9 X 5 X 3 loaf pan and bake 40-45 minutes.

Cool a little before cutting.

And now I have my work cut out for me. My garage looks a royal mess, but all the boxes are labeled (the ones with books just have a number, but the titles are inventoried on my computer so I can find what I'm seeking.) I know what's where. The problem is that I have no room to move the things from the shelves so I can move the shelves.

Kathy is coming to visit May 21-May 28, so I scheduled my termite work for July 15. Those little brats won't chew my house down by then; probably will still be in the mulch in that one spot. I will, however, try to finish before then so I can move on with my life.

All those cabinets are full of dishes.