Racked Up

The pot rack is up!

You may remember that we thought Josh could take out the pot light and use his little periscope to look around in the ceiling. It turned out that the pot light is in a box, so that didn’t work. However, a stud finder worked well, as long as you don’t press it too hard against the ceiling. About an hour and $25 later, the rack was up.

I got out my copper pots and pans, which I haven't been able to use because I had no place to keep them in the kitchen. They needed some cleaning, because the copper had tarnished while they had been stored. A mix of white vinegar and salt, combined with a little elbow grease, did the trick.

As you can see from the first photo, I’ve added a few things. We ran out of hooks, but when I get more, I’ll be able to add a few more items to the rack.

You may remember the renovations going on in the bathroom over the summer. Just to refresh your memory, here’s how it was. First the existing shower, which was smaller than it looks, because there was a seat in the molded enclosure taking up half of the floor space. (It’s behind the towel.)

We also had taken the doors off the closets on each side of the soaking tub because they opened into the closets. We had Josh install them so they open out.

This is what it looks like now.

Of course, we needed a shower. What we didn’t need was this huge soaking tub.

This is what we did. We’re happy with our new shower. It even has controls that allow us to adjust the temperature easily.

Besides his and hers closets on each side of the new shower also have a linen closet in the hall. What we needed was a cedar closet for all our knitted items. We had been carrying around some cedar boards left over from a closet in our house in Dana Point, California, which we moved into back in 1987. We didn’t have enough to finish this project, so we bought more. Then shelves went in to hold plastic bins for our woolens. Charlie did all the work himself. 

I have more plastic bins coming this week for the rest of our woolens, which are still in big plastic zipper bags in my closet.

I finished the first clue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL on Wednesday.

Here’s what I had by Saturday night. The second clue changed to the other color. I’m about halfway through the second clue.

I received one more 1942 birthday gift from our daughter this week, a coffee mug. It’s covered with important things to know about 1942. (The Battle of Stalingrad isn’t mentioned.)

I’m still doing this on my iPad. Here’s an update on my laptop, however. I learned on 

Friday that it had been repaired and was ready to ship back. When I checked on Saturday, it had been shipped. When it arrives at Best Buy, I’ll go pick it up., which will probably be this week. I managed to get Friday's story done on the iPad. It’s getting easier to manipulate the photos and enlarge them. To enlarge a photo in Blogger using an iPad, you have to pull the text box up close to the top so the bottom of the photo barely shows and then tap the photo, then pick the size. It might take several tries.  It’s still much easier on the laptop. One thing that’s easier on the iPad is typing. I may continue to type the stories and my blog on the iPad and then put the photos in using the laptop. I should have it back before I have to do another story. 😅

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL, the Talvinen cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating, of course).

What's on my loom: I still plan to make some placemats. Right now, it’s shielding our Christmas tree (in its box) so we don’t trip over it.

What's on my sewing machine: Still ready for back of T-shirt quilt. 🙄 (One advantage of having to use the iPad is the access to emojis.) 

What's in my hoop: Whole Cloth quilt, still no progress, but it’s calling me. I may try to get it done after I finish the Mystery KAL.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: "Holly and Sam Get New Wheels," Emil gets a letter from his friend Holly and finds out that Sam is in the choir at school. She got to ride in the big school bus with her classmates to a concert. The dolls are excited to hear all about it.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to listening to Das Vermächtnis der Drachenreiter (Eragon 1) by Christopher Paolini. I’m about halfway through the story. 

What's in my wine glass: El Accorde Merlot 2019 from San Juan, Argentina. Nice.

What's my tip of the week: Tarnished copper and brass can be cleaned without using regular tarnish remover. Wet a sponge with white vinegar, sprinkle on some regular salt and start rubbing. Add more vinegar and salt as needed. Finish with a nice bath in hot soapy water.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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