Roni Recovers and Reads in 2021: 3rd Edition

Looking ahead!

Hi, I'm Roni. I live in San Diego with a small dog and five cats. I am planning a big move this summer, so the excitement du jour is what came down from the attic today. I figure I might have the attic emptied out by the end of May if I average two boxes a day. The picture above is my new house.

I am primarily a genre reader, science fiction and fantasy, with a smattering of all the other categories! I visit you if you visit me, although my frequency of visits is down at the moment with everything else that is going on.

My history of 2020 is chronicled in my first thread here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/327934#n7405462

Goals for 2020

Read 150 books and 50,000 pages. 184 books, 58,525 pages
Read at least 30 books off my own bookshelves. 16
Acquire no more than 80 books. 45 I did read 31 of the books I acquired this year
Send 50 books out the door. 17 books, 15 through PaperBackSwap this month. I have others waiting for schools and libraries to open up.
Read at least 12 nonfiction books—10

Goals for 2021

I don’t think I am going to push myself this year, so I will keep the same goals. Except I know I am going to deaccession a lot more books this year so as not to move them.

Read 150 books and 50,000 pages.
Read at least 30 books off my own bookshelves. Acquire no more than 80 books.
Acquire no more than 80 books.
Send 50 books out the door.
Read at least 12 nonfiction books.

Books Read in 2021

January
1. The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer
2. When the King Comes Home by Caroline Stevermer
3. Magic Be With You by Jamie Brindle
4. Owl Be Home for Christmas by Diane Duane
5. A College of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
6. A Scholar of Magics by Caroline Stevermer
7. Hollowpox by Jessica Townsend
8. How the Multiverse Got Its Revenge by K. Eason
9. The Apple Stone by Nicholas Stuart Gray
10. The Tears of the Salamander by Peter Dickinson

February
11. Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier
12. The Time of Green Magic by Hilary McKay
13. The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman
14. Trader's Leap by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
15. The Debatable Land by Graham Robb
16. The Deep End by Julie Mulhern

Books Acquired in 2021

January
1. Afro Puffs Are the Antennae of the Universe by Zig Zag Claybourne
2. OWL Be Home for Christmas by Diane Duane
3. Trader's Leap by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
4. Suitors and Sabotage by Cindy Anstey
5. Oddity by Eli Brown
6. The Deep End by Julie Mulhern

Welcome, fellow readers. I may need to give up on the tickers as they just aren't displaying correctly this year!
How is everyone?

Happy new thread, Roni! I'm doing well, I've just finished yoga and dinner after work, and am now deciding how I want to spend the rest of my quiet evening at home before heading to bed. (I'm leaning towards podcasts and knitting. Somehow I don't have much energy after the sun is down)

Pottery day today!



The glazes ran like crazy on the white clay so the three bowls on the right all have chips or glaze bumps on the bottom rims. But the tops look nice.

Love those blue bowls, Roni. The runny glazes are interesting, although not so much if chips develop.

I also re-admired your house photo at the top. Is that a new one from the ones before? I adore the dining table and chairs.

>6 ronincats: Edited to agree, the ticker designs are nice but the font is overwhelming isn't it? I'm not using them either.
And thread 3 already. My gosh, how busy!

>1 ronincats: Love those polished floors on your topper, Roni.

Happy new thread xx

>7 bell7: Hey, Mary. What, no projects on the new house today? Me neither, thanks to pottery.
>9 SandyAMcPherson: This is a photo that was available on the realtor.com link with all the house photos that I posted early on, but not one I've posted directly on the thread before, Sandy. Thought I should mix it up! And I did arrange to have that table and chairs included in the purchase. Not sure about the light fixture though...
>10 PaulCranswick: Thank you, Paul.

Happy new thread, Roni. Are those beautiful blue bowls going to grace that wonderful table up top?

Maybe, Reba. I was operating under the assumption that the bottom cabinets in my kitchen were black, because that's how they looked to me in the realtor photos, but my friend assures me they are a very pretty blue, so I will be changing my accessorizing plans for that area of the house.

Back on Thread 2, Roni, if I may:
Like Laura, I have The Debatable Land, first seen from Lucy/@sybilline, which review totally hooked me.
I have it WL-ed at the library, but haven't yet bumped to an actual request.

I had other things I waited a long time to be available. It was a lesson I learned the hard way last year when the book cascade was overwhelming and I started books that were 'snagged' back (e-books you can't hang onto). So this year I resolved to request only when I really was ready. I'm hoping for the physical book of 'The Debatable Land' so I can savour it a bit more easily. For some reason the library is loaning the physical books for 28 days now.

I have real difficulty making up my mind 'what to read next'. I didn't have such a dithery time making such a simple decision until this year... anyone else in a similar situation?

>1 ronincats: I don't recall this angle on the dining room. It's such a beautiful home!

>8 ronincats: You know I love those lush blues!

I love that half-and-half bowl. Pity about the glazes - though I picked up one bowl from a friend that had that problem, and I glued a cork coaster onto the bottom with careful cutouts around the glaze bumps. It now sits flat and quietly, and shouldn't chip. It's a little harder (more delicate) to wash, but worth it.

Happy new thread, Roni. Things look like they are really moving along well for you. When you make your first trip, how long will you be away and do you board your pets when you go away?

I love those blue bowls, up there in >8 ronincats:, especially the 2 on the right!

Happy new thread!

>1 ronincats: Lovely view of your soon-to-be home.
>8 ronincats: Fabulous cups and bowls.

Happy New Thread! Gorgeous dining room!

Oh look, that's me!!

Happy new one!

>20 ronincats: That's my bedtime routine!

>8 ronincats: and >13 ronincats: My favorite colors!

>1 ronincats: Glorious! Congratulations on the furniture along with the house.

Happy new thread, Roni!

>8 ronincats: Shiny bowls, especially that centre one. Oh, wait; is that glazed half white? Good illusion :0)

>13 ronincats: Good thing you found out before you started accessorising.

>20 ronincats: There's a word...? ... of course there's a word for it. Though I can't work out how it's derived, unless it's related to 'cubicle'?

LOVE everything in every picture! That's the way to start a new thread!!!!!

Happy new thread, Roni!
>1 ronincats: It looks like you will be able to feel comfortable in this beautiful house.
>8 ronincats: The bowls look great, I like the color gradients.
>20 ronincats: OK, I have a different hairstyle, different glasses, don't wear stockings or scarves in bed, but otherwise it could be a picture of me ;-)
I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Happy new thread, Roni!

Those wood floors are just gorgeous.

Happy Friday, Roni! Happy New Thread! Love the topper and all that wood. Looks like plenty of living space too.

Happy new thread, Roni! I think>20 ronincats: is more or less a picture of most of us, lol!

Happy new thread Roni!

>1 ronincats: I so love the pictures of your new house - it looks absolutely gorgeous.

>8 ronincats: That's a shame about the chips and glaze bumps but I love that shade of blue against the white clay.

Happy new thread, Roni!

Those blue bowls are really appealing.

I like that blue in your new kitchen!

In the beginning I was having trouble with the tickers- because like everyone else keeping the boffins busy they changed the format- and then I realized that I wasn't doing something necessary, some little thing . . . and now it's all fine. Of course now I am not sure what it is I wasn't doing that I do now.

Happy new thread! Love the pottery! Gorgeous!

Happy new thread, Roni. It sounds like you are making good progress with your attic. I love the blue cabinets.

Happy new thread, Roni!

I'm glad that you were able to get the table and chairs included when you bought the house. They are gorgeous.

Happy new thread! Glad you liked The Debatable Land. 😀

happy new thread, Roni.

>1 ronincats: Everyone loves it, and I can't see it!

>8 ronincats: I like the two dark blue mugs in front, nice and sturdy looking.

Hi Roni! Happy New Thread. Loving all your attic adventures! I got hit by lots of Bb's on your previous thread when people were recommending epic fantasy. I've got the Cherryh fantasy series starter on my Kindle, I've got an Omnibus of the first three Vlad Taltos books coming in the post and I've Wishlisted The Dragonbone Chair!

Hi Roni! Is that a picture of the counters and cupboards? It's beautiful!

>8 ronincats: that one on the far left wants to come stay with me... ;)

>13 ronincats: nice! Not too bright a blue, either.

So today was 4 big rubbermaid bins of clothing, full of long-sleeved shirts, knit tops, sweaters and pants, and it's all going except a dozen knit tops, favorites that were packed away for being too tight when I was a little heavier but perfect now, and a few pairs of really nice pants that I can almost fit into. I count that a success. More tomorrow, but I had to stop to go get my hair cut.

>38 The_Hibernator: Going backward, Rachel, here's the full view of that side of the kitchen. Can you see why I thought they were black?


>37 HanGerg: The Cherryh is science fiction, but they are all good, Hannah!
>36 EllaTim: So sorry, Ella, that you can't see my photos.
>35 drneutron: Thanks, Jim.
>34 karenmarie: I figured the previous owners wouldn't be eager to cart that table out of there, Karen.
>33 BLBera: Thanks, Beth.
>32 ChelleBearss: Thank you, Chelle.
>31 sibylline: I played around a little with the tickers, and they are better now, Lucy, but the text still seems to disappear at the edges.
>30 katiekrug: Thanks, Katie.
>29 souloftherose: Thank you, Heather.
>28 CassieBash: Yes, Cassie, but I still think it should mean someone who reads in a cubicle.
>27 msf59: I think so, Mark.
>26 scaifea: Thanks, Amber.
>25 SirThomas: You made me laugh, Thomas.
>24 LizzieD: Thank you, Peggy.
>23 humouress: Yes, I was going to keep the black and white check kitchen towels and get rid of the ones with blue in them, so definitely a good thing, Nina.
>22 justchris: Thanks, Chris.
>21 figsfromthistle: Thank you, Anita.
>19 SilverWolf28:, >18 quondame:, >17 jessibud2: Thank you, Silver, Susan and Shelley!
>16 jjmcgaffey: I may keep these ones for myself, Jenn, so ignore the flaws. I did dremel the bottoms smooth.
>15 richardderus: First time I've posted that view in a thread, Richard.
>14 SandyAMcPherson: I am having so much trouble getting into books this year too, Sandy. If there is too much violence, war, politics, strife...I just bounce off of it. I want character-oriented, generally positive, emotionally warm stories. Bujold, Lee and Miller, Heyer, those type of stories. Of course, all my holds came in at once and I picked up 7 books at the library yesterday. Having trouble getting into Unnatural Magic--starts with war, violence and strife. Will I be able to get beyond that? It's due back next week, so we'll know soon.

Hi, fuzzi; you dropped by while I was writing the above.

Yes, they totally look black.

>41 ronincats: funny how that happens, hmm?

>40 ronincats: 'If there is too much violence, war, politics, strife...I just bounce off of it. I want character-oriented, generally positive, emotionally warm stories.'

Yep, me too. I'm finding romance novels a safer bet than science fiction or fantasy at the moment but sometimes even those get too fraught for me.....

I'll be interested in your thoughts on Unnatural Magic if you do get further with it - I'm always intrigued by a new historical fantasy type story.

>40 ronincats: I'd've *sworn* they were black, too! I'm glad they're not, since the cobaltier end of blue is such a beautiful shade.

*smooch*

>31 sibylline: Lucy, I hope you find out what obscure 'thing' one must do to have the counters format nicely!

Since I'm trying not to focus on the number of reads, I haven't used them this year on Talk, but I did want to put one in my profile, where I won't see it very often. Other members have expressed frustration as well.

>40 ronincats: >23 humouress: I’m so glad I’m not the only one who co-ordinates their kitchen towels with their kitchen colours. (Although at the moment, my towels and accessories are the colours I want my kitchen to be, when my husband gives me the go-ahead for my long-awaited kitchen renovation.)

>46 SandyAMcPherson: >31 sibylline: Yes, please do let us know, if you remember. Though I’m not using tickets much at the moment since my reading this year is off to a very slow start.

>20 ronincats: That is me also, I love to read in bed it is my favourite place to read, I am though thinking about investing in a reading chair.

>42 The_Hibernator:,>45 richardderus: I am quite happy that they are NOT black, Nina and Richard, not being one of those people who think that black and white kitchens are all the thing. Well, they may be, but not MY thing. But this means that I think my color palette in the new house is already determined. For 30 years, I have enjoyed my house in Ivy with touches of rose, burgundy and forest green.


Now, the back part of the main house has gray carpet, as does upstairs, brand new, and the back rooms have gray walls. Although in this house I have gone with rich wall tones, I don't think I'm going to be messing with the paint in the new one, at least for the time being. So it looks like my color palette for the main floor, at least, will be that blue and gray. Which I can live with--my kitchen was blue and white before I went with the green and rose scheme. I'm not sure yet what my accent colors will be. And it means I can use the practically new sofa back in the she-shack for a while upstairs in the living room, as it is a dark blue. And I'd already been looking at this rug...


>44 souloftherose: I will, Heather. Just not getting much reading done right now.
>47 humouress: There are people who DON'T coordinate their kitchen towels with their kitchen colors???? I am shocked! Really.
>48 BBGirl55: Me too, Bryony. About both.

So, 12 bins of clothing down from the attic so far, and the contents of one of those hanging wardrobes with the plastic covering. 8 or 9 bins and 3 wardrobes to go. Almost everything is going straight into the yard sale pile (actually, pile of bins). I have a whole bunch of turtlenecks, a big bin full, and some pants and capris that fit but weren't out in my closet, 4 pair of cotton pjs that I will now use and toss the polyester ones that interact with my skin yucky in the sale bin. Another day and I may be ready to store all the sale stuff out back for the nonce.

>49 ronincats: The greens in that rug are more suited to the current house's palette. The slate-y blue isn't grey enough for the new house's carpets or blue enough for the powerful blue in the kitchen.

Would this go upstairs, maybe, in the room with the gallery windows?

I love grey and blue as a color palette (although I've never managed to have it for one reason or another) and I think that's a lovely rug. Glad your (almost) new sofa will work well too.

As to kitchen towels -- tea towels are my favorite souvenir because they're small and easy to pack, they're fairly inexpensive and every time I use one it brings back happy trip memories. So, no my kitchen towels don't match my kitchen colors and that's OK with me :)

>50 richardderus: Which may be why I am so attracted to it! The rug would be in the living room, quite a few feet away from either the cabinets or the gray walls/carpet in the office, so could blend, but I will consider carefully. I love the colors but not so much the super large scale of the floral design (that's an 8x10). And what looks like gray to me in the rug may be more of a taupe. When I get back in April, I can see the cabinets for myself--they look more a dusty blue than a cobalt to me but photos can be so deceiving. (Black!!) Thank you so much for the feedback.
>51 RebaRelishesReading: Hi, Reba. It's one thing if your kitchen is just kind of basic neutral without a strong color scheme--and you have a theme!--but if there is a strong color scheme, I like to have towels that coordinate. But it's like books, what works for you!

It's kind of funny what they did and did not do, especially upstairs. There's that new gray carpeting in all the bedrooms, but they left old carpet in the 4 closets tucked under the eaves in the corners of the house. In the west room that would have originally been a bedroom, was converted to a kitchen when the house was two apartments in the forties, and then was converted into a laundry room when it was reunited, they did not renovate at all, and it shows. But it's such a funky little room!

Oof! - hadn't realised I hadn't dropped in before, or at least not commented. Belated Happy New Thread, Roni! I love your blue pottery, particularly the three on the right. :)

Your pottery is lovely, Roni, and I especially love the deep blue mugs.

I like the blue of your kitchen cabinets, too. It looks a lot like a dark blue that I was contemplating myself, thinking I'd do both top and bottom, but looking at that layout I wonder if it would look nice to have just dark blue on the bottom and leave the top white (repainted, but white) and have some sort of tile put up behind the sink (the layout of my upper and lower cabinets is very similar to yours with the sink in the middle and such).

I like the look of the rug, but will trust your and Richard's judgment of whether or not it will "go" - I have a terrible time telling sometimes, and it's especially hard to see the true color of blue/grey in photos.

What a funky little room for the laundry room! I love that you have that nice big sink, though. I might need to put one in someday for handwashing.

I love all the character in your new house! And I have laundry room envy. Our washer and dryer are just stuck in a small closet in a hallway upstairs. It's on my "maybe someday" list for a future remodel.

>52 ronincats: too bad that's a laundry room...I was thinking that the nook in the corner (with two windows) would be a sweet place for a small desk.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of grey; it was the uniform colour of one of the schools I went to (my sister refuses to think about wearing brown, which was the colour of another of our schools' uniforms). I like blues although in our house, only the boys' room has blues (mainly aqua and a couple of walls are dark blue, for the 'deep space' part of the room) and I like the colours you have in your present house. But, aside from any major stuff you want to get out of the way and done before you move in, you've got time to play with colour schemes and have fun with it once you've settled in.

Belated happy new thread, Roni.

I love the way you share the pre-moving chores. Your attic must be large!

Are the closets with the old carpeting in the rooms with new grey carpet? If so, that is really weird! I suppose you could take the old carpet out and replace it with vinyl or wood which would be easy to care for in a closet.

But isn't it fun to just be thinking about all of the possibilities? We're getting down to the fix things part of moving which is less fun than the decorating part. Garage door opener had to be fixed last week. Now toilet in guest bath is leaking. Found a puddle on the floor there the other day. Plumber came yesterday and says it's in the wall not the toilet itself (and I think he's right because even with water turned on at the wall, nothing happens if you don't use the toilet) so now I'm looking for a contractor or good handyman. Someone comes today to look at our thermostat (that's really more to either teach us to use it or replace it with something simpler rather than repair), Thursday an arborist is coming to give us a quote on tree-trimming. We have a BUNCH of trees that are about 50' tall within 15' or so of the house and one of them had three BIG branches break from the weight of the recent snow.

Hah. My kitchen, until last November, was white - well, white and almond. The upper cabinets in your laundry room are almost a perfect match for mine. The fridge is almond (though it looks like I'll be getting a stainless steel one), the floor is beige-y marble, and the new(ish) countertops are almond. Now it's almond and wood, with antique brass knobs instead of those silver balls, and I'm planning to paint the (few) walls yellow (deciding what yellow is still to come). My towels don't match any of those colors, they're just colors I like - blue, dark blue and russet for the hand towels, wildly assorted linen dish towels (mostly printed on white, though one is printed on red).

>52 ronincats: It's a great little room! It does need new wallpaper (ew!) but in its way is a terrific time capsule. And I really like the windows!

So my LT window disappeared halfway through my replies here. I hate it when that happens. I did NOT close the window...

So to recap:
>53 lyzard: Welcome, Liz, and thanks.
>54 bell7: Blues can be so difficult, Mary, because there are so many, many variations.
>55 curioussquared: It will be an adjustment, Natalie, but so will the whole living on more than one-story situation. I plan to be like Betty White, though, who says she gets her exercise going up and down her stairs.
>56 fuzzi: I agree, Susan, but I will be putting my desk in almost the same but expanded spot on the main floor, so don't regret it too much.

>57 humouress: I don't mind gray, Nina--my first bathroom here was gray and white in the days when gray and mauve was a THING. And my first bedroom was a blue, sky blue. So I can live with those colors. Also, the majority of my wardrobe is in those two colors.
>58 FAMeulstee: Yes, It is over the entire house, with a 12 foot peak in the center, so too much room to stick stuff up there and forget it, Anita.
>59 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, exactly, Reba. And that is just what I will do. The previous owner says the floor underneath the carpet is douglas fir (which is what all my floor here are) and so I may be able to just pull up the old carpets and lightly sand and finish that. Oh, definitely the less fun part, but so necessary.
>60 jjmcgaffey: My kitchen before this incarnation was blue and white, Jenn, so I still have some blue towels from then.
>61 richardderus: Those windows are the back gable of the house, Richard, and wasted on that room, imho. What, you don't care for that wallpaper? How about the carpet?

>62 ronincats: *faintly* Grey and mauve was a thing??

I love that back room with the big window, Roni. How lovely to be able to look out on the back plot like that. Will you have much to do in the garden?

I am loving all these pictures, thanks Roni.

The new house looks like it has a lot of character! I love learning about house histories - so many stories within the walls! My current house does not have much history - it is only about 6 years old, but the land has a good story.

>62 ronincats: Hollow out that tree stump, add some potting soil, and you have a planter, lol!

>64 charl08: me too. I'd use that area for a mini-conservatory with plants all over!

But that's me.

>67 CassieBash: I like how you think!

I just love that topper. Your new house is going to be such a sweet home.

Back to the prior thread: I LOVED the game Mastermind as a youngster. I liked Battleship, too.

I'm impressed with your clear-out and cataloguing and enjoying the planning for the new space. I haven't had Kansas on my "must revisit" list but when you are there that could very well change!

I'm loving all the house pictures, Roni! You have a lot of fun as well as work ahead.
I, on the other hand, am a deep forest green person, and that's what I'd want for my kitchen cabinets. Then I'd have fun deciding on how to play the rest of the room. Creamy yellow? Lemon yellow in small quantities? Not happening here!

I'm glad I'm not the one moving, but I'm loving your photos.

>62 ronincats: I felt it unnecessary to comment on that carpet...it's old and tired and should go.

I don't know about which room it's on being as important as what that gallery gives you the option to do! What a gorgeous space to turn into a reading nook. It's got a/c vents already on the wall and a fan for summer heat. I myownself would rig a long curtain rod over the cased opening, on the glass side, and have a full-width sailcloth drape made to go down to the floor for wintertime and gather-hooks under the curved top windows to catch the sailcloth to block out overly sunny summer days.

>63 humouress: Yes, it was. Be glad you are too young to remember, Nina!

Hello to Charlotte, Stephen, Jess, Cassie, Fuzzi, Ellen, Peggy, and Lori. Thanks for the house love. The garden appears to be confined to an area along the back fence, and I will probably keep it there for at least the first year. The tree was just cut down, Cassie, due to developing splits and I am hoping that stump won't give me problems.

To be clear, Richard, the windows to the laundry room are in the top left of the photo, on the second floor. The "conservatory", with the window wall, is an addition to the house and is undoubtedly where I will spend much of my time. With the computer desk/shelf system along the south wall (it's a western exposure), and shelves along part of the north wall, there will still be room for a reading chair. The area opens off of the dining room and I plan to put a murphy bed along the wall across from the closet (where the day bed was for the previous owners), so that my mother would be able to spend the night, as she can't handle steps. The addition is the space beyond the arch.

Evidently the owners before these last ones added it when the wife had to basically live on the main floor and this was her quilting room, with a table all along under the windows. Those shelves are really too deep for books but must have been perfect for fabric.

I confess, I have been wondering how to manage coverings for those windows. Although they are double-paned, with a western exposure there will be a lot of sun, and it is an awkward space to cover when needed, and yet leave open as much as possible. I'm trying to visualize what you are describing...

ETA and the tree used to be right there to provide extensive shade during the summer and now it isn't.

Enjoying all the previews of the home, Roni and it will be fascinating to see it take shape under your loving hand. x

>73 ronincats: you can use reflective film on the windows that can't be covered easily with shades/blinds, aka window tint. We used some on the windows when we lived in South Carolina.

OIC
The tree makes the space make perfect sense, so it's a pity that it's gone.

Walk into the conservatory and turn to face the house. At the top of the wall with the a/c vent on it, imagine a long plain wooden or metal dowel as a curtain rod:

with plain supports all along the wall *under* the a/c vent:

The whole length of the cased opening, basically, then gets some absolutely plain, solid-color grommet-hung heavy material.

The overhead windows are tough, though I'd recommend paper blinds mounted on the wall with hooks on the wooden (?) bar at the top of the flat windows so you could draw them down and over the curved windows while leaving the flat ones to be blocked from the house by the grommeted curtain. You can get hooky-things at Restoration Hardware to reach up to the draws on the paper blinds.

We had much the same thing - the porch on the back of our house got turned into a living room with arched windows, which was wonderful while our big elm was out there but turned into a hotbox when we had to cut it down (it started splitting in the middle and threatening to drop half of itself either onto the house or onto our neighbor's garage). We never did find a solution...but I swear I've seen something for curved windows since. Lemme look around.

These guys are in Connecticut, so not directly helpful, but this kind of thing does exist.

https://blindandshadeproducts.com/shades-and-blinds/sunroom-shades/

>76 richardderus: I can see that blocking the sunroom from inner room but not protecting the glassed in area itself. I think I'm just being dense and not seeing what you are picturing.
>78 jjmcgaffey: Yes, that looks like just the thing, Jenn. I'll have to see if anything is available locally. And that's why they cut this tree down as well.

I bet you are on tenderhooks to actually get there and see your house in person. Photos are great but one really needs to be in the space and see the colors in the natural light. I think you are going to have a lot of fun assembling all the finishing touches for the house, Roni. I am just so happy that you are taking us all on this ride with you.

>78 jjmcgaffey: oh wow, that looks perfect. My concern would be how expensive they'd be.

Hey! They're in my home town in Connecticut, how cool.

>78 jjmcgaffey: those look perfect

Happy Newish Thread, Roni.

It's hard to believe that first photo is a puzzle. It looks so real.

Moving is such a big project. I love your positive attitude toward it, and the treasures you're finding in the attic. The new house looks great. I can see why you plan to spend most of your time in the conservatory. I love a space filled with light. That's a good plan for when your mother stays over.

>78 jjmcgaffey:
A neighbor of mine here in Tuscaloosa has these on their "sunporch." They are remote controlled so they can open them and close them to control light. Of course, their sunporch is on the east side of the house, so they don't have as much heat as this one will have. But these would be a great investment even if they cost $10,000.00. It will make the house much more liveable and add value in that regard.

I would also plant a new tree. It won't help you but it will help the next people who live there. Just plant it farther away from the house.

>80 DeltaQueen50: Hi, Judy! I am on tenterhooks, and wake up in the night thinking of all that needs doing, but I love that you are enjoying the ride!
>81 fuzzi:, >82 RebaRelishesReading: They do look just the thing, don't they?
>83 jnwelch: Joe, thanks for pointing out that I forgot to edit the first message to take out the puzzle reference when I cut and pasted from the last thread! Fixed now.
>84 benitastrnad: I actually agree, Benita. I think having something so precise and with remotes would be well worth it given the amount of time I expect to spend in that space.

Pottery day today. I didn't do much last week, a quick-and-dirty landscape on a plate. This week I did what I had planned last week, probably my last day of throwing on the wheel: 2 plates, two salad bowls, two soup bowls and two mug bodies. Thinking of glazing them to go in the new house.


Finished a book! The first one this thread!



Book #16 Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire (433 pp.)

Book 10 of the Incryptid series, this one picks up after the cliffhanger ending of Imaginary Numbers and completes the action. Amazon delivered it on Tuesday, and I finished it yesterday. Obviously, don't start here!

So--my ability to get engrossed in and rapidly progress through a character-driven fantasy has led to the decision to DNF Unnatural Magic. It's not bad, but it keeps me at a distance from the characters and the action hasn't really started yet at 109 pages in. I'm not feeling the joy and I choose to move on. The same with The Red and the Blue by Steve Kornacki. It's a great book, actually, but I am just so burnt out on political tribalism already, and this meticulous, in-depth analysis of it is just deeply depressing at the moment, 54 pages in. Moving on to other books.

>72 richardderus: And yet you did comment ;0)

>73 ronincats: Very glad! But one of my American cousins did have a grey and red phase and a dark yellow with dark pink phase in the '80s.

>80 DeltaQueen50: Quite so. I'm not commenting much but I'm riding along.

>78 jjmcgaffey: That's what I was imagining, though I didn't know if it was possible.

>85 ronincats: I like that landscape. Different from your usual style though.

>85 ronincats: This looks awesome, Roni.

>85 ronincats: Nice! Don't forget to bring at least a few pieces featuring cats. I'm sure at least one room in your new home will be cat-themed. :)

>85 ronincats: I like the plate! Seems like a hobbit-y kind of landscape to me. Sorry Unnatural Magic wasn't working for you. I returned a book today that I'd only got about 4 chapters in but it wasn't grabbing me, and I have too many other library books to read.

>86 humouress: I have done one more, in more detail, like that. The secret is the plates are cracked, and the crack is incorporated in the curve of the mountains.
?87 Thank you, Thomas.
>88 CassieBash: I don't think I have to worry about that, Cassie. Although I am having a giant cat memorabilia/collectible sale in the driveway in two weeks.
>89 bell7: That's the thing--it was just taking too long to get into.

Got my second jab today so in 2 weeks I will be fully protected!!! No side effects yet...

>90 ronincats: Now that you point it out and I look closely, I see the secret ingredient. Good idea! (Though you could equally well have turned it into cat's ears, just for Richard's viewing pleasure.)

Yay for full protection! I hear that worldwide, people are becoming more inclined to having the jab with Britain leading the way and France, Singapore and Japan taking a back seat (though they didn't actually ask me).

>90 ronincats: That is great news, Roni.

>91 humouress: I do think in this instance the vaccines are required to reset the world and the laggards will only hold everyone back.

>91 humouress: I hate having jabs but I do accept it will have to happen. Some time. My husband got his, just over a week ago on his birthday (although apparently he got the notice accidentally).

>62 ronincats: Persephoneslibrary posted a picture of the Schmetterlingshaus on Anita's (figsfromthistle) thread and it reminded me of the curved windows in your new extension. Maybe you could do something like that? ;0)

ETA:

Hooray for second jabs!! I'm 1 1/2 weeks away from a haircut and pedicure and boy do I need them!!

Oh yay! Second jab without issues is wonderful. As for >91 humouress:

Well, I say! You try to be nice to someone ...

>73 ronincats: Those are beautiful windows, but wow, they are pretty curvy, aren't they. Do you have any idea how they were covered in the past?

Hi Roni! Getting caught up here and enjoying all the lovely new house photos.

Hi Roni, I love all of the photos you're sharing of your new home. I hope you will post more once you're in and it's yours. I look forward to seeing how it will transform. It is an interesting mix of updated and not updated :)

Love your pottery, too!

Your house photos are great, Roni. It looks like a beautiful space to decorate and furnish the way you want.

So glad to have that second jab and looking forward to the 19th for full protection, Nina and Paul and Reba.

I think the windows were sheltered by the tree that had to be cut down before this. I do think the solutions Mary found will be perfect, albeit expensive.

Thank you, Carrie and Anne and Meg. I look forward to actually being there.

Got the last of the clothes out of the attic--now have 20 some plastic bins full of clothes in the front room. Sigh, I evidently have been a clothes hoarder, although it's so easy to pack it away upstairs when it doesn't fit any more, or even when it does, and then you forget you have it. We are having rain in the middle of the week and that is when I will go through all the clothes that DO fit and prune them in half for the move.

And with the light work day, I finished another book!



Book #17 A Pale Light in the Black by K. B. Wagers (423 pp.)

I had read Wagers' Indranan Wars trilogy and enjoyed it as fun space opera. This is the first of a new series and I think she has done a really good job of setting up another first class space opera series with interesting characters.

>102 ronincats: I do _not_ need another good space opera series...argh! You got me!

Today I cut 4 fence boards which had been sitting in the back yard down and painted them to be shelves for my display space at the consignment store. Then I took them and the shelf brackets and the pottery down to the mall and set them up and put on the labels the store printed up from the inventory I finally got entered last night. That's pretty much what I accomplished today.

Roni, that looks beautiful!

>104 ronincats: Hey, that's a nifty little cart!

>102 ronincats: BB, kind of. I've borrowed Behind the Throne, the first of the Indranan Wars books.

>104 ronincats: Oh, was that all you did? ;0) Nice!

Best of luck with your consigned pottery sales, Roni.
That's a quality display and not so crowded that the individuals pieces are lost.

>104 ronincats: what a lovely display, Roni. I hope the pottery flies off the shelves (in a good way!)

>104 ronincats: Lovely collection!

Roni, the display is lovely and those shelves should be emptied in short time! You really do such beautiful work.

>104 ronincats: That is lovely, Roni.

The display looks fantastic! Do you have more things to offer as the shelves empty, as I'm sure they quickly will?

The display of your work at the store is wonderful -- I like that landscape plate very much, hadn't seen that motif before.

Going back -- the pix of the house are wonderful. The conservatory will be an amazing place to be in -- what about using that film above, removed for winter, of course, and curtains along the lower windows. Or nothing above and just the curtains. Not that it is any of my business!

>104 ronincats: Gorgeous!

>109 lauralkeet: Exactly what Laura said!!!!

As for BBs, I see that I succumbed to Behind the Throne some time ago, put it on my Kindle, and never cataloged it here. Ha! Something else fun to read!

>104 ronincats: very nice, especially love the dark & light blue pieces.

Thank you, everyone. Now to hope people are willing to pay what they are worth. I may call tomorrow to see if any pieces have moved.

I've been wrangling clothing from the mountains that currently fit, which is much harder than packing up the stuff that clearly doesn't fit. But I am over halfway through the long pants and long-sleeve/three-quarter sleeve tops and sweaters, have tossed two big bins worth of stuff in colors I have decided against or styles that did nothing for me into the front bedroom for the sale. I still have reds and blues to do tomorrow, then to move into the crop pants and short-sleeved and sleeveless tops. I still have WAY too many clothes.

And I moved the three boxes of cat stuff out of the attic and into the front room and started gathering cat jewelry and stuff I plan to sell a week from tomorrow there. I will set up a folding table there tomorrow to stage for pricing stuff. The clothing sale will be 3 weeks from tomorrow.

Did not go to pottery to trim the pieces I threw last week, but stayed home to watch the Big 12 Tourney. Kansas won!

I am so impressed by all of the work you're doing!! Hope you sale goes well ...and, YAY HAWKS!

>73 ronincats: Can't see the image but I imagine that the windows look great!

>104 ronincats: Ooh what lovely shelves. Even more lovely is the pottery. How long does it take to make one piece?

As always, Roni, I am tired just by reading all that you are doing these days! Congratulations on getting your second shot. I was all excited earlier in the week thinking my turn to make an appointment has finally come - but no, I read the notice wrong. I think it will be April before they get to my age bracket.

Good luck with the sale Roni! I am still not feeling the urge to clear out all my surplus possessions though I doubtless should use the lack of distractions to try. I was chatting with a friend at work about the impact of Covid on the market for flats locally (and not so locally). I enjoy the window shopping on the estate agents' websites. Some amazing views from converted warehouses and other industrial places on waterfronts near here. I would miss the garden a lot - though I suppose there are always window boxes!

>85 ronincats: Ooh, your review of Calculated Risks reminded me that I need to get back to the Incryptid series. I was up to book 3 but got distracted by the short stories.

>90 ronincats: Hooray for second jab!

>104 ronincats: Oh wow - that looks wonderful!

Hi Roni!

>104 ronincats: That’s a beautiful display.

I’m staggered at the amount of stuff you have – not so much that you have it, because I’ve got stuff everywhere, but that it’s so organized.

>122 charl08: Coincidentally, I've just spent the better part of the last hour window-shopping on estate agents' websites for waterfront properties. Since I can't buy, anyway, money is no object.

Just dropping by ...

>62 ronincats: Gray and mauve isn't a thing anymore? I thought it had made a comeback. One of my favorite color combos.

Well, I finished up the clothes. 25 bins in the front room going out the door; only 5 in the closet going with me, along with the clothes currently hanging in closets or in dressers. Cat stuff is filling the front room, although I am still adding stuff. Pre-printed garage sale stickers are supposed to arrive today.

The gardeners who were supposed to come and tame my jungle of a yard have postponed a day as it is going to rain shortly. I've not been bringing stuff down from the attic as I have nowhere to put it until after my cat sale Saturday. But keeping busy getting all that stuff ready. Still going through the house and pulling stuff to add.

NO reading getting done. I've tried starting a couple of books but they haven't clicked.

You probably didn't notice, but my Hawks had a player with a positive COVID test so had to pull out of the Big 12 tournament. Hopefully they will be ready for the West NCAA tourney bracket come Saturday.

Thank you, Reba, Anita, Judy, Charlotte, Heather, Karen, Nina and Ron, for dropping in!

So this is the front room at the moment.

Realize that the boxes and bins seen are still full of stuff. And that jewelry on the coffee table makes me tired just to look at it. But the labels just arrived and first things first--tag all the mugs and puzzles and pack them into boxes to make room for unpacking the two boxes and the bin to the front. The two bins under the table are all stuffed cats and the two boxes back there are puzzles that will be combined with those stacked in front of them, so not an issue.

I think we all need a moment to recuperate from that, so here is what I brought in from my yard yesterday.

Oh wow, I see what you men by cat stuff! And the flowers are beautiful! We just got 3 feet of snow, so flowers are some way off.

>127 ronincats: Be grateful it's just rain. We had a brief but accumulating ice-pellet flurry a little bit ago, mixed with snow. There are places on the lawn where the ice pellets have collected in the nooks and crannies. Apparently slide-offs were a common event an hour ago. I'll take just rain any day.

Flowers. *Sigh* So close, yet so far in Indiana.

Love the flowers. My iris seem to be having the year off this year. But will be a record daff year if all the buds open, so swings and roundabouts.

We are just getting our first cherry blossoms here in WA. I haven't seen many other flowers yet but hopefully soon!

Hey, Anne, Cassie, Charlotte and Natalie! Spring is a'cumin in.

It turns out I may have yet another treasure from the attic. Checking online prices for these items in the boxes packed up from work when I retired--you are looking at between $150-$225 if people are actually paying what online sellers are asking. Good thing I didn't just slap a $5 price tag on each, right?

>128 ronincats: ...that purple...!!

Have fun with the yard sale. *delicate shiver*

>133 ronincats: The doll market is up a bit from where it was a couple of years ago - it crashed with dot com, and has been limping, but with all of us old biddies staying at home following eBay for excitement, prices have risen some. I haven't tried selling yet, but before I buy I always check what's actually sold to get an idea what sort of prices things are really moving for.

>134 richardderus: Isn't that purple WONDERFUL!! I put it there to clear your palate after the...you-know.
>135 quondame: That's why I gave the range, from the low to the higher prices being asked. I'm probably going to put $80 on the set; if a collector wants it--they can clearly make a profit and I don't have to worry about it. These definitely are vintage and never been out of box. Trying to find a value for my 1976 mini-Cabbage Patch doll--I have her certificate, Felicia Alice, and her cat--and my three mini-pound purries 1996 in their kennel, but not easy to locate what I have. In general, I'm putting about half what online says if I can locate the item. The Kitty Fun set has actually sold for $45 to $68, Groom 'n Care for $30, $25 for the winter cats and $10 to $15 for the cat stroller set.

>136 ronincats: So thoughtful...it worked. *smooch*

>128 ronincats: ::drool::

>128 ronincats: Gorgeous blooms, Roni.

And my gosh, I sure hope you have friends to help at your yard sale. It will be a zoo!
So many items to keep an eye on plus deal with the selling.
That cat-related paraphernalia, games, Barbie dolls (and did you say jewellery?) are surely going to attract a lot of attention.

Best wishes for emerging with your stuff gone elsewhere, a decent bank deposit, and most importantly, your serenity.

Good luck with your yard sale, Roni.
The stuff looks great.

The flowers are beautiful!! And the cat sale is going to be amazing. Are you doing it at home or is there a joint venue somewhere that you're joining? If you're doing it at home, are you advertising it as cat themed? Anyway...what you're accomplishing (and what you have in that attic) is most impressive!!

Wish I could be there in person at your yard sale--kitty treasures galore! But then again, perhaps it's for the best. I'd probably come home with more than I could store. :D

>142 CassieBash: I was thinking the same thing...

That is going to be the yard sale of the century in your neighborhood. Wow!

The rose and the iris, just so lovely.

Hope your gardeners come soon!

Your flowers look beautiful, Roni! Hopefully I'll have some to share of my own place this summer :D

>137 richardderus: *smooch*
>138 fuzzi: Thank you. Are you drooling over the cat stuff or the flowers? Just curious.
>139 SandyAMcPherson: Yes, I will have friends to help, thank goodness.
>140 SirThomas: Thank you, Thomas.
>141 RebaRelishesReading: Doing in the driveway at the house, Reba. And definitely advertising as cat-themed.
>142 CassieBash:, >143 fuzzi: Wish you could be here too!
>144 sibylline: Gardeners came, got rid of jungle. Thank goodness.
>145 bell7: Hope you will have them too, Mary.

So, it's been busy. Lots of tagging and researching of the actual collectibles yesterday. Up from 3:30 to 5:30 this morning so not a lot of get-up-and-go today. Got taxes done with my CPA and went by Local Niche--8 of my smaller items have sold, including that landscape plate. Tonight I entered another dozen items into their data base and will take them by tomorrow after pottery. I am trimming tomorrow the items I threw two weeks ago. Not much tagging of items today--will have to do a bunch tomorrow before heading out. And my friend is coming over to help me Friday to get ready as well as being there Saturday.

>146 ronincats: Thank you. Are you drooling over the cat stuff or the flowers? Just curious.

Both!

Good lick with the yard sale, Roni. And I am glad you'll have help. I love going to yard sales but did not enjoy holding one, myself, the one time I did that.

I'll be thinking of you Friday and hope you have a wonderful sale!!

Adding my energy-boosting whammys to the pile!

Wishing you luck!

Last day of prep today, and still so much to do. Oh well, what's not done will be winged. Thanks for all the well-wishes, everyone.

Hope your sale goes well. According to my weather app you'll have a sunny, fairly cool day for it which should be good :)

Just stopping by to wish you well with the yard sale! Go Roni!

>128 ronincats: Wow. Just…. Wow. Thank you for the rose and iris.

>133 ronincats: The mind boggles.

Hello, all. The sale is done. Turnout was disappointing, but those who came spent and I cleared $300, which I suppose made it all worthwhile. The set-up was very good and organized. I have 8 boxes of leftovers on the front porch--we are searching for an animal rescue who may want them for fund-raising sales--and two boxes of the "collectibles" inside which I will try to sell on eBay. We got everything cleaned up, I watched basketball while my potpie cooked, and then sat in the recliner with my glass of wine ready to watch the last tier of games as the Gonzaga game was starting--and then woke up just after it ended, at 9 pm! Oh well. KU won early yesterday; I had the tv set up outside so I could keep track of it. They weren't pretty but they won. In all, 6 of the 7 Big 12 teams made it through the first round.

>156 ronincats: Sorry your sale was disappointing. You would think people would love a nice out-door event but I guess you never know. Glad you enjoyed the Gonzaga game so much (lol) but glad KU won.

>156 ronincats: glad you were able to make some profit, and I like your idea of donating items to an animal rescue for fund raising.

I did get to watch my team (UConn) last night, but while showing promise they couldn't overcome first half jitters, and lost by 9 points to Maryland.

There's always next year...

Maybe too many people were watching the game? At least you're $300 richer and you did move some stuff out. We have a few places here that are resales that donate everything to local shelters and animal rescue programs, also spay/neuter clinics. I would imagine you can find someplace.

>158 fuzzi: I'm glad I'm not into sports; I see the stress it causes people who are when their team doesn't win. It also allows me to well-wish freely to everyone who crosses my path, so I hope your team wins next year!

>159 CassieBash: ha! Thanks. I've been following UConn since about 1973, and they have lost A LOT. I'm not stressed, as I was a Red Sox fan for years, too. They brought losing to a new level of artistic endeavor! :D

If the comers went lighter in the wallet, it was a success. Yay! I hope you're well-rested after your Gonzaga-induced nap. *smooch*

Hey, Reba, fuzzi, Cassie and Richard! Yesterday was a very busy and productive day. I woke up about 3:30 but didn't get up until 6:30, at which point I did some serious house cleaning both front and back to ensure that everything would look its best at 11:15 when my prospective buyer and his financier were coming to show the latter the house. He was impressed, of course. And afterwards I called my Toyota service manager to set up taking the Highlander in in two weeks to prepare for the drive to Kansas and back, Rachel's Womens Center (for battered women) to see if they would take my 25 bins of women's clothing (they will, but I will have to deliver them between 9 and 2 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I filled the suv with 10 cartons to drop off tomorrow)), the lady running the May craft show since I hadn't responded to her last email a month ago, Cry Wolf about bringing my computer in for repair, and the moving company agent about coming back and redoing the walk through for the binding estimate in two weeks when hopefully a lot more stuff will be gone plus I went over with Juan what he wanted to buy from the houses' furniture while he was here so there are a couple of things to subtract like a heavy sleeper sofa, and I got the remainder of my professional books down from the top bookshelves here in the office--a few that I will keep, 18 of which will go to the guy teaching my mediational learning course at SDSU these days, and the rest (75) up to the school psych department for the grad students.

Today nothing I planned happened to make up for yesterday. Kaiser called at 7:15 to say the eye doctor wouldn't be in today and reschedule, then the marine layer actually got all the pavement wet and I decided to wait until Thursday to drop the clothes off downtown rather than do it in the damp. So I took a nap this afternoon instead, after I kept nodding over my reread of Guards! Guards!.

I have finished two books, Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater and Take a Look at the Five and Ten by Connie Willis. The first was an entertaining light regency fantasy. The Willis, she seems to have settled into a formula of a light romance fueled by miscommunications and scientific research which is becoming predictable but still lovely to read. Nuff said!

Rather frustrating was the circumstance that when I went to take the 93 books out of my LT library that I am donating, only about a dozen had actually been catalogued. Too bad, I am not going to take the time to add them just to delete them!

>162 ronincats: thanks for the update, wow. I don't envy you the work involved in moving...I've only done one truly long-distance move (about 900 miles), and we used a moving company after ditching a lot of our stuff.

Congratulations on getting a LOT done -- even a prospective buyer lined up! Wow!

Bummer about your books not being logged on LT. I fairly often find that a book won't show up when I search for the title but if I put in the author it will. Or, I search and it doesn't show up and then I try to put it in and it tells me there's a duplicate in my library. Annoying.

>162 ronincats: I read that at 1pm EST. I have only now awoken from my exhausted nap to return and comment: "Good LORD lady! Take a rest!!" No wonder you were drooping over Sir Terry.

*smooch*

>162 ronincats: Whew! I hope you get a good day (or two!) of rest in after all that!

Hi Roni, I also hope you get some down time to catch up on your rest. I can't believe everything you are doing these days! My big event today was going grocery shopping and with only thetwo of usto shop for that didn't take very long.

Hi, fuzzi, Reba, Richard (*smooch*), Mary and Judy.

Before my husband died I was like that--seemed a busy day if I got one major chore/errand done in it. Now, when things slow down or it seems like I am catching up for a bit, there is a bit of a void, so I am happy to be busy. And Lord She knows there is plenty to be a-doing. Why, I haven't been up in the attic for a week!

Finished Guards! Guards!) last night--this was probably the first Pratchett that made me a devotee. I had read others of his books before, but this made me into a completist and began my love for the City Watch.

Today spent an hour with my realtor going through and signing paperwork on the offer. Cut some roses to bring inside--the bushes are loving the severe pruning I gave them as recommended in January. And I'm going through the stuff that is already down for San Diego State and organizing it for pickup. The student association books and binders/folders/dividers have been assorted into 5 boxes for them, and I am now going through all my dynamic assessment/mediated learning materials to organize them and select out a minimum set that I will keep, weed out duplicates of such things as overheads and handouts for Andy, and organize the supplemental games/activities before reboxing all the stuff for him and setting aside the small amount I am keeping. That's 15 boxes of stuff right now. 4 or 5 are books and manuals so can't compress and don't need to reorganize. 3 are supplemental stuff that can be more efficiently compressed and packaged. And one is old files from a mentor. So it's the other six that require my attention, and that's what they are getting this afternoon.

Hi Roni,

I too loved the iris and the rose. Here in Georgia my blueberry bushes are blooming and I turned up and added compost to the 4 ft. x 4 ft. garden I had last year. Another day I may try to expannd it a bit.

Wish I had your executive brain function to keep me on track. Sounds like you are doing a great job of getting ready to move.

>162 ronincats: I agree with you that the Connie Willis collection Take a look at the five and ten was not riveting. I did enjoy the story where music saved the day in a first contact story.

Hi, Ardene. Yes, I really enjoyed All Seated on the Ground too.

Whew! I'm exhausted trying to catch up. You encourage me to get back to Guards! Guards!. It's our Lucy's favorite Pratchett, and she sent me a copy to proselytize me into the fold. I'll get back to it!

Rest, woman!

>162 ronincats: >168 ronincats: Goodness, Roni, you need to step it up a bit.

Chiming in as a big fan of the Watch books, too. Charlie and I loved the recent BBC series, so he's getting Guards! Guards! in his Easter basket...

Lots of work to be done, but it sounds like you're keeping on top of it as best you can under circumstances. Hope things go smoothly with the sale!

We're on the same wavelength, Roni -- I've also been working my way through a slow reread of Guards! Guards!

Wow, an offer already! I didn't know you had actually listed yet. Hope it's a good deal and goes smoothly.

Hi Roni, Just had a big catch up. I've been cataloguing all my fabric stash that I want to cull. So many projects and ideas that I thought I would sew and after 10 years, nope.

I am inspired by your determined tidy up, so I hope to send about 5 or 6 boxes of assorted categories to other homes. I'm posting around 40 or 50 photos on a Flickr website because my plan to have a single ad on Kijiji means I'm allowed only 10 images there. I need so many more views of what's on offer. I'm not planning on asking much, it is all about making sure the material goes to another sewist.

There was a bit of a scandal here when it was revealed that a few local charities were throwing away (in the landfill) unsold donated fabric. I really didn't want to see what I've got (brand new lengths of quilting-grade cottons) go there. So unscrupulous. I don't think they priced it to sell, asking way too much for what amounts to remnants.

How did your pottery display go? I maybe scanned too quickly to note.
All the best in the house sale!

Just stopping by to see how you are.

>171 LizzieD: Sam Vimes, the star of the set of Pratchett books about the City Guard is one of my very favorite characters!

>177 SandyAMcPherson: You hear about that sort of thing now and then -- that plenty of stuff just goes in the rubbish bins. Goodwill here gets an amazing amount of dreck, but it is so much that they have found ways to profit -- even pulling the copper wire and biuts out of defunct electronics, selling the bundles of fabric for making whatever they make out of fabric these days and so on. But they are so big they can make it worthwhile for their buyers.

Roni, you are getting so much done! I go through phases of cleaning and purging - did one shortly before my surgery and discovered that I accidentally donated a large bag of clothing that I was storing for summer and not intending to give away. Ah, well. Time to buy new summer clothes.

Stopping by to say hello Roni and add my admiration for all the sorting out work you are doing on the house at the moment. The City Watch are my favourite series within the Discworld series - which reminds me I was slowly rereading them and I think Jingo was up next.

All caught up with you now. Sorry to hear that your sales were a little stagnant.

Congrats on the offer on the house :) Exciting times ahead.

>178 sibylline: Re the textiles in the trash, in Ontario, there is a 'rag picker' business that will pick up unwanted or remnant textiles from the charity shops. They then re-process it into material that has a new use.
I wonder why all the organizations don't co-ordinate in a city to bale the unwanted material and have it shipped. Surely the rag-pickers could afford to pay a minimal amount to the sender to cover shipping. Probably a pollyanna idea of mine...

Hi Roni, have a lovely week ahead...I know it'll be a busy one.

>182 SandyAMcPherson:
It is very hard to recycle fabric because most fabric has pretro-chemical fibers mixed in with the natural fibers. Generally, only 100% natural fibers can be recycled. T-shirts are almost always Dacron & Polyster. Those are petro-chemicals and can't be recycled. Even bed sheets have Dacron in them (that's why they don't have to be ironed anymore) and can't be recycled. All of this is why tons of fabric get dumped into landfills all over the world. Worse yet is the fact that these fabrics have a half-life of thousands of years, so generations of humans will be dealing with this problem.

100% cotton can be recycled and fortunately most quilting fabric is 100% cotton.

Hello, friends (channeling Jim Nantz! wonder why?*) Yes, it has been 6 whole days since I was last here, and most of them were spent throwing away 4 boxes of paper and reorganizing everything else into the 11 boxes Andy picked up yesterday morning and then the three boxes I seem to be taking with me--which is still a great improvement over the 22 boxes that were in the attic, 5 of which are still waiting for a grad student to pick up later this week, although more than the one I hoped to get it down to. I suppose that was unrealistic, though.

Last Thursday I took 10 bins of clothing down to Rachel's Women's Center (for battered women) and they didn't know what hit them. We had to pile the clothes we dumped out of the bins on the floor! I have the car loaded to take 6 more big bins plus two trash bags over hangers full of professional clothing today--they only accept donations on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I will take the last 7 bins down this Thursday.

Yesterday after Andy picked up his stuff, I had a haircut, lunch out with a friend for the first time in over a year, made a short trip to Target for pet food and perishables, and loaded the car, then watched basketball while I finished packing up my materials in those three boxes. Today I will check out my booth at Local Niche and get cat litter and wine at Costco after I drop off the clothing.

My plan for this week is to go through all my craft stuff, some of which is in the attic where it hasn't seen the light of day for 20 years probably, and the stuff in the she shack, and separate what I am taking with me from what I want to get rid of. Also to finish going through my books and taking out what is not going, and finally the same with dishware and collectables, the precipitating factor being that the moving company guy is going to come out again next Monday to re-estimate, now that I know what the buyer is going to buy from me and what is going. The house is now in escrow. Reba, it was never actually listed--the guy who has done a lot of work on the rental told me in December he wanted to buy it when I was ready to sale and he qualified, so no showings or all that hassle.

Next week after the re-estimate visit, I want to get out to the furniture stores to window shop and check out the Murphy bed stores before I head for Kansas on Thursday. Because I want to do some furniture ordering while I am there!

Reading? What is that?

Thank you for visiting my thread even when I am absent, Peggy, Nina, Amber, Cassie, Natalie, Reba, Sandy, Lucy, Anne, Heather, Anita, Richard, and good information to know, Benita! I do think our local Goodwill channels things they can't use to other sources who can.

* well-known sportscaster announcing NCAA tourney and featured in Capitol One ads

You are so on top of things it makes my head swim!! I've never lived anywhere for 40 years (do I remember right that's how long you've been in this house?) but I can guess what a huge undertaking it is to go through everything and decide what to keep and what to donate/toss. My deepest awe for all you've accomplished. And then to sell without ever listing -- we've done that a time or two and it certainly does make things easier. All by all, it seems like this is a move that's just meant to be!

>185 ronincats: whew! I'm amazed, truly. Won't it be a change once you settle in and can SIT for a little?

I saw Amish-made Murphy beds somewhere, this might be the place:

https://www.dutchcrafters.com/Murphy-Beds/cat/704

They're not cheap, but oh they are gorgeous!

An exhausting schedule, Roni, but much needs to happen before you can move so it's actually not as busy as it could be.

Still.

Stay hydrated, rested, and sane. *smooch*

Well, complete change in plans. When I called the guy about maybe buying my whole lot of culled books, he said he had free time this afternoon. So I decided to stay home and work on pulling out the rest of the books I don't want to take with me. About 250 books later (in addition to the 277 I'd previously moved to Used Bookstore offering status) I am now waiting for him to show up in a few.

Well, 500 books have left the house, more or less. I only got $40 for the lot, but he packed today's haul and moved them all to his truck and he will have the time and expense of sorting through them and marketing them in batches on eBay and mailing them and all that. It is worth it to me to have them all out of the house!!! I didn't have time to remove the ones I culled today from my LT catalog, but I took photos of everything and so will do that at my leisure. Whew!!

I culled a whole bunch that have been sitting on the tbr shelves for years, waiting for me to feel like reading them. Don't worry, I still have a great plenty remaining; there is no fear I will run out.

Congrats on selling your house so easily and all the hard culling and selling and distributing work you're doing, Roni!

I am tired just reading all that you have done! Whew! Congrats on moving stuff out and getting ready. : )

>192 Berly: Same here, Roni! But you’ve always been organised.

Having the books gone must be great relief. Your move seems to be going so smoothly it must have been meant to be:)

I am so impressed with your culling efforts, Roni! Seems like things are going really well -- I'm happy for you!

Hi Roni, things are really coming together for you and now you are soon off to Kansas and will finally get to walk through your new home! I bet the first thing you do is plan where the book shelves will be going!

Congratulations on getting 500 books out of your house in one go - that's amazing!

Here's a picture of spring in Georgia to brighten your day.

Hello Roni.

Even though you mentioned the bright, lovely blue bowls didn't turn out the way you might have liked them to be, I always am in awe of all you do.

Your ability to do so very much, reminds me of how I was soon after Will's passing. I kept busy until I was too tired, and then, it was difficult to sleep because I had a list of other projects for the next day.

I think we do just what we need to do. Much love to you.

I'm loving the support, Richard, Karen, Kim, Nina, Reba, Laura, Judy, Ardene, and Linda, especially since I have been so terrible at visiting anyone else's thread. It is much appreciated.

Today I brought down 6 boxes of craft materials from the attic. I have 4 or 5 more boxes, but they are all craft magazines and heavy and I didn't feel like lifting them. I know what they are. The boxes I brought down had mostly cotton crochet thread, some yarn, and a bunch of embroidery kits and supplies. I got through that but then when starting to get out all the yard stashed down here, got completely overwhelmed. So I ate a late lunch and went and took a nap. I have arranged for my friend Pat to come over Friday afternoon and provide moral support while I sort out both yarns and, in the she shack, fabric into either get rid of it (hopefully craft sale) or move it.

Tomorrow is my first pottery class in over a year! Which is exciting but means I have to get up and be there at 9 instead of moseying in at noon for my allotted time slot. After that I will drop off the load of clothes in my SUV at the women's center and, if I am feeling ambitious, come back home for the last lot and get it down there before two. If not, there's always next Tuesday for that. And maybe run the errands I didn't do on Tuesday. Definitely drop off library books.

I did skim An Illusion of Thieves by Cate Glass, alternate pen name for Carol Berg whose books I have enjoyed. If I were younger or perhaps in a different frame of mind, I think I would have enjoyed it, but I just didn't get into it. A bit of a heist fantasy and the first of a series--I liked the set-up and it had an interesting premise.

>187 fuzzi: I have looked at those Murphy beds, fuzzi, and they are beautiful. I plan to go out to the local Murphy bed stores here next week to see in person the selection available, and feel the comfort of the mattresses. Also some of the local furniture stores to get an idea of styles for sofas and my master bedroom bed (with adjustable base) as I will be leaving for Kansas two weeks from tomorrow and plan to do some furniture shopping there while I am back. If I need to order stuff, it will be arriving about the time I get back there for good.

My parents have a lovely Murphy bed - they replaced the mattress with a memory foam one. It's awkward, because it slumps down and makes it difficult to open the bed, but the difficulty isn't enough to make us give up the better mattress. I suspect there are much better mattresses now, too (the various online ones), some of which would probably work in a Murphy bed.

I suspect one of the newer foam mattresses they advertise, like Caspar and Purple, would NOT slump down, and are certainly options, Jenn.

Hi Roni, you've been an absolute genius in all the decluttering. It is such mentally exhausting work. Gold star kudos!

I bought two Cate Glass novels recently ~ Books 1 and 2, starting with An Illusion of Thieves. I read a bit here and there (on the google-books preview) before deciding I'd probably like it. I'm attracted to the YA genre these days, aiming to assess reading material suitable to the tastes of young family members.

~The books were an awesome bargain, which also was a bit of a click-bait to me.
These are Canadian dollars, but I expect in the USA, your discounts would be even deeper.

Today it was definitely mentally exhausting, Sandy! Fortunately I got the Glass book from the library, but Berg is quite an accomplished author and if you've been on a YA spree, I think you'll definitely enjoy this series.

Gosh you are a dynamo Roni. I have seriously fallen behind on many threads and now you are selling your house which I thought was going to be some future event. Good for you. The real estate market is crazier than ever for sales. Where I am there are zero houses for sale and only a few have been offered in the past six plus months and sold very rapidly. Strange days.

hugs

>201 ronincats: I don't recommend Purple for a Murphy bed - that's what I have, and it's not foam, it's sort of hex gel. Very comfortable, and very very very heavy. The _pillow_ weighs about 4 pounds. I suspect it would slump very badly. But Caspar, yes, or...I can't remember any other names at the moment, but there are others that would probably work. My parents have Caspar (not on the Murphy bed, on their own bed).

>199 ronincats: I almost wish I was in the market for a Murphy bed, but my mattress set is only two years old. I bought the most comfortable one in the showroom, a Stearns & Foster, and it should be the last one I need. I still sigh when I lie down in bed, it's that comfy!

Don't worry about visiting our threads, you've got your hands full of Real Life right now, and for a while. I, for one, appreciate the updates here.

>199 ronincats: After all that, you definitely deserved that nap! You certainly seem to be doing a great job of cleaning house; I need to do that and I'm not even moving. :D

>205 jjmcgaffey: I completely agree about the Purple mattresses. We got one for my mother-in-law - it works very well for her - but is really, really heavy and the mattress was a bear to get moved around.

It sort of "hit" me the other day that you were planning your first visit to you house in April and (then) it was about to BE April. Now it's really here and you're leaving in two weeks. I'm sure you're going to have a wonderful trip and it is such a good idea to get furniture ordered while you're there. Hope you enjoyed your pottery class this morning :)

>204 RBeffa: It WAS a future event, Ron, but now it is NOW. I know, catching me by surprise too.
>205 jjmcgaffey:, >208 drneutron: I am very glad to know that, Jenn and Jim. All I knew about the Purple is that it was a gel which sounds somewhat like a memory foam. Now I won't make that mistake.
>206 fuzzi: My mattress set is less that two years old as well, but it is too big and heavy to make it up the staircase in my new house, and really unwieldy for me to handle on my own. Fortunately the buyer will buy it from me for an okay price.
>207 CassieBash: I'm only clearing clutter, not actually cleaning house yet, Cassie. Unfortunately.
>209 RebaRelishesReading: Yes, just two weeks from today I will be taking off for a few weeks in Kansas. I just ordered one of those gadgets that are supposed to sound off if you start to nod at the wheel. Some people seem to love them; others not so much. We'll see.

It was good to see some of my classmates I hadn't seen for a year at class this morning. The kilns have been acting up, perhaps due to the heat (89 degrees, 5% humidity when I got home at 3), so none of my stuff was ready except for two mugs and I want to glaze all that set at the same time so the glaze effects are the same. So I threw some small pieces. Then dropped clothing off at the battered women's shelter, checked out my booth at Local Niche (no sales, disappointing), and went to Costco for cat litter and Ikea for swedish meatballs for dinner.

Hope to choose between the new Jasper Fforde and Velocity Weapon to start tonight, but I have 6 other library books to choose among if neither of them grab me. I am enjoying The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates as my bathroom book.

I am ever impressed and inspired by your hard work! Glad you got to see your pottery people in person!

Now I have to go look and see about the Melinda Gates book.

>210 ronincats: That's one helluva drive, Roni! You'll be in Kansas for a while, but will you drive back?

In any case, you've been so busy that you're in great shape for the move.

>210 ronincats: From where I stand, clearing clutter IS part of the cleanup. Either way, you still earned that nap!

Wow - you get to see your new house in person soon. Exciting! Will you be staying there or just setting up?

>213 CassieBash: >210 ronincats: I think decluttering is most of the cleanup - or it would be for me.

Thanks, Lucy and Richard.

I do distinguish between the two, Cassie and Nina, because you can have a cluttered house that is clean and you can have an uncluttered house that is dirty, imho. With clean meaning dust, dust bunnies, cat hair, grime, bath rings and soap scum, and the like are all gone and surfaces are dusted or wiped and floors mopped or vacuumed.

Nina, I will be staying with my mom most of the first week, but I hope to have a bed delivered and set up in the spare bedroom by the end of that week and then to spend some time over there the first half of the next week while I take care of business there.

I believe some of you may have felt that I overdid it in January when I hard-pruned this rosebush.


Just to reassure you, here it is today:

>215 ronincats: I wasn't among those who thought it was over pruning It did shock me to see the sparse branches after the fall pruning when I was young and amaze me how full and bushy the bushes became in the spring. Yours looks lovely.

>215 ronincats: are you taking any of your roses?

Thank you, Susan.

No, just their names, fuzzi, which I'll try to buy and establish there. If I could get cuttings started, I might try those, but I haven't had much luck with that procedure.

Growing roses in Kansas can be a challenge. The climate there is much different than in SoCal so choosing the right varieties will be Vitaly important. Roses have to be able to withstand more heat, more cold, less water, and less humidity than they would in San Diego.

>219 benitastrnad: Not less water! My established roses survive on our 8 to 10 inches a year. And humidity in summer is often far higher in Kansas. Not sure about the rest of the year. At this moment both temp and humidity are equivalent. But I agree that I will need to see if these varieties are grown and thrive in central Kansas, and what varieties are most successful there.

>215 ronincats: Very pretty. I don’t remember if I was one of those who were shocked but my sister used to have a couple of rabbits and they would nibble the two clematis vines my mum tried to grow down to the ground. After a few years we had to give the rabbits away - and those clematis fairly exploded over the fence after that.

>215 ronincats: you can have a cluttered house that is clean and you can have an uncluttered house that is dirty

Roni, this made me smile. My husband and I have been married for 37 years and it wasn't until oh, about year 25, that we realized one of us "sees" clutter (me) and the other, filth (as he calls it). I would get upset about the clutter in our house and he would defend himself for having de-filthed something that I hadn't even noticed. And vice versa ...

I'm also glad to see your rose bush made a comeback!

>215 ronincats: OK, I can see your point but I'm still counting it as part of the process since clutter makes it harder to sweep, dust, etc. Rose doesn't look that hard-pruned to me; we've pruned harder and still had them bounce back. Hope your roses in Kansas flourish. We've found that our winters mean certain varieties don't survive, so we generally stick with floribunda varieties, which seem to winter better than tea or grandiflora varieties. Good luck!

Rose rugosa "Hansa" grows literally anywhere. Beaches on the North Sea...fields in Texas...anywhere. And it has beautiful bee-approved single flowers, bird-approved hips...

>224 richardderus: It's the winters, which are harsher than the those of the North Sea area, which do in our roses. Our freeze/thaw patterns, sustained sub-freezing temps, plus Arctic blasts and potential for polar vortices make roses of most varieties iffy. If it can live in Canada's coldest areas, then it has definite potential.

>225 CassieBash: Apparently it's already established in the entire Midwest! That image was from a site called "Midwest Ground Covers."

Lovely flowers here!

>226 richardderus: Oooh, excellent!

Loving the rose talk, Nina, Laura, Cassie, Richard, and Lori. My new growing zone is 6a and my favorite Double Delight is hardy there, so that is good! Here are what I brought in yesterday from the bush in >215 ronincats:, plus what I brought home from the pottery today.

Both your roses and your pottery is beautiful, Roni. Are you going to continue your pottery in Kansas? Glad to hear that Double Delight is hardy enough for Kansas - it is also one of my favorite roses.

>229 ronincats: Wonderful!

>229 ronincats: OOOOhhh! Pretty!

>229 ronincats: Yes to Ooooh pretty! And a fine set of pottery as well.

Thank you, Judy, Thomas, Cassie and Susan.

So, Annie texted me a photo as soon as she unloaded the kiln today. I was out running around the furniture stores prospecting for ideas, and so stopped by the studio on my way home to pick up what I consider as my graduation project from Plum Pottery.



And it came out perfect. No chips, no pinholes, just as I'd hoped. This set I keep for my new place.

>234 ronincats: What handsome pieces!

>234 ronincats: those are gorgeous, Roni!

>234 ronincats: Ooooooooo

They're absolutely gorgeous! The way you've made the colors of the pieces blend so beautifully...that spectacular turquoise setting off the indigo...just as lovely as the new homeplace deserves.

Brava!

>234 ronincats: They're amazing!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am really jazzed about these, can you tell?

>234 ronincats: - Really beautiful, Roni. Congrats and yes, perfect for the new house.

So so beautiful - the roses, the plates! Lovely!

Your roses and pottery are beautiful, Roni! There are some roses on my new property, and I'll definitely have to post some photos when they're in bloom.

The sunflower plate catches my eye, and the set you've made for yourself is absolutely gorgeous. I particularly like the way you've got the color running down on the mugs - beautiful!

>229 ronincats: Lovely roses, Roni, glad to read they are hardy enough for your new place.

>234 ronincats: WOW!

Your graduation pottery is lovely, Roni.

really beautiful, Roni

"Graduation Pottery"! I love the idea. What a reward.
Good luck with Kansas-appropriate roses. We struggle with rose survival here (Canadian prairies) not because of the low humidity (which is perfect for keeping fungal diseases at bay) but with the extremely long winter-cold drying the plants out. Even mulched, bagged and boxed over, the top growth usually has to be cut down to the ground. I always hoped the well-watered plants going into winter would survive but other than the rugosas, roses seem a short-lived perennial.

>229 ronincats: The roses are beautiful - I can almost smell them. I never bring flowers in from the garden (unless they've already fallen off the plant) because, quite simply, I don't get enough growing for that.

The pottery, as always, is wonderful. Although the angel looks like a biscuit, with that texture and colour. :0)

>234 ronincats: Stunning!
No wonder you're keeping it. I'm glad they came out perfectly.

>234 ronincats: lovely. And they should match your new kitchen cupboards, hmm?

Hi Roni!

>234 ronincats: Wow. Gorgeous. You graduated summa cum laude in my book.

Good luck with your travel and visit to Kansas Roni. I am also headed to the Midwest, about a week later than you, to visit family in Iowa. Primarily my dad, and my sisters and I plan to do a sort-through of all the stuff from his two bedroom apartment that doesn't fit in his new one room situation.

I also admire your graduation set - and if I remember corretly, they will fit right it with the color in the kitchen.

Everything shows the touch of your loving, competent hands, Roni! Love the pottery and the roses!!!!!!!

Hi Roni!

>234 ronincats: Those blue striped bowls and plates are among my favorites of your work over the years. I love them!

And I'm glad your rose bush survived. It will be fun to find out which varieties thrive in your new home. When we visited Oregon last week, we confirmed that we will retire back to the Willamette Valley (western Oregon). We briefly thought about the Bend / Sisters area in central Oregon but Prudence noted that "we don't golf, ski, hunt, fish, or ride horses. We DO like to garden!" That settled it.

Thank you, everyone. I am forging ahead, making preparations for the trip, continuing plans for getting rid of stuff, going to pack. Petsitter is coming by tomorrow. Things are hectic.


I do believe this day has come.

Wishing you safe travels, Roni.

>253 ronincats: Like the t-shirt and not sure sure that I agree that you can yet wear it! Moving half-way across your continent is surely for the young-at-heart.

>253 ronincats: - That time has already come for me!

Good luck with all the plans. Sounds like everything is under control and moving along well!

>253 ronincats: I already have the house full of books and cats so I'm two-thirds of the way there!

I was telling Hubby as we drove along today what a great job you're doing with this move. Are you leaving for your first-sight-of-house-in-person trip tomorrow? I know it's this week sometime. Anyway, hope you have a safe drive and lots of fun making a start at settling in.

>234 ronincats: WOW! As always, I am in awe of your talent.

Thank you for the good wishes. It's been a busy couple of days, with lots to do to prepare the place to be gone, and lots of packing to do. The car is pretty much loaded, with 10 boxes of hardback books in the back, my new pottery dishes, towels and bedding, and other miscellaneous. Still to load--my small travel suitcase, the bag with Molly's stuff, the small cooler, and the canvas bag with my crochet project and selection of books and electronics. I'll be off in the morning, planning to cover about 600 miles.

Safe travels Roni.

I notice that you have your priorities right; 10 boxes of books .... small travel suitcase ;0)

Safe travels, Roni.

>259 ronincats: safe travels! Any room for kitties in the car?

Safe travels, Roni!
>260 humouress: seems about right 😀

I look forward to following your new adventures.

Have a safe trip, Roni!

Hope you had a safe day of traveling and logged your 600!

Hope your travel day is going well and that Molly is OK with the long ride. 600 miles! I'm impressed!

>253 ronincats: Yes!

Save travels, Roni.

Safely in Holbrook tonight!

>268 ronincats: thanks for checking in!

And in Liberal, Kansas tonite. On my tablet so not wordy.

>270 ronincats: that's a good daily traveling distance. I rarely go more than 500 miles a day when we travel.

I'm guessing you arrived in Salina in early afternoon and have been busily greeting family and meeting your new house since then. I'm sure you're having a wonderful time!! When you get a chance, let us know how the shopping, viewing, etc. is going. OK?

You are so right, Reba, that's exactly what has happened. I'm exhausted tonight, so will be more chatty tomorrow.

>274 justchris: Congratulations on going home! So exciting and exhausting!

Glad you made it there safely. Looking forward to your updates soon :)

Hooray that you're there safely!

Sleep well, happy homecoming, and spend a great week ahead.

>270 ronincats: Thanks for the update, Yoda.

>273 ronincats: Ooh; we'll get to hear about you seeing your new house in person. (For some reason, I like looking at houses. My husband wondered why when we first got married; he thought I wanted to move. When I go to Sydney, my sis and I like going to the show 'villages' where developers put up houses that you can buy the plans for if you want to build your own. We just like meandering around and looking.)

Just waving, Roni. Glad to hear you made it to the new place, and hope you are having fun catching up with family.

Welcome home, Roni. I'm sure the family catch-up was wonderful, and I can't wait to hear more about your first in-person encounter with the new abode. Exciting times!

Hi Roni!

Congrats on safe travels so far. I hope you have a wonderful time meeting your house in person. And, of course, reuniting with your family.

I realize that you'll be back to CA in a while for a while, but you've definitely started The Move.

Glad to hear you've arrived safely, Roni, and looking forward to hearing more about the house!

Add me to the crowd looking forward to your *meet the house* reports! I hope you will share some pics with us. How long will you be there, Roni? Enjoy your family visits!

Nobody knows Mom's network password
, so I can't type on a keyboard. At my nephew's right now so taking advantage of his network. With family today, very nice.

>284 ronincats: My sister sent me a text message today to tell me that she and my mum were in literal hysterics over the mnemonic to remember my parent's wifi password. Apparently, it has something to do with me. My curiosity is piqued but I'll have to wait until tomorrow to ask my mum what it is.

Okay, when we got back to Mom's I called her service provider to get the network password, so I am now connected!

I kept the same driving schedule Lex and I had established over the years without any difficulty and with much less anxiety, as I just set the cruise control a couple of miles above the speed limit and, well, cruised. Lex was a hell-and-hell-bent driver who always pushed the limits and so was always coming up on clots of traffic and forcing his way through them, so being the passenger was occasionally hair-raising. Molly made the passage well but I think it was hard on her and so I think I will take my sister up on her offer to keep her for the next 7 weeks so Molly doesn't have to make the trip two more times.

I had 10 boxes of books loaded in the car, as well as my dishes I made and one set of linens for the bed and bathroom and kitchen, and my biggest suitcase full of clothes that I am wearing while here, but will leave it all here when I return with just my small overnighter. Also my cast iron pans. I felt every bump in the road, but those semis whizzing past couldn't sway me at all with that weight in the SUV!

I love my house. It is smaller than it seems in the photos, in that the camera perspective makes the rooms seem longer and narrower than they actually are. So all those downstairs rooms are more squarish in proportions than they seem, which is even more attractive and comfy. I didn't take photos yesterday, but I will tomorrow when I am there. I unloaded the books into the garage, and got to see tulips blooming. The big lilac bush only had two clusters of blooms up at the top, but there is a small bush on the south side of the house covered with white lilac clusters. The peonies are sprouting up but haven't branched out yet. There are birds nesting in the vines on either end of the porch--house finches on the south and turtle doves on the north.

Today was family day over at my nephew's--celebrating his wife's birthday, so my mom, sister and husband, his mother, and my great nephew and great niece as well as his wife's parents were all there. So it was very nice. Tired now. Tomorrow I'll be going over to the house, drawing up floor plans to scale and visiting the furniture stores.

>286 ronincats: It's a wonderful thing to get there and like it *better* than you did before!

So glad you're safe and sound and ready to roll. I'm looking forward to photos when they come!

>286 ronincats: - Sounds great, Roni. It's great that it is better than you thought. And your family day sounds lovely.

Dumb question, but is Molly one of your cats or a dog? Good idea to let her relax while she awaits your return. How old is she?

Wow, you managed to bring a lot with you! That's great.

Molly is my small dog and she will be 14 next month. The cats will be much more tricky to transport.

>286 ronincats: Your house sounds so lovely. I'm looking forward to more pictures.

Glad your trip is going so well. I rather enjoy driving by myself even though Hubby isn't a "hell-and-hell-bent" driver he is a bit more aggressive than I am and, more importantly, the undisturbed "me" time is rather nice.

Glad the house is living up to expectations -- or even surpassing them. Squarish, cozy rooms are wonderful.

I love the idea of the birds nests and the lilac. I talked to a garden expert about lilac for our yard and she said it in invasive -- don't know if that's just the variety in the NW or everywhere so I'm looking forward to hearing about your experience with it.

I think it's very kind to let Molly visit her aunty and not have to do that drive twice more. Kind to yourself to have one less animal with you next time, too.

>286 ronincats: good job!

On trips I do all the driving, and love cruise control.

What was your mileage like with all that weight?

I'm glad your impressions of the house are even more favorable in person! I totally know what you mean about the photos in real estate listings making things look larger. Thankfully it wasn't an issue for you.

Good idea to leave Molly with your sister. You'll have your hands full with the kitties.

>291 RebaRelishesReading: - I live in Toronto and I can tell you that, 20 years ago, when I moved to my house, a friend gave me a small lilac *bush* as a house-warming gift. Today, it is several feet taller than me and I am constantly removing shoots that I see popping up around its base. Still, when it flowers in spring, I am intoxicated by its fragrance and I love it.

So glad you are there and beginning to start the settling in process!

>291 RebaRelishesReading: Question is, is the lilac catastrophically invasive in Washington state, or just non-native? Rhododendrons, for example, in Ireland ARE catastrophic . . . but not anywhere here in the US. Some places have conditions that let the plant go haywire. We have that problem with a number of plants here, like japanese barberry, multiflora roses, a few of them are quite nasty as well like wild parsnip (burns if you get the juice on your skin in sunlight).

*sigh* I wish some lilacs would invade here. Instead, we have kudzu and smilax, not to mention the poisons - ivy and oak.

I'm thrilled to hear that the house is even better than hoped. I look forward to you and Molly and cats being fully installed!

Happy to read that you have safely arrived in Kansas and that you love your new house. The one thing I really miss leaving behind at our last house was my beautiful white lilac bush - glad to hear you have one in your yard. Travel safely, Roni.

I'm glad to hear you're doing well.
All the best for you!

>294 jessibud2: >295 sibylline: Thanks for the lilac input. I think the "little shoots popping up around the base" are what she was talking about. I'll have to talk with the garden center about the varieties they have in stock when we actually get to planting this fall.

>Congrats on getting there! Safe travels back for the next load (and the cats).

Enjoyed catching up with you! Whew! That's a hard thing to do.

Looking forward to hearing the next chapters.

Hi, everyone. While I am not the favorite subject of my own photos, I am bowing to popular sentiment and posting some photos of my house here.

>302 ronincats: Lovely. Both the house and you!

Thank you, Roni!!!!! I'm happy that I no longer have to imagine you in those rooms! Just what Susan said: lovely!

Like!

>302 ronincats: Oh, I love the photos Roni! The house is really cute and you look lovely in it!

Looks good, Roni! Thanks for bowing to popular sentiment and welcome home!

It's great to see you home (well, almost - I know there's still a lot of moving in to be done), Roni. The kitchen looks great, and the fireplace is absolutely lovely.

Lovely photos, Roni!

It's very nice to see you in your lovely new home. Has Molly been there yet? What was her reaction? Is that beautiful grey color in your study with the big curving windows?

Great photos! I hope you have more cabinets and counter space than what is showing in that kitchen!

Nice--thanks for sharing!

Love the pics of you in the house! The tiles in the kitchen are very nice, I'd like to have those myself.

This was my view out of my mom's garage as we headed over to the hospital for her cataract surgery at 6:30 this morning.

>302 ronincats: The house perspective does look different with a person in the photo. Looks like it fits you well. Congrats, and good luck with the cataract surgery for mom. My friends have been telling me that it is amazing and nothing like a generation ago.

Thanks, Ron. This is her second eye--the first was two weeks ago. She already sees improvement.

This was the view outside of the hospital waiting room.

Showing the snow on the branches of the blooming redbud tree.

The house pics are lovely and I bet you can't wait to get back for good!

Snow is in our forecast, too, starting tonight and into tomorrow, and then it will begin to warm up again and it will all be gone. For good, until next winter, I hope!

Snow!!! Out here on the west coast it feels like summer and I am digging out my sandals to wear out today. I love the look of your house Roni, there's a lot to do but I can see this is going to be a very special place once you get your things moved in.

>302 ronincats: love the house, and the keeper of the house!

You arrive in Kansas and experience a wintry welcome!

>316 ronincats:, >302 ronincats: How cool! (In both senses of the word.)

Spend a splendid day, Roni!

>314 ronincats: OMG! Hope it goes away soon and stays away until winter comes again.

>302 ronincats: Thanks for sharing the house pics, Roni. It looks lovely.

>286 ronincats: That's wonderful. I'm glad you love your house :0)

I'm sure Molly will love her staycation. When my sister's Spitz, Lily, stays with my mum, she gets thoroughly spoiled.

Re driving, I used to relish long-distance driving more than city driving but when we lived in Australia a few years ago, I realised that driving in Singapore (where you can cross the country in half an hour, even with traffic) has spoiled me for that and now long haul tends to lull me; not a good combination.

>302 ronincats: Beautiful!!

>316 ronincats: That looks pretty.

Hope the surgery went well. We have had similar snowy views here so don't worry--it's not just you! :D

Hi Roni!

Lovely photos of you in your new home and cold-shivery-wintry beautiful photos of cataract surgery day.

Good luck to your mom on the second one, glad she already sees improvement. It seems to be the thing now - two weeks apart - but when I had mine in 2014 I had them a week apart.