Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Last One

Update on 2/6/2013 — If you looked at this post earlier and saw the onions hanging down, you would have wondered what I was doing. Honestly, they looked like a bull’s private parts. Sorry! I fixed!

I came home tonight and fixed a quick bowl of minestrone soup. It was from the recipe that I shared a few weeks ago here. Looks good, doesn’t it? And note…this time, I didn’t use Parmesean cheese from the big green can…notice the bigger grated bits of cheese on the soup? I’m on it!

Picture of Minestrone Soup

And do you know what else is in this soup? There were lots of them on my back porch last summer…

Hanging Onions Summer 2012

But there were sandwiches and soups and salads…and finally there was only one.

Last Onion

She had been on the potrack watching me wash dishes, checking out the feeding of cats and dogs, watching me dance to Adele…and now she’s gone. (Note…I checked the spelling of Adele’s name — ONLY ONE L!!)

Loading

Before and After Home Office Reorganization

First of all, thank you to those who viewed RiverCliff Cottage in January. My little blog had 1300 views for the month according to Google Analytics. Do you know how good you have made me feel? I am no one, but you took the time to look me up.    I am so thankful.   Basically, you’re like a piece of chocolate!  Yum! You are delicious!

On Saturday it snowed, and then it continued to snow until the early afternoon on Sunday — a day to stay at home.  I know I’m repeating myself, but let me say it again…I love snow.   We did not have church.  My worship experience occurred outside this morning with the camera following a breath of clean mountain air. Thank you Lord for showing us this once again!!!    

Midday, I went upstairs and surveyed the office reorganization mess. I orginally talked about our home office reorganization here. Determined not to continue talking about it yet not doing anything, I decided to get the “Office” part of the home office at least 90% complete today.

I think I’m at 90%. Here’s what it looks like as I write this post…

After Office Area

Here’s the before of Michael’s side of the room…

Mike's side of office

Here is the after of his side of the room…

His Side

I’m happy with the results.   Most of it was pretty straight forward — cleaning, sorting, discarding and organizing what was left.   The printer and old desktop computer and monitor have gone to Office Depot. When we made the purchase of the scanner (here),  Office Depot accepted them for recycling. Mike is a “keeper” and he had about 100 woodworking magazines which I happily discarded!    It freed up space for notebooks on our house maintenance, health care, etc.  to be put out of sight.  

Now that I’ve cleaned and organized the area, you can see the nice desk as our shared workspace. I love this desk!

Desk

Mike made the desk for the two of us. I have my side and my drawers, and he has his side and his drawers.  (Whoops…that all just sounds risque, doesn’t it?) It’s made of walnut, white oak, red oak and sassafras.    We don’t really share it well as he encroaches on my side of the desk.  Still, there is the thought!

I used a full can of black spray paint on this redo.  Don’t those chairs look better black?  I have no problem mixing woods but this room has so much wood…floors, desk, file cabinets, bookshelves…even the blinds are wooden!    By spraying the chairs black, it gave them an opportunity to show off. 

Black Chair With Red Pillow

I took a look at the picture frames around the room and gave them a bit of spray, too.   I didn’t want them all to be one color, but if they were brassy, they got a new life in red, black or silver.   Here’s a couple that were brassy gold…now they are more cohesive with this busy room!

This one went from gold to bright red…

Jack's Pix

I even spray painted the cardboard boxes where loose pictures or CDs are kept!  This box had been a hideous mauve and green…I had it hidden in the bottom unit of the bookshelf. If you look down in the “before” picture of my side of the room, you’ll see it. Ugly! Now, it’s back living the good life on the upper shelves.

 Cds

The world is a better place with a full can of Krylon or Rustoleum (or chalkboard spray paint).

Here’s my side of the room before…I took this picture right when I started cleaning out the bookcase so I have the trashbag in the floor! Basically, this looks like a wreck.

Office Before Right Side

And here’s the after…ahhh…I feel better just looking at this! This is a place I can work!

Her Side

Here’s the whole office area again…

After Office Area

There are blocks in the top of the window…they’ll say “Organize” when I get the letters on them. That’s all part of my plan!

Plan Blocks

But now…it’s time for a….

Nap Blocks

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. Do you like the office redo? I bought the pillows, the lampshades, one decorative box and spraypaint to give this room new life. Beyond that…it was just elbow grease. I’m just wondering why I let it go so long?

Loading

A Bit of Leah Vivian Sproles Barker

My mother’s name was Leah in the youngest part of her life. However, she was teased by other kids saying “Lear Sproles in Mud She Rolls. She was then called Vivian because, apparently, the rhyme didn’t work as well with Vivian as it with with Leah (or “Lear”).

I’ll have more about mother on this blog as I find things.

For today, when I was cleaning out the storage area of our home office, I ran across this picture of Mom and her family. It’s probably taken in the 1930’s and I”m sure it was taken in Mendota.

Sproles Family

Left to right: My maternal grandfather, Will Sproles; maternal grandmother, Eva Fleenor Sproles; Aunt Lou; Aunt Lorene (I hope I spelled that right); Mother, and Uncle Ralph.

Mother was wearing jeans…she was a tomboy and didn’t like dresses. This preference lasted all of her life.

There’s lots I can and will say about Mother, but today, I’ll sum it up with a letter she wrote to me. I look at it several times a year and wonder if she knew what a gift she was really leaving.

Mother's Letter to Me

Mother — I draw on that account every day.

Do you remember anything about my mother that I might not know?

Loading

Pop of Red and Other Stuff

This is a Seinfield post.   It’s all over the place.   First, let’s start with the home office reorganization/redo.   Do you like that red pillow with the black chair?   

Black Chair With Red Pillow

I like it.  

I got that pillow from Target this morning.  By 11:40 am, I had  made two trips to Bristol from Mendota!     Mike and I went to town in the truck early to avoid the crowds since it was predicted to snow.  He dropped me off at Walmart at 7:15 am  while he went to Lowe’s.   We were home by 9 am.   However, as we were returning home, headed down Nordyke Road into the valley, I knew I was going in the wrong direction.  I should have went to town alone as I wanted to go to TJ Maxx and Target to look for a few things for our home office reorganization/redo.  

So…I got home, unloaded the groceries, tidied up the house, saw Patsy at the Mendota Post Office and headed back to town.  I wanted to get there before the snow started.    

Can you see where I’m headed with this room.  It’s a working space, and it’s primarily khaki, white, red and black.  However, since it is a working space, I’ve changed the couch slipcover to be denim. Danette, who will be doing the slipcovering, will be coming over this week provided (1) the creeks are not out; (2) the river is not in the road; and (3) it is not snowing.    All three of those conditions have to be met in North Carolina where she lives and in Mendota where I live.

Introducing the denim which will be on the couch….

Black Chair Red Pillow Denim

Add the burlap pillow I’ve had for years.  I’ll probably use this on the couch and I may stencil a “B” on it.    The lanpshade on the floor is also going to be used, and this picture does not do it justice. I love it. Whimsical.

 

Cast of Colors Upstairs

So…that is where the room is headed.   There will be some red and black checks here and there, too.   The lampshade is a bit feminine,so you may be wondering how my husband feels about that.  The answer is that he probably will not notice it! So long as I’m happy with the room, he doesn’t care. He’s got his shop and he likes that more than anything.

Speaking of the shop, Jenna, Ashley and Mike are all down there today.   They’ve been working on a few projects such as…

My entertainment center.  Here’s the wormy chestnut top to the entertainment center. 

  Entertainment Center Top

After working on this, it’s important to have a major hit of sugar and peach tea.  Check out Ashley after her first drink…I pride myself on introducing them to Pal’s peachy tea.  They’re liking it more and more. Soon, no trip to Bristol will be complete without a swing through Pal’s!!

Jenna and Ashley Addicted to Tea

They are also working on some shelves for Helene…here’s what this looks like thus far…I love these young women! They are going to help me when Mike has his knee replacement surgery.

Helene's shelf

More later. Time for a nap with Gracie.

Loading