I’m sitting here on this grey and gloomy Monday morning in my beautifully decorated and functional home office, flitting from task to task, mostly focusing on the book I’m writing, petting whichever cat is sitting on my lap at the moment, occasionally staring out at the lovely view of mountains, sipping a good cup of coffee, relaxed and happy that I didn’t have a job to return to after my trip, and wondering How did I get to be so lucky?
Homemaking
RV Housekeeping Setup Mistake
When I moved into Miranda, I bought some new things for the kitchen that I thought would be more suitable than the beloved, and well storied, things I’d been using for years. Part of my logic was that the things would get broken on the road. I’ve really regretted it since I’ve discovered that breakables last very well in an RV.
Thankfully, I was talked into leaving some things in storage when I hit the road, so I went through five those boxes during my week in Montreal. They contained so many stories of my pre-Miranda life. Going through them was a real trip down memory lane. I finally decided on two boxes worth of things that I can make room for in Miranda by eliminating other things:
My travels pre-Miranda are well represented here. There’s the ‘Sunday morning’ mug I bought at a museum in Halifax; the Las Vegas mug I’d spied in a gift shop but didn’t buy, only to win it at Circus Circus! You can also see the little bowls I picked up in Ogunquit and the big bowls and plates I picked up on an antiquing spree through Wisconsin. There’s also the cat mug my dad bought me, the newer blue willow I’d pointed out in a catalogue my mother was flipping through and which she surprised me with, a nice big casserole dish with a lid that I’d been giving shortly before hitting the road, and my favourite water glasses.
The water glasses are for Alexander Keith’s beer and I love them because a) they are big, so they hold a lot of water and b) they have a good grip. I had four; one was broken on the way back. That’s all I lost. Air Canada did a great job getting my stuff home! I did leave behind the rest of my beer glass collection, some of the original blue willow set my mother got me (the dinner plates are too big for Miranda’s cupboards) and a variety of casserole dishes and mixing bowls. I have firmly parted with what I left behind.
Now, I need to get everything washed and my cupboards reorganized, yet again!
But before I go, I’d like to share the newest addition to Miranda’s kitchen:
I’d bought collapsible plastic measuring cups and spoons when I bought the rig to replace non-collapsible plastic measuring cups and spoons. I’ve always hated the plastic; the measurements wear off and they cups get greasy and impossible to wash. I’ve been wanting nice, heirloom quality, metal measuring cups for years, but they have been very hard to find. I’ve come across cheap sets I knew wouldn’t last and was resigned to paying top dollar at a fancy kitchen store. So, imagine my surprise on my last jaunt to Omak to come across these Oneida stainless steel beauties for $10 a set at Walmart! My Oneida cutlery still looks as great as the day it was given to me thirteen years ago, so I know these will last me a lifetime.
So, dishes, reorganize the kitchen, get groceries, and cook. Sounds like I have a nice weekend ahead of me. 🙂
Study Curtains
I spent an hour this afternoon putting together the curtains for one of the study windows. I’ll do the other two when I get back from Quebec. I frosted the large window as well as the one on the filing cabinet side, so they’re not as urgent. I didn’t want to do the one on the desk side since I like to see what’s going on outside. However, guests of this park are extremely rude and walk through my site to get to the facilities on the other side of the meadow. I wouldn’t mind if they walked on the far side of the site (it’s double-wide), but they walk right by the rig and take plenty of time to peak into windows. Yuck!
At any rate, I don’t sew, but I am well equipped for sewing. The other day, I took my cutting mat and tool (looks like a pizza cutter) and I went to the laundry room where there is a large table. I spread out the fabric, measured, and cut out all my panels.
Sometime in the spring, I bought some fusible hemming tape to try out in lieu of hand sewing. It’s a small roll, so I didn’t think I’d have enough to do all my curtains, but when I opened up the package I discovered that it’s a very fine product, kind of like a spider web, and that a roll will go a long way.
First thing to do, set myself up for ironing. Hmm… Oh, I’ve got it! Board down on study mattress, dish towel over board, and a damp absorbent cloth to substitute for an ironing cloth:
I started with the bottom, since it had a finished edge that would allow me to make a perfectly straight edge, which would guide me for the other sides. I did one panel, then used it as a guide to get the other one the same size.
The fusible tape is extremely easy to work with. I worked with foot-long sections at a time, folding the hem over it, applying the damp cloth over top, and pressing firmly with the iron for ten seconds. It was slow going, but the crisp edges were worth the effort.
For the top, I simply made a much larger hem so that the pole could fit through the top section. I got simple tension rods which fit snugly. For added protection, I had them rest over a valance bracket to give them a bit more support:
The fabric is long enough to cover these windows, but it is about two inches too short for the picture window. The fabric is just so perfect and there was exactly enough of it, except for those two inches, so I’m glad I have the valances to make up the rest!
End result:
Finally Feels Like a Home Office!
Wow, the new printing, filing, and shredding centre in my study is awesome! I spent a few hours tonight catching up on… printing, filing, and shredding. 🙂 The printer does not have wireless networking capabilities, so I bought an 11′ long cable to run across the room. I would have thought that would be more than enough, but I was a bit short, so I pulled out a USB extension cable I had lying around and that gave me just enough length.
So, I now have a printer cable running across the room? You’d just about never know it since I ran it under the mattress base, and it comes up just behind the desk. Once I find some clips for securing the printer to the top of the night table, it will be permanently set up for the first time since I moved into Miranda. Finally! I do have to get up and walk all of two steps to turn it on (or I guess I could roll the chair three feet…) since the printer is a power hog and can’t be left on. Big deal! It and the shredder are sharing the outlet by the electrical panel.
Today’s changes have made Miranda feel like a whole new rig and I am very pleased with my day’s work!
A Filing Cabinet
One of my biggest decluttering challenges was to go from six overflowing filing cabinet drawers to just one. I moved into Miranda with a plastic bin of files. That worked reasonably well until I started to have to keep more accounting and business records and needed a more accessible system with room to grow. It was time for a proper filing cabinet.
I could have bought a cheap and ugly two-drawer metal one, but I really wanted a wood-finish lateral unit as it would look more like furniture. The top drawer could be for files and the bottom for office supplies. Staples was the only store to have what I wanted, but at $300 and with the wrong wood grain, there was no way I was proceeding with my idea!
When the beyond perfect thing showed up on Kijiji, I knew I had to have it even if it meant a drive to Penticton. It was advertised at $55 and I got it for $45:
It matches my new desk! Their dimensions are so close, also, that the room room really feels balanced now.
The drawer on top is the night table for which I have yet to find a permanent home. I think it’ll stay there, stuffed with printer paper, with the printer on top. Best place I’ve found for it so far.
One of the things I really like about this filing cabinet is that there are rails that let me fit files in horizontally, so that I can have them facing me. I can put personal files on one side and business files on the other:
The drawers glide beautifully and silently. For particle board furniture, it is of excellent quality.
Donna deserves another thank you for helping me haul it out of the car and into the rig!