Time Out for Family

You probably noticed that last week was a book review marathon here on the blog. Five reviews in one week because some of the publishers decided to change the original release dates. Why the first week of March looked like the ideal time to release all those books into the wild, I don't know, but I did get them all reviewed.

You're probably wondering what's going on here at Casa Kittling. How's Denis? Has Karen arrived yet? 

Denis is doing well after the first surgery. He says that his spine "feels solid," and I've seen him working with the hospital physiotherapists to stand unaided while brushing his teeth, etc. There has been a slight hiccup in the scheduling of the second surgery, the one that will be building Denis a new vertebra to keep the shape of his spine, so plans are afoot to move him to the rehab side of the Banner medical complex. (I'm writing this on Sunday, March 9.) Denis is looking forward to getting down to work on improving his mobility, and I don't blame him one bit. I think he's been going slightly stir crazy doing little but lying in bed or sitting in a chair.

Our niece Karen will be arriving tomorrow evening, and I can't wait to see her. I'm hoping we can get out to a few places besides the hospital while she's here. It's a shame that Denis won't be able to come with us, but I know that seeing another smiling face will cheer him up even more. (After all my visits to the hospital, some of the Dial-a-Ride drivers and I are becoming good friends.)

So... I've been busy, and I'll be even busier the next two weeks so posts here will be few and far between. Before I go, I want to show you something I made for Karen. I told her to leave plenty of room in her luggage. It's a pattern I've shared with you before, and the yarn is 100% acrylic from Michael's. The yarn is so soft and warm, and I love the name of the color: Tickled Pink!

Karen's afghan

Closeup

Howdy!

 

How are you all? Doing well, I hope! I thought it would be a good idea to check in with you all since I didn't post anything last week. 

Denis has been having a few stomach issues. With all that back surgery and the metalwork holding his spine together, he's on some heavy duty pain meds, one of which is known to cause stomach ulcers. He's stopped taking it, but the loss of that one painkiller means that his back is hurting more. If it's not one thing, it's forty-'leven others, isn't it? *sigh* Hopefully, this is straightened out soon.

On the other hand, my leg continues to improve. So much so that I was hoping Denis and I could get out and do something non-medical... like going to the Desert Botanical Garden to see it decked out for Christmas. Alas, December has been a seemingly never-ending round of medical appointments for us both. At least there's something to look forward to in the new year!

I'm going to try to fire up the computer later on in the week to at least keep you posted on what I've been reading, but I can't promise anything. I've been enjoying myself way too much spending time with Denis and mowing through one book after another.

A virtual hug to each and every one of you!

A Thanksgiving Catch-Up

 

I hope everyone who celebrates is having just the kind of Thanksgiving they hoped they'd have. And even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, I want you to know that I am thankful for you all being a part of my life. You do make a difference.

I want to thank everyone for the emails and cards they've sent. I did have the venous ablation on my leg last week, and the follow-up ultrasound showed that the procedure is doing what it's supposed to. The leg is slowly healing (finally-- after more than a year!), and the pain has lessened quite a bit. All good signs that I hope continue.

Denis and I have been taking it easy in between medical appointments, and I've continued to keep my leg up and my nose stuck in a book. In fact, it's a good thing that I've been stretching out on the bed to read (in a patch of sunshine no less) because when I started reading a book a couple of days ago, I saw that it was dedicated to me. Wow! What an unexpected gift!

You'll be seeing more of me next week because I'll be posting reviews of some new releases. I'm not ready to go back to my old blogging schedule, but I do think I see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Virtual hugs to you all!

A Few Highlights from Daisy & Suzanne's Visit

I thought I'd share a few more highlights from Daisy and Suzanne's visit with you before I move on to recent trips to the Desert Botanical Garden and the Phoenix Zoo. 

 

If I haven't spelled it out before, Suzanne is Daisy's mother, which makes them both our nieces. I'm too lazy to use the term "grand-niece"-- and besides, using the rather genealogical term of "grand" anywhere close to childless-by-choice me just does not compute. They are both from England; Suzanne works in a local school, and Daisy is an EMT. Being an only child and an only grandchild, I've been used to a rather solitary existence my whole life. I like my own company, and I've only ever had a very few close friends at any one time. Suzanne, Daisy, and Suzanne's sister, Karen, just wrapped me up in a big hug and made me a part of their family when Denis and I married. How wonderful is that?

 

Now that I'm rather misty-eyed, I think I'll move on to those photos...

 

 

There was plenty of chattering.

 

The four of us went to Target. This is the view Daisy & Suzanne had of us speed demons on the way there...

 

Every day was Pool Day.

 

A house guest who does windows? How lucky can you get!

 

They both learned how to put fringe on knitted scarves. (They took five scarves home with them-- and FOUR afghans. Super Packers!)

 

Daisy found out she could apply for a ride-along with the Phoenix Fire Department. With her background as an EMT in the UK, she easily passed the background check and spent the day with the folks at this particular station-- the one that saved my house from burning down several years ago.

 

Daisy on the truck.

Daisy and the crew. After spending the entire day with them, they gave her a ride home on the firetruck. It made quite the impression!

Lots of tears and hugs when they left. I still wonder how they managed to get all their stuff in those suitcases!

Daisy back at work.

 

I miss them.

I'll See You at the End of October

 

I thought I'd check in with you to let you know what's going on. I'm still not 100%. I haven't picked up any knitting in three weeks, and I still haven't finished the newest Walt Longmire mystery. If those two things don't tell you I'm off my feed, nothing will.

I have, however, been enjoying the simple act of reading without writing the details in my book journal or feeling the need to tell anyone about it, and I think I'll continue to do so until the end of the month.

There's also another reason why I decided to take more time off. Denis is going through a two-step medical procedure called a medial branch block which will give him some much-needed pain relief from everything that's happened to his spine in the past year. He's been helping me so much while I've been ill, that I want to make sure I'm Johnny-on-the-Spot if and when he needs me.

Enjoy the month of October!

The In and Out Book Tag

Volumes by Karin Jurick

When I saw Cath participate in this bookish tag on her blog, Read-warbler, I knew I had to play along. If any of you feel like joining in, feel free to do so, but if you do, please let me know so I can read your answers. (Inquiring minds and all that...)

All answers to the prompts must be either "In" or "Out"...

Reading the Last Page First: OUT

 

♦ This is rather ill-advised when you read as many mysteries as I do, but I will admit to doing it when I have a very strong suspicion of whodunit within the first few pages. If the last page confirms that suspicion, I move on to the next book because-- usually-- when whodunit is that obvious, there's little else to redeem the book.

 

 

Enemies to Lovers: OUT

 

♦ I'm not a female who likes reading romance. A very little goes a long way with me, so much so that when sparks are flying between a couple and I know that "Some Enchanted Evening" will soon be playing, I just roll my eyes. 

Dream Sequences: OUT-ish

♦ Actually, I read very few books that contain dream sequences. Of the ones that do, I don't mind them because it's normally some craziness that Inspector Salvo Montalbano is trying to work out of his system in Andrea Camilleri's marvelous mystery series.

 

 

Love Triangles: OUT

 

♦ Boring! Boring! Boring! One of the reasons why I stopped reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries was because of the love triangle that refused to die. Ugh. 

Cracked Spines: OUT-ish

♦ I buy, swap, and read used books, so cracked spines really don't bother me. However, when I buy a brand-new book, I'm a very careful reader. Most readers who've won books through my giveaways can't tell that the book has been read. I just think of it as being considerate.

Back to My Small Town: IN

♦ Being a person who did visit the small town (population 1800) where she grew up, I like reading others' experiences of doing the same thing.

No Paragraph Breaks: OUT

♦ My brain wants those breaks, thank you very much! Reading a book with no paragraph breaks is like listening to someone who can talk forever without stopping to take a breath.

Multi-Generational Sagas: IN

♦ I've read many of these in the past and have really enjoyed them. In fact, one of my favorite series is the 35-book Morland Dynasty series by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles which starts in the time of Richard III of England and runs through the 1930s. Talk about a multi-generational saga!

Monsters Are Regular People: OUT

♦ Perhaps it's my reading mysteries which often involve killers, but I just don't think monsters are regular people. They can hide amongst us, but they do not belong.

Re-Reading: OUT

♦ After re-reading three books that I'd read for the first time and had been absolutely head-over-heels about and then having the second time around fall flat, I gave up re-reading. Besides... so many books, so little time!

Artificial Intelligence: IN/OUT

♦ In other words, I can take it or leave it.

Drop Caps: IN

♦ Drop Cap: "A large initial letter that drops below the first line of a paragraph, usually used at the beginning of a section or chapter of a book. " I like them.

Happy Endings: IN

 

♦ Don't we all deserve some happiness in this life?

Plot Points That Only Converge at the End: IN

♦ Erm... isn't that the point of most books? (Especially the mysteries I read!)

Detailed Magic Systems: OUT

♦ Outside of Harry Potter, I don't really care for fantasy.

Classic Fantasy Races: OUT

♦ See my response to Detailed Magic Systems.

Unreliable Narrators: IN

 

♦ I like seeing how long it takes me to begin doubting a character's trustworthiness. 

Evil Protagonists: IN

♦ I like seeing evil vanquished and justice done.

The Chosen One: IN/OUT

♦ Doesn't bother me one way or the other.

When the Protagonist Dies: OUT

♦ After what I said about Evil Protagonists, it would follow that I don't like having the good guys die.

Really Long Chapters: OUT

♦ In days gone by, I didn't care, but now really long chapters do bother me. I like stopping reading at the end of a chapter, and I often have sharply defined reading times, so shorter chapters work better for me.

French Flaps: IN

♦ French flaps: "A publishing format of a paperback book with folded flyleafs, or either of the two flyleafs so folded. "  I like them even though I always use a bookmark so those flaps seldom get used.

Deckled Edges: IN

 

♦ Deckled edges: "having a rough edge; used of handmade paper or paper resembling handmade." I like those, too. For some reason I find pages with deckled edges easier to turn.

Signed Copies by the Author: IN

♦ I like having signed copies of books by my favorite authors like Craig Johnson or J.A. Jance, and I'm fortunate enough to have a local indie bookstore that's phenomenal with author events, but I don't go out of my way to obtain signed copies.

Dog-Earing Pages: OUT

♦ I used to dog-ear pages, but now that I share almost all of the books I read, I prefer keeping them in as good condition as possible. If you're the type of person who likes to break the spines of your books, doodle on the pages, dog-ear the corners, use slices of bacon as bookmarks, go right ahead; they're your books. But if they're not your books but belong to someone else or they're library books, that's a completely different story!

Chapter Titles Instead of Numbers: IN/OUT

♦ This doesn't bother me one way or the other, although there are a couple of authors who write humorous mysteries whose chapter titles can provoke both laughter and anticipation.

Are our INs and OUTs similar or vastly different? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Casa Kittling's Kitchen Evolution

I've told you in my Weekly Link Round-Ups that Denis and I called our go-to remodeler to have work done on the kitchen. It is the last of the rooms I expect to undergo a change, and there's two reasons for that: (1) We've had a bellyful of the disruption and inconvenience, and (2) we haven't won any lotteries lately.

What's slightly amusing about this last room to undergo the knife is that it's the room I've wanted to change the longest. Why did it take so long for us to give the green light on the transformation? It's all my fault. Having had to correct several of the previous owner's "improvements" over the years, I had the irrational fear that the hollow "cubby hole wall" hid some sort of money pit monster. I could see that Denis and Claude the remodeler were getting tired of me dragging my feet, so I insisted that a hole be cut into that bothersome wall to check for monsters. 

There weren't any.

For some reason that we couldn't see, the previous owners had blocked off two and a half feet of valuable kitchen real estate in a kitchen that was small to begin with. Once I saw there were no monsters hiding in the dark, all systems were go. I'll start the photos with two from The Olden Days to give you an idea of how this room has changed over the years.

 

Although this photo is about 20 years old, changes had already been made to the kitchen and family room. Chiefly the flooring in both rooms (the original was beige carpet in both) and a new stove and microwave.

Family room back in the day.

The first two photos were "before" photos... before my best friend Helen and I turned ourselves loose. I got out a hammer and chisel and sander and got rid of all the fake bricks on the backsplash and over the cubby holes, and then we cleaned and painted. And painted. And painted.

Bye, bye bricks. Hello, new countertops.

Painted over the paneling. Both rooms were lighter and brighter.

The exploratory hole.

All the cubby hole wall was hiding was 2.5 feet of empty space back to the original wall. It also hid a second door that the previous owners had nailed shut. Their kitchen remodel called for nailing two doors shut and paneling over a window.

The light blue-gray half circle is where the stove used to be. That light blue-gray is called "Salt Water"-- fitting for a house where a submariner lives.

When they removed the old paneling, they uncovered the original mural wallpaper that was in the family room when I moved in. I'd forgotten all about it.

Why would they block off 2.5 feet of valuable floor space to cover up superficial fire damage? These people were nuts!

Drywall goes up.

Then the texture.

Then the flooring. (Vinyl plank. Waterproof. Scratchproof. Good for 40 years.)

Cabinets and a countertop go in.

Love it, love it, love it! And the white baseboards add a nice finishing touch. This flooring is much better for mobility devices.

Quite a difference from the very first photo, eh? The room looks so much bigger.

For some strange reason, we don't miss those cubby holes at all!

Already got the Thanksgiving turkeys up!

Originally, the huge lucite turntable was on top of the refrigerator, and that's where I kept the crockpot, can opener, and toaster. When I moved the coffee and tea station from one side of the kitchen to this new countertop, I had the bright idea to use the turntable to house all the "stuff"-- from cups to teabags to creamer to sweetener to coffee pods. Denis and I tried it out almost immediately, so we know that it works very well.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour. Denis and I are certainly enjoying the new space! The past year has been messy, a pain in the neck, and expensive, but with both of us having health issues, we were so very fortunate to be able to make the necessary changes to keep this house a functioning, comfortable home.

The Guest Bath Is Ready for Visitors!

All you regulars (and thanks for being regulars!) know that Denis and I recently went through the hassle of having our guest bath remodeled-- something that we've wanted to have done for a long time. 

Now it's done and ready to be shown off. Let's take a look at the Before & After photos!

The door from the guest bedroom into the guest bath.

When the house was originally built, there was a door into the kitchen where that white chest of drawers is. When a previous owner added the family room, access to the kitchen from this bedroom and bath was lost. You can just barely see the doors to a small cupboard right inside the door to your right. (Look for the silver door handles.)

Believe it or not, this before photo shows a vast improvement over what the bath looked like when I first moved in.

Here you can catch a glimpse of the linen cupboard between the shower and the wall. That shower felt as though you were entering a cave. And that window? When the previous owner added the family room, he also built over the window, so I always referred to it as the Window to Nowhere. When I sit in my recliner, I can rap Morse Code to someone in this bathroom. Well... if I knew Morse Code...

Demolition has begun!

Wow-- what a transformation already!

The remodel took two weeks instead of one, mainly because they didn't take into account that this is a house built in 1952. There was no drywall to slice through like butter. They had to hack their way through concrete and thick old plaster that contained a layer of chicken wire.

Now what's behind the blue door???

The sink and vanity are now where that white chest of drawers was.

Looking to the right. The hamper, wastebasket, and shelves are where that small cupboard was to the right of the door.

I'm not happy with that knitted scarf on the bottom shelf, so I'm busy needlepointing something else.

The Window to Nowhere is gone!

A shower head suitable for very tall guests. (And he knows who he is.)

Not only is this shower nice and roomy, it also has seven shelves, so guests who have a lot of different hair and body products will have plenty of room for their stuff.

The vent you see up by the ceiling is on the old wall to the bathroom. By taking that wall down and moving the sink and vanity into the former hallway, we've made this the biggest bathroom in the house.

One thing this room has never had is an extractor fan. No more "pea-soupers" when taking a hot shower! And the pot lights (which no other room in the house has) means there are no cave-like dark corners.

Yes, the process was a bit of a hassle, more because of turning our personal waking and sleeping times upside down than anything to do with the remodelers (whom we've already recommended to a couple of friends), but it certainly was worth it! It's going to take Denis and me a long time to get used to this new space.

To be honest, if the guest bedroom was large enough for our king-size bed, Denis and I would move in here and make this the master suite. Unfortunately, it's the smallest of the three bedrooms in the house.

Quite a transformation, isn't it?