Category Archives: Rural Life in Mendota

Daily adventures in a rural farming community.

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…

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

Here is the after of his side of the room…

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!

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.

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…

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.

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.

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

Here’s the whole office area again…

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!

But now…it’s time for a….

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?

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.

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 — I draw on that account every day.

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

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?

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….

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.

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.

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!!

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.

More later. Time for a nap with Gracie.

Gracie’s Trip to the Vet

This Sweet Girl visited the vet today. Mike said she was so very brave!

Dr. Steve says that the “warty” like thing on her eye has to come off. He’s trying an approach of squeezing it (yes, she let him…she’s a good dog) and I’m applying a steroid ointment at night. If it goes away or is reduced enough not to bother her, then we won’t attempt surgery.

He doesn’t want to do surgery due to her age…she’s almost 15. He listened to her heart. It beat strong. He watched her walk. Her arthritis was still manageable. He felt of her lumps and bumps (too many to list). He made a loud noise. She didn’t hear him; her world is quiet.

Most dogs Gracie’s age are very thin. She runs to fat. Yes, her arthritis would be better if she was a little lighter, but Dr. Steve is delighted that she’s not thin.

She still finds joy in her life. She loves riding in the truck, running to the shop, eating, and laying by my feet or on the couch beside me. I’m her “important person.” Mike is her “second important person” but not quite as high as me.

And I love her. With all my heart.

Not a Lottery Winning Day

I am having one of THOSE days…everything just goes askew. I realize that on my worst day, my life is better than most. However….

It started last night when I realized it was 1:30 am and I was still up. I had to get up at 6:30 am and feed the animals. Mike had to take my Prius in for service. I had to meet him at the dealership. He had a dental appointment. We didn’t get back home until 3:30 pm and we were both tired…maybe grumpy. My mouth was hurting. I hope it feels better tomorrow, but this afternoon, it felt like I had 8 kernals of popcorn stuck in between my teeth and in my gums. I was fantasizing about a swish of warm salt water on the way home from town. When I finally got home and did the swish thing…ahh…it was wonderful.

So we’re home and Mike goes to the shop. I go down, too, to…well do some spray painting…isn’t that what I do a lot of the time? I’ll show you what I painted later in the week. Anyway, I saw this girl…she has to go to the vet tomorrow. She’s so cute…she looks like she is quinting at me.

She has bumps and lumps all over her. She’s had a wart on her eye for a good while. I’m afraid it’s going to start causing her discomfort, so she’s going in for a consultation with Dr. Steve tomorrow.

I’m worried that any day she will die. I can’t help it. She is over 14. She sure can bark good though.

I also went to see the bees today. There was one single bee outside of the four hives. I keep wondering…are they alive and just in the hives doing what they are supposed to do which is clustering around the queen? One was outside the hives, so I tried to peek into the top of each hive but I didn’t see any activity. I keep wanting to mess with them, but there is not one thing I can do if they are in trouble. We have extra food for them in the event that they run out of honey. We have done everything that we’re supposed to do. It’s just wait and hope and pray.

I asked Sam the cat who went to see the bees with me…Sam..are the bees alive?”

Sam said…”Who cares? Why ask me? I’m a cat.” Look at those cool green eyes. Self-centered cat!

One of the things that I did while in town was go by Short Sheets and buy my slipcover fabric for the couch in our home office. Guess what? I got home and I’d taken the wrong bolt of fabric. Yikes!

So my day has been spent “waiting” on cars and dentists; my dog has warts on her eye; my bees may be dead; and my couch fabric is wrong. Yikes…I will not buy a lottery ticket today! For sure!

I did do one thing that was fun. I purchased a small basket at TJ Maxx for $4.00. It’s cute. I’m not sure what that little round thing on it is.

So…I now have a basket…and I’m thinking about one of Mike’s bookshelves that is not very organized. It has Mike’s junk on it.

Add one of the many canning jar rings and a little bit of scrapbook paper…and now…that same little shelf is all organized. No more white bowl.

A place for everything and everything in its place.

I still have a long way to go in this room.

Life Unscripted

Isn’t this a pretty church? It’s over 100 years old.

Joey led this morning’s prayer. He said, “Thank you for staying with us during the snow and ice and power outages. Thank you for riding shotgun with us Father.” Our worship is not scripted.

Here’s some more to be thankful for…it’s our friend Helene and her two house daughters, Ashley and Jenna. Ashley and Jenna have been hanging out with Mike in the shop a lot this week. Like Joey’s prayer today, these three independent women are living life unscripted. They delight everyone they touch.

And…Jenna and Ashley installed a new, tiled entry in our guest house apartment! Mike had removed the old vinyl and had the ceramic tiles cut and laid out, but his knee surgery is on the near horizon and kneeling isn’t working well for him right now. Jenna and Ashley had never laid or grouted ceramic tile, but they did an awesome job.

It looks like wood, but it’s ceramic tile. I love it!

Neat Desk Scanner

Have you seen the commercials from Office Depot on “Jane at Work?” I’ve been eyeing all of the great black and white desk organization items. I was thinking I could get a cardboard box and with a glue gun, Cricut, chalkboard paint and some creativity, I could make something similar for free!

Mike saw me watching this commercial, and I thought he was just being observant. However, he was watching something else, and it had nothing to do with saving money — quite the opposite.

He was eyeing the Neat Desk Scanner that also appears in the commercial. And guess what? He went and bought it! Now, he will HAVE to get rid of some of those 20 or so notebooks. He bought the scanner, and now he’s obligated to scan!!

Here it is on the desk (still haven’t moved the rug or anything much on this side of the room).

And a little closer….I’m so glad he’s addicted to gadgets. He’ll be scanning for hours. For days!

While he’s scanning, I can do meaningful, important things. Like pin things on Pinterest. Or play games on my iPad. Or surf the internet for crafts and decorating ideas! I’m in love with that scanner already!

Happy Snowy Friday and Office Reorg Update

Happy snowy Friday! I adore these serendipitous holidays where nature has everyone slow down a bit. We’ve had a wonderful day staying indoors.

I went upstairs this morning and took a few pictures of our home office which is my current “big” project. No one is going to say I took performance enhancing drugs to get through fast. Small steps. Bits of progress.

Chairs look a lot crisper spray painted black. I think a little red lumbar pillow will look great in this chair.

Chair painted Black

If you can get around all of the mess I have pulled out in the above picture, you’ll see how the newly painted black chair looked BEFORE when you look at the picture below. Just imagine all of the junk gone and picture how GOOD the chair looks black in this spot. I know..it takes some imagination.

While you’re using your imagination, imagine the couch slipcovered in white denim. I’m ordering 14 yards today!! The labor for this will be $400. I’m saving $100 per week for four weeks.

Bookshelf all neat and organized in the picture below. A place for everything and everything in its place. These bookshelves are over 30 years old now. They are a little out of style. They were purchased at Ethan Allen and are really sturdy. They work!

And my file cabinet…all tidied up with the Cricut on top where its handy. I’ve organized all of the drawers, too! I like these little wooden file cabinets. Mike and I each have one.

You can see the green rug in the above picture. That rug will be shampooed and rolled up for storage. It’ll come out again some time in another room, but the rug that will go in it’s place is a neutral natural “cream” color. Imagine…the natural rug, the black chairs, the wood pieces all accented in black and red. I’m starting to see it!

Accessories will make this a sweet space. New lampshades, a red throw, some burlap, plants, black and white checks…you get the picture. Lots of cleaning, throwing away and organizing still ahead.

I’m also looking around the house and seeing what I have that I can reuse. I had a wrought iron “curly thing” that I’d hung above the entry way in the dining room. It was a distressed yellow color. I painted it black. It’ll go behind the couch. See the post it note for Mike!” He hates those things!

How are you spending this snowy day? Are you crafting, reading, cleaning, sleeping or eating? All of them sound good to me!

Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

Last week’s rainy…then snowy…weather made me want soup in the crock pot. Is it more classy to say “slow cooker?” Anyway, I found a recipe which used the following ingredients.

And here’s how you assemble the ingredients…I got this from my Rival Crock Pot Cookbook that came when I bought the crockpot ages ago.

1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 zucchini, diced
1 cup cabbage, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 15 oz. cans kidney beans, drained
2 14 1/2 oz. cans beef broth
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I used home canned)
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups cooked elbow macaroni
1/4 cup Parmeasean cheese, grated (Of course it’s grates as I use the big green can!! So NOT classy!)

Combine all of the ingredients in the crockpot except the macaroni and Parmesan cheese. Cover. Cook on low for 7 to 9 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. Stir in the macaroni and Parmesan cheese.

It’s good! We had homemade bread (someone else’s homemade..not mine) and this soup last Thursday when it was snowing outside.

Very cozy.

After the January 2013 Snow

Hi! Baby it’s cold outside! It’s been a wild week. I had no internet on the onset of last week due to a transmitter being replaced up at the Mendota Fire Tower by my pals at IGO Technologies. They did the replacement while our area received 6.5 inches of rainfall!

Here’s where my internet comes from…on top of Clinch Mountain!

Twenty four hours after the repair, we received 6-7 inches of wet (and beautiful) snow resulting in no phone service, no electricity and no internet. The phone service returned in 48 hours, the electricity in about 72 hours, and the internet, FINALLY, today!

The wet snow had trees down everywhere. Here’s a few on the side of the road going up Nordyke Road leaving Mendota. The scenes below repeated over and over on all of the Mendota roads. Thank goodness some folks had chainsaws as the road crews had too much other stuff on their hands.

And another…

And another…yawn!

We are so fortunate that we have a generator (check out this post). However, to keep from using so much propane, we are careful about our electrical usage during outages. I didn’t spend a lot of time working on my home office organization project because it’s in a different “zone” in terms of the heating system. However, I tried to do a few things…

I have all kinds of photo albums from the time when we didn’t have digital photography. Look at them! (If you can get past the trash I have on the floor in this picture…sometimes you have to drag it out before you can clean it up!)

I am putting most of the albums in the lower part of the bookshelf behind doors. However, there were a few that I could not get in there. I went back in time to the era when I had to “wrap” my rented school books. Do students still rent textbooks? I don’t know!

Took some ordinary mailing paper and a very ugly pink album..

Using my skills developed during my years as a textbook renter!

Taped down the sides here…

Here ya go! Still a work in progress..it doesn’t look like it will look with a bit more tweaking…but you can see where I’m headed.

While slow as molasses, this is a good winter project!