Life Turns Busy

It's a good thing I devoted last week to Todd's Pawtrait because I now find myself living days with too much to do...and none of it involves sewing. I haven't even had any time for embroidery, and that almost never happens.

Yesterday was the day we'd set aside to unload the old RV and move everything into the new RV. It was, essentially, like moving a small household. Mike was doing repairs to the RV, which only he can do, and that left me doing all the moving on my own. A few times I asked for his assistance to reach things on high shelves, but mainly, I did it myself. It was the hottest day so far this year, and we were both worn out by day's end. Here, Sadie demonstrates how tired we both were:

Not that she lifted a single paw to help. Interestingly, both kitties go in and out of the RV's with no hesitation. Smitty even napped in the old RV yesterday while we were there. They often go into the RV's if the doors are left open, but they generally fly out the door if we enter. Smitty seemed completely nonplussed about us being there while he napped. It's as if he's figured out that when we're not hooked up to the truck then we're not moving.

Since I knew it was going to be a busy day, I started early making some Small Batch Spiced Blueberry Jam.

This was so quick and simple, and it smells heavenly. It's spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. My yield was just 3 half-pints, and I had the whole thing done in less than an hour, including processing time. I love that about blueberries. No pits. No seeds. No muss. No fuss. I still have blueberries to make blueberry chutney, but that will probably have to wait until Thursday...or possibly Tuesday...but don't count on it. I think I might even have enough left over after the chutney to bake a blueberry pie for two. We'll see.

So after that, we got to work moving, and it was a hot and heavy day. Lifting heavy things up and down the RV steps was hard on my knee, but Mike helped out with that part. Each RV is configured differently with differently shaped cupboards for storing things. Each one also has its short-comings. I've been thinking about how to arrange things ever since Mike arrived home with the new one, and I'm happy to say things are fitting nicely and in convenient places. I'm absolutely loving the floor to ceiling pantry, which holds all sorts of things.

There is plenty of room around the sink and stove for skillets, pans, and small appliances. The cupboards on the far side of the sink and to the right of the pantry are perfect for dishes and glasses.

The four drawers below are a nice shape and plenty roomy to fit silverware and all sorts of stuff. I still have one cabinet of stuff to empty in the old RV, but I think everything is going to fit perfectly. As I'm putting things away, I keep reminding myself that over time, things will seek their own level. Also, we'll need to do some measurements for some drawer dividers. We have some from the old RV that are working, but we'll need some others before it's ready to go down the road...unless you don't mind everything tipping over and falling out of the cupboards when you open them. I do.

The shortest of shortcomings in the new RV is the shape of the cabinets in the bathroom.

We most sweated out placement of items in here. For one thing, there is almost no wall space, and so we ended up mounting towel bars on the door. It was the only place. There was also no place for a toilet paper holder, and so that ended up on the inside of one of the doors below the sink. Most troubling are those skinny and deep cabinets to the left of the sink. We ended up putting narrow bins in there that will function like drawers, and that worked out pretty well. Everything fits, and it's not too much trouble gaining access to what you want. The saving grace in here is the medicine cabinet, which is quite large, and with tall shelves for tall items.

In all the walking back and forth yesterday, I paused for a moment when I noticed the contrast of the orange day lilies with the purple of the lavender. It was pretty enough to motivate me to get the camera and take a picture.

In case you're wondering, the sign says, "Garden of Weeden."

So there's just a little bit left to do, and I want to get an early start this morning to try to get it finished up. I have an appointment in downtown Portland at 1:00. Even on a good day of traffic it's an hour to get downtown and to get parked, so I need to leave around noon. And that means it's time to get moving.