Thank you for finding That Old House amidst the chaos of the Internet. We are delighted that you are here.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Things That Help. Maybe With Paws.



After we rejiggered our kitchen, two years ago,
I vowed to keep the countertops clear and 
uncluttered to show off the nice new soapstone.


Kitchen 2010, almost done.

"So, Cass," I hear you say, "how did that work out for you?"
Must you ask?

There are 5 billion little squatters that for some reason
think they need to live out in plain view on my counters.
Things like olive oil, rice vinegar, a timer, paper napkins (gasp!),
soy sauce, red pepper flakes, espresso powder, the French press,
little teeny cheese knives, Scotch tape, and - I can't remember how
it got there - a small bottle of Proseco.  Plus things like stray receipts and coupons.

Witness:
A couple of months ago, while stalking HomeGoods,
I found a tall, tiered, round thingy.  I brought it home.
After paying for it.

It's my squatters' corral.
Daughter Anne thinks it's kind of hideous, which of course it is,
but it does the job of keeping lots of itinerant kitchen hobos
from roaming all over the counter, making nuisances of themselves.


 I'd love to have one of those kitchens with the pull out spice drawers, and that dedicated
storage for cans and bottles; in fact I'd like to have one of those kitchens with
lots of cabinets.  But I don't have one of those kitchens, and have very limited storage.

Or, possibly, too much stuff.
Nah.


The St. Joseph statue that helped us sell our last house (and a brilliant job he did, too),
got pride of place up in the Stuff Corral's turret.  It's good form to give ol' Joe a place of honor
in your new home.  Or, he might sell that one out from under you when you are not looking.
Fact.


Quiz time!
What do you see in the lower left corner of the picture, above?
Is it a stuffed doggy perched on the corner table in the sunroom?  
No!  It's a real doggy perched there. 


Woody, our Dion's great-nephew, was our weekend houseguest.
He likes a good view.

Oops.  He realizes he's been made.

"Off, Woody!"
And off he goes . . .
. . . and into the kitchen he comes, hoping for a snack.

"Look, Temp Mom, I am sitting nicely.
How's about a nice snack?"

"No snack?  I'm outta here.
There are tennis balls to find."

So, a post about helpful things.
The Stuff Corral makes my counter less cluttered,
and Woody did excellent work this weekend as my
Comforter Spaniel; he holds the rank of Master Snuggler.
It was lovely to have a sweet dog in the house again.
Many thanks to our good friends Betsy and Phil, for letting
us borrow Woody for the weekend while they went away.

Thanks to St. Joseph, for making it possible
for us to live here in That Old House.

And many thanks to my cousin Judy and her husband Edd
for sending gorgeous flowers to me -- such happy colors!
 They make me smile.

See the table in the upper right, laden with Halloween decor?
Howard brought the boxes up from the cellar on Sunday.
I'm still working on them . . . .  Cass

P.S.  Still typing mostly with one hand, so please forgive my
sketchy commenting.  It took me two days to get this post done.   :-P

14 comments:

  1. Like your little thing (or biggish thing) to corral the counter top squatters. And what a sweet little visitor. At first I thought you had gotten a new pup. Once again you made me laugh with your post. I hope writing this means that you are feeling some better after the surgery.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful Woody , gorgeous flowers , lovely house , I have been wanting to movefor a long time but my 2 sons say you are fine where you are . I'm going to pray to St Joseph .
    Best wishes

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers and that adorable dog. I thought at first you had got another furbaby. Like the carousel storage unit. My counters stay cluttered. :/

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your round thingy...it serves the purpose, I constantly ask the same thing of myself, do I have too much stuff or not enough space?

    What a sweet pup! Are you thinking of adding to your household in the near future?

    XO,
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  5. Woody looks like a snugger! Love your kitchen! Hope you recover soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Beautiful pics, Cass,
    especially when you
    consider you were
    working with one
    hand!! Thanks for
    the good chuckles
    about the kitchen
    hobos....I think we
    all have them! Now
    I'm going to wonder
    if they are moving
    around down here
    while we are all asleep
    at night ~ ha! What
    a cutie Woody is and
    can only imagine the
    sweet cuddles!

    Here's to a speedy
    recovery, my friend!

    xo Suzanne

    ReplyDelete
  7. I thought your "stuff" corral was neat! Thought so when I first saw it. Made sense to me and although I have something similar there just isn't enough counter space to have one at Linderhof! Love the substitute pup -- it's nice to have someone to snuggle (other than Howard, I mean) --

    Hope things are going well.

    Martha

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cass, your house is stunning and your kitchen also. I know, I vow that same vow and those squatters just creep in, especially with holiday decorating and tablescaping. I took a break from tablescaping and my kitchen has been so less cluttered, but I was digging things out today! It is endless. I love your corral. What a great piece.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I rather like your kitchen doo-dad catcher. AND, it appears to be working, catching lots of doo dads!

    Man, Woody looks A LOT like you know who, whom we all miss.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your flowers are stunning! Woody sitting and looking out the window from his special perch is priceless!
    And I'm a big fan of that kitchen.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hope you are doing better!
    Love the corral critter.

    M:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think it was a clever idea. Now there all in one place. I love the crown on top.

    Dee

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'm always suspicious of anyone who has a clutter-free kitchen. We cook in there, and need stuff at hand, and stuff on the counters is a fact of life. That corral idea is a great one.

    Here's wishing you fast healing so you get your other hand back sooner rather than later.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Your saying you vowed to keep your counter uncluttered reminds me of when my kids were young and we'd clean up the house, get toys and all the other clutter picked up, and we'd say, "Now let's keep it like this." Never happened.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting That Old House; it's always exciting to find new comments -- they are treasured! Because of increasing spam, I have reluctantly eliminated "Anonymous" commenting. Legitimate anonymous commenters, please forgive me! You might try using "Open ID" instead. Blogger's spam software worked for a good long time, but, sadly, no longer.