A shoe rack: Order out of chaos

Wayne put up a shoe rack by our back door the other day, and it's made our life a lot more orderly! Who could imagine such a small simple thing could make such a difference?

In the interest of less dirt on the floors, we try to take our shoes off when we come in. Of course, up until now, that has resulted in a pile of shoes by the back door. And wow, what a messy dirty pile it was, with all this rain and leaves and mud on the bottoms. We could hardly get the back door open sometimes for shoes. Not to mention, in order to sweep I had to pick up all the shoes first and put them somewhere else (in a pile).

Isn't this cool?? So neat. So clean. So out of the way!

It was easy to make, too. I saw this video a couple of months ago and kept it with the intention of making just such a rack. First, I love it that the construction person making the video is Sawdust Girl - you don't get so many how-to construction things done by women, and why not?? We know how to do things too, right?

Anyway, I bought the pegs she recommended and then let them sit while all the holiday madness swirled around us. If they hadn't been out on my desk, I might have forgotten about them. The other day, we finally got around to it.

What a great idea!!

Winter from the train (I'm never sick)

Wayne and I just returned from a trip to Portland OR to visit my son Arthur and his family for the holidays. We took the train rather than drive (yes, W hates to fly!) because the weather is dicey this time of year and driving can be treacherous. It's an 11-hour drive, and an 18-hour train ride each way from Oakland. We like the train - it's relaxing and this was a very hectic December. Time for some down time. Here's an example of the scenery going by our window during daylight hours. Pretty! Cold.

It was a pleasant trip up. We slept and there was only one person coughing in our car. Poor guy, had a cold.

The week we spent in Portland was great family fun - board games, a giant puzzle, good dinners, great conversation! Arthur and I baked loaves of artisan bread from a new cookbook he had: Flour, Water, Yeast, Salt. Yum! We bundled up and went for walks in the the cold, although there was no snow until our last day there. The day before we left, I started to cough a little.

Now it's a fact that I'm never sick. I pride myself on it! I do have a good immune system and am overall very healthy, so I don't pick up things very easily at all. Besides, I grew up that way. There was no reward, no special attention, for being sick in my family of origin. If you were strong you got more positive attention, so that became a habit. I was sure my cough would be gone in a few hours. I took a couple of chewable Vitamin Cs.

Back on the train for the 18-hour ride home, I'm hacking up a storm along with half the car we're in. In addition, my sinuses are starting to block up and I am suddenly into a full-blown cold. So much for getting any sleep, which we didn't. So much for never being sick, which I definitely was.

I've spent the last week recovering - extra sleep, lots of supplements and vitamins, plenty of water, cough, cough, cough. Finally, I feel better. I did go to work over the weekend - short shifts both Saturday and Sunday. Wiped me out. I'll give it another few days, and then I'm done with it.

Hope that works!