This Was the Week That Was/n't

Who remembers the television show This Was the Week That Was with David Frost?  Raise your hand if you're old enough.  Hey!  You!  You crouching down back there!  Raise your hand.  I see you trying to hide at the back of the row.  I know you're old enough to remember it, so up with the hand you go.  Even though I was fourteen years old and way too young and ignorant to understand political satire, for some reason I remember watching it with my mother. I guess I was quite impressionable.  I do remember I loved English accents.  Funny that.  Now I have one to listen to every day courtesy of husband's lovely southeastern English accent.   

I'm marking time. It's seems like it was just Tuesday and now, suddenly, it's Friday. We move back into our house in five days. It's going to seem odd, but in a good way. We've spent three months living in our travel trailer. It's got about 450 square feet of living space. It's small but has all the conveniences of home...fridge, freezer, stove, oven, microwave, nice bathroom facilities and bedroom with queen size bed. It’s like living in a doll house. Everything is there, just in miniature. On Tuesday, we move back into 2300 sq feet plus lanai of living space. At first the house will seem cavernous. I’ll walk in the front door slowly and inhale the molecules of what makes the essence of home for me. When husband isn’t looking I’ll saunter into the kitchen and kiss the ceramic topped stove as I open the door gently and gaze into the big convection oven. My glance will light upon the Kitchen Aid stand mixer and I’ll gently whisper, “I’m back My Love…soon we’ll dance together again.” Throwing open the double doors of the refrigerator and adoringly scanning the shining glass and white interior of that behemoth. I’ll feel a slight twinge of guilt for cheating on the stove, but it will pass as soon as I tiptoe into the laundry room and hug those glorious Maytags. No more Laundromats for me! I’m not even going to get into my love affair with the bedspreads or the dining room set. Oh goodness! I almost forgot about the dining room furniture! How could I? We bought it new last Spring and haven’t yet even ever had a chance to eat at it ourselves. I love looking at it so much, I hate to use it to eat.

I guess what this big love affair with the house boils down to is that I started redecorating it almost the moment I moved into it.  I am sooooo not a pastel pink walls and accents and white furniture kind of girl.  The house is now a true reflection of me, not the original South Florida designer.  Below are a few before and after photos and here is a slideshow (give it time to load) of the house from last year when we went momentarily insane and listed it for sale.  And finally, because I know you're wondering how, if I love the house so much, I can bear to rent it to strangers (they're nice strangers) and live in a trailer for three months, I have almost twenty-thousand reasons and every single one of them has a picture of George Washington upon it.  This year's rental is paying for new kitchen cabinets and countertops this summer.

SIX YEARS AGO

TODAY

SIX YEARS AGO

Last Year

NOW

What else have I been up to?  Hmmmmm...not much.  I've been trying to organize the recipes guest bloggers (you know who you are and I adore you for submitting your recipe) have emailed to me.  My plan is to do one every Sunday.  On April 17th we are leaving on a 2 week transatlantic cruise and then will spend a month in England.  One of the reasons that I chose SquareSpace to host this blog and all of it's components is that it can be set to post entries at a future date.  So my plan is to type up/create posts and set them to publish while we are at sea.  I haven't figured it all out yet, but am sure it will be doable.  Once in UK, I will have computer access.  Not only is computer access expensive at sea, but I am determined not to waste one second of this adventure tethered to the laptop keyboard.

And finally, in the Dana Must Be Ill Department:

Yesterday I informed husband that I needed some time alone.  I adore him, but 24/7 together anywhere much less in the small trailer space is a delicate balance at best.  I'm surprised there isn't more spousal homocide in the retired group, really.  I took myself off shopping.  I went to Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Steinmart and the mall.  I was gone for five hours.  Other than a scrumptious gyro at Greek Jalapeno in the mall food court, I BOUGHT NOTHING.  I am worried about myself.  Although, I am forgetting that little foray into J Crew two weeks ago where I bought these things:

  

These things were absolutely positively necessary (as I explained to husband) because I have a cruise packing plan.  I am packing by color and wearing only black, white, red, navy and tan.  Simplifies things a lot for mixing and matching and therefore less suitcase space needed and less baggage etc..  My navy category needed some ummmmm what's the word/expression?....Oh yes, fluffing up.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it....