Follow Me on Instagram

I finally remembered that I still have a blog! I've officially moved over to social media, specifically Instagram. If you want to follow me there you can find me at: MrsDanafox. It's a private account, so if I know you i'll approve your request. See you soon!

Teeny, Tiny House: Refrigerator

When we first moved into the cabin, the washer and dryer were located inside the house, right behind the garage door. They also had installed the hot water heater in the kitchen area. Both of these items were taking up valuable real estate in only 900 square feet.

So, we had the hot water heater and washer/dryer moved out into the garage which freed up space next to the kitchen for the coffee station, refrigerator and pantry. Matt refinished the walls and we moved the pantry over to where the water heater used to be.

We finally moved the fridge into its final position and purchased a few Ikea shelves to fit the spaces next to it. The cabinet to the left holds all our kitchen appliances, while the smaller, more hidden shelf holds our whisk(e)y collection.

The final kitchen project is to finally have a real pantry. Maybe next year?

Lily's Quinceanera

Lily turned 15 on August 8th and in honor of this special moment we threw her a quinceanera on the following Saturday! A birthday party for our dog, you might ask yourself? Absolutely! If you can't throw a party for your dog in Portland than what can you do?

I spent weeks preparing, coordinating, designing and making the decorations for her party. It was an absolute blast and the closest I will ever get to throwing a princess party for a daughter.

Side note: this party took place on the new cedar deck that M built. More pictures and details on that are forthcoming...

 I made the table skirt from pink and white tulle.

The pom poms on the trees were made by me using tissue paper.

I made the "L" and the banner on the wall, the other items were purchased.

The chiminea worked out very well on a cool Oregon evening.

I bought Lily's cake from a local dog-friendly baker.

I was so happy with how it turned out!

No party is complete without a human cake from Costco

Lily was such an amazing sport about the whole evening. We had about 15 people over, including babies and kids, and she did a great job of not being scared and going in the house when she needed a break. Her new sparkly, pink necklace is from her Auntie who regretfully couldn't attend. She loved the cake but we only fed her the top for now, we'll divvy up the remainder this week.

Guys, there was so much whiskey. 

Too much whiskey.

We had a whiskey tasting tour of Scotland, all 6 regions of Scotch were represented, plus there was bourbon and Irish.

Overall, I think the night went very well. People seemed happy and full from all the food. I wish I had taken more pictures and gotten more time to spend with each person. Being hostess is always tricky and the party always goes by 10 times faster than it took to arrange. 😂 Lily was a spoiled old lady and hopefully she understood, in her own way, how much she is loved!

Teeny, Tiny House: Kitchen

One of my favorite parts about renovation shows on television is the before and after photos. So here are a few photos of the kitchen as it stands now. We have a short list of things that are still yet to be done, but we are close to completing them. It is my hope that the refrigerator/pantry area will be ready to show you by the end of the year! Someday we will replace the cabinets but for now I find this kitchen to be markedly improved from 6 years ago.

Before

After

Teeny, Tiny House: Kitchen Shelf

Like a lot of ladies (and some men too), I spend time on Pinterest trying to get ideas for crafts and home renovation projects. I had this Martha Stewart shelf pinned before we ever moved into this house and decided Matt could easily make it. I did the measurements, went to Home Depot and priced everything out. I brought my schematics and price list to Matt and he said "looks good, I think you can build that." So, that's what I did! With a little husbandly assistance with the power tools, I built and painted this shelf and hung it in the kitchen. 

The shelf looks a little cluttered at the moment, as I keep the whiskey boxes as place holders for the bottles. Once the bottles are empty, I can discard the boxes and I think everything will look much more streamlined.

Teeny, Tiny House: Dishwasher

One of the almost deal breakers for me when we bought this house was the fact that it didn't have a dishwasher. I had never lived without one (yes, first world problems) and I wasn't sure how I would adjust to doing them all by hand. I have to say that of all the chores, this one grated on me the most. Despite the lovely view, I simply hated spending 20-30 minutes every. single. day. doing dishes.

When we redesigned the kitchen and moved the refrigerator, the plan had always been to put in a dishwasher where the fridge used to be. Easier said than done, as new electrical and plumbing were needed before this could become a reality. Matt bought the dishwasher and it sat in the box in the garage for quite awhile before he had time to complete this task, but complete it he DID!

Here's the finished product:

Knitting: Light Box

Matt bought me a very nice camera for my birthday and I have been having a great time figuring it out and trying to create the best shots possible. Overwhelmingly, I noticed that serious photographers have a lightbox for shooting smaller objects. I decide to make one myself because I am frugal and refuse to pay big money for something I could easily make myself. This light box cost me a couple of bucks of dollar store foam board that I cut and taped to form the box. The lights I got at Walmart for $16 and I installed pure white lightbulbs from Home Deport for another $5.

I didn't have a completed knitting project so I tested it with a whisky bottle.
Glass is notoriously difficult to photograph and I was very happy with the results.

The baby blanket I knitted for Julian in Texas is on the left (the photo came out darker than I wanted and I am still not sure why) and the scarf I knitted for Matt from wool we picked up in Scotland is on the right. 

I just completed this scarf a few days ago for a friend and I will be giving it to her next month for her birthday. This is also Scottish wool from Scotland.

Knitting: Baby Blanket for Evelyn

Here are some photos of my very first baby blanket that I finished in January (just under the wire to the baby shower). I am really happy with how it turned out! Evelyn was born at the end of March and I had my first opportunity to meet her in May. Her Gran sent me the picture in the car from the day she went home from the hospital. I am honored that her parents loved the blanket enough to take her home in it. 💗

The Lady Washington

Lookie what I found in my drafts folder from October 2018! Whoopsie. 😳

I remember I had seen on the news that the Lady Washington was going to be in town and was open for visitors. I convinced Matt that the three and half hour drive was worth it so that we could see a little bit of Trek history. The most nerdiest of our friends will recognize this ship as the same one from Star Trek: Generations. My take away from our time on the Lady Washington was how small she was. All that Hollywood magic made it seem she was three times the size she really is. My favorite part about her current life is that she is used as a traveling, floating, teaching museum. Older, more experienced men and women train and teach the younger generation how to safely repair, manage and sail a boat like this.

A New Trend in Medicine

Hubby and I have been actively working over the last few months to keep up on our health by making doctors appointments, conducting routine physicals and getting our blood work done. I was tremendously surprised the other day when I made an appointment with my general physician and was informed that in order to be seen I would need to put down a $150 deposit. Say what?

You see, I was told that since I have a high deductible plan, I am expected to pay $150 in advance before ever stepping foot in my doctor's office. I finally was able to make someone in the office see reason and allow me to attend my physical sans the deposit since the appointment would eventually be 100% covered by my insurance. I was chastised that they would "waive it this one time but next time you will have to pay." I had questions, lots of questions. No one could answer them, so I took it up the chain of command until I talked to someone at the business office.

Apparently, the Medical Group we are with was recently purchased by Praxis Medical Group and this policy was implemented by them when the merger/takeover took place in July of this year. The policy states that if you have ANY deductible that hasn't been met, whether that be $500 or $5000, you are expected to pay a deposit of $150 up front. If you are a poor person off the street with no insurance, you pay a deposit of $150 up front to be seen by a doctor. What are the chances of getting that deposit back, you might ask? Zero to none. Most doctors visits cost $145-$500.

I went around in circles for awhile with the kind lady on the phone as she tried to explain the deposit was because "my insurance won't cover it until my deductible was met" and me saying "yes, I know, I understand that. Why can't I see my doctor and be billed after the appointment?" Finally I just politely but exasperatedly told her that I have an ethical dilemma with their policy. Not only am I not comfortable with paying for a service that I haven't yet received but this goes against everything the medical profession is supposed to stand for, in my opinion.

Does this feel as wrong to you as it does to me?

I have $150. I could pay it. But I won't. Because what about the people who can't? 

While private physicians aren't legally required to accept patients who they think or know can't pay, this is on ethically shaky ground for me. Requiring anyone to pay such a large sum in advance in order to seek medical treatment creates a barrier that will PREVENT people from seeing a doctor. The mere idea that a doctor would withhold treatment until a credit card or check is handed over is an abomination.

We will be finding a different doctor with a different Medical Group. I told the lovely lady on the phone that. Because their policy is ethically unjustifiable. Hubby and I are powerless to change their policy but what we can do is not give them our money. 

Teeny Tiny House: New Oven

Flashback to 2013 when we purchased our house. As with most homes, and especially in our case since the former owner was deceased, you don't truly know what is wrong with a house until some time after. One of the discoveries we made was a mice infestation. Luckily, hubby was able to solve that problem pretty quickly and we haven't had issues with mice since.

Fast forward to one month ago. Matt was late from work and I was putting a spaghetti dinner together with fresh garlic bread. I had the oven working overtime with three burners going simultaneously with the broiler for toasting. Suddenly the smoke alarm goes off, I check the bread in the oven, but it isn't finished nor burnt. The food on the stove top is also fine. Strange, right?

Hubby makes his way in the door and smiles at me because he can smell the burnt odor in the air. He obviously thinks that I must have burnt dinner again but I assure him that whatever is happening with the oven, it wasn't my cooking.

After dinner, the odor wasn't dissipating, if anything it was even more concerning since there was a slight "electrical" smell to it. Hubby pulled the oven out and started taking it apart. Finally asserting that the stench was coming from under the cook top, he pulled the entire oven out into the garage. He asked me to hold the top open so he could dig around in the insulation and find the problem. What we discovered was a desiccated body of a mouse. Apparently, 5 years ago when the mice had run of the house, this one had climbed into the stove in-between the cook top and oven and made its nest in the insulation and died. After all these years of being cooled and heated, the tiny mouse body had combusted and started a fire. I was horrified and disgusted and wished I could throw up 5 years worth of meals that had been cooked in this mouse-ridden oven. Needless to say this appliance stayed in the front yard until the recycler could come pick it up.

It took a couple of weeks of shopping and waiting for delivery, but our new oven arrived and boy, is it fancy! We ended up selecting a convection oven which cooks things to perfection. We didn't realize how poorly our old oven worked until we had this one. Everything is so hot! It even has a setting for dough proofing which I can't wait to use. We are hosting Thanksgiving this year and are very much looking forward to roasting a turkey.