Boho Chic Thrift Store Finds

A Local Thrift Store

One of my favorite activities is to go to my local thrift stores. Until recently, it was a very rare treat for me. When I had a vehicle to drive, it was something I did all the time. Since I moved to Norwich (NY), I am able to go more often. I love going there and finding exactly what I need for my new studio (apartment). I love vintage and I love things I grew up with. Since I am now in my 60's, that is going back a few. I joined two groups on Facebook that are about the Bohemian home decor, but I am not sure I am a perfect fit for those groups. My tastes vary from these groups. My studio is very small, about 335 square feet, but does not feel so small due to the very high ceiling.

I paid $17.00 for all of these!

When I shop at a thrift store, I seem to hone in on one category. So each time I go it is different. The first time I went I got things that I needed for the kitchen. These were all really good items and I have used all of them. I find it more fun to buy thrift store merchandise than brand new. But I buy new too, usually online at eBay or Amazon. Everything I bought was things I needed and had on my list. I use them almost daily. I especially love my little creamer! I think I paid less than two dollars for it.

Another thrift store haul!

I wanted to get some baskets for my plants. All my plants have some special meaning. So I wanted them to be pleasant to look at and live with. The thrift store had a large assortment and it was difficult to choose. I did not buy any that was over $2.99. Some people paint the plain ones and that would be fun. At this moment in my life, I have no time to do that, until I finish my moving process. Maybe I will in the future. I could see the plain colored ones having a new life as bright, colorful and eye catching. If you know me, you would know that I am a person who loves colors. I want to put sparkle into that whole window shelf.

My favorite color!

This particular thrift store has a room devoted to baskets and tins and I adore both! It was hard for me not to buy every single one that caught my eye. At my house, where I lived in the middle of the forest, I foraged for medicinal plants and harvested them every year. So once they were dried, I stored them in various tins. Now I really don't have anything in particular to store in them. This lavender one though, really caught my eye! For now it is just a decoration. I never know, as I still may store some herbal dried plants as they have always been a part of my herbal medicine chest.

I loved this basket and it is perfect for my African Violet!

In my studio, I have a long window ledge that is wide and brightly lit by the sun. I am now able to concentrate growing beautiful house plants again. I plan on working on my plants and hopefully get them healthy again soon. Four of my plants were started by my father, who passed away in 2012 at age 93. He truly had a green thumb, growing both indoor and outdoor plants. One plant came from my mother-in-law's hospital room the day she died, a peace plant sent by my church. The last one is from my last job, which I took a slip from a coworker's plant, and that was in 2001. I just can't believe my good fortune to get an apartment that has such awesome windows and a ledge large enough to hold many planters, large and small.

A beautiful white metal basket that I could not pass by!

My apartment ends up being a bit of this and that. Some old, some new. I decided the decor style of my taste is Boho Chic. A blog I went to said if you embraced boho, eclectic deco with vintage pieces and a modern twist means that your style is Boho Chic. I think that description fits me. I have many vintage pieces that came from my childhood. Pieces my mother made in ceramics or crocheted. Seashells collected from a beach I grew up on in the sixties. Some items crocheted by my aunt, needlepoint pictures made my first mother-in-law who passed away in 1985 from Cancer, gifts from various family members and friends over the years. My doll collection is from the fifties when I received a doll every year for Christmas. The vanity I use today was one I received as my birthday gift from my parents the year I turned 13, bought in a second hand store in Florida. Everything has meaning for me.

The sign above my plants!

Yes, all my home decor items are items I truly love and do not want to part with. I have a small space and budget to work with. As long as I can look around my home and smile and feel happy and contented with my life here, then I feel that I have done a good job designing it. It will never be finished though. Your home should be an ongoing project, same as your life.

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

Cooking Bacon In The Instant Pot

Bacon

I have been baking bacon in the oven for years now. That was the only way to cook bacon as far as I was concerned. It always came out flat and just the way I liked it. I used a large cookie sheet and even with the aluminum foil on it, sometimes the grease got underneath it and the whole pan would be greasy. One job I hated was cleaning that pan. It was a mess to clean, all that bacon grease. Many times the oven had to be cleaned also. When I moved here in May, to my own studio apartment, I did not want to go through that. So I did not buy bacon until just recently. I sure missed it.  Another thing is that using the big oven for four pieces of bacon is wasteful. So I decided to try something different.

Raw Cut Up Pieces of Bacon

My Instant Pot that I bought last year to use at my old house came to mind. Living there, I was unable to use it because the inverter was not able to handle it. But here, being on the grid power, I can use it. And use it, I do! The first thing I cooked in it here was spaghetti squash and it was the easiest way to cook it ever. But that is another blog post. What I am talking about here is one of my favorite foods to cook and that is bacon. Being on a Ketogenic food plan, bacon is a staple in my kitchen. Now if I could cook the bacon in the Instant Pot, that would be super fast, easy to clean and I could cook a lot of it at once (like the whole package!). Energy efficient also!

It started cooking quickly!

I could not find any recipes of how to do this with my Instant Pot. Just recipes that included cooked bacon or bacon diced and added to other ingredients. This is the way I did it and it didn't take very long. Matter of fact, it cut the time of baking down considerably. I cut the bacon up into squares and heated the Instant Pot on saute. Put the bacon pieces in and very quickly it started to sizzle. I moved it around a bit and just kept doing that while it cooked. Do not put the lid on or it will try to pressurize. Just let it cook a bit until you see it turning brown. Really move it around so all of it gets cooked.

Browning nicely!

When it is cooked the way you like it, some people like it softer and not so brown. Some like it crispy and very brown. As soon as it is done enough for you, turn the pot off. Right after that I take the insert pot out and let it sit a few minutes. Then I take the bacon out with a slotted spoon and set it on a paper towel to drain. What is nice about this is that you can cook the whole package and put the cooled, cooked bacon in a plastic storage bag and use it as you need it. I add it to scrambled eggs or an omelet for breakfast or use it in a salad or casserole for supper. Not having to cook it every time I need or want some makes it a convenience food!

All done!

I saw on my Instant Pot Facebook group that one person said her bacon did not come out crispy. Mine did! Very much so. Maybe she did not cut it up or she may have put the cover on. I cooked mine on the saute option and it cooked just like it cooks on a regular stove burner. The Instant Pot uses a lot less electric than the stove does and does the job a lot faster. I will be buying bacon pretty regular from now on. The insert pan was easy to empty the grease into my bacon grease jar that I keep in the refrigerator. I use bacon grease for cooking all the time. This will be the only way I cook my bacon from now on!

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole
 All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

I write this blog based on my experience living my life. Some of the links you may click or products I recommend may or may not compensate me for including them in my post. Be sure to read my disclosure page if you are concerned about that.

Sticking To My Ketogenic Food Plan

My small kitchen, which I love!

Sticking to my Ketogenic food plan (I never refer to it as a diet) was very hard before I moved here to my new studio (apartment). I believe living with other people, at that time, my husband, Larry and my adult son, Jeff, prevented me from following it without straying. Then there were the times we had no extra money to pay for more expensive ingredients or foods that are organic or low carbs. If I was buying it just for me, it was wasteful, since they needed to eat also. Now living alone, I buy just for me and my organic ingredients are being used to make foods I eat. If none of my grocery budget goes for processed foods, it covers all the foods I need to buy.

Cooking hamburger!

I don't mean to imply that I eat organic food all the time. I try to get some, at least as far as my produce goes. It is suggested to try to get at least 50% of your food to be organic, starting with meat and dairy, if possible. The reason being is that meat and dairy comes from animals who are given hormones and that is the worst substance in those foods in relation to our health. I would if I could afford it, but it seems the organic meat is the most expensive, of course. Do not mistake natural as organic. Just because the animal is raised in natural surroundings, it does not mean it is organic and that really depends on what the animals consume.

I no longer have the flour or sugar in my home, so photo is from 2011.

For me, the most important thing was to rid my food plan of sugar. Sugar is like no other drug. It is in its own world. The simple truth is that the fat on your body comes from the sugar you are eating, not from the fat you eat. The same is also true about cholesterol. High cholesterol is not from eating too much bacon or high fats in your diet, but due to large amounts of refined grains, sugar and starches. Every now and then I do cheat, and eat a high carb meal or a sweet. I feel it the next day due to my body not having that kind of food all the time. I think it is in shock, saying to me, "what are you doing? Stop poisoning me with this stuff!" If you do that though, the most important thing you can do is to continue on the rest of the day with your Ketogenic food. Do not say that since you blew it at that one meal, you may as well pig out and eat all your favorites for the rest of the day (or week-end! How many times have you said I will get back on it on Monday?).

Instant Pot in corner waiting to be used!

My plan or goal when I moved here was not to consume any of those bad foods, Especially sugar! So I have done really good so far. I have been busy still bringing stuff from my house so have not had any leisure time to experiment with making new Ketogenic recipes. I have plans to teach myself how to use my Instant Pot to cook my meals as much as possible. So that is still to come. I have a new toaster oven that I use in place of the regular oven, because I do not want to heat my studio up when I am cooking. Why use all that electric to cook a small pan of something just for me? I have only used the big oven once since I moved in here!

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

I write this blog based on my experience living my life. Some of the links you may click or products I recommend may or may not compensate me for including them in my post. Be sure to read my disclosure page if you are concerned about that.

My New Life In The City

My windows have the colorful curtains on the 2nd floor!

I moved to a small city over a month ago and I found it was not that big of an adjustment moving from an off-the-grid homestead in the middle of the state forest, to moving to the center of a small city in an apartment building. I thought it would be. Not at all. In fact, I have found it easy and very satisfying to me. Maybe I was never meant to live in the country to begin with. I know my mother always said she really wanted to live in the city, but she knew my father was not a city person and he would have been miserable. So we lived in the country most of the time I was growing up. I have found that I don't really miss the country at all. Instead I look around like a kid in a candy shop. So much to see and do!

The building next to mine!

For one thing I saw more cars going by my house at Peaceful Forest than I do here in my apartment. My windows are not facing a street. I can see the parking lot of the stores along the main street. Directly behind my apartment building and where my windows face is the lawn and another big brick building that is a gymnasium of some sort. It doesn't have much activity that I can see. At least nobody lives in it so it is still pretty much private. You would think a building in your view would be distasteful. Well, not at all. The roof of that building seems to be the landing pad for many city birds. Crows are pretty vocal out there in the morning. I enjoy their sound so it is not distracting to me. I heard them at Peaceful Forest too.

Beyond the parking lot is the green forest and hills.

In the distance, I can see the forests and greenery that surrounds us here. New York is mainly hills, mountains, forests that are thick with trees and bodies of water, ponds, creeks, lakes and rivers. We usually have plenty of rain too, so water is abundant. I can see the sun coming up to the side of that brick building, so it is not blocking my view of the sky at all. I cannot see the sun going down, but I am a morning person, so between the two, give me an eastern view.  I enjoy sitting here at my computer or in my rocking chair having coffee and just seeing the view outside my windows. I try to find positives in everything I do or places I go.

All within walking distance for me!

Having lived in a rural area, if I needed anything from the store, I always had to drive or have my husband drive to the store. I could not drive the truck he had, so I only went with him, not on my own. Now I can just walk out my door and down the street. There are shops along both sides, though there are a number of them that are empty and some that are closing even now. On that street also is a small movie theater that I look forward to going to sometime in the future, before it goes out of business too. The library is across the street from my building and not far from that is the county office building that has the motor vehicle department and other offices in it. I haven't really gone off down the street yet, but hope to do so soon. I am still in the moving process bringing things from Peaceful Forest. Soon I will know my way around pretty good!

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

Cleaning My House Rabbit's Cage

Rabbit, my house rabbit

Having a house rabbit in a small studio apartment may sound like it is a lot of work. Not really as long as your rabbit is a true "house rabbit" and is not confined. My house rabbit, Rabbit, has a good sized cage where I keep his litter box, his hay and his water. I bought it on Amazon. It is called the Kennel-aire A Frame Bunny House (if you click that link it will take you directly to it on Amazon). What I really liked about this cage was the room and the fact that it has casters so can be rolled from room to room easily. It has two doors, one for the bunny and one on the roof for you to open it and clean the cage or feed the rabbit from the top. It is not that expensive for the quality. I keep the door fastened open so Rabbit can go in and out as he pleases. He loves his cage though. He will lay in it for hours just snoozing. It also has a tray underneath that can be pulled out to be cleaned.

Rolling walker, brake on, next to cage.

When I moved into my studio, I was worried about how Rabbit would take to the move from our house. Well, he took to it very easily and I was so surprised. Everything I worried about was useless worry. I have carpeting in the main part of the studio and the kitchen and bathroom are tiled. So when I figured out how to clean the cage, it was a no brainer to move the cage to the bathroom every day to clean it. Hay will get on the floor during the cleaning process so it is much easier to clean up from the tiled floor than the carpet. Since I had a lot of trouble with standing in one place for a long time and for bending over, I started using my new rolling walker to sit on while I clean the cage. I tell you, this walker has made my life so much easier and happier!

Grocery bags used to clean the cage.

First thing I do is to fasten the top door so it held by a tie to stay open. That way I do not have to deal with it closing on me while cleaning. Then I remove everything inside by putting my garbage bag inside the cage, then I have two recycled boxes that are cut down to fit. They each have a plastic mailer on the bottom of the box, then a doggie pad (which I buy on Amazon) folded in half. The bigger box has two pads. Then I put newspaper over that. Now there is a lot of discussions on the internet about the wire bottom on cages for rabbits. Some people think they are good for the rabbit and makes cleaning it easier. For me, I think of my bunny's comfort first. So I put flat pieces of cardboard on the floor of the cage then put the boxes on top of that. By picking up the newspaper on one end and rolling it toward the other, it keeps the wet urine and droppings to a minimum. Then place it in the garbage bag. That way not much gets on the floor.

Newspapers put down to absorb the urine.

I make sure the layers are plastic wrapper or bag, doggie pads and newspaper. Rabbits are very clean animals and they seem to naturally use the litter box. As anyone who knows me, knows that I got my pet rabbit by accident. He was dropped at my house by an owl. I did not know anything about a pet rabbit. My brother had one when we were kids and she lived outside in a shed, that we opened during the day and she went in and out. She was not caged up like most outdoor rabbits. It was my research online about pet rabbits that I learned that he could be litter trained. Well at first I just put him in this new cage and was going to keep him like that. I did not know any better.  Once I learned online about house rabbits, I wanted to try that method of keeping him. Because I was already hopelessly in love with him!

Hay kept in box in my studio.

Eighty percent of a house rabbit's food is hay. I feed Timothy hay which is the same hay we feed to our horses. I use a couple of flakes, if that, in a month. Not only is the hay his food but is also his litter. I should say bedding also, because my little boy does sleep in his cage often (his own choice and he is NEVER locked in, unless there is a reason, but none since we came here). Now the one thing I see in all the rabbit forums and articles is concern for how dirty hay in your home can be. Yes, hay is full of hay chaff and that really makes a mess! This is how I handle the hay. I keep it in a Rubbermaid container in my storage area and every few days, I go down with a box that fits on top of my rolling walker. Then I keep that box in my apartment and it is closed so nothing ever falls out. When I am cleaning the cage I add the hay lastly, on top of the pad and newspaper. He can hardly wait to get in the clean cage, coming out of wherever he is while I am cleaning it. So he does, indeed, appreciate my work!

That is about all the hay I get on the floor.

After I am done with the hay I put the box right back immediately. I keep it under my table on top of the carrier. I keep my carrier easy to get to in case of a fire and having to transport Rabbit to safety with me. My emergency instructions included with my lease was that in case of a fire, I would need help due to not being able to use stairs and help getting my "companion animal," which is a rabbit out in a cat carrier. That hay box is never opened except in the bathroom due to the carpeting and trying to keep the hay off the carpet. I have done a good job of that so far and on one of my bunny forums, that seems to be a big issue. Carpeting and hay does not mix! I want to keep my carpet so I can sit on the floor with Rabbit. Hay all over your floor and embedded in your carpet would not be comfortable or look nice.

Moving the clean cage back to our bedroom area.

Thanks to the casters on the cage, it is so simple to move from room to room. He does have two lengths of vinyl floor covering under the cage. That protects in case he overshoots the box edges along the bottom of the cage, due to being a bunny BOY. That does not happen very often, but if so, it will be on the floor covering not my carpeting. All that is left to do is to shake out the sheet I keep on the front floor area of the cage where he likes to eat. I give him pieces of firewood and various types of sticks and brambles from the forest. Chewing keeps his teeth down. He is kind of like a horse in needing to chew for that reason or the teeth will grow too long. The sheet is also placed on top of the vinyl floor covering. I try to cover all bases with my little companion. 

A clean cage ready for Rabbit!

I just wanted to point out that this cage is roomy for my rabbit. It is 29.5" long by 16.5" wide and 24" high. He has plenty of room to stretch out, to do complete turn arounds with no obstruction, he can stand on his hind feet and check out the top. He loves it and is very happy with it. He does not feel confined in it. Even when I was still living in my house, and there was period that I was forced to lock him in it at night for his own safety. He was comfortable in it and did not act like he hated it or wanted to get out. Of course, he is a very adaptable boy and easy going too.

A dustpan with a handle is essential!

When I am all done, I use my broom and a dustpan to sweep the floor which takes me all of a half of  a second. Nothing wet or yucky on the floor to clean up. Just sweep and I am done. The handle on the dustpan has been a godsend to me since bending over has been murder on my legs. I quickly get it all done and I also sweep the vinyl floor covering before I put the cage back. Most days I vacuum the whole carpet after I do the cage so anything that dropped, usually a little piece of hay or something, can be vacuumed up quickly. It does not take me long to do this.

All done! Clean!

I write this blog based on my experience living my life. Some of the links you may click or products I recommend may or may not compensate me for including them in my post. Be sure to read my disclosure page if you are concerned about that.

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

Living With Physical Disabilities

Yours Truly, katlupe

I have found living with a limited physical disability pretty hard in the past. Living in a regular two story house was hard for me. It was hard even coming into my house because there were stairs to get up and the inside of the house really had no room for using a walker or if ever needed in the future, a wheelchair. The apartment building I have moved into is geared to people with disabilities or elderly residents in general. Having worked in my past life as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant), a HHA (Home Health Aid) and as a PCA (Personal Care Aid), I knew the things I needed to make my life easier and keep my independence. Just because your family says they don't mind doing everything for you, that does not mean you are comfortable asking them. I remembered all those little things that the people I took care of needed or wanted. So when I started looking for other options for me, I found that moving into an apartment set up with that in mind was the perfect answer.

kat's Studio door

Now that I am living here, there is no looking back. If you have a physical disability and cannot do simple things for yourself, you get depressed about it. I am happy to say that here, I have my own independence back! I have friends who help me, such as buying stuff from the store for me or taking me to the store. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the jobs you do every day, such as showering, making your bed, cooking, putting your groceries away, mopping, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning bunny rabbit cages, laundry, etc. Those every day jobs that you want to do yourself, or at least I did and still do. I hated asking for help or that feeling of being forced to ask for help because I could not do whatever it was. Nobody made me feel bad about asking, it was just in my own mind.

The ramp

There are so many benefits for someone who has been struggling to just walk to the bathroom. Here I have a ramp to use that takes me from outside to the door and from there to an elevator to my apartment, which is on the second floor. My apartment, even being a studio, is quite roomy and there is plenty of room for my walker and if I ever needed a wheelchair, there is room for that too. I have a huge bathroom with a big walk-in shower that I love. I bought a shower chair to use in it and believe me, taking a shower has never been such a hedonist event for me before. What a luxurious way to take my shower! No worry about falling in there now!

My Kitchen

My kitchen has once again become a place for me to create delicious meals. I had lost interest in cooking for some time now. I realize now, it was not the actual cooking that I was dreading and trying to avoid, but the fact that the kitchen was not easy for me to work in. Not any longer. The kitchen here is small, but everything is within an easy reach. Some days if I am having much trouble getting around, and recently I was very sick and didn't do much cooking at all, I can just make up some cold foods that don't require any additional cooking at all. I suppose that is the advantage to living alone too. Cooking for one is a lot less work, not only in the food preparation but also in the clean-up. I try to keep on top of the clean-up work by keeping a dishpan of hot soapy water in the sink while I prepare the meal. I am using an Instant Pot or a toaster oven instead of the big oven in the electric cooking range. Uses less power, does not heat up my apartment and causes me to use smaller pans. I make it a rule to follow Fly Lady and never leave dirty dishes in my sink overnight!

Downstairs to the laundry room

A perk of living in the apartment building I am in, is that it has a laundry room downstairs. Having come from an off-the-grid house, the laundry was one of those jobs that had become way too hard for me. I was washing the laundry by hand and seems I could hardly ever catch up, especially in cold or rainy weather. Here using smart card technology, I just put some time on the card, pretty much like you do a cellphone and use that in the washer and dryers. Take my laundry down and put it in the washing machine, come back in an hour and move it to a dryer. Back to my apartment and when the time is up, I go back downstairs and fold my load. Easy as could be and it is job I look forward to.

kat's cat collection

Having less things makes for less work. If you feel overwhelmed due to a lot of furniture or other possessions that you have to take care of, it can tire you out. I was tired out just trying to organize all my things. What good are they if they sit in a box and you never take them out? Never use them? I have parted with many items that I never thought I would give up. And you know what? I feel like I had a weight lifted off my shoulders. I really do. Moving made me really take note on how much stuff I really had. I kept the things I use or what gives me pleasure. An example of something that gives me pleasure is I have a curio cabinet that holds my collection of ceramic and some brass, cats. I have collected them over the years and many were gifts. I look at them often and in the evenings like to put the light on so they really stand out. Yes, I get pleasure from owning them!

Leaving off residents after a day of shopping

One more reason for moving into a senior housing apartment is that after having lived for close to nineteen years in the middle of the state forest, I found I had no friends. I was alone except for my husband and my critters. I needed interaction. I needed people to talk to, to laugh with, to enjoy. Living downtown in a small city gives me the option to walk to various shops, churches, restaurants, the library, hair salon, etc. I now have a mobile walker, which I will be writing about in a future post so I won't go into that much now. It has made me able to be a lot more independent. There is a county transit bus system that comes here and takes people to various stores and other places. There are local taxi cabs and delivery services available. It has made the option of living without a motor vehicle possible for me and it was something I always wanted to do. Not having to pay for vehicle expenses, covers my electric, internet, cellphone and a large portion of my rent. I like that trade off! 

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole 

All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole

kat's Studio Is My New Home

My New Home!

As the regular readers of this blog know, I have been making plans to change my life. Actually, I have been trying to do it for a number of years now. Finally, I did it. I moved from our Peaceful Forest Homestead on the fifteenth of this month. After living in the middle of the state forest for close to 19 years, do you think it is a big adjustment to live in the downtown area of the city of Norwich, NY? I thought it might be, but no. I find that I love it. It is not a large city, just the right size for me. I have many reasons for leaving and one of the main ones is for my health. In the last few years, well actually since about 2005, I had been having more and more trouble with my legs. All the jobs I always enjoyed doing or helping my husband with, had become impossible. I started facing the facts, that it was time for me to move on. To a different home and by myself. So  I have.

Color is the focal point in my studio!

One of the things I have been interested in is being a "minimalist" but not a hard core one. My apartment, which I refer to as "kat's Studio" is a small studio apartment in an old school that has been converted into apartments. It is only about 338 square feet, I think. It appears to be spacious due to part of it has very high ceilings. I do not feel like I am closed in, but have a lot of space, even though it is above my head. My windows are all on one wall and are quite large also. Three big ones and I love them. They are the focal point of kat's Studio. My studio is all white and I have made it colorful with added color highlights in the decor. Especially my sheers which are very colorful and draw your eye to them as soon as you walk in. They brighten my day all day long, as I love bright colors.

Norwich, NY

I am out of the country life and all things making up the homesteading life. I am right in the downtown area of a small city. About thirteen miles from where I lived. I already knew my city, Norwich, NY, in Chenango County. It has everything I need and one of the things I really love about my move is that I do not need a vehicle for transportation. As soon as I get settled in, I  plan on exploring the various forms of public transportation that are available to me.

I love my electric kitchen!

After having lived so long on an off-the-grid homestead, now having an electric home that is provided by the utility company is a big adjustment for sure. They estimated my power use cost would be about $40.00 a month, and for what I get for that little bit of money is well worth it. I love it all. I can't say I don't. I am now able to use my Instant Pot, my electric blender and mixer and even have a toaster oven now. Every morning I perk my coffee with an electric percolator. Hot weather has long been a very trying time for me. That is one of the reasons I had not been able to enjoy my garden in the recent years. I just could not take it any longer. Now I have a brand new air conditioner I bought and am just waiting for the maintenance man to install mine. He had a bunch to do.

Cooking Chicken for My Keto Supper!

My physical health was suffering terribly over the last few years. There was nothing I could do about it. I tried to follow my Ketogenic diet but often times I could not stick to it. Now living alone I am able to stick to it much easier. It helps to have only that type of food in your house. Then you are not easily lead to the types that are not good for you, like having sugar, MSG, grains, high fructose corn syrup or anything else you do not want to eat. I have to be careful about others bringing me gifts that contain those ingredients, even though I tell them I do not eat sugar or other processed ingredients. Not everyone looks at the labels as closely as I do. Then I feel obligated to eat what they spent their money on, as I am a very frugal person. I am going to work on being better at enforcing anyone bringing me food to understand not to buy things I cannot eat.

Rabbit

I did not move totally by myself. I brought my favorite little boy, my house rabbit, Rabbit, with me. He has taken to the new place happily. I think he loves having carpeting and he is all over the place due to having more room. Not a lot of stuff in the center of the room gives him an area to binky and play and lay stretched out for hours at a time. He is getting a lot more exercise here and that is good for him. I had worried how he would adjust to life here, but not a worry at all. Him and I are bonding more and more and I can actually get down on the floor here due to the carpeting and sit with him. He likes that a lot.

kat's Studio

Now I will be writing about my life here, the life of a sixty plus woman with health issues and her house rabbit and hope you will continue following along my journey living in kat's Studio. If not, I understand after all this was a homesteading blog.

Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2018 Kathleen G. Lupole