Note from Rosie

Note from Rosie:
The writer is writing, just not for the blog. She has her doctoral qualifying exams starting this Monday (10/26/15-11/18/15). She must conserve all her brain cells for these exams. The writer is sorry she will not be able to provide updates on Fridays until exams are well over and coherency returns to normal . 

The Next 3 Years at Kismet Cabin

I'll get back to Kismet Cabin updates in the next few weeks, but something else has happened recently that has caused me to start taking a harder look at my future.

As you may or may not have figured out, I like plans. They don't always work out and more often than not they tend to change on me. But I like the process of planning and making a list. I also tend to actually get things done when I plan. With 2015 coming to a close, quite of few of my long term goals will be met - namely finishing my Doctoral Exams and starting my Dissertation as well as the move into Kismet Cabin (all 135 square feet).

So what are my plans for the next 3 years at Kismet Cabin?

• I'll spend a year to 18 months writing my dissertation. (Jan. 2016 - May 2017)
• I'll work at my job for another 3 years (because my retirement will be vested).

Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? That's because the real question is - What do I want to do after those 3 years are up and I leave my job? The answer: I want to travel! I want to explore the United States and I think a great way to do that would to work seasonal and temporary jobs for the National Park Service. In order to do this I need to have a vehicle that will take me places and that I can live in. Also, I want to be in good physical condition to enjoy my travels and nature adventures.

So, here's my plan:

• Renovate a school bus into an RV. (This one won't start until May 2017 after my dissertation is over.)
• Get fit! (Starting Dec. 2015)

The real challenge over the next three years is getting fit. I'm setting goals for each year to keep it interesting and to keep me on track. This is going to be the hardest challenge of my life thus far, much harder than getting a Doctorate degree. School comes pretty easy for me, but fitness... not so much. I am extremely overweight.

So I'm making a plan within a plan - The 3 Year Fitness Plan

Year 1 - 2016 - Lose 150 lbs. - I'm not going to do this by myself this time. I'm hiring a personal trainer.

Year 2 - 2017 - Increase Strength & Stamina - Plan to meet some basic PT standards

Year 3 - 2018 - Certified Survival & Defense Training - Focusing on wilderness training.

I'll keep updating here once December rolls around. 

Note from Rosie

The maternal parental unit is in town with the Aunt, so not much work is getting done, that includes the blog... Okay, nothing is getting done on the list of things that need to get done. Only frolicing fun things are getting done and those were definitely not on the list. I keep telling the girl that this is why we have list!

Seriousness will ensue next week for sure... or else.

A Cook's Tiny Kitchen in Kismet Cabin

I love to cook. I come by it honestly because I grew up in a family owned and run restaurant.  As I've begun to explore an unprocessed food life, my appreciation of food has grown. It started with the great bread trials a few years ago and now I regularly make foods from scratch, including cheeses and mayonnaise.

Before my venture into a deeper love of cooking, small kitchens in apartments were an annoyance. The two kitchens I actually enjoyed executing my culinary skills in were both kitchens that ran the length of one wall and opened into a studio apartment or great room. I liked these because I need space, space to move and prepare. (This is just one of the reasons that a bus may not be the best option for long-term living.)

Needless to say, I was very concerned about the "kitchen" in the cabin. I decided to look around at some other suggestions and recipes for cooking in a tiny kitchen. The most basic advice websites and blogs gave was to determine what you actually use in the kitchen. Apparently, it's like the clothes thing. You only use a small portion of your kitchen on a regular basis. So the question here is: What do I use?... The answer: everything. I'm serious, I use everything.

Kitchen in Kismet Cabin

Kitchen in Kismet Cabin

While I still lived in my apartment, I conducted a kitchen experiment. First, I put everything away in my kitchen drawers and cabinets. I am talking about everything that could possibly be used in the kitchen from spices to slicers. When something was used, I moved it to a rolling wire shelving unit I placed in my kitchen. I did this for a year. Things used regularly were moved to the middle racks while things used less frequently were moved to the top or bottom racks. The result was mostly empty cupboards by the 1st month. And they stayed empty for a whole year.

I have some pictures of my new kitchen in Kismet Cabin, but it is not finished yet. There's still some painting and wall shelves that need to go up. But this gives an idea of what I started with. In the above photo on the right, I have an over sized convection oven for baking, roasting, and warming food up. It sits on my small dorm refrigerator that I'm probably going to replace because I miss having a freezer. The refrigerator sits on top of my small "pantry" which stores canned goods. Beside these is my 6'x3'x1' rolling wire shelving unit that acts as my large "pantry" where I have my dry goods and all my kitchen equipment.

Kismet Cabin kitchen top.

The above photo on the left is the other half of my kitchen with my cook top and sink. I put a mirror behind the sink to help reflect light. There's also a draining board in the sink that I got from Ikea. My fantastic Kitchen Aid mixer is one from the 80s and still works beautifully. I love the look of it but only use it about once a month. So I use the bowl to store my cooking utensils. I have mason jars for storing my everyday eating utensils, which are actually my Great-Grandma Rose's silver.

Kismet Cabin lower cabinets.

Below the sink and burners are additional storage. There used to be cabinet doors over them, but I took them off because swinging doors are not your friend in small spaces. Instead I took a suspension rod and one of those 'cafe' curtains to cover the storage under the sink. I works well and I think it looks good. Under the burners, there was just a small amount of storage because the back portion under there is taken up by a small water heater. So, I decided to turn the shelves under the burner into a kind of display. I have my mason jars filled with natural herbs and pigments as well as oils and essential oils stored/displayed down there.

Re-purposed cabinet doors.

In case you are wondering what I did with the doors that used to be on the lower cabinets, I re-purposed them into shelves over the back kitchen window. I keep that one covered most of the time because it looks back into two houses and a driveway. I keep my study books and craft supplies on these shelves.

The last space I'm working on is the open cabinetry over the sink and burners. Thus far I've got my cooking oils and spices on the right side. On the left, I'm storing my eating plates and bowls. I plan to finish moving in the remainder of my kitchen stuff this weekend after I finish painting above the cabinetry (it's such a hard place to reach!).

Kismet Cabin upper cabinets.