I've come upon some more Good Little Things Lately from all over the world to share with you, and I hope you enjoy them and find them useful as well. BTW, some things would make great dollarwise Christmas gifts too. "I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me into a department store and he asked for my autograph." --Shirley Temple :) DISCLOSURES GOOD THINGS TO ORGANIZE A DESK: I've been doing lots of year-end and 2022 planning the last few weeks so I revamped my home office desk area and I love these new floral products that have put my life and desk in cozy bloom! Calendar, purple file holder, yummy file folders, little flower vase, "determined vintage lady" pen holder, weekly TO DO planner, and floral postcards. Yummy colors! It's still a work in progress, but I will get it done before year- end. Other older organizing helps (or similar) on/near my desk: index card file, drawers for supplies and biz cards, pen mug, drawer trolley. Love these trolleys to keep office supplies sorted and they work great for multiple colors of paper etc. too. I label the front of my drawers since you can't see through them as to what's in there. Labeling makes for a quicker finding of things. I plan to paint the rest of my desk pink in the future using Fuchsia Fizz from Ecos Paints which is the color on the top of my desk in the pix above. Ecos makes wonderful non toxic and odorless paints for the home and has done so for 35 years. I so appreciate their paint as a highly allergic person. Customer reviews. My pretty rose-pink blackout drapes work dandy for keeping out street lights glare. The "girl in the garden with a book" canvas pix I have had for a couple years and Steve kindly hung it for me on a silky rope with a c-hook behind the curtain. Worked great. I didn't have a wall to hang the pix on so we improvised! Steve always tells me this pix reminds him of me. Yes, when I was her young age I looked like that and I always had a book in my lap, too! Maybe that's why I turned out like this. My home office/computer is 95% paperless these days, after years of slowly and steadily working towards that goal. Mission accomplished! How we organized Steve's home office space above last year. His L-shaped desk is three of this desk put together. Steve is about 95% paperless too. Hurray! My best tips for organizing a small home and home office space. Home office press article I was interviewed for about small home office spaces. GOOD COTTAGE HOUSING THINGS: I so love the fun soothing colors in the little Bamboo model cottage-style house in Jimmy Buffett's 55+ Florida retirement village, a.k.a., Margaritaville. (Of course. And Jimmy sometimes even makes surprise appearances and will sing to you!) :) And a beach close by in this beautiful coastal area of Florida would be great to retire to as well, right? Great cottage-style homes right along the beach too -- with gulp-inducing price tags, to be sure. Simply Taralynn blogger has a beautiful "modern cottage" home in Charlotte, NC. I like the touches of black and her plans for a music room. The North Carolina fall leaves near her back porch are gorgeous. She and her husband also love bed and breakfast inns like Steve and I do. She has wonderful travel posts with links so be sure to take a look. I enjoy reading young bloggers' views now on more modern cottage style, since my decorating style is more vintage. (Like me.) :) GOOD WARDROBE THINGS: If you need wardrobe ideas for how to look polished yet feel comfortable for Christmas, pretty senior lady SusanAfter60.com has pix of holiday wardrobe ideas by event, and her outfit examples are great! Her longtime beau, Mr. Mickey, is quite dapper in case you want to show your hubby/significant other some polished dressing ideas for men too. Also, she has nice scenery photos of their lovely outings in Tennessee and the surrounds. Eat too much at Thanksgiving Dinner so now your clothes are a bit tight? I hear you. How about some easy exercise fun in a chair? Too cute. GOOD MONEY THINGS: My husband Steve likes these shirts on "super sale" at Jos A Bank. Steve retired this year from his full-time banking career of 41+ years, so as a savvy-spending kind of guy, he loves "super sales" on quality goods. Me too! GOOD RETIREMENT THINGS: Our "pre-retirement years" cottage, (a.k.a. Cactus View Cottage), that we bought new in Arizona in 2018 and have been organizing and decorating to our tastes ever since is now officially our "retirement cottage" since, as I already mentioned, Steve retired this year. Inside pix. (Scroll down.) For us, our small home is a good fit because it's cozy, easy to clean, easy to maintain on the outside, energy-cost efficient, near a golf-course for Steve, has many fun on-site activities, and is a good "lock & leave" since it's in a security community. For us, this checked all our retirement home boxes. (Of course, this might not be what YOU want for your retirement home.) Our home was built by Cavco, a nationwide leader in the manufactured/modular home building industry, and they continue to grow. This style of retirement home is very popular in the Phoenix, AZ area. If you'd like to buy a modular/manufactured home in a 55+ retirement community in Arizona, or elsewhere in the U.S., here is a good resource site filled with both new and existing homes, and lots of information. FAQs about this style of home. The prices have gone up a lot in AZ since we bought in 2018, but that's true everywhere I do believe. Happy Retirement, Mr. B! Love you, and your meticulous spreadsheets and copious tax estimate projections that have helped keep this 41-years-as-a-marital team moving forward with our money and lifestyle goals all the way into our retirement years. We did it! xxoo MORE GOOD RETIREMENT THINGS: These people below have studied and written extensively on the topic of retirement, both from the money angle, and the happiness/life-management angle: Will you be happy in retirement? How will you manage your money in retirement? Free retirement planning checklist GOOD CHRISTMAS THINGS: I love Bramley products and think they'd make great Christmas gifts! From across the pond, (they are in the U.K.), I ordered several of them months ago as I am a highly allergic person so their products looked like something I should try. I was so happy with all the products and it was totally worth paying the shipping, in my opinion. Prefer a simpler yet still-chic Christmas? Fiona's book on that topic is on sale now. She lives in beautiful New Zealand, where it's Christmas in the summer! :) Need a yummy and clever and easy brunch idea for the upcoming holidays? Janet's build your own bagel board is brilliant! Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer has a new book out on how to use big boards to entertain a group at home. Beautiful and practical way to entertain over the holidays, or at any time! Sandy is the go-to entertaining guests gal and she does it all with a huge heart. GOOD READING THINGS: I love that it's Hawaii Literacy's 50th Anniversary. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1958, the year before it became a U.S. state. Now, that dates me, honey! :) I wrote to a book publisher recently to ask them if they would consider turning my favorite Bible study book into a Kindle eBook. They wrote right back and said they'd forward it on for consideration to the right department. I love this book because it's a quick daily study that relates the Bible to real life. GOOD LODGING THINGS: My heart skipped a beat when I found out about Nashville's Russell Hotel, in an historic church. What a beautiful restoration and what charitable hearts providing hope to the homeless. Hope and faith. Faith and hope. Steve is still talking about it! We both found the history of the building very interesting. If we ever stay there, we're gonna go for the room with the stained glass window! GOOD READER THINGS: It's fun for me to get emails from readers who live in other countries, and to know they like my tips. Thanks to Helene from France who wrote to me recently saying Happy Thanksgiving and that she enjoys my articles and "good ideas." If you'd like to contact me please email me at kathrynbechen (@sign) gmail (dot com). I read all emails I receive from real readers, (vs. icky spams!), and I appreciate receiving them, but thanks for understanding that I simply can't respond back to everyone individually. GOOD FRIEND THINGS: A touching story of two nine-years-old childhood best friends who were separated as Holocaust survivors and found each other again in their elder age of 91. What were the chances? Get out your tissues! GOOD ORGANIZING THINGS: It was 30 years ago this year that I started my organizing consulting and seminar business, Organized With Ease in our little house above in Omaha, NE. Home offices weren't much of a thing back then! I could never have dreamed where all it would take me and how many interesting people I would meet along the way! I later earned my C.I.D. decorating certificate and added that to my life-long organizing skills. I retired my in-person Organized With Ease business long ago, but I've kept on teaching organizing and decorating through my writing, press interviews, and books/eBooks virtually as KathrynBechen.com and I will continue to do that, God willing, because ... Now a "seasoned senior" looking in my rear view life and career mirror, I consider my teaching and motivating and inspiring others, (from all over the world by now), how to organize and beautify their own homes, home offices, and lifestyles so that they can live out the best life that God intended for them, (in spite of whatever hardships come their way and on the real-life budget they have), to be not only my God-given life mission and purpose, but my life legacy. Me with my very first book, Organizing Tips & Quips, back in the 90s. It's now an eBook. It's still my favorite book I've written as it's simple motivation and fun stories about and for real people. Getting organized does NOT have to be complicated. Simple is best is what I've always taught, and always will, even more now during our complex times. GOOD LITTLE HOME THINGS: This cutting board is just the right size to hold the casserole cooker I told you about awhile ago. Steve suggested I buy a cutting board so we don't burn our countertop and he's right; it's a smart idea! (He knew if the countertop burned that I'd probably want to remodel the whole kitchen so that might have been a factor here in his prudent $35 suggestion, ha!) I bought this trellis recently to put near our front porch and Steve assembled it and put it up for me. I will show you the result later; something so simple and sweet really added a nice additional cottage-y touch! And yes, I know it's not garden season in most places, but in AZ, it's summery year-round! I survived many Midwestern winters growing up there, and am so glad I don't have to do that anymore as I prefer orange trees! Let it snow flag. If you want to visit beautiful Arizona. (Once Covid is better under control, my friends. Be safe!) Wishing you a great year-end, however you choose to celebrate the Good Little Things that come into, or that you bring into, your life. Kathryn #KathrynBechen #KathrynBechenAuthor #AuthorKathrynBechen #Smallspaces #Smallspaceorganizing #Organizingsmallspaces #Decoratingsmallspaces

If there's anything that makes me smile since we moved to Arizona in 2018, (I can't believe it's been three years!), it's cactus! So ... Steve and I took a drive in our area this past week to enjoy the outdoors in a safe-as-possible manner during Covid. (As in, we stayed in the car most of the time and were around no other people when we did get out of the car. Water bottles in tow, and masks with us.) My hubby is 6' 2" tall, so you can see how tall some cactus grow! The blooms on top have long since faded from flowering, but you can still see the leftover buds for quite some time once they die. Just consider this a little cactus public service announcement. :) DISCLOSURES BTW, Steve's pink-ish "shoes" are really non-slip pool/beach slippers and if you need a pair there's a coupon with them right now. I bought a pair for me too but they were too tight in my usual size, so you might want to size up one size if your feet swell at all in heat. Look at the gorgeous colorful patterns! The other thing that always amazes me about these things is that just like trees, (and people!), they are their own size, shape, and style of quirky. Ya gotta love that, right?! You have to watch these, I hear. A woman told me when she was in grade school and they'd go on "cactus field trips" that they will "jump" at you and stick to your jeans. I think that might be a tall cactus tale, but I'm not taking any chances on that so I stay far away from these cuties. Steve seems to be really pondering this one. :) The blooms on these are sometimes bright red and absolutely gorgeous when they are, but this one is doing its own thing, I guess, and looks a little worse for wear. But then, it's very dry in AZ this year, so I am not surprised. This cactus is very prickly, so don't touch! If Steve looks grumpy, well please forgive him as it was about 110 degree heat here, so who wouldn't look at least a little grumpy?! (Or maybe he looks grumpy because this is about the fifth cactus I've asked him to pose by for a pix. He never complained though so I can't be sure.) :) See how tall that tree is? Well, yeah, that's a tall cactus, huh?! And what fascinates me most about these things is that those holes up at the top of this cactus are "birdhouses." Clever of those birds, don't you think?! Okay, the Arizona cactus tour is over, my dears, and we're back home to try our cabbage casserole that was cooking in our new beloved cooking toy while we were gone. Oh my goodness, you have to try this as it's so easy. I adapted it to be vegan from an old recipe of my Grandma's that had hamburger in it. (We no longer eat meat and here's pretty much why and how.) Here's my vegan-version recipe that's less expensive too due to no meat. CABBAGE & SAUSAGE CASSEROLE Slice four plant sausages in fairly thin half-moon slices and lay in bottom of baking pan. (I use Beyond Meat brand Brat Original sausages and they are delicious!) Cover all the sausages with one or two bags of shredded coleslaw cabbage (No chopping!) Sprinkle some dry onion and garlic and any other spices you like over the cabbage Cover all the cabbage with a jar of Marinara sauce Cover the pan with foil and heat for about 3-5 hours on high, or you can set it on low before you go to bed and eat this for breakfast if you wish! (Seriously.) If you want to bake it in the oven I think an hour at 400 degrees would be plenty of time and test to be sure it does not get over or under done. Poke with a fork to test. Serve it with a biscuit or some other favorite bread of yours. Our fave bread. Our fave biscuits. I hope you enjoyed this post; I thought it was time to take a break from home-everything and get outside in the sun a bit! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #travel #travelArizona #Arizonatravel #cactus #homecooking #cookathome

Have you found it problematic getting packages delivered to your home during Covid? We have been blessed with good delivery service for the most part, and grateful for those who do that hard work during these tough times. We've also tried to make it the easiest and safest possible process for both the delivery drivers and for us. Here's what we did to make package delivery easier for all concerned: DISCLOSURES When Covid first started we immediately began getting packages and groceries delivered to our home. I have shopped online for years so it was not that big of change for me, but Steve has since learned how to shop online even for his Mr. Handyman stuff and he is doing a great job at it so he orders quite a bit that is delivered. Initially we put out a couple plastic bins by our front door/step at the beginning of Covid for our grocery deliveries but then we'd hear loud banging on our front door and we'd have to say: "Sorry, but this is a NO CONTACT delivery so please leave it near the step by the front the door." To better deal with the door banging scenario, Steve bought some white plastic chain link and hung it on both of our doors' steps with a sign he made on his computer that said PLEASE PUT GROCERIES AND PACKAGES IN BINS BY FRONT STEP. That worked great and achieved the no contact result without door banging, even if the sign is not exactly beautiful. (It's a pandemic, not a tour of homes or a curb-appeal contest!) :) Our two plastic bins, a year later, were cracked and broken from our HOT Arizona sun, so we recently bought a heavier resin trunk. It has a lid on a hinge which means the packages are not out in the open and don't get rained on. (Tested recently in heavy rain and it worked!) It's also heavy duty plastic resin so that's great too. Note that if you order one of these that it does require assembly so if you are not handy, (I'm not!), or don't live with a Mr. Handyman like I do, you might not want to buy a trunk and a heavy-duty bin might work better for you. Steve attached our new trunk to our steps with zip ties, which he uses for lots of handy projects, so now the trunk won't blow around in our Arizona winds which sometimes are strong. I don't know if, or how, you might attach the bin vs. the trunk to a step though as that's my hubby's department. Sorry. Delivery mission accomplished; I think this is going to work just dandy for quite some time for package delivery, and anything we have delivered now should pretty much fit in this nice big size too. Steve measured before we ordered our trunk online so that it wouldn't stick out too much in our driveway when we park our car and it's just right for the space. You know that old saying ... measure once, cut twice or something like that, or do I have that backwards?! Hope this helps if you have had package delivery stress during the pandemic, Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #grocerydelivery #packagedelivery #homeorganizing #organizedhome

DISCLOSURES I thought it was time to share some things I've come across lately that made me smile. I'm feeling a little wordy today, so this will be a long post, but hopefully it's filled with useful resources, tips, and pretties that you might use yourself, and also enjoy! If you want to get yourself some tea or "calming" coffee" in your favorite cup, (here's my fave cup lately), I'll wait for you! ARIZONA ARMCHAIR TRAVELS PAST & FUTURE Let's do a little virtual wanderlust first, just for fun, since I don't think we should travel in person now unless it's unavoidable. But we can enjoy places virtually, (while we save up $ for our next in-person trip!), so here goes ... Steve and I have always kept a binder and/or computer folders of future day trip possibilities and Pine Creek Canyon Lavender Farm in Arizona is high on our list of places we want to do as a day trip once we feel it's safer to travel. If you watch their short gorgeous video I think you'll see why! Usually when Steve and I travel and explore we prefer charming cozy places and spaces vs. glitz and glam, but when we first moved to AZ in 2018 we enjoyed a lovely patio lunch at the glam and iconic Arizona Biltmore. So much AZ history! The Biltmore has just unveiled a 70 million dollar renovation that will be fun to check out in the future for a lunch on the patio. It was originally designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Lunch on the patio in nice resorts is a dreamy way to enjoy Arizona "travels" in a dollarwise way, and off-season here the resorts love locals and offer special discounts etc. I read about Castle Hot Springs, AZ right after we moved here in 2018. What amazing history and a beautiful desert area set amidst gorgeous hot springs. Also, I love Castle Hot Springs' little farm too. You can even digitally detox in luxury if your wallet can spring $1500 per night to stay there, and don't worry, there's a place for your private helicopter also to park. (!) But nope, you can't just have lunch there like some resorts; you have to stay overnight, sorry. I won't be staying there either since $1500 a night isn't in my travel budget. :) But I wanted to share it with you as the photos are so beautiful of the desert surrounds and the resort really is amazingly beautiful and historic since it was founded in the late 1800s. Personally, I'd opt for one of their cute cottages with the mountain views, cozy cottage gal that I am! Love gardens? In the city?! Ever since we moved to the Phoenix, AZ area I have wanted to visit The Farm at South Mountain but we just haven't gotten there yet. What a place located in the heart of a huge city, right near the bustling Sky Harbor International Airport. Organic gardens, and beautiful places to eat sitting in nature. Peruse their website to watch their video, and I think you'll see why this is a special place. I strongly believe in eating organic real food grown in the ground and not "grown" in a chemical lab, so I like to support these kinds of places and I love their mantra to give back to their city and people too. I am so grateful and humbled that there are still those who love to do this farming work to feed all of us. Kudos! Date night? Doesn't Quiessence look like dreamy outdoor dining?! Here's a lovely video of the owners' vision behind the farm and of Quiessence restaurant. I'm gonna put this dining venue on our list for once Covid has passed. We had to leave our own sweet little cottage-style patio home recently for a week due to work being done in our housing community. We didn't want to travel/venture out right now, but we had to, so we did the best we could. With Covid, this prompted us to rent another little patio home in a 55+ community in the Valley of the Sun so that we would have privacy and assured social distancing. We personally were not comfortable staying in a hotel at this time. Blessedly, it worked for us to rent a cute little home-away-from-home, and it cost us less than a hotel which was a nice perk especially since it was a brand-new home with nice amenities like a full new kitchen, two bathrooms, and wifi. Bingo! IMPORTANT: One downside of our cottage vaca rental and something to add to your own travel checklist to check on before your next trip, which I now know myself to do too: Who in the world puts high-off-the-floor-beds in a 55+ housing bedroom?! I mean, how many seniors can realistically do gymnastics just to get into bed? Not me since I don't dance, kick, and move like the Ziegfield Follies! So straining my back muscles to get into bed was not fun while on vaca and I could not get to the bathroom easily in the middle of the night either. I have written about low beds before and I'll say it again! Low beds are best unless you'd like to go to a chiropractor while on your vaca or while living in your own bedroom with a high bed some designer (or your spouse!?) thought was a cute decorative idea with those little wooden stairs to get up into bed. NO! It may be cute but it's not safe for anyone, and especially not for seniors! Our own home bedroom's low bed frame similar to this is much better. Ironically, a reader just wrote to me recently thanking me for writing about low bed frames awhile back as she bought one for herself too. You're welcome! I am glad to be the public service announcement of low beds! :) I sing it from the rooftops! Okay, I'm done with that rant now. For me, for you, and for a dog named um, Blue?! :) BTW, if you're thinking of relocating to a warmer climate in your senior years, Arizona has LOTS of active adult communities that cater to seniors who move here full-time in retirement, or who live here part-time as senior snowbirds and then rent their unit as a vacation rental when they go back home. (Lots of Canadians and U.S. Midwesterners live in our housing community.) I'm no realtor, but from my own online research before we ever moved here ourselves, 55+ homes in AZ come in many price ranges and styles, from huge high-end expensive luxe mansions in resort-style surroundings to modest-but-nice new and resale patio and modular homes with nice landscaping and on-site activities. So if you're looking to relocate to a warm climate, (as in 120 degrees in the summer kind of warm!), Arizona is a nice place to live in my opinion, after three years of living here. (Albeit the last year and a half glued in the house!) Just Google "Active adult housing communities Arizona" or "55+ retirement communities Arizona" and you'll find many homes to choose from that might suit your own lifestyle and budget. Note: This area of the U.S. is growing fast. Also, if you are a golfer, golf is big in AZ, and some AZ 55+ home communities are right on golf courses and some are not, and golf fees run from expensive to very reasonable according to my hubby Steve who is a golfer. (But has not been able to do that due to you know.) My sole contribution to that sport is to have lunch with Steve in the course restaurants -- I'm good at that, but for some reason, trying to hit a little white ball into an even smaller hole just doesn't appeal to me personally as fun. :) Great deals during off-season for both golf rates and restaurants. My favorite golf course lunches out so far in Arizona before Covid kept us all at home have been the Las Sendas patio, with views for miles of the beautiful desert valley as shown below, and The Boulders, with views of the golf course and interesting boulders like this beautiful video shows. Enjoy them virtually! MY TRAVEL FINDS & TIPS LATELY Okay, enough travel and food dreaming and back to the practical. I weeded out all our travel supplies and gear before we left our home for a week recently. Declutter. Donate. Re-stock with something more workable was my motto! It's been awhile since we traveled overnight, so it felt good to weed things out and re-evaluate. I'm always looking for ways to travel lighter; it's been a lifelong quest. Decluttering our travel supplies also helped my anxiety about possibly encountering Covid during this little trip, as did LOTS of planning ahead. I keep our travel items on hand in some labeled drawers on the other end of my clothes closet. Works great so you have everything you need in one central place in your home, and you have ready access with everything sorted by category in the drawers: packing cubes, hanging bags, luggage tags, washcloths & towels, etc. Below are some new things I found on Amazon that made our travel to the rental house so much easier and more comfy! With quick Amazon Prime delivery right to our home's doorstep weeks before we left, we also avoided in-person shopping pre-trip which also saved us energy and time and not wanting to encounter Covid. I highly recommend this delivery m.o. to preserve your energy, especially during these times! These nightgown/lounge dresses are the vaca ticket, my dears! (On sale now too.) I put a week's worth of them, with cardigan coverups, in my fave packing cubes, (by far!), so I could get dressed easily each day just by opening up one cube. The dirty outfit went back in the cube at the end of the day for laundry once we got home. Easy peasy. We didn't go out at all and just relaxed and worked on our computers in our rental home, but these could easily be worn for a dress and jacket with some cute sandals and jewelry if you wanted to go out for a nice dinner in normal times and feel dressed up. And you'd be comfy too. Can you tell I'm into all-things-comfy lately?! These loungers were great after a nightly shower to watch TV since it was, after all, vacation time! Note: The solid colors are softer and lighter material. I bought some of each and found the florals gorgeous, but a tad itchy and heavier material. Not a deal breaker, but to actually lounge, I prefer the softer solid material personally. These slippers are just the best! They tucked easily in my suitcase as they are lightweight but have great padding for tired feet. And oh my, now I see they have added many more colors, so you can have fun matching them to your nighties and loungers by color! This Brita water pitcher is dandy for travel. I bought a white one for Steve and a red one for me to take along with us to keep our hydration up. (This IS a desert, my friends!) These Systema mugs are great for soup and leftovers in the microwave. I took two along and they worked dandy for heating up our meals that we had cooked and frozen at home and then yes, we schlepped it all to the rental house. Ooops, correction: My dear husband Steve carried all the food in these bins. He's a trooper and didn't complain. xxoo! I cooked it all up before we left though as my part. This calendula salve and this fragrance free lotion worked so great for us in the desert dry air and were easy to tuck in our travel kits. We also tucked a little first aid kit in our medical bag that we always take along which is filled with good DIY things we hope can keep us out of Urgent Care while on a trip. (Yes, I think of that; don't roll your eyes now!) :) We leave it packed all the time and then before we go we make sure nothing needs to be updated and re-stock accordingly. And I never travel anywhere without my beloved homeopathic kits/remedies. I have studied and used homeopathic medicines since 2003 and they have blessed my life so much. Steve uses, and likes, homeopathy too. Taking a kit along means we have the most-oft-used remedies right with us for travel situations. These work great to create your own travel money cash and coin "ATM" machine for travel. Should you travel to a foreign country, they'd work great to sort currency from different countries. (Is that still how money is done overseas? Or is everything on a card or something now?! Obviously, I'd better stick to U.S. travel and dollars in cash! Or, get up with the times, but since I don't plan on traveling internationally anytime soon, or probably ever since my body would not do well with that, I'm fine, so don't you worry now about me getting lost in a foreign country without the right money.) :) I also use one of these little tidy pockets in my everyday tote bag for my mask, cough drops, eye drops, etc. Works great and doesn't take up much room and you don't have to dig in the bottom of a dark little zipper bag to find things. This larger foldable pocket organizer worked great for all my manicure/pedi items too and I just left it all in there when I got home to keep a mani-pedi "kit" on hand in my bathroom closet so everything is all in one place. It folds and Velcro holds it shut. These soap boxes worked great to put four essential oils bottles in, and I also used them for cotton balls and Qtips. The little clasp makes them so easy to get open, especially if you have stiff/painful hands like I tend to. If I can only fit in four essential oils in my suitcase, here's what I take and why I choose them below. There are many brands but I like Eden's Garden for the quality and price and we have used them for years. They have nice tutorials on their website/blog too. Lavender for relaxation/sleep/burns. (It happens!) Tea tree for if I cut my finger or some other body part and don't want to get infection. (You never know!) Fighting Five because I'm a clean sanitation freak even when a pandemic is not lurking. (Enough said!) Clove for a light toothache I sometimes get, plus as a mouthwash mixed with Fighting Five and swirled around in a cup of water and then I swish! (You want sweet breath on vaca too, right?!) We used my fave hanging toiletry bag, (no longer in stock but here's a similar version that looks roomy), to create a "tech kit" before we left too. Steve's our tech guru so he did most of this, God love him! It stays packed now for the next trip, avoiding doing it again. (Remember when traveler times were simpler? Yes, I thought so.) My best tip: As I mentioned earlier, I try to pack as light as possible, but I have also learned that it's easier for us to take our own tried-and-true items along rather than have to go out shopping and schlepping for a certain, (unscented, for example), thing-y in a strange neighborhood or city. No thank you. These hanging bags roll up well, and for added security, we tied ours with a belt/sash from an old dress I had. Yes, I save all old belts/sashes in a drawer of our travel goods for luggage ties etc. because you always need one on a trip, for something. Not to mention I don't like to waste things I might be able to repurpose. But if you've been reading me very long, you already knew that. :) Speaking of re-purposing, I married a die-hard re-purposer too! 41 years worth of re-purposing together, yes-sir-eeee! Steve saves "parts" of things to use for some good reason in the future. And it's a good thing Steve does save "parts" because he presented me with these dandy hooks he had saved from some shower caddies they came with. They worked SO great to hang my two toiletries bags in the little house we rented as it had a tiny tiny vanity. Lesson learned from past travels to tiny-vanity-bathrooms: take hanging toiletry bags! and now, yes, hooks! IMPORTANT: You see those shiny silver handles on the cabinets above? That style handle is all the rage lately in homes. I see them everywhere. In the kitchen of the home where we stayed they had them horizontally on the drawers. And every time I'd walk by, my nightgown/lounger pocket would catch on them and I'd lurch forward and stumble, having to unhook the pocket. They are a danger to society in my opinion, along with high beds as I mentioned above. You're welcome. (And hopefully the manufacturers don't come after me for my strong opinion on this matter!) We had plans to replace our cabinet hardware in a year or so and we'll be buying something more like these so we don't catch our clothes on them and trip! Seniors especially, be safe! That does it for my latest travel tips right now. If you'd like to read how Steve and I save money FOR and ON travel, go to the bottom of this page and sign up for my Resource Room to access those articles please. You'll find lots of other good tips and articles in there too that you can do on a dollarwise budget as well. eBOOKS I'VE LIKED LATELY I read lots when on vacation for a week. It felt so good! A lifelong learner, I don't read fiction, but here are the non-fiction books I liked below. I read fast, and I read everything on my Kindle now and what a lightened-load when you travel vs. carrying a cute book bag filled with books like I used to do. I love my Kindle! I wasn't sure if this Boomer could make the switch but I never looked back and love it! It's several years old and still works great so I am in no hurry to buy a newer model. Similar. Here's what I read on vaca, with my quick reviews ... In the Stillness of Quiet Moments by Emilie Barnes By the late Christian author and speaker who revolutionized DIY home organizing back in the day. A lovely soul. Be Still and Take a Bubblebath by Broadstreet Publishing Group As charming and fun to read as it sounds. Christian Minimalism by Becca Ehrlic Daughter of Jewish and Catholic parents and a Lutheran minister herself, minimalism transformed her spiritual and physical life and so she shares her thoughts on the topic from the Jesus perspective. I loved this book. How to Age Without Getting Old by Joyce Meyer Just what it says and very motivating and positive to see what God has in store for us. Trademark beloved Joyce Meyer humor and "just do it-ness!" Unshakable Hope by Max Lucado What it says from one of the most prolific contemporary Christian authors of our time. 14,000 Things to Be Happy About by Barbara Kipfer I read this book in the 90s and I used to keep the paperback version on my nightstand until it got so tattered I donated it and bought the eBook version to read now. If you're a Boomer, you will remember many of the things she talks about from simpler times. They make me smile! Just a charming book and so nice to read during these hard times, especially since it is written in list format so you can have a cup of tea and read about five things at a time that will make you smile, but not take much time. Updated and revised. I hope you enjoyed this long post! Please save it for future reference for products etc. and please read it in snippets as you have time. Thank you for your email letters/notes; I read all of them and it makes me smile to know my tips and resources have helped you since you tell me so. Keep the faith. Look for the good. Seek the beautiful. Stay orderly. And yes, I do this myself, striving for it every day! "Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." --Isaiah 46:4, the Bible, NIV “I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” --Anne Frank, Holocaust victim "Beauty will save the world." --Dostoevsky "God is not a God of disorder but of peace." --1 Corinthians 14:33, The Bible, NIV Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #traveltips #travel #Arizonatravel #Arizona #TravelArizona #Organizing #Travelorganizing #Traveltips #Couplestravel

UPDATE: September, 2021: I originally wrote this post pre-pandemic, to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary. I thought it would be fun to republish it now for "armchair travel" from home during Covid, when we're all staying home more and/or not traveling in-person at all, which is a good time to plan a future trip! Should you travel in person, please check the latest Covid travel advisories and be safe! Because this was written quite some time ago, and businesses have also closed during the pandemic, alas, some of the links might no longer be active, sorry. Also, some photos are from my paper scrapbooks in pre-digital camera days so they are muddied a bit, but still memorable. Unfortunately, I had a back-end software problem when updating this older post and there are some glitches that I've been unable to fix. My apologies! Also, venues change their photography policies all the time so be sure to check websites for current photo policies should you ever visit any of these places in person. Enjoy! Kathryn :) 1. Downtown Providence, RI. We loved staying at the beautiful and historic Edgewood Manor. And Providence is a beautiful town to just take a drive around. 2. Cannery Row, Monterey, CA. Literary roots of John Steinbeck.  We took a bus tour from San Francisco down the coast highway on the famous 17 Mile Drive and this stop was included.  Gorgeous area! 3. Thorncrown Chapel, Bella Vista, AR.  Beautiful online pix of this inside/outdoors chapel in the woods where we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. 4. Catalina Island, CA. We loved staying at Villa Portofino with its rooftop deck overlooking the beautiful turquoise harbor. 5. Downtown Eureka Springs, AR. Charming downtown in the beautiful Ozark Mountains. 6. Air Force Cadet Chapel, Colorado Springs, CO.  A really beautiful and unique structure. 7. Dana Point Harbor, CA.  We loved relaxing at Blue Lantern Inn, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, when we lived in CA.  Room 302 has an amazing view! 8. La Jolla, CA. We have enjoyed many fun outings in this charming and now world-renowned seaside village with its beautiful Pacific Ocean coastline. At one time, we also attended the charming sea-view St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church there since we lived in the area. 9. Stonington, CT. Home of author Alexandra Stoddard, who personally invited us to attend one of her Happiness Weekends at the beautiful Inn at Stonington in 2006, and we loved our trip to this charming seaside village and the surrounding CT area. And what fun to visit in person the cottage where she lives that she writes about in all her lovely books. Me in front of Alexandra's home on a rainy day. 10. Hacienda del Sol Guest Ranch Resort, Tucson, AZ. We had a lovely lunch here in their white-tablecloths-and-big-menus restaurant with its gorgeous desert view, and we also enjoyed all the old black and white historic photos. Was once a girls' school.  Lots of Tucson history here! 11. Ojai, CA.  The view from our room at the Retreat Center was gorgeous.  Peaceful and beautiful place. Downtown Ojai is charming. 12. New York City, NY. I was a mother's helper/nanny in a New York City suburb in 1977 and I fell in love with NYC! My husband Steve and I have been back there a couple of times to enjoy it together. We love the small neighborhood bistros all over the city. One of my favorite NYC books is 50 Places to Find Peace & Quiet in New York and I still have a hankering to visit The Library Hotel there someday. (Having worked in several libraries and loving travel, I LOVE what a clever concept they combined!) 13. Solvang, CA.  A charming CA small town with European-Danish heritage.  Adorable. Sadly, we were on vaca in that area when 9/11 happened so we did not spend as much time in this cute town as we had hoped to do but we thought it was so cute! 14. Lavender Bistro, LaQuinta, CA. My fave restaurant in the whole U.S.! The patio is amazing!  We went there at Christmas and dressed up in lavender for fun. Oozes charm. :) 15. Mission San Luis Rey Retreat, Oceanside, CA. Beautiful grounds and gardens and a holy spiritual place. We watched the Mission evolve into its beautiful gardens over the years and we loved attending several retreats there. 16. Belle of Brownville Riverboat Cruise, Omaha, NE.  A fun hometown-style city river cruise but I don't know if it's still in business or not. 17. Old Market, Omaha, NE.  We lived in Omaha for many years in the 80's and 90's and always enjoyed Old Market for its charm and history. Our fave two restaurants are still there! V Mertz and M's Pub. 18. Cardiff by the Sea, CA. We lived here for several years and enjoyed the easy-going small village charm and beautiful SoCal surfing beaches.  Our favorite bistro there is Trattoria Positano. 19. Cabrillo National Monument, Pt. Loma, CA. A most beautiful view of sunny SoCal! 20. Tonto National Forest, AZ.  One of my favorite places in Arizona since we moved here in 2018.  Peaceful, green, quiet, lovely desert cactus, plus colorful flora in the springtime. 21. Smith Falls State Park, Valentine, NE. We lived here as newlyweds and often "inner-tubed" down the Niobrara River.  Great fun when you're young! 22. Pawley's Island, SC.  Such a lovely sunny place! We took a driving trip from Omaha, NE to Florida in the 1990s and this was one stop of many that we absolutely loved. 23. Sanibel-Captiva Islands, FL. We also absolutely loved both of these FL sister-islands when we visited FL one January in the 1980s. Magical!  We stayed here when it was the Sundial Beach & Tennis Club but it has been totally remodeled, renamed, and "upscaled" now and is much more luxurious than when we were there. 24. Jackson Hole, WY. Steve's first banking convention as newlyweds in 1980.  We rented bicycles and I almost crashed going way too fast down a mountainside and could have died as a new bride.  Ooops!  Jackson Hole has become very popular now with the uber-wealthy, but it was small, charming, and quiet when we were there. 25. Idyllwild, CA & outdoor Episcopal church in the pines. Cute little mountain-pines town in the San Jacinto Mountains and the tiny "outdoor church" is so special.  We stayed at the quaint Strawberry Creek Inn. We love to drive around and I take pix of Episcopal Churches on vaca, especially the ones with the red front doors. 26. Mystic, CT. A beautiful charming waterfront town and area in the northeast U.S. 27. Muir Woods, CA. We visited here when in our 20s and of course, we loved those amazing TALL trees! 28. Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA.  An adorable little seaside town filled with charming historical cottages and beautiful California weather and coastline! 29. San Francisco, CA.  We loved the iconic trolley, Fisherman's Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, the "crookedest street," outdoor flower markets, The Japanese Tea Garden, and all the wonderful restaurants. 30. Keys Creek Lavender Farm, Valley Center, CA. A beautiful little lavender farm in Southern California. Peaceful. 31. Santa Barbara, CA.  We stayed at the historic Simpson House Inn and we enjoyed the iconic Andersen's eatery too, especially their charming outdoor patio. 32. Sherman Gardens, Corona del Mar, CA. A beautiful SoCal garden "day trip." We both loved it. Nice gift shop too. 33. Cabbage Key Island, FL. Pretty little island famous for its unique and funky "dollars restaurant." Clever and fun cottage. 34. Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, San Diego, CA. Beautiful gardens/grounds and historic lovely inn where we enjoyed lunch on the patio when we lived in SoCal. 35. The Willows Inn, Palm Springs, CA. I was gifted a stay here for our 30th wedding anniversary to write a magazine article about The Willows as a wedding venue, and with its dining-room view waterfall, Hollywood-esque history, and beautiful antiques -- all set into the mountainside, it's a gorgeous and unique property and setting. 36. Cliff Walk, Newport, RI.  Jackie Kennedy life history in this beautiful area. Beautiful mansions and gorgeous walk by the water. 37. Siesta Key Beach, FL.  Voted a best beach on many sites and I still blissfully remember the soft white sand in my toes! 38. La Jolla Secret Garden Tour, CA. Every May for many years we attended the beautiful seaside garden tours in the village of La Jolla when we lived in San Diego County. 39. Marriott Resort, Palm Desert, CA.  Love the unique indoor boat rides! We enjoyed Christmas vaca lunch here over the years, but we never stayed in this hotel. 40. Marriott Camelback Inn, Scottsdale, AZ. We have not stayed here overnight but we love to have lunch on the patio overlooking the golf course and near the beautiful water features and gorgeous desert flora and cactus. 41. Author Willa Cather's home, Red Cloud, NE. Now a national landmark and really fun to visit as a fan/student of her books when I was in college. 42. Sarasota, FL downtown and bay front. There's also a beautiful Episcopal Church in that area too. See the red doorPrettiest little bay front in a charming little FL seaside town! 43. Roger's Gardens, CA. The most beautiful retail garden center I've ever visited across the U.S.! Seriously. 44. Balboa Island, CA. A fun and charming SoCal island with adorable cottage-style homes that cost well over a million $ now, or more. Gulp! 45. Estes Park, CO.  A beautiful place in the mountains of Colorado. Beautiful pix. 46. Walden Pond, Concord, MA. We visited here on a trip to Boston in the 1980s and thus began my lifelong interest in simpler living as the pace of life and size of homes in the U.S. increasingly grew bigger and faster. 47. Savannah, GA.  We stayed at a beautiful historic inn overlook Forsyth park. Love this city! 48. Charleston, SC historic downtown. We stayed in a beautiful inn here (no longer open) and we absolutely loved all the charming historic homes and inns in this area. 49. Mt. Rushmore, SD. Since we both grew up in South Dakota, we visited here as kids and were mesmerized by the size of the faces in the mountains! 50. Great Smoky Mountains, TN. We visited here in our 20s and loved the purple haze that covers the gorgeous mountains.  It really does look purple!  Gatlinburg was especially fun at that time in our young lives. 51. Arizona Biltmore Resort, Phoenix, AZ.  We had lunch on the patio at Christmas after we moved to AZ, and we were serendipitously treated to a tour of the historic photo room. An iconic historic desert landmark and very beautiful grounds. 52. Prescott, Arizona. The historical downtown is so charming. Loved our day trip there a couple of years ago, pre-pandemic. Here it is ... 53. Four Seasons Resort Aviara, Carlsbad, CA. We stayed here for a bank conference for Steve's job years ago. Beautiful upscale coastal SoCal. 54. Hotel Laguna Beach, CA. We loved having lunch on their seaside patio directly overlooking the Pacific Ocean whenever we took a day trip to Laguna Beach. SoCal historic charm at its best. 55. Dubuque, IA. A pretty little Iowa river town where we stayed at one of their lovely inns. 56. Brockton Villa, La Jolla, CA. One of the prettiest bluff-top views of the Pacific Ocean from this historic and iconic charming SoCal restaurant. 57. Britt Scripps Inn, San Diego, CA. We stayed here when it was an inn open to the public, but it's now been changed to weddings-only and renamed Britt Scripps Manor. I was later hired to write this article about the inn for a national decorating magazine. Lots of San Diego downtown history here from a genteel time gone by. 58. The Elms Hotel & Spa, Excelsior Springs, MO.  We spent a relaxing 4th of July around the pool at the Elms in the late 1980s. (I think it was then if I remember correctly now), but at that time it was a sleeper that had fallen into disrepair. Now it looks like it's been gentrified and upscaled. And it has quite a history of survival and economic redemption since being built in the late 1800s. We remember fondly attending the little stone Episcopal Church across the street and it's still there and open. 59. Hotel Del, Coronado Island, CA.  An icon in SoCal and rightly so. The beach has often been voted one of the best in California and the whole U.S. and it's stunningly gorgeous with powder-soft sand. The shops are charmingly beautiful, (and yes, uber expensive so we didn't shop there in all honesty), and having their yummy Tortilla Soup and an iced tea on the Hotel Del terrace was something we loved to do when we lived in SoCal. 60. Villa Royale, Palm Springs, CA. Utterly Euro-style charming when we stayed there several times years ago. Was magical at Christmas. It has been all redone now to be more "hip." 61. Winter Park, FL Downtown. We loved this charming little downtown with its lovely shops, green space for concerts and art venues, and beautiful historic homes surrounding the quaint downtown.  My favorite place was the Bistro on Park Avenue but it appears closed now. :( 62. Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix, AZ. A beautiful and unique tribute to the flora and fauna of the Arizona desert. Gertrude's was a fun terrace dining venue we enjoyed, and their gift shop is large and lovely. 63. Seal Beach, CA. An adorable SoCal town/village with quaint shops. We stayed at a beautiful charming inn there in the 90s (now closed) and later went back there on a day trip. 64. Mendocino, CA.  We took a day trip to here from one of our San Francisco trips. One of the most beautiful areas and small towns in the U.S. I've ever seen! Absolutely beautiful!  See what I mean?! The drive from San Fran is heavenly -- rural coastal beauty.  And the little downtown is filled with charming shops and inns. 65. Old Towne Orange, CA. This is a charming little town in Southern California with quaint cottage homes and beautiful flowers in the yards. Really fun to walk through the antique shops there. Houses/cottages cost A LOT there now. 66.  Bella Vista & Eureka Springs, AR.  Bella Vista means "beautiful view" and the views in this Ozark mountain area in northwestern Arkansas are indeed that.  Bella Vista was a retirement village when we bought a timeshare there in the 90s, but now it's full of families.  Quaint and charming Eureka Springs, just down the road a bit is an adorable mountain town that draws visitors from all over and we loved going there for a day and staying in a B&B. 67. Old Town San Diego, CA. Old Town is a beautiful historic area in downtown San Diego. We especially enjoyed visiting charming Heritage Park there when we lived in the area and we stayed at a beautiful inn there. (No longer an inn.) Breakfast at the former Heritage Park Inn. Our first car trip together was our honeymoon in 1980, 41 years ago ... Our hotel "honeymoon suite" cost us $16.96 in 1980! (A.k.a. not very fancy.) And our first romantic honeymoon dinner fortune cookie read: "This person's love is just and true; you may rely on it." That has been true on both accounts. :) I hope you enjoyed our charming and historic travel tour. We had planned to log our 70th inn trip in 2020 for our 40th wedding anniversary, but the pandemic nixed that idea, so we are looking forward to "Inn 70" in the future and will try and find a really unique/special one since it's number 70! Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #travel #dollarwisetravel #budgettravel #travelUnitedStates #UnitedStatestravel #Bedandbreakfastinns #charmingtravel #historictravel #savemoneyfortravel #savemoneyontravel #marriage #couplestravel

DISCLOSURES When we visited my Grandma at her cozy little farmhouse located on a picturesque river when I was growing up, at Christmas she greeted us with the yummiest homemade molasses cookies, usually warm right out of the oven. This prompted me to go to my cookbook binder this year to find her vintage recipe to share with you. Since I turned 63 this year, this recipe is at least 55 years old. I hope you enjoy it! My Grandma's Molasses Cookies (I have "healthified" her vintage recipe a bit for modern times.) 2 c. flour (I use gluten-free) 1 t. soda 3/4 t. salt 1/2 t. cloves 1/2 t. ginger 1/2 t. cinnamon 1 c. sugar (I use coconut sugar) 3/4 c. shortening (I use coconut oil) 1 egg (I make a "faux flax egg" since I don't eat eggs now) 1/4 c. molasses 3/4 c. oatmeal (I use gluten-free) DIRECTIONS: Cream coconut oil and sugar in a bowl. Add faux egg and molasses, then all dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Roll in balls with your oiled hands and press down with a sugared glass bottom. Put about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet and bake at 375 'til done. I'd be willing to bet these are the best molasses cookies you've ever eaten! :) I don't personally make cookies very often at home anymore, but when I do, I love to have a cup of hot at-home coffee with them and here's how I do that ... My favorite coffee drink at home is to make hot coffee however you already make it and add cinnamon sticks to the coffee maker basket while the coffee is brewing. When it's brewed, into the cup it goes and I like light coconut milk for "creamer" and a spoonful of honey vs. sugar. Stir it up and there you go! We have personally gone back to ground coffee and a simple little dollarwise coffeemaker and are very happy we did. (Putting plastic pods in our landfills bothers me, plus they are expensive.) This coffee and this coffee are both Steve's and my favorites. They taste great and the price is great for organic coffee. (I've scouted that topic out online many places!) We use the Pacific as the main coffee and just add in a few spoonfuls of the Seattle's to the whole Pacific bag and shake or stir it up right in the bag. That gives it a bit more robust flavor, but not too much. It's so much fun to have your own coffee bar at home, especially now with Covid. We bought ours last year at Wayfair and they don't have our style anymore but here's a similar style that would work. It's fun to hang a cute coffee sign with it too and that would make a great Christmas gift for the coffee lover in your life. As a lifelong quote collector, this coffee sign made me laugh! These mugs would be a fun Christmas gift too. Merry merry molasses cookies and yummy at-home coffee! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #cookies #homemadecookies #molasses cookies #coffeeathome

Steve and I have been decluttering and re-sprucing up our home since about January 1 and one of the things I got rid of this big declutter session was ALL glass candle holders and faux candles. I love romantic white lighting, but alas, my hand grip isn't what it used to be so I want as little glass in my home as possible after cleaning some broken glass up a couple of times. And I don't want to use real candles as I think they are a fire hazard, nor faux candles anymore either since they cost a lot, end up in landfills, and don't last very long at all. (Yes, I'm a practical incurable romantic!) So I thought I'd show you a little trick for some romantic lighting that's inexpensive to buy, easy to hide, and easy on the electric bill too. Don't get too excited though, as it's not rocket science ... DISCLOSURES All we did was string a row of little white twinkle lights (like you use at Christmas) on the wall using c-hooks screwed into the wall. That's it! As romantic as any bistro we've ever been to. Add a new tablecloth (really nice!) and you're good to go. When you push the table, with the tablecloth on it, up in front of the lights, there's a soft "hidden" glow. Romantic! We kept our Val Day dinner simple this year, and easy to make. No Beef Bourguignon was on the menu, with homemade bread, a green salad, and since I drank all the Club Soda because I had a stomachache, orange juice became our "champagne." And Steve forgot to put the napkins on the table. Yep, we're really hot dates! Oh well, life is imperfect, no matter what Instagram would like you to believe, and so are we. And of course, there's a little problem these days called a pandemic. Being together was the most important thing to us, no matter what or where. These sparkly Snoozies slippers are about as comfy as you can get for "dinner and dancing" shoes! I made Steve this chocolate cake and I must tell you, toss in some chocolate chips for some oooey-gooey yummy. Run to buy this, I'm telling you! After dinner, we watched a cute modern romantic movie while snuggling in our PJs in our bed. Steve in his home office, enjoying his new part-time post-retirement gig. He keeps this picture of me playing "dress up" in his open planner on his home office desk from when I was about seven years old or so. It always makes me laugh when I see it there, all propped up next to his work -- my blue satin high heels and dress to match, posing in the dead of winter by the old farmhouse we rented, like I was the latest New York runway "model." "That's my girl" he loves to tell me, with a grin. And then he adds, "And you're still the love of my life and always will be." Steve and I have had 44 Valentine's Days together now -- meeting each other in March of 1977, at ages 18 and 19. As we went through our annual home decluttering/streamlining process recently, we culled our Treasure Boxes. We each keep just one memorabilia box, a.k.a. our Treasure Box, and this time we shredded our love letters in them -- once tied nicely with ribbon and satin rope, but shredded now. We kept all the cards given to each other over the years, (we likely have kept Hallmark in business!), but the stacks of intimate handwritten letters back and forth to each other over the years are now gone, into the great love cosmos forever, since they are our private and personal and sacred, just-between-us love story. The most fun Valentine's Day we have ever had in this many years together? The one we are celebrating together right now. We hope you had a good one, with little white lights, and lots of love! Kathryn & Steve #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #ValentineDayatHome

Welcome to both my long time readers and my new readers/subscribers. January and February have found me and my husband Steve streamlining our entire little house and systems, because even though we "declutter" our home on an ongoing basis, once a year or so we do a bigger deeper declutter and donate to Goodwill, and we also spruce things up aesthetically. When are you moving to Hawaii? Below is one of the "games" I play with myself to make decluttering and streamlining our home easier, and you can do it too. The best part? This organizing technique is free. No professional organizer who will charge you $100 per hour to help you decide what to declutter in your home is required. So here we go ... Pretend you are moving to Hawaii. Seriously. Why Hawaii, you might ask, and what does that have to do with making decluttering your home easier?! Turns out, a lot, because ... If you live anywhere other than Hawaii already, you have to navigate a big blue ocean to get your "stuff" over to Hawaii, and pay a lot to do so too, so while you're trying to decide what you're going to take on your "faux/fantasy move" to Hawaii ask yourself: Would I want to pay (lots of money) to schlepp this across the ocean to Hawaii on a ship, and then off the boat to my new home in a truck that I pay for too? My guess is not so much. (Especially if you have checked shipping rates!) How do I know this is true? Well, many years ago I had an elderly friend who was moving to Hawaii to live with her adult children in her older age. Since her "kids" -- (in their 60s or so), were unable to come to the mainland due to work etc., she was on her own with her move, other than a realtor. (Who turned out to be not so great, just adding to the stress.) I took mercy on her, giving her packing and moving tips and resources and encouragement along the way. No matter how much I suggested (kindly) that she not do it, she insisted on moving her big heavy carved wooden bed because she loved the frame and headboard and had had it forever, and so pay to move that big bed on a boat to Hawaii she did. I called her after her move and she sounded stressed as she told me she had been "refinishing" her bed with touch-up scratch coverup -- all carved big headboard of it. She said one of the boards would also have to be repaired as it had broken on the way over, and she was still quite distraught about this and went on and on. How much easier it would have been just to buy a new bed in Hawaii, don't you think? (Which probably would have cost less than shipping her bed too.) Around about that same time, I kid you not, I happened to hire a new massage therapist who liked to talk during our sessions, (much as I mentioned that I don't like to talk during my massages.) She was telling me all about her upcoming move back to Hawaii and how stressed she was with deciding what to ship over there and especially how much it was going to cost to ship her Toyota van. (Vans are big, and heavy, right?) Well, since I was trapped on that massage table as Hawaii-Moving-Gal-2 yakked on and on about moving back to Hawaii, I gave her some moving tips. About six months later she called to tell me and her other CA clients that she was once again available for massage because Hawaii hadn't worked out, so she had moved her van back to the mainland, along with herself and all her "stuff." Van included. Now I don't know about you, but neither of these situations sounds much fun to me, and also very pricey, and I've orchestrated enough moves of my own, (15 of them), to know I'd try to do everything I could to declutter and streamline my home and sell everything off but my soul before I'd ship it all to Hawaii! (My best moving tips are just $1.99 'til the end of February.) So, as you go around your home to streamline and declutter your possessions this pandemic winter, ask yourself: Do I really want to move this to Hawaii? Do I really want to pay a lot of money to move this to Hawaii? Do I? Do I? If you do, that's totally fine, of course, but please just give it some cost and stress consideration before you do. On another home note ... Here's something we did in our home recently while decluttering that has worked really well ... I don't like a cluttered fridge front, so these new magnetic lists work great and when I go to buy the goods I just take the magnetic list off the fridge to my computer and order away. The pens and eraser being right there too avoid that "Now where's a pen?!" thing-y. We labeled ours GROCERIES, HOUSEHOLD, ESSENTIAL OILS, REMEDIES. That's just what makes sense to us for our orders, but your labels will be unique to your family, of course. Some things I DO feel are okay to leave on the front of my fridge ... Like a couple of my favorite magnets I've had for years, but I ditched all the others. Suffice it to say not a lot of silver and champagne room service has been happening in most of our homes during this pandemic time, and when this pandemic is over my friends, I don't know about you, but I want to go someplace like this! And I'm hoping a uniformed butler with a posh silver tray is on duty! :) Have fun "moving" to Hawaii, Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #decluttering #organizing #smallspaces #smallspaceorganizing

DISCLOSURES Flowers make me oh-so-happy so I thought I would share some lovely dollarwise floral gift ideas, especially with Mother's Day coming up in May. FOR THE LADY WHO LIKES PRETTY MUGS Christian floral mugs -- I just bought these and they are SO gorgeous! Large floral mug with gift box How about tea for one in a pretty floral pattern? -- It's fun to curl up in bed with a good book and tea! FOR THE LADY WHO STILL LOVES TO WRITE HANDWRITTEN NOTES Floral note cards Flower postcards -- I have these and they are beautiful! Custom floral stationery notecards Floral pens Floral USPS stamps FOR THE LADY WHO LIKES TO NAP IN A GARDEN Cozy garden floral blanket/throw Wonderful floral loungers -- I have several of these and love them! If you want to wear it as a lounger around the house, order one size up for looser-flowy comfort. If you want to wear it out for errands etc. as a dress with sandals and jewelry, order your usual size. Floral shawl for many wonderful purposes FOR THE LADY WHO LOVES FLOWER COFFEE TABLE BOOKS The Art of Flowers Georgiana Lane A Year in Flowers FOR THE LADY WHO WANTS HER BATHROOM TO FEEL LIKE A FLOWER GARDEN Floral towels Floral soap pump Floral soaps gift box FOR THE LADY WHO LOVES EARRINGS Encased in glass For the tulip lover Vintage style FOR THE LADY WHO LOVES FLORAL TABLE TREATS Plates Tablecloth Candles FOR THE LADY WHO WANTS TO PLANT HER OWN FLOWER GARDEN Seeds Floral tools with tote In Bloom: Growing, Harvesting, and Arranging Homegrown Flowers All Year Round FOR THE LADY WHO LOVES VISITING GARDENS Book Dress Hat Hat FOR THE LADY WHO WANTS HER APARTMENT/CONDO BALCONY TO FEEL LIKE HER TINY PRIVATE GARDEN Secret Garden sign Garden pillows Floral chair Floral fountain Floral rug I hope you found a gift idea here or two for the favorite flower-loving-lady in your life, Kathryn :) #kathrynbechen #authorkathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #flowers #gardens #giftideas #Moms

I hope you are having a beautiful May so far, complete with your favorite flowers! Steve and I have started a new home project recently, so I thought I'd share a sneak peek with you. We are still in the midst of it, but it's coming along! We are doing a DIY dollarwise patio makeover, turning the space into our "Secret Garden Getaway." We have done this in other homes/apartments/condos we have lived in and had great fun with it. This time is a bit different however! Unknowingly at the time, I think it all started with this ... DISCLOSURES I shared here that we loved a silk floral hanging pot we put up recently. It looks so real in person! That pretty purple plant got me thinking that why not turn our carport/patio area into more of a colorful garden? Better yet: A garden that we would not have to water, weed, or fertilize?! In other words: artificial flowers and plants. 100 %. A secret getaway garden with romantic little twinkle lights and lots of silk/faux plants and flowers like you see on charming outdoor bistro patios etc. A bistro table area and a lounge area was sounding good too for our new secret garden getaway. Music and a water feature, here we come! (Clearly I ate a too many CA bistros when I lived there, and we always enjoyed the charming outdoor patios!) So after I pondered this in my head for awhile I said to my hubby Steve ... "You know how we are not traveling or eating out due to the pandemic still?" "Yes." "You know how we have our "travel & fun" fund? He's starting to grin, knowing I was up to something ... "Well, I have an idea." I said. "Yes, honey?" he smiled. "Well, I was thinking we should take some of our travel & fun money we have saved up and create an at-home secret garden getaway on our patio, like a relaxing outdoor at-home vacation! "Does this have anything to do with that movie we watched the other night with the waterfall and palm trees in the backyard in Fiji?" he kidded. I laughed. "Well," I said, "Since we will be working with a narrow carport patio here and not a big backyard, I doubt there will be a big pool like the movie, or a water slide, but I think we can come up with some flowers and little faux palm trees! "Sounds fun!" he said. "What do you have in mind?" And so it began. Now, to give you an idea of what we were starting with, I pulled out the picture of our very narrow carport that was taken the day we bought our (modular) home in 2018. Our "patio carport" has gone through small yearly decor refreshes while we worked on the inside of our home, but nothing like I was thinking of for this makeover in my head, at least. This time, I wanted a secluded secret garden getaway feeling. Key word: secluded. So clearly we had a lot of work to do! BTW, I have now dubbed fixing "aesthetic challenges" as "camouflage decorating." In other words: Find creative ways to hide anything ugly or just utilitarian! Now, to keep this project moving along nicely, I turned to ... Hearty home-cooked food and long tall drinks to feed and water my hubby since he was going to be unpacking and assembling lots of items we ordered on Amazon out on our patio, not to mention that it's already been in the upper 90s here recently. HOT! Since he works hard for me on the handyman part, I do my best to feed him yummy food while he works. This was our other DIY goal due to the pandemic: Order every single thing online. And we have. Sourcing and ordering the goods online was my job! Sure, it's fun to pick new things, but it's not easy. Lots of measuring involved and you can't touch and feel the goods, of course. So you do the best you can. I also decided, for ease of ordering and delivery, to only use Amazon and if I could not find what I wanted on there, then Wayfair. Not surprisingly, that brought some challenges. My favorite cool tall summer drink is seltzer water with natural lemonade. 1/2 of each if you like it sweet. 1/4 lemonade to 3/4 water if you like it not so sweet. LOTS of ice! These new acrylic tumblers I bought so we could enjoy them on the patio in the AZ heat. Work great as they are very tall so hold a lot! This is much healthier than soda and a nice change from plain water now and then. Dollarwise too compared to many other drinks. You can also make ice cubes from the lemonade and just put them in the seltzer water if you wish. This is fun and pretty pink! I shared in an earlier post that we bought an ice maker as our fridge does not have one. Update: Best purchase ever! Steve loves this thing; I think it's kind of like a boy-toy to him since he likes mechanical things. It came with a nice little scoop and he hung it on the side. It's also a self -cleaning device and I am happy about anything that is self-cleaning! I am feeding Steve my "Gourmet Grilled Cheese" sandwiches as he works on assembling patio goods. We make our own bread with an inexpensive bread machine like this and this bread mix. I brush coconut oil on the outside (instead of butter) and it browns just like butter. BTW, expeller-pressed coconut oil does not smell nor taste like coconut. It has NO taste or odor. I used two kinds of plant cheese and very thin apple slices. That's my version of "Gourmet Grilled Cheese." If you try this, be sure to put cheese on both sides of the apples or the bread will slide off when you try to turn these in the pan. Ask me how I figured that out! :) Yum! I also made enchilada casserole since this is one of Steve's fave at-home dishes. I brown plant sausage and season with taco-ish seasonings, then add two cans of drained black beans and then I mix a can of 28 oz. enchilada sauce with a small jar of salsa and pour it over that. Then shredded plant cheese. Then crushed taco shells on top. Cover with foil. That's it! Bake for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees or until cheese melts. You can also use crushed corn chips if you wish. I used to just use salsa, but I like it better with the enchilada sauce mixed with salsa. BTW, for a 9x13 pan of this, I put the mixed sauce into three containers and I only used one container of sauce so you have enough to make two more pans later. Just freeze the sauce 'til you are ready for that. Or, you can make this up and freeze the whole pan and then bake later I would think. Okay, back to the secret garden in-progress ... Like any home project, it always looks worse before it looks better! That's totally normal. I got the "bright idea" to put up a floral drapery "wall" on our cabana like we had done in a past apartment to cover up a window and that had turned out well by using a tight steel cable. I wanted this floral drapery hung up because on the other side of this space is a vacant lot I don't like looking at, to say the least. Plus, I wanted it to feel more like a "room" for the lounge area. The drapes are so pretty in person and really heavy. Steve put a cable in the bottom and tightened it to the cabana poles so it became a "wall" rather than flow-y curtains blowing in the wind! The final result here turned out great, is sturdy, and will be easy to just hose off. He put the drapes back to back so that from outside it looks like flowers too instead of ugly blackout fabric as I want to be considerate of what neighbors might view. However ... At one point the drapery wall was a challenge as the drapes were much heavier than we anticipated so we had to come up with something else other than cable, which Steve did. He does not give up easily when there's a challenge! Plan A, Plan B, Plan C! What worked? A rod! Go figure. DIY home projects require oodles of patience, problem-solving, and ingenuity. Pivot when necessary is our motto, and don't expect everything will go according to plan, because it seldom does. DIY also requires lots of assembly! And lots of tools usually. And more assembly! A snafu: These planters had a STRONG cedar scent and I am highly scent sensitive so Steve had to spray them with non-toxic cleaner, rinse off with the hose, and repeat again and then he set them in the sun for a few days to air out. That worked quite well. xxoo to Steve for that extra work! Arizona sun does lots of wonderful things for me as I air out lots of products outside that have odors when I buy them. Like home goods and clothes. It's called the "bakeout method" or some such thing according to my (many) allergy doctors over the years. Good thing I live where the sun gets to 120 degrees sometimes as that "bakes out" about anything! :) Another online ordering snafu: They sent tan pots instead of white. They came with the planter and I didn't want to bother with a return so I will be camouflaging this tan color with faux plants to draw the eye away from the tan color. Another alternative would be to spray paint them with white paint made for plastic, but we didn't want to go to Home Depot to pick up paint nor deal with the smell, so camouflage decorating it is! New rugs helped camouflage some spots on our concrete that are still stained even after power washing. We work around it and keep the final result in our mind for motivation: Lemonade and snacks on the patio! Rugs also make it possible for us to walk barefoot out there which we can't do on the concrete in the AZ heat. The rugs we ordered I really like, but one of them had to be re-ordered in a complementary pattern rather than exact matching pattern so I just went with it and called it creative! I actually like it. One also had a flaw so we placed it where you can't see it. Did I mention pivoting?! (I'm not into sports but this is starting to sound like I might be a coach!) Steve also had to power wash the new rugs because they smelled like chemicals and I could not tolerate the smell without getting a headache. Even outside. More sun! Whenever we do a DIY home project we first repurpose everything that is still in good condition. We repurpose to keep things out of the trash/landfills, and to save money too. Plus it makes you creative to think of new uses for old things. And for me, it's already been "aired out" so it's one less allergy odor for me to deal with so I can um, breathe! Our bistro table is being transformed with a new tablecloth that won't blow off in the wind as it has elastic around it. Brilliant, whoever thought of that! Later this summer we will paint the table leg and base brown, but it is good enough for now. These white trellises are part of the planter box with the tan pots and two of them were the perfect width in front of Steve's car to create privacy, with most of the secret garden all behind them. Sorry, but I no longer see these planters anywhere for sale online. Vines and plants are currently being placed. See those chains anchoring the sunshades to the ground? They have to stay there due to wind. I am coming up with camouflage plans for those though, trust me, as I don't do ugly well. :) Another snafu of online ordering was the large floral painting I ordered to mount on the outside of our house inside the lounge area was lost in transit so I got a refund, had to choose a new painting, and pay more. The new one will arrive in a week or so. I like it better than the first one, so that worked out! Patience. If the rest of this project goes well we should have all the decorative elements in place within two weeks or so. Soon we will be hanging all the little white lights, adding floral pots, vines, plus adding rocks to the pots, and more. The rugs will eventually be un-rippled. We are looking for something for privacy from the street for our step rungs. So far, nothing is looking good, or the right size, without lots of cutting. Since I hate to have Steve have to do even more work, I'll keep looking! We are getting there with our ultimate goal though: patio privacy, getaway vacation feeling, romantic, and easy to just wash everything off with a hose since in the desert we have lots of everyday dust, wind sometimes, and oh yes: haboobs. Well, I guess they don't call this the Wild West for nothing! I will show you the finished project in a future post. After we take a little at-home vacation that is, and hopefully no havelinas will crash our patio party. :) Unlikely though, since we moved here nearly four years ago only one of them has been seen in our housing area, walking down the street, pretty as you please. Well, they were here first, so maybe we crashed their party. Wishing you a secret garden getaway, wherever you live, if that's what your heart desires! Kathryn #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #secretgardengetaway #patiomakeover #decorating #smallspacedecorating

I promised to share with you how we transformed our blah utilitarian carport into a pleasant Secret Garden at-home-vacation-getaway, so here it is! I hope it gives you some ideas for transforming your own outdoor space, however you choose to decorate it. DISCLOSURES Our overall goals at the outset of this DIY home project were: FEELING: Create a "feeling" of a peaceful, private, and charming garden/outdoor bistro/romantic B&B-like setting like we have enjoyed during our travels pre-Covid. An "at-home vacation" feeling if you will. We looked back on some of our favorite travel places and then we just let our own creativity flow. FUNCTION: Include a sectioned "bistro" area so we can eat easily out there at a table or work on a laptop, plus make a separate "lounge" area to sit and chat, just like in an indoor living room. Also include attractive "hidden" storage spaces in small awkward crannies throughout the patio area. (Shown below.) PRIVACY: Provide privacy from the street in front of our home, from super-close neighboring homes, and from the empty RV lot right next to our home where snowbirds come in and out during the winter months to stay for varying lengths of time. CONSERVE OUR DESERT & CLIMATE: Use only faux plants so we do not have to water, fertilize, or clip! We have enjoyed gardening at home in the past with real plants but we are now in our mid 60s and we don't want to maintain a real growing garden, but we do want to enjoy one, so this faux garden is it! Today's faux plants look so real. Plus, the U.S. Southwest is experiencing a concerning drought so we do not want to use more than our share of water, and faux plants achieve that too. DOLLARWISE REPURPOSING: Repurpose everything we already had on our patio that was still in good condition and that still fit our overall goal for look and feel. Anything that was still good but did not fit our new look we donated after four years of using them. I don't like to waste, nor overfill landfills with our things that can be repurposed for someone else to enjoy. SHARED MARITAL PROJECT: Work together on this project as a marital team; playing to our individual strengths and skills. In other words, I don't work well with a drill and bolts and Steve enjoys that but he doesn't have much interest in ordering and researching cute home decor online. So we each do what we are good at and then we are both happy and have fun together. ORDER ONLINE: Order everything we bought online and have it delivered to our home. No in-person shopping due to Covid concerns still. BTW, we achieved this! Everything you see below that is new was ordered online, down to the last bolt, and delivered to our home. Most things came from Amazon. I love the efficiency of Amazon ordering. DOLLARWISE BUDGETING: Use some of the funds we have been putting away each month for future travel since we are not traveling due to Covid and have also, surprisingly, both lost interest in traveling much as it's become too complicated. MAKE PEOPLE SMILE: Simply make people smile when they drive by our little cottage-style retirement home and see colorful flowers, white trellis, and pretty wreaths on our doors. I love to drive by homes with cozy charm and curb appeal, so why not make our own home that way?! HOSE-OFF-ABLE: I realize we said we want to conserve water, and we do. But the only way to really clean outdoor patios and furnishings in the desert with all the dust is to hose things off. We figure we can do this once in awhile since we are saving water by not watering real live plants all the time. Steve bought this power washer and really likes it. As you can see, our overall plan was strategic, but not rigid. We came up with our overall idea and then let the creativity flow with ordering goods and it all evolved. We paid cash for everything due to our overall strategic dollarwise lifestyle m.o. and we feel this project was a good investment in our happiness, as well as improving our property too. Okay, here's our tour of our little Secret Garden and our thought process and strategy as we worked through this DIY project. Secret Garden sign. We started with cleaning the space with Steve's new power washer and let everything dry well. That had to be done as our concrete was really dirty under the old rugs even though we hose it off fairly regularly. First thing I got right to was the new rugs. I was hankering for a palm/tropical feeling and these worked great. They do not match exactly but I like them better now that they don't as it further separates the bistro area from the lounge area, yet it's complementary. The rugs also nicely covered a couple stains on the concrete that would not come off, even with power washing. Rug 1. Rug 2. We both like the feeling when we eat at night at an outdoor patio bistro of romantic little white lights, so we were copious with those for this project. (Okay, so maybe we got a little carried away!) Our cabana we bought new four years ago when we bought the house and it has held up great! Since it's not directly in the AZ sun I think that has definitely helped. Similar cabana/gazebo. We already had the chairs for the lounge area and I found new pillow covers to go over the blah brown chair pads. The pillow covers can be removed easily and tossed in the washer if need be, or just hosed off too. We already had the round table so I found a tropical tablecloth with elastic so the wind won't blow it off. These are wonderful! They are fabric, not vinyl, so don't stink like vinyl and look much better too. We had the other chair pillows and the table to the right just got a new tablecloth. Steve uses that table for drinks and to clean our groceries packages during the pandemic. (Pandemics were made for clean freaks!) :) I love our new little olive tree and at night the lights are so twinkly! We had the blue ceramic table. Similar. Steve had repainted the legs last year with spray paint so it is still fine. The "Anna's Corner" flower shop painting is new and is hanging right on the side of our home. It reminds us of our past fun travels wandering in and out of charming little shops etc. around the U.S. Our side door has a step out to the patio/carport. It's a big white ugly thing in my opinion, but necessary to get into and out of our house. :) So we implemented what I call "camouflage decorating" by using a white plastic shade to hide views into the patio from our front street, a hanging planter pots get-up, and floral curtains to hide storage bins that are big and very blue. Mission accomplished. All can just be hosed off, again. We also softened the hard step lines with a wisteria tree, lemon tree, and small lemon tree which also provided more privacy from the street, and some nice color too. The bamboo trellis planter on the right side, with faux greenery, hides the view to the RV lot next door. And thankfully, I can no longer see their ugly bright blue trash cans right when I open our door. (I don't do ugly well, on the off-chance anyone has not noticed here.) :) The sunshades similar to this one Steve installed last year and they have greatly helped with our electric bill as well as provided privacy, plus they prevent debris from blowing so much during AZ winds. (Haboobs, I'm looking at you!) The little bistro table we had and I covered it up with a new tablecloth. Love these tablecloths! We are loving how the lights added romantic charm! The colorful hanging flower baskets were a nice addition too. Our 42nd wedding anniversary is this year so we will be dancing the night away on our new outdoor patio, in our new tropical duds. :) A.k.a. knit comfy-wear. Add comfy slipper-sandals to my new "dress" and what can I say? I've become a semi-retired lady who loves lounging in her cute jammies and slippers at home! And Steve will be comfy in his Hawaii-ish shirt too. Why not dress up at home like you would in Hawaii?! We decided against including a water feature in our new Secret Garden, much as I was hankering for the sound and look of a fountain. I love fountains! Reason we decided not to have one? It will attract birds and birds leave you know. And I don't want to be cleaning up you know, not to mention clean-freak me worrying about getting some disease from a bird. Don't worry; I LOVE birds. From afar when I have a zoom lens on my camera to capture their beauty. That all being said, when I saw this little swan pond water feature and showed it to Steve it was a quick YES! (Steve has told me ever since we were young marrieds the saying "swans mate for life.") The "water effect" in the swan pond is really plastic that's shiny to resemble water but it's really cute in person, especially the mini lily pads. And the faux water looks pretty real! I found lots of flower garlands to bring in some color. But I tried not to go overboard with those so that it looked like a wedding pavilion! Little white lights, I love you! TRUE STORY: Steve told me, nonchalantly, the day after it happened, that he helped a baby bird out of our new (faux) wisteria tree! I'm like: "WHAT?! I thought we we trying not to attract birds!" "He was just learning to fly, so I helped him along a little out of the tree." ME: "You didn't touch it did you?!" (And I'm thinking: And then hug me!) Steve just grinned and said: "He was just trying to find shelter from the storm, like everyone else in the world right now." My husband, and his caring heart of gold, little birds and all. And NO, he didn't touch the little bird, but "shooed it" towards a live tree in the yard beside us. Whew! Evening magic in the Arizona desert! Did I mention maybe we got just a little bit carried away with lights? :) Okay, another fun thing we did was to create this "flower wall" out of several heavy-duty drapes. I was going for a Hawaii feel, what can I say?! Must be because I was born in Honolulu or something. (Before Hawaii even became a state, no less.) After a trying time with putting up the "flower wall" it worked! There's a cable holding it in place at the bottom, done by none other than Steve who came up with that idea when I said we couldn't have it flapping in the wind. He likes a challenge, so cable it was! And then there was another little assembly project for him ... I bought this bar to use not as a bar but to display plants. So, I turned it around to do that, and Steve removed the wine rack that came with it. The top can still be used for food trays if we ever decide to do that. All those plants, as I have mentioned, are faux. I ordered them loose on Amazon and arranged them in the pots by just sticking them in florist foam. I bought two palm-themed wooden screens to hide a walkway to our trashcans where Steve stores his bicycle that he locks up back there. The screens are prettier, to me, than the bike view. :) More camouflage decorating! SIDE NOTE: Steve really secured things as we get strong winds sometimes in AZ as I have mentioned before. As in, our neighbors have had parts of their roofs ripped off and sheds that were in-progress-building have toppled. We have had a storm since we did this project and other than the bar tipping over and having to pick up the plants, everything stayed secure. Yay Steve! Steve bolted the screens down and painted the bright silver bolts brown to camouflage them. The plant stand provides a little privacy from the neighboring RV lot. Faux cactus and succulents weather well on our patio; most of these we have had four years. This little green table similar is so nice and sturdy and hides the plastic basket of shoes underneath so they don't have to come in the house. These faux flowers are so pretty in person! Our drive-by view from the street. Curb appeal with privacy. (This took lots of pre-measuring!) Our white trellis planters are tall. I can no longer find them on Amazon, but here is a similar style that is lower. We hid the step storage with a white roll-up shade and floral curtains. They can both just be washed off with the hose. And Steve attached the shade really well to the step as we didn't want it to flop around. I love romantic-looking wisteria, faux or no! Have I ever mentioned I love the romance of little white lights. :) Dreamy! Our new painting makes me want to walk right into that adorable little flower shop! Similar style painting. I think it's time for me to go have a cold drink in our little Secret Garden, so I am signing off now. I hope you enjoyed our patio makeover tour! Kathryn #KathrynBechen #KathrynBechenAuthor #AuthorKathrynBechen #DIYdecorating #Dollarwisedecorating #Homedecorating #Patiomakeover #Patiodecorating #SecretGarden #Smallspaces #Smallspacedecorating #Fauxgarden #Outdoordecorating #Couplesdecorating

Before I get back to sharing more food-pantry-strategy with you, Steve made our homemade recipe for veggie lasagna the other night and it's so easy and so good that I thought I'd share it with you since it's a bit snowy and super-cold in some areas of the U.S. right now so this will fill your tummy with warm yum! :) DISCLOSURES RECIPE Pre-heat oven to 375. Use a 9x13 cake pan. (We use non-stick but you can also oil a regular pan if you prefer.) Use about 2-3 jars of Marinara sauce. Spread sauce on bottom of pan in thin layer. (About 1/2 jar.) Lay oven-ready lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Spread more sauce on top first layer of noodles. Put chopped frozen or fresh veggies in a layer on top of sauce. We use whatever we have on hand like broccoli, cauliflower rice, shredded carrots, mushrooms, black olives etc. We also salt and sprinkle a little bit of dried onion and garlic mix on top of each layer of veggies. Add another layer of noodles and repeat layers alternating sauce, veggies, noodles until pan is full and end with sauce on top. You can use cheese too if you want but we don't and it's still really good! Cover pan with foil and bake about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Test with knife or fork to make sure noodles are cooked soft before removing from oven. Let set up about 15-30 minutes once out of oven so it cuts into pieces more easily. You can make this up at night, refrigerate it, and pop it into the oven when you get home from work. Will take a little longer to bake since it will be cold, but still works great while you are prepping the rest of your meal. (Or you're taking a hot bath and sipping champagne from a no-break-tumbler while your lasagna bakes!) :) We hope you enjoy! Kathryn DISCLOSURES #kathrynbechen #kathrynbechenauthor #authorkathrynbechen #cookathome #athomecooking #homemadelasagna