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Shaking but not Moving 1024 683 Mari Bickmore

Shaking but not Moving

Well, I guess it takes a pandemic and an earthquake to get back on track! Luckily I’ve been keeping busy whilst sheltering in place! I’m going to have this hermit thing down pretty soon, but I can do without another earthquake! My first one and I hope my last. Nothing last being shaken awake in the morning by your house!

So, so many things have happened since I last posted to this site. Where to begin? OMG…for one thing, how could it have been almost THREE years since I last wrote? Like water going downhill. At the time we were living in El Dorado Hills, CA, and in the summer of 2018 we moved to Holladay, Utah. Now I’m living by my daughter’s family with two of the most darling grandchildren possible. Can’t get much better than that, other than all of my children and grandchildren moving here. If I could pull that off, nothing could ever be better.

Circumstances involving our move were not ideal, but so many great things followed. Like my daughter, Amanda Bickmore Crane, and I get to work together. How fantastic is that!? We already had formed Bickmore Design, LLC, and have renovated many houses over the years. Prior to this I was the owner of Posh Interior Design in Columbus, Ohio, and Minneapolis, MN, switching names to Bickmore Design in Kansas City, KS. Gosh I know right!…following a corporate husband sure does have its ups and downs.

Keeping busy with renovations and design work, I’ve also completed the state real estate course, tested, and obtained my Utah State Real Estate License. What a difficult profession. I’m with Equity Real Esate – Solid in Sandy, UT. Those two professions should go hand-in-hand and I’m working to make that happen. Not sure how that’s going to work going forward after this pandemic crisis. My heart bleeds for those who are losing their jobs and for the economy in the short-term. I hope and pray that we will all recover quickly, both physically and economically. What a difficult time for our governments dealing with something no one expected. I am not happy with the people pointing fingers as if our leaders caused this. It seems to me that they are dealing with it as best as they can under the unfortunate and adverse conditions. I feel so blessed to have safe shelter and food to sustain me. If you live near me and need anything, please let me know.

Just dropping a few photos of a renovation and design project that are full of color and make me happy.

Excuses 1024 768 Mari Bickmore

Excuses

Don’t you hate excuses!?!?!  Well I’ve got a list for you.  I haven’t posted in ages and ages, BUT I have been otherwise engaged.  Let’s start back in March.  I spent March and April living with a family with an illness.  That is not a complaint.  I love them more than I can say and it was a blessing for me to be able to do that.  I wish beyond wishes that the need hadn’t been there, but to be able share the time with them was priceless.  Towards the end of that stay, I got the call that I had been expecting for about a year.  I didn’t answer the number the first time it rang because I knew when that number came up what it was going to be.  My biological father had passed away.  We hadn’t been particularly close, but death as a way of changing your perspective on that.  In point of fact, we had been estranged for many years.  But that is a story for another day.  I did make the decision to leave where I was and attend the funeral in Houston.  Luckily, another family member was due to arrive very soon to stay where I had been.  During the time I was away from home, we found that we were going to take a new job and move from the Midwest to the West Coast, Northern California to be precise.  So began a series of trips to look at our new surroundings and shop for a home, and back to our home to pack my car and drive out leaving most of our possessions in a house that was for sale…a house that we had just finished building in July 2014…a house that I loved.  In all our searching, we never found a house that we loved in our new town, but we did buy a house.  We closed on a Monday and left that Friday for a 2-1/2 week vacation; a few days in Amsterdam and a 2-week cruise on Celebrity to Scandinavia and Russia, and a throw back to early June when I had a ____ year high school reunion back in Houston for a long weekend (great time, wonderful people)…and then in Vegas in late June to attend my nephew’s wedding (Joejoe Diggs), along with my daughter, Amanda, and her husband, Bradley.  I got to see my bestest niece and nephew and their Mom!  They are so great!  All that traveling, especially the cruise, have added an ugly 10 pounds that I have got to shed.  In any event, it’s been a very full year so far and not likely to let down.

We are now in the midst of a huge renovation to make that house we bought a house we will love.  The people who lived in this house for the past 13 years did not have the word “maintenance” in their vocabulary.  The air conditioner filter had about 1/2 inch of lint on them when we replaced them.  The spa leaks, which they did not disclose, so that will be an entry for another day.  There were a couple of other nondisclosed items, but they don’t make me as mad as the spa does.   We’ll see how than story pans out.  We are in the middle of painting all the cabinetry and walls and trim, etc.  We completely deconstructed a wall in the living and that is almost finished reconstructing.   Darned if I don’t have to leave in the middle of this to go to London for an interior design job.  This may be the only time in my entire life that I am not biting at the bit to leave for a trip like that, but being in the middle of this makes it difficult.  I’ll just end with a few before pictures and early reno pictures.  I can’t wait to get back to cooking and food pix!  Oh, and there is an election year coming up.  That should be fun!  And right now I won’t get started on the Muslim invasion that is taking place, forever changing the face of Europe negatively.  I’m glad I’ve been able to travel there prior to this, although it had been getting worse over these past few years due to a smaller version of the same thing.

This post seems like such a short one when I think of all the things that have happened this year!IMG_2640_2 IMG_2638_2 IMG_2609_2 IMG_2608_2 IMG_2607_2 IMG_2604 IMG_2603  IMG_0759_2 IMG_0757_2 IMG_0753 IMG_0751_2 IMG_0750_2 IMG_0749_2 IMG_0746_2 IMG_0745_2 IMG_0744_2 IMG_0743_2 IMG_0740_2 IMG_0739_2 IMG_0738_2 IMG_0737_2 IMG_0735_2 IMG_0731_2

I’m Just a Strawberry Fool 1024 798 Mari Bickmore

I’m Just a Strawberry Fool

In case you haven’t looked your calendar, Valentine’s Day is coming up.  I will be out of town for the holiday, so I am going to focus on lovely things to cook for Valentine’s Day until I leave.  strawberry fool 2That means I get to eat those lovely things until then also!  Please don’t read my New Year’s Resolutions.  Hey, I’ve been doing pretty good.  I will just use good portion control…or at least I will try.

On a positive note, I am feeling much better!  Still watching the Australian Open, but not just lazing on the couch.  Nadal is winning, so is Sharapova.  Federer is out.  Not that you’re interested.

I am stressed out though.  I have to do a presentation on Career Day at a middle school this coming Tuesday for Interior Design.  I really do  not like doing those types of things, and for the life of me can’t remember why I agreed to do this.  Four sessions, 25 minutes each.  Any volunteers?

Back to VD treats!  What’s not to like when it has strawberries and cream?  Especially when it’s so QUICK AND EASY!  Don’t even have to bake it.  Please don’t leave off the crushed ladyfingers, they add that crunchy texture that plays off the cream.  I think it would be lovely served in stems, like a martini glass.  I had children to serve, so it didn’t seem like a smart thing to do at the time.  Truly, this is delish and yummy, and so easy to boot.

Strawberry Fool

Ingredients

  • 2 cups chopped, hulled fresh strawberries (about 8 oz.) plus 6 whole berries for garnish
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup  Strawberry preserves
  •  3 crisp ladyfingers (savoiardi, crushed

Preparation

1.  Place chopped strawberries in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar over and let sit, stirring occasionally, until juices are released and sugar is dissolved.

2.  Beat cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form.

3.  Add  preserves; fold to blend.

4.  Add berries with juices; fold almost to blend.

5.  Divide among bowls. Sprinkle crushed ladyfingers over.strawberry fool 3

Garnish with whole berries or save a few larger chopped ones out for garnish.

Inspiration for this came from a recipe from Bon Appetit that I had saved for some time and just decided to play with.