Home & Garden – Page 4

Kid’s Nightlight Review

Posted on August 5, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

When Jake and Noah got their own rooms, Noah suddenly decided he wanted a nightlight. Yes, there was one in the room the boys shared, but when Jake was sleeping over at one of his grandmothers’ houses, Noah never wanted the nightlight on. So that was kind of a surprise. I’ve found it hard to find kids nightlights that aren’t terribly bright. I mean — the child is supposed to be sleeping. I don’t want his room lit up like a runway!

I was offered the chance to review a night light from Lights in the Night by Seasons of Cannon Falls. I was sent this funny monkey face night light. It looks great against the red walls in Noah’s room! At first I thought the night light was a little big, but when I plugged it in I thought it looked just fine. I love that it’s not terribly bright, but I noticed that the bulb got really hot really fast. I might switch it out with another night light bulb and see if it makes a difference. The on/off switch is sturdy, which is good. I’ve bought nightlights with flimsy switches in the past. This one seems like it will hold up well. It also has a swivel base that should fit any plug.

The monkey face is made of glass and does not seem like it would break easily, but obviously you don’t want to drop it on a tile floor or anything. The nightlight retails for around $16 and it has Noah’s seal of approval 🙂

The days just fly…

Posted on July 15, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

I keep meaning to be a better blogger, and I honestly don’t know what happens, but it seems I just never quite get around to it. Summer is just flying by, as it often does. July has been beautiful here weather-wise. Cool nights (sometimes dipping into the 40s!) and days that reach the high 70’s or low 80’s. I think I could live with a year of this! Of course, I’m sure we’ll be in for the dreaded heat and humidity eventually. Let’s see, what’s been going on? The house is nearly all stained! I am just in love with the color. Here’s a shot I took this morning:

And here’s one just of two of the dormers. You can see how faded the siding was! Granted, the new stain is a redder shade than the old one, but still… the house was never that light!

My dining room is nearly back in order. There still are some things to put away, but at least it’s not jam-packed anymore. I think I might even be able to see a little bit of the surface of the dining room table! 🙂 The boys’ rooms are all decorated and basically finished. Laura’s room is getting there, and our room will just have to wait. Although I am very excited about my new sewing desk in our room! It’s actually the desk that used to be in the kitchen, but we’ve been rearranging furniture and found it a new home. I hated having the sewing machine on the dining room table, yet I hated putting it in the box every night, too. This should be great!

I’m still working on this crochet bag from Attic24. I haven’t had tons of craft time lately (understandably, I would think!), but it’s working up nicely. I’m excited to do a little more on it. Other than that, it’s just business as usual here! Diapers and dishes, LOL. I’ll leave you with a recipe I tried last week for Indian Spiced Kale & Chick Peas. While I like kale well enough, I don’t love it. If we didn’t get it from our CSA I probably would not go out of my way to buy it, but this recipe was a good use for it. I used less kale than the recipe called for and should have cut down on the broth accordingly. It made for a more soupy dish. I’m not sure if I’d make it again, but if you enjoy kale and Indian flavors, chances are you will love this!

Indian Spiced Kale & Chick Peas

1 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound kale, ribs removed, coarsely chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. garam masala
1/4 tsp. salt
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add kale and cook, tossing with two large spoons, until bright green, about 1 minute. Add broth, coriander, cumin, garam masala and salt. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale is tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in chickpeas; cover and cook until the chickpeas are heated through, 1 to 2 minutes.

No Rain, No Rainbows

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Carol — 2 Comments ↓

Just like the commercial says, right? The day started out gorgeous, then got all rainy and cold, and now it’s sunny again. What an odd summer. Anyway… I’m so tired today. After dropping Jake off at library camp, Drew, Noah and I went to run some errands at Target and Walmart (needed to get a curtain rod for Laura’s room as well as curtains for the bedrooms, and then some groceries). It was way more walking around than I’ve done in a while! I feel like a big baby, but it really did tire me out. I also didn’t get the greatest sleep last night, so I am sure that contributed a bit.

We got cute tan and red striped valances for Noah’s room and pretty brown valances with embroidered flowers for our room. For Laura’s room, which has the double window, we have two tiers — white sheers and then dark brown panels. I think they’re going to look so nice! We still have a bunch of stuff to put away, but we’re waiting for the plumber to finish up a couple things on the baseboards. I’d like to finalize all of the furniture placement, but we just have to wait. Drew remarked that he thought a plasma mount might be good on one of our walls, but I like the TV currently up there. (We have a small plasma TV in the kitchen — trust me, nothing fancy!) And it’s really not big enough to necessitate a mount, LOL.

The guys got a little bit of the siding put up on the dormer this morning, but then like I said, it started raining. Let’s hope for a couple dry days this week to get it finished up!

Well, well, well

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

One of the things about living in the country is having well water. In some ways this is a good thing because you get a lot of extra minerals that town water supplies usually don’t have. Also, it almost always tastes better because there are no added flouride or chlorine or other chemicals. However, it’s not without its problems. Although our house was built in 2004, the builder for some reason never put a filter on the tank that holds the well water. Over the past five years, we’ve noticed more and more sediment in our water glasses, and especially in the tub after a bath. The problem became really pronounced after our house was powerwashed.

However, since we are having all this work done anyway, we figured we’d ask the plumber about a new tank (because the old one would be gunked up with years’ worth of sediment) and a filter. We really had to do something. Laundry takes forever because I’d either have to fill up pots with water to help the washer fill up or else clean out the hose between cycles. The bathroom faucet upstairs was running at a trickle and we originally thought it was a problem with water pressure until Drew cleaned out the screen. Sure enough, it was fine after that.

Well, I am so thrilled because today the plumber is here taking care of all this. You have no idea how hard it’s been to keep our tubs clean (let’s not even talk about the state of the jets in the Jacuzzi tub). And since I’ve not been able to get down on my hands and knees and scrub for the past few weeks, it’s gotten really bad. I can’t wait to clean out the tub really well after the work is done and run myself a nice bath! It’s going to make such a huge difference.

The rest of the upstairs is, for the most part, complete. There are a few areas of paint that need touching up, but that’s it. Yesterday the guys started staining the siding for the dormer and I just love the color. I think it’s a bit more red than when we originally bought the house, I’m not sure. But it looks great. I’ll be sad when everything’s done and Joe and Bob leave. We’ve enjoyed having them around the house! Maybe we’ll just have to think of another project. You know, a front porch could be nice 😉

~ simple pleasures ~

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

Right now I’m enjoying that yummy chocolate sundae! Drew was sweet to save the last of the chocolate chip ice cream for me to have tonight. I’ve not been out of the house (except for 4 doctor’s appointments) since coming home from the hospital and honestly I’m pretty happy this way, LOL! I’d just as soon enjoy my own little sundae here in the den, rather than go out.

The boys are being (relatively) quiet, which is nice. The plumber is here putting in the baseboards (I think) upstairs, so they are getting to stay up late tonight. They’re relaxing on the couch under a quilt, watching the Clone Wars show on Cartoon Network. As long as they’re chilling out, I’ll let them indulge too 😉

Just a couple more days of dealing with all of our stuff crowded into the dining room and hallways. This weekend we should be able to start moving things back upstairs. Let me tell you — I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed again! Prior to having the baby we were sleeping on the boys’ mattresses on the floor (they have been happy sharing the Aero bed). And since coming home from the hospital, I’ve pretty much camped out in the recliner because with my pulled muscle and all, it was impossible to get up from a laying-down position. But now that I’m doing better the recliner is starting to get very old, LOL! I can’t wait to curl up in our king-sized bed, under some fresh sheets, and… well, let’s be honest here. I don’t expect to get much sleep, but at least I’ll be comfy 😉

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted on June 21, 2009 by Carol — 1 Comment ↓

A very happy father’s day to my daddy! Yes, that would be me and him, waaaay back when. I wish I could be spending the day with him, but a call will have to suffice for now. I’ll see him next Saturday, though :-). I also kind of lamed out on Father’s Day for Drew this year, but he understands. In a couple weeks we’ll so something special for him. In the meantime, the boys made him cards and #1 Dad buttons. I had originally looked at new grills and at pressure washers for him (he was eyeing them at Home Depot one day), but I think we’ll wait until the end of the season and get a new grill as a belated gift. Ours really has seen better days.

Drew wanted to cook a big breakfast, though, so he dug out the waffle iron and made waffles, bacon, and fruit for all of us. (He loves to cook and has been enjoying the last couple weeks of me not cooking.) We don’t have any big plans for the day. He’s actually working his tail off clearing out the rest of the upstairs furniture so that we can have our carpeting installed on Thursday — yay! The guys are here to paint today, and soon, oh so soon, my house will be back in order. I can’t wait!

Sometimes It’s Nice…

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Carol — 6 Comments ↓

It’s a well-documented fact that I am, for the most part, a morning person. I was up extra early this morning (one of the perils of falling asleep around 8:30, I suppose) and I’m really enjoying the dim light, the quiet sound of rain outside, and my cup of tea without the noise of the TV or anyone calling for me. 🙂

Things are good. Life is good. Time is just rolling along, as I expected it would. The last couple weeks have been busy, busy and here we are, less than a week away from baby girl’s arrival! I figured I’d make this a random sort of entry, hitting on all the things going on. I hope I don’t miss anything!

Shed Dormer Construction
The dormer/upstairs reno is moving along nicely and on schedule! There are updated photos here. Everything is framed in, and yesterday was the framing inspection which was fine. Today I believe the electrician is coming to work on some things and insulation will be put in. If my timeline is correct, Monday will be the insulation inspection and then they will sheetrock everything and finish up. The only inspection left will be for Certificate of Occupancy! We’ve chosen the stain color for the house (similar to our old stain, but a bit more brown) and we have a general idea of carpet colors (a shade of grey for the kids’ rooms and the hallway, and blue for our bedroom). As for paint colors… we’re going with a shade of brown for our room, a very (very) light purple for the baby’s room, and once we get paint chips we’ll work with the boys to help them decide. I’m just so thrilled with this project. The upstairs already looks a million times better! Yes, it’s a lot of money, but in our opinion it’s well worth it. Let’s face it: with three little kids there’s no way we’re going to be jetting off to Europe or looking into Caribbean cruises anytime in the near future. As a “homebody” I would so much rather make our house extra comfy and cozy! This was without a doubt the right thing for us.

Pregnancy
Tomorrow I hit the 39 week mark! Yesterday was my last scheduled OB appointment, and I was in and out as usual. I’ve gained 23 lbs. with this pregnancy, which I know is just fine, but… let’s just hope it all comes off quick! I’ve been so lucky that my only real “problem” has been some back pain of late. My C-section is scheduled for next Wednesday. My OB believes that there are only two C-sections that day, so I’ll need to head to the hospital for either 6 or 7 a.m. and they’ll operate at either 8 or 9 a.m., depending on who is first. My parents are coming down on Tuesday night to get the boys ready in the morning and get Jake on the bus and then take Noah to the hospital after the baby is born. Then he’s going on a “vacation” at their house until Saturday. (Thank you, once again!) Drew’s mom and aunt will be coming up in the afternoon to get Jake off the bus and take him to meet his little sister! One or both of them is also going to be available in case I need Drew to spend the night at the hospital. That one we’ll play by ear. Everything is lined up, and I’m really not concerned about going into labor early. She still feels pretty high up and I’ve been taking it easy the last few days.

Crafting
I’ve not done much in the way of crafting lately. My attention span is so short, and my stuff is boxed up for the most part. I did cast on for the Sarena shrug, which I’ll bring as my “hospital knitting” since it’s easy and mindless. I’ve also been whipping up little crochet flowers to use up scraps of dishcloth yarn. So easy and cute, see?

I’m looking forward to getting back to sewing once our house is back in order! But for now, all those projects have been set aside. It won’t be much longer, though.

Family
The boys are great! Noah cracks me up on a daily basis. He’s really into Hot Wheels Trick Tracks at the moment. He sets up the loop and the curve and various dino launchers and sees which cars work best. Totally cute. He’s also obsessed with the ABC Song, which I find funny since he refused to count or say his alphabet until very recently. He knew it, but he wouldn’t perform. My independant little guy 🙂

Jake is good, too. School ends here at the end of June, but they are already winding things down a bit, probably because the kids’ are getting antsy. His class is doing a little play, “The Carrot Seed” in a couple weeks, and there’s Field Day and lots of other stuff. He’s still majorly into arts and crafts as well as writing stories and making books. The other day he decided to make a list of all the different fish he could think of:

Well, I finally hear the boys stirring, and this is certainly long enough! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Beautiful Spring

Posted on May 21, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

We’ve enjoyed some really great weather between yesterday and today! It’s just gorgeous out and I really feel blessed that we have not had to worry about a drop of rain during the construction of the dormer and getting the roof up. Flowers are finally blooming, birds are chirping… this is without a doubt my favorite time of year! Yesterday I bought a hanging pot of purple petunias to hang on the shepherd’s hook by our front stairs. I still would like to plant flowers in my whiskey barrel, but nothing was grabbing me yesterday. Most of my bushes are doing well, though my azaleas have not performed well this year. There’s only a few flowers on one of the bushes. I’ll have to figure out why. I have some ground cover in the same planting bed and I’m wondering if maybe it’s choking them?

My rose bushes all have buds (and are in dire need of having old stems pruned off) and I have a seed mix that I hope to plant tomorrow for a small cut flower garden — just some zinnia and bachelor’s buttons, along with a package of random mixed seeds. I’m not going to have time to really attend to a fussy garden this year, so I figured that I’d throw the seeds down and see what comes up. Maybe I’ll get lucky!

How are all of your gardens doing?

Dormer Construction – Week 1

Posted on May 19, 2009 by Carol — 2 Comments ↓

It’s completely unreal to think that a week ago the back of our house looked like this:

And late yesterday afternoon it looked like this:

My menu plan already went out the window this week, as we decided to grab dinner out since we had to return a movie (and I was really tired and did not feel like cooking). We got home around 7 and the guys were still here finishing up! They finished taking the rest of the roof off. After they left I went upstairs and took some photos of how it all looks opened up. They’re in my Flickr set. So weird, but very cool. They were here around 7:30 this morning, ready to start building out the dormer itself. Today that enormous hole will all be closed in and if I have it right, then they’ll be finishing up the inside.

If anyone in the Hudson Valley needs contractor/builder recommendations, please contact me because these guys are just amazing. They work incredibly hard, are super nice, and I’ve been so impressed by how well they clean up the work site every night. Oh, and did I mention that they worked on the weekend? They did – something a lot of builders don’t do. I feel like I should be baking them cookies every day to show my appreciation! We’ll probably give them a nice bottle of wine each when the project is done. I know this is their job, but we feel they really are exceptional.

Because I’m so thrilled with how things are coming along, the mess and inconvenience of sleeping in the living room isn’t really bothering me. The boys camped out on the aerobed in the den last night (they’ve been sleeping in our bed upstairs, but obviously could not last night with half the roof missing and a frost warning in effect!). They got to use their sleeping bags and thought it was really fun, LOL! Good thing because they’ll probably be sleeping down here for the next couple nights 🙂 It’s all about attitude. If you make it an adventure, it’s less of a hassle, you know?

So that’s where we are on the shed dormer front. Exciting stuff!

Keeping It Real

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Carol — 3 Comments ↓

This, generally, is what my house looks like at the moment. The photo is of our dining room, but our living room is also full of stuff and the upstairs? Well, the front dormers are crammed with boxes and totes. Luckily our house is a decent distance off the road, otherwise passers-by would likely think we’re one of those crazy families that save and stash every little thing. At least the kitchen and den are in reasonable shape, so not every inch of space has been turned into what I am called “controlled clutter.” I’m trying to see it as a blessing in that I have quite a few less rooms to clean during my final weeks of pregnancy! Still, I can feel myself tense up at the thought of things not being in their place. Must. Get. Over. It. It’s going to be this way for a good month!

Monday the contractors started powerwashing our house. Powerwashing and restaining were on our “to do” list for this year regardless of the addition, but this way at least the wood will be somewhat close, even though the new wood will likely have a different look. Our siding is mahogany (which apparantly was at a good price when this house was built and that’s why quite a few new homes in our area have it), and the stain is just a clear coat, so naturally the older wood will be a little more weathered. But as for the powerwashing — what a huge difference it has made! I took a photo of the side of the house after they stopped on Monday. It’s clear what areas have been cleaned:

Demolition is starting today as well — yikes! They’re cutting a hole in the back of the house so they can pass materials through, and then (if I remember correctly) they’re putting up the wall that will divide Jake’s room from what will be Noah’s room. I’m a little nervous about giant holes in the house, LOL! Let’s just hope for no huge downpours over the next couple weeks. I have a public Flickr photo set for all of the construction-related photos for anyone who is interested. I assure you that I will be taking zillions of photos of this project!

In other news, I have come to grips with the fact that I’m just not going to finish everything on my baby “to-do” list and I’m not going to get my freezer as stocked as I had wanted. And really that’s fine. Drew’s going to be home and is always such a great help to me. Plus, his aunt (who is retired) has offered to help out as well. We’ll be in good shape! Today I think I will finish packing my hospital bag. I am bringing my own comfy PJs this time (something I didn’t do either of the last two times). I remember after the first day I felt really slummy in the hospital gown. I’ve also got two possible coming home outfits picked — one in case the weather is cool and one in case it’s hot. In this area, you never know what early June will be like! I also have the requisite books, small knitting projects, and stuff to keep me occupied while I’m bored out of my mind, LOL! I have to get together my make-up, skin care products, and various toiletries. At least the hospital is close to home (all of 10 or 15 minutes away), so if I need something, someone can easily bring it to me.

Time is just flying by!!!