Category Archives: Home & Garden

Sniffly

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Ah yes, I will be sniffling and coughing my way through Christmas, I think. I have yet another cold. Hopefully it’ll be over by the 25th, but my hopes are not high. Usually my colds drag on and on, but you never know. I stocked up on Thera-Flu today so after the boys are in bed I will be relaxing with a cup of that. It makes me incredibly groggy so there’s no way I can take it during the day, especially since I need to pick up Jake from his sugar cube house class tonight.

While at CVS (buying the Thera-Flu and some other random things to use up funds in Flexible Spending), I saw that they have a Chia herb garden! Laugh if you must, but I have been wanting one of those for years. I almost picked it up, but then remembered that there are CVS coupons you can print out (like $5 off a $10 purchase — something like that), so I’ll have to remember to go back with one of those since it’s really not something I need. What is it about this time of year that makes me think about wanting to grow things? Perhaps it’s the cold and dead landscape outside. I’m craving green. Maybe this year I’ll actually have my act together and have a small garden. I’d like to, that’s for sure. I’d like to plant radishes, plum tomatoes, cucumbers, some herbs, pumpkins, maybe some onions, and maybe some peppers (both of the bell and the hot varieties). I’ve never had a lot of luck with peppers though, so I was looking for more information on them (go to this site for a quick tutorial). Nothing fancy, just the basics. And then if I’m successful I’ll get more adventurous the year after.

But until then I think I’ll just have to wait for my seed catalogs to arrive and sketch out some ideas while I shove tissues up my nose. 😉

One Month

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That would be one month left on the contract we have with our realtor. The other day a real estate agent showed up a bit early and caught me before I’d left. I had to laugh because he wanted to know where our septic tank was located because it was of the “utmost importance” to his clients that they are able to put in an inground pool. I’m sorry — an inground pool is of the “utmost importance?” Not schools, not taxes, not even square footage. I had to do everything I could to keep from busting out laughing because the soil is incredibly rocky. If you’ve been to our house, you’ve seen the giant rock/ledge at the end of our driveway. I was honest and told him this. When our house was built they had to do some significant blasting in order to dig the cellar hole. So yeah… not sure an inground pool would happen. And even if it could, good luck getting a permit from the town. They are very anti-development of any kind (which I don’t understand, but I don’t need to get into it). At any rate, no surprise, they weren’t interested in the house. But only because there was noplace for a pool. Sigh…

Ho Ho Ho

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Truthfully I’m not really into the whole Christmas thing just yet, but I’m a little bored, and I’m sure I’d end up doing this eventually, so…

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags! They’re much less trouble, they’re faster to open, and they’re reusable. I think that between me, my family, and Drew’s family, we still have some of the same bags going back and forth that were new maybe six or seven years ago. I feel tremendous guilt on Christmas morning when there’s that big bag of wrapping paper to throw away. I hate it. We use gift bags whenever possible and only use wrapping paper for the really big stuff.

2. Real tree or artificial? Fake. Again, it’s a lot easier. You put it up when you want, you take it down when you want, no watering, and no needles to clean up. Plus, a decent one will last a pretty long time.

3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend.

4. When do you take the tree down? Whenever we get around to it? Most of the time I am ready for it all to come down on December 26th, but usually we leave it up until New Year’s and take it down then or the weekend after. I am always so happy to reclaim the open space in my house.

5. Do you like eggnog? Does a bear shit in the woods? You bet I like eggnog! Throw some Maker’s Mark in there and you have one tasty way to get through the holidays.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Impossible to pick just one. The big three that stand out are my Barbie Townhouse, my ice skates with the green pom-poms, and the drafting table my dad made for me.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? We have quite possibly the most fun Nativity scene ever: made by Playmobil.

8. Hardest person to buy for? I can usually find something for anyone, mostly because I am a big fan of restaurant gift certificates. Who doesn’t like to eat?

9. Easiest person to buy for? The boys. Though if I had unlimited funds, my brother would be easy to buy for too. I know he’d love a new TV and one of those plasma tv stands. Drew is usually easy too. He’s always happy with movies or some kind of electronic gadget. Or magic tricks (seriously — you didn’t know that my husband is a musician AND a magician did you?)

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can’t really think of anything, so I must have blocked it out.

11. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? Nat’l Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? We shop sales during the year for the boys. Everyone else? I start thinking about them in October, and then get really serious the day after Thanksgiving.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Pierogis, kielbasa, cabbage soup — growing up we did the whole big Polish dinner which was just so delicious. Of course, with my husband’s family not being Polish in the least we don’t do Wiglia, but if I’m lucky my parents still bring down some pierogis (the cabbages ones are my favorite!). I also love the spinach-gruyere strata that has become a fixture at my Christmas brunch. Lisanne gave me the recipe (she got it from a class she took at the CIA), and it is a huge hit with everyone.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear

7. Favorite Christmas song? “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” (though it makes me cry every single time), “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron,” “Come All Ye Faithful,” and plenty more

18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? We stay home!!! When Jake was two we decided that we didn’t want to tear our kids away from playing with all their new toys, but anyone and everyone is welcome to come to our house. We always have plenty of food, and I assure you there is never a dull moment. We’ll travel for Thanksgiving, but Christmas is ours.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. See?

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? A little from column A, a little from column B.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? How people suddenly forget a) how to drive and b) how to act.

23. What I love most about Christmas? I love the quiet on Christmas Eve after everyone has gone to bed, and I love the utter chaos of laughter and chatter and clinking glasses and paper and everything else the comes along with Christmas Day. And then I love collapsing with a glass of wine when everyone’s gone home and everything’s still a mess and looking at the tree and thinking about how lucky I am to have such an insane and wonderful group of family and friends.

Such a mess

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We really need to do some cleaning up in the basement. I’ve been opening boxes as the prospect of selling our house gets grimmer and grimmer, so there are opened boxes half-full of kitchen stuff. Then there is my scrapbook table that is a disaster because I needed my stamps for something the other day (see — I didn’t get rid of everything!) and the stamps and ink pads are all spread out. And then there is the desk. It has our ancient computer that really we should just get rid of, the wireless router and cable modem, plus stacks of papers… ugh, I can’t stand it. And yet, every time I made an attempt to clean it up, I get about halfway through before I’m interrupted. Then I have to go do something else and by the next time I can clean, it’s back to square one. Sigh… Sometimes I feel like the battle against clutter is a losing one.

Oh yeah, that light

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This morning I realized that we still haven’t replaced the light in the den/former master bedroom. I had completely forgotten about it. Drew brought in a torchiere lamp that we’ve been using (overheads can be too bright for my liking). So again, I thought I’d just see what’s out there in terms of lighting fixtures. I had read or seen an ad for kichler lighting in one of my husband’s home improvement magazines and the traditional ceiling fixture is quite attractive and a decent price. So that’s an option. I really need to fix it this weekend.

Kitchen Design

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I’m really hot on redecorating right now. We’re still in the midst of the great den/masterbedroom switcharoo (hopefully we’ll finish tomorrow), and I’m already tweaking the living room furniture. We got a desk from Drew’s mom that we put in there and it will be great to have a place to sit with my laptop other than the kitchen island. Of course, the beauty of a laptop is sitting anywhere, but when I’m doing a lot of writing I prefer a desk when possibile. At any rate, overall I really do love my kitchen. The only thing I am not crazy about is the sink. One, it is a corner sink which I thought I’d love, but as it turns out I am not crazy about it. Two, it’s a double sink which is great, but each half is kind of small. Sometimes I wonder if one big full sink would be better. And finally, the faucet… Ugh, it’s just a cheap old contracter’s special. It would be great to replace it with one of the cool Delta faucets that I’ve seen. Of course, at least it works as-is, so I’m not going to think about doing anything now. But I do love to redesign in my head.

The Perils of Moving Furniture

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So on Monday we started moving our furniture around. We didn’t get very far, but we did manage to move our boxspring, king-sized mattress (that was fun, let me assure you), and wrought-iron bedframe upstairs. In the process, while carrying one of the long mattress supports (or whatever they’re called), Drew accidentally hit the ceiling light and the globe shattered. We actually just burst out laughing when it happened! It seemed very sitcom-ish. I think we’re just going to replace it with the globe from the upstairs bathroom (because we’re putting an exhaust fan in up there — no there wasn’t already one, I have no idea why the builder was so lazy about that, but whatever…). Even so I was looking at Seagull lighting fixtures which are supposed to be energy efficient, and they’re certainly nice looking! Of course, being the klutzes we are, I’m not so sure we should spend that kind of money, LOL…

Fall Gardening

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snail1.gifCan you believe it’s September? Wow, I just can’t believe it — last two months absolutely flew by. We’ve been taking advantage of end-of-season sales at home centers and getting more bushes and perennials for our garden. I’m also thinking of planting tulip bulbs (and maybe some grape hyacinths, which I always used to call “huckleberries” for some reason when I was a kid) in one of our flower beds so there will be a nice burst of color early in the spring. I’m also thinking of replacing some of our current yard art that is fading fast. Anyone who has been to our house has no doubt seen our huge lawn turtle (a wedding gift from one of Drew’s former co-workers), and I’m thinking that this metal snail might make a nice companion for Mr. Turtle. I love browsing through Online Discount Mart’s home and garden supplies because they always have really unique items at great prices. Check them out!

Moving on up

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Well, we now have the bedframe, headboard, and boxspring for Noah’s “big boy” bed and Drew’s going to get the mattress on Friday. They’re totally excited about sharing a room. I’m a little nervous that they’ll wake each other up, but… enough people have kids who share rooms, so I’m sure it will work itself out.

While we’re moving the boys in together (Noah’s crib is currently in this “sitting area” at the top of the stairs between the two bedrooms), we’re going to be moving our room upstairs too. The two upstairs bedrooms are huge. I mean HUGE. We decided that it’s crazy to have a designated “guest room” when we only have overnight guests once or twice a year. So that will be our room (oooh, and that means we’ll each have our OWN closet!!!). We’re converting the current master on the first floor to a den. (That sounds like such a big project, LOL! All it really entails is moving furniture.) All the boys’ toys will be in there and we’re probably going to get a futon because that will be harder for them to destroy than a couch, and it will also be a place for overnight guests to sleep. We’re working on all the small steps now and planning on doing the “big” move over Labor Day weekend. I’m so excited! I think it’s going to be awesome.

New Hutch

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New hutch I have a small milk glass collection (some of which was given to me by my grandmother), and after Jake was born I had to put most of the pieces in storage because I was afraid he’d break something; there was no safe place to display it. A couple years ago I found out that I had quite a few bonds in my name, bought by the same grandmother who handed me down the milk glass, and I knew I wanted to use some of that money to buy a corner hutch to display my collection. I had a specific image in mind, but had a hell of a time finding it. You might think it would be an easy piece of furniture to find, but everything we saw was either overpriced or gaudy. Well last week on Overstock.com Drew saw this hutch and I really liked it so we decided to buy it. (It was made an even better deal by the fact that Drew found a $25 off coupon). At any rate, we got it the other day and he assembled it and I am so very pleased! The dark wood really shows off the glass and I love that there’s a light. In fact I have it on right now and it’s a nice “nightlight” just to keep the house from being too dark. I’m really not into a lot of knick-knacks, but for some reason I just adore milk glass and it makes me so happy that I now have a beautiful place to keep something that reminds me of my grandmother, and the hutch itself will always remind me of her as well. I’ll have to show her a photo the next time I visit (she’s in a nursing home now). I think she’ll like it, too!