House in Progress Diary, Category:
Daily Diary
Usually, I get notified by email when someone comments on the blog, but that has been spotty lately so I have been, like, "Oh, no Internet love for me. Boo hoo hoo." And then I went back and read some old entries and HEY! COMMENTS! HI THERE, INTERNET!
I want to clarify something about the dandelion post. I did not get all self-motivated and decide to eradicate these dandelions all by myself. Oh no, no, no.
Do you see the perfect lawns in this picture? The ones with no weeds? No, not the scrappy lawn at the bottom left. That's still my lawn. Look beyond that.
Continue reading "My Public Shame" »
House in Progress Diary, Category:
Daily Diary
Money Magazine just published a few articles about real estate in the most recent issue about the usual clutch-your-heart-in-panic stuff (FORECLOSURES! FALLING HOME PRICES! REVERSE MORTGAGES!). Tucked in there alongside of that was a rather nifty illustration by Tom Burns showing the evolution of housing in the United States. Here was the timeline:
50,000 B.C.: CAVE: Tons of natural stone! Hand painted walls!
1870 A.D.: CABIN ON THE GREAT PLAINS: Unobstructed prairie views!
Continue reading "My House is the House of the FUTURE!!!" »
House in Progress Diary, Category:
Daily Diary
Dear Jeannie: Stop being such a lethargic lump. Go work on finishing the sun room trim. Or start the storm windows project. Or just do laundry. It's not like you have a broken limb or something. Just DO IT.
But I don't want to.
Why? Why don't you want to? **sighs impatiently, taps foot**
I have no idea. I'm tired and I drank too much coffee and now my mind is racing but I want to fall over and sleep on the rug. I don't want to go down to the dark and cold basement. I don't want to sniff denatured alcohol. Leave me alone.
Continue reading "Note to Self" »
House in Progress Diary, Category:
Daily Diary
Actual conversation with my mom when she visited last week.
Me: Look Mom! I have eradicated the dandelions from our lawn! Aren't you proud of me?
Continue reading "Dandelions" »
House in Progress Diary, Category:
What on Earth!?
I'm helping out a local not-for-profit on this one. They were cleaning out the ancient kitchen in their basement and preparing to put boxes of items on Craigslist. I spotted these plates from across the room. They are magnificent.
Continue reading "Help I.D. This Mid-Century Melamine Plate" »
House in Progress Diary, Category:
Daily Diary
This WAS a pot of pansies that I have managed to keep alive for almost a month! A record for me, someone who would be considered a "black thumb." Every two days, I've been giving Grace a cup of water and she has skipped out of the front door to water her "flouh-lers". And they flourished and I thought, "Wow. Post-motherhood, I have reformed! I can keep plants alive!"
And then we opened the front door this morning to a scene that looked like someone had set off a grenade in a pile of dirt.
A squirrel-shaped grenade.
House in Progress Diary, Category:
Do it Yourself
Okay, so I am going to loose myself in the pleasure of filling all of the nail holes in the living room trim and striving to achieve that Zen-like state of bliss known as Renovator's Flow. In the meantime, I'll recap the project that got me to this point in the living room project (while holding my hands over my ears and yelling, "La la la!" if anyone tries to talk about the sunroom.)
I stained the new trim before it was installed. Because it was poplar (which has a history of being blotchy when stained), there were these moments of tension where we wondered how it would turn out. Would it be a disaster?
Continue reading "Beating Poplar Blotch" »
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