Sprucing up the joint

One of my favorite things about summertime is that one can spend a great deal of time outdoors and never get sick of it. At least I don't get sick of it. I don't even mind the rainy, gloomy days because I usually go out anyway, even for a few minutes. I'll pull some weeds in the garden or clip some herbs, anything to just get me out. A few weeks ago we had a string of gorgeous days and when Nanner was napping, I took some time to take a few photos of the ole homestead.

Until we got married and moved here, I never realized how much nicer our porch looks with flowers out front. It really makes our house look like a home. That said, I always have very little to do with the gardening--that's where Graham's a viking.

Last fall, right around Halloween, we took a trip to Menards--Mecca for the cheap homeowner--and I chose a few different spring and summer bulbs. Graham did some work out front, mostly with the lava rock and the edging, and he planted my bulbs. We got tulips and daffodils in April and May, and in June my irises finally bloomed.

Hello, gorgeous!

They were definitely worth the wait. They've since fallen off, but they were lovely while we had them.

This little bugger is called a lobelia (I think). I just love that color.

And check out that cute pot! I DIY'd it!! It was almost foolproof. It needs a few touch ups, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I think I'll give it a touch up at the end of the season since I've got some spray paint left over.

 This, my friends, is a begonia. And, believe it or not, it's gotten bigger and lovelier in the weeks since this was taken. When I was a kid, I didn't know what a begonia was, except that old ladies grew them. During our first year of marriage, this was one of the first flowers I planted in our window boxes on our balcony. I've always had a lot of luck with them, and they really do some good for your soul, doncha think?

When this rash of rainy weather passes, maybe I'll post some photos of our vegetable and herb garden. I'm really pleased with my perennial herbs and my basil plants are out of control. I'm seeing some pesto in my future!

Our Place, May 2011

It's been a while since I've done a post about our home and the improvements we've done to Casa de 1970. We're definitely overdue, and there's a lot of smallish things we've done that we're proud of, so I'm showin' 'em off.

See this vehicle? It's ours. Like, literally ours. We OWN this! 

Aaahh, what an awesome feeling.

 In October, we planted some spring bulbs out front. Last year we had some large pots and window boxes outside, but we both really like the idea of something that comes back each year. Since I was Angie the Pregosaur, I didn't really help with this project, but I'll say "we" just for the hell of it.

First, we started by extending and rearranging the stone border around the bushes. We extended the stones so that they went to the corners of the house instead of just smallish circles around the bushes. I really like this, because it makes the landscaping look a little more polished and less like someone threw some rocks around some bushes.

All we need is the white picket fence.

Next, we planted spring bulbs. Since I couldn't do much of the digging and planting, Graham let me pick the bulbs and decide on their placement.

I picked four types of flowers because I can't ever make a decision about anything. We alternated with red and purple tulips, which look and smell gorgeous.

We didn't have enough tulips to go completely across the front, so we put our tulips on the ends and placed daffodils right in front.

Call it an Easter miracle, but with the exception of the purple tulips which bloomed this past weekend, our red tulips and daffodils were all blooming and open on Easter morning. It was pretty terrific.

Behind the tulips and daffodils we planted purple irises. You can't see them yet, but they're starting to come up. Our neighbors on the corner have gorgeous irises, and I fell in love with them last year. These will come up later in the season, and I'm really excited to see how they're going to look.

While Graham has been doing much more work in the garden than me, I'm happy to say that this year I've been able to help out and work on some of the weeding and planting. Last year I had to opt out and let him do it all because of the risk of toxoplasmosis to me and Nanner. We weren't sure if any kitties had been using the garden as a litter box, so we chose to play it safe. This year, I've been slowly getting myself into the garden, and as the snow melted and the ground warmed, I was suuuuuuuuuper excited to see that my perennial herbs have returned!

Oregano on the left and chives on the right. I have some small sage plants growing behind them, too.

The old lady who lived here before we did loved to garden. Unfortunately, it got too much for her as she got older and she left her flowers and garden to their own devices. Last year we had peonies growing all over the place, small rose of sharon trees all over the yard, and lots of green leaves but only two daffodils. This year we broke open the ground in front of the garage and did some...redistributing.

We created a small raised bed in the back where we broke up some huge clusters of daffodils--like, seriously huge--and then planted some more tender bulbs in front of them. We'll have calla lilies growing here this summer!

My friend Amy yelled at me for uprooting daffodils in the spring because we likely shocked them. Not the best practice, but since we really didn't expect them to bloom this year given their condition, we figured it was okay. I should have taken photos.....you really can't imagine how many bulbs were growing in some of these clusters we uprooted. Some of the bulbs were so small and being choked out! This layout is much better and will give the daffodils a chance to reestablish themselves and actually grow and thrive.

This area will probably always be a work in progress. This side of our garage was a jungle when we moved in. There was a sick rose bush, peonies all over the place, and an infestation of day lilies. Add in some small and stubborn rose of sharon trees, weeds forever, and growth from the neighbors on the left, and we had a situation. Graham spent half of his spring break last year hacking away at the mess back there and trying to make sense of it. He replanted a ton of peonies that were growing where our vegetable garden was, and he broke up some huge clusters of peonies he found over here. He also cut back the rose bush and dug up a number of day lilies because they were taking over. It doesn't look like much now, but once everything blooms, this area is quite lovely.

See these down here? See that growth?

These are the peonies that Graham dug up last spring and transplanted over to this side of the garage. Like I mentioned above, he probably shocked them by digging them up in the spring, because they didn't bloom and just flopped over. However, it looks like nature is on our side because they're growing just the same and will be blooming this season.

So there you have it! Nature and flowers and springtime goodness. You're welcome.

New Windows!

A few weeks ago, we made a major purchase: windows. Not exactly the most exciting purchase a couple in their mid-to-late 20s can make, but definitely one that's going to pay off in the long run. They were delivered this morning and I was definitely impressed with the hard work the crew did, and with our great taste! I love the end result.

Naturally, I documented the event. Why? Because everything must be documented.

Busting out the front 3 windows in the living room. These were the worst--we couldn't find screens for them so we haven't been able to open the windows all summer. G-R-O-S-S.

Removing the two wooden posts that framed the picture window.

Equipment that could take off my fingers. Probably best I stay away.

One completed bedroom window! This was the first one finished.

The other bedroom window. Still a big hole in the wall.

Another hole in the house, this time without the wooden posts. The cross breeze coming through was great!

Ladder not included.

Basement window-to-be. These were steel framed windows that were original to the house and had the concrete foundation poured around them. They were a pain in the ass for them to rip out.

The finished product from the outside! I love the way they look, and the grids/window panes add a lot of character to the house.

So now, our bank account is a little depleted, but the house is officially worth more than it was this time a year ago. Cha-ching!

A switcheroo of sorts

First of all, the new mattress? Fabulous, absolutely fabulous. It's a miracle, really. When I wake up at least twice a night to use the bathroom, having a mattress that doesn't creak and squeak and wake the dead is awesome. I'll need to post pictures soon, because this sucker is high up off the floor. Worth it? Absolfrigginlutely.

No windows today because a storm broke out last night, right above our house, apparently. Window guy called at 7:00 on the nose to tell me it wouldn't be a good idea to have a crew out to take out all my windows and put new ones in their place. Really? You think? Our next goal is Thursday because it's supposed to rain buckets between now and then. Here's hoping Thursday is clear and sunny with a chance of windows.

Additionally, our water heater has been giving us a run for our money. When Chicago got a million drops of rain over a week ago, we were out of town. Unfortunately, the basement took on a decent amount of water--approximately 5 inches. How do we know? The damage to my bookcases is clear.

(Sad face.)

Bookcases can be built and replaced. What really scared the crap out of us was the water heater. The water rose high enough to put out the pilot light. We relit the pilot light, and an hour later it was out again. Try, try again? Sure. An hour later, pilot light was out. Craaaaaaap.

We called a trusted heating and cooling wizard, and twice they came out to look at it and tinker. I was fully prepared for a "Yer ghana need a-nudder water heater, ma'am," We even discussed the idea of going tankless--it's a long-term goal, but if long-term was sudden thrust into our laps, why not take the chance on it now and save the world a little bit at a time? Thankfully, we're not going to need a new tank. ::happy dance:: Heating and cooling guy came out today and replaced an eensy weensy part--no bigger than the plastic chunk on a thumb tack-- and BAM! Hot water! I tell ya, tonight's shower is gonna be epic. Epic!

Now, we're going to look into pricing some waterproofing options for our basement. We get seepage all. the. time., especially in the spring and summer when it rains like a mofo. And then we use the shop vac to clean it up and we'll mop the floor, and 2 weeks later we're at it again. Not exactly my idea of a good time. If we can afford it now/this summer, we'll get a huge monkey off our backs. Waterproofing the basement will save us time and energy, and we'll save a lot of money because we'll be able to put things down in our basement and not worry about them floating away or being ruined in a short while (excepting an epic flood situation involving an ark or kayak). On top of that, we'll be able to turn our basement into a livable space, ::gasp::!! The very idea of using my basement as a place to work out, get things done, and host parties is sublime.

So, that's where we are now. Pictures of things to come.

...And, we're back!

If only that hiatus had been brought to you by my sponsors, eh?

On Thursday, we got back from a week in upstate New York. Pictures will be posted soon, but it was GLORIOUS. It was a fabulous getaway and really helped put some things in perspective, especially when it came to my job.

The Adirondack region is just gorgeous--everywhere I looked I was blown away by the beauty of the mountains and trees. We went to Fort Ticondergoa, Mt. Defiance, Lake Champlain, Lake Placid, and Cooperstown--home of baseball!

While we were gone, Chicago got nearly 8 inches of rain. Our basement took on about 3 inches, maybe a little more. The water got high enough to put out the pilot light on the boiler and damage the thermal couple. When we got home we had to relight the pilot light, and the damn thing just wouldn't stay lit. So I called in a small favor from a friend of the family and he had some of his crew members come out to fix it. Ideally, that small repair is all that's needed, but there's a chance the whole heater is busted. If that happens, we'll know--we'll have no hot water again. Hopefully we can avoid that repair, though. I don't know if our hearts can take it!

Tonight we're also getting a new mattress! We ordered it about a month ago and it came in while we were gone. I'm so excited. We've been using Graham's mattress since our wedding, and that thing is older than dirt. It's creaky and uncomfortable. When we painted the bedroom and moved the mattress to the dining room, we both had springs in our back and we tossed and turned all night. Our little egg crate foam pad just isn't doing it anymore, so we broke down and got a new one. I'm so excited---for the first time in our marriage I'll be sleeping on a firm surface! Wahoo!

And tomorrow...oh boy....new windows! One of the first structural improvements we wanted to make on the house was to replace the old windows. During the winter we could feel the cold air blowing in and we covered the windows with plastic sheeting kits. One of the upstairs windows had a crack in it and we could hear and see the plastic sheeting blowing in and out with the wind. The other upstairs window was frozen and busted open--in the spring we had to hammer it shut!

New windows became an extreme priority once we found out I was pregnant. The upstairs is where the baby's room will be, and it's just too cold during the winter to put a child in there. Now the summer has been hot as hades, but hopefully with new windows we won't be losing the air conditioning up there.

This whole week and the weekend leading up to it has been a whirlwind, but it's a good whirlwind. We're finally getting some much-needed improvements taken care of, and by the end of the day tomorrow we'll have added some value to the house! Sure painting and minor fixes help, but if we were in a bind and needed to sell ASAP we'd at least get a little more than what we paid for the house now. And best of all? We'll be able to open the windows in the front room! Our current windows have storms in place of the screens, and during the spring we couldn't find the screens for the storm windows out front. Needless to say, some days it's been HOT in here.

Overall, these are good changes coming our way. I'm excited about what the coming months will bring us!

A Shortish Update

Why, hello there, friends!

It's been a while. It's not for lack of updates (and trust me, there are updates), but just a lack of time. There's been so much going on, both here and at work, that it leaves me little time to do anything fun and remotely theraputic.

Let's see....we went downstate last weekend for Mary's graduation. It was plenty of fun, though really short. There were a few hiccups during the weekend--mainly lost hotel reservations and changed dinner plans, but ultimately everything worked out fine. It was pretty great to see Mary graduate--again! I've attended her 8th grade, high school, and now her college graduations. (Graham and I have been together a loooooooooong time.)

Today, (right now!) we're getting an alarm system installed. I'm pretty stoked about it. I haven't felt completely safe since I was robbed in November, 2007 (6 weeks before our wedding, thankyouverymuch). For close to a year after that, I jumped at every little sound and creak. In our apartment building, everything made me wary. I looked side-eyed at my neighbors because I didn't know them and trust them. Even in our new neighborhood where it's much safer, I still don't feel totally safe. After the break-in, it really hit me how someone was WATCHING me. They knew who lived where and who left when and when they returned. It was scary. I never want to go through that again. Everytime we return home, the thought flashes through my mind--was the house safe? Is there someone inside? We were lucky once to just come home to a mess. I don't want to walk into my house and find someone there.

In early May, some people from the alarm company were coming around the 'hood with this new promotion, and we met with one of them and ultimately decided it wasn't a bad deal. We get the system and install for free, so long as we keep the sign in our yard. We still have to pay the monthly fee, but it's not expensive. In my opinion, our safety is worth it. We're in a safe neighborhood--we're surrounded by cops and firefighters for miles! But, when criminals and thugs get mad, they also want to get even, and they come after cop homes and neighborhoods. We already had the sign in our yard, so having the system just makes me feel that much better.

This week....well, we finally got our contracts at work. I'm debating what to do about mine. I've been actively seeking new employment, but because no one has any money and the state is holding budgets everywhere hostage, I've gotten few nibbles. I'm frustrated because it's not "me", but no one knows if the positions they've been hiring for will even be available come August.

I honestly don't know what to do. I'm going to try and negotiate a way out of one of my jobs. My current contract says, "3/5 computer teacher, webmaster, alumni director, public relations..." and probably something else I'm forgetting right now. It's a lot to take on, both next year and in general. I haven't been happy bouncing between two different jobs, and the level of stress that I've been under hasn't always seemed worth the paycheck.

I know there are some (family members included, unfortunately), who probably think I'm crazy for considering going down to part-time, or taking a salary cut, or even considering just quitting altogether. That being said, there are good reasons I'm considering each of those options. I haven't been happy at my job in months. I leave most days and I'm really upset and crying. The stresses that have been placed on me and the expectations have been pretty unrealistic. I don't think I've done a better or worse job than the woman who held this job before me--I've maintained, that's for sure. But to expect me to take a department to another level, all the while balancing two jobs (including teaching and lesson planning and all that other b.s.) isn't at all realistic. AND....I think it's fair to say I stepped into this job with little training, and initially that was fine. It's really been since December/January that my qualifications have been called into question, and the work I've done has been put under fire. I'm pretty sure getting a position on the Supreme Court would be easier! Sotomayor didn't have this much scrutiny, that's for sure.

To add to all this, the morale at work is low. Really low. I've only been there 3 years, but it's never been this bad. Even the "tenured" teachers (HA! Like there's such a thing as tenure!) are feeling a lot of pressure to perform and perform well. No one wants to help out anymore, and no one feels thanked or appreciated.

Personally, my own morale is in the toilet because of how I'm treated here each day. I complain to Graham about it, and sometimes my friends, but I can't keep complaining about it because that's just not me. That, and I don't want to be that person who always complains so no one takes them seriously anymore. But really, it's bad. My higher-ups are always yelling at me and putting me down. My colleagues are talking to me like they're poised to become my boss. One coworker barged into my office one day and said, "You need to do these thank you notes for me." Um, where was the please? Where was the, "Is now a good time?" And once I did get those notes done, I didn't get a thank you. Another one runs behind my back all the time to report on me to the boss. Any misstep I take, my boss knows about it before I do. Anything I say jokingly is taken the wrong way and sent to my boss, and suddenly I'm explaining myself.

My boss has really taken to speaking to me like a child. I don't think she knows it, and she'd probably deny it, too. For instance, a few weeks ago we held a shadow day, and a bunch of new kids were in the building walking around. Because I had developed the shadow program, I thought I'd be the one to take the kids around the building, explain the day to them, etc. Nope. All my boss said to me, was "Camera ::nodding slowly.....take pictures....::nod slowly::....smile....::nodding still" Seriously. She spoke to me slowly and like I was a child.

A few days later we had more kids in the building, and I was busy...oh shoot, what was I doing...oh yeah. TEACHING. And at the end of the day, "Ange, did you get pictures of those kids?"

Me: No.

Her: Why not?

Me: Um, I was teaching all day. Doing my job.

Seriously. What am I supposed to do? Leave a room full of kids unattended so I can go take photos of kids who aren't technically our students, then send them to a newspaper that won't print them? Or, should I do my job and get to the other junk later? Oy vey.

In staff meetings, I'm given 30 seconds to speak. I'm never given the floor--I need to take it away. When I do have the floor, I get talked over. Clearly, nothing I have to say is of value to anyone in that room, so why continue?

The best part is that I'm not an idiot. I make mistakes, but I'm not stupid. And I hear things. So everything that's said gets back to me (schools are perpetual junior highs, in case you were wondering). What can I do? Right now, nothing. Roll my eyes, grit my teeth, and pray for 3:00.

I know that financially, and even logically, it probably doesn't make sense to anyone why you'd take a paycut or quit your job before you have a new one. Hell, I've openly mocked people for doing just that. The thing is, I just can't put myself through another year of this. The stress this job has put me under has done hellish things to my body, and my mental state is starting to teeter. I've already written a resignation letter. Now it's just a matter of, "What do I do with it?"

So. I've got some things to consider. It's gonna be a long one, folks.

So much for my shortish update, eh?

Spring Planting

On Saturday, we planted.




We got our trays ready, and our seeds.



Graham doled out the fertilizer and got things ready, while I took pictures of the yard.



We planted tomatoes and herbs.



We planted all types of flowers.



We used everything we have, and we planted everything we wanted to plant.



We got a later start than we usually do, but I'm certain that we'll have some good growth soon.


I'm looking forward to using some fresh tomatoes and green beans from our garden. There's nothing quite like using vegetables that you've grown from seeds.



And, because it was time, we transplanted my college spider plant and some other plants that have outgrown their pots.


We can be truly productive when we feel like it!

Painting, From Start to Finish

I lied, because this is just the start, but whatevs.

Our fugly green bedroom is gone! I took some painting pictures, because I've learned from the best, and according to the best, "Everything must be documented."

Here's a snapshot of our awful green closet. Stan & Sophie painted everything this God-awful shade of green that strangely resembled vomit. I've been desperate to get rid of this crap color since the day our offer was accepted.

Two walls down! Yay! This was after a few hours. We were slow starters. Ironic, as I used to drive a short bus.

Graham was hard at work. By the end of the night, he had the trimming down pat.

I was in charge of cleaning the baseboards and trimming at the bottom. I got bored.

Coming up, the finished product!!

Anticipation

Clearly, I have issues.

Graham goes on intersession break in a few weeks, and last weekend after a stop at Lowe's, I couldn't resist. I've been desperate to paint our bedroom since before we moved in, and I couldn't take it anymore. I picked up a number of little paint cards and taped them to the wall. Why? Because I kind of know what color I want to see on the bedroom walls, but I'm a visual person, so it's better for me to see it on the walls.

When we were in Jacksonville last August for Brian & Robyn's wedding, I fell in love with the paint in the bathroom of the hair salon. The woman who did all our hair runs a studio out of her home, and she has a special entrance and bathroom for all her clients. I needed to wash my hands after eating, and I went into the bathroom and the paint color was a gorgeous blue-gray that I couldn't stop staring at. (Again, I have issues.)

Once we started packing and talking about moving, I kept that paint color in mind. It's been driving me bonkers looking at the neon green walls everyday, and I'm really looking forward to painting and finally putting our stamp on the house. I really want to be able to paint and hang pictures on the walls. I think it's a little dumb to hang pictures and then have to take them down because we have to paint.

Part of me is really looking forward to the painting in a few weeks, because I'll finally feel like I'm sleeping in my bedroom, not some old lady's room. The other part of me is wishing I'd pitched enough of a fit in December to at least have ripped out the carpet in our bedroom and the dining room, because that's going to suck a hell of a lot. Had I thrown a fit and gotten my way (or just done it on my own -- I had a sneaking suspicion that if I did it on my own, there was nothing that could be done about it once it was already done, right?) at least the carpets would be ripped up and we wouldn't have to move furniture around.

Oh well. What's done is done, and what's not done is not done. I'm still really looking forward to painting.

After taping the paint samples to the wall and seeing them in the photos, I've ruled out a few colors already. Graham hasn't really said one way or the other about paint. I keep asking, "Are you cool with this?" and he says he is, so I hope that holds true once the paint is up and on the walls! After more than 2 months of ugly green and old lady curtains, I'm not going to prime and paint again. I'm going to focus my attention elsewhere....on everything else that needs to get painted!

Another small improvement

This one, my friends, is my favorite improvement so far. This house was previously occupied by a 90-something year old woman who needed to take her shower sitting in a chair with a hose attached to the pipe...one of those "old people" shower heads. It was so securely attached to the pipe that we took showers for a few weeks with the "old people hose" and it was....interesting. After a trip to Menards to get some lightbulbs, brackets, and other odds and ends, we ended up with this little beauty:


It has an obnoxious number of settings, including a circular massage option and a steam/mist option that I absolutely love. What sold Graham is the "water pause" feature. You turn the head and it basically turns off the water for a few seconds so you can lather up or shampoo your head and save a little water while you're at it.

This is a small adjustment, and certainly isn't something that would increase value on our home, but it makes a world of difference for my nightly showers. I've never said, "Oh man!" so many times in the shower. ::wink:: And the water pressure this baby puts out? Ah. Mazing. It's truly wonderful

Our Home So Far

Moving and unpacking has been an adventure. We've managed to get the necessities taken care of. Right now we have a fully functional bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, living room, and laundry room. Our office is mostly functional. Graham managed to get everything hooked up, and while there are still boxes in that room, most of them are books, so once we get me some bookcases that room will look completely different.

Our guest bedroom is still a mess of boxes, though we don't have any guests and don't have any guest bedroom furniture, so it's not like we're way behind. Our basement isn't functional in the way we envision it to be, and we don't have any furniture down there right now. Someday we're hoping for a family room and welcoming, warm "party space", but right now it's just a few empty bookcases, a dresser that needs to be painted, and lots of liquor. And our dining room? Still a mess. Thankfully we don't have any dining room furniture. Any boxes we have that are still packed aren't really necessities. Most of them are things that will end up in the man cave once Graham really dedicates some time to that. But for the time being, here are a few photos of our new digs (taken because I had a snow day and decided to clean, thus deaming my home photo-worthy).

Our bathroom. We only have one right now, though our plan for the future is to add another upstairs or downstairs. The previous owner dedicated this "the yellow room" because everything...the tiles, the shower curtain, the window curtains, the fixtures...was yellow. As you can see, we've managed to change some of that, but it's still not "us" so a paint job/remodel is in our future.

My/our hopes and dreams for the bathroom include:

• Taking out the sink and adding a vanity with storage and drawers under the sink.
• Radient flooring
• Raising all the towel rods a few inches so we're not bending over to wash our hands and dry them (this is mostly for Graham's benefit, not mine).
• Replacing the toilet with a low-flow model.
• Replacing the light fixture with something a little less dated, a little more us, and very much less blinding.
• Repainting and re-tiling. Ultimately, I don't dislike the yellow, I'd just like to touch it up. It's sponge painted (poorly) and looks a little dingy. Painting over it with a lighter yellow (somewhere between dingy and Easter pastels) is an option. I'm also a fan of green, though if we chose green I'd like it to be a deep, invigorating color (though not so bright we're blinded and reminded of Kermit everytime we have to brush our teeth).

Here are some photos of our bedroom. It's barely smaller than our previous bedroom, and the closet is huuuuuuuuuuge. I had to move my vanity to the guest bedroom (sniff) because the arrangement of the windows meant that my vanity would block out some of the light. Someday if we rearrange the furniture, maybe there will be some room for it, or maybe it can make an appearance once we get a completely matching bedroom set. However, Graham gave me his vanity to use, and since this set originally belonged to a woman at the turn of the 19th century, I'm okay with it. Please ignore the pile of Graham's clothes on the bed. At least I did laundry, right?

Our/my plans and hopes and dreams for the bedroom are:

• Repainting this spring and replacing the bright green with something else.
• Ripping up the ugly green carpet.
• Getting new window treatments (putting in shades and replacing beige floral drapes with something else).
• Updating the ceiling fan (either a new fixture completely or just taking out the floral, decorative glass and getting something new).
• Maybe installing some crown mouldings.

For the bedroom, we're going to accomplish a lot of it this spring. Graham is off for a few weeks in March, and I've got a week off at the beginning of April, so painting and carpet-ripping will make a huge difference, and the rest of it are things I can do on my week off. I haven't actually asked, but I've got a feeling that Graham could care less about picking out drapes.

So....a few glimpses of our home. Once the Christmas tree comes down I'll post photos of our front room. It's a total mess right now, even though I cleaned and organized and everything today. Where does all this crap come from?

Big People Purchases

When we bought our house, we knew well in advance that the washing machine and dryer weren't staying. It was inconvienient, but we were also pretty pleased and excited because the machines were older, so we'd end up saving money in the long run by replacing them with newer models that wouldn't hike up our electric bill each month. We knew that we'd be looking for front-loading, energy efficient models, it was just a matter of picking out the ones we wanted.

Then, shortly after we closed on our home, we discovered that the fridge (which was also an older appliance) no longer worked. Sure, the light turned on when we plugged it in, and it was blowing air, but it never got cold. The fridge was easily 30 years old, so it was another energy-draining, bill-jacking appliance. We were already spending money on two appliances, so in the long run, what's one more?

Here's our fridge. It's nothing fancy or special. We were hoping for one that had a freezer on the bottom because they're slightly more efficient (thank goodness cold air sinks!), but because of the cabinets above the fridge, we couldn't go too high. All the bottom freezer models we saw were far too high for the space we have.

Color wasn't something that was important to us, so we could have ordered the black model and it would have come to us a few days later, or we could get the in-stock, white fridge the next day. Since we needed a fridge and white vs. black doesn't matter to my kitchen, we stuck with the white model. Our plan for the future (once we remodel my box o' tile kitchen) is to remove the cabinets above the fridge (I can't reach the damn things anyway), move this fridge to the basement, and replace this with a bottom freezer model.

Once we decided on a fridge (which, by the way, took entirely too long), it was time to pick out washing machines and dryers. I cannot tell you how excited I was for this. I hadn't used a decent washing machine since I moved out of my parents' home. I borrowed their machines and electricity during breaks in college, but the machines at Mac were just okay, and at least one was always broken or out for repairs. In our apartment, the machines were just "okay". Nothing special, and we were spending between $40 and $60 a year in quarters to do all our laundry. During the summer months we'd line dry our clothes and save a few dollars here and there, but it was still a big pain to haul our clothes downstairs, fumble with the machine, dig around for quarters, realize I'd forgotten them upstairs, mutter explatives all the way up and all the way back down, climb back up the stairs, set the timer for 18 minutes, go down to put in the fabric softener, go back up, wait 10-15 minutes, and finally scurry back down to retrieve our clothes before someone removed them from the machine and dumped them on the floor, college-style.

Here are our new, energy-efficient, eco-friendly, earth-massaging and loving clothes cleaning machines:

All three appliances were our second anniversary gift to one another. We weren't expecting the fridge, and it's our most expensive anniversary thus far, but these three gifts were well worth it! Sure, they've got fun settings and special settings for "delicate" clothes and "heavy duty" loads. Sure, the lint trap in the dryer is so clean and new I could serve dinner on it. Sure, they're eco-friendly with the front-loading options, etc. But, my favorite feature? No quarter slots. I can't tell you how gratifying it is to throw my dirty clothes in the wash and not have to fumble for 5 quarters. It's glorious! My friend Jess was probably more excited for this purchase than I was! We've talked for years about how wonderful it will be to do laundry for "free" in our own homes and not have to pay $1.25 per wash and per dry. And Jess, it's even more wonderful than we imagined. Wanna come visit and do laundry for free? I'll even let you press "start". :-)