Sunday, November 28, 2010

So Thankfull

So we've been home for two hours, I'm huddled under a blanket in front of the fire, I can't feel my fingers or my nose.  We turned the heat way down while we were gone this weekend.  But I am thankfull that there is a fire in the fireplace and oil in the furnace.  We had a great (hetic five days) and I am thankful that I have a new job to fund some presents for the upcoming holiday which counts the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday.  We are thankful for our friends and family who welcome the three of us with open arms.  I hope everyone's holiday weekend was as blessed as our was!

The new job is cramping my at home projects and reporting them to you, I'm sure as I get settled at work I'll be doing more around the house!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Leftover Solution

Remember the cupcakes I made for Halloween?  Well I only used about half the container of cream and I hate to waste food.  I saw Ina make this caramel sauce as I was flipping around one afternoon between her and Sarah's House (who I love) and it looked easy enough.
I followed this recipe which incidentally I had the exact amount of cream needed! I'm pretty sure I let the sugar get a little to dark before adding the cream.  The only thing Ina forgets to mention in this recipe is to use a pot twice as big as you think you will need.  This baby bubbles violently!

This was a jar that I found in the house and purchased the rubber ring for, but you can just as easily use tupperware.  This will keep in the fridge for months, or give it to someone!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Painting Aventure: Progress

I'm making progress in our bedroom, but not as quickly as I had hoped.
Problem 1: Two different types of ceiling paint and trying to make the open can last.  First was that I left some holidays trying to stretch the open can, then I had to go back and touch up with the different paint. EPIC FAIL. Which I am ignoring for now.
Problem 2: The glazing putty on the window panes is dry and cracking off, this leads to condensation which leads to mildew that had to be scrubbed off before the windows could be primed.
Problem 3: Distraction! Tim came over to help with the tree, minus at least 1 hour catching up.
Problem 4: Painting until 10pm = Bruce making mac & cheese after getting home from class and we sleep in the guest room.
Ready-To-Go for the actual paint!

Friday, November 12, 2010

It Has Begun

Before I start working next week, I'm determined to get our bedroom painted. Currently the walls are . . . dirty.
We get great natural light, eventually I think that these curtains will go in the guest room, but it's pretty essential to have these thermal curtains on the windows. 
I'll start with the ceiling and the walls.  Then replace this dresser, with the yellow one in the next photo.
 
 I'll replace the yellow dresser and the plastic drawers with a low long dresser and a mirror, the plastic hamper doesn't live in our room, it's a leftover from folding the laundry.
Stay Tuned.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

It's Very Important

To be prepared for hibernation.
Fuzzy Slippers - Check
Cheerful Socks - Check
Leggings to fit under Boots - Check

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Un-Halloween

I spent some time this past weekend taking down our Halloween decorations.  All three of them.  The cute little sign on the kitchen door was replaced with the "Fall" wreath from the front door.  The jack-o-lantern candy bucket was emptied, then it was time to figure out what to do with the skull decor.  I removed the skulls (carefully as the leaves have gotten crispy!) and was left with this.

Cute but a big hole in the middle where you could see straight through to the bottom.  So I spun it around.  Problem solved very, very easily!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Getting Ready: Worms!

Before the giant tree came down in our backyard, I was really disappointed about the FAIL that our garden got. But now that the light blocker is gone the garden will stay and it is definitely going to need some compost to get it going in the spring.  I've decided to try vermiculture, composting with worms, in bins, in the basement.  Pretty much everyone I've told thinks it will smell, I'm pretty sure it won't.  I took a class at UMass Amherst with John Gerber, and many people were composting in their dorm rooms or apartments with worms, with no smell.  We shall see.  I'm following some build-your-own instructions I found here. However, I couldn't find the right size bins that weren't clear. So I grabbed some for-plastic spray paint and went to work.
I've ordered the worms, based on the research I did, this seems like the best option. And I've been collecting food for them for about ten days so that there would be good, squishy food when they get here.
I'm using the glass jar to collect kitchen scraps, the plastic bin will live in the basement as a receptacle when the kitchen jar is full. The plastic bottle is a fruit fly trap, just in case and it will live in the basement with the worms!

Side note: the for-plastic spray paint was awesome, I'm thinking of customizing our decoration storage boxes with corresponding holiday colors. Someday.

Monday, November 8, 2010

What!!!

I just bumped this week's posts back a day. For this: I woke up to a sound, it was familiar and unwelcome. My first though was No which continued with nowaynowaynoway as I vaulted out of bed, over Kenny puppy and to the window to see:

That's right, today the eighth of November it is snowing.  The storm windows aren't on the house, I'm not sure where the shovels are, and I'm pretty sure that my snow brush for my car is somewhere in the garage.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Repair cont.

I have no photos, I'm to frustrated for photos. I overslept Thursday then spent hours out sourcing materials and driving all over looking for less than a gallon of Linseed Oil. When it got down to attempting to cut the glass to the appropriate size, it is not as easy as one would hope.  The first attempt was a giant FAIL, which eventually resulted in McGuiver~ing some tools and almost getting the second sheet cut correctly.

After FAIL #2 I gave up and binged on HGTV until Bruce got home, at which time we assessed the issues of the tools together and I in frustrated tears demanded that he make me a tool which would fit my needs.  He laughed lovingly at my frustrated tears and we headed to Home Depot. 

Currently he's cutting the tree in the backyard into little pieces and I'm cleaning up the house.  Maybe I need a day off from glass cutting anyways.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Repair: Storm Window

Changing of the seasons means going back and fixing your mistakes.  Like trying to use brute force to remove the storm window from our bedroom.  Because our windows are original, they have glass storm windows that every spring need to be taken down to put up the screens.  And because they are very old some of the glazing putty (that holds the glass in the frame) is dryed out and falling out.  So when I slammed the bottom of the frame with my fist to dislodge it from the window, the glass twisted along the one side that was still secure in the frame and shattered.
In both panes.
This is the frame, old putty and glazing tacks removed, with some of the paint cleaned up.  I'm following some instructions from Ace Hardware.  Hint, if you take a look at these instructions, a hairdryer works well if you (are normal DIYer) don't have a heat gun.