I’ve crossed off several more items from my to-do list. After two weekends and multiple nights after work, my household is finally coming to order. I sanded and stained my outdoor wooden patio table (pictured right); stained the wood behind my outdoor lights connected to my house; finished spray painting two outdoor chairs; downloaded pictures I took in May onto my computer and sent them to friends; bought patio chairs for around the table and an outdoor umbrella; and started my wedding website. Pure satisfaction! Who needs a handyman or a personal assistant? Not me. Who needs a break and a masseuse? Me. ☺ Continue reading ‘Check!’
Archive for July, 2008
So, I’m planning my re-wedding. Yes, I’m getting married twice to the same guy, and no, there wasn’t any kind of confusion of sexual orientation that annulled the first wedding, in case you were wondering. Nope, my first wedding was of the shotgun variety, sans baby — we had immigration hoops to jump through so my husband could escape the captivity of our rental home and enter the American work force, which required us to get married in a hasty fashion. Continue reading ‘Going to the chapel, and I’m gonna get married…again…’
A popular topic of conversation here in the Blue House is our pets. Not only do we talk about them, we blog about them. You’ve seen Conor’s and Mandy’s new puppies on this site, and Brittany’s dog, Buddy, taking over her new patio.
I have a dog, too, but she’s not very playful. At the age of 15, my beloved Cocker Spaniel mix Penny, rescued from the humane society as a puppy, spends her days eating and sleeping (that’s her picture, taken 13 years ago). The arthritis in her back legs prevents her from bounding up the deck steps these days, so she needs assistance when she goes out to do her business. She generally moves very slowly, but there’s still a strong wag in her tail and a shine in her eyes.
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but I now know an old dog remembers old tricks. Continue reading ‘Old dog remembers old tricks’
You know the answer to this, right? Hint: it isn’t good intentions … it’s gravel. Well, I have rid my home of its demons. Last week, I had my driveway replaced with concrete. I must admit I was nervous at first. The permanence of the concrete sort of freaked me out. But when it was complete … I was in love. A few days after completion, the gray concrete turned into a heavenly snow-white. It just makes everything look clean, and clean is good.
Now that our driveway is paved, I’m moving on with my obsessions (I promise). Continue reading ‘The road to hell is paved with …’
The world can be a scary place. You don’t have to go looking very far in the newspaper to find out about the latest toxin, plague, or general crisis that’s going to keep you up with night terrors for a few days. (Worse still is if you hear about it on TV — c’mon, how many times have you heard the anchor intone “Is there a poison in your home that could be killing you RIGHT NOW? Check out our report at 11!” And you just want to yell, “11? I might be DEAD by then! Feed me information!”) And if you work IN the media business, you hear about it pretty much nonstop. Mold in the basement. Lead in toys or your home’s paint. Horrible side effects from children’s cold medicine.
And of course, this all multiplies exponentially if you’re a parent. Continue reading ‘Knowledge is power’
My chief goal this summer was to rip out my unsightly, peeling and warped deck, and replace it with a paver brick patio. Working at Angie’s List, I’ve learned a lot while interviewing home-improvement specialists for our magazine’s Comparative Shopper column and other stories. Advice on how to improve my home’s resale value always gets my attention. So, that said, I knew replacing the deck with a patio that not only looks lovely but is also maintenance free was the way to go.
My husband, however, chalked the idea up to a womanly impulse to spend our hard-earned money and nearly chickened out at the last minute. He hated the deck, but he said, “I can build a new one… installing a patio can’t be that difficult, I can do it myself.” Now, that’s a manly impulse. Continue reading ‘The battle of man vs. wife’
And I know I’m not the only one to feel like that. I think it’s funny though, how some things seem to be a waste of time (like cleaning the house — I mean, it’s just going to get dirty again) while others seem to go by in the blink of an eye (like your wedding day).
I experienced one of those “not lasting long enough” moments this past weekend when my son celebrated his first birthday. Continue reading ‘Sometimes, there’s no time’
I don’t know about your job, but I love mine. The people are great, the job is demanding and rewarding, and the atmosphere is unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else.
Our recent Soapbox Derby (click here to watch the video) is a great example of this unique atmosphere. It’s an annual event at the List, and we’ve blogged about it before. It’s a great event filled with food:
Ever since I was hit by a car while delivering newspapers when I was 10 years old, I’ve been very mindful of my teeth. The car struck the back wheel of my Daisy Dirtbike, which launched me into the air. I ended up landing on my left knee and chin, breaking two of my newly formed front teeth. Countless dentist visits later, I had shiny new porcelain chompers (that I’ve broken out a few more times since, but those are stories for another time … ) Continue reading ‘I have a what?’
