Drapes live again! June 23, 2008

Sometimes home improvement projects at our house can turn into not so fun hours of cursing and a battle of Man Vs. Manmade.  So I always hesitate to ask Boom to undertake any home improvement project - and when I do ask, I am usually filled with dread and fear - and I always have my “Don’t worry, honey, we can get the handy man to do it” line ready to blurt out.  But our new handy man down here is not like our awesome handyman in RIC - he just isn’t as good, so it ends up taking a lot more time and thus costing more.

So that is why I asked Boom to put up a drapery rod I got in anticipation of our first “real” out of town (state, really!) visitor coming on Thursday.  (There is nothing better than someone coming to visit or throwing a party that will really spur me onto getting the house into order, or at least more order).  And this, our first home improvement project here in H-town, was relatively not too painful!  I was really proud of Boom and how well he did.

Prep stage - Boom always like to be prepared and plan out the task, almost a little too much, for my taste.  But that is why he always has all the tools he needs and if it were me, I’d have to make 5 trips to the garage for different items.

Nearly done!  Looks good - and not too many curses came out of his mouth.

Voila!  The finished project.  As a side note, Boom ordered the drapes from someplace like Pottery Barn about 10 years ago!  He used them in ATL when he lived there for a year, but then we just moved them around with us - they went from ATL, to Arlington, VA (3 different apts), then to C’ville then to RIC and now they are finally up again in H-town.  When we were in RIC, I wanted to cut them up to use them in craft projects - good thing Boom was smart enough to say, let’s wait until we get down to H-town.  I think they are just  stop gap drapes, but maybe I can line them and spruce them up… they literally are like new.

The Frenchie version of Ruby! June 21, 2008

AMAZING!  This looks just like little Ruby (a Boston Lab - Boston terrier / Labrador retriever mix) if she was born a Frenchie…  just missing are the back white toes…

Wish I had a better photo of her, but she is camera shy!

I guess this is why we have flood insurance June 20, 2008

Yesterday afternoon it rained harder than I have ever seen - a deluge!

The water was as tall as the curb - filling all of our street. I was starting to get a little worried after the power went out and I could see the water licking at the end of our drive way… but then, all of the sudden, all the water that had been in the street was all gone. Seemed like someone had turned on a pump or something, as the rain was still coming down, but it just seemed to be draining a lot better.

Because of all the rain we have been getting, some little mushrooms have been sprouting up in our backyard!

Seems odd to me, but whatever. and Yarb raised a good question yesterday - do mushrooms have any nutritional value? I would think that they do, but they are a fungi…

Anyway, they say we may get more of the same today. Not a big deal, no real consequences to the yesterday’s deluge, except our door mat got soaked and now smells like mildew (it is drying out in the backyard) and the toilets flushing sounds a little bit odd. Maybe just because there is more water in the system? Hopefully they will go back to normal after the rain goes away. At least it is not raining and dreary here - it is sunny sunny sunny, and if it rains, the sun will come back out once it stops.

Tingaling Homemaker June 20, 2008

I haven’t been crafting much - with the move and all, I’ve had my hands full. Anyway, whilst unpacking, I came across Marm’s old, ratty yoga mat she gave to me many years ago as I was just started up practicing yoga. I used it for some time, but soon started finding bits and pieces of the blue mat stuck to my hands and feet. I got a new mat, but never threw away the old one - the thought of it in a landfill made me feel too guilty and literally kept me chucking it. I kept thinking I could come up with a new use for the old mat - and volia…

I cut up the mat and added some scallops…

..and created a lovely and durable under garbage can mat! (Our simplehuman butterlyfly trashcan, that I love, really hacked up the floor beneath it in the Richmond house, so I knew I needed to either put felt pads on the bottom of it or come up with another solution.) I love it! I kept opening the door to our pantry (where this all lives) a few days ago after I had made it so I could see it and bask in its cuteness!

Since that only took about 1/4th or less of the mat, I used the rest of the mat to line the under part of the kitchen sink:

Not too shabby, and then I only had an tiny little strip to throw away - so no guilt there. I actually wish I had more old, no-longer-in-use yoga mats so I could line all the under parts of all my sinks. I don’t have anymore, but I do have EE looking to see if they have one hanging around.

As with crafting, my baking has taken a back seat. Now that everything is here, I have all the tools I need. And my hand was forced - for some reason this week Boom and I were not that good about eating up our bananas. So I had 5 old, soft bananas to deal with yesterday. I had one with peanut butter toast for breakfast, and that was when I decided I need to bake up the remaining 4.

I looked around on-line for a recipe, but I mainly like recipes that have a short list of ingredients and not too many steps to finish. All the ones I was finding were too fancy. So I turned to my lovely ART 180 cookbook and found a great recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins - easy and they were delish!

I did one batch with 1 c wheat flour and the rest white flour, and the other batch with 1/2 c wheat flour, 1/2 c spelt flour and the rest white flour. The cinnamon really added a lot to how yummy they tasted and I used dark chocolate mini chunks.

Get the adorable cookbook and you too can have the delicious recipe! And you’ll be helping to support a wonderful organization.

Yarb can attest to how yummy the muffins are - she had one yesterday after lunch and then I sent her back to work with 5 others. By this morning they were all gone! I hope that Josephine was able to get one, before she gobbled them all up - I know in their house it is very cutthroat for any sweets that might be around.

Good to see that my economics degree from arguably the best public university in the country is getting put to good use

Rockin’ Rock Band and good friends June 19, 2008

For our last night in Richmond, we went over to our great friends house for dinner and to just hang out. M and Boom used to work together, and started at the same time after b-school - so we had all moved to RIC at the same time and lived just a few blocks away. K is such a great gal - she has an awesome sense of style (I always take notes when I see her!) and just is funny and a lot of fun to be around. She also is able to entertain in a casual, I’m-not-trying-too-hard kind of way that I am envious of.

Their 2 bambinos are adorable. G-man and Ollie - M and Boom were actually out of town together on a business trip when she went into labor with Ollie, so I was the one who drove her to the hospital! I remember being totally worried and freaked out, and looking over at K, she looked so calm and pulled together.

Here are the guys. “We are NOT twins!” - G-man. Clearly Ollie looks like K and G-man looks like M.

After dindin, we rocked it out playing Rock Band. So fun!

K only sings, and I am best on guitar. Drums is super hard. I did try singing once - wasn’t very pretty, but I managed to get through.

It was apropos that we spent our last night with them. Since we all moved here at the same time - and we actually spent our first 4th of July in Richmond with them as well!

Speaking of good taste…

I was so pleased to see my hostess gift of a silkscreen of The Fan was hanging up in their kitchen! I really am honored that K put it up, since she is rather particular about stuff like that.

Couple friends, where both hubby and wife get along with other hubby and wife, are hard to come by. So I am really sad that we left K & M - for many more reasons than just we got along great as couples.

K was one of my closest friends in RIC, not that we were on the phone constantly with each other, but that I knew I could tell her anything and depend on her if I needed anything. She was really great during the tragedy and really helped me get through it, and over it (as much as you can get over something like that).  and she sometimes surprised me with how much she got about me - like this move to H-town… one of the added benefits of moving was that people wouldn’t know about the tragedy and I wouldn’t have to wonder if they knew or what they knew of it.  Not that was a driving factor at all, but K got that it would be nice to kinda start over in that sense.  and it was something that I thought only Boom and I had considered.

Anyway, I digress… Rock Band was so fun and we totally miss M & K!

Wow June 19, 2008

After a perfectly not-so-great-day (I only got 4 hours of sleep and cried about 5 - 7 times, long boring story - not all had to do with designer), I got this in the mail from my great friend Gentz:

So thoughtful! and kind and totally unnecessary! It really made me feel better - to remember my friends back in Richmond and to know that I am remembered as well!

Good friends are hard to come by. I am hoping that I can keep in good touch with those back in Richmond whilst having enough energy to make new ones here in H-town.

Scenes from unpacking June 19, 2008

I had the brainiac idea to paper our floors before the movers came.  It actually was a good idea, but took a really long time (esp. the stairs!  We did each stair individually!) - in the end it was well worth it.  I think our floors would have been a lot more hacked up otherwise.  I did start to complain at one point the night we were papering, and Boom reminded me that it was my ideal to do this.  Hrump.

Here the house is - all papered and ready for stuff!

Here’s Marmie - all ready to check numbers off boxes!  She and dad were so sweet to come down and help unpack and get organized.

Of course it had to rain on moving day.  A little reprieve from the heat (can you see the steam rising from the driveway?!) - and break from moving.  It stopped after about an hour or less, and then back to the grind.

Boxes everywhere!  Good thing there is a lot of space!

Mom working hard - busy little bees, we were.  We got the kitchen in good shape before moving onto the living room, bedrooms and craft room.

With all those boxes came a lot of packing paper and cardboard.  The movers took a lot of that stuff - but since they did not do a full unpack (like planned - they weren’t done moving in the boxes until around 7pm, and they were the same folks that were supposed to unpack.  No way they were getting it done before midnight.  and I was super tired of having strangers in my house.  I think the moving company should have sent other people to unpack while they unloaded the boxes.  Oh well - at least Marm and Dad stayed for 6 days to help with all that!) there was a lot left for us to deal with.

Here is some of the boxes and paper we had to contend with.  We decided to break down all the boxes and smooth out all the paper, so that Boom & I can put it out for recycling.  Not all at once (there is way too much!), but bit by bit get it out there.

My cutie patootie parents!  They are really such good sports.

I thought the supply of paper and boxes was never ending.  It was a daunting task, but the 3/4 (Boom was also unpacking stuff in the garage / putting together the plastic shelving to organize the stuff in the garage) of us made it go by pretty quickly.  Nearly done…

Yay!  That is the last of it (kinda).  We have more boxes and paper that I need to break down and flatten out.  We took a good load to the curb today (recycling is on Wed) but have a ton left.  A few more weeks and we’ll have our garage back.  (Aren’t Dad’s shorts a hoot?!  All the neighborhood men had a pair and wore them with tux tops and jackets for the Beach Boys concerts!  Too funny!  I love that my parents go out a bunch and have a good time with their friends still!)

And here is the lovely chandy - all cleaned and ready to be hung.  Marm and I cleaned every little nook and crannie, quite literally.  We had Q-Tips that we were using to get into the really tight spots.  It was so clean and sparkly!

Here are my folks - right before they left H-town.  Their trip down was great, not just because they were a huge help to Boom and I, but all 6 of us got together for dinner nearly every night!  And Yarbs would come over during her lunch break (she literally works about 5 mins away from me).

The handy man came over earlier this week to put up the chandy in the dining room.  Starting to feel a bit more like home…

The most expensive kitchen table ever June 18, 2008

Well, not the most expensive, but pretty close, I have to think. And it is in my house (ha!) - but not for long… an 18th century walnut table from a church - so beautiful (but really too long for my space and much, much too much!).

I must have gone a little crazy / delirious - but I attribute it to not knowing what I am doing at all. And to a designer with very high end taste. Impeccable taste, really, but much too varsity for us right now at this stage in our lives.

So it is going back to her - also the bench (she just had them sent over to see if they fit the space). I really love the bench, but I think that it would be better in a long hallway - not behind a table. Not practical at all, especially if we have little munchkins in the near future. Also a French antique, so definitely not cheap.

All this decorating business has got me wound up. I woke up today at 2am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I realized that we had to return the bench (the table was never really an option) as well, ’cause - like in poker - it upped the ante for all the other furniture that will ever been in the room. And I was hoping to get most of the kitchen completed for what the bench alone costs. And I never wanted a house full of one-of-a-kind 18th century pieces.

Not sure my current designer is the right person for me right now. She is great - has a great aesthetic, but 1) that makes it very cost prohibitive and 2) most things are not all that practical. Sigh. Should be fun having this conversation today.

Update: When I called the designer to tell her that I sent the bench back as well, she got it.  and understood that we were not on the same page.  So, I wasn’t able to tell her in person like I wanted to, but at least it was relatively not too painful.  But I still kinda feel bad.  So I wrote her a little note and mailed it to her with her tape measure (that she had left at my house) and all fabric swatches we got out yesterday.  Wow, only in H-town less than a month and already making enemies - I guess that is how I roll.

Farewell, Richmond House June 17, 2008

Some scenes from packing / moving week:

The first large purchase I ever made as a married woman - we had no where to sit in our dining room, but I came home with the largest chandelier I have ever seen. Boom, to his credit, loved the chandy, but was wondering when we’d get furniture. All crated up…

And here is the crating man (how would you like to be know as that?!) padding all the large crystals - and then the crate is packed full of paper for the ride down.

Boxes boxes everywhere!  No space - anywhere!  And we didn’t have any hot water the whole time we were back in the house - since we have no more oil in our tank, and don’t feel like outlaying $400+ to fill it when we aren’t even there.  (and most all of our toiletries were packed up - so no soap for the last day that we were in the house).

Our teeny little couch - legless, getting all wrapped up for the trip down.  I felt like he was making a cocoon around the couch!  We really didn’t have much upholstered furniture in the RIC house.  Not a bad thing, but that means we need a lot for this new house!

There was a whole lot of drama with the moving van, as they didn’t put up “No Parking” signs (even though I called and emailed them days before the actual moving out of boxes and stuff).  Highly irritating, but we worked it out.  The cab had to be unattached and parked across the street.  Boom and I - we are over all the moving!  and likely kinda sweaty and dirty ;-)  Just call me pig pen…

So this is what they had to do to my bathroom wall to get into the wall to ascertain the damage - can you see why I cried?  and the toilet had to hand out in the shower for a while - very odd.

And here is the culprit - an 8-foot metal tube that had a huge crack nearly the entire length.  Evidently someone let the pipe freeze - way before we were ever the owners - and a tiny crack just got bigger and bigger.  and then we got to deal with it.  Fun times.

It was actually very sad to leave the house - the first house we ever bought!  and we were newlyweds in it and did a lot of growing up.  So a change of scenery is good, but always sad to leave the past behind.  We hope someone(s) will come and fall in love with it and be good owners.  It was a great first house and we want someone else to get to experience what we did in it (with an updated kitchen and custom built-ins!).

Beating Them Off with a Bat June 10, 2008

The trip to San Diego was great! That Thursday, Cubs and I were the only ones that came in early, so we met at the car rental place (which was off site and really far away! I was convinced it was in a different zip code) and got our brand new Suzuki SUV - kind of a random car, but better than a 15-passenger van, which is what they tried to give us at first.

Here’s our odometer reading only 6 miles!

We went into Little Italy for a snack pre-dinner / going out. Got a yummy cheese plate. Luckily for me Cubby had done some leg work before the trip. She had even gotten a book - and little did we know what we were getting ourselves into with the “Trendy Bars and Hip Single Scene”.

After freshening up, we went into the Gas Lamp district - started out at the rooftop bar at the W hotel that had actual sand. Too bad we increased the population at the bar by a third - it was also very windy and cold! So we only stayed there for a couple drinks.

We headed to where we ate dinner at the bar. Well, my dinner was the same as our snack - a cheese plate. Sometimes it is not so fun being a veggie. But the bar was cool - kinda deserted, but it was a little early for a Thursday night. By the time we finished dinner, there was a little scene developing. There was a DJ spinning, and lots of gals in short dresses or shorts. We started noticing a trend - that most of the folks there were Latin and the DJ was spinning dance music in Spanish!

I wish I had taken some snaps - they would have shown the men that were clamoring to meet Cubby! She needed one of those deli line number hander outers!  If they weren’t trying to talk to her, they were winking at her from a few feet away. It was great - and there was lots of cologne going on. One business card that Cubby got was from a guy who wanted us to come to his hotel pool the next day! HA!

When we decided this was not exactly our scene, we headed off to another bar - The Bitter End - which was the exact opposite of Confidential - much more fratty and mostly all home slice dudes. Still, the guys were all about Cubby - and who could blame them?! She is so cute and looked awesome in her DVF sting ray dress - love it! There were guys at this bar telling me that my friend was very attractive (duh) and begging her to dance! Finally, I convinced her to dance with one of the poor chaps - I am sure he was in hog heaven!

When this was all going down, a little guy was talking to me. Blah blah blah, whatever whatever whatever. But the great fun was that I had him convinced I was a 2006 college grad!!! That was a definite high light of the night - and he didn’t even blink an eyelash! So silly since I don’t even think I look like I am 23 or 24 - hopefully I can still pass for late 20’s but def not early 20’s.

We stayed until last call - around 1:30am west coast time, but that was 430 for Cubs and 330 for me. We were beat.

Here we are at the beginning of the night…

Here we are at the end of the night. Not too much worse for the wear, just really tired…

Fun times!  More SD updates later…