Kaylee approves

We rearranged the living room (twice) this weekend, and Kaylee semi-approves of her couch's new location. She preferred it in front of the front window, but being able to be at eye level with the bird is OK, too.

A typical Saturday night at our house

Homes

When I was in Youngstown for family stuff, I took a drive or two to look at the places I used to live.

This house on Burkey Rd. is the first place I remember living.

We lived in an apartment before this, but I was a baby. I know where the apartment complex is (just up the street), but I couldn't remember which one my mom had pointed out to me, so I didn't take a picture.

This is my grandparent's house on Rhoda as it looks now. I never technically lived there, but it's always been my home.

This, however, is how I remember it.

A big pine tree in the corner. There were big pine bushes along the front, too, but with the tree, it's big enough. The window on the left is the room to the red room. It had red gingham curtains, and I loved to sleep in there when I visited.

This is the kitchen, where I spent a lot of my time.

I have no idea what I was presenting with Grandma in the breakfast nook. Whatever that is on the breakfast table? By the length of my hair, this was taken when I was in college.

This house is on Edenridge in the Youngstown suburb of Boardman.

We moved there when I was in kindergarten, I think. My brother Chris and I built a rather ramshackle treehouse in a giant tree out back.

We moved here, to a duplex on Meadowbrook, when my parents got divorced, when I was in third or fourth grade.

We lived in the one on the left. There was a big tree in the back that made so much shade that the ground was covered with moss, not grass. I spent a lot of time playing back there.

When I was in middle school, we moved to another house where my mom and stepdad still live. I didn't take a picture since I figured they didn't want any sightseers. :)

Kitchen corners

You got to see a tiny bit of the kitchen yesterday when you saw Kaylee doing her impression of a Jack-in-the-Box, and I thought you might like to see a little more.

This is the little corner near the back door.

That's a vintage apron there on top, with some ones made by me under that. Then there's the dog leashes. Yes, Cordy's is the "I love snow" one. :)

And here's the shelves over the sink.

Now that Jeff has his tiki bar, I have my kitchen back for showing off my thrift store finds. This is just a few of the things I have. Maybe more photos another time, if you're interested.

Last of the fall flowers

I cut the last of the fall flowers today. The dahlias (the yellow ones in the photo) finally have bloomed. Good thing it's been a hot fall.

The red ones are pumpkin peppers, an ornamental pepper. Jeff spotted them in a bouquet at Trader Joe's last year, and then we found seeds. They're red rather than orange, but still pretty.

I made a big dinner tonight, first in a long time. Roasted chicken for Jeff on the grill (which was easy - whole chickens were on sale), grilled potatoes, sauteed greens, salad, and portabello mushrooms with cheese for me. Cinnamon chocolate cake for dessert. Yum. We even ate it at the gateleg dining room table. With Pure Evil Chardonnay. A nice meal.

Another week, another post

It's been another one of those weeks where I've been very busy, but I couldn't possibly tell you what I was doing all that time.

Oh well. Today, at least, in addition to these apple cranberry walnut bran muffins, I've made inari, marinated tofu to make roasted tofu later tonight, packaged up last night's chipotle mac & cheese in individual frozen servings for future lunches, dropped off donations to the animal shelter, sold some books and DVDs to Half Price Books, got some new trousers and a pair of shoes, picked up dog food, and I'm still working on the laundry. And I still have to figure out what to make for dinner.

Oh, and I also signed up for a beginning knitting class at the Yarn Shop, and a couple classes at Wholly Craft. But those aren't until November.

Yeah, the whole week has pretty much been like that.

The side effects of shopping for furniture

The downside to shopping for furniture in antique shops is that there's lots of other fun stuff to look at. And buy.

Like this very cute hippo, who now sits on the windowsill above the kitchen sink.

And Jeff found a good number of tikis, almost all of them vintage.

The little ones are a salt and pepper set from the old Kahiki.

That skull is also from the Kahiki. That's what kamakazis came in. And he found this wonderful candy tin, too:

How could he not buy a tin for a candy named "Zombies"?! I may try to come up with some sort of my version of it when I make candy this year.

As you can see, I was pretty good. Not that I didn't want anything, but I stayed focused on the furniture. With Jeff's tiki stuff, you have to buy it when you see it!

Even more furniture

We finally found the rest of the furniture. After a day spent traipsing through antique stores, we now have a sideboard:

I suppose many people will be appalled, but it was a much taller buffet, and we cut the legs off to make it fit under the window. We'll probably repaint it at some point, too.

We also found an old pie safe for storage.

It also needs to be repainted. And it would be nice if we could get the paint off the tin in the doors, too.

We also picked up a new gateleg table. Jeff really liked it. (And after all that looking, in one antique mall, we found at least six of them. :) It's bigger than the blue one, and it has a leaf, too. I'd say it can easily seat six when fully extended.

Some more new furniture

We hit another couple antique stores today, and found a little credenza for very cheap.

We need to tighten up the hinges to fix the doors. Other than that, the wear is just character. :) It'll probably end up being a side table for Jeff's chair.

We've also been looking for small gateleg table for quite a while now. We found one close to the size we wanted at the same antique store.

It's beat up, but it was cheap, and we'll have it covered with a table cloth for company. It takes up very little space when completely folded up, which is exactly what we were looking for.

Just two more pieces to go now. The biggest two. We're going out looking next weekend.

Bad dog! Or why we're getting new furniture

Amazingly, this story is not about Kaylee.

Those of you who know Cordy know that she's smart. And mostly, that's a good thing.

For those of you who don't know Cordy, she's a chow-chow German shepherd mix, and she's sharper than a box of tacks. She learns commands/tricks so fast that it's hard to keep up. My good guess would be that she knows 50-60 words/commands, and we could probably teach her as many more as we could come up with.

Sometimes, though, it's not a good thing that Cordy is so smart. Because that means she gets bored. And then she decides to check out the drawers and cupboards within her reach. And destroy stuff.

And when that gets dull, she decides to explore the liquor cabinet. I kid you not. She gnawed the top off a bottle of booze and it was empty when I came home to a very happy dog.

So she gets crated. And she hates that. So she gives herself a lick granuloma, basically a self-imposed open sore. Nasty.

We're an open storage house. We use baskets and such to store stuff. But not now. We went to the vet's and Cordy is now on amitriptyline to give her a chance to let whatever is bothering her to subside. We're also trying a new arthritis medicine to see if pain is the problem causing her misbehavior (she can't have most NSAIDs, so her arthritis is a continuing issue).

So. New storage as part of the behavior modification program. With drawers. And doors. And proper cupboards. And latches.

We bought our first piece today from SoBo - an enamel-topped kitchen cupboard for Spike's cage in the living room. It's white now, but we'll probably paint it in the not too distant future. We're still looking for three more pieces, and we have some ideas, but we're not rushing.

Sigh.

Silly dog.

Walking those pounds away

Ever since college, I've been slowly adding on the pounds working desk jobs. Well, I'm tired of it. So I traded a coworker for her unused treadmill and had Jeff build me a laptop stand for it.

For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, here's a close up of the stand.

I had been considering doing this for a while, but couldn't find a treadmill to buy for a reasonable price. Mom did it to her treadmill right before I got mine.

I walked for 45 minutes today while I watched a DVD on my laptop. Not a bad start!

Garden update

The garden is growing apace. I've gotten several compliments on it from random people walking down the alley, so that's nice.

The weather's been hotter than usual for this time of year, and it hasn't rained for over a week - also not usual for this time of year. I try to water no less than every three days. We might get some rain today, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

As you can see from the photos, the tomatoes and tomatillos are making their appearance a little early this year. I don't usually get these guys until the first week in July. But these are different varieties than I've grown in the past, so that probably has something to do with it, too.

I saw a ruby-throated hummingbird while I was planting the cucumbers seeds early this morning. Since I was covered with dirt, I didn't have my camera, but the little guy was beautiful! And he didn't seem to mind me at all. Just zipped around drinking from the flowers while I watched.

Ah, summertime ...

New sheets, hanging on the line.

(I think I'll get more of these and make curtains for the kitchen. :)

I like to cook

I know that will come as no surprise to many of you, but it was thrown into sharp relief for me this past week when we couldn't use our kitchen sink. Our drain pipe, you see, had rusted through, and it took a week to get it fixed.

You'd be surprised at how often on the average day you use your kitchen sink, especially if you cook. Today, every time you use the sink, just think about it. I couldn't do much cooking, let alone anything else.

I'm planning on making up for it this week. :)

Since I'd done my shopping before we discovered, the leak, I still have lots of food from last week's shopping. The photo above is the entirety of this week's market trip.

I also picked up some radishes, strawberries, and grape tomatoes at the Clintonville Farmers Market on Saturday. It's the first time I've been, though it's quite close. It was nice, but it'll be a little better in a few weeks. Lots of bakers, strangely enough. Just four or five truck farmers, but it's a little early in the season for most locally grown produce.

I'll try to blog if I make anything good this week. Maybe even put up my super-simple gazpacho recipe.

Garden update

I'd intended to post a few times over the long weekend, but I was just too busy. I worked my butt off all weekend, but at least we accomplished a lot.

One of the main accomplishments was getting the garden almost completely filled in.

All we have let to plant is cucumbers, but they can't go in until it gets a little consistently warmer. The spinach is about to bolt, so I'll have to figure out what to put in its place. The cilantro is ready to bolt, too, from all the unseasonably hot days we've been having (though we've only put the air conditioning on today for the first time).

The tomatoes and and peppers, on the other hand, are quite happy.

I shouldn't have seen a pepper for at least another month, but this one seems good!

Jeff's trying potatoes again, though a different method this time. They also are doing very well, it seems.

And some bunny porn for Fiona:

The kale is doing very well. I thinned it out last night to get some of the plants to grow bigger before they bolt.

Our other big task of the weekend was putting up the new gazebo.

It's the Home Summer gazebo from Target. Very easy to put together and the perfect size for us. Since on the of reasons we don't use our backyard in the height of summer is the late afternoon sun and the evening bugs, this should help solve those problems. Kaylee's still having trouble figuring out where the openings are, but hopefully she'll understand that soon.

We also cleaned out the shed, power-washed the front porch and went to our niece Eve's third birthday party. And I started a new crochet project (more on that later).

I'm tired. I need a long weekend to recover from my long weekend.

To do update

At the beginning of March, I posted a to do list. I thought it was time to revisit it and see what has been accomplished.

• paint bedroom (gray)
• paint "art" for bedroom (painted canvases)
• paint remaining kitchen doors
• start seeds (yes, Fiona: kale!)
• dig up lilies from back and move to front
• rearrange and amend garden beds
• re-caulk bathtub
• paint stairway and hallway (tan or taupe or something bland)
  
• make new curtains for kitchen
• make curtains for dining room
• re-cover screen in dining room
• repaint DVD cabinet and Jeff's cabinet and footstool in living room
• take dog-joggers off bikes
• clean up area in front of The Folly's parking space
  
• re-caulk windows
• weatherproof doors
• general weatherproofing
  
• replace back porch steps
• make shade for back porch steps area
• just pick a damned color and paint the bathroom

So not as much done as I would have liked in two months, but not too bad, either. Some of the stuff will be easier to do now that it'll be more consistently warm out. And I've picked out colors for the bedroom and stairs, so it's just a matter of actually getting the paint and painting. Still haven't picked out a color for the bathroom. I'm not sure I ever will...

My very first evil robot slave

I always assumed, when I was little, that when I grew up, I would be surrounded by robot minions, all clamoring to do my evil bidding. No such luck.

However, I have acquired my very first evil robot slave, called Scooter*.

Scooter is a Roomba, and he excels at dirt. In the above photo, he's hoovering up the kitchen. He even tackles Cordy's fur when she's blowing her coat, so he's a great help.

I recommend you get your own robot slave.


*Why "Scooter"? Because he sucks.

To do list

Ah, it's actually warming up a bit, and tomorrow it's supposed to be 57 degrees and stormy. I think that counts as "in like a lion" don't you? I hope so, anyway!

But, as it gets to maybe be looking like spring (and I spotted daffodils poking up in the front garden), I start to think about all of the projects that I'd like to do. I thought maybe I'd make a list so I don't forget anything. This list is not in order of importance or timeliness, just as I happen to think of it.

• paint bedroom (gray)*
• paint "art" for bedroom (painted canvases)
• paint remaning kitchen doors
• start seeds (yes, Fiona: kale!)
• dig up lilies from back and move to front
• rearrange and amend garden beds
• re-caulk bathtub
• paint stairway and hallway (tan or taupe or something bland)
  
• make new curtains for kitchen
• make curtains for dining room
• re-cover screen in dining room
• repaint DVD cabinet and Jeff's cabinet and footstool in living room
• take dog-joggers off bikes
• clean up area in front of The Folly's parking space
  
• re-caulk windows
• weatherproof doors
• general weatherproofing
  
• replace back porch steps
• make shade for back porch steps area
• just pick a damned color and paint the bathroom

Hm. That's all I can think of at the moment. I think that's plenty. :)

*You'll note that a lot of it's painting. We've been in the house for over five years now, and things are starting to need to be painted, and well, after five years, I'm getting a little tired of the rest of it.

Dishes

I've been getting a little tired of our dishes lately. There' nothing really wrong with them, but we've got open cupboards in the kitchen, and I'm just getting a little tired of looking at them.

So I went to the thrift store and picked up some fun and pretty vintage dishes to use to change things up a bit.

I really like all of them. I still need more, especially bowls. Hey, if you're a thrifter and see any of these patterns (or anything that you think I might like, looking at these!), I'd love it if you'd pick them up. I'll happily pay for them, and shipping. You can see closer pics of the dishes here, here, here, and here. Think pinks and blues and greens and yellows. See that little bit of the kitchen curtain back behind the red bowl? That. :)

Also, Jeff is turning a spare room upstairs into a tiki bar - think 1950's bachelor pad rather than totally and completely tacky - though there will be a definite tacky element! So, I picked him up a vintage ice crusher and this plate for decoration:

It should look good in the finished room.

New couch!

Finally, we have enough seating in the living room for more than just me and Jeff! Yay! We can have guests and actually all be comfortable!

Jeff built the body, and it's not quite done yet, but he ran out of space in the basement to build stuff. I covered all the cushions myself. It still needs a few more pillows, but I ran out of the fabric I wanted to use, so I need to get some more to finish. The pillows look much better together in person. Weird.

The long arm has storage (you can see a couple baskets there along the side), and the short arm has a cut-out for the heating vent (partially hidden by the cephalopod). The red fleece marks out the dogs' spot. They are still both uncertain about it, but they're warming to it.

I am quite pleased.

New fridge!

You don't know how exciting having a new fridge is. Our previous fridge was harvest gold and older than me. It had wire shelves that made stuff tip over if you looked at it funny, and it was impossible to clean. Plus it was small - only 14.5 cubic feet. Our kitchen is small, but not that small!

But now, we have a new fridge, and it's divine. I didn't want a stainless steel one, but it was a $1,500 fridge that we got for $700 at ApplianceSmart (who we highly, highly recommend). And it was a bottom freezer, which I very much wanted. So we got it. And with the black and white linoleum on the floor now, it doesn't look too bad.

We actually got the fridge yesterday, but I waited until today to take the photos, since we had no food in the fridge. But I went shopping today, and now it's full - or at least close to it. It's 19 cubic feet, which is plenty big for two people and two dogs.

The freezer is actually smaller than our previous one, but since we have a freezer in the basement, too, it's no big deal. We have plenty of space for ice, dog treats, bird food, and basic everyday frozen stuff.

I love our new fridge.