Ice, Ice Baby

As you may know, the East Coast had a bit of a winter storm last Sunday. Here in the Mid-Atlantic, morning snow soon turned to freezing rain for over twelve hours. It made the roads and walkways quite treacherous, but what it left behind was absolutely beautiful. Here are some photos I took from our backyard and a short walk down the street with Westley Monday morning.

 

 

 

Nick shoveled the whole driveway.

He's the best!

Surprise, Surprise!

I just returned home from work about 20 minutes ago, and what did I find?  That my wonderful husband, upon getting home this evening, installed the two remaining lights and the dimmer switch in the den.  It looks great!

This photo was actually taken with the dimmer in "low" position because the lights are pretty darn powerful when they're all on.  Hooray for a well-lit room and an awesome husband!

And Then There Was Light

Long time no see!

It's been a busy few weeks around here; the husband has been swamped with work and my folks graced us with their presence for a lovely visit for a while as well.  However, we do have some exciting developments to report on the home front.

You may recall that our living room (or the den, as Nick calls it), had no overhead lighting save for a pair of small skylights.  We got around this with a table lamp and a floor lamp, but it was really not ideal at night.  We also discovered that if one is...say...brewing beer in the adjacent kitchen and hosting guests during...oh, say, August, that room gets really, really hot.  Bordering on uncomfortable.  So clearly an overhead fan was needed.  Nick and I found an inexpensive one that we liked at one of the big home stores a few months ago, and it's been sitting in the garage awaiting installation.  Then when my folks booked their trip, we thought, "Pefect!"  My dad is quite handy and always happy to help with projects...now we've got one!

So during the some of the few free hours that my husband had at the end of last month, he and my father installed the fan.  I will spare you the details but suffice it to say that it did not go any more smoothly than the heater/fan installation in our bathroom last May, due (again) almost entirely to the ridiculous wiring job previous owners had done in this house.  Electrical boxes sitting on the floor of the attic, face down, hiding under insulation...hot wires tied to the common...you name it, they had to fix it.  Nick was feeling particularly inspired (read: frustrated) one evening and worked until after ten o'clock at night, at which point a screw ending up inside the fan he had just finished putting up caused a pretty impressive fit of exhaustion giggles.  However, in the end, they figured it all out and we have a great fan that works!

It's alive!

The other project that they started was installing recessed lighting.  Unfortunately, the 4" cans they bought did not fit in the 4 3/8" hole drilled by the hole saw - only once you opened up the packaging for the cans and read through the tiny fine print did it become apparent that we needed 4 1/2" holes in the ceiling.  Oops.  So after buying a new drill attachment, today Nick very carefully drilled a slightly wider hole centered on the smaller one.  He only installed two lights today, but it's pretty impressive already!

The LED lights are a little cooler than I'm used to, but they're warmer than they look in this photograph.  And even with only two lights, the room is so much brighter that I put the floor lamp back in the front room.  This is great!  The next time we have company the room will be well-lit and we will have more temperature control.  My menfolk do work awfully well together!

Bricked Up

As noted in a relatively recent post, my husband replaced the post for our mailbox. It looked so nice that I wanted to jazz it up even more. A number of homes in the area have little stone circles around their mailbox posts filled with plants, and I think they look lovely. However, I did not want to spend the money on large stones, so I decided to recycle the bricks that we were in theory using to provide extra support for the garden fence. We never finished laying them anyway.

This project took longer than I would have liked because the soil around the mailbox post was nowhere near level. Being my father's daughter, I used an level and an angle-measuring tool (like a protractor but swankier) to help get things the way I wanted. Most of the time was spent getting the nine-brick first layer level, and then I just laid bricks on top.

Westley was not allowed to help.

He was displeased with this arrangement.

Then I went to the local garden store, bought some asters and snow-in-summer. They met three important criteria: a) deer don't like them (unlike my poor yellow mums). b) they have pretty foliage, and c) they flower nicely in the summer and fall (purple and gold asters, and white snow-in-summer). We already had leftover potting soil, so it was just a matter of filling in the planter.

Taa-daa!  We'll see how it holds up,
but I like the look.  It's cute!

Just Hangin'

Once upon a time I had a blog....oh wait, here it is!

I can't help but notice that my last post predates my husband starting his new (and excellent) job.  Funny how trying to cram all of the cleaning, meal-planning, and various other errands and chores into three days (when he used to spread them out over the week) means I have very little time for home improvement, let alone blogging about it. Plus, our weekends lately (and upcoming) have been packed full of social and work-related activities.  Which is good, but it would appear the blog is the first thing to slip.

Never fear, though, for I have new and spiffy stuff to show you.  But first, some sad news: the cold weather killed my baby squash plants.  Apparently the hoop house was not sealed up as tight as we though, and the 1 mil plastic isn't thick enough.  I am very sad.

However, the green beans are still happy, and we finally (finally) harvested some bell peppers!  They are wee and adorable.  We weren't sure how big they were supposed to get but once they went from green to purple and appeared to stop growing, we picked them.  Perhaps too soon?  I must eat one and find out.


I am also putting the finishing touches on the mailbox planter and will post photos soon. However, the rest of today's post is about the gallery wall that I finally finished up today. There is a good-sized hallway wall immediately as you exit the entryway that seemed like a great spot to hang photos.  Originally, I had a combination of photos from Thailand and Sicily on the wall in double and triple frames, but it felt really crowded and cluttered, and the frames were not all the same color (twitch).  So when I repainted the hallway, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to start over.  I poked around on the internet and found all sorts of really nice ideas for gallery wall layouts.  Given the space that I was working with, I decided on one called "chain reaction", which consists of paired 5x7" and 8x10" images on either side of an 11x14" image.

Here's my mock-up to test the style.  Winner! 

Next, I poked through the most striking of the many photographs I took when we traveled to Sicily in 2011 and picked out the prints I wanted.  Definitely needed help from Nick to narrow it down.  Armed with coupons, over the course of a couple of weekends I purchased the frames that I wanted from Michaels' - simple black frames with white mats.  Given the light gray walls I hoped it would pop nicely.

Once I had my frames, I followed online suggestions and cut newspaper templates the same size as the frames. I used these templates as position markers on the wall so that I could move them around easily.  This involved lots of measuring and pencil-marking, but eventually I got things about right.  I measured from the top of each frame to where each piece would actually hang, Then I put up the nails and hangers through the newspaper and took the newspaper down. All that remained was to hang the photographs...

I love it!  The measurements aren't quite as perfect as I would want them, but they're close, the black and white pops against the gray just liked I hoped it would, and the photographs look great!  Even the large one, despite the fact that Shutterfly mailed to me in a tube so it was curled up.  I had to tape it down to a piece of cardboard in order to get it to lie flat.

Now there is a bit of that wonderful, memorable trip to Sicily in the hallway for us to walk past every day - it's great!

Going Postal

We're starting to feel a bit of a time crunch for household projects, both indoor and out.  The reason for this is a great one (husband starts a new job soon), but it means that project time will have to be confined to the weekends only.  Couple that with the fact that winter is approaching (not that you'd know it from today's 88-degree temps) and we're running a bit short on time for things.  There are still a number of goals to check off the list before my parents come to visit next month.  After all, what girl doesn't want to impress her mother?

On Nick's to-do list for this weekend was installing a new post for our mailbox.  We'd been thinking about it for a while, but when one of the neighbors kindly offered to lend Nick his post-hole digger because he'd noticed how badly the current post was leaning, it brought the issue to the forefront.  The first trip to Home Despot ended up not being enough, as the 3-part "no dig" kit for installing a new post ended up missing one of its three parts.  Home Depot was apparently unable to remedy this, so Nick exchanged it for a different setup.  In digging up the old post, he discovered that it had, as suspected, rotted through where it entered the ground.  He dug further, and found...concrete.  A lot of concrete.  Now, concrete is commonly used to set mailbox posts, but whoever set this one used about twice as much as they needed, in a wide radius around the post.  Needless to say, the husband was not pleased.

  Next ensued multiple hours of digging, first with a shovel and then with a trowel around the edges of the concrete through red clay and rock.  I was able to spell him on and off with the trowel part, at least.  Once we had enough of the bottom edges freed, Nick was able to use a pry bar (borrowed from the same neighbor who offered the post hole digger) to pry the concrete chunk loose.

Next, he placed the new post in the newly-vacated hole, and I held it it while we adjusted its position using a level.  The base was anchored with a number of large heavy rocks that Nick had dug up taking out the old post, and we replaced all of the earth.  We did not use concrete to set it, which may turn out to be a problem if it starts to lean or wobble.  However, the same helpful neighbor who lent us his pry bar also has a small bag of concrete he's not using, and has offered it to us if needed. Plus, if it turns out that using concrete becomes necessary, it will be much easier to dig up the post this time.  Once the post was adequately settled, Nick screwed the mailbox back onto the post.  Screws, as opposed to the nails the original owners had used.  I trimmed away the tree and shrub branches that had been threatening to overwhelm the area and placed some newly-purchased colorful chrysanthemums at the base, and we were done! 

Not too bad, eh?  Plus, chrysanthemums make everything look better.  Especially in the fall.

Enlightenment

One of the things I'm hoping to do this fall is freshen up front of the house.  The walkway, as previously discussed, needs a serious do-over.  But there are also little details.  Things like adding mums to the stoop for fall (I gave in and bought some gorgeous red ones last week).  Things like the entry light.

The light fixture on the exterior of the house appears to have been installed when the house was originally built, back in the 70's.  Stylistically, it's not really a bad piece, but I was originally thinking that it would require replacing because it was absolutely disgusting.

 

See what I mean?  That white patchy coating did not come off when I tried to scrub it - I don't even know what it is and I don't want to know.  Looks kind of like a hunk of junk here.  But then I got to thinking....if I can give a rusty, revolting mailbox new life with a coat of paint, why not a light fixture?  Albeit without the vinyl decals this time, admittedly.


So that became the new plan.  First I removed the wire attached to the fixture (see top right), which as far as I could tell served absolutely no purpose at all.  Then my helpful husband figured out which fuse controlled the fixture and turned it off for me so as to prevent accidental electrocution.  Details.  Next, I took all the pieces apart, unscrewed it from the wall, and cleaned it out.  This took quite a while, as there were about thirty years of dusty dead bug bits inside.

Next, I brought out the matte black spray paint and went to town, after carefully taping off the wires and the socket first.  Looking better already, no?  In taking it apart I discovered that the windows were plastic and not glass, which was a bit of a disappointment, but I can replace those down the road.  You can find just about anything on the internet, right?

And here is my finished product on the right, side-by-side with the unpainted version.  Looks a million times better and it didn't cost me a dime!

What's Cookin'?

It has been a busy, social weekend here, and boy am I tired!  It's a good tired, though

Being the last weekend of the month, this was the Saturday on which Nick invited some friends out to brew up some beer.  While bottling last month's Vanilla Bourbon Porter (*note to self*: vanilla beans soaked in bourbon taste like bourbon), this month they roasted pumpkins and started an Imperial Pumpkin Stout.  'Tis the season, after all.  Which for them means beer, and for me means toasted pumpkin seeds to snack on.  It's a win-win.

In addition to homebrew, Nick wanted to celebrate his birthday this weekend by trying his hand at something new on the grill: brisket.  He's had some local barbecued brisket and liked it quite a lot, and given his success earlier in the year with ribs on our grill, was hopeful brisket could be done as well.  After consultation with Evan (his BBQ partner-in-crime) and some online research, Project Brisket was a go!  No, they did not actually call it Project Brisket.

Our local Wegman's was happy to supply Nick with a gigantic slab of brisket weighing in at nearly ten pounds.  Enormous.  For six people.  It sat on the grill and cooked ever so slowly and smokily (not a word but ought to be) over a pan of water and beer (to keep it from drying out), for over seven hours.  It could have gone longer, but we needed to actually eat dinner.  

How was it, you ask?  A-MAZING.  Absolutely delicious.  Why would you eat brisket any other way, I ask you?  Oh, and for an appetizer?  Yeah...he made a half rack of baby back ribs, too.  This plus my homemade coleslaw and a divine squash mac n' cheese Evan's wife contributed and we were in heaven.  Oh, and did I mention the cake I baked?

Some of our guests spent the night, and late this morning/early this afternoon one of them helped Nick prepare the second batch of beer for the weekend, a Trois Pistoles clone.  I weeded the garden beds instead.  It's gorgeous outside today, beautifully sunny and not too hot or cold.  Perfect for gardening. 

Speaking of the garden, things are coming along nicely.  The green beans, both old and new plants, are producing many beans on a consistent basis; we are eating a decent helping at least once a week.  Eventually I may want to fill an entire bed with beans or add in some pole beans to have even more available, but for now this works well.  The purple bell pepper plant that let me down earlier in the season is finally happy enough to produce actual bell peppers, and they are indeed turning a lovely deep purple color.  We have more scallions than we know what to do with - need to remember to use succession planting on those next year.  Broccoli seedlings are growing in the space vacated by the failed leeks; something snacked on a few of them but the remainder look happy, and I planted some more today where the eggplant used to live.  The eggplant gave up on making eggplants so we gave up on it.  Next year: more fertilizer.  Or perhaps compost tea?  

We are harvesting some of our Black Krim tomatoes and they taste as good as they look!  We'll see how far we can stretch tomatoes this season; there are a few plums ripening and some new cherries still growing.  Perhaps with the hoop house it will stay warm enough for them; keep your fingers crossed!

Cleaning Up

For a few weeks now, I have been contemplating the idea of DIY homemade laundry detergent.  I saw a post on Facebook and it looked nifty: a chance to save some cash and play with something homemade.   So when my husband mentioned this weekend that we were low on detergent, I saw my opportunity.  After poking around the internet for a bit I happened across a post at "How Does She?" with a recipe that looked pretty good.  It had the same three primary ingredients I'd found in all of the other online recipes, with a little extra thrown in.

This morning I took a trip to Wal-Mart and bought my ingredients.  This alone was kind of a big deal.  I almost never go to Wal-Mart.  I'm a Target (or Tar-jeh) girl, through and through.  However, Wal-Mart had all of the ingredients and Target didn't, so that settled it.  I didn't even burst into flames when walking through the door (though I did flinch a little).

What are these fabled ingredients, you ask?

• Borax: one box (4 lb, 12oz)
• Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda: one box (3 lb, 7 oz)
• Arm & Hammer Baking Soda: one box (4 lb)
• OxyClean: one container (3 lb) - optional but the recipe I found highly recommended it
• Zote Soap: two bars - I used the pink one since that was what Wal-Mart had.  Apparently you can also use Fels Naptha, and some people like Ivory soap but that's not a laundry soap so I'm not so sure...
• I also added a bit of Epsom Salts because various sites had commented that it made a great fabric softener.

I only wanted to make a half recipe, since this is a new project and I might end up hating it.  So I dumped half of all of the containers into a bowl, except the Epsom Salts as that was more like 1/4 of the container.  Then came the slightly tricky part - grating a bar of soap.  As recommended by various websites, I cut the bar into smaller pieces and microwaved them until they got puffy.

Once it cooled, I grated some of it, which worked nicely but took ages.  Tried to put the rest in the mini food processor.  This would have worked fine except that I did not let the soap cool enough first, so the cut pieces stuck together and made larger chunks.  I let them cool and reprocessed them, and for most of them it worked fine, but next time I would definitely either grate it all or let it cool (maybe refrigerate it if I were feeling impatient) before chucking them into the food processor.

And that's it!  You only need 2 tablespoons per load, and it's safe to use with HE washing machines and septic systems, so we should be fine.  Now we'll have to see if it works as well as everyone says it does....stay tuned!

Fall Projects

It has been a quiet couple of weeks on the home front.  I spent several hours split over the course of a couple of weekends scraping moss off our sad little excuse for a back patio.  It looks slightly less sad now.  In a year or two I want to completely redo the patio with actual pavers, and expand it by at least 50%.  But for now at least it is once again recognizably a patio.


My baby acorn squashes have germinated and are kind of adorable.

The Black Krim tomato plant that Nick's sister brought is is coming along nicely and the fruits are starting to ripen - so pretty! Plus, the jalapeno plant is finally putting out fruit, which is kind of exciting.  Even the bell pepper is flowering.  It's the hoop house that Nick built over the middle bed that is making the plants so happy, I think.  The fact that it's not 95 degrees out anymore is probably also helping.  Today we're going to build another hoop house to continue preparing the garden for winter.  We were originally going to expand it from three beds to four, but building and filling a new bed just isn't in the budget right now.  It can be a springtime project.  I'm already planning how to take over the back bed once the tomatoes are done for the season: lettuce, spinach, kale, and radishes!  Perhaps some arugula too.  We'll see.

We planted broccoli seeds but no sooner did they sprout then they were eaten.  Slugs, I suspect.  They absolutely wrecked our broccoli, kale and lettuce earlier this year - it was a disaster.  I haven't been pleased with the Bayer Natria slug killer bait that I bought this summer - it's organic, but the pellets did this weird moldy thing that was disgusting, and didn't really seem to slow down the slugs.  Although admittedly I was so revolted by their moldy fuzz that I did not reapply them as often as I should have.  So this time we took my sister-in-law's advice (she's our family expert) and bought some Sluggo, which is the go-to for organic gardeners plagued by slugs.  Just applied it on Friday - will have to wait and see how well it works.

I am also decorating a bit for fall.  Every year I am unable to resist the allure of small local decorative gourds and pumpkins, and the local farm store has lovely ones in stock.  Willpower is overrated.  Now I just have to find some money in my budget for mums to put out front...

Did you know that the small tri-color corn can be cooked to make popcorn-on-the-cob?
So said the lady at the farm store.  I hadn't known that.  Decorative and tasty!