I should not be writing, I should be falling asleep. I am, in fact, falling asleep...
Recently in the Inquirer, there was an article about a mystery author who picked up and moved to Maine and bought an old house which she and her husband are repairing and restoring themselves, one room at a time. The article said that in concert, her mystery series, Home Repair is Homicide, features a lot of practical home repair stuff. Perfect for the mode I'm in you might think.
Alas no. Well, not after reading one of her books anyway. Not only was the writing scattered and a little strange to follow, the heroine is constantly thinking about a home repair project, and making mental lists of supplies for same, but never actually doing anything. Not exactly inspiring. I might try one more of her books, but I don't think the series is a keeper.
This is the beauty of the library book. (I never cease to marvel at things like libraries and washing machines and other simple but useful systems. I mean, you put your clothes in a box, add some soap, and walk away. And then by magic, when you come back, the clothes are clean!) You pick out books. You read them. You like them or you don't. And then you give them back! They don't clutter up your house for all time. And then you can go and get more! It's so beautiful.
What are your favorite home-related books I should be reading. Other than Dorothy Draper's Decorating is Fun! with the blue and white polka-dotted cover, of course...
2/07/2008
Today was one of those insane days when I was literally home for 5 minutes. I was in Harrisburg all day, home to change, back in the car to get gas (I had none), run up to Mt. Aity, look at the house, become stressed, and then run back down the hill for the dance.
In particular, I remember another similar day years and years ago, back in the HPI days, when we had to wine and dine some board members, and all I wanted to do was get to the dance. I only made it for the last 3 dances at Perdue's that night, but what an absolute relief to dance King of Poland with Rich and not have to think about a thing. It was an utter return to normalcy after the craziness of the day, and put life back in its proper perspective.
This evening was like that. After the hell of the non-stop day, even knowing there would be more work to do at home after the dance, finally making it to GCD, with that part of my family all there, was a return home. And all it took was a few bars of Freeford Gardens, and catching eyes with the first woman to check in with me that we were covering on those turn singles, and all was well.
This is why, no matter what ups and downs I might have with GCD at any given moment, these dancers are still my home and family. To know that we move the same way, can anticipate reactions, and react to small gestures of warning or reminder to keep us on track - it's an amazing thing. Yes, like family, there are the spats and annoyances and middle children, and plenty to complain about, but at the end of the day, it's a community I'm proud to be a part of.
In particular, I remember another similar day years and years ago, back in the HPI days, when we had to wine and dine some board members, and all I wanted to do was get to the dance. I only made it for the last 3 dances at Perdue's that night, but what an absolute relief to dance King of Poland with Rich and not have to think about a thing. It was an utter return to normalcy after the craziness of the day, and put life back in its proper perspective.
This evening was like that. After the hell of the non-stop day, even knowing there would be more work to do at home after the dance, finally making it to GCD, with that part of my family all there, was a return home. And all it took was a few bars of Freeford Gardens, and catching eyes with the first woman to check in with me that we were covering on those turn singles, and all was well.
This is why, no matter what ups and downs I might have with GCD at any given moment, these dancers are still my home and family. To know that we move the same way, can anticipate reactions, and react to small gestures of warning or reminder to keep us on track - it's an amazing thing. Yes, like family, there are the spats and annoyances and middle children, and plenty to complain about, but at the end of the day, it's a community I'm proud to be a part of.
2/05/2008
Valentine count-down
The days continue to be long and full of upheaval. The English Scottish Ball is mere days away. I think I told people to breathe, use command language and add pauses to their talk throughs more times than I ever thought possible.
Wanna buy a greeting card? I do birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs...
House. Ugh. I drove by the smaller house tonight, and though I only looked from the outside, was not pleased to find no parking on the street. And though I am still really eager to see it, well, what if I like the bigger house better???
And I have a bunch of non-work work to do, and I have to be in Harrisburg teaching all day tomorrow which requires dressing professionally, and having a voice, which I don't really, and, and and...
And what I really want to talk about is crafts and Valentines. I was worried this year. I had a bunch of images, but no good idea I could run with - just disjointed thoughts that were being troublesome. I think what it comes down to for me is that I need time on my own to play and come up with that idea, that I can then reproduce during a party. I need to have all of my stamps around, and all of the papers and tools, and not be in company. The latter I think is key. I feel equally distracted by other people's ideas, and at the same time pressured to produce something wonderful. When I'm on my own, I can work, and not worry about how fast I'm coming up with something, how many ideas end up in the trash, or anything else.
And sure enough, when I sat down to play with the few images and see what I could make out of them, almost none were salvageable. But then, after flipping through my stamp catalog, and thinking about some of the ideas I was getting out, there it was - this year's valentine. Right there. Easy, and red, and now finished!
One of my other challenges this year was to make valentines I could sell. It turns out there there are a ton of rubber stamp angel companies who know you're not going to make much, if anything, selling stuff with their images on it. So my cards are quite saleable this year, and in fact, I think I've sold a few.
Wanna buy a greeting card? I do birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs...Stay tuned for electronic images of this year's valentines.
So, you think you've made a decision
So there I was, about to look up Septa train pass prices, just to make sure. About to write to the realtor and say (deep breath), ok, let's go for it. When...
He wrote to me first saying there's a house a block away, 2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 169,000. How soon can you look at it. I want to shout - how about now!!! Heck, I'd cancel longsword tomorrow night for this.
No pictures, alas (or you know I'd post them), but here's what the blurb says: All new kitchen with wood cabinets and new appliances (Refig, D/W, Range, Microwave oven), refinished hardwood flooring, first floor laundry and small fenced rear yard. Second floor complete with Remodeled bath with tiled tub/shower and three full bedrooms.
And there's laundry, and a dining room. I wonder if it has a bay window. Only one bathroom, alas, and the fireplace is an unknown (but I'm hoping for a mantle in the living room - if they don't work, they're sometimes not a part of the listing), but the price is right, and maybe, maybe...
ACK!!!!
He wrote to me first saying there's a house a block away, 2 stories, 3 bedrooms, 169,000. How soon can you look at it. I want to shout - how about now!!! Heck, I'd cancel longsword tomorrow night for this.
No pictures, alas (or you know I'd post them), but here's what the blurb says: All new kitchen with wood cabinets and new appliances (Refig, D/W, Range, Microwave oven), refinished hardwood flooring, first floor laundry and small fenced rear yard. Second floor complete with Remodeled bath with tiled tub/shower and three full bedrooms.
And there's laundry, and a dining room. I wonder if it has a bay window. Only one bathroom, alas, and the fireplace is an unknown (but I'm hoping for a mantle in the living room - if they don't work, they're sometimes not a part of the listing), but the price is right, and maybe, maybe...
ACK!!!!
2/03/2008
A whiff of Spring
Did Phil see his shadow? (I just looked. He did. He always does. You would want to go back into your hole too if they dragged you out first thing in the morning when you could be napping. But really, I'm sure Phil just wants to get back to his nice, warm indoor habitat in the town library...)
Well, Phil be darned! Today was beautiful in town. So much so that when I finally finished my shopping and stopped in front of the house to unload the groceries, I left my coat inside, rolled down the windows in the car, and proceded to enjoy the air for the next 45 minutes as I looked for parking.
Days like this make me think of spring, and sunny days and flowers. I quoted Jenny in an earlier post and her comment about my collections of small things. I even like flowers that are clusters or cascades of small buds - lily of the valley, lantana, sweet pepper bush, and my all time favorite, lilacs.
We had a lilac out back in the house where I grew up, and they were Aunt Evelyn's favorites. It's the scent. It's just heaven. I can't get enough. And the blooms don't last when you cut them, so the best thing is to bury your face in someone's shrub, and hope they don't mind.
I learned just now that there is an annual lilac festival in Rochester, NY. I'm going to Rochester in May, so I wondered if I would be there on the right weekend. Alas, no. I will be a weekend too early. I wonder if the lilacs would accomodate me and bloom just a bit earlier.
In my house hunting, I'm looking for a house with a little yard. Not that I'm such a big gardener, but I need one for two reasons - summer cocktail parties and lilacs (well, and probably lily of the valley. And peonies. And maybe a rosebush. An orange azalea in front of the house?). I want one of the beautiful deep purple ones, but of course it's gotta have that scent. I bet I'll end up needing more than one...
Well, Phil be darned! Today was beautiful in town. So much so that when I finally finished my shopping and stopped in front of the house to unload the groceries, I left my coat inside, rolled down the windows in the car, and proceded to enjoy the air for the next 45 minutes as I looked for parking.
Days like this make me think of spring, and sunny days and flowers. I quoted Jenny in an earlier post and her comment about my collections of small things. I even like flowers that are clusters or cascades of small buds - lily of the valley, lantana, sweet pepper bush, and my all time favorite, lilacs.
We had a lilac out back in the house where I grew up, and they were Aunt Evelyn's favorites. It's the scent. It's just heaven. I can't get enough. And the blooms don't last when you cut them, so the best thing is to bury your face in someone's shrub, and hope they don't mind.
I learned just now that there is an annual lilac festival in Rochester, NY. I'm going to Rochester in May, so I wondered if I would be there on the right weekend. Alas, no. I will be a weekend too early. I wonder if the lilacs would accomodate me and bloom just a bit earlier.
In my house hunting, I'm looking for a house with a little yard. Not that I'm such a big gardener, but I need one for two reasons - summer cocktail parties and lilacs (well, and probably lily of the valley. And peonies. And maybe a rosebush. An orange azalea in front of the house?). I want one of the beautiful deep purple ones, but of course it's gotta have that scent. I bet I'll end up needing more than one...
2/02/2008
Just like Mother still makes...
It's Saturday, and I've just looked at a few more houses - and then back at Durham Street, where we're hoping that interest rates going down this week might just make all the difference... More on that tomorrow.
As I've been sick this week, all the get-well advice I've received has centered around two things - drugs I can't afford, and chicken soup, the cure-all.
My mom's chicken soup is, of course, the best ever. I know it's the cooking time that makes the difference, but I'm convinced that the parsnip has a lot to do with it. And the whole onion (which Mom should never throw away, she should give it to me.). Someday I will even be brave enough to make it myself.
George just fed me soup for lunch. It's basically an Indian version of chicken soup (but with only trace amounts of clove and curry so it's not so icky), and has the same affect of making you feel better.
Hmmm.... I wonder if I should excavate the freezer tomorrow, and see if that parsnip soup is still alive...
(George just gave me a bag of chocolates for a tea contribution for later. He's precient. I am the luckiest one ever!!)
As I've been sick this week, all the get-well advice I've received has centered around two things - drugs I can't afford, and chicken soup, the cure-all.
My mom's chicken soup is, of course, the best ever. I know it's the cooking time that makes the difference, but I'm convinced that the parsnip has a lot to do with it. And the whole onion (which Mom should never throw away, she should give it to me.). Someday I will even be brave enough to make it myself.
George just fed me soup for lunch. It's basically an Indian version of chicken soup (but with only trace amounts of clove and curry so it's not so icky), and has the same affect of making you feel better.
Hmmm.... I wonder if I should excavate the freezer tomorrow, and see if that parsnip soup is still alive...
(George just gave me a bag of chocolates for a tea contribution for later. He's precient. I am the luckiest one ever!!)
2/01/2008
It's electric!
This Friday, my domestic wishlist turns mechanical as I think about - appliances...
As I'm doing my third load of laundry tonight, and getting to the bottom of my formerly endless supply of quarters (see, when you spend no money, you get no change), I keep thinking that wouldn't it be beautiful to do laundry in the comfort of your own home without having to save your quarters. To have the option of a gentle cycle, or the opportunity to throw something in the dryer for only 10 minutes more. It would be so beautiful. Some day...
I also dream of a frost-free freezer. See, I have one of those ancient refrigerators with a laughable freezer compartment that turns to a block of ice in a heartbeat. Even when it's empty of icebergs, it has room for in ice cube tray, two packages of frozen vegetables, and maybe one other thing. That's it. I periodically excavate and feel victorious when I rescue the ice cube trays, (the other stuff is often too scary to salvage), but I admit that I have let the arctic breezes have their way for a while. But some day, some day soon, I will have a freezer that keeps things frozen, without expanding its walls. Just think, even I could put a whole half gallon of chocolate ice cream in my freezer.
I have a gas stove now. It's fine. But some day, I'm going to have one where you can put a cookie sheet in the oven sideways! You know, with the long side facing in. It will be wide. Like a grown-up stove.
I actually have a fair number of countertop appliances for someone with no counters. I have a drip coffee maker (Aunt Evelyn's), a blender (Mom's), for making mousse and fool, a food processor (Mom's), for making latkes, two hand mixer's (one Grandma's, one new one from somewhere, you know, just in case. I also have two irons, but that's another story), and two waffle irons (yay, Freecycle!!!). Some day I am going to have counterspace, or at least ample, convenient shelf space at counter-ish level so that these things can be out and ready to be used, or at least easily fetched, without having to take apart the whole kitchen.
I'm sure there are many more things I need, though I can't think of any. I would like an immersion blender so I could more easily make recipes like that parsnip soup (Yup, I think that's now one of the ice pops in my freezer). Oh, and a bread knife, though I guess that's not really an appliance. I don't really want a bread-maker, kitchen-aid or ice-cream maker. I have a microwave. (I realized tonight that one of my faviorte wooden mixing spoons is cracked. I may need one of those soon, but I'll get one from Mom.
What am I missing? What other kitchen appliances are indespensible to you?
As I'm doing my third load of laundry tonight, and getting to the bottom of my formerly endless supply of quarters (see, when you spend no money, you get no change), I keep thinking that wouldn't it be beautiful to do laundry in the comfort of your own home without having to save your quarters. To have the option of a gentle cycle, or the opportunity to throw something in the dryer for only 10 minutes more. It would be so beautiful. Some day...
I also dream of a frost-free freezer. See, I have one of those ancient refrigerators with a laughable freezer compartment that turns to a block of ice in a heartbeat. Even when it's empty of icebergs, it has room for in ice cube tray, two packages of frozen vegetables, and maybe one other thing. That's it. I periodically excavate and feel victorious when I rescue the ice cube trays, (the other stuff is often too scary to salvage), but I admit that I have let the arctic breezes have their way for a while. But some day, some day soon, I will have a freezer that keeps things frozen, without expanding its walls. Just think, even I could put a whole half gallon of chocolate ice cream in my freezer.
I have a gas stove now. It's fine. But some day, I'm going to have one where you can put a cookie sheet in the oven sideways! You know, with the long side facing in. It will be wide. Like a grown-up stove.
I actually have a fair number of countertop appliances for someone with no counters. I have a drip coffee maker (Aunt Evelyn's), a blender (Mom's), for making mousse and fool, a food processor (Mom's), for making latkes, two hand mixer's (one Grandma's, one new one from somewhere, you know, just in case. I also have two irons, but that's another story), and two waffle irons (yay, Freecycle!!!). Some day I am going to have counterspace, or at least ample, convenient shelf space at counter-ish level so that these things can be out and ready to be used, or at least easily fetched, without having to take apart the whole kitchen.
I'm sure there are many more things I need, though I can't think of any. I would like an immersion blender so I could more easily make recipes like that parsnip soup (Yup, I think that's now one of the ice pops in my freezer). Oh, and a bread knife, though I guess that's not really an appliance. I don't really want a bread-maker, kitchen-aid or ice-cream maker. I have a microwave. (I realized tonight that one of my faviorte wooden mixing spoons is cracked. I may need one of those soon, but I'll get one from Mom.
What am I missing? What other kitchen appliances are indespensible to you?
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