March 28th, 2008
I have a confession to make, and I’m not proud of it. In fact I’m downright ashamed that I didn’t check my facts long ago, because I love doing research.
I thought I was doing a good thing by reusing paper grocery bags as trash bags. I thought, ‘Why buy plastic trash bags, which are [...]
March 27th, 2008
In the previous house I had a collage of old black-and-white family photos on the wall, but in this house my wall space is more limited, mainly because of the windows. However we do have the stairway wall leading to the attic, which for me is a perfect spot for these types of photos.
Several [...]
March 26th, 2008
Chicago is the designated flagship city for the U.S. and one of many cities around the world participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 29.
For one hour, you are encouraged to turn off all non-essential lights in your house. According to the web site:
Earth Hour’s not just about cutting [...]
March 26th, 2008
There is so much talk nowadays about being green, reducing your carbon footprint, the four Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle and restore, etc. I think it’s great that it has finally become more commonplace, and I hope it increases.
While we’re by no means perfect, since at least the early ’90s both Pete and I having been [...]
March 22nd, 2008
For at least the second or third time now, our oven has just switched on by itself. I was standing next to it this morning, I heard the “whoosh” of the oven starting up, and then I could smell the gas. I looked at the knob, and it was turned to off, and then I [...]
March 22nd, 2008
I know, I know. You’re not supposed to eat meals in front of the TV. But we do, and that’s that. I doubt we’re ever going to change that until it gets nice enough to eat outside.
What I’ve always hated about eating in front of the TV are the tray tables — they’re ugly and [...]
March 20th, 2008
I finally tackled the bar area in the basement, which had been piled with crap. Everything is put away, the bar is stocked, and the record albums are hung on the wall around the pool table.
Just a few things left to do down there. We’ll probably have to patch the former cat pee areas with [...]
March 19th, 2008
The hallway light was, like everything else in this house, covered with off-white paint. A few weeks ago I let it simmer on the stove along with the foyer light. Turns out the knot-like part of this fixture is made out of steel, and I’m not sure what type of finish it would have had [...]
March 13th, 2008
Neighbors. They’re kind of like family, aren’t they? You can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your family — or your neighbors to a certain degree. We’ve always been friendly with all our neighbors, but most everyone pretty much keeps to themselves and there’s just a little small talk here and there. And that’s [...]
March 12th, 2008
If the saying goes, “Good fences make good neighbors”, is there one about ugly fences? With spring arriving one of these days (and let me just point out that we haven’t even been “teased” by warm weather yet, which is really unusual for Chicago), we’re starting to plan our yard and garden.
One of the first [...]
March 7th, 2008
If we have any sort of collection, I would have to say we have a clock collection. I’ve always loved clocks, even before I married my third-generation jeweler/watchmaker husband. Jewelry, I could care less about (and he’s very thankful for that!) — but give me an antique clock any day. When I was a little [...]
March 3rd, 2008
We accomplished a number of little things this weekend. Little things, big impact. For one, we finally hung a few pieces of art from the picture rail.
For our larger pieces, I bought picture hooks and hanging cord from Rejuvenation.
Okay, this one doesn’t look quite as good on our “distressed” bedroom walls, but it’s better than [...]