April 30th, 2008
As Earth Month comes to a close, there are still plenty of things we’d like to do to reduce, reuse and recycle, such as:
Replace showerhead and faucets with low-flow units
Replace the toilet with a dual-flush, low-flow unit, like the Aquia from Toto or the selection from Caroma
Finish replacing all lightbulbs with CFLs. Research shows that [...]
April 29th, 2008
When we planted our arborvitae recently, we discovered that the PO had the downspout from the house attached to plastic tubing which is buried under the grass and empties out to the alley. Tsk, tsk. That’s going to change.
Thanks to a post I read a while back at Our Tiny Oak Park Bungalow, I [...]
April 28th, 2008
While I toiled away inside (yes, I really had work to do), here’s what my wonderful husband was doing:
In the rain. And the cold. Then it started sleeting and snowing. He kept at it. What a trooper. I’m making him a big batch of soup.
We bought landscape edging for the garden paths and the patio. [...]
April 28th, 2008
Yesterday we had the PO and his wife over for lunch along with a neighbor couple from across the street. We first really got to know this neighbor at the PO’s wedding a couple years ago and they’re a lot of fun. The PO always managed to get the husband, who is retired and old [...]
April 25th, 2008
Yesterday we ordered 5 cubic yards of Grade 8 Limestone for the paths and patio foundation. According to calculations it will fill the patio and about half of the paths. The delivery truck can only handle 5 yards at a time because of the weight of the stone, but we planned to order a portion [...]
April 23rd, 2008
We spent the day Monday preparing the yard for our future patio and garden. We’re beat.
We rented a sod cutter from Home Depot, which was invaluable for this project. We also enlisted help from my stepbrother, who had used one of these before. It was easy to figure out and use anyway, but the manpower [...]
April 21st, 2008
Our old chain link fence, which Pete gave the neighbor as a peace offering of sorts, is going back up. This morning the neighbor dug up the currant bush that had inadvertently been planted on our property and he is in the process of re-connecting his fence, which is at the correct property line, using [...]
April 18th, 2008
We usually plant a few tomatoes in our yard, but we won’t be planting any vegetables at all this summer for a couple reasons: one, I’d rather concentrate the overall garden design this year and see where a small vegetable patch will fit in with it; and two, I just don’t feel like dealing with [...]
April 17th, 2008
Here are the photos I promised yesterday. First, to refresh your memory, the before picture:
Same view from our family room, after:
Another view from ground level:
We spaced the Arborvitae (again, the “arbs” as they were called at the nursery) 30″ apart. They will eventually form a privacy hedge and will grow 8-10 feet. We planted the [...]
April 16th, 2008
We planted the Arborvitae last night (photos to come).
We also saw the neighbor wife and she seemed better about the whole thing. We heard the son comment to his mother that “maybe it’ll look better”. I’m assuming that he meant that it’ll look better than the ugly fence that was there and not [...]
April 15th, 2008
Well, I think we’re officially in the doghouse: the fence is gone.
Before he started taking it down, Pete happened to see the neighbor husband, so he let him know it was happening and that we would be planting evergreens in its place. The husband tried to convince Pete to just saw off the top half [...]
April 12th, 2008
As he plans his own basement entertainment space, southsidandy over at Building a Better Bungalow asked me for more details on our basement bar, so instead of emailing him about it I thought I’d write a post if it can give others some ideas too.
The PO hired someone to finish this half of our basement, [...]
April 10th, 2008
Say you have a bunch of old VHS tapes lying around, on which you’ve recorded various episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Or a drawer full of empty CD jewel cases.
A bunch of old Zip disks perhaps?
How 1995 of you me.
All of this junk takes up a lot of space, [...]
April 9th, 2008
One of my favorite fancy places to dine in Chicago is North Pond Cafe, nestled in the heart of Lincoln Park, and like the name, situated on the North Pond. It was built in 1912 as a warming hut for ice skaters, eventually becoming a storage shed for the Chicago Park District.
It was remodeled and [...]
April 8th, 2008
Pete came up with the idea to pull out the aluminum slats from the fence so that the neighbor realizes the fence removal is coming very soon. Instead of just yanking the fence out in one fell swoop, we’re kind of lessening the shock. We hope.
It already looks much better. And, it’s Earth-friendly too — [...]
April 5th, 2008
Spring has finally arrived, at least for the weekend. It’s nice to be able to open the windows, hear the birds chirping and get some fresh air in the house.
Hope you have a good, productive weekend!
April 4th, 2008
No, don’t worry, no baseball talk here, however I apologize as this information pertains to Illinois residents only, so I’ll make it short. I’m talking Citizens Utility Board (CUB), a non-profit organization dedicated to representing the interests of residential utility customers across the state of Illinois. CUB works hard to block rate hikes and help [...]
April 4th, 2008
Last Saturday we were the first delivery of the day from Abt, THE place to go in Chicagoland for appliances and electronics.
Good-bye crappy old Caloric-brand “Heritage Series” range — you’re not going to turn yourself on whenever you want any longer.
Hello, beautiful new Frigidaire slide-in range.
The fried eggs came out perfectly, and [...]
April 2nd, 2008
Like Humphrey House and the other residents of Oak Park, we are also fortunate here in Morton Grove to have a recycling program that accepts virtually everything without our having to sort it all: office papers, newspapers, cardboard, chipboard, virtually all plastics including grocery bags, styrofoam containers, glass, cans (including the lid) — even aluminum [...]
April 1st, 2008
I don’t like to shop just for the sake of shopping and I don’t go to stores just to “look around”. I rarely, if ever, purchase something on an impulse. I pretty much shop for things only when I have a need for something or a problem to solve.
So although Pete disagreed, I felt [...]