sadness is…

having two uncarved pumpkins stolen off your porch the night before Halloween.

Filed under: Around the house, Sadness is...

needless suffering

This weekend, Andy and I took on the project of replacing our thermostat. Since we arrived three years ago, we’ve never known the temperature inside the house or the temperature we were setting the heat or air conditioner. We’d give it a slight tap up or down depending on our desire for more or less heat. We were told when we moved in that replacing the thermostat was pretty easy to do and it would help our heating and cooling costs.

I was a little dubious that it would be as easy as the repairman said it would be with our ancient heating and cooling system in addition to the accompanying ancient thermostat. So, we never made any effort to fix it.

That was until Saturday when Andy was overcome with the desire to accomplish something and on a whim decided to replace the thermostat. We carefully removed the old mercury-filled thermostat and attached the new one without incident. And now it works! Here’s to the hope for lower utility bills!

Filed under: Around the house

spousal factoids

Here’s another Facebook list going around about how well you know factoids about your spouse. Since Andy doesn’t have a Facebook page, I figured I’d try it out here:

1. He/She is sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?

This Old House, Frasier on Netflix

2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he/she get on his/her salad?

Vinaigrette

3. What’s one food he/she doesn’t like?

Pineapple

4. You go out to eat. What drink does he/she order?

Hefeweizen, Stout or some other Imported Beer or Microbrew

5. Where did he/she go to high school?

W. Henderson

6. What size shoe does he/she wear?

10 1/2, maybe?

7. If he/she was to collect anything, what would it be?

Maps/atlases

8. What is his/her favorite type of sandwich?

Mozzarella, basil, prosciutto, and tomato on french bread

9. What would he/she eat every day if s/he could?

Cosmic Cantina

10. What is his/her favorite cereal?

Honey Nut Cheerios or Raisin Bran

11. What would he/she never wear?

Skinny jeans

12. What is his/her favorite sports team?

UNC Tar Heels

13. Who did he/she vote for?

I know, but he’s private about those things.

14. Who is his/her best friend?

Other than me?? Ian.

15. What is something you do that he/she wishes you wouldn’t do?

Sniffle

16. What is his/her heritage?

Cornish

17. You bake him/her a cake for their birthday; what kind of cake?

Carrot cake

18. Did he/she play sports in high school?

No, but he did a lot of hiking and backpacking. And he was the manager for the girls volleyball team.

19. What could he/she spend hours doing

Gardening.

20. What is one unique talent he/she has?

Being honest and praying for people

How did I do??

Filed under: Around the house

pantry numbers

I periodically clean and organize the pantry to find the not-oft used staples that hide in the back and to remind myself what we have in abundance and what we’re running low on.

Today I found the abundance. Three cans of Hershey’s Cocoa. One can nearly full and two unopened. One of which I just bought last week in the hope of making Jeannie’s hot chocolate.

On that same shopping trip, I also bought a bottle of molasses. This morning I found another unopened bottle. Because, you never know when you’re going to need bottles and bottles of molasses!

Other than that, I think we have normal amounts of all other pantry items.

Filed under: Around the house

studio living

If you’ve been in our house this winter, you’ve felt the cold. While it’s funny to say that Andy’s a Scrooge and makes me freeze because of his unwillingness to turn up the heat, the chilliness is most likely due to our uninsulated floors.

Anyway, the central heat wasn’t doing much for us, so Andy picked up some space heaters to help out. They worked pretty good if they were literally blowing right on your feet, but lacked the punch to actually heat the room. And so it was… until yesterday.

Andy IM’d to say that he had a “surprise” for me when I got home. The surprise was that by closing the door between the kitchen and the den and putting up a sheet between the den and the hallway, he had created a 12×12 heated cocoon!

As we both sat working and reading last night, I pretended that we were living in a one-room studio apartment in New York. I’m not sure how we would handle the close living quarters for a long period of time, but it sure is nice right now!

Here are some pics of our new found coziness:

Filed under: Around the house, Creativity

snow day

The forecast called for snow and it didn’t disappoint. I would guess we got a total of 3-4 inches, though it began melting shortly after it stopped. But it was the most snow I’ve seen in North Carolina to date! I even saw a jeep pulling a kayak down our street this morning. Thankfully he was wearing a helmet. The snow and cold caused my boss to exhort us to stay home and not try and brave the roads. Now that’s policy I can get behind.

But the most fun of the day was getting to meet little Marjorie. Yay! Check out some photos here.

Filed under: Around the house

skeeters

Bart: I’m thinking about having a block party at our apartment complex.

Charity: Cool! How are the mosquitoes at your place?

Bart: Not as bad as your backyard. But I don’t think anywhere is as bad as your background… well, maybe Africa or something.

Filed under: Around the house