"Just for Fun" He Says...

Last night my friend, BK, and I were going to have a "strategic planning meeting" to discuss how to approach a massive project: taking out those hateful shrubs in front of my house. The bushes that couldn't be taken out because of these little guys.

We looked (again) at the job waiting for us...we planned to get started after work today (Friday) and then work most of the day tomorrow (Saturday) after our reinforcements arrived. I'm not going to lie, both of us were panic-stricken.

BK wanted to just cut a branch or two "just for fun". Clearly we didn't stop.

I cannot describe how much I love those bushes being gone. After we were finished for the evening, we sat on my porch swing and for the first time, I could actually see the street! Love. It.

We're going to tackle the other side after work today and see how far we get - though I bet we can get through the others, especially because we might actually use the electric reciprocating saw this time!

I also cannot describe how grateful I am to BK!

More pictures to come, stay tuned!

Happy weekend!

Look Ma! My Very Own Circus Freaks!

Remember how I wanted to grow tomatoes? And eat them?

Yeah, well... that was before I started growing circus freaks. (As you view these, you may want to hum a creepy version of that clown song)

The tomato on the left and in the first picture above used to be small and perfect looking... So what happened???

Apparently, my little freaks' condition has an actual name. Catfacing. From what I understand, it can be caused by cool temperatures when the plant is blossoming. That seems odd to me, it's been really warm here! I haven't used any herbicides or pesticides or anything. I'm trying to be chemical-free. So who knows what contributed. Somehow the blossom got screwed up and the fruit couldn't develop normally.


I wonder if the look as freaky-deaky on the inside...

Sigh. I hope the rest of my tomato babies are going to be OK.

Have you ever had any weird stuff like this happen?? Do tell!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I'll be honest... I meant to have this up 2 days ago! But I've been busier than I thought I would be this week. Yikes.

With all these projects going on at my house...which sometimes seems to create more projects...it's tough (for me anyway) not to feel overwhelmed and sometimes discouraged by all of it. Sometimes I even wonder what the heck I was thinking buying a house...this house...all by myself. Yes, I have lots of awesome help from family and friends, for which I am eternally grateful. But still. I'm just callin' it like it is.

And then I look back at where I was one year ago and I can't help but smile and think... gosh...progress...

My living room, one year ago (almost to the date!)

I liked to call it Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

What a surprise that floor had been! To read the full horror story go here.

Check back soon and I'll show you the other changes to my living room! What a difference a year makes!

Lunch Time

Finally! Finally, finally, finally. Proof of life inside the Birdhouse!!

"Wait! Come back!"

The Kindness of Neighbors

 
I got a little present yesterday...

It's fresh...

And green...

And downright gorgeous...

And apparently of Hungarian descent.

I'm totally cool with that.

Blogging Mishap & a Lesson Learned

My friend Nacole loves stamping, scrapbooking, card making.... in short, crafty things. Last week, she decided to start a new blog to showcase some of her handmade greeting cards and stationary. I've received many of her cards over the last couple of years, so trust me when I say they're super cute. Anyway, last week she was very excited about uploading pictures to her newly created page. I had called her on my way home from work one to chat about some things and ended up talking to her for much longer than expected, so I was a little surprised when I got another phone call from her not long after we hung up.

me: Hello?
Nacole: I just did something really dumb you're going to laugh at.
me: Really? What?
Nacole: Are you near your computer? Go to your blog.
me: Erm, OK.{brief pause while I navigated to the site}
Nacole: Um, I think that you were still logged into Picasa on my laptop...so um...I think I ended up uploading my pictures to your web album....
me: Oh, OK.
Nacole: ....and I just posted something on your blog. {It was then that I reached my blog and burst out laughing!}

There it was. A blog post definitely not "created by heidi." I told Nacole I thought it was so funny I just had to to save the screen shot...and blog about it, of course! She explained that she had been so confused by what happened, but in a few minutes we had it sorted out. I deleted her pictures from my Picasa web album (apparently it had kept me logged in when I had uploaded some things while on vacation), deleted her blog post, and together we logged me out of everything.

Or so we thought. Since Blogger, GMail, and Picasa are all Google family members, it seemed that being logged into one account technically kept me logged into another. I knew this, but usually it worked the same way for logging out- you log out of one, you log out of all. Not on Nacole's laptop. For some reason it just kept me logged in until finally she cleared her cache and I changed my password. Whew. She finally got her pictures uploaded to her own Picasa account and blog. She's had no problems since!

The moral of the story is this: make sure that when you check email, blog accounts, whatever, from someone's computer, the "Remember me" or "Keep me logged in" box is NOT checked. Make sure to always log out. And if the person is OK with it, you may want to clear out their cache or cookies. {Always a good idea on a public computer!}

I'm just glad it was my good friend who had access to my pictures, blog account, and email account!!

My Most Favorite "Flower"...

Lilly!

In the Garden Right Now...Part Deux

 

Just for fun.... here's what that Bell Pepper looked like just one week ago. 

Mission Complete??

Is home improvement ever complete? I'm starting to think N-O.

In spite of that, Mission Home Improvement was pretty successful. As I mentioned on Friday, the water heater was put in Thursday night. After my family got in, took some measurements, planned things out a bit, and unpacked tools, we got to work. My dad and I left (I think it was close to 8 pm) to get the water heater, but since I hadn't been able to price out heaters ahead of time, we stopped a 3 different stores! Thankfully they were in close proximity to one another. We ended up going back to the first store for the heater, since they had the best price. Go figure. I knew my mom and brother would be making some preparations while we were out, but I wasn't expecting this when I got home:

My mom and brother managed to get the door-shaped hole cut, plus some, drained the water heater, and dug out some old carpet and crap that was in the tiny space behind everything (left by the previous owner). Whoa. 

 

{Note: the above picture is terrible and wobbly and I'm mildly embarrassed to have it on here, but it does illustrate the full extent of the wall carnage. Oh, for those of you who haven't been IN my basement, I have low ceilings, the door isn't really 8 feet tall.}

Soon after we came home, Dad and my brother got the old heater moved and the new heater installed and running. I ended up moving paint and shelves and pulling out soggy carpet and helping where I could, which included ordering a pizza for a late night snack (actually my dinner). :)

Friday morning I helped make some lists before I left for work. Apparently my crew had another productive day without me! They got the door to the "green room" rehung, 

my bedroom door removed - sorry, no pic...like I'm going to show you my not-so-tidy bedroom!! They also dug out the door in the garage rafters so I can start sanding it.

They got the lattice put on the deck, though apparently my silly Lilly managed to squeeze under the small hole left under the deck steps...so a couple pieces were added later.

But this was the scene when I pulled in the driveway on Friday after work...

my mom and brother hacking away at the gianormous lilac bush/tree/monstrosity. It had been damaged in the blizzard this winter and has never been the same since and I was worried a overhanging branch would fall on my neighbor's car in a storm, so it needed to be yanked out. 

This was what was left when my brother's saw battery died. Poor Mama Bird flew over and sat on one of the remaining branches and seemed confused. Aww. Although I don't have a picture, trust that there's now nothing left but a freakish stump.I'm sure Mama Bird is really confused now. 

No picture, but my brother put some caulk on the outside of the patio door, which will hopefully take care of the leak.  Also, the easily accessible cold water pipes in the basement were insulated! No more drips!

Aside from all of these projects, some other things came up that needed attention...

*my front porch light went out at the most inopportune time (i.e., right after ordering pizza) and is quite tricky, so my brother also took care of that, 

*my AC had a clogged hose somewhere, which also contributed to the watery mess in the basement {still don't understand all that, but it seems better now, so I'm OK with that}. My dad and brother removed the rubber hose and replaced it with PVC pipe, which won't kink and will hopefully not clog,

*the old-school metal weather strip that was on my balcony door was removed and the door planed so it closes (and opens) more easily,

*air vents were cleaned, filters replaced, 

*sewer cover...or plug...or whatever it's called, was a rusty, gross mess and fell off when we were pulling carpet off the basement floor. Now replaced!

Whew. What a busy weekend. My crew worked really hard and I am very grateful for their help and expertise. Much to my brother's chagrin, we {Mom & I} were already planning more projects. I feel like I drove around a lot, spent a lot of money, and helped where I could, but my crew did the tough stuff while I was gone, it seemed! Thanks again, y'all!

Status Update

Water heater??

Check!

Thanks Dad & Todd for all the hard work & heavy lifting! Mom, you did a great job wielding that mop and moving stuff around! Great team effort y'all! 

We decided the bathroom exhaust fan would be a project for cooler months, since it's approximately 300 degrees in the attic. Ugh. So, that's off the list for now! More pictures and details later...

Happy weekend everyone!

 

Mission Home Improvement

I thought yesterday was Thursday. Really. All day. I even looked at the lunch menu and thought to myself, "Darn it! If only it were Wednesday I could have a crab rangoon with my lunch special instead of an egg roll." I figured out it actually was Wednesday when I heard the woman express happiness over getting the same crab rangoon I thought I missed.

Did I mention I had "realized" it was Wednesday about 13 times before lunch? Not kidding. Yeah, it's been a long week.

It's not over.

In a couple of hours my parents and older brother will be in town to help me work on some projects around the house. Some big, some small, but many in number. The list includes:

*putting a door in the basement- as in, cutting a door-shaped hole, framing it, hanging the door, etc.,
*patching up previous demolition work I did all by myself (hmmm, did I even blog about that???)
*replacing the water heater,
*maybe tearing out some soggy basement carpet,
*putting a door back on its hinges upstairs,
*taking my bedroom door off its hinges so it can (at some point) be sanded, patched, primed, and painted,
*trying to get an old door out of my garage rafters so it can be assessed and potentially overhauled (more on that later),
*attaching lattice to the bottom of the deck so the dogs will stop playing, lying, digging under there,
*trimming the out of control lilac bush,
*assessing my patio door as I just noticed it appears to be leaking,
*hopefully installing an exhaust fan in my bathroom....there isn't one (!!) and there is a definite need for it,
*maybe replacing the toilet in my bathroom- somehow, before I bought the house, the bowl got cracked and should really be replaced at some point but I'm not sure it's high on my priority list this weekend.

Whew...I think that might be all. Wait!

*finishing the trim work in the renovated spare room/office-- because the windows got sealed/covered for the winter with that weatherizing shrink wrap stuff, the trim couldn't be painted and quite honestly, I just haven't gotten to it.

OK... maybe that's it. What?? My mom told me they wanted to get as many things completed as possible. Honest. I have the emails to prove it, if you don't believe me. 

Anyway, it's going to be a very busy, very expensive weekend (for me). And I couldn't even get the whole day off tomorrow! Thankfully, I've got a good crew to help me out! I'll try to remember to take some pictures along the way, and fill you in on all the details later, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me until Monday!

So, what about you? Any big plans (home improvement or otherwise) for the weekend???

Check this out!

I love catalogs. I do. I have always loved them. I remember a game my friend and I used to play... we'd get the big catalog from JCPenney and we'd go through and "furnish" our dream houses. We'd write down or flag page numbers of bedroom sets, living rooms, kitchens, you name it. And slowly we'd build our dream homes...seriously, these were basically mansions!

Even now, when I get a catalog I have to flip through it a number of times before I feel like I've really looked at everything. Apparently I'm not the only one - I've realized lots of DIY bloggers use the catalogs for inspiration and ideas, which is great...

But haven't you ever looked at a catalog and wondered what they were thinking? Some of the layouts and accessories are just weird. They're just asking to be made fun of. Which is why I love this new blog, Catalog Living. I added it to my sidebar a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure if any of you ever check those out...

Anyway, it's funny and is the brainchild of Molly Erdman, an actor, writer, and all-around funny person. You may have seen her on Sonic commercials (also kinda funny). She basically creates these stories about "the exciting lives of the people who live in your catalogs."   Here are a few samples from her blog (as always, click to enlarge):

Love it! That one makes me think of a friend of mine- I am sure he would do something like that to be funny and/or passive-aggressive!!

Seriously...why else would you have a giant ball of string sitting around?

The last one is probably one of my all-time favorites. It makes me laugh every time...how ridiculous is it to tack pages to a wall?? Plus, it reminds me of a conversation N and I had about making a spare room feel homey for your guests!

If you haven't already checked out the blog, do it. Do it now. If you have, what do you think? Are you as amused by it as I am?

NOT in the Garden Right Now...

...my first Jalapeno! Because I ate it!

And it was good. I sliced it up and threw it in with some pasta, olive oil, fresh tomatoes and herbs, and a little salt. At first, I only threw in a few slices of the smaller end, as I didn't know how spicy it would be. It tasted so fresh and so... pepper-y, but very mild like a Bell pepper. Mm. Later, I sliced up the rest and threw it in with my leftover pasta, but first I ate a slice with the seeds. Whew! That side packed more heat!!

I can't wait for more!

In the Garden Right Now...

Vacation: Part II

Once again, I intended to blog sooner and more often than I have been recently. So many things have kept me from it: a 4-day headache and fluid-filled ears, a friend's birthday, my brother's visit & 4th of July fun with friends, a shiny new cell phone, an impromptu visit from family, studying...and the regular everyday life stuff. Whew.

But here I am, ready to finish my vacation post...even though it's not THAT exciting. I woke up on my Birthday to find my friend already awake. She had a present for me on the table and seemed super excited for me to open it, but we had to go to her post-op appointment, so really I was more concerned with getting her to the doc on time. I had plans to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in a loooong time later that day and was looking forward to it. Par for the course, it seemed nothing went right that day. We were a mere 3-5 minutes late for N's appointment...but we ended up waiting over an hour to be seen for a very brief appointment!! Grr! N colored me a picture while we waited....probably to keep her mind off of her own increasing discomfort...poor thing.

After the doc appointment, we ran to the store for a few things and to pick up a prescription...which apparently hadn't been called in. Sigh. Just as we were getting ready to leave the store, they paged N and she went back to the pharmacy while I took the groceries out and brought the car around. N said we needed to kill 15 minutes and they'd have the script ready. So, we went to a couple stores next door. I ended up getting a new pair of sunglasses. My other friend called and said she had to do some work before we could meet. On one hand, this was a good thing since we were running behind; on the other, not so great because who knew when I would actually get to meet up with her and have some fun.  At some point during the day I also called another friend I was supposed to meet for lunch the following day. She made a mistake in scheduling and couldn't make the original time, so I was hoping I could at least meet her for coffee! Quite frankly, I was getting a bit cranky by this point because nothing, even loosely made plans, seemed to be working out. 

Finally, N and I got her script and went home to eat lunch. She insisted on making me something and I opted for a grilled cheese and some soup. N wasn't super happy with how the sandwich turned out...

Oh well. It tasted fine. At this point, I was tired and just wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I changed clothes and went out to sit in the sun for a bit, even though I knew my other friend was probably waiting to hear something from me. Shortly after, N had the FedEx guy at her door with 2 boxes from ProFlowers.com (love them, by the way). She asked, "who are they for?" I looked at her like she was a little nuts and said, "For you. Who would be sending me flowers?" She got approximately 6 dozen roses- some miniature and some full-sized, in a variety of colors. Her mom and sisters sent them. They were so pretty!


A little while later, the doorbell rang again and N was handed another flower arrangement. This time it was for me! Apparently she and my brother secretly plotted via Facebook and he kindly sent me this pretty little arrangement. He wanted to send something small so I could carry it home with me. He wasn't thinking that I wouldn't be able to take it on the plane. He is still sad about that.

Either way, I really loved the flowers and carried them from room to room with me- if we were spending time in the basement to play Wii, I moved them there, or the dining room if we were upstairs for long. Plus, I took LOTS of pictures!

I finally left to meet my friend, but she was late meeting me because she had more errands to run and ended up trying on some stuff in another store. Sigh. Anyway, we eventually did some shopping, had a nice dinner and got caught up before she forced me to eat the most amazing cupcake I've ever had in my life. Seriously. I have no other words to express my feelings. Amazing.

Then I headed back to N's house, where she and her husband were waiting to force me to eat cake. I knew N had ordered a cake and she was very excited about it, but I had no clue what would be on it.

She said she wanted a garden scene because of my backyard and flowers. I wish you could see how 3D the frosting really was!! And it was a very good cake. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. I even ate it for breakfast the next day. :)

The next day (last day of my vacation) really felt like my birthday to me, since I'd be seeing so many friends throughout the day. I even wore a dress! Gasp! N and I met up with our mutual friend for coffee and then another friend for lunch. It was so good to see those women! I used to work with them at the Evil Empire and it was really good to know that not everyone there hated me (just my Evil, Wicked, Horrible boss) and that they really did still care about what was going on in my world.


Later that night, N and J took me to Fort Collins to Cafe Vino to meet my friends. It was a great night! Lots of hugs, friends, laughter, and some good food and drink.



The most frequently asked question while I was in Colorado was, "Why the heck did you come here for a vacation?"




My answer, "To see my friends. I missed you."

And really, that's all I wanted. To see my friends. To take a break from my normal routine. I definitely got that. :) Granted, it wasn't what N or I really had in mind when we planned my visit...but it sure was different.

The second most frequently asked question, "When are you coming back?"

I'm not sure when, but I will be back. Colorado will always hold a special place in my heart. And so will the friends I made there.