Who are you calling a pansy?

I spent a wonderful weekend enjoying the fruits of my labor.  I planted pansies in our planter out front last week, cleaned up the yard this weekend, and planted the peony that has been hanging out in the fridge for a few days.  Saturday afternoon was beautiful and we decided to take Molly out for an exploratory trip in the backyard.  She was a little nervous at first but she quickly began exploring the yard and all of the new smells and sights.  We kept her on her harness but let her play a little by herself.  The sun felt glorious on my pasty winter skin and I lay in the grass. I am afraid that we may have created a monster because she spent most of the weekend plotting how to get out and meowing mournfully at the door.
Its funny but I always took a yard for granted until I didn't have one.  As a kid and later a teenager, yard work held no interest for me, in fact I avoided it like the plague.  When we lived in our apartment, we didn't have a private green space.  While that meant that I didn't have to tackle mowing the lawn and cleaning up branches and leaves, I never felt comfortable enjoying the pleasures of the outdoors, sitting in the grass, enjoying a glass of wine on the patio, choosing my favorite flowers to plant, etc.  Now that I have my own yard, I take pleasure in cleaning and caring for my yard.  I tackled removing the old rose bush and detritus left behind by the old owner with no complaining or procrastinating.  For my parents I am sure that it would be shocking!

Spring!

Spring has arrived!

It has been better busy around here the last few weeks. I was out of town last weekend for my knitting group's annual retreat, recovering from strep throat, and dealing with a sick kitty. Molly has been having some issues with gas since we got her and we took her to the vet to make sure that there wasn't something seriously wrong. After an x-ray and expressing some glands they gave us some antibiotics and recommended switching her diet to a gluten and grain free variety (read expensive). Since then she has had some diarrhea and even worse gas then before. It is pretty obvious she isn't feeling well and I can’t help but feel guilty for causing it. Hopefully she will adapt to her new diet and start feeling better soon.


In the midst of all this it seems that spring has arrived! I am excited to see what all of the green sprouts will turn into. I have already found some crocuses and am hoping that there will be some tulips thrown into the mix. It is a little like waiting for Christmas!

Better Late Than Never and Let Sleeping Cats Lie

I have been working on a very late baby blanket for Scott's cousin's new baby.  I was hoping to have it done by the time he was born, however, due to a combination of my own procrastination and the baby coming early it will be a late gift!  I really like the pattern, it is the Big Bad Baby Blanket from Stich and Bitch by Debbie Stoller.  I bought this book when I first started knitting and to be honest this is the first thing I have made from the pattern section, however it is a super easy pattern and I love the way that it is turning out!

She looks so innocent when she is sleeping doesn't she? Who would think that in her spare time she does this?

Yes folks, at one time this was a complete box.  Our house is completely covered by small pieces of cardboard.

A Snowy Wednesday's Thoughts

The snow is falling softly outside the window this morning, blanketing our lawn and trees.  This is probably one of my favorite parts of owning a house (with the exception of shoveling the driveway).  I love looking out the windows at our yard in all seasons, seeing the subtle changes from day to day.  The experience of homeownership is unlike anything I have experienced before, and although it comes with a little bit of fear of the unknown, it is immensely satisfying.  I feel fortunate that we have the means to be able to afford this privilege.

Coming to a screeching halt

Well, I feel like we have come to a screeching halt on our home improvement endeavors.  The dining room light we ordered didn't work out, it turned out that it didn't have a hardwiring option despite evidence on the website to the contrary.  We haven't decided on a rug and although we have the primer and paint I have yet to start painting the bathroom.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks we can get it together and start to make some progress!

Change is afoot!

Hopefully there will be some changes in our Bungalow in the next few weeks.  We ordered a new dining room light from West Elm, have finally decided on some paint colors for the guest bath and our bedroom, and are almost done organizing the basement where we will be moving Molly-cat's litter box.  Future projects include actually painting various rooms (which I am afraid will require scraping and patching the walls where the previous paint has bubbled), deciding on a rug for the living room, installing shelving inside a few of our kitchen cabinets and closets, and the list goes on.  I am finally starting to feel that our house is coming together.  This weekend in anticipation of dinner guests I hung some of our artwork and cleaned up some of the shelving.  I know that this is going to be an ongoing work in progress, but I am pleased with the results so far!

A roof over my head

We finally had the roof replaced last week and now have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that we shouldn't have to replace it for another 30 years.  The whole process took two days and with the exception of tromping on a few plants didn't cause too much disruption.  The arrival of the roofers did startle me a little bit.  I had stayed home that day to take care of Molly as she spent her first full day in her new home and recovered from being fixed.  I was dozing on the sofa when I heard footsteps outside the back door.  I would be lying if I said it didn't spook me before I realized what was going on.  The rest of the day proceeded with no small amount of banging and hammering which Molly took in stride.  I was a little worried the noise might scare her, but I guess she was used to the noise of the shelter.

We had asked the roofers to take pictures of the underlying structure of the roof so that we could see the condition of the wood.  We were concerned that they would have to replace a large portion of the roof running up the total cost of the job.  In the end it didn't turn out to be too bad, even though the pictures look pretty scary.  We had expected a certain amount of damage around the chimney where we had a leak due to the improperly installed flashing.  In addition, we were really worried about the roof of our addition.  At a house warming party a few weeks ago one of our neighbors mentioned that there was a problem with the roof.  It was previously shingled but because it is almost flat, we decided to install a rubber roof instead.  While not attractive, it is the right thing to do.  It will last longer and won't be as prone to leaks as shingles on a flat surface.  We were happy with our contractor and with the results.  His quote was fair and he didn't charge us for the wood that they had to replace.  I like the color of the shingles and siding that we chose and think that it will look even better when we get around to repainting the woodwork.  Now we can tackle the next item on our extensive list (repairing and refinishing the windows, replacing the gutters?), although it may be awhile before we can afford to do some of them!

It is so easy to judge...

I used to look at parents who slept with their children with no small amount of judgment.  What are they thinking?  By giving into their children's demands they, aren't teaching them to sleep on their own and to show independence.  Why couldn't they be strong and ignore the their crying for the greater good?  What a feel I was.  I quickly learned how a sweet face can break your heart to the point you are willing to do anything to make that child (or in this case cat) feel better.

This morning I woke up around 2 am to the sound of Molly crying in the guest room where we had sequestered her for the night.  We have every intention of giving her free reign of the house including our room, but we want to watch her for a few days to make sure that she isn't getting into anything she shouldn't.  Oddly enough Scott didn't wake up until I poked him so that he would suffer along with me.  I guess the recent article about a study proving that men don't hear a baby crying in the night is right!  We checked on her to make sure that something wasn't wrong.  After all, she is still recovering from being fixed.  As I am sure you can guess, she was fine, but just wanted some attention.  I gave in... I couldn't help myself... I decided that I would sleep in the guest room for the rest of the morning so that she would have some company.  How could this happen?? I always considered myself a rational human being. As I fell asleep with Molly curled up beside me I contemplated my future as a mother.  If I gave in so quickly to my cat, I don't stand a chance with a baby, Scott will have to be the tough one.

She's Here!

We brought home our new kitty Molly home tonight.  Molly is a 4 year tabby that we adopted from the local animal shelter.  She is recovering from being fixed but is doing really well.  She is already scouting out her new digs and looking for affection.  We are very proud parents right now!

Bringing Home Baby

A furry baby! Tonight we are getting ready for bringing home a new furry addition (or two) to our family.  This has been one of the hardest decisions we have had to make.  We set out to get an older cat and twice we thought that we had found the right one, but through various circumstances it just wasn't to be.  Tonight we went to the shelter once again hoping that the third time would be the charm and after a little hunting, I think that we found the right one.  We still have to go through the adoption process so there is still the chance that it might not work out, but I am hopeful that tomorrow night we will have at least one new family member.  Her name is Miley (I know, lame name right?) and she is about 4 years old.  We are also hoping to adopt a second cat at the same time and we are trying to decide between two older male cats.  We really do want to open our home to an older cat and we thought that it would be easier to get two at the same time in order to avoid territory issues.  I will keep you posted!

Help us decide!

We would really like to replace the chandelier in our dining room. The one that is currently there is okay, but looks kind of cheap up close and just isn't my style. It also holds about 6 bulbs which seem to go out quite frequently (can you spot which one is out in the picture?).  We have been thinking a lot about the type of light that we would like to replace it with. I think that I would like to go a little more contemporary as a counter balance to some of the other things in the room, such as my great grandmother's buffet. The only other furniture in the room is the dining table (which the previous owner kindly left us) and our Hans Wegner Wishbone chairs. Below are a few different pendant lights that I really like. What do you think?