Life In Color

Back from the brink of extinction

Does anyone remember these?

Minidiscs baby!!! I was so into my minidisc player. I got this kick ass stereo for my high school graduation (gasp) nine years ago from my grandparents.

I almost, almost got rid of it earlier this year when we were doing a big clean out but I just couldn't bring myself to even though I hadn't used it in like four years. I just love the look of it, and Sony stuff holds up so well. I'm glad to tell you now it has a new life in the garage. Bj moved things around a bit so that we could fit it on our new shelves. And oh how I'm loving these old mixes! Bj is out in the garage now building himself a work bench, so I'll be sure to show you updated pictures of the garage later this weekend. Meanwhile I've already moved on to the next project in my head:

Ohhh also back from the brink, the attic!!! Did you remember I have an attic? I made up this drawing yesterday after walking around and measuring up there with Sciarrino.

Bj caught us up there when he got home from work. It's pretty big, with the option of being bigger by doing a shed dormer (facing the back yard). It would make the total space about 750 square feet. That includes this beauty:

The dormer that is shown predominantly on the front of the house.

Oh ya baby rain fed lawn, oh so pretty (before it goes dormant for summer). Our house is really not an acre off the road, it just looks that way with the wide angle.

So we decided to bite the bullet and have plans made up. Of course that is a tiny little percentage of what it will cost to do the actual work, but with out plans it will be nearly impossible to get any kind of real estimate of the cost of the job. So plans it is. The CADMAN (awesome name, no?) is going to come back Wednesday to do full measurements of the house, the whole house. He was here today and loved our place. He said the upstairs has tons of potential, and that the house is so much bigger than it looks from the street (we get that a lot).

I don't think I can properly describe how much I love this cottage. So many new house are so blah. No offense if you live in one, even Bj likes how new house have plugs everywhere, and big bathrooms and all of that. But to me that's not nearly as important as beautiful old wood floors, intricate built-ins and funny shaped brick dormers. I've been told there are four of these houses in the neighborhood. One is directly behind us. We think they did the upstairs without adding a dormer, so it's just one big room probably or maybe a room and a bathroom. The people behind us also turned there garage into a room, and added a kind of carport for their car. They have no awning. We found another one of the houses tonight. They have done the shed dormer, and their front door is recessed so we don't think they have a coat closet. That house is a block away and I plan on stocking them tomorrow so that I can ask to go in and see where they put there staircase. It's the only thing Bj and I don't agree on right now. I think our current bedroom should become a walk through den/man room for Bj and he thinks the stairway should go in through our dining room:

That makes me want to weep at the thought of loosing one of those awesome corner units. WEEP!!! I think down the road when we sell (hopefully when I'm eighty because I am so totally attached to this house) that saying three bedrooms, two baths, a den, dining, living, kitchen, and 900 square foot basement will be enough. He thinks it needs to be four bedrooms. Come on I say, someones always going to turn one of those bedrooms into a den/craft room so who care is you have to walk through it? Plus I like the idea of all the rooms/bathrooms being on one side of the house, so that if entertaining you don't have to mix it up. I just can't see sitting in the dinning room at Thanksgiving with a stairway jutting out one side.  Sigh it's so hard when you know you're right, ladies out there you hear me?

Weekend project: the garage

I meant to get this out earlier, how did Thursday get here so fast?!?!

I just went through the cottage archives to figure out the last time I wrote about my nasty garage and I think it was when I was moving in (September 2006). It had not improved much from those days until this last weekend. Here are some before pictures:

This isn't even really the before I started pulling things on to the back deck before I realized I should take a before. The whole problem with this thing is the organization "style" of the previous owners/renters. It went something like this: Oh you have something you want to hang up? Stick a nail in the wall, how about another? and another? Or you have something a little bigger how about a freaking redonkulous shelving unit made of three inch thick lumber? And support that with a wimpy 2x4 so it only looks sturdy and indestructible.

(that would be the white shelves there, so handy at about ten inches deep). And see that board behind the bikes? Turns out it's a piece of sheetrock. I mean what?

We really were not utilizing this space well at all. And don't let the wide angle fool you, the  garage is a whopping 9 feet wide, so no car will fit in there (if you want to open your doors). So I did what I always do in this situation, got out the graph paper and made a drawing to scale. With little movable piece of furniture and shelves. The result?

Heaven. The tool chest is open because Bj was working on a project, but you get the idea. We still have a little work to do. Like finally finishing those doors in the back (but hey, at least they're primed now). This is some serious good progress. We ripped about five hundred (okay 175) nails from the walls and took down all the hokey scrap wood shelves to make this Ikea beast:

It's Broder baby! I'm excited about it now, but that's after two trips to Ikea (an hour away) because they were out of a key component (the wall supports). That is all our camping and Christmas stuff in there, and still lots of empty bins! The big space is for Bj's backpacking gear, he just needs to hang up hooks before he drags all that up from the basement. Speaking of the basement; now that the little storage room down there is free of things that should have been out here all along I've been able to get my art cabinet down there and free up more space in the corner of the garage.

That is another Ikea unit, an Antonius system of drawers. We have all our screws, nails, bungees, etc. up here now too. Also freeing up space?

Proper use of rafters. We're not really sure about the weight limits of our plywood shelf so right now it has old stretcher bars and canvases of mine, the chairs I've yet to paint, and our gigantic tent. We also stuck the old french doors that I found in the basement up there. Bj wanted to get rid of them but I just can't do it, they are so charming and you know someday maybe we could put them somewhere.

So everything is cleaned out, the craftsman cabinet Bj inherited was a big project. He cleaned it I organized and labeled everything. The bike stand is installed (though my low step bar frame doesn't actually fit on it, just under). Ladders are hung. We just need to make a work bench and do a few little things. Perhaps our favorite fix can be seen on that first after shot of the garage. See that basket hanging from the garage door? When I first moved in I had no mail box or slot. In old neighborhoods like this the mailman walks around and will bring mail up to your house if you have a slot. So I knew I wanted one, but the door didn't have the right front for cutting one out. I asked my (super friendly and nice) mailman if I could put it in the garage door instead, he said no problem. So our mail has been going all over the floor in there for almost two years. We've tried putting baskets and bins under the slot but it always misses. I had thought of a hanging basket a while ago but never implemented it. My friends it's genius. It's on two cup hooks hooked into the garage door. Then I took wire clippers and made holes in the cheap target paper bin, and threaded it on the hooks. It doesn't even need to be taken off to open the door! And then mail? Right in the bin, every time. Ahhh success.

So that was a pretty long post just about my garage but we did spend three entire days working only on that and I'm very happy to have it done. I'll see if I can come up with something a little more creative to share soon. Oh and Bj wanted to share this:

"Bj what are you taking pictures of?"
"The new bike rack."
"Why?"
"For your blog"

Hmm okay. Well there you go blog readers, a new bike rack. You may notice, as I did, that it only holds one bike. Not exactly picking up on the fun couple activity joint bike riding is, is he? Grrr. He said he had to test it out first. I hope another is on the way!

From an old geezer to weezer

Dudes today I took grandpa to the back and spine doctor. We've been to this doctor before and grandpa loves the guy (you know as much as he is able due to his um, lack of trust with the medical profession). The doctor, Dr. Heros (I know! And he really is) was in the Army and since grandpa is all about his military service, it is a match made in heaven. I love that this doctor always takes the time to actually talk to grandpa (which means he has to yell to him basically), and listen even when grandpa goes off on a tangent about getting hooked on dope (prescription drugs). Grandpa has never been hooked on prescription drugs but for some reason he lives in constant fear of it and occasionally he likes to quit everything cold turkey, which leads to pain and comments like, "just take me to the morgue." Now I'm not a huge medicine fan myself, but the things grandpa says crack me up.

Here's grandpa on a pack of pills he returned because they made him "doopy"

Grandpa: "so where are these made, Afganistan?"

Dr. Heros: "no, it says here they are made in Canada."

Grandpa: "but they've got poppies in them."

Dr. Heros: "No these are made in a lab."

Grandpa: "I don't want to get addicted to the poppies."

Dr. Heros: "I assure you sir these are on the up and up, nothing black market about these."

Grandpa: "okay now take a look at my trigger finger."

LOL I had spent the whole time in the lobby trying to convince grandpa not to bring up a recent blood test or the trigger finger to the SPINE doctor. He has this blood test showing that everything is alright like kidney function and the like. Grandpa starts laughing and says, "Can you believe this, my god damn doctor things I'm fine. Do I look fine to you?" I tried to explain that just like a bone scan wouldn't show diabetes the blood test doesn't show the bone problems, but grandpa would not hear that logic (that's good logic right?). This is when I start to get ultra frustrated with the old guy. I mean we're not trying to trick him. I don't know if it's his generation or what, but I would hate to live my life like that thinking everyone and their dog is out to get me.

I did get him a new wheelchair today, we had just borrowed them before. I would borrow the retirement homes to get him down to the car. Then take it back. Then drive to the doctor's. Then go in and get one  of their chairs. Then go get him. Then park the car. Then go to the doctor's appointment. Then go get the car. Go get him and load him in. Then go take the chair back. So ya, it will save me a few steps. And the thing weighs 45 pounds pounds compared to the million pounds some of the others feel like. And can I just rant for a minute? If you are not handicapped please don't ever park in a handicapped space. You would not believe how many people still think it's okay to park in one for a minute or two. But if you already need all the time you have alloted to get a handicapped person out of the car and situated in a chair or walker or whatever you don't have time to wait for the LAZY ASS who can't park five spaces away to run in whatever he is dropping off. If you do that I have no sympathy. NONE. You are just asking for some major bad karma. Oh and also to the lazy guy who was sitting right next to the door staring at me the whole time I was trying to get grandpa over the threshold bump while keeping the door open with one hand and holding on to my handbag? I don't like you either, get off your ass and help your fellow man.

So I came home in a bit of a mood. Then Bj showed me this.

You know what? Everything is suddenly better. :)

edited: Bj just sent me this link to all the video used for their Pork and Beans single.

Breakfast, that's right I'm up.

First for Erin

The cupcakes. Emilie brought a Sprinkles mix. When we got to the frosting part I realized we only had about half of the needed powdered sugar. I looked online for a substitute and it turns out you can get out the mortar and pestle and grind it into a powder yourself. So we did. And we still halved the recipe. If you make these you really only need half, they have you make a ridiculous amount of frosting. I love frosting and even I thought it was way way too much.

It was fun to have Emilie over last night. She cracks me up. We went to the mall after school so I could check out the Half-Yearly Sale and replace my 15 year old hairbrush (they still make them!). I hadn't been to the mall in so long. It is so much fun to people watch there, especially teenagers. We saw a great pass between two groups of girls. One group was in line with us at Auntie Anne's, the others were doing a walk by. There was a great, "oh hey, how are you?" "oh hi guys, see you later." I wish I could properly get across in written words how laced the exchange was with bitchiness. It should have gone like this, "oh hey (it's those girls we hate so much), how are you (did you break up with that boyfriend)?" "Oh hi guys (oh no it's THEM), see you later (ugh we better not run into them again)." So bad, but so interesting. There's always those girls right, the super bitchy ones. Yikes.

On the way home we passed a new strip joint in town (yuck, yuck, double yuck). And Emilie goes, "so if you did that would you rather be called an exotic dancer or striper." LOL what? I thought maybe they are differnt, but I'm too afraid to put that in a search engine. That exchange reminded me of a silly thing we did in high school, where you figure out your stripper name. I said mine would be Rainbow Mimosa (first pet + street you grow up on) it could also be Rainbow Fir (that's the first street I ever lived on), but that's just too bad. We got home and asked Bj what his first pet was named (Nikki) and his street (Viewpoint). We started laughing, and he asked why. We told him and he said that we had it all wrong, "No, you take your middle name, make it your first, and then the nearest cross street. I know because at one time my stripper name was Henry Ruggles." Henry Ruggles, oh my goodness we could not stop laughing.

This morning I had to get up early to take her to school (early for me equals 7:12am). I was so confused by the alarm clock I kept nudging Bj to turn his off already. It took almost a minuet of beeping for me to get it together and turn the thing off. Alarm clocks, ew. We drove to school and on the way back as I was driving with people tailgating, swerving, driving too fast, smoking in their cars, eating in their cars, talking in there cars, and looking really really pissed off in their cars. Look, it's the best part of my job that I'm never out on the road during this apparently mean time. I don't see how you can be so very upset. I mean it is early, but geez. When I see unhappy people it tends to make me more glad that my life is as good as it is. So I cranked up Vida la Viva (brilliant) and decided I would come home and cook real breakfast.

I roused Bj, who gets the best sleepy face when he gets to sleep in longer than me. It's a little smile that looks like he's having the best dream ever. I went about making the BEST BREAKFAST EVER. My mom makes a version of this. I'm going to write it out because I think it's a fantastic fast hot breakfast. Healthy, mmm, maybe, maybe not. First you take frozen hash browns.

Put a pile of them on a plate and microwave for three minutes. Meanwhile in a pan:

The key is half olive oil half butter. Heat up and melt. After hash browns are done in the microwave put them in the pan and brown on both sides. I figure we could handle a little bacon so I put some in the microwave:

I love bacon. I like the idea of being vegetarian, but I love bacon. This by the way is one of the only things I use paper towels for. Bj uses them for everything, ugh it's a source of contention. How does he use so many??!?! Anyway take three eggs

Beat them with a fork. Set aside. Get out the trifecta (sp?) of seasonings:

Salt, pepper and Johnny's. Best seasoning salt ever. As you can see, it is pure magic. The potatoes should be done (you flip them once to get them brown on both sides). So season them a bit, then pour the eggs over. This is the genius part, everything goes together.

Then you just cook until eggs are done! You can add cheese, my mom adds stuff veggies, salsa, and cottage cheese (right mom?). But I like it plain with a side of tomatoes and ketchup.

I don't like cooked tomatoes but these varieties are quite good.

Eat!

Spring Fling

I know, I know, I'm alive can you believe it? I just sent out a Ribbon Jar email with fun stuff like this:

That's right the guessing jar is back. So make sure you check your email. I also put a heads up in there about our awesome new Spring Fling kit:

I've only gotten to play with it a little bit, but hopefully I should have some time soon to crank out some more projects from this yummy batch of stuff (if you want your own they are right here). I did fifty of them so they are first come first serve. My favorite part:

These custom self-adhesive tags I had made for the kit. Each set is a little different, with a dozen labels. Yummy.

Other than that I'd like to say, "hey I've been so busy and exciting." But that's not really true. I have been getting back on my bike, remember that thing? I forgot how much I love it. Turns out all I really needed to do was get Bj a nice bike of his own (which I did for his birthday earlier this month with the help of grandpa). Now Bj wants to go out all the time. I've already taken my packages to the post office once by bike, and cycled to the Saturday market in town with my mom and Bill, it was so much fun. Hmm what else? Oh I've worked on a to scale plan for the garage over-haul we're planning for the weekend. Now that might not seem that exciting to you, but for a Virgo like me... very exciting! Emilie is over for the night since my dad and her mom are out of town. We're trying to talk Bj into making us stir-fry, no problem I think, as Em brought cupcake mix for dessert as a bribe, I love that girl!

Ribbon Jar month

Bad blogger here checking in to basically tell you I'm going to continue to be a bad blogger. :) Sorry but it's true. This month is going to be super exciting Ribbon Jar wise, but otherwise I doubt much will get done. Why is it so exciting? Ribbon Jar turns three this month. I really can't believe it. It does not seem so long ago that I made the announcement that I would start the business soon. I started off the month releasing the May jar: Rain Forest

I have other fun things coming, and I'll be sure to let you know about that. Of course if it turns out this is a crazy exciting month, I'll be sure to fill you in. :)

Why yesterday was weird and today was better.

Internet as I sit here in my joggins, having spent about four hours of the day today watching Carrier and knitting it's hard to see anything wrong with the world. However yesterday I was convinced that the gods were conspiring against me. After waking up and deciding the world wasn't ready for me yet, I hid back under the covers (okay maybe I wasn't ready for the world). I heard the phone ring, and didn't want to go get it but in the end I always get it because it could be grandpa. So I'm rushing to get the phone because I waited to long to let it ring and I did a serious toe plant into the side of my trunk. Which led to a trail of blood to the phone, to the hall closet for Bandaids, and to the bathroom. I seriously took a chunk out of my foot. I got all cleaned up and decided, screw this, I'm going to read in bed. Then the doorbell rang. It was my super nice meter reader. But I still had to trek outside through our seriously dilapidated back yard (it is soooo embarrassing). I think I should just stop telling Mr. cool meter reader that we are ever going to work on it. Of course, I doubt he believes us now anyway.

So that was the start of my day. Then ribbon I was waiting on for a bride somehow got re-routed to Pennsylvania (from California, so I can't figure that out). It would be funny if I didn't feel so terrible about it now being late. Things picked up in the afternoon after Sciarrino and I went on a walk. I love our walks, we get some good talking in. Thank goodness she's back from her sojourn in Europe, that was just too long. Then things started to go crazy again.

Brent called me to tell me there were a lot of ambulances and fire trucks outside grandpa's retirement place. Well I said, "that is not that unusual those people are all old." But he was persistent and said it was A LOT. I had just gotten back from visiting grandpa so I wasn't that worried but I called and an out of breath woman said, "not to worry, everyone is evacuated." Then I'm all, what the hell is going on over there??!!?! So I drive over, but the whole street is blocked off. I asked the officer if he could tell me anything, no but he gave me a number to see where they have taken everyone. So I call the non-emergency number and they said people were still in triage, that there was a fire, and that I had to wait at least a half hour before calling back for information.

Of course I'm freaking out, Bj is gone for the evening. So I just sat there and ate organic cheese bunny crackers and a string cheese for dinner while I waited. Eventually I did get a hold of someone. It wasn't that big of deal. They told me they were still waiting to be let inside but my grandpa was sitting out side complaining with another older gentleman. That is so grandpa. Then about an hour goes by and I get a call from the man himself.

grandpa: "Hey, listen."
me: "Grandpa, I've been worried about you, are you okay?"
grandpa: "Ya listen, I need you to add something to your shopping list. I need ice cream. And the paper towels you tear in two."
me: "okay, but are you okay right now?"
grandpa: "I'm damn cold. I think they were trying to kill me out there. You've never seen so many old people out in one place in your life."

So funny. I just got back from there. Turns out it was  a dryer fire (as if anyone needed another reason to change their lint filters EVERY TIME YOU PUT IN A LOAD). All 88 residents are fine. Thank god the ones on oxygen are housed away from that area. Scary. It smelled a little, but they had fans going, air filters, and the carpets and everything had already been cleaned. All in all not bad. And grandpa had clipped the article from the paper for me so I could read all about it.

More damage was done last month when grandpa had a little poop explosion problem (okay it wasn't little). He started trying to clean it up on his own by throwing a pair of joggins on the pile. We tossed those so this weekend will see me sewing more invisible zippers into track suits so he can "get his dick out." Ah such is life.

Now excuse me while I go eat dinner. I put lots of healthy things in my cart, like the kind of eggs where the chickens run wild, and kind of organic soups that cost more than they should (sorry Bj). But the one dollar party pizza won out. So bad....

But so good.