i love upstate

Just A Reminder...This Blog Moved...

2009-05-18T19:40:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder, the blog has moved to a self-hosted site. You can use either:

iloveupstate.com

or

renovationtherapyblog.com

Please update your links, Google Reader, etc. cause we kinda miss YOU!

Identify Serge Roche Mirror?

2008-04-06T00:28:00.004-05:00

I bought this mirror at auction tonight and I think it's a Serge Roche mirror. If it is...then I'm going on a nice vacation. If it's not, no worries, I do like it a lot. I've been googling like crazy but haven't found any kind of Serge Roche expert/collector type website. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? I don't want to take the back apart (yet) to look for marks. It's huge - about 30 wide by 35 high.

I bought a bunch of things at the auction...will try and post them tomorrow. Super tired from hauling stuff in and out of the car...and it's 1:31AM.

Posted AUCTION pics N stuff on the NEW Wordpress blog...OVER HERE...

Wordpress...

2008-04-04T19:24:00.004-05:00

I'm playing with Wordpress and very seriously considering moving the whole shebang over there. I'm still getting to know the software so there's lots of errors. I was able to import 500+ posts (man do I have a lot of carp to say...).

Here's the link to the Wordpress version: CLICK.

and the straight url:

http://renovationtherapy.wordpress.com/

I will eventually get all my links over there and the other flotsam. I'm hoping to actually CLEAN UP my tags & categories...something I didn't understand when I started the blog last year and then ignored for the rest of the year. Anyone want to help categorize 500+ posts of randomness? Yeah, I didn't think so. Thanks for nuttin! I kid. I kid.

I've also gotta do a logo n stuff...and update all the Blog Catalog, Technorati, Site Meter junk. Fun!

RanDUMB

2008-04-04T13:39:00.008-05:00

I sent the Fiance a list of things I wanted us to accomplish this weekend including;

1. a trip to Sears to buy an orbital sander, japanese saw
2. plant our seeds for tomatoes and other veggies
3. finishing sanding the round table that the Fiance thinks is important to me...but that I had put out with the trash
4. priming and painting that round table
5. sanding the top of one of the art deco nightstands - I still have to buy a small piece of replacement veneer for it. I now know it's ribbon stripe mahogney thanks to Joe at Veneer Supplies. I'd order the sheet from him but they seem to sell in much larger quantity levels than I need. Still, good to know he's there!
6. clean up the winter litter (why do kids LOVE to throw those barrel shaped juice drinks on our lawn?!?!?) and remove the dead veggie stalks from last summer
7. check out the sod situation at Home Depot and possibly find a "sod dude" while in Home Depot to transport it and put it down
8. check out the pea gravel prices. I love pea gravel!!
9. construct board/fencing for the new/bigger garden area.

And do you know what that man said?!?!!?

"ok"

He said "ok". I tell you, I was breathless.

Course...then I got an email about a black velvet chesterfield couch out on Long Island. I don't need/want the couch - though it is beautiful...but I made the mistake of looking at all the other items that are going up for auction on Saturday night and Sunday.

Wonder if I can talk him into an auction on Saturday night...hah! I shall press my luck...cause that's what I do.

Oh yeah...in other RanDUMB news...I had (lots of) drinks & nibbley bits with these girls last night. For a group of nice girls, we rang up a $291 bill. Oops. Also, the cilantro in my office is doing quite well.

Couldn't I Just Hire My Niece To Draw A Picture Of Me?

2008-04-03T08:49:00.009-05:00

I need a headshot for an upcoming side project that is in fact kinda related to home improvement. I haven't had time to take any pictures what with fumbling in the dark in Vermont, sitting on trains, working, throwing back cocktails, meeting with the slipcover lady, etc. You see the schedule is just full-full-full. I even double booked tonight. The Fiance bought tickets to see Chicago on Broadway and I told the girls at work that tonight would be a grand night to go out and tie one on. Oops. The Fiance has a friend in town this week so the friend'll get dragged to the show and I'm going to go drink beer and eat frito pies with the co-workers. So anyway, this morning the Fiance set up the camera and a backdrop and took over 100 pictures. THEY ALL SUCK. Apparently I said to him "please take the pictures really close up so that everyone can be sure to see the slack in my skin, the double chin, the gaps in my teeth and the crows feet that are scratching their way across my eyes. Didn't he realize that I need the Cybill Shepherd treatment where it's all gauzy and diffused looking? I mean if he loved me, really loved me he could have scraped 40 pounds off these pics, right? Ugh. Sadly, these are the best. Which means I will be taking pictures of myself tonight...half in the bag after a night out with the girls...

I know how to laugh. I laugh a lot. I look TERRIBLE when I smile or laugh in pictures. My lips get all contorted and my teeth look weird. But I don't want to not smile - cause then I just looked pissed off. Grrrr.

From Rechelle: I think the picture in the middle row on the left looks cute, a tad hostile, but cute.

I Made An Offer On A New House!!

2008-04-02T19:43:00.004-05:00

I've been dreaming about this place for years. It's just 2-3 miles down the road from the Fiance's parents' country house so we can pop over all the time. Nothing like a nice afternoon with the inlaws - am I right? We could play cricket on the lawn and sip minty ice-tea.

Seriously though, this place makes my heart ache. I want it. I want to restore it. I'm told it's BEYOND restoration. The Fiance's Mom actually looked into it. Man, those heating bills would kill ya! Who am I kidding, I can't afford squat in that town.

Pics from Abandoned But Not Forgotten.

The History of the School/Resort.

Interior Pictures That Will Make You Cry.

Not sure what the asking price is but it sounds like it's well into the 7-figures...sigh...

I Got Me Mad Skillz!

2008-04-02T18:13:00.005-05:00

Now that I'm all wood-shoppy...I need a place that I can actually do stuff. The foyer isn't looking like the best wood shop and the proximity to the litter box is, well, ick.

What's my first project? Other than finishing the veneer on the art deco nightstands and finishing sanding/painting the table the Fiance thinks I love...constructing my Dorothy Draper coffee table. Yep. The nice men that run Dragonette in LA have pics on their site (a mere $6800) with dimensions. Not sure on the thickness...I might have to give them a call and throw myself on their mercy (they are very sweet) to measure it.

Then you know...when I'm all done with that...I can tackle this Paul Frankl table. IN MY DREAMS. Don't you just want to lick that table? What? It's just me? Umm, nevermind...

So where am I going to do this? Not sure. There's a place/space in Brooklyn called 3r dWard that you can get day passes to ($50 a day) after you take a course ($80) with them. Tempting, but we're Queens/Upstate folk. We don't do Brooklyn. Still...the space looks really nice. It's mostly for artists, sculptors, designers, etc.

Dang. I need to find some Grandfatherly type to adopt me in the hood.

In other news, there's a nice woman over here drawing pictures of my chairs to make slipcovers...yeehaa!

My Yestermorrow aka "Tool Camp" Experience...

2008-04-01T21:39:00.009-05:00

I’ve rewritten this post several times. It gets softer each time. I can’t begin to tell you the fury and anger that my first draft (written on Saturday night) had.

It’s now Sunday evening. It’s MUCH better. I have been up here since late Friday night. I’m at the point now where I have a mostly warm-fuzzy feeling about this place --- but I had to fight to find things out. Information wasn’t exactly doled out, which is ironic given the sheer number of signs posted everywhere.

The orientation was handled by someone who started out by saying "I don't work here". Excuse me? She thought the place was "neat and cool". Well, when I was 19 or 20 or 21 (she was young) I thought anything that was away from my parents was "neat and cool" too but I'm 37 now. The biggest piece of information handed out at the orientation was that some bathrooms are coed. I don’t know/understand the culture so the ‘unwritten rules’ are puzzling. If I’m hungry, can I get something from the cabinets? If I don’t like the food they serve, what do I do? I’m not comfortable saying “a baked wheat tortilla with corn, rice and tomato sounds gross”. I was really uncomfortable outside of the classroom.

Will I come here again? Yes.

What’s my issue? Like I said, information wasn’t exactly provided on a lot of things. Presumably they are trying to foster a creative environment, but I’d like to KNOW where the light switches are before I have to walk down a PITCH BLACK hallway or stairwell. What’s the lighting rule? Everyone kept turning the lights off and plunging us into darkness. Had to walk down stairs in the dark – a lot. Constant fumbling wears you down. I have a considerable amount of hearing loss, I’m supposed to wear a hearing aide. I don’t. I’m vain. I was left in the dark for more than hour. When you have a hearing impairment and you’re in pitch black darkness – you become Helen Keller and it’s TERRIFYING.

I’d like to have known that towels and sheets would be provided (I called twice) the person I spoke to wasn’t sure so I lugged them up with me from New York. I’d like to have known a bit more about the food they serve. The breakfast/lunches were very good but the dinners made me want to run screaming. Saturday night was a wheat tortilla with rice, corn and chunks of tomato – baked. For dessert it was a maple muffin/brownie thing with chunks of corn in it. Sorry, that’s not dinner to me – that’s a stomach explosion in the making. My roommate said that the dinners are usually very good, she thought the regular kitchen person must have been on vacation or something. I blew $20 on a cab ride to a grocery store so that I could buy bread, cheese, yogurt, soup and a frozen pizza (and I’m not a big fan of frozen pizza). I wish someone had told me to bring a flashlight. That my cellphone/blackberry wouldn’t work up here and at night…I’d be (truly) isolated. Isolation isn’t something I’m used to. When you don’t know the lay of land and all your communication tools are in the crapper and you don’t know anyone, you’re isolated. Turn off the lights and add a hearing impairment and it’s your worst nightmare.

Let me tell you the good stuff. The class was awesome. At the end of the day that’s the single most important aspect – it’s just that with a bit more information/nightlights this place would be over-the-top incredible. With more information upfront I could have planned better and felt more at ease. If this place had made me feel more at ease, you wouldn’t be able to get me to leave. Back to the classes, the instructors; Patti & Jan were so welcoming. Their warmth and excitement kept the class motivated even when we were intimidated by the machinery. They fostered an incredible environment – in THAT shop with them. Today I feel comfortable enough to use 4 of the 5 saws. I used a chop saw, band saw, drill press, table saw, jigsaw, japanese saw and a bunch of other tools. The table saw is still a bit scary – but I’m sure in time it’ll be fine. I know I can now tackle some projects that I’ve desperately wanted to do – confidently. I now know that I'm an orbital sander kind of girl, the square sander is off to the charity place asap. Frankly, if it weren’t for Patti & Jan, I would have been in a cab on the way to a car rental place and on the road home Saturday evening. As some of you who got SOS messages from me can attest, this place gave me a meltdown on Saturday. How many places can you go where you learn a skill and at the end of the weekend you get a hug? Not many I assume. I can’t thank Patti & Jan enough.

So what caused the meltdown – lots of little things and then one big thing…

Unbeknownst to me, there was an “Earth Hour” event on Saturday. I honestly missed this in the news and had no idea. I was sitting in the kitchenette when someone ran by and bellowed “Earth Hour!!!” Huh? What? I had just returned from my cab-dash to the grocery store. I was sitting down to eat, I was starving. It was a few minutes later while sitting in a chair in the lobby that the place went PITCH BLACK. A man working in the office turned the last lights off and walked out the front door (another student turned the lights off in the rest of the facility prior to him). I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it. I was so shocked that I didn’t even call out. I sat there for at least 2 minutes thinking “Did he just leave me in the dark!?!” over and over. I was in complete darkness with strangers - who were presumably somewhere in the facility. But where? I couldn’t hear them – I couldn’t see them. There were stairs and sharp machines and other obstacles. I was NOT a happy girl. I sat there for more than an hour STRANDED in the darkness wondering if there was some den of sin thing happening and trying to remember everything I had learned in self-defense classes. Scared. I went from Crying to Anger pretty fast. The urge to run through the place turning on EVERY light and cursing like a sailor and up-ending every compost bin became a fixation to amuse myself. If you’re going to take Control away and play off of all my Fears and Vulnerabilities all you’ll get is Madness. I finally found my way to another chair near where I knew there were computers. I turned on the monitor and used that as my “light” for a half hour or so. I couldn’t find any light switches on the walls and I had already tripped over an office chair and the island/brochure shelf that’s in the middle of the lobby. I landed on the same knee that I had spent 6 months going through physical therapy for (car accident). Joy. It was then that I pretty much knew an axe murderer was on his way. How could he not be? Cripes. It was THE perfect situation. Later, the lights were turned on again and my axe murderer delusion moved on to some other town. At this point, I was LIVID. Their idealistic assumption that everyone is sweet & innocent isn’t necessarily mine - and I felt as though it were being forced on me. I didn't feel safe. Control was taken away from me. I had put myself in this situation willingly. I felt like a fool.

In talking with my roommate who has been taking classes here on and off for a year, she let me know that she freaked out her first time too and had lots of questions with no real answers. With no understanding of where things are and so little information, it breaks YOU down. At one point I thought for sure it was a cult or a commune. I know it’s NOT, but still, so many elements were disconcerting for someone who was ALONE here. The hallways are dark – pitch dark. Finding YOUR door and then finding the slot for your key requires skill. Your imagination runs wild – and not in a fun way…more in a Stephen King way. He lives in Maine, this is Vermont. Close enough for me.

So the folks who run Yestermorrow know about my blog. I hope this post doesn’t offend them. This was my experience. I’m sure they DO NOT intend to make anyone feel vulnerable, alone and lost. They teach – and they do it well, it’s just that when the classroom door closes, they’re gone. Bob commented on the blog a few days ago and introduced himself at lunch on Sunday. He asked how I was enjoying it. I let him know that the class was great. It is. The class was awesome. I didn’t feel comfortable telling him “but the rest of the environment makes me feel WAY out of my comfort zone”. It wasn’t a conversation I was comfortable having at that time. I was still jarred. I was still rattling around inside. Later when I was in the machine shop and covered in saw dust with about a pound of wood stuffed up my nose some cute guy (I’m engaged but I can still look!!) leaned over the barricade/loft wall and yelled “hey, where’s the Upstate blog person!?!?” I pretended to not hear. He said it again - louder. Carp. I raised my hand. “Yeah, that’s me” in a half whisper. I’m shy-ish and after the previous night my walls were completely UP! UP! UP! I mentally said to myself, “I don’t usually look like this”. I was AFRAID to shower this morning. After a night of feeling completely vulnerable, getting naked and showering wasn’t high on my list of priorities. I went to class all skanky and tossed a hat on my greasy hair. We had a 2.5 second conversation at which point I fled as soon as I could. I was past the point of friendly introductions and chit chat. I needed friendly introductory chit chat when I arrived…before I carried luggage through a snow bank and down the stairs in the dark to the basement/first floor dorm rooms. Which reminds me, we called a few times to confirm that someone would be there to meet me when I arrived – no one was there – just an envelope with a key and a map taped to a door.

I know the descriptions/events in this post are weighted on the negative side. I had a lot of negative experiences here. But, I’m hopeful these are all just growing pains. This place has so much possibility. It could be AMAZING. It just needs nightlights (with the exception of Sunday night, the hallways were always dark and I had to fumble to find my room or when leaving my room) and A LOT more orientation/information for new students with some group/ice-breaker activities outside of the classroom.

Will I be back? Yes – but I’ll be better armed because I have SOME information NOW that I needed before the great Earth Hour blackout/freakout of 2008.

If you’re planning to go to Yestermorrow, here’s my list of items I would have packed…had I known…and some things I wish I had known…

1. bring a flashlight, keep it with you at ALL times. The lights are often off and it’s hard to find the light switches.
2. bring a car or a bike, wheels of some sort. Don’t be stranded.
3. bring a calling card – cellphones/blackberries do NOT work.
4. the wifi connection is sporadic, don’t plan on getting online. There are computers upstairs in a conference room – you can go in there.
5. bring a can of soup (in case you don’t like the dish that’s prepared for dinner).
6. bring a can of tuna fish (again, see number 4) or some other shelf-stable item.
7. definitely bring a laptop and a LOT of dvd’s. There’s a lot of downtime. (I did bring my laptop). Other than the library (which is super, by the way) there’s a ping pong table and a community tv. That table/tv gets old fast. If you want to study in the library – know that the ping pong table is 5 feet away and will break your concentration.
8. hba items – bring anything you think you might possibly need. EVERYTHING.
9. Towels, sheets, a pillow and a wool blanket are provided. It get's very cold at night so if you can, bring a sleeping bag or an extra sweatshirt to sleep in. If you're allergic to wool (many people are) then definitely bring a sleeping bag.

You’ll probably see a flurry of articles about Yestermorrow soon, there were 3 writers that I knew of there this weekend.

If you're a woman and you want to learn how to use powertools I can't suggest Patti & Jan's class at Yestermorrow enough. They completely rock. I don't fear big saws anymore. I respect them, but I don't fear them. I'd bring a friend if you're staying on campus. Don't do it alone - or you'll go batschidt too. Speak up (if you can) and demand information. My shyness was paralyzing in this environment and that's my fault.

Blogger-Versary Poem Contest Winner Revealed...

2008-04-01T13:47:00.006-05:00

Who Won The ILU One Year Blogger-Versary Poem Contest!?!?

Well, these 3 poems floated to the top for me...

Green Fairy’s poem:

Schidt, LOVE!
Upstate Mom fights stormy Jean.
Where is the freakin' Fiance?
Why does the Fiance endure?
Tal remains silent.

Was my absolute favorite. But, she didn’t write it. She put words into a poem generator. I struggled with whether this should disqualify her or not. I’m still not sure what the proper answer should be – but since no one complained that she used a generator in the comments, I’m letting it stay in.

Ege/Erin’s poem was worthy of a big glass of red wine. That’s truly poem/art development commitment there folks:

Jean’s shout-out for verses written in her honor
Put the screws to my muse (who I thought was a-goner)
I used to poeticize all of the time
But I got distracted by One Friend of mine
Now that I’m reminded how I like to wax,
I think Upstate New York’s a grand place for comebacks.
What with its tortoiseshell cats and fiancés,
And Upstate Mom – who’s much more couth than Beyoncé’s.
Upstate M., for eg., doesn’t roll in lamé
If she did, ILU would not deem it okay.
Especially for one of her dear Chesterfields
Those things only merit the best baby seals.
I’m kidding! I kid! Jean ain’t like that at all
(She gets plenty of fur cleaning up after Tal).
What have I left out? There’s something I’ve forgotten…
The Mystery Rock Star! Was it Johnny Rotten?
That would be disgusting, and that wasn’t it –
There’s some other reason I started this schidt.
Oh! Now I remember! Something about Thursday!
March 27th is ILU’s birthday!
Well, not hers, but her blog’s – it’s been here a whole year –
So let’s all raise our beers and let her hear our cheer:
Are you ready? Okay. Let’s make hip-hip-hooray!
Iloveupstate.com is one year old today!

And finally Skyesmom’s poem was hysterically funny and included Jimmy The Midget:

ILU’s blog – what can I say?
Reading it’s the highlight of my day.
Jimmy the Midget, Mom and Matt,
I really love Trevor and Tal the cat.
The Fiancé, furniture and a fix-it how to,
You can find them all on ILU!
A Blog-Day poem she has requested,
The creativity of her readers, she has tested.
So here we are, doing our bit
To say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY and all that Schidt!

I went back and forth and I couldn't easily decide between these three. It was killin’ me!

So you know what I did? I put those 3 names in a HAT. And I pulled one out…and let fate decide...GREEN FAIRY!

Thank you sooooooooo much to everyone who entered. I loved each and every one of them and can't thank you enough.

Now, about that MVC (Most Valuable Commentator) person or persons. I wanted to thank Shelly and Priscilla who constantly find information for me whenever I have some half-cocked-hair-brained idea. So you two get to pick a one-year subscription to one of the following:

Domino
Lucky
House Beautiful
Country Living
Town & Country

Hey, maybe this year I'll figure out how properly monetize the google ads! Hah!

Last Auntie Mame Decor/Interiors...

2008-03-30T18:41:00.008-05:00

More Auntie Mame Mid-Century Madness...and then the final decor transition...India.

Auntie Mame, I miss you already.

That second slide should read "NOW married" not "NOT married". Leave it to a literary agent to run willy nilly with the typos. Hey, I'm NOT an editor!

I finished my bench. It's all wrapped up in cardboard and ready to hit the train with me tomorrow morning. I'll try and do my whole Yestermorrow blog/post/review on the train tomorrow...if I don't get sidetracked by season one & two of Northern Exposure. Come on, how could I NOT bring that boxed set with me? It's even boxed up in an orange puffy vest. Slap some tevas on those dvd's and it'd fit right in.

Half Way Thru Day 2 At Tool Camp - Auntie Mame Part 3....

2008-03-30T11:15:00.005-05:00

Half way through day 2. Things are MUCH better in the daylight. Last night was, stressful.

My bench is all cut up, I've been using a big ole router to make rounded edges and I've fallen hard for the orbital sander. I feel we have a connection that my old square one just doesn't meet up to. The orbital is my friend, it's orb-like. Squares are so...square. Hah! I'm bitch with a chisel too - call me if you need dental work done third-world style.

Back to the fabulous-ness of Auntie Mame...Beau plummets off an alp (and yodels all the way down) and Mame is knee-deep in writing her memoir. Patrick decides he's in love with a debutante-wannabe from Connecticut.

Tonight (if I can get an internet connection...) I'll finish up Mame's mid-century madnes and the last decor change to her Beekman Place apartment...

Tool Camp Day One - And The Return of Auntie Mame

2008-03-29T16:20:00.006-05:00

I just finished day one at Yestermorrow. I thought I'd do a really brief overview and then a bigger more all-encompassing post late next week.

If you have a migraine, noisy tools will make for a rough day. I took some tylenol around 8am and that helped for a few hours. Around 3pm I started to go downhill again. I hate when you get sidelined by something as ridiculous as a headache when something more important/timely is happening. Que sera sera. I made do. I'm still sanding.

I sawed-dededed a lot today.

1. Miter/Chop saw - love it. I bought one a year or so ago on sale at Lowes and it's been sitting in that garage...in the box...mocking me. Hah. I shall best that beast. This machine is not nearly as intimidating as it looks.

2. Table saw - This seemed to be the one item that gave everyone the most concern. It really is a cringe-worthy piece of equipment. Still, we all got through it with the aide of our trusty leaders Patti & Jan. Everyone still has all their fingers.

3. Jigsaw - I use a jigsaw a lot at home...particularly for things it's not really meant to be used for. It's small & compact (like a New York City apartment...) so it's been my "go to" tool for cutting. Anyhoo, we're making a bench and I had to redo my jigsaw cuts 3 times. I finally opted to go for...

4. The Band Saw - Since I used to manage bands "back in the day" this was obviously going to be the saw that I had the most harmonious relationship with. So many puns, so little time. I puffy heart the band saw...oh yes I do!

If you're looking for healthy food...they've got plenty here. Next time I might smuggle in a box of candy bars, a stick of pepperoni and a bottle of wine. All this healthy air and food is freaking my system out.

More tomorrow...now let's return to the oh-so-fabulous Auntie Mame...

Auntie Mame Lands At Tool Camp!

2008-03-28T21:17:00.007-05:00

I have a roommate in my dorm room here at Yestermorrow but haven't met her yet. She got the single bed so I ended up with the bottom bunk. Oh well, she got here first so she gets dibs. There is soooooo much snow that it comes up to more than half way up the window. Will take pics tomorrow. The place looks pretty cool - even in the dark. And there's...WIRELESS. Hurrah! Anyway...I haven't actually SEEN anyone which leads me to believe that they've all gone out drinking. Damn. I could use a beer.

During my 10 hour train ride (boring...) not only did I eat too much junk food, but I watched Auntie Mame 2.5 times. I brought 8-10 dvd's with me (and my laptop at the last minute) but I love Auntie Mame...it's one of my all-time favorites. I aspire to be Rosalind Russell's Auntie Mame. I should check in with my niece Sarah to see if I'm living up to my idol. Anyhoo, I did a whole long review of the MANY DECOR changes that take place in that movie. It's 18+ slides. Here's the first couple...I'll try and put up a few each day. The sets are amazing!!! Rock on Auntie Mame!!!

If you've never seen Auntie Mame...I highly recommend it!!

Blogger-Versary Today! Off To Tool Camp In Da Mornin'!

2008-03-27T12:26:00.007-05:00

Today is my Blogger-Versary.

Where are my damn flowers?!?!

I leave for Tool Camp tomorrow morning. I should pack some snacks and clean undies.

Am not bringing my laptop with me but will bring my camera and phone. Maybe I'll finally figure out that whole "mobile blog" thing. Or not. I'll have my blackberry with me too so any comments posted on my blog will forward over to my blackberry - but I won't be able to respond to them till I return. Also, not sure my blackberry will even get reception up there. Big Adventure!

In case you want to know more about Yestermorrow...here is their mission statement and some pictures from their website:

The Yestermorrow Design/Build School
Mission Yestermorrow Design/Build School inspires people to create a better, more sustainable world by providing hands-on education that integrates design and craft as a creative, interactive process.

Philosophy Yestermorrow’s courses are specifically designed to demystify the designing and building processes using hands-on, experiential learning to teach students the art and wisdom of good design and the skill and savvy of enduring craftsmanship as a single, integrated process.
This creative process offers students unique insight into the oftentimes disparate worlds of the architect and the builder. Architects are routinely trained without any building experience that might inform their designs, and builders are trained to execute without a sense of the overarching purpose or design of the project.

View current course listings.

Yestermorrow Design/Build School is a non-profit 501(c)(3) educational institution. Yestermorrow does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, color or creed.

Sandpaper and Wedding Dresses...

2008-03-26T21:07:00.009-05:00

Well that title should scare the carp out of my Mom and sisters (if they still read this...who knows). Mom calls this thing my "bog". Somewhere along the way she dropped the "L" so it's all just a big murky English bog. Care for a cup of tea? I fully expect a flurry of emails from my family wondering WHY they weren't invited to watch me try on dresses. Umm, cause you'd watch me try on dresses. Ick! Weird! Foreign! I had granny panties on!

Anyhoo...I bought sandpaper...a great big sheet with adhesive backing and now (perhaps) my cheapo $10 sander will not let the sandpaper fly off after it makes impact with anything remotely solid. Such a joy to fix the sandpaper placement every 3-5 seconds. Good times. Good times. This is the part where I tell you I've been eyeing ORBITAL sanders. Oh yes indeed.

So umm, wedding dresses. You know those poofy white meringues...I actually PUT ONE ON today. We've been engaged for something like 3 years (actually it might be 4 or 5 years, time flies...) and today...I put a dress on. It wasn't technically a wedding dress - but it was white and it had lots of tulle and ribbons and it was cute. So I put it on. I liked the dress. I wish it was 2-3 inches longer...and I was 20...okay 30...oh hell...40 pounds less and that my chest was 2 cup sizes smaller. I look like a tart up top. Still, it was a cute dress. I may or may not have five-finger discounted the tag so that I have the sku number.

Hey! Guess who's gnarly feet are in desperate need of a pedicure?!?!?

If there was a contest for dryest, nastiest, bruised (toe nail) and chipped (nail polish from oh...last fall?) I would win hands down.

I'm not rushing off to plan anything at the moment...was just sticking my (nasty) toe in the water and playing a bit of dress up.
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Do NOT Clip Your Nails In A French (or any) Restaurant.

2008-03-26T13:20:00.007-05:00

See this woman:

That's exactly what she did. She clipped her nails and then filed them. I thought I was going to hurl.

As many of you know, I'm a literary agent. I get to go out to yummy lunches with editors from publishing companies - a lot. Today I was to have lunch with an editor from Random House at Les Halles - an old (former) favorite of mine and the home turf of chef/author/television host Anthony Bourdain. My assistant made a reservation and confirmed with me, the editor and the restaurant. I arrived at 12:25 for a 12:30 reservation. I gave the hostess my name and let her know that someone else would be joining me, he would give her my name. Given that this editor and I aren't familiar with each other I couldn't exactly spy him and yell "Yo Jack, over here!".

By 12:45, still no editor. I start calling my assistant, she starts calling the editor (he wasn't in his office...he was at the restaurant) and round and round we go. I approached the hostess' stand TWICE to confirm that they knew/understood my last name (it's noisy in there) and that someone would be asking for me. I also asked the waitress to do this. By 1PM I was starving, I ordered an appetizer and entree (I had skipped breakfast this morn...big mistake).

At this point the hostess has placed a mother and child to my left. I am literally wedged into my little bistro table by a baby carriage and thus lost all use of my left elbow for cutting my steak. On my right? THE NAIL CLIPPER LADY. Surely this was a circle of hell.

I get back to my office -- the editor was at the restaurant and the hostess' kept telling him I had not arrived and they had no record of my reservation. I have the electronic reservation in my email inbox.

So that cost me...a good editorial meeting, about $42 and 2 hours. Damn you Les Halles.

Tool Camp, Sweaters & Commerce Bank...Oh My.

2008-03-25T20:46:00.011-05:00

I went shopping tonight. You know, Tool Camp this weekend! I can't go off to camp wearing old crap. Yestermorrow is in Vermont so that means New Sweater!!

Oh wait, I'm going to be using tools in a garage-like setting. Schidt, I should wear old crap. Dang. Oops. Oh well. Retail is dying and I had to throw them a couple of bucks. Just doing my part. Hah! I bought a gorgeous blood red/burgundy velvet jacket on clearance for $38. Got home and realized the one I grabbed was missing all the blasted buttons. Guess I'll be going back to Macy's. Grrrr. By the way...I was in the world's largest Macy's (Herald Square) and I'm quite sure that I was the only American patron. EVERYONE was from Europe. The Europeans are sure loving that whole Euro to Dollar thing.

Speaking of disasters...

Look what the Fiance found and left on the dining room table for me.

Yep, that's a Commerce Bank EASTER egg decorating kit. I should be all self-righteous about it except my initial reaction was to yell "OH CHRIST!" really loud so I suppose I'll be in the same line to hell as the marketing team from Commerce Bank.

Hey! Guess who else is going to Tool Camp? Aunt Flo.

In other news. I puffy heart the Lucky Pork blog. There's a link over in my link section or you can CLICK HERE. I am puffy eyed today after staying up late to read EVERY post on that blog.

If you haven't already entered the Blogger-versary Poem Contest...see the post below this one to enter. There's a super-faux-fabulous prize with a combined retail value in excess of $100 (that's like $65 to Europeans).
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I Love Upstate's ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY contest...

2008-03-25T09:38:00.007-05:00

March 27th is my one year blogger-versary. Thanks to everyone for lauging with (and at) me all year long while I try to renovate this darn greek revival monster.

By the way...the kitchen chairs are in the garage now...

To celebrate this not-so-momentous occasion...I have put together a BOX O' GOODIES. This BOX O' GOODIES has a retail value in excess of $100 and I'm not telling you what's in there. Nope. Not gonna do it. My lips are sealed (cheap lipstick...).

What do you have to do to enter this faux-fabulous extraveganza?

Well...if you've got a blog...you can link to me...I'm a link-whore...and post down in the comments and let me know you linked on over.

If you do not have a blog...a poem will do nicely. If you have a blog and you link over to me AND you write a poem...you can double your chances that I'll pick you.

WAIT.

These 'rules' are confusing.

Scrap that. Just write me a friggen poem about this here blog...or the Fiance...or Tal...or whatever so long as it's I LOVE UPSTATE-ish. Post it in the comments and you're entered. US residents only...please.

There's also a second prize. That prize is going to the MVC.

What's an MVC?

Most Valuable Commentator.

Contest ends when I get back from Tool Camp!

That reminds me...I should make a list of "honey do" things for the Fiance while I'm away...

Domino Magazine & Elle Decor

2008-03-24T19:16:00.010-05:00

I subscribed to Domino & Elle Decor via Ebay awhile back. BIG MISTAKE. The seller never put through my subscription (or a few hundred other peeps purchases (click here) and so I am SOL. My Domino subcription ran out in November and so I haven't bought an issue in MONTHS and it's been killing me. I kept thinking that the minute I stopped at a newstand and paid cash for one issue...then the subscription would kick in and I'd find myself with 2 Decembers or 2 Januarys or 2 Februarys or 2 Marchs and on and on and on. So I gave in last week and bought all the issues I've missed on ebay from someone else. Smack. Landed on the doorstep at 8AM. I read November on the way to work.

Remember that Martha Stewart mag with the MOST perfect kitchen ever? The issue that I left behind in a hotel room! It has haunted me...so I bought it again...on Ebay. That arrived today.

Then the mailman came again...he came twice! And Mr. UPS...he came too! It was a banner freakin' package day.

-Back issues of Domino
-January Martha Stewart
-Oilcloth (smelly but gorgeous!)
-12 yards of white denim to slipcover the chairs

Yay!

Priscilla...who lives to torture me with her fantastic finds...found a gorgeous Mitchell Gold chair for our bedroom...don't you want to just sit in this chair and eat blueberries?

Unfortunately I'd have to rent a vehicle to get it and that would negate the price. But it's pretty, huh?

The Fiance let me pick the movie tonight. This happens every 1-2 years. I tortured him. I made him watch High Fidelity. Oh how I love John Cusack. The Fiance and I have often joked that we want to start a religious cult and call it The Church of Joan Cusack. We LOVE Joan (but not as much as I love John).

Seven Years Later...I Get My Dinner On Easter

2008-03-23T19:23:00.003-05:00

For seven years I have been nagging the Fiance to go to the Jackson Diner for Indian food. For the non-NYC'ers out there...Jackson Diner is considered to be the BEST Indian food in New York City...so ummm you could probably take that a bit farther and say the best Indian food in the US since I think we have the highest population of folks from India in NYC. I could be wrong, I'm not a freakin' census taker. Anyway, it's good. People drive to this restaurant from all over. It's one of the only reasons you can talk someone who lives in Manhattan to COME TO QUEENS. Did I mention that it's ONE SUBWAY STOP from us? You'd think we'd be there once a week. You would be wrong...because you don't know Sir Pain-In-The-Pants...

Today...after arguing and fighting about where we were going to EAT freakin' Easter Lunch or Dinner...he relented and agreed to go to the Jackson Diner.

We split some samosas and garlic naan. I had chicken briyani and he had the goat curry. It was good. It was really good. The portions were huge, we'll easily get 2-3 more meals out of this.

After dinner we had to take a stroll through the Indian grocery store and soon we were filling our arms with all kinds of fun items. Saffron Pistachio Ice Cream. Yes! Bag of shelled pistachios (super cheap) and briyani mix and a 5 pound container of yogurt (half the price we normally pay) and dates and dried apricots and a bag of naan and all kinds of yummy items. They also had chamomile incense - which I regretfully did not purchase.

I'm too stuffed to eat the ice cream right now...but I might still sneak a spoon into the container...

Shhhhh! Don't Startle Him.

2008-03-23T13:54:00.008-05:00

We went into the city and we may or may not have had a big argument and so there was no brunch and certainly no Jacques Torres chocolate goodness.

That table I bought last fall and was in the process of fixing? I had painted the base a creamy antique white, Matt-The-Contract had cut the top down from square to round...then yesterday...I ruined it...

I went to prime the top and it was too cold. The primer was too old. Cold & Old. Not a good mix. It was like painting on cake frosting. I tried to sand the top 3 times in the past 24 hours...all were failures. I've gotten to the point that I now resent this table for consistently pointing out my failures. Stupid Table. How dare you! Sick of dumping money into it, I was not about to go and buyer stripper to get the primer mess off the top. I was DONE.

So I put the table out near the trashcans. Yep. I did. The Fiance came home and saw it near the trashcans and dragged it back into the yard and is sanding it because we fought earlier and he thinks this table is very important to me...

But, I've moved on. I made my peace with the table and I left it near the trash. I suppose I should just acknowledge that this is a very sweet gesture on his part. Yep, he's out there on a mission...well, actually he just left to go to Home Depot (he NEVER willingly goes there) to get better sandpaper.

Meanwhile, I put one of the new-to-us art deco nightstands in the living room (where the table formerly lived) and am kinda digging it. This of course means that when the table is fixed...I'll have to glue it to the ceiling as we are OUT OF ROOM.

Dang, even Tal is impressed with the Fiance's handiwork today.

We did make up, in case you were wondering and I may or may not have smacked him where men do not want to be smacked. I don't know what he means when he says I'm too rough!?!?

Wall Of Chocolate

2008-03-23T08:08:00.001-05:00

In addition to taking pictures of my most favorite door the other day...I took pictures of this adorable chocolate shop in midtown Manhattan. The ENTIRE window was wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling chocolate bunnies. Sure hope they were able to wipe my tongue marks off that window.

Well, I'm off to pay for my sins...that's right, I have a 10:30AM appointment with my tax accountant. After that the Fiance and I will either stagger into a brunch place, buy a mountain of bagels or go lick the windows at the Jacques Torres shop.

Happy Easter!

Got The Nightstands - Can You Identify The Wood/Veneer?

2008-03-21T21:50:00.008-05:00

What's another post among friends? Three tonight. Oh my.

Got the nightstands! I have to say - they aren't in as good a condition as I had hoped but are still structurally very sound. Hey, for $40 I guess I can't complain too much. The guy I bought them from lived in a hotel so the bellhop kindly let me borrow a luggage cart to wheel them out to the car. NYC is a strange and magical place.

I read all about warming up the veneer, scraping the old glue out, using concrete cement or carpenters glue and wax paper and patching the bald spot...but umm...what kind of veneer do I buy to replace the rough spots? I can't identify wood to save my life. That's probably why my OLD contractor Mark will never work for me again...he apparently couldn't identify wood either...hence my bedroom has red oak and white oak on the floors (and looks like schidt). Funny how he has ignored my requests to FIX it. Remember, Matt-GOOD. Mark-NOT-SO-GOOD. OK, let's get back to the nightstand debacle...suggestions?

EDIT:

I've read a bunch of tutorials online and watched a few videos on how to repair the veneer in my nightstands. This video seems to be the best...and the guy doesn't yammer on...he just does it and films it.

Moorish Style Invades Pottery Barn Catalog

2008-03-21T20:02:00.009-05:00

I'm not particularly a big fan of Pottery Barn except for certain items...or if I hit their annual 75% sale (which really does require that I take time off of work!).

BUT BUT BUT Didja see the new catalog? All that moorish goodness!

Every year that I was in Elementary school we went on a field trip to a moorish style castle --- Olana. My sister even had her wedding ceremony on the grounds of the castle, in August. My other sister (maid of honor) had a BEE in her hair the entire time. Knowing her fear of bugs, I was cracking up. Yeah, Good Times. Good Times. Olana was created by one of the most important landscape painters of the 'Hudson River school'; Frederic Church. You can read more about him and see pictures of his moorish castle on the banks of the Hudson River if you click here...no...HERE.

OK, back to Pottery Barn...

That yellow moorish design rug...oh my. Love it, would get filthy in 5 minutes in my house.

The sheets! We just got rid of all our pattern'd sheets and switched to plain white. I might have to sneak a set of these moorish design sheets into the house when they go on sale (or I hit the PB outlet). The shower curtain has me thinking "hmmm...maybe use them as regular curtains...". The file cabinets are not moorish (duh) but I think they're pretty sweet lookin'.

Did you see the rattan-ish chairs? YUMMY!

Did you see THESE chairs:

I think these might actually be wider (18 inches) than the REAL french ones I have. A bit more accommodating for the USA-sized butt.

Knock. Knock. Who's There?

2008-03-21T19:22:00.002-05:00

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My Most Favorite.

My Most Favorite WHO?

My Most Favorite Door In All Of New York City!

The people who own this townhouse probably think I'm a nutter, I stare at it constantly. It's just so beautiful.
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Nightstands! Nightstands! Nightstands!

2008-03-21T09:37:00.006-05:00

So our nightstands don't match. No biggee really. But...they are a tad WIDE. I'd like to get something slimmer. I found these online and am hoping to pick them up tonight.

If I get them, then the white stands will go up to the house...where we are currently...standless. We have one of those pathetic "decorator tables". Yanno, the kind that if you even walk by it tends to fall over or at least shake in fear for its pressed board cheapness. The tablecloth does not mask it's $10-ness.

Hey what's in your nightstand drawer? Huh? Huh? Come on...show me!

In other news...

So umm...everyone in my office has been especially sick the past 2 months. We've also smelled some gross things that we assumed were dead mice in the walls. Turns out...

The septic in the building has a vent and a portion of it broke and it's been VENTING into our office.

We're all wondering if the "waste vent" is what's been getting us sick and giving us cold after cold after cold. Thoughts?

OOOHHHH Look what Nicole over at Making It Lovely did...keychain/dog tag shrinky dinks! CLICK HERE.

Sick Day Recap...Trying to Pass On My Clutter

2008-03-20T18:35:00.010-05:00

I whined and whined till the Fiance agreed to help me drop a car load of stuff at the Salvation Army. It included the 2 Ikea lamps (in brand new condition) that the slackers on Craigslist never picked up...ok...let's not go down that road again. I was feeling better around 4pm so off we went to dump the load of stuff at Sally's. I also hopped into a hardware store so that I can someday (when it's warm, not raining and I'm not sick) finish painting this darn table:

Amongst the junk that I unloaded today...cassettes in my super-cheesy 80's carrying case. God, remember these? You had to haul the case out to your car and you'd prop them open in the front seat to peruse your catalog of tunes. Dork. I admit, I kept 3 cassettes. I couldn't part with my Sid & Nancy soundtrack, a mixed tape from a guy I once knew and a demo tape from an Albany band called 805 that I loved to pieces in my teen days.

Then I organized all my fabric. I'm telling you - the glamour just never ceases.

I do love this old-time file cabinet. I got it at a junko shop up in Ravena for $30.

I'd like to paint the cabinet one day...I'd love to have a car shop do it so it's perfect and pearly...but as pointed out to me...I could do it myself. Here's a tutorial.

Now? Feeling like carp again...off to drink more won ton soup...

But first...I noticed all the empty space in Hallie's house. Cause like, they just bought it and are renovating it...then I started thinking about all the stuff in my garage...and I started posting on her blog things like "want some lavendar paint?" or "hey, I've got bedframes up the wazoo" etc. I'm turning her blog into my personal Craiglisting...

As noted by Marilyn...among my cassettes was MEN WITHOUT HATS...

Voila! The Amy Butler Steelcase Chair!

2008-03-19T20:45:00.011-05:00

The Fiance was very kind tonight...he did the dishes so that I could go and do a project. I haven't gotten a single project completed in days. I am Project Girl (really, I've got a cape somewhere!) and if I don't have a sense of completion every 48-72 hours...I become Cranky Girl (and that's a fug cape to wear).

So anyway...I grabbed the Amy Butler fabric I had ordered on ebay last week and decided on a project. First I have to say...I was anti-Amy. I was so sick of hearing Amy-This and Amy-That on every single freakin' home decor/craft/what have you blog that I was frankly...anti-Amy. I get like that. What can I say?

I live to go against the grain.

All that said, this pattern won me over so I ordered one single solitary yard. It's so soft, it's so fabulous it's so Amy! Amy! Amy! Someone slap me, I drank the kool-aid.

So here's the fabu pink steelcase chair I bought at Zaborksi's Emporium in Kingston for something like $50...

And I took that chair and I Amy Butler'd the carp out of it.

The rounded corners were a bit of a nightmare for me and my pedestrian skills, it took a few attempts but overall I think it's not too terrible. I left it a bit blousy in case it shrinks in the laundry.

I gotta go get me some more of this fabric...

Maybe next time I'll actually CENTER the pattern!

If I do the bottom portion of the chair I think I'll have to use elastic and make like a big shower cap design to get it over the seat.

EDIT --- THURSDAY MORNING

Not again! Am sick as a dog. I think this is my annual trip down Tonsillitis Lane. My glands are the size of tennis balls. Argh. My boss is going to think I'm a total flake as I've never taken quite so many sick days. Well, would he rather I go to the office and spread the germs? Fiance ran out to get me some orange juice and I'll be drinking won ton soup (not chicken soup, not matzoh ball soup) all day. Won ton is my go to soup.

Craigslist Slackers...Feel My Wrath - Jerk Face!!

2008-03-19T11:04:00.006-05:00

That pms is a killer this term. Oh my. Anyhoo, I am so farkin' sick of slacker Craigslisters. Even when something is free...flake city. I can't always get to the charity place - so occasionally I list things in the "Free" section on Craigslist. Animals. Freakin' Animals. I swear within 10 minutes you'll have 20 replies...and then none of them actually show up to pick the darn thing up...even though they beg/plead/implore you to hold said item for them because their life is just NOT complete without...whatever. So I make plans to be home, race home from the office, whatever and then the doorbell doesn't ring.

Jerk Faces! That's right, I called you Jerk Face. You're crying now aren't ya boy!?!?

Some Jerk Face is supposed to come tonight to pick up 2 lamps. Should I hire a bookie to take some action on this? This particular Jerk Face is responder #16. He has email'd me 6 times and NOT shown up twice before. Jerk Face.

I should go do some breathing exercises...

I promise I'll be silly craf/p-tastic Jean again soon.

Do I Leave You COLD?

2008-03-18T14:08:00.004-05:00

Mac peeps...is my blog freezing you up? Please drop me an email at iloveupstate@ gmail (dot) com and let me know if you're using Firefox or Explorer.

Doesn't seem to be an issue for non-Mac folks - but let me know.

I'm trying to fix this - but given my technical capabilities that involves posting on message boards, tossing coins into a fountain and hopping on one foot.

In other news, the Fiance has a migraine and is requesting the following;

nurse
urinal
sandwich
soup
brownie
banana
someone to clean up cat puke

I'm thinking I might want to work late tonight...
(Fiance: I'm kidding, will rush home).

I fixed the FACEBOOK WIDGET! Hurrah. If you want to add me to your FACEBOOK PAGE...CLICK HERE.

Gosh, I feel like it's 8th grade all over again.

Painting The Table = Being "Put To Bed"

2008-03-17T09:10:00.011-05:00

Warning - I have no idea if this post makes chronological order/sense. Enjoy.

I wrote this earlier today...

So I bought some fabric. Shocker, huh? I'm going to need to find a large nightstand with drawers pretty soon to store it. Actually, a nightstand might be a wee bit small. I am actually using a lot of this. I'm really enjoying using the sewing machine. Sure, I suck at it - but I suck at a lot of things. Someday I may become "passable". Who knows, till then...I'm having a good time.

Oilcloth. Oh my. I do love oilcloth! I bought a few pieces on Ebay and the seller ran out of one of my choices so she sent me over to oilcloth.com to select a new pattern. So many choices!! If you get a chance, swing by that website - oodles of fun.

I also picked up some Amy Butler fabric and French-style quilt squares.

I went to Joann on Sunday. The Joann store closest to me is a really unpleasant affair. The staff is just...rude and nasty. Believe the Fiance once referred to this particular store as "the menopause craft shop". I went in, considered buying a few pieces, asked a question, got snapped at, left my selections on the counter and walked out. Guess I'll just keep using Calico Corners, WalFart and Ebay for my fabric needs. At WalFart I found this great antique/dusty pink fabric. It's sort of a wooly-burlap fabric. I may use this on the headboard if I can't locate the Waverly/Rodeo Drive fabric (I've only found it...too expensive). I got this wooly/burlap for $1 a yard on the remnant table. I took all 3.5 yards. Yay! Also picked up this funky plaid. No clue what I'll do with the plaid, but at $2 a yard I couldn't pass it up. I grabbed 2 yards. Also picked up some fun ribbons.

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Last but not least, I bought 12 yards of white denim/twill to make slipcovers for the chairs. Hurrah!

We're trying to somehow get a chair into our bedroom. Did I mention that there's no room for a chair? Yeah, like that's stopped me before...

AND THIS IS FROM THIS EVENING:

I rushed home to paint the table before it got dark. Grabbed the table, my can of spray paint and the can of spray gloss. I had painted the base last fall, it was time to paint the top now that Matt-The-Contractor had cut down the top for us from square to round and gloss up the base. I started spraying and couldn't figure out why it looked so...crappy. DUH. I did NOT prime it. How could I forget something so basic? DUH. Also, the spray can ran out of paint. I went back inside to look for my second can and it was nowhere to be found. I made a big mess looking for it. My arms were flailing. I got paint on my work shirt bringing the table back inside. More flailing arms. It was then that I was basically told to "go to bed" even though it was only 8pm. The Fiance brought me tea and my laptop. Apparently tonight is not the night for doing projects. I really AM pms'ing, huh? Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.

Our NEW Governor was sworn in today...then he and his wife admitted to affairs. Cripes. At this rate, our cat will Governor before summer.

Frustrating Weekend Of Un-Accomplishments...

2008-03-16T21:56:00.007-05:00

But first, let's start with our badass attitude. Have decided that each time work annoys me, I'm going to plant something...in my office. On Friday I started with cilantro. Notice the nice action shot below! I put the dirt in the planter...in my garbage can (but still managed to get dirt all over the floor...).

This could get bad, my co-worker Helen is pushing me to go for corn...in the office.

On Saturday we ran around Westchester. To get to Westchester you have to travel through the Bronx and past the Yankees. I should mention, we're a Red Sox/Mets house. Still, their new stadium looks nice. I also had to snap a picture of this hotel near the stadium...I've always been intrigued by it, I think it used to have "hourly" rates. Insert music here...Bow-Chicka-Bow-Bow-Chicka-Bow-Bow...

Then, we needed some old time religion...

Tell me you don't LOVE this dental/doctor office?!?! So farkin' cute. If I could afford it, I'd totally turn it into a house...and keep ducks. Doesn't it scream "ducks!"? OK geese, whatever.

On Sunday...I made a mess...and stomped around the place a lot. Am I pms'ing?

Then we ran out to Long Island so that I could buy supplies for all the projects I was SUPPOSED to do this weekend. Didn't get home till after 9PM so it's too late to start now...though the Fiance did offer to hold a flashlight out in the yard so I could spray paint the table...

I Really Should Make Some Plans To Marry This Dude...

2008-03-15T09:03:00.004-05:00

We've been engaged for about...I don't...almost 3 years. Not only did he bring me breakfast in bed this morning...but more importantly he hime-likked the cat last night who was choking on a piece of beef.

I am misspelling hime-likk on purpose as I don't want THIS blog to come up in seach engines if someone is frantically looking for information.

Anyway...thank you Fiance Person. You are the bestest!!!

xoxo,

Jean and Tal (a very thankful kitty)

Slip Cover'ing The Chairs...

2008-03-14T09:32:00.005-05:00

Don't get me wrong...I love the reupholstery job...I'd just like the option to lighten up from time to time. Slip covers! I have called 5 places to get estimates. They range from $485 per chair (more than the reupholstering!) to $80 per chair. You know me, Ms. Cheapo. I asked the $80 per chair person to email a couple of pics of her previous work. Waiting to get them.

I want to do the chair in a MACHINE WASHABLE (have you met my barfy cat?) white cotton/sailcoth/duck/denim type fabric. Since the chairs have dark fabric on them, it'll have to be thick fabric - I guess...

Anyone got any experience in this that they'd like to share?

In other news...I called to *try* and order the Waverly fabric I need for the bedroom curtains and headboard...and the man kept calling me "Mommy". Umm. What?

Squeal Worthy On Ebay...

Hot Blonde On A Leather Couch

2008-03-14T08:37:00.007-05:00

But first...it's almost time to go to Tool Camp! For Christmas the Fiance bought me the "tuition" for a weekend Chicks N Power Tools (not the real course name) at Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Hurrah! I'm off to Vermont for a few days -- weekend after next. The instructor called me last night and she seemed totally cool. I have to remember to pack my safety glasses and ear plugs. I think I'll bring my Craftsman gloves for good measure. I'm so excited!

Amongst the weekend chores...I have to return/replace one of the Draper-ish lamps I bought. The one I placed on the Fiance's side (of course...it had to be THAT one...) keeps shorting out. I also need to get some fabric & battings and trimmy-stuff to finish off the quilt I'm fumbling through. I had a Michael's coupon for 40% off one item that I wanted to use to buy MORE twinkle letters...but it expired last night. Damn! Also have a mountain of stuff that needs to be dropped off at charity. If weather permits, I'm going to finish painting the $20 table that I started work on...last fall. I'm going to try and use the Kilz Clear on it too since that might make it look lacquer-ish. Thanks for the top Thirteen Eleven!

As soon as I post this the Fiance is going to call me and say "UMM, HELLO, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CALLING MY EDITOR...GET OFF YOUR BLOG FANCY LIT. AGENT CHICK". Trust me, it'll happen.

Last but not least...I promised you a hot blonde on a leather couch...

Here's Hallie & Joe's Bernie on their chesterfield. Could you just SCREAM from the cuteness!?!?!?!

Dutch Gardens has a $25 coupon off a $50 order. YeeHaa! Time to get planting some plants...

Deliver Me From Nascar, Sil Vous Plait.

2008-03-12T21:37:00.017-05:00

The Fiance loves a good joke. He loves a joke so much that he will occasionally (imho) take it a tad too far. Nascar, for instance.

The Fiance is from a "good Jewish family" and was born and raised in New York City --- on the UPPER EAST SIDE nonetheless. Did I mention there's 4 generations of "New York Art Society" in that family? This is not a fertile Nascar platform. In fact, it's pretty much the polar opposite. That said, like most men, he does enjoy watching cars race around in a circle from time to time. I made the mistake of challenging his Nascar-love by suggesting that he had taken his "I'm a redneck" joke a tad...too far. Being the 'funny boy' that he is, he swears he really does love it. He even went and bought this...which I found on the bed this evening...

I'm not sure how one goes from watching Jacques Tati and Wim Wenders and obscure Japanese art house movies to...Nascar. Doesn't that upset his stomach?

This evening he feigned being offended at my lack of Nascar-ity. He implored me to not make fun of his interest - that I was being...mean. He then of course burst out laughing cause he knows he does the same thing to me when I adopt some new ridiculous interest or habit...though mine tend to not be covered in patches, beer logos and chewing tobacco. Call me a snob, I don't mind.

In an effort to make me more sensitive he demanded "OK, just don't make fun of my new botany project!!"

New botany project?

What?

Then I saw it.

One of my kinda expensive Nigella Lawson measuring cups...on the kitchen windowsill...

FULL OF MUD.

Mr. Botany proudly exclaimed "I spit my orange seeds into it and got dirt from the yard!"

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Well, this is a man who wants to be Axel Foley when he grows up.
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Hodge Podge Post

2008-03-12T09:04:00.009-05:00

Spoke to Matt-The-Contractor at length yesterday, he should have an estimate for me in the next few days. Hurrah! Poor Matt, referred to my bathroom as "kinda dank" and then he felt terrible and apologized profusely. Me? I was cracking up. I was like "yeah, yeah, it's totally dank - no one wants to shower in there!!". Listen, it is what it is. It's DANK and uninviting. It's like showering in a dark 1972 blue cave. Ick.

I forgot to call Alton-The-WalFart-Fabric-Dude. No one reminded me. People! You're falling down on your jobs here! What? You thought you were just here to read my dribble and make witty comments? Hah! Earn your keep! Umm, so I'm gonna call Alton as soon as I'm done with this post. Unless, like...I forget.

I don't typically get home from work till 7PM. So dinner's quite late. Last night the Fiance was not up to making dinner so it fell to me. In a pinch...I am Captain O' The Toaster Oven. I learn-ed-ed-ed that from my sister who fed a family of 5 for MANY months via a toaster oven when they were restoring their first house. Now, I prefer my swordfish from a toaster oven, thank you very much. Anyhoo...here's what went down...

First it starts with a hunt through Silly Town...

Quiche and Salad...that'll do...and it's toaster oven-able!

Followed by Eureka-Cookie Moment...

Last but not least...

I am obsessed with the latest Snoop Dogg single. OH MY GOD. Every line in this song is instantly hummable and quotable. The video? Purr-fection...

warning - not child friendly or for uptight/constipated folk

Eat. Pray. Love. Shut The F Up.

2008-03-11T11:09:00.008-05:00

I accidently left the files/pictures at home this morning so I had to call the Fiance and ask him to email them to me. He was in the middle of writing (pesky tempermental writers...) and started barking:

EAT !

PRAY !

LOVE !

Which is our code for "you're sucking up too much of my time, but I love you anyway and isn't that Eat Pray Love phenom annoying and ridiculous and slightly barfy?".

Then he burst out laughing and sent me the files I needed. Thanks Fiance Person!

I did a bit more work on the bedroom yesterday...more sewing...dusting...rearranging..decluttering...new lamping...etc.

Hey, there's even a nudie chick in the post!

I love the Chateau Marmont so much...I used to stay there everytime I went to LA. Well, till our travel & expense policy changed. Sigh. Every year the Marmont would send out glorious old (scandelous) photos as their holiday greeting. I have 3 years worth in a file, this one I framed (just some cardboard & cheapo black frame). I didn't get a card last year. Pout. Here's the 2008 one that Amy posted about in the comments section. Boy is my blog gonna be popular with my nephews!

How much do I love this hotel? I own books about the place...and I bought a satin valet jacket on ebay a few years ago. What can I say? The rooms are heavenly. The staff is wonderful. The pancakes out in the garden...to die for. They put wonderful jazz music on in your room at the most perfect level. They give you stationery with your name on it and a bowl of fruit with a big green apple. Oh yeah...and running into Keanu Reeves and Matthew McConaughey in the parking garage ain't bad either...

Methinks I Need Some New Links

2008-03-10T19:47:00.005-05:00

Updating my Link List...

Here are some other great House Blogs you should check out...and I'm putting them over there in the links section too (momentarily, hold your dang horses). I should have done this a while ago, but umm, I was doing dishes. Yeah, that's it. Lots of housework.

Anyhoo, I'm also deleting a few blogs that I had been linking to if for no other reason than they haven't been updated in a long time - that's my story and I'm sticking to it! If I missed adding your blog please don't take it as a slight...I'm a doofus with a memory to match.

The Box House - Joanne & Ted just moved in and guess what? Mom's coming along too! Did I mention that Joanne's a redhead? Are we living parallel freaking lives? Joanne - Are you a literary agent too? Does your significant other give you cute little pet names like Shitz, Fanci Crew, Little Miss Menses as well!??!

Thirteen or is that 1311? Oh hell, I don't know...but it's a good read so shuffle on over there and tell em I said "hi".

Beach House. Frankly, when I can't take the clutter over here anymore...I head on over to my Beach House. OK, it's not MY Beach House, it's theirs...but still...I girl can daydream.

Last but least...just last cause it's TINY...

Tiny Old House. I wonder...how tiny is it? It's a cute little cottage on it's way back to shimmerin' and shinin-in.

Banana Toast Tutorial

2008-03-10T10:01:00.022-05:00

I'm home sick today. Nice head cold circulating around the office and I've been on a few too many planes lately = sick sicko.

Marilyn over at 819 Ohio was talking about her not-commonly-appreciated love of crackers w/ butter and honey. She inquired about other folks' odd food habits...so here's mine...

Well, it's not MINE per se. It's my Mom's. Or, maybe it's a western Massachusetts thing. I dunno. At any rate...we call it BANANA TOAST. Not to be confused with Banana BREAD. No sir, this is TOAST.

Easy instructions:

Toast some bread. If you have access to Mastroianni Bros. bread from upstate New York, lucky you! This bread (and their rolls...) are heaven sent. At my Mom's 65th birthday party there was quite a bit of before & during chatter about Matroianni's bread products...

Did you get "The Rolls" from "Them"?

Yes, I got the "Good rolls"

Did you hide some so we can have them "after" the party?

No, why do you have to be like that?

Screw you, I'm hiding some rolls in my car!

Sigh...you're such a head case.

OK, that's a bit of a dramatization...but they really are THAT good. I'd totally hide them in my car from over-zealous relatives.

Oh, right...Directions!

BANANA TOAST
1. toast your bread (preferably white)
2. butter your toast - don't EVEN try to use spray butter, I'll slap ya.
3. slice your banana and plop some on the buttered toast.
4. use flat side of knife and gently squash/smear the bananas
5. run and hide --- or someone else in your house will steal it.
6. eat.

You can follow along with the pictures below...and feel free to giggle at my out-of-season Halloween paper plates....

Look what else happened...8 rows of 8...all attached...

Oh Holy Crap. Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer connected to a prostitute.
Dang.
I REALLY LIKED THIS MAN.
Oh Holy Crap.

Why must they always do the press conference WITH their wife by their side? Isn't the woman humiliated enough? Cripes.
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Well, I Haven't Maimed Myself, Yet.

2008-03-09T19:12:00.012-05:00

On Friday I had a meeting with a well-known/loved fabric designer that I'm going to be working on a book with. She and I got on great and someone in the room actually suggested we were having a "mind meld". I was beyond flattered. Anyhoo, I was telling the famous fabric lady about the fabrics that I had recently purchased and I mentioned the Moda/Swell/Urban Chks line. She was all excited and asked me (with great expectation in her voice) "Do you quilt!??!".

I was probably quiet for a beat or two - too long.

I finally said, "umm, no, I just buy pretty fabrics that I like".

OH FOR SHAME!

So today...after the Fiance snarled at me one too many times for waking him up from his nap...I hit the machine and started making a plan for the Moda/Swell stuff. I have 2 packages of 32 so that's...64. I am going to go really simple here since it's my first time. Well, that's not entirely true, I've tried before but never gotten beyond 6-8 squares before it was all off kilter and I tossed the lot. I'm going to do 8 rows of 8 and then assemble them directly. After that, I'll do a fat border and then attach it to something warm & snugly (ugh, did I just say that? slap me) and put a binding around the edge. Without further adieu...here's what I did so far...

Here's where I've stopped for now...4 rows assembled.

Reminder to me: the stitch is the smaller '00' settings.
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EDIT ----- MONDAY

Rather than make a bunch of separate posts, thought I'd just update this one...

So I'm sick. I was fighting a cold all weekend and this morning I woke up to find that I had apparently swallowed cement. Who knew? So, called in sick. Am sitting at the desk playing with the quilt again.

1. I still have bobbin-anxiety, even with the new machine. The Fiance refilled the bobbin for me and made me a cup of tea and bought me orange juice. Yeah, he's a keeper.
2. I have officially turned into my Mother. The thread keeps breaking and even though I've lowered the tension...break - break - break. So, I've taken to yelling "YOU BITCH!" at the machine...just like my Mommy.

Woof.

2008-03-09T16:32:00.006-05:00

Cause I have nothing particularly interesting to report...here are my sister's dogs. Cutter is the horse, I mean polar bear...I mean enormous yellow (but really white) lab. Molly is the dainty (and shy) chocolate (but really black) lab. Molly is only 6-7 months old...when she gets a bit older...Cutter is gonna come a courtin'. Lucky for Molly, Cutter's a real catch.

Then there will be lab puppies for me to squeal over.

That Waverly fabric that I love so much is like $16 - $25 per yard...online...or $3.77 per yard...in WalFart. I have to call Alton-The-WalFart-Fabric-Dude on Monday to special order the Rodeo Drive version for me.

Wait! A Little Chunk Of Excitement...

I opened up the front door to get some fresh air (stuffy in here...) and what did I find? I completely smashed drunk Irishman. Poor guy was falling down as he walked.

Ass End Over Tea Kettle.

Hey! Did I Show Ya The New Bedroom Fabrics?

2008-03-07T16:52:00.006-05:00

I'm channeling my inner Los Angeles circa 1920-1954 diva. The fabrics are Waverly; Beverly Glen, Rodeo Drive & Sunset Blvd. Ohh-La-Freakin'-La.

I will match the paint for the walls to the fabric...but I don't know if I want to go with the butter cream yellow or the light green...or just a pale creamy/tan.

I'm leaning towards creamy tan since the yellow or green might make the room TOO feminine and that's not the intent. There's a lot of light pink here...I will not be using the fabric in the right top corner, too busy...but it belongs in this family so I thought I'd toss it up there for all the world to see.

Last but not least...vote for my friend Colleen's kitties...

CLICK HERE FOR THE HUMANE SOCIETY's SPAY DAY.

I Painted Myself Into A Corner.

2008-03-06T20:58:00.008-05:00

As mentioned yesterday, today is international "help Jean pick a color for her kitchen and bedroom day". You can purchase cards to celebrate this holiday at most major retailers...

OK, so here's my disaster, umm, I mean challenge. I am color-wheel challenged. My Mom is an artist, I got no skillz from her in that regard. My stick figures look like they belong on the little bus. Right, getting back to the soup at hand...

I painted the floor in the kitchen a shade called "Warm Scones" from Ace Hardware. It's a porch & floor enamel. It's fairly matte. Not too shiny. Here's a picture of the floor AND the rug:

So here's my question, how do I find a creamy white (with a hint of tan) that will compliment the floor? Do I go darker? Lighter? I'm thinking lighter on the walls and then a shade darker on the beadboard backsplash? Thoughts!?!? How do I not make it look like there are 5 shades of white in here? The ceiling (and beams) will be white. Don't forget I've got the dark YELLOW lighting fixture:

The floor paint is Ace but it's very similar to Sherwin Williams' IVORY LACE (SW 7013) or EAGLET BEIGE (SW 7573)

OR...do I embrace the yellow and go for a white with a hint of yellow like Sherwin Williams' LEMON MERINGUE (SW 7561). But that yellow may clash with the yellow ceiling light!?! Where is the tylenol?

The Upstairs Bedroom...

I had the bedroom painted less than a year ago. Umm. I picked a bad color. It's a baby blue/icy blue and would be better suited for a baby's room. Ick. This has to go. I kinda like this "Quilt Gold (SW 6696). It's looks much more lemony in this picture than the sample I have. The sample looks a bit more "golden roddish".

Or...I'm digging shades of green glass & celery.

Help!!!

So I wrote ALL THAT UP THERE last night...and a light bulb went off as far as the kitchen is concerned this morning...whatcha think about THIS:

And now...I think Upstate Mom and I will understand what Kyle-The-Painter meant when he kept saying "yellow ceiling".

Celebrate The Right To Crap Up Your Yard.

2008-03-06T20:18:00.009-05:00

I love graffiti...but only if it's REAL graffiti. We seem to have quite a bit of religious graffiti sprouting up in NYC, not sure I particularly understand that. I don't like tags, when people tag things...that's just lazy. L-A-Z-Y. So here's a stretch in Queens that has old skool graffiti and this new religious graffiti. I admit it, I can't wait for someone to tag it... Oops.

As I was walking down the street I noticed that the trees had little buds! Hurrah! Spring REALLY is coming! No that tree is NOT wearing a Live Strong bracelet. It's a parks department tag.

And here's my favorite...this house just makes me giggle. There's something about the owners complete embracement of hysteria that I really love. They almost never take this stuff down, sometimes the Christmas soldiers go away (around June...) but for the most part, this house looks like this year round and it just makes me smile and want to chant...

Free Will!

Free Will!

Not to be confused with Free Willy! Complete hysteria...with disco ball.

And right infront of that house? MORE graffiti!!

I Need A 12 Step Program.

2008-03-06T13:27:00.002-05:00

I have a zillow.com habit. I love aerial photos of homes and checking out prices. This site just gives me too much freedom to go willy nilly...

Let's NOT Talk About That

2008-03-06T10:07:00.005-05:00

I need a breather. We were cleaning for hours. I've already put in a call to the cleaning service (reinforcements!) since I'm so neurotic that I will insist on bleaching ANYTHING that might have come within 2 feet of *that thing we're not talking about*. Landlordish person is coming over to fix the electrical problem and drop off some *stuff that might help rid us of that thing we're not talking about*.

Lamps. Lamps. Let's talk about Lamps!

Here are the little blue lamps I bought for the home office desk. Super cute and only $6.99. Bargainville. They also came in a creamy butter yellow and a tomato/paprika red. I was torn, I really liked the paprika but went with this one instead since it perfectly matches most of the accessories on my desk.

Spoke to Matt-The-Contractor this morning. He's on his way over to the house to check on the sump-pump in the basement (snot working and it's very-Spring). He thinks it'll be an easy fix. While he's there he's also going to measure the upstairs bathroom and do some rough sketches based on the list that I rattled off to him this morning...

- rip out fug blue tub & surround (will sell or donate it).
- rip out blue sink/cabinet (will replace with pedestal sink)
- rip out too big medicine cabinet (my mistake a few years ago, big is not always better)
- rip out weird arched cabinet in the corner.

then we will...

Move the new white tub over where the weird arched cabinet had been...
Build a linen closet at the opposite end (where the foot of the tub was)
Install pedestal sink
Install smaller medicine cabinet
Put down new linoleum

I see sheetrock in my future...and lots more paint.

By the way, tomorrow is "Help Jean Select A Paint Color For Her Kitchen And Bedroom Day". Are you familiar with this holiday?

Oh Holy Mother of God!! Mouse!!

2008-03-05T21:55:00.007-05:00

One of the outlets in the kitchen isn't working and I needed to use the microwave so the Fiance offered to pick up the microwave and move it closer to another outlet. It was as he was holding the microwave in the air that I saw IT. Farkin' mouse ON THE COUNTER HIDING IN THE CORNER WHERE THE MICROWAVE HAD BEEN.

I chased it with a tupperware container trying to simultanously smack it on the head and trap it. I totally lost this battle. Little chunk of vermin ran across the counter behind the clean dish rack and ONTO the stove and scurried down one of the burner holes. I hope he burnt the crap out of his paws since it was the burner that I had just finished using. Yes, I know I mean. But But But But. Oh hell. I hate dirty things. Please, don't bother to quote vet facts or anything in the comment section. I don't care. Ack.

Landlordish person is coming tomorrow to fix the outlet and provide traps, etc.

I have 2 traps, they've been out for like 2 weeks with peanut butter on them and have smacked the head of nothing. Grrrr.

WAR!!!!

I think we know what attracted them. We found a bbq sauce bottle that had somehow cracked open (looks like the bottom fell off the bottle) and was seeping sweet sicky bbq sauce into a puddle.

I haven't had ANY dinner because I was too nauseous to eat. Ugh.

We've been throwing out stuff and cleaning for hours. We got to the point that we ran OUT of hot water.

The best part...

The Fiance without a shirt on in true white trash mode throwing the garbage bags onto the sidewalk (garbage night in NYC) and yelling at me in his best Cheech Marin voice "Yo, I'm from Queens!!". You had to be there...but I literally fell on the ground from hysterical laughter.

Mouse Warrior On A Better Day...Homegirl Does Like His Champagne...

Moments after this photo was taken he proclaimed "Why'd you let me drink that? Take me back to the hotel room, I gotta lay down". Light weight.

Lamp Wars and Blogs Gone Wild (Not Topless).

2008-03-05T10:48:00.007-05:00

As mentioned the other day, I stopped at The Christmas Tree Shop in Spring Valley on the way to the house. Lamp O Rama. The Draper-ish one was $16.99 and the Crate & Barrel-ish one was $12.99 (from memory, I could be off a buck or two).

I know which way I'm leaning. Thoughts?

By the way, see the cute little oval tablecloth that Upstate Mom whipped up for us? It covers the not yet painted top (too cold outside!) of the $20 table quite nicely.

Messy Marvin done come to town...

I don't know why I referred to that dimpled lamp as "copper" there's nothing copper about it...it's just sort of dark grey/brown color that's metallic. Umm, yeah.

Hey remember that water pump we put in the basement last fall? Snot working and SPRING IS SPRUNGING upstate. Upstate Mom just called me...so I called Matt-The-Contractor. Maybe the electrics just knocked out. Who knows?

EDIT------------------------

Blogs Gone Wild! What did I do? What happened? All of a sudden my site meter has gone OFF THE CHART. Did Blogger.com feature me or something? I can't get any of the urls to track back to show me where the landslide o' traffic came from. Anyhoo, hello people! Nice to meet ya. Did you want a cup of English Breakfast or Chamomile?

Typical referral traffic...

Blog Gone Wild referral traffic...

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Today's Commute

2008-03-04T21:20:00.001-05:00

To Chicago - 8:50AM

Back to NYC, 5:10 PM

An Unlucky Number of Lamps...

2008-03-02T21:36:00.013-05:00

I drove upstate on Saturday morning...the clouds were ominous but I was upbeat...there were lamps to be had!

I stopped in Saugerties on the way to the house. Saugerties is such a cute little town...lots of old time signage and other treats...

at one point...there were THIRTEEN lights in the car. These 6 which I picked up at the Christmas Tree Store in Spring Valley, NY...will NOT be living at the house...you'll see more of them later this week...in NYC.

and of course the 5 globe lights for the kitchen light...ta da!

and last but not least...the chandelier from Paris...wait. Before you page down, let's chat. I bought this chandelier in the famous Clignancourt flea market in Paris. Let's recall how I got there....

The Fiance and I had a massive arugment one day...and I stormed off and went to work. As I sat at my desk I had the thought "screw him, I'm going to Paris". And, I did. That is, I booked my flight. Later that night, we had cooled off and made up...and I told the Fiance; "umm, I made plans to go to Paris, I'm meeting my friend Randy". Now Randy I should tell you supposedly had a crush on me, but he was a friend and he lived in London and he could hop over to Paris at a moments notice. I also kinda thought he was gay, but I could be wrong. Who knows? We lost touch years ago. Anyhoo, I went on my trip and met up with Randy and I must have annoyed the carp out of him because he left after 2 days. No worries, whatever. I headed out to Clignancourt and found my chandelier. I carried it in a box on the Metro and then got off at the wrong stop. OOPS. My hotel was on the right bank, I was standing on the left bank...with a large heavy package. This was the day of the franc, before the Euro...so I bought a little trolly cart (like a luggage cart). I wheeled the sucker from one side of the Seine to other and then up into my hotel room. It's taken me 6-7 years to finally get this puppy rewired and ready to go...and I couldn't be more pleased with the work that the folks at Burning Lights in Saugerties have done with my baby. Now, I just need to get the electrician over to the house.
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In other news...Super Gay Andy is really troubled by the news these days...

Poor Upstate Mom had to read a shredded newspaper...

But wait...there's more...

My friend Bryna recently celebrated her 40th birthday. You know it's love when your hubby throws your party and makes it a pirate theme...and then goes so far as to rent a parade float to park infront of your house. Rock on Bryna & Ross! We're sorry we couldn't be there to help break the margarita machine!

Yo, Thems Some Big Pillars

2008-02-29T18:22:00.003-05:00

Are those your pillars - or are you just happy to see me?

Massive snowstorm coming. Of course. I want my chandelier!

---insert temper tantrum here---

Hogs N Kisses N Books N Chandeliers

2008-02-29T15:46:00.003-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive. Thanks for all the hogs n kisses and inquiries. I feel such e-love!

Have been working my tail off, so to speak. Or, is that Soda Speak? Soda Speak. Hmm. That'd be a belch, right?

Last week I was in the office past 11PM one night. This week, I've been here past 8PM on several nights. Me and my "big ideas"...I decided that a great big celebratory anniversary book for one client would be REALLY cool and it should be SO AWESOME that it would have a retail price in excess of $100. So I pitched this idea to publishers last year and did a deal...and now it's time to deliver the stinker. It's eating my brain. Everything needs to be done before BEA (big publishing trade show) as this book is the PREMIER book that this particular publishing house is...publishing...this year. No pressure there, huh? I love my job, mostly.

In other news...I might be picking up THE CHANDELIER tomorrow. Am anxiously waiting to hear if UPS delivered the candle covers today. If they did...and they fit...it's good to go.

Lamps. Lights. Neurosis.

2008-02-27T08:51:00.005-05:00

The search is on for some great ceramic (ginger jar-ish?) table lamps to work with the chocolate brown chesterfield sofas. I've searched high and low at:

Pottery Barn - didn't find a single lamp I liked. Wassup PB!?!?

Crate & Barrel - one of my favorites is the mercury glass lamp (with blue star). If I could find 2 at an outlet...done.

West Elm - didn't find anything that set my heart on fire

Ikea - again, didn't find anything that excited me

JcPenney - actually found a good assortment! That cream one (with blue star) is in the lead - unless I can find the Crate & Barrel mercury glass lamps...cheaper than the list price.

Sears - ick, didn't find anything

Jonathan Adler - love, love, love his designs, but it's out of my (justifiable) budget

Got any other great lamp sources?

Flushing My Bonus Down The Crapper.

2008-02-26T12:55:00.003-05:00

I went to Starbucks to celebrate my *superstar* annual performance review.

Behold, my last chai latte…ever.
Well, from Starbucks anyway.
The medium is now $4.05. Bite Me!

Back to the review...I got a pat on the head, a raise and a bigger bonus than I had anticipated. Yay me!

I’m thinking about flushing my bonus down the toilet. Yeah, that’s right. Time to attack the dreaded upstairs bathroom. Guess I’ll go call Matt-The-Contractor. He must miss me by now.

Whine, Moan...etc.

2008-02-25T19:51:00.004-05:00

My desk is a mess. My nice new home office seems to have exploded in the past 24 hours. OOPS. It's nearly 8PM and I'm just starting to attack it now. I hate when my desk is a mess. My co-workers (who read my blog) will laugh when they read this...my desk at the office is a DISASTER. My desk at home...I like to keep tidy.

In other news, Rick Springfield (really, I'm not obsessed, he's just sort of everywhere in the past 2 weeks) is on Oprah tomorrow. Thanks to Dee for the notice. Speaking of music...

I formerly worked at record companies "back in the day" and had my own music management company. One of my "kids" was even nominated for a Grammy this year (he didn't win, but I still love him oodles). After too many dropped bands and not enough hits, I got a day job with...medical insurance! What a novelty. Anyhoo, I was going through some cd's tonight and have come to terms with the fact that I own a lot of...crap. It was free, people gave them to me. I kept the cd's, I didn't want the (plastic) to feel unloved. There are probably less than 200 cd's that I actively listen to. The other 2000-3000...ehhh. Not so much. Maybe another 250 of them I'd want to keep "just in case" I had an itch to listen. I know I should convert them all to mp3 files but...frankly...that's boring. S-N-O-R-E. Anyone want to recommend a service that converts them for you? Yes, I'd rather pay someone to do it than sit here and "insert, upload, remove, insert, upload, remove". B-O-R-I-N-G.

Blah. Blah. Blah. Headache.

Ode To Cilantro And Hallie's House

2008-02-24T22:10:00.010-05:00

Ode. Umm, I'm not really in a poem mood. Sorry for the bait n switch.

One of my most favorite things in Queens other than the diversity and cheap(er) apartments is...the taco trucks. Even the foodie snobs on chow.com wax poetic for the Queens taco trucks. The trucks pull up around 8:30PM each night and sell REAL tacos. Not that Taco Bell-ish junk...REAL tacos. We have a bit of a "taco habit" in our house. There's a lot of "I'll buy if you fly" wherein I hand the Fiance $10 and he bundles up in coat & boots and heads out to get tacos and the occasional apple soda. Apple soda. Yes, you heard me right. Apple soda. Say it again. Apple soda. Heaven. The tacos don't have cheddar cheese or sour cream or lettuce or any of that other stuff. They are marinated chunks of chicken with a TON of cilantro. The truck peeps also include fresh wedges of lime and some mystery green sauce. I love that mystery sauce. Say it again. APPLE SODA.

Yesterday, I bought cilantro seeds. I love cilantro.

Hallie won the 'return to the 80's' competition and during our email exchange, I saw the url for her blog. OH MY GOD. This is bringing back SUCH MEMORIES. They have purchased a house (up near me in fact) that is soooo reminiscent of my house decor-wise...well, till I ripped everything out. Hallie, it will get better, I promise! The paneling and drop ceilings will one day be a (funny) memory. Really, it's true! Here's a link to Hallie's blog HOLYHUDSON, watch their renovation develop...I'm so jealous of the floors they are finding under linoleum-land. LINK . Her house has great bones and it's going to be awesome.

Thermostats, Chandeliers, Fabric & Contest Winner - Oh My!

2008-02-24T18:48:00.011-05:00

I kinda blew saw dust EVERYWHERE. That's what you get for watching back-to-back episodes of a home improvement show on TLC...where the carpenter is Hot and British. Oops. I spewed saw dust. I'm still finding random chunks.

Ran around like a looney (not the coin) today and got some great deals. The Belkin clamp-on surge protector that I've been coveting is $12.97 on Circuit City's website. It's $24.99 at Target and $31.XX at Circuit City (in store). So, printed a copy of Circuit City's website and asked them to price match to their wesbite. They did. Got 2 of them for $12.97 each. Yay! The war on wires will start immediately.

Picked up a programmable thermostat at Target. We've been rocking the old fashioned kind for too long - hopefully this will save some cash (that I'll blow elsewhere) and oil. The house does well on oil (for a c1839 house) but it's too hot upstairs at night and fans don't seem to help. Whilst at Target I nabbed 2 chandeliers and a rug from the "Global Bazaar" sale at 75% off.

Then, there was still room in the trunk so I bought lots of fabric, other sewing tools (thread organizer, carry case for the machine, etc.) and random other bobbits and bows.

Contest? What contest? Oh yeah...our return to the 80's...

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Lastly...Laura-From-The-Plane posted on the thread about the meeting with Rick Springfield. There's also a link to pictures on her Facebook account (I don't have Facebook, I'm a MySpace dork).

legifford has left a new comment on your post "The Front Desk Guys Give The Fiance A Run For His ...":

I tried to post last week, but I don't see it, so I'll have another go at it.

I am the John-Hiatt-singing, Rick-Springfield-meeting chick from the plane. The show was fantastic! Rick played in true, hot, sweaty, Rock'n'Roller style for two hours, sovering just about every song you would want to hear (at least in part). It was so much fun! Then at the Meet n Greet, he'd showered, taken out his contacts, had on glasses, put on a fuzzy sweatshirt & comfy pants, and looked like somebody's dad! It made it even better to see how hard he worked to portray that Rock'n'Roll image for us and entertain us! I posted a few pics at my Facebook page: LINK

Enjoy!

Wait! Wait! Wait! Have you seen this saw? I am WAY too excited about this. Is it bad that it almost made me cry with happiness? I'm such a dork.

Contest With Prize To Motivate Me To Get House Stuff...Done.

2008-02-23T08:00:00.004-05:00

The prize will not be announced till the END. Past prizes have included Kate Spade boxed notes, a crappy digital camera, a Bath & Body Works gift card, etc. You just never know what I'm gonna toss in an envelope and ship off. That's half the fun, right? This contest could really turn your life around. Erin at The House and I won a Go Speed Racer t-shirt and journal last week and now she's eating rodent shaped baked goods. Ya gotta be in it, to win it.

So here's the story. I need to get some stuff done around this place today. There are dishes to be done, dirty clothes to be bagged up, the cat hurled across the new Williams Sonoma duvet and comforter (2 weeks - a record!) and I have a pile of stuff to drop off at charity. In an effort to get off my butt and do this stuff, I've decided that I can NOT check my blog until I've completed each task. By that I mean, I do one, check blog, do another, check blog, etc. So I'm not sitting around all day refreshing, checking stats, seeing if anyone else has updated their blog and so on. Cause, umm, that's sort of what I did all day yesterday.

So what's the contest? Come up with a phrase to match this fashion & hair disaster from my teen years. Go ahead, be brutal. The one that makes me laugh hardest, gets THE PRIZE. Contest ends Sunday at 6PM EST. You can enter as many times as you want.

Brilliant.

2008-02-22T14:25:00.004-05:00

You just never know what Fed Ex is going to show up with around this place...

The Fiance has a habit of losing and/or breaking sunglasses...and he loves wayfarers. So, he found a place that sold the fake ones in bulk and they included a few extra color ones. I totally nabbed the pink pair. Yay!

Lastly, Erin's gone mental. CLICK HERE.

Jammies N Jimmies

2008-02-22T11:53:00.008-05:00

Many (most) people who work in NYC have a heinous commute. I'm not talking 20 minutes, I'm talking more than 90 minutes. A few in my office even have a 2 hour commute which may involve a car ride, a commuter train and a long walk - perhaps even a subway ride. Such is the price for wanting a home and not having a $1000 per square foot budget. We have to live outside...WAY outside the fair isle of Manhattan.

Anyhoo, there's a blizzard of sorts in New York today. Upstate's full of snow. Manhattan is full of snow. The snow cripples most of our transportation abilities. Sure, the subways still run, but I've slid DOWN the cement stairs one too many times. Call me skittish if you will.

So, I made the assumption that the office would be closed today and I stayed in my jammies. Did I want to venture over bridges, tunnels and ice so that I could sit damp and grumpy at my desk? NOPE. I really did think they would close the office, especially since they know most employees have long and dangerous commutes, but they didn't. OOPS.

Well, they didn't CLOSE till 11AM. So I wonder, is today a personal/vacation day for me because I opted to play the odds and stay away from a traffic accident or am I just OFF THE HOOK and 2 hours ahead of the VERY FEW co-workers who did make it into the office? Hmmm. I did sit here and work on my Blackberry and make business calls. Hmmm. What's the moral answer? Our office isn't very clear on these sorts of things, but if I pick the WRONG answer, I'll get spanked, and that's annoying...but I also don't want to forfeit a vacation day.

In the interim, the ILU CEO and I have had many meetings. She feels there's not enough "snack time" and "water cooler" time in this office. I hand carried the Queen to the bathroom and turned on the cold tap. Pure Kitty Bliss.

What's up in Mouseville? Well, nothing. I've had a trap out for 2-3 days with peanut butter goodness (chunky!) and it's still sitting there untouched. Odd. Maybe someone came in under the dark cover of night and sprinkled chocolate ice cream jimmies back there? In answer to your question, no I haven't cleaned back there yet. I was afraid to disturb it and have something jump out at me. My thought process was kill first, clean later. And yes, that is a water bottle that fell behind, I'm not about to stick my hand down there (at present) to retrieve it. Ick.

Maybe I'll put my big green boots on and just clean it...but Good Lord if something runs out (and my camera isn't handy) I'm going to be way pizzed.
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EDIT----------------

So I attacked Mouseville. I put on my BOOTS. Technically, golashes. Whatever.

I pulled the freezer away from the wall and unplugged it. I took everything off the top of the armoire and pushed it away. I mopped and mopped and mopped. Then I started to dry heave. It just hit me. I also noticed that I had a hair in my mouth. My hands were filthy, I didn't want to touch my mouth let alone my tongue to retrieve the hair. Between the dry heaving and the hair in my mouth (gag reflex times 200) I hurled myself across the kitchen and stuck my head in the sink at the same time opening a window. I'm pretty sure the color of my face at this point matched my boots. I got back to cleaning and had one more dry heave incident. The area is clean. I can't find any entry holes, the trim is very tight back there. No clue.

So I finally got everything put back in place, put the snap trap back down and settled onto the couch to try and relax my stomach muscles when I heard it.

SNAP!!!!!!!!!

I sat here for at least 3 beats before I grabbed my boots...again.

Went into the kitchen and looked.

NOTHING.

Stupid trap went off by itself.

Widget Is It? Widget Fidget. Oh Foo!

2008-02-21T23:01:00.007-05:00

Widgets. Widgets. Widgets.

I got one of them to work. The one from WidgetBox.com seems to be working. The one from ClearSpring...not so much. And of course, it's the one from ClearSpring that I'd prefer to use. Grrr! If only I was 15 years old and understood more of this CSS, Javascript, HTML, Pixelated Goodness. Grrr! But I'm not 15 years old, I'm 27.

Cough. Cough. Yeah, I said 27.

What? You gonna nab my purse and check my license? OK, add a couple of years.

HEY! Not that many.

OK, yes, THAT many. Screw you buddy. Humph.

Frankly, I have a word of advice. Don't attempt to work on techie things (unless you're a techie person) when you can feel the pms settlin' in. Grrr!

So anyway, that box with the blue star to the right of the screen that so prettily says "SHARE" doesn't so much do schidt. Yet.

The orange box does work though...so please...spew me forward...or something.

I went on a Home Decor Magazine Subscription Bender.

OOPS.

House Beautiful. That's all I was gonna get and then those devils at Hearst upsold me Country Living and Oprah's "O at Home" for $10 more.
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Home Depot, You So Silly....Ebay Boycott Update

2008-02-20T21:25:00.006-05:00

I needed a set of matching (what a concept!) white globes to finish off the faux bamboo chandelier in the kitchen. I ordered them from my small town lighting place...oh...let's see...about 4 months ago. They still aren't in. I give up.

I was walking past Home Depot down in Chelsea earlier and popped in to see what they had in the way of globes. Home Depot, you so silly! If I bought the globe by itself it was something like $7.91. If I bought the waste-of-packaging globe WITH lighting fixture it was $5.91. I bought 5 of them. I'll take out the matching globes, put in the 3 not-matching ones I have and donate them to charity. That still leaves me with 2 "whatevers". Maybe we need more lighting in the basement? Who knows. Good Lord. Home Depot...tards.

It's also time to wage the war on mouse-ville. I've got traps and a few super-expensive noise thingees.

Course, I couldn't walk by the seeds without nabbing a few. Tomatoes! Tomatoes! Zucchini! Basil! And of course, Pumpkins! If I didn't get Pumpkins, there'd be a pouting Fiance. HONEY! Look, I got Pumpkin Seeds!!

EBAY UPDATE!--------------------

Per medved.com Ebay's listing have DROPPED by more than 14%! Yay! CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY. Continuing the strike into next week is being considered, to push listings under 10million. How are you doing? Staying strong? Fighting the urge? I think I might need to run an Ebay Strike Contest/Prize thingamabob. It may involve writing a short poem. Start thinkin'. More news on the prize later.

I Love Upstate Logo

2008-02-20T20:36:00.005-05:00

Isn't she pretty?!?!?

Weekend Guests...

2008-02-20T09:23:00.006-05:00

Do you remember in the 70's...how every adult had a sign in their kitchen that proclaimed something about Guests & Fish stinking after 3 days? Or something along those lines? They always made me giggle. I found this ceramic dish (with hook to wall mount) at a flea market a while back. It just makes me chuckle so hard. What can I say? I'm easily amused.

File this under tips or random nuttiness. I need 'to do' lists, it's how I get things accomplished and remember measurements and other assorted tidbits. Crossing something OFF once it's done...pure bliss. I wasn't good with scraps of paper. I realized that I had lots of greeting cards - more than I would ever realistically send out - so I started using them to write my lists in and file paperwork that needed immediate attention (like that Michael's coupon! or the FREE Pledge rebate!).

So here's my most recent card. I've been working on this one for a few weeks. I've run out of space so I'll rewite whatever hasn't been handled onto a new card and start a new cycle.

Hey, it works for my feeble brain...and it fits in my wallet.

Mouse-Ville. Eek.

2008-02-20T08:14:00.005-05:00

This email exchange was too good not to share. We might have a mouse problem (not at the house) but I'm still in denial. We were supposed to clean it all up last night but, like I said, I'm still in denial. I'll get to it tonight. In the interim, here's Marilyn's expose on life-with-mice:

MARILYN of 819 OHIO's HELPFUL MOUSE-RIDDING TIPS:

Okay, let us be clear - I probably hate the little buggers more than anyone I know. Some - like, say, my husband - might even say I'm off the deep end about them. It's bad. Other things don't bother me nearly as much. But I hate them. Somehow, this has not kept me from visiting the Magic Kingdom - still, I won't shake Mickey's big gloved hand. Ick.

With this freak fear level in mind, follow as much or as little of this info as you desire.

FOR a MOUSE PROBLEM RIGHT NOW

1. Get the D-Con or Victor brand mousetraps, the hard black plastic kind, not the old-fashioned wood snap traps. The kind where you don't see the dead thing but you do see an "up" lever. They're very good. Place them along the edge of where you think the creature (or god forbid, creatures) may be - i.e., back of the cabinet, along the baseboard behind the freezer, etc. Bait with peanut butter; they love it, the dumb little bastards.

I am also digging the idea of the new electronic traps. http://www.victorpest.com/mouse_rat_home2.htm Even if it makes me feel like a sicko Gestapo officer, I am all over those.

2. You can use a contained poison (like D-Con wedges) but only if you're confident the cat can't get anywhere near it. Our previous problems (in the old house) involved a lower cabinet, so it was safe from dog & kid.

I used to put the little D-Con wedges in there, full of lovely blue pellets, and they would clean that thing dry overnight, leaving me shaken and wanting to check into the nearest hotel.

3. Clean EVERYTHING near where they might be. Clean behind and under the fridge, take food off the counters, make sure the food in the cabinets is in closed bags or containers. I always feel better when I use spray Clorox everywhere - as if bleach is their Kryptonite! Whatever.

4. While you are cleaning, LOOK FOR HOLES. Or tiny cracks, or any entry areas inside and out. In an apartment, I know this would be near-impossible (as in, you don't have full exterior wall access) but you can check the inside. Stuff any offending hole full of steel wool, which they will not chew through.

FOR the FUTURE

1. Constant Vigilance (I don't know if you've read the Harry Potter books...but this phrase is key)

For me, that means a quick wipe-down of the kitchen baseboards (even in the new one! crazy) every night. I'm very careful about how I store food and rarely leave it on the counter.**

I watch for poop signs and if I'm feeling suspicious, I'll drag Cleo into the kitchen with me to check it out. Unfortunately, she's kind of retarded and couldn't find her own face in a mirror. But my late dalmatian, Norman, was one of the dog-mouser greats.

2. Get a sonic-wave pest thing, like this one:

http://www.victorpest.com/mousesonicfaqs.htm

I used these in my little wholesale bake shop and have used them (or a different brand) at home ever since. Exterminators
have told me that some people swear by them (I do) and that some mice could care less. Either way, I like the placebo
effect I get from using them. I'm sure they will not harm other animals (like your kitty) because all my dogs seemed to
retain their hearing. The kitchen is the best place to put it.

3. Every season, as part of maintenance, we check the outside walls of the house, at the foundation, etc, for any chewing or
holes, and they then get stuffed & patched. It really helps.

** My Scary Food on the Counter Story:

Back in the early 80's, my sister Iris and I were sitting in the family room watching something (probably "Porky's" or "Hot Dog" for the millionth time) and over the loud movie we could hear "scritch." Scritch-scritch-scritch.

It was seriously loud - scritch-scritch-scritch. The noise was coming from the kitchen pass-through (why I love them) and emanating from the counter. Like idiots we went to investigate. Iris had left a giant bag of Doritos open on the counter, and when she didn't hear any further noise, stuck her hand in to grab more. OUT shot an orange powder-covered mouse, running across the counter, leaping to the floor, and disappearing into some crack in the wall.

We screamed and jumped and grabbed each other and almost DIED. We drove immediately to the store, picked up mouse traps (the old school kind) and waited all night to hear that "thwack!" when it took the bait, which it did.

Moral: No Doritos on the counter while watching mesmerizing crappy movies. You'll be sorry.

MY RESPONSE IN WHICH I GIVE AN OPOSSUM THE SHITZ:

I am so totally blogging this entire email. It's hysterical!

At the house, we get field mice every winter. The joys of an old house - holes & cracks everywhere...and an open-air dirt 'basement' so I''m well-versed in d-con and steel wool. I kinda hate the poison route though. Here's why:

We poisoned (not killed) an opossum who took up residency in the basement at the house one winter. We didn't know he was down there and he snacked on all the D-con poison that was meant for mouse-ville. The opossum had the shitz from one end of the basement to the other and then back again for good measure. The smell was similar to the sensation of sticking your entire head in a diaper genie after moving the infant to green vegetables. The mice we killed tended to crawl into the baseboard heaters before dying...that smell....that smell...oh God...that smell. (edit: Excuse me whilst I dry heave)

I'm all about traps. Off with their heads! Off with their heads! (more fun if read with Queen of Hearts voice).

I. Am. Speechless.

2008-02-19T23:35:00.003-05:00

Dammit. I didn't buy a lottery ticket tonight. Till then, CLICK HERE to drool some more. That is a Jonathan Adler curtain that she used to upholster the X base bench. BRILLIANT on SO many levels. Where or Where can I find One for Less than Retail? HAH!

Who Knew He Had Such Strong Feelings About Glassware?!?!

2008-02-19T20:16:00.012-05:00

A little over two years ago we realized that we had run out of functional drinking glasses. They had all broken or turned to rubble. We had a casual conversation and the Fiance mentioned that he'd like pint glasses. OK. I can handle that. Being the carrier of copious amounts of estrogen in this relationship, I set out to find some pint glasses. I found a great set at craptastic National Wholesale Liquidators that looked very similar to the Ralph Lauren glasses. It had 6 pint glasses and 6 highball glasses - with a basketweave pattern etched into it. I carted the box home, quite proud of my $14.95 find. The Fiance, scowled. How dare I go out ALONE and pick out glasses WITHOUT him. He had rights too, dammit! A huge argument ensued. It was probably one of our biggest fights...over farkin' glasses. We both slunk to our corners. We didn't discuss glassware for a few weeks. The box of basketweave glasses sat unopened in the kitchen for almost a month and we kept walking around it. I refused to RETURN them. He refused to USE THEM. Willful, aren't we? Finally, over dinner one night we got around to laughing at ourselves and headed to Macy's where we picked out these big PLAIN pint glasses. Over time we've added 2 other styles to the mix. I love-love-love highball glasses. It's prolly my WASP oozing out.

I'm not a big fan of wine glasses. They are delicate, kinda pretentious (sorry!) and a pain in the ass to wash. They also make me feel like a clod. And, they break...constantly. I noticed on a trip to Italy that almost no one was using "wine glasses" they all used these smallish, thick glass-glasses. I found similar ones at Crate & Barrel and stocked up. That's what we drink wine out of every night. I don't like wine to be delicate and too dear. I like to slug it like a little old Italian man...one small squat glass at a time.

Whilst we're talking drinking implements...

Every night the Fiance and I have a tea party. He's got a chamomile addiction and I've got an English Breakfast tea obsession. Tonight it was my turn to make up the tray...I added grapes and 'social tea' cookies. COOKIES. If I call them crackers...the Fiance gets annoyed and tells me; "They are COOKIES". Whatev...

So that brings me to the ELECTRIC tea kettle. I fought the Fiance on this for at least 2-3 years. I didn't think it was real or romantic or right to use an ELECTRIC tea kettle. My scuzzy old tea pot on the stove was JUST FINE. And I dug my heels in. I can dig my heels in like nobody's business. Finally one night he pleaded and begged for an ELECTRIC tea kettle and I said "ok, we'll TRY it".

I FREAKIN LOVE THAT ELECTRIC TEA KETTLE.

I do. My tea is boilin' hot in about 70 seconds no matter how high I fill it. LOVE LOVE LOVE my Braun tea kettle.

And the non-basketweave etched pint glasses aren't too bad either...

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So, umm, can I ask a favor? Perhaps, if you have a minute, you could umm, CLICK HERE and rate my blog. You can also tell me I smell funny and/or need to get a dog.

XOXO,

Jean
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Rocio Romero Home Tour in Upstate New York

2008-02-19T13:13:00.004-05:00

I have a whole hour to myself till my next convention meeting...yee-ha. Found an invite to the Rocio Romero home tour in my inbox this morning...

I love Rocio's designs and I desperately want to build one of her homes. They are doing a tour of one of the houses the weekend of March 1st in upstate New York. I don't know that I'll be able to attend - and the bus/charter thing kinda annoys me. If you go, please let me know what you think. I love-love-love her homes - at least from all the pictures I've seen.

Here's a link to the national home tour information...LINK

No Rest For The Wicked...

2008-02-18T18:26:00.008-05:00

I didn't have work today...so I got lots of projects done. Am at a convention tomorrow...joy.

I think I mentioned previously that I picked up "Twinkle Type" letters at Michael's yesterday ($10...used a 50% off coupon...$5...Yay!). I am still not sure what I'll do with them, but had fun decorating the Fiance and the printers drawer with them.

I even got all domestic-ee and made lasagna. Yep. I made it. OK, I cheated a little, I used jar sauce...but I doctor'd it up. I also tossed in some artichoke hearts in. I am ever the trailblazer...hah!

Lastly, I hit another wine box with paint. Primed it first and then slapped on some blue enamel paint. Not sure what I'm going to do with the box. I still need to sand the edges (further distressing) but this might be fun to put magazines in or something along those lines.

Then...disaster struck. I sent the text message that NO person wants to ever have to send...

What happened?

Well, I was moping the joint. With a real mop. I even cleaned the bathroom floor on my hands & knees (ick!). I was just about to pull the deep freezer away from the wall when I saw IT.

I made a small gasp.

I put down the mop.

I grabbed my cellphone and text messaged the Fiance who was out filming...

What did the text message say?

I found mouse poop.

ICK ICK ICK ICK ICK

We have company for dinner, the Fiance's former ballet instructor/choreographer. What? I never told you he danced back in the day? A story for another day. Till then, I'll just say the Fiance's got a great ass. Anyhoo, I'm not telling the guest about the mouse poop. Our little secret for now, ok?

So Far, I'm Doing Fine....

2008-02-18T11:38:00.010-05:00

Day One of the Ebay Boycott. I'm not buying, I'm not selling.

I'm not sweating yet. So far, on a scale of 1-10. 10 being the time I quit smoking, I give this a 2. Sure, I'm itchy...but my level of pissed-off-at-ebay is much greater, especially in light of the 'ebay buyer' who's been harassing and threatening me.

Not up on the Ebay drama? Click here for Google News. Of the articles, the one I'd ignore is the San Jose Mercury News article. Ebay's corporate office is there, not that I'm insinuating that their writer was swayed. Scuse me a second, I'm coughing...cough:::cough:::cough

So what's a home decor/renovation junkie to do? Well, one article mentioned getting BACK TO THE SOURCE. Go to flea markets, go to your local auction house, go to your local antiques mall. Get out there! Yay! I've always wanted to attend a storage center auction. Perhaps the time is now. Get off your butt and away from the computer and troll the goods first hand again.

Course if it's cold and snowy and you've got a nice bowl of soup - there's always Craigslist.com. I've actually had good luck buying things on Craigslist that need to be shipped from other areas. That's how I got the yellow bamboo lamp that's in my kitchen. You do need to protect yourself - get a name, number and even address (and google it for confirmation) before you toss money out into the world all willy nilly.

Don't forget Etsy.com -- LOVE THIS SITE! Here's some stuff I found on Etsy that might wet your whistle, so to speak...

There's another (smaller) online auction site called BidTopia that was started by one of Ebay's top Power Sellers (they previously did $25 million a year in sales on Ebay). I'm not familiar with them but I'll be checking them out this week. Lastly, here's a list with links to other auction-type sites, I haven't used yet...

Hi Bidder

Bidville

The merchandise (at quick glance) seems a little bleek, but hopefully they will grow in time and attract other sellers. I took down the link to 'ioffer', after checking it out it seems to be mostly crack pipes (yes, really) and fake Louis Vuitton handbags. Good Grief.

Feel free to post other suggestions and auction sites in the comments section. Thanks!

And These Aren't Even The "Awkward" Teen Years...

2008-02-17T20:34:00.003-05:00

Well, except for the prom photo. That dress. OMG. Bad. Bad. Bad. So here's the story. I wasn't going to go to prom and then decided the day of - that I would go. I grabbed one of my sisters' many bridesmaid dresses, used WAY too much hair product and I was off. Egad.

I'm thankful that my fashion sense has improved and my teeth are straight - now. Supposedly one of my Mom's friends once remarked when I was a teenager; "Thank God she got cute, she was an ugly child". Or something along those lines. LMAO ROTF. Can you imagine saying that to someone about their kid? OK, you imagine it...but you don't say it. TOO FUNNY!

I'll have to make a "teen years" collage eventually. It'll be a bad fashion parade of:

1. Coca Cola clothes - do you remember this stupid fad?
2. My Punk Days
3. My Hippie Dippie Days
4. My Metal Days
5. My Dazed & Confused Daze (tends to coincides with Hippie Dippie, how odd)

The Ottoman...Slipcovered...

2008-02-17T17:38:00.006-05:00

Well, I finally tackled it. I can't say it's my best work, but it's done. If you follow the 3-foot rule (stay back 3 feet) then it looks fine. I should also say, the fabric is NOT NEARLY as shiny as my camera's flash makes it look. It has a slight shine...but this looks like it's been slathered in butter and brought to the disco. Trust me, it's NOT this shiny.

Now the ottoman matches the chairs...what a concept:

Wanna cook like a New Yorker? Order gourmet food 'created' by the top NYC chefs online, have it delivered to your home, pop it in the microwave. Voila. You are now cooking like a New Yorker.

I got meals by Rosa Mexicano, Artisinal and a few other chef/restaurants. We'll be having stir-fry courtesy of Fresh Direct later tonight. Here's pics of lunch yesterday (risotta from Artisinal w/ mushrooms & asparagas) and lunch today (from Rosa Mexicano) was swordfish with spicy sauce & lime. I tossed some jasmine rice (also from Fresh Direct) and a few slices of avocado on the plate. Bon Appetite!

SUPER LAZY STIR-FRY FOR TONIGHT:

A Do Run Run, I Do Sew Sew...

2008-02-17T07:26:00.016-05:00

Finally got the NEW sewing machine up and running and it sews like...buttah. Quite happy with it. The bobbin, which has always been my big albatross, is super easy. I have some 40% off JoAnn coupons so am hoping to hit that store this weekend. The first big project is to make a modest slipcover for the dark plum (don't make me say purple, please!) ottoman in the living so that it matches the reupholstered chairs...and the couches. What a concept. LINK TO JOANN COUPONS.

I also bought these squares, in the hopes of making a small quilt (dream big...) or two. Hey, it could happen!

The Fiance baked a cake yesterday AND made his famous banana pudding. I took a picture of him in the midst of making the banana pudding and was told that I was not allowed to publish a picture. He doesn't want anyone to see his ingredients list or process. Touchy. Touchy. Oh well, so long as I get to shovel some into my gob...

I'm bad with dates, but I believe that yesterday would have been my Grandma Martha's 100th birthday. This is my most favorite picture of her.

I wasn't born yet so I don't know exactly why she's under the table. It does look like she and her friends were having a rambunctious (would that be Schlitz and Southern Comfort that I spy?) good time. Grandma Martha rocked the house - and I'm named for her too - Jean Martha, thank you very much. She drove a sky blue Buick Skylark with big fins and kept it in purrfect condition. I remember desperately wanting it when I was a teenager. The steering wheel was massive. Grandma was super-tiny-short-short but she wouldn't let anyone intimidate her, especially the men that chased her. She could talk a tall man down to the ground. She didn't freak out when I shaved my head as a teenager and she thought Billy Idol was HOT. Grandma had a tendency to wear a lot of lavendar cashmere sweaters. The kind that zipped up the back of the neck, know what I mean? She was also a hardcore career gal back before it was even semi-cool. Grandma Martha...rocked the house. Last night we had cake & beer, just like Grandma.

All that Shaun Cassidy chat in the blog from late last week...I had to go and dig up a picture of me sportin' my oh-so-cool t-shirt...

Ignorant People Make My Blood Boil...

2008-02-16T15:05:00.006-05:00

This could also be titled; Ignorant Ebay People Make My Blood Boil

So, this 'challenged' person purchased an umbrella from me on February 3rd. That's a SUNDAY. The buyer opted to NOT purchase insurance even though it was offered. I dropped it off at the post office on WEDNESDAY, February 6th. The buyer was given the tracking number.

On Friday, February 15th she sent me THREE threatening emails with lots of name-calling (all within 5 minutes of each other). Before I could even respond, she filed a claim with PAYPAL. She also claims that I pretended to ship the item MORE THAN 2 WEEKS ago. Hmm, when I subtract 2/6 (my ship date) from 2/15 I come up with 9 days. That's less than 2 weeks according to my calendar. Someone is a few tools short...

PayPal is handling it for me and I'm sure it'll work out (I did all the proper procedures and the tracking number is in the system) but I still keep getting harrassing emails from this 'challenged' person.

Did I mention that she left me NASTY feedback - before I even had a chance to respond to her first inquiry? I've read her feedback and apparently this is frquently her mode of operation.

Why do I bring this up? When Ebay changes their practices this coming week I will have NO RECOURSE as a seller. I will have to put up with ALL THE IGNORANCE AND RUDENESS and FRAUD and not be allowed to defend myself.

I don't need that crap.

The Front Desk Guys Give The Fiance A Run For His Money...

2008-02-14T23:56:00.005-05:00

So I just checked into the hotel in Nashville. I was joking around with the folks at the front desk about how this is basically the 8th year that the Fiance and I have been apart on Valentine's Day. I'm always traveling or at a convention on 2/14.

So blah blah blah I order room service for dinner. About 10 minutes later there's a knock at the door. The guys at the front desk sent me up a bag of chocolate which is adorably packaged (especially for dudes!) and a card.

The card reads:

Mrs. S------

I'm sorry to hear this is the 8th time you have been away from your husband. The Marriott staff and I were wondering if we could be your Valentine for the evening. I hope the rest of your stay is enjoyable and if there anything else you need, please let us know!

At your service,

Tony & Paul

How freakin' cute is that? This sassy new haircut is working for me.

I got bumped from 2 flights today and ended up with $600 in travel vouchers from Continental and Delta. I also met a really cool chick on the plane and we spent the entire time shrieking like 15 year old girls and telling each other our lifes story. We exchanged biz cards so hopefully we'll stay in contact. Anyone who proclaims "I drank a bottle of wine in the airport" and then proceeds to sing John Hiatt tunes to refresh my memory of a particular song is A-OK in my book. Pass the bottle.

To Tub Or Not To Tub, That Is The Question...

2008-02-13T21:20:00.014-05:00

The kitchen isn't done yet...mostly because I haven't picked out a color to paint it...but I'm already starting to think about an action plan for the upstairs bathroom aka "the final frontier".

Oh wait, more importantly...chocolate! Since I'll be on a plane tomorrow the Fiance and I gifted each other tonight. Here's the aftermath of our packaging rampage. Marilyn, please note all the RED...

He's good with the mushy cards, huh? LOL

OK...so the upstairs bathroom also known as the "I'd rather stay dirty than use the shower" room, is just depressing and "ick". OK, it's not THAT bad but it sure isn't inviting. This room is a big ball of uninviting stress. The previous owners put one of those child locks on the shower so you have to press a button to make the water hotter, the button alignment is right in the exact spot where the temperature might be good. So if you're under the button - it's freezing and if you're over the button it's scalding. Joyous. We are lacking a "happy medium".

I'm hoping to rip down that stupid corner wall/cabinet - it's such a waste of space, rip out the cave-like shower, and put in beadboard around the room. I'd love to tile the shower area but frankly, the budget is tapped out. Lastly, new linoleum cause tile is not in the budget. Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

I'm leaning towards a free-standing tub (but a wrap around ceiling-mounted curtain rod would be sooo WRONG for these). Similar to something like this...

But I can't afford any of those - hello, $3000+ for a tub? Kiss my...umm, you know what I mean. I also don't want a whirlpool because water + electric = antsy owner.

All that said...I can't remember the last time I took a BATH. Do you? Really? We're a shower family. All the realtors and whatnot insist that you devalue your home if you don't have a TUB. Umm, really? Honestly? Is that totally true? I wouldn't decide to NOT purchase a home because it was tub-less. Hmmm. Thoughts?

If we put a shower stall in that would be helpful to Upstate Mom who is nervous around the whole "up leg, down leg...wet slippery surface" shower dance. The downstairs bathroom has a shower stall (no tub) so both she and her boyfriend use that one. Seperately one would hope! :) Anyhoo, with just a shower stall we'd have much more floor space (and savings...) to make the room more spa-like.

Decisions...Decisions...

Hey - download Suze Orman's "Women & Money" book for FREE till 8PM on 2/14...

FREE SUZE ORMAN BOOK LINK

Some of her tips are handy...and do love watching her beat the crap out of people who live outside their means...cause, well...that's how my sense of humor works.

Voyeur

2008-02-13T14:42:00.006-05:00

There was a post on Apartment Therapy last week that had a picture that looked (sort of) into my office. I thought that was kinda funny. The apartment tour must have been one of the buildings that skirt around my hood. So, I turned the camera around today:

The view from my office…

1. I call this the knick-knack apartment. I think I saw a naked person walking around in here once. I was in our lawyer’s office which has the same view and I just burst out laughing. Ahh. Good times. Good times.

2. This apartment is under CONSTANT construction and I’ve never seen anyone really live in it. You can get a better view of it from our other lawyer’s office. A bunch of us were in that lawyer’s office the other day admiring the kitchen. It’s beautiful. Might be Poggenhal (sp?) cabinets and looks to have enormous subway tile backsplash.

3. They never turn the lights on in this apartment – but they do occasionally smoke on the balcony.

4. This apartment looks so relaxing. Everything is white and they have gorgeous lamps…but they never turn off their lamps. They are on all the time. Kinda weird.

5. Believe this building is a diplomat’s residence. Not sure which country (like an ignorant American, I don’t recognize the flag). I call this top floor the Anne Frank apartment. In all my years here, I’ve never seen the curtains move.

I Had Forgotten About Pier 1...

2008-02-12T14:16:00.000-05:00

I forgot that Pier 1 existed. I used to check their website occasionally and if something really struck me, then I'd head to a store. Since they closed their online e-commerce shop, they just fell off my radar - till today. Apartment Therapy did a post about the new Spring catalog so I lumbered over to the Pier 1 site - the catalog can be viewed online (hurrah!) and there are some really fun colorful pieces. Here are my favorites...

I have no use for that armoire...but I love it.

The little end tables are cute.

The couch would be fun in a little girl's room - and it unfolds to make one of those (sad) little foam beds. Still, it's pretty cute.

The cafe shelving wants to come home with me...but we have no space for it.

Que sera sera...

The Devil Done Tempted Me Again...

2008-02-12T10:52:00.001-05:00

They say $600. I said $250. What will happen? Where the hell would I put it? Stop laughing at me people! OK, go ahead...laugh.

I have to go Nashville on Valentine's Day. The Fiance and I have never been able to spend a REAL Valentine's Day together. Ever. I always have to go somewhere for work or attend a tradeshow. Grrrr.

Guess I'll go check out Craigslist - Nashville...

Just Goofing Around With House Pictures...

2008-02-11T21:26:00.000-05:00

That was time-consuming and not very pretty. Let's remember that for never again.

OK, time to whine. I have COMPLETELY missed out on the last 2 (maybe 3) issues of Domino Magazine. WHY? Cause my subscription lapsed and the person I paid to renew it for me...is being...sketchy. I really should know better than to buy magazine subcriptions on ebay. I've gotten screwed about 75% of the time. Anyway, they said it'll be 3 months before my mags start to show up. Hmmm. I'm not buying it. When I directly subscribe to a magazine they typically do that annoying thing where they quickly send you last months issue (within 7-10 days) which you probably already have, so they can clear out the warehouse cause perhaps they...overprinted. So, I keep NOT buying Domino in the store...thinking MAYBE TODAY IT WILL ARRIVE. I'm so not getting it, am I?

Back in December, I bought the January 2008 issue of Martha Stewart Living. I don't typically buy this magazine but since it had my all-time-dream-kitchen on the cover, I went for it. Then, like a dope, I left it in a hotel room. I refuse to BUY it again. I should just go smack my head on a wall.

Someday when I have skads (spelling?) of money and want to build my dream kitchen, I'll probably pay $30 for a copy of THAT issue on ebay. Dumbass. I have to go to the doctor on Wednesday. I will ransack their office looking for a copy to 5-finger discount. Yes, really.

Hey, I actually sold a t-shirt over the holidays!

Homer Laughlin House "Parts" on Ebay

2008-02-11T09:25:00.000-05:00

I'll be boycotting Ebay (so don't sell ANYTHING good that might tempt me!) between 2/18/08 - 2/25/08. If you're not up on the what's happening over there, click on this news article: LINK. Instead, I'll be blowing my paycheck over at Etsy.com (another addiction I should promote more often). I've now got the Fiance Etsy-obsessed. Hurrah! I wonder if he remembers shopping on Etsy for the pillow I demanded, I mean graciously requested for my birthday last year?

In anticipation of the 2/18/08 deadline for my Ebay boycott, I'm sort of freebasing with abandon over there. Homer Laughlin's (of pottery/dishware fame) house "parts" are on Ebay. The house/parts are in Ohio. Here's a link to the Homer Laughlin collector's club, just cause...

Looks like the house may have been used as a bar for the last few years. Some of the architectural elements inside...will make you squeal. Check it out: LINK The seller can provide you with more pics on a cd.

OK, so while I'm on the Ebay boycott thing (look at me being all take-a-stand-ish) I should also mention that I've formed a NYC CRF (Renal Failure) Kitty group on MeetUp.com. If you're interested in joining. There's a link on the left side of the blog or you can click HERE. Meetup.com meetings tend to flake out and fizzle and the membership was expensive - so I only paid for a 3-month term. Will see how it goes. Worth a shot! The Fiance, Tal and I are meeting with potential kitty-sitter #4 (or is it 5?) tonight. Wish us luck!

Home Office...ReVAMPed

2008-02-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

I have a ton of stuff that will go to charity this week (corkboards, etc.) but for the most part...here tis. The newly revamped home office. Posters from The Poster List.

VOILA!

Anyone see that cd that's on my little corkboard? That's a movie that the Fiance made for me for Valentine's Day last year of him scrubbing the bathroom. If this place ever catches fire, I'm grabbing the Fiance, the Cat and that DVD. It's priceless.

I love the printers drawer that I picked up last weekend when I was hanging out with Phyllis. It was a Mother to clean. So many grooves. Let's just say, it's clean but I would not store your jelly beans in it. I like just looking at it. It's relaxing. What can I say?

It is sooooooooooo cold and sooooooooooooo windy today. I don't want to open the door...cept for the nice man who's about to deliver sushi.

One more thing...I need some help creating a banner/button for my blog (2 sizes). If this is something you know how to do...and you'd like to be paid with a brand new still in the package P-Touch Home & Office Labeler. Send me a shout. XOXO

------------------LATE EDIT-----------------------

Well I just got the you-know-what scared out of me. Fiance was not home (he's on his way). Firetrucks come roaring to the house. WTF? Four or Five BIG firetrucks outside and one or two of the little truck ones. The house next door (not upstate) has God knows how many people living in it (they umm...don't use the frontdoor) and the firemen broke in. No clue what was happening but one of them told me to stay near the door in case I need to be evacuated. Great.

Guess what I learned (but probably already knew). The only things that mattered, that I ran to grab included:

the cat carrier
Tal - who got unceremoniously smashed into the bag and locked up tight
my engagement ring (didn't have it on at the time, it's a wide band...yadda yadda yadda)
the Fiance's medications - I tossed in the orange Longchamp
my purse - the red Longchamp

The heck with rest of the crap, including the dvd of the Fiance cleaning the bathroom (how weird that I posted that earlier today and then this...). So I sat here with my pile of "Grab N Runs" and waited. They finally left so I guess everything is OK. The cat is still in the bag...and she's so pissed. I just don't want to let her out yet in case she hides.

That reminds me, FDNY are...SUPER HOT.

So much for a boring Sunday renovating the home office...

Did I mention that the FDNY is hot?

Migratory Furniture - A Twisted Theory

2008-02-10T09:49:00.000-05:00

Most of the furniture that I love is stuck in Florida. Call it a 'furniture migration' if you will. Here's my (twisted) theory. Richie Riches bought fabulously glamourous furniture in the 40's and 50's and 60's. They lived in NYC (or elsewhere) and then retired to Florida in the 80's and now...they are passing on.

This one seller on Ebay (a church I believe) consistently has the best pieces and it makes me batty. They are in Gainesville, Florida. Seriously, click on his/her auctions. You'll drool. Here's a sampling of current items (below). That bar (bottom right corner) is making my palms itchy and twitchy.

When I travel for work, I obsessively look at Craigslist to see if there is anything that I can't live without. Getting it back to New York isn't something I've quite figured out yet. Oops. When great mid-century or hollywood regency pieces become available in the NYC area -- they are too expensive and it's a battle to get them. I've sort of given up. It's just not (typically) worth the effort.

I have a moving guy named Eric. Eric helps me with small moves in and around NYC. A week or so ago his truck was sick so he referred me to Harry. Harry helped me move that white lacquer desk (worth the fight) in the midst of a pararazzi ambush on the Upper East Side. Harry and I got to talking and I told him about my Florida furniture migration dilemma. He mentioned that he new truckers that were constantly moving people & their stuff TO Florida...and then driving the trucks BACK to New York empty. Harry is going to try and get me some names and numbers. I don't know that logisitically (or financially) it'll ever work out but hope Springs eternal.

Yay! Super-Fantastic-Raul just showed up to help me with the home office shelves and new wooden blindes. See you peeps later!

Please boycott Ebay from 2/18/08 - 2/25/08.
Click HERE for more information.

Bedding For the Blinde...NO MORE!

2008-02-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

Last night the Fiance drove into Manhattan and picked me up (yay!) and we went on an errand marathon.

1. Staples to pick up Pete's manuscript that we found out had typos in it AFTER it had been printed and bound. Grrr! Pete reads this blog, flog him please. Yeah, sure. I should have seen them too.

2. Jet down to National Wholesale Liquidators to pick up picture frames for the nifty posters I purchased from The Poster List.

3. Then we grabbed some burritos at a REALLY terrible place on Bleeker Street. Yes, we should have known better...

4. Lastly...we raced out to Ikea and got the 74 inch shelves for my home office. I'll sell the shelves that are up there now or possibly use them elsewhere in the house.

So here's the "before" picture of my slightly disorganized home office. I know, it needs to be edited big time. I'm workin' on it.

Tomorrow the super-duper handyman is coming over to put up the new longer (74 inch) shelves and also install wooden blindes in the Fiance's office and a few other things I need help with. Fun! Fun!

Today, we cleaned up a bunch of messes - starting with the litter box --- P-U!

I also ripped off all the crazy patterns on the bed...hurrah.

Here's the new look that won't give you a seizure:

WAIT! Let me put all the pillows on the bed...that doesn't look too terrible. But can you tell HOW MANY pillows there are!?!?

The Fiance has "pillow issues". He even counts them from time to time to make sure that I didn't give any away. Dork. But he's my dork, eh?

Speaking of the Fiance...guess who had too much Saki at dinner and has been snoring since 7:30PM? Par-Tay Ani-Mul.

So I'm up...and I have this nightmare to figure out. A poorly planned bulletin board used to live under my shelving...it was badly adhere'd with foam tape. The bulletin board fell down after a day but the foam tape remained out of sheer laziness. I covered it with a Cary Grant lobby card and a Ryan Adams poster. So sue me.

In other news, I wanted to buy this scarf/hanky. It's $12. The shipping was $13. Grrr. I cancelled the order. That shipping rate is just silly.

Andy Is Grey - Winter Is Making Me Nuts

2008-02-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

So many people reported that Andy, my Mom's grey & white cat looked orange that I started wondering if perhaps I was color blind. I'm not. Turns out those people just have super-duper "something's slightly wrong" sensitive computers. There is apparently something wrong with my site, I don't want to use the word virus and set off a panic, but there is something "not right" happening. We're investigating...where the hell did I put John Stossel's number?!?!?

In the interim...more pics of Gay Andy and plants from LAST summer.

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled House Trauma...

2008-02-07T21:33:00.001-05:00

Upstate Mom recovered some old pillows for me using leftover fabric from the reupholstered chairs. Yay! By the way, have you folks met my Mom's cat Andy? Andy is super-gay. Not just regular gay. He's SUPER-GAY.

When Mom brought Kitten-Andy home from the farm (where else do cats come from?) he was covered in cow poop and he had snotty goopy eyes. Speaking of snot, I've deleted the contest post so that when Conde Nast calls and wants me to write for them...they won't run across THAT picture. Erin from The House & I won the contest. I digress, my first thought upon meeting Andy the poop/snot covered cat was "that's the best one she could find!?!?!". I was wrong. Andy rocks the house and he helps me decorate too. We sing showtunes, gossip about celebs and drink flavorful cocktails together. He also criticizes my fashion sense. When he gets a little too high-falutin' I remind him that I knew him when he was poopy/goopy.

I love outsider art. I bought this painting several years ago from Bianka Jeg. I loved it so much that I went and bought ANOTHER painting from her. Cept, she never shipped it to me. Kept my money, never sent the painting. Years went by. I finally got an email from her about a year ago and she apologized. She said she'd send me another painting of my choosing. So I made my selection. That was a year ago. I've sent about 10 follow up emails. Nothing. Sigh. Artists. Humph.

Just for giggles...let's pretend the curtain rod is up in the new laundry/breakfast nook...

If you'll excuse me now, I have go kick the Fiance's butt. He ate ALL my pretzel goldfish. Bastard.

Spice Up Your Life!

2008-02-07T09:12:00.000-05:00

It's been pretty much teeny-bopper pop culture week at our house. Tuesday night we went to see the Hannah Montanna 3D movie. Why? Well, we love Letters to Cleo and much of the band is comprised of Letters to Cleo. Kay Hanley is one of the Fiance's many loves/lusts. Loads of fun and just enough bs in that movie to make you groan and roll your eyes.

Last night...it was the Spice Girls at Nassau Colliseum. Now I should back up and tell you that the Fiance was HORRIFIED to find out that I did not own a Spice Girls cd. My girl power was called into question pretty early on in our relationship and he immediately bought me a cd. Since the Fiance makes the bed and cooks most of the meals, I think my girl power is at full throttle. Anyhoo, we ended up front row center. Given that the Fiance was basically the only straight male upfront...he was the prime Spice Girl target and he received oodles of flirtations from Baby and Ginger. He was in testosterone heaven (or hell depending on your viewpoint). Spice Girls, Short Skirts, Fishnets...he really couldn't ask for much more (but I'm sure that if pressed, he could come up with a list).

Being the obnoxious male that he is, he couldn't resist taking a picture as though he was offering singles up to the girls (Baby, his favorite, I'm told).

In the Fiance's defense, they did dance on stripper poles...

Mel B did have a rather "icky" dance routine that involved simulated...I can't say...in case my younger family members read.

Ginger did a "It's Raining Men" routine that was close to being the highlight of the show. She owned the stage.

I'd like to think that if I were a Spice Girl, I'd be Herbs de Provence or Cilantro.

Per the Fiance, the highlight for him was when Scary Spice grabbed Posh Spice's breast and yelled "How'd your boobies get so big, Victoria!?!?" . Posh Spice replied by flipping her the bird.

Ahh yes, Girl Power indeed!

Oops, My Bad

2008-02-05T17:36:00.000-05:00

I answered a trivia question on Marilyn's 819 Ohio blog and it expressly said at the bottom that I was NOT allowed to play. I didn't see that. Oops. Selective reading? Pop culture competitive-obsessive? Yeah, guilty as charged.

You know how on some airplanes you can play music trivia against other travelers? I once played for hours and was in the TOP SPOT the entire time. At one point some mad man walked to the front of the plane and just glared at me. He was so pissed. He actually asked me to STOP playing so someone else could have a chance to get the stop score. I can't play music trivia with the Fiance, he's actually even better than me. Like, scary good. Like, he must have never gone outside as a child/teen/20-something kind of good. My competitive steak (edit: I am hungry, should be stReak) does not enjoy his music trivia superiority at all. Not one bit.

So now that I've ruined Marilyn's game, and copied an image from her blog, her hubby can send me a c&d and we can call it even-steven.

By the way, you should check out her blog 819 Ohio, it rocks. But don't like not come back here, cause like, I'd cry. Sure she bakes...and I burn. She has a pretty dog, etc. But listen, I have messy crap that needs to be fixed! You can hang here and know that someone is just as messed up and disorganized as you are - perhaps more so. :P

Hold Me, I'm Scared.

2008-02-04T22:03:00.000-05:00

I was stuck in traffic on the Tappan Zee Bridge and I was mesmerized by this truck full of fug. Colonial furniture and dark green dinette chairs. Hold me.

As I was traveling through Saugerties I cracked up when I saw the awning on this apartment building...take a close look at it...

Kitchen Updates....

2008-02-03T13:05:00.001-05:00

I was supposed to pick a color to paint the kitchen and laundry room today but our local Ace Hardware was purchased this week by another company and I'm worried that if I pick a color, it won't be there down the road. So, I'm putting off that decision for a week or two, till I can get to a Sherwin Williams.

In the meantime...here's the new red/cream houndstooth jute rug from The Company Store. I am so happy with this rug!! Mom and I got the island on top of the rug Egyptian pyramid style...

Antique Shoppin' Blitz With Another Blogger - World's Collide!

2008-02-02T19:37:00.000-05:00

Today I had lunch with Phyllis from Reclaimed Home at Miss Lucy's in Saugerties. It was loads of fun and we got to tease and whine at one another in real time rather than via blogger comments. YeeHaa! Filled with Miss Lucy's goodness (Priscilla was right, the food is good there!) we then went bat-schidt nuts at an antiques shop that was having a closing sale. See that cute little Toyota? Phyllis done FILLED it to the brim with all kinds of fun...antique bed, old metal locker, cast iron Singer sewing machine base, etc.

What'd I get? A couple of things...

Bedding For The Blinde or Blonde...

2008-02-01T19:35:00.000-05:00

Why is it that when you take a day off of work (which you are rightly allowed to do) that you must be flogged with your own arm when you return? Is there some written rule or parallel universe that I'm not aware of - where people can take days off AND do a full days work all at the same time so as not to upset anyone else's irrational demands? Is there? OK, enough...it's Friday for crying outloud...

So here's the stripey goodness that I got at the Pottery Barn outlet sale. King sized headboard cover (think these run $250+) but I paid less than $30. The matching curtains (grommet topped - a new one for me...) and a couple of matching throw pillows.

Now before I get into this further. I must tell you. I am WAY spoiled. The Fiance makes the bed...everyday. Yep. It's true. He makes the bed (and he does dishes too!). No, you can't have him. I'm keeping him. Anyhoo, he's not Mr. Decor so sometimes...patterns run amuck. Cause, well, he's a guy. He thinks "clean sheets - that's all that matters". I know how to pick my battles so I let this go and just rejoice in the nicely made bed everyday.

Enough babbling...let's start with the curtains. Here's the TEMPORARY schidt-tastic Target curtains that have been up for longer than I'd care to admit (coughcoughtwomaybethreeyearscoughcough) because
1. curtains are expensive
2. I didn't want to buy curtains that I didn't really love.
3. The Fiance watches movies in here on the projector and has "light" issues (coughcoughdiva-film-makercoughcough).
4. I had other stuff to do, get off my freakin' back.

And here's the new stripey ones up. I should have bought 4 panels. I got cheap and thought I could get away with 3 panels. Oops. I'll try and find another one on ebay or sumthin'. Not too terrible - and they are lined so they will block the forbidden daylight. God forbid a cascade of light should stream across a Tati or Wenders film...all hell would break loose.

So now it's time to move on to the headboard cover...first...here's a picture of a portion of the 16 pillows that the Fiance insists we MUST keep on the bed. If I suggest getting rid of even one --- he makes a look as though I've suggested we slay a baby and make sausage. Ok, that was gross. Let's pretend I said DONKEY. DONKEY. I said DONKEY. Really, it's better. OK, not a lot. It was a joke!

Anyhoo, I started putting the stripey headboard cover on...but it wouldn't fit...

So I swore at it real good and stomped my feet. Still wouldn't go on. I changed the angle and smacked it with my magic wand...

But then I noticed some WRITING right on the top seam. Is my headboard a former prisoner? WTF!?!? Couldn't they write on the INSIDE where no one would see it? Grrr. It's not that noticable...at least that's what I'm telling myself.

So then I sat back to look at my handywork and realized that this is a bed for the blinde. It has a striped headboard, plaid sheets, different plaid pillowcases, a yellow floral comforter, a cha-cha throw pillow and the new stripey throw pillows. Fantastic-o!

Ehh well, as the Fiance would say...the sheets are clean and somedays, that's half the battle.

Wait! Wait! Don't give up hope...

All the plaids (there are actually THREE at the moment...) are going to charity the next time they come back from the laundry and we're switching to WHITE SHEETS only. See, I even bought a new set. We've also got the groovy new Williams Sonoma Home duvet once the white comforter comes back from the laundry :::makes nasty hand gesture at the cat cause she's the one that sent it out to the laundry:::

The yellow Ralph Lauren "Kathleen" comforter is going up on ebay...right now. I was so in love with that pattern for so many years...I had EVERYTHING that went with it. Before the Fiance and I were Fiance'd...Before we were even Kissin'...back when we were JUST FRIENDS he helped me find it all cause I was terrible at doing net searches. He even sweet-talked little old ladies that worked in Ralph Lauren outlets all over the country to ship stuff to me. I got better at it, once in Las Vegas an employee let me come to her house after work hours to go through her stash and I bought everything she had - it was still in the packaging! When The Fiance and I became...umm "involved" and he saw the Ralph Lauren Kathleen that had engulfed my bedroom his first remark was "so that's what Kathleen looks like!?!?" and he's lived with it ever since...only complaining occasionally...

In other news...this'll give you nightmares.

Sing With Me & Britney! "Oops, I Did It Again"

2008-01-31T21:59:00.000-05:00

I took today off of work. It was the last day of that Williams Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, West Elm outlet sale. That's like a freakin' national holiday for me. I think I got about $1800 worth of stuff for...

$175 total.

I got duvets from William Sonoma Home. Regularly...$378. I paid...

$35. Yup. $35.

I also got new covers for our headboard...more curtains...more pillows...and a zillion other necessary objects.

I had to take the new haircut for a spin. The Fiance is loving the new hair...big time. I never smile in pictures. I look like a goober when I smile. Wow, my project table is loaded with crap. I should like, umm, do a project.

I'm all for free medical treatments...but is Panera Bread (in a mall) the best place to get squeezed? Sure, any place is a good place...and I suppose the allure of a freshly unfrozen and recently baked treat is enticing...

Guess who I caught chillin' out in the cuddle bucket today? Yup, Tal. Apparently having it in the living room where it actually matches the furniture (as opposed to her pepto bismol pink bed) isn't enticing. Having it in the Fiance's office - she likes. Brat. I wish I knew how to take pics of animals without giving them demon-flash eyes!

So here's a couple of highlights from today's outlet bender...

My flash did not do this kleenex box justice. It's the perfect shade of apple kelly green...Kate Spade-ish.

These silk pillow cases from William Sonoma Home were regularly $90+ each. I paid about $8 each. They are so David Hicks-ish. The tortoise bowl (I love tortoise!!!) was about $6.20 (regularly $35). The black faux-antique wooden bowls were something like $4 each.

New York's Chelsea Hotel aka Hotel Chelsea

2008-01-31T09:49:00.000-05:00

I've been in NYC since 1990. I was a/am a punk (at least in spirit these days). In my "formative" years I shaved my head, dyed it green/white/black, etc. My favorite was hot pink. Oh Manic Panic...how I loved your hair dyes...except when I got caught in the rain. I used to wear mens long johns as pants and draw stuff all over them...typically Sex Pistols logos and Sid Vicious' name. Occasionally, "The Exploited" would show up on my ass. Everything was ripped and tattered and I loved it. If it was vintage army/old man clothes...sign me up! My entire wardrobe came from the Salvation Army, my Dad's closet (he had this great old suit that had been his when he was young and I hemmed the pants up so that they were highwaters -- it totally rocked) and various shops on Lark Street and Central Ave up in Albany.

Now, I can barely get out of bed in the morning and I typically throw on Jones New York or Ralph Lauren. JNY and RL are the garanimals of my lazy adulthood. They typically look OK and you have to work really hard to truly make them look bad. But I digress...

The Chelsea Hotel is an artistic landmark. If you don't know why. I'm not telling you. Go and google it and fill in the void yourself. If these names don't mean anything to you, let me know...so I can smack you. ---->

Eugene O’Neil, Thomas Wolfe, Arthur C. Clarke, Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Virgil Thompson, Larry Rivers, William Burroughs, Willem de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Patti Smith, Arthur Miller, Dylan Thomas...and of course...Sid & Nancy.

Like I said, I've been in NYC since 1990 so you'd think I'd have made an effort to get IN THERE. Nope. Just didn't. I'd walk by. I'd stand on the sidewalk across the street and stare...but I'd never been IN.

Last night. I went in. That's where the hair salon was. On the 3rd floor.

I was almost afraid to look around. I'm sure they get tons of nosey/obnoxious tourists barging in. I didn't want to be one. But, I was one...and I snapped a few pics too.

Tell me the iron work doesn't make you completely freakin' squeal!?!?!

FIFTEEN INCHES...GONE!

2008-01-30T21:23:00.001-05:00

And now...mine!

Yes, it will be donated. It'll make a cute little redhaired wig, dontcha think?

I was freaking out because the stylist cut it about..FOUR INCHES MORE than I asked for. Overall though...I'm digging it. The Fiance really likes it, keeps mentioning that he wants to show me something in the bedroom...MEN! Anyway, I thought it was 12 inches of hair and reported to all my girlfriends of my 12 inch loss. I just measured it at home (it has to dry before I donate it) and it's FIFTEEN INCHES o' shiny red hair. Holy crap.

Yes, my hair is naturally Golden Retriever Red. No, it's NOT Irish Setter. The Irish Setter is much darker than my hair. Although this picture that I swiped off the net has a light-ish retriever. We've matched my hair to my sister's numerous Golden Retrievers over the years...

Hey! The clock on my Bose is off. Oh Fiance Person...

Updating the "I Wanna Accomplish This" List.

2008-01-30T15:56:00.000-05:00

I started the "I Wanna Accomplish This" List back in May 2007 and then updated it in November 2007. The "cut off date" to accomplish more of the things on my list was New Years. Well, New Years came and went. It's now January 30th. What have I really done!?!?!

Here's the 11/5/07 post below and I edited it with comments...in bold/italic.
_____________________________________________________________________
Monday, November 5, 2007
Reviewing The "I Wanna Accomplish This" List

Here's the list I compiled back in May. I told myself that if I could get just 2 of these done, I'd declare victory. I did get 2 of them done by Labor Day. I then challenged myself to get 2 more done by Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is just a few short weeks away. EEK! OK, I know the Fiance's Christmas gift to me is a class at Yestermorrow school to learn more about power tools, that'll happen in March. A few of my co-workers are considering going too. If you're interested in a long weekend of power tools in Vermont, let me know. I haven't gotten ANYTHING else on here accomplished. Grr. In fact, I have MORE to add to the list. So, I challenge myself to FIVE of these by New Years. Yes, FIVE.

1. take a glass blowing class - Yes, really. This hasn't happened, but the Fiance did make lots of calls to try and get me into a class on vacation...but they were all closed for vacation!
x2. learn to use power tools and NOT be afraid of them. Suppose I should start with the staple gun. I think my heart is racing already. DONE!
x3. create, make, whatever my own headboard. Frankly, the prices are ridiculous and it doesn't look that complicated...unless you're afraid of power tools. DONE!
4. go back to college. I've been carrying the paperwork around in my oh-so-professional Sponge Bob "to do" folder for 4 months. We have made a little headway on this, I've got my transcripts and more paperwork.
x5. take the 2 or 5 days classes at that Vermont school to learn to use powertools, do my own concrete countertop, etc. IN PROCESS FOR MARCH 2008
6. learn to make sushi Umm, I've learned to eat more sushi! Does that count?
7. rent a jet ski. I know, that's such a dumb one. If I like it, I want to buy one so that I can spend the day being my own personal scavenger pirate on the river. Will probably have to wait till next summer as it's colder than a witch's t*t now. Still cold as hell.

Additions...
8. Make the Dorothy Draper style coffee table. This hasn't happened yet, I'll have to do this after the Yestermorrow class unless I want to just totally screw it up.
9. Take a sewing class down at the quilt shop. I can sew, I just have "bobbin issues". DONE! And I'm gonna go back for more!
10. Buy a surplus lot of old/vintage scarves and make a curtain (quilt-like) for the bedroom. Cancelled.
11. Get round piece of wood to replace square table top. DONE!
12. Jackson Pollack up some schidt. Too freakin' cold out there people.
13. Read the Dorothy Draper biography that I bought on ebay. Umm, next...
14. Finish (hah!) renovating the kitchen (floor, countertop, window). Done! Just needs to be painted and window treatments put up.
15. Finish (hah!) renovating the dining room (fireplace). Technically, done. We found out that the fireplace in the dining room...really is NOT a fireplace. Miss fire!

House Porn. Umm, Well, No, Not Really

2008-01-29T23:02:00.000-05:00

I tease the Fiance constantly. Most men have crushes on women like Angelina Jolie or Cindy Crawford or whomever. You get the idea. Not my Fiance. He's all about The Travel Channel's Samantha Brown. He's got a massive crush. I quizzed him last night on why exactly she rocks his world. Apparently it's the tight shirts and her desire to always find a cocktail.

Tonight I was watching the DIY Network and now I've got some damn crushes of my own. Desperate Landscape's James Cameron. Oh boy! He can clean up my yard anytime. Hah! I'm terrible.

And Under Construction's John DeSilvia. His press photo doesn't do him justice. You have to watch the show. It's a New York thing. What can I say? He can build a house and probably knows the best pizza joints in Brooklyn. He's also cute as hell when he chuckles. He chuckles. Not laughs or giggles. Chuckles.

EDIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After seeing this post the Fiance was kind enough to send me a link to a You Tube segment that some rabid fan had created. The rabid fan (not the Fiance, I promise) put together a montage of Samantha's bikini scenes. You have to click on the link if only to read the comments that the men have made. The comments cracked me up. Course, now that he has that link I think we all know that he's not gonna get ANYTHING done today and his eyes will be bleary when I get home.

Listen, she doesn't have great big fake boobies or Jenna Jameson/CNN anchor style make up so I consider this a lucky break for the "girl next door type" even if she does have a wonky eye. YOU TUBE LINK.

Some of the You Tube comments:

gwdean (2 months ago) She is so perfect. Gorgeous, funny, smart, oh my God I'm so in love with Samantha Brown.

Redsox06 (2 months ago) great thing about Samantha is that not only is she hot, she's funny and not wrapped up in herself. That's what makes her so fine.

FrozenbyIcewinds (2 months ago) this woman has the greatest hips ive ever seen

johncarter55 (3 months ago) I hope she realizes how enticing she is ... maybe she'll be kind and give us some more footage.

stillthechampionn (2 months ago) i watch her shows daily and the funniest part is the cameraman who always seems to try to catch those "special" shots in spite of the fact that she knows he's trying to. sometimes you'll see him move downward and then quickly back toward her face so that she doesn't get pissed off. ROFL!

What Do I Have In Common With Bono, Willie Nelson and Mary J. Blige?

2008-01-29T20:31:00.000-05:00

I'm getting my damn hair cut by their stylist tomorrow.

Yep.

It could be drastic.

Yep.

The Fiance is freaking out that I'll come home with "bangs" aka "Fiance Repellants".

HeeHeeHee

Second (Third?) Bender This Week

2008-01-28T20:55:00.000-05:00

OOPS. Did I mention that this all fell into my life? What can I say...the William Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, West Elm outlet was having a sale...40% off the ENTIRE store and 60% off ALL furniture and the damaged rack stuff was 70% off. I had $219 in gift cards. I'm estimating that I got about $1200 worth of stuff (including...curtains!!!) for $98.

The construction paper is the Fiance's. I also took a 5 minute tour of Marshalls and got those cute drawer organizers. A run through Joann with a 40% off coupon got me the rotary cutter and acrylic ruler.

Best of...I love love love the brown silk pillow cover and the inserts are feather. YUM. The off-white curtains are for my home office, the yellow curtains are for over the kitchen sink. The chair pads are for the new red/yellow kitchen, the matching table cloths (I bought 3) will be made into curtains for the kitchen. I also got matching placemats and napkins. I'll probably use the napkins to make little pillows for the wicker loveseat. The gold serving trays were $2.99 each! The little french/beach scene pillows just made me squeal and they don't perfectly match...but so what. I love them. The inserts are poly so they are a little more supportive than the feather ones. I had made a rule for the french red/yellow kitchen renovation: no pastoral toile and NO roosters. But then I saw this shiny red cast iron paper towel holder and it was only...$12. Broke my own rule.