...to http://ellenjane.typepad.com/adventures_in_domesticity.
Sorry for the unwieldy URL, and for the weird formatting here. Hopefully everything will be pretty enough at the new place to make you forget about the address as soon as you put it in your favorites and/or update your links.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Christmas with Craig and Ellen
There's nothing like Christmas to make your house feel like a home. Especially if your house is small, so the Christmas tree seems to fill up all available space, winding around corners and surprising you in the shower.
I still love it, though, and wish I could show it off with better photography skills. Our tree is pre-lit with white lights, to which we add bubble lights and little red paper balls that make the white lights look red and warm. I've also been adding all the pictures that we receive in Christmas cards to the tree. I really like that, and will probably do it again. And to make it truly our tree, it's topped with a Minnesota Twins hat.
The house lit up at night. Note the appalling lack of snow. I wish we'd get just a little bit, so the boxwoods on the right didn't look so ghostly covered in their shrub protectors for winter.
A cautionary tale - beware the dangers of an unused room. It will be taken over by junk. The fact that it is junk of a holiday nature doesn't make it any better.
It's the baking that really ushers in the holiday season for me, though. It just doesn't feel like Christmas until I've slaved in front of the oven for a full weekend, stepping on Phoebe an average of 17 times per day. I don't know what this says about my character, other than the fact that I like cookies, and I like sharing them even more. Indeed, I have to share them, otherwise Craig would have to roll me into January.
Some of the fruits of my labor - gift baskets for co-workers.
So, Merry Christmas. Feel free come on over, have some cookies, and hang out with us. Help remind us that no matter how long our renovation list is, our home is still a home as long as it's cozy and welcoming and personal. Just don't expect Craig to share his prime spot on the couch.
I still love it, though, and wish I could show it off with better photography skills. Our tree is pre-lit with white lights, to which we add bubble lights and little red paper balls that make the white lights look red and warm. I've also been adding all the pictures that we receive in Christmas cards to the tree. I really like that, and will probably do it again. And to make it truly our tree, it's topped with a Minnesota Twins hat.
The house lit up at night. Note the appalling lack of snow. I wish we'd get just a little bit, so the boxwoods on the right didn't look so ghostly covered in their shrub protectors for winter.
A cautionary tale - beware the dangers of an unused room. It will be taken over by junk. The fact that it is junk of a holiday nature doesn't make it any better.
It's the baking that really ushers in the holiday season for me, though. It just doesn't feel like Christmas until I've slaved in front of the oven for a full weekend, stepping on Phoebe an average of 17 times per day. I don't know what this says about my character, other than the fact that I like cookies, and I like sharing them even more. Indeed, I have to share them, otherwise Craig would have to roll me into January.
Some of the fruits of my labor - gift baskets for co-workers.
So, Merry Christmas. Feel free come on over, have some cookies, and hang out with us. Help remind us that no matter how long our renovation list is, our home is still a home as long as it's cozy and welcoming and personal. Just don't expect Craig to share his prime spot on the couch.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
The Basement Chronicles, Part the Second
I feel like the first big step of the basement work is over with. With the help of Carl and Tenley's truck (thanks again, guys!) we picked the panels up from Menards on Friday night and installed them on Saturday. The installation went quite smoothly - it was just measuring, sawing, and fitting the panels together. Manual labor with very little high-level thought.
Craig lays down the first panel:
About a third of the way through. You can see what the bottom of the panels look like to Craig's right. We thought we'd have way too many, but ended up with only two panels left over. The panels have a tongue on two sides and a groove on the other two, so they could really only go in one direction, resulting in a lot of unusable trimmed pieces.
Ellen cleans up sawdust. The combination of the treated plywood and the vinyl on the bottom made for very slippery dust. Please note that I am leaning over, and do not always look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
All finished. I may just be imagining things, but it felt like having the panels on the floor took a bit of the chill off. Insulation will only improve matters.
In other news, Christmas season is crazy, work is a little slow, and I had my wallet stolen out of my office yesterday. Grrr.
In conclusion, here is a cute picture of Phoebe for no reason at all:
Craig lays down the first panel:
About a third of the way through. You can see what the bottom of the panels look like to Craig's right. We thought we'd have way too many, but ended up with only two panels left over. The panels have a tongue on two sides and a groove on the other two, so they could really only go in one direction, resulting in a lot of unusable trimmed pieces.
Ellen cleans up sawdust. The combination of the treated plywood and the vinyl on the bottom made for very slippery dust. Please note that I am leaning over, and do not always look like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
All finished. I may just be imagining things, but it felt like having the panels on the floor took a bit of the chill off. Insulation will only improve matters.
In other news, Christmas season is crazy, work is a little slow, and I had my wallet stolen out of my office yesterday. Grrr.
In conclusion, here is a cute picture of Phoebe for no reason at all:
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Basement Chronicles, Part the First
In the long break between posts, we've been busy planning, destroying, and measuring our basement.
A few "before" pictures:
The worst part is that it's not insulated at all. You nearly have to bundle up to take a load of laundry downstairs in January. A close runner up to the worst part is that, like everything that was in our house when we moved in, the entire basement was a pasty brown, this time accented by fake wood paneling.
In a year or so, we hope to have a cozy family room where we would actually like to spend some time. Our plans include a desk/computer station, table/eating area, fireplace, flat screen tv, and general space for a playroom.
So, with the help of Carl, Barb, and Dan, we ripped it all down:
It's amazing how fast it all came down. I am now willing to publicly declare my support for any political candidate willing to institute a steep tax on sales of all wood paneling - tearing out and disposing of one layer of wallboard would have been quite adequate.
After it was all cleaned up:
We cleaned up the walls and painted them over with waterproofing paint, just for good measure. All the walls are white now, which makes things look even cleaner. Next up: permits, DriCore panels for the floor, and deciding whether to use foam panel insulation or fiberglass batts. Ellen leans toward foam because of potential mold issues, while Craig doesn't want to think about it at all.
It hasn't taken us two months to do all of this. We've also had, you know, lives outside our house. Here are the highlights:
- Halloween fun with Phoebe, who was stylin' as spaghetti and meatballs.
- Ellen moved offices and officially began working for all 4 of the College of Education units on the St. Paul campus, rather than just Family Social Science. This has led to a lot more work, as well as a laptop, so we're running about even.
- Traveled to Phoenix for a weekend to celebrate Ellen's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. My newest cousin, Audrey, was also baptised that weekend. See the Flickr photoset at http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigandellen/sets/72157594368471993/ if you're interested.
- Started moving photos from Photobucket to Flickr. I like the option of having tags and sets, as well as the cool little photostream thingy that I'll eventually get on the blog. Forgive me if the photos look a little wonky for a while. I'm working on it. As I once said in a job interview, my html skills run about at the level of making things bold, so I'll get there slowly but surely.
- Watched the Hawkeye football team's spectacular collapse into mediocracy.
- Had a number of personal freak-outs about how EVERYONE IS PREGNANT.
- Wondered why I'm not a better blogger - I'm a writer by training and inclination, and I think I'm pretty smart and articulate. But then I refer back to Articles 1 & 2: Full Time Job and Home Improvement. So I'll just have to be happy with checking in on the odd slow day at work.
A few "before" pictures:
The worst part is that it's not insulated at all. You nearly have to bundle up to take a load of laundry downstairs in January. A close runner up to the worst part is that, like everything that was in our house when we moved in, the entire basement was a pasty brown, this time accented by fake wood paneling.
In a year or so, we hope to have a cozy family room where we would actually like to spend some time. Our plans include a desk/computer station, table/eating area, fireplace, flat screen tv, and general space for a playroom.
So, with the help of Carl, Barb, and Dan, we ripped it all down:
It's amazing how fast it all came down. I am now willing to publicly declare my support for any political candidate willing to institute a steep tax on sales of all wood paneling - tearing out and disposing of one layer of wallboard would have been quite adequate.
After it was all cleaned up:
We cleaned up the walls and painted them over with waterproofing paint, just for good measure. All the walls are white now, which makes things look even cleaner. Next up: permits, DriCore panels for the floor, and deciding whether to use foam panel insulation or fiberglass batts. Ellen leans toward foam because of potential mold issues, while Craig doesn't want to think about it at all.
It hasn't taken us two months to do all of this. We've also had, you know, lives outside our house. Here are the highlights:
- Halloween fun with Phoebe, who was stylin' as spaghetti and meatballs.
- Ellen moved offices and officially began working for all 4 of the College of Education units on the St. Paul campus, rather than just Family Social Science. This has led to a lot more work, as well as a laptop, so we're running about even.
- Traveled to Phoenix for a weekend to celebrate Ellen's grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. My newest cousin, Audrey, was also baptised that weekend. See the Flickr photoset at http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigandellen/sets/72157594368471993/ if you're interested.
- Started moving photos from Photobucket to Flickr. I like the option of having tags and sets, as well as the cool little photostream thingy that I'll eventually get on the blog. Forgive me if the photos look a little wonky for a while. I'm working on it. As I once said in a job interview, my html skills run about at the level of making things bold, so I'll get there slowly but surely.
- Watched the Hawkeye football team's spectacular collapse into mediocracy.
- Had a number of personal freak-outs about how EVERYONE IS PREGNANT.
- Wondered why I'm not a better blogger - I'm a writer by training and inclination, and I think I'm pretty smart and articulate. But then I refer back to Articles 1 & 2: Full Time Job and Home Improvement. So I'll just have to be happy with checking in on the odd slow day at work.
Friday, September 15, 2006
Angie's List is checking in....
We haven't been doing anything photogenic to the house lately. The last of the brown on the outside of the house is officially gone, though. Between bouts of swearing, dripping enamel paint all over everything, and surprise rainstorms, Ellen managed to paint the awning on the side door to match the house. We also painted the garage door and touched up the rest of the garage. Our house is now yellow, green, and white. Yay!
This summer, we had a local nursery with a landscaping division draw up a landscaping plan for our yard. It's great to have someone else do the designing and thinking for me. It has, however, had a domino effect. All of a sudden, we're gathering bids for patios, sodding, grading, privacy fences, and gutter repair. Angie's List e-mails me almost daily to "check up," wondering how I'm coming with all the contractors I've been researching.
Tentatively, we think we'll have the back yard regraded and sodded next year (they'll also install the beds for our planned plantings) and add a privacy fence. Our problem gutter should get fixed this fall. The grading and gutter repair will hopefully eliminate the trickles of water we get in the basement from time to time. With our plans for finishing off the basement, this would be a Very Good Thing.
So here's a bit of what we've been doing besides making expensive and grandiose plans for the house.
Vegetables! Between my little garden and our community agriculture box, we've been overrun with tomatoes. The last few Friday evenings have found me in the kitchen, glass of wine in hand, making large quantities of fresh heirloom tomato sauce.
Humiliating the dog! Every year, a group of Twin Cities Westie owners has an entry in the James J. Hill Days Parade in Wayzata. The dogs all dress alike, and walk the parade route. This year, the Westies wore tartan sashes and Glengarry hats. Phoebe shook her hat off after about 90 seconds, but she looked cute anyway. The Westies even made the evening news. You can see a clip in the upper right hand corner of this page: http://wcco.com/pets. The Westies are the middle choice under the video "screen."
Phoebe was a model in a fashion show after the parade. The show was sponsored by the very fancy Lulu & Luigi pet store. Her cute little fur-trimmed tartan jacket cost $90. Yikes.
This summer, we had a local nursery with a landscaping division draw up a landscaping plan for our yard. It's great to have someone else do the designing and thinking for me. It has, however, had a domino effect. All of a sudden, we're gathering bids for patios, sodding, grading, privacy fences, and gutter repair. Angie's List e-mails me almost daily to "check up," wondering how I'm coming with all the contractors I've been researching.
Tentatively, we think we'll have the back yard regraded and sodded next year (they'll also install the beds for our planned plantings) and add a privacy fence. Our problem gutter should get fixed this fall. The grading and gutter repair will hopefully eliminate the trickles of water we get in the basement from time to time. With our plans for finishing off the basement, this would be a Very Good Thing.
So here's a bit of what we've been doing besides making expensive and grandiose plans for the house.
Vegetables! Between my little garden and our community agriculture box, we've been overrun with tomatoes. The last few Friday evenings have found me in the kitchen, glass of wine in hand, making large quantities of fresh heirloom tomato sauce.
Humiliating the dog! Every year, a group of Twin Cities Westie owners has an entry in the James J. Hill Days Parade in Wayzata. The dogs all dress alike, and walk the parade route. This year, the Westies wore tartan sashes and Glengarry hats. Phoebe shook her hat off after about 90 seconds, but she looked cute anyway. The Westies even made the evening news. You can see a clip in the upper right hand corner of this page: http://wcco.com/pets. The Westies are the middle choice under the video "screen."
Phoebe was a model in a fashion show after the parade. The show was sponsored by the very fancy Lulu & Luigi pet store. Her cute little fur-trimmed tartan jacket cost $90. Yikes.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
A summer lull
So. We haven't been doing much with the house lately. We painted the garage ourselves over the 4th of July weekend, and are ready for a rest. We haven't even done touch-ups yet. The garage doors are both still brown, and clash with the fresh coat of paint. We're not quite to the point of caring yet. Maybe in another weekend or two. Right now, we're soaking up the AC.
I have also found that I lose at vegetable gardening. I think I killed my zucchini. Yes, the garden veggie that produces by the power of thought alone. Mine are on life support.
Now, I'd never grown much of anything before, so I didn't know that zucchini plants grow giant leaves that take over everything. I don't have a lot of space in my square foot garden, so when the zucchini leaves attacked, I put a tomato cage over the plant, and the leaves have more or less grown upward. I've been getting lots of leaves and flowers, but no fruit.
In my infinite wisdom, I decided that this must be because the raspberries were flopping over the zucchini and shading it too much. So I took a bungee cord and strapped the raspberries back against the fence, opening up the space around the garden. "Great!" I thought. "I'll just take the cage out, and the plant can flop all it wants!"
I was very pleased with myself. Then I pulled on the cage, and (duh) the entire plant came with it. I panicked a bit, stuck the whole cage back in the ground, mounded dirt over the poor exposed roots, and gave it plenty of water and Miracle-Gro. If the plants live, I might try pollinating the flowers myself. If not, I'm sure someone will provide me with zucchini this summer.
At least I'll have some basil and knowledge for next year out of the garden. The way things are looking now, that may be it.
Aside from killing vegetables, our weekends have been pretty busy. We went to the Schwarzkopf family reunion in Breda, Iowa toward the beginning of the month. The next weekend was the Minnesota Scottish Fair - nothing like haggis in 100 degree temps, aye? We also went to the Jensens' cabin near Hayward, WI, for a weekend. And look, there we are, feeding blueberries to fish! Thanks to Doug & Kathy Freeman for the pictures.
I have also found that I lose at vegetable gardening. I think I killed my zucchini. Yes, the garden veggie that produces by the power of thought alone. Mine are on life support.
Now, I'd never grown much of anything before, so I didn't know that zucchini plants grow giant leaves that take over everything. I don't have a lot of space in my square foot garden, so when the zucchini leaves attacked, I put a tomato cage over the plant, and the leaves have more or less grown upward. I've been getting lots of leaves and flowers, but no fruit.
In my infinite wisdom, I decided that this must be because the raspberries were flopping over the zucchini and shading it too much. So I took a bungee cord and strapped the raspberries back against the fence, opening up the space around the garden. "Great!" I thought. "I'll just take the cage out, and the plant can flop all it wants!"
I was very pleased with myself. Then I pulled on the cage, and (duh) the entire plant came with it. I panicked a bit, stuck the whole cage back in the ground, mounded dirt over the poor exposed roots, and gave it plenty of water and Miracle-Gro. If the plants live, I might try pollinating the flowers myself. If not, I'm sure someone will provide me with zucchini this summer.
At least I'll have some basil and knowledge for next year out of the garden. The way things are looking now, that may be it.
Aside from killing vegetables, our weekends have been pretty busy. We went to the Schwarzkopf family reunion in Breda, Iowa toward the beginning of the month. The next weekend was the Minnesota Scottish Fair - nothing like haggis in 100 degree temps, aye? We also went to the Jensens' cabin near Hayward, WI, for a weekend. And look, there we are, feeding blueberries to fish! Thanks to Doug & Kathy Freeman for the pictures.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
House. Painted.
Well, the painters have gone, there's a hole in our savings account, and the various shades of brown on the house are just a memory. The new colors are Sherwin Williams "Jersey Cream" for the body and "Rosemary" for the trim. Here's the progress:
Day 1:
Day 2 - Scraped, spot primed, and test patched:
Day 3 - One coat of the body color is up:
Day 4 - There's another coat up, although it's hard to see:
Day 5 - Some of the trim is done now:
Day 6 - Mostly done, except for a few touch-ups:
The finished product - we have pretty new house numbers, although I do think Craig put them a little too far to the left. (We'll see how long it takes him to notice this comment.) We also have a new copper mailbox that matches the numbers, which will be installed a bit later:
Closeup of the trim color:
All in all, we're happy with the outcome, and happy with our decision to have someone else do most of the work. It was nice to have it go on while we were at work. So why am I so tired?
Day 1:
Day 2 - Scraped, spot primed, and test patched:
Day 3 - One coat of the body color is up:
Day 4 - There's another coat up, although it's hard to see:
Day 5 - Some of the trim is done now:
Day 6 - Mostly done, except for a few touch-ups:
The finished product - we have pretty new house numbers, although I do think Craig put them a little too far to the left. (We'll see how long it takes him to notice this comment.) We also have a new copper mailbox that matches the numbers, which will be installed a bit later:
Closeup of the trim color:
All in all, we're happy with the outcome, and happy with our decision to have someone else do most of the work. It was nice to have it go on while we were at work. So why am I so tired?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
If the siding's done, this must be June
Sorry for being a Very Bad Girl about updating. The College of Human Ecology is closing on June 30, and all the work issues that have been percolating for the last year are coming to a head now. There are lots of rumors, negotiations, and stressful situations right now, and all I really want to do is go on vacation and drink margaritas. Hopefully things will improve in the next few months.
Anyway, all the work stress is one of the reasons we elected to have the house painted professionally in the first place, and I'm happy to report that they are there RIGHT NOW. This is very exciting. The house was all scraped and patched with primer last night, and it looked like they were starting on the first coat of paint this morning. We're taking pictures every day, and I'll post them when the job is done, so the Great De-Browning can be seen in its full majesty.
Anyway, here's a little photo tour of what we've been doing in the past few weeks. I want to take a moment to thank Craig's dad for all the help he's given us. An engineer's brain is an invaluable resource.
On Memorial Day weekend, Dan and Craig finished up the railing on the front step. It looks great, and is sturdy enough to support a klutz like me. It's now spray-painted a textured brown color - guess I'll have to get a picture of that, too.
Craig installed our new garbage disposal. Compared to the old one, which was installed in January 1979, it is an amazing piece of machinery. The first time I flipped the switch, I was afraid I might get sucked in.
The next weekend, Craig and Dan installed our fiber cement siding on the peak of the garage. We still have some trim to add on the edges, and it needs to be painted, but it's looking pretty good.
The backerboard was very helpful - it warns that it will smolder or burn if ignited. Come to think of it, I probably will smolder or burn if I'm ignited, too.
And in the meantime, things are growing. I'm beginning to worry that our front planter may actually be too shady for impatiens. I did not know such a thing was possible. This picture is a couple of weeks old, and the plants are nice and leafy now, but not blooming much. Time shall tell.
A crappy attempt at designing my own planters. Apparently there's a reason they sell those pre-made. I do like the tuberous begonias, though.
The vegetables seem to be growing well. Craig wishes I would just leave the tomatoes the hell alone, though. I think I may have pruned the growing end off of one of my Cherokee Purple plants, thinking it was a sucker. What can I say, I'm a novice. I hope it can recover somehow.
Stay tuned for painting pictures!
Anyway, all the work stress is one of the reasons we elected to have the house painted professionally in the first place, and I'm happy to report that they are there RIGHT NOW. This is very exciting. The house was all scraped and patched with primer last night, and it looked like they were starting on the first coat of paint this morning. We're taking pictures every day, and I'll post them when the job is done, so the Great De-Browning can be seen in its full majesty.
Anyway, here's a little photo tour of what we've been doing in the past few weeks. I want to take a moment to thank Craig's dad for all the help he's given us. An engineer's brain is an invaluable resource.
On Memorial Day weekend, Dan and Craig finished up the railing on the front step. It looks great, and is sturdy enough to support a klutz like me. It's now spray-painted a textured brown color - guess I'll have to get a picture of that, too.
Craig installed our new garbage disposal. Compared to the old one, which was installed in January 1979, it is an amazing piece of machinery. The first time I flipped the switch, I was afraid I might get sucked in.
The next weekend, Craig and Dan installed our fiber cement siding on the peak of the garage. We still have some trim to add on the edges, and it needs to be painted, but it's looking pretty good.
The backerboard was very helpful - it warns that it will smolder or burn if ignited. Come to think of it, I probably will smolder or burn if I'm ignited, too.
And in the meantime, things are growing. I'm beginning to worry that our front planter may actually be too shady for impatiens. I did not know such a thing was possible. This picture is a couple of weeks old, and the plants are nice and leafy now, but not blooming much. Time shall tell.
A crappy attempt at designing my own planters. Apparently there's a reason they sell those pre-made. I do like the tuberous begonias, though.
The vegetables seem to be growing well. Craig wishes I would just leave the tomatoes the hell alone, though. I think I may have pruned the growing end off of one of my Cherokee Purple plants, thinking it was a sucker. What can I say, I'm a novice. I hope it can recover somehow.
Stay tuned for painting pictures!
Monday, May 15, 2006
Destruction makes me happy.
If it would ever stop raining, we might be able to make some real progress. As it is, we've been working in fits and starts to get ready for the painters, who are coming in mid-June. So we've been told, at least.
Last weekend, we ripped down the aluminum awning over the front door. This was extremely satisfying, and the sight of our shiny new reciprocating saw drew in several male neighbors from across the street.
Despite the fugliness of the awning, somebody rifled through the stuff in our carport and took it by Monday morning. The least they could have done would have been to take the vinyl siding too.
I believe I've mentioned before that between the two of us, Craig and I have four college degrees. None of them are in anything remotely engineering-related. We are much better at destruction than construction. We'd planned to rip down the awning and put up our new special-ordered railing on Saturday. We managed to get a quarter of the railing up. Perhaps next weekend we'll deal with the fact that we're mounting the railing to a concrete step that just isn't level. Perhaps.
It looks really nice, though!
That same Sunday, we attacked the ugly brown vinyl siding someone had put up on the peak of the house and painted brown. We'd been planning to take it down and replace it with something like this, but we found a Great Gift from the House Gods under the vinyl - the original wood siding, painted the same color as the vinyl. Mystifying.
It doesn't look the greatest at the moment, but with some scraping, sanding, and painting, it should clean up just fine. We later found that the James Hardie shingle siding we wanted costs $450 for a 4'x8' panel, so we're in love with this wood right now.
Phoebe says: Just Say No! to cheap and ugly vinyl siding.
After Sunday's work:
Mother's Day weekend was cold, rainy, and generally nasty. Ellen spent Saturday shopping for plants at the Friends School Plant Sale and Linder's. On Sunday, it was nice for just long enough for us to build a little frame for vegetables. Craig got to use the reciprocating saw again!
I know I'm not supposed to plant the seedlings I bought this weekend for a week or two yet, but I'm itching to do it. With my gardening skills, though, those little tomatoes need every advantage they can get, so I'll hold off as long as I can. I also bought over 200 white impatien plants - even I can't screw that up too badly.
Last weekend, we ripped down the aluminum awning over the front door. This was extremely satisfying, and the sight of our shiny new reciprocating saw drew in several male neighbors from across the street.
Despite the fugliness of the awning, somebody rifled through the stuff in our carport and took it by Monday morning. The least they could have done would have been to take the vinyl siding too.
I believe I've mentioned before that between the two of us, Craig and I have four college degrees. None of them are in anything remotely engineering-related. We are much better at destruction than construction. We'd planned to rip down the awning and put up our new special-ordered railing on Saturday. We managed to get a quarter of the railing up. Perhaps next weekend we'll deal with the fact that we're mounting the railing to a concrete step that just isn't level. Perhaps.
It looks really nice, though!
That same Sunday, we attacked the ugly brown vinyl siding someone had put up on the peak of the house and painted brown. We'd been planning to take it down and replace it with something like this, but we found a Great Gift from the House Gods under the vinyl - the original wood siding, painted the same color as the vinyl. Mystifying.
It doesn't look the greatest at the moment, but with some scraping, sanding, and painting, it should clean up just fine. We later found that the James Hardie shingle siding we wanted costs $450 for a 4'x8' panel, so we're in love with this wood right now.
Phoebe says: Just Say No! to cheap and ugly vinyl siding.
After Sunday's work:
Mother's Day weekend was cold, rainy, and generally nasty. Ellen spent Saturday shopping for plants at the Friends School Plant Sale and Linder's. On Sunday, it was nice for just long enough for us to build a little frame for vegetables. Craig got to use the reciprocating saw again!
I know I'm not supposed to plant the seedlings I bought this weekend for a week or two yet, but I'm itching to do it. With my gardening skills, though, those little tomatoes need every advantage they can get, so I'll hold off as long as I can. I also bought over 200 white impatien plants - even I can't screw that up too badly.
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