Many of you may have noticed that it’s winter. Yes, the good ‘ol freezing cold air is back. If you aren’t enjoying the air, maybe you’ll get a kick out of clothes that almost electrify you. I’m talking about static, folks. Yes, static. I have these long Nike warm-up pants that I sometimes wear when […]
Home & Living
There are many topics about which I write that aren't specific to one narrow area. Things like efforts I undertake during daily life, maintenance projects I engage in regularly, what I enjoy doing around the holidays, and so forth. For these types of things, I like to post to this home and living category. What the category name is in regards to is general actions and thoughts I have around the home and that surround my otherwise regular life. In the following pages and posts, you can expect to find stories about walks through my backyard, foods that I've enjoyed, small projects I've completed, as well as stories about some small wildlife in the area, among other things.
Our Christmas Tree – 2008
I just got off the phone with Rob. When I told him that we were setting up our Christmas tree, he sounded so excited. For some reason or another, Rob is adamant that we enjoy the season. You should have heard him huffing and puffing the other night after I told him we weren’t going […]
Picking Out Our Christmas Tree
The time has come again. Time to get into the car and drive over to that place we saw on the side of the road that sells Christmas trees. Time to pick out and beauty and strap that beauty to the top of the car. I really wanted to go cut down our own Christmas […]
Pottery Barn Aris Large Desk
The desk portion of my new office furniture arrived this afternoon. I have to tell you, I am loving Pottery Barn furniture. About a week and a half ago, I received the console table I ordered. I was very pleased with the quality. Today’s desk is going to make me go back for more. It’s […]
What A Nice Halloween
I was getting a little nervous. It had just gotten dark outside and no one even considered knocking on the door for candy. One little girl did walk down the road, but she walked right by. On the way back to the house this afternoon, I stopped by the local grocery store. I picked up […]
Just Getting Some Stuff Done Around The House
After I came back from playing tennis this morning, I moseyed around just finishing up some stuff that needed to get done. First and foremost, I had to make a new batch of beer. I am almost out of my current beer (Irish Stout). It will be horrific if I run out. I ordered the […]
Visiting The Transfer Station For The First Time
I have a bad memory when it comes to the days the garbage people pick up the recycling. I thought they were coming to get it this morning. In actuality, they are coming next Tuesday. Of course, this had to happen the one time I decided to put a whole heck of a lot of […]
We Got The BowFlex Ultimate 2 Home Gym
When we first looked at this house when it was on the market, we noticed a home gym in the basement. I liked that idea. First, because both Laura and I work from home and second, because we need to exercise. The room that the gym was in downstairs is the perfect size for it. […]
The Basement the Way It Should Be
I have been telling Laura that it just feels better to watch TV down in the basement. I explained that I always felt kind of guilty just sitting around upstairs in the living room. Having everything, “entertainment” downstairs feels much more “right.” I must say, it’s quite comfortable down there. I set up the dehumidifier […]
Taking Down the Basketball Hoop
Ok, before anyone freaks out and asks why the heck I am taking down a nice basketball hoop, let’s just talk about this. There are a few good reasons. The first is that I don’t see myself shooting hoops outside all too much. I don’t even own a basketball. That’s not to say I’m not […]
New Washer and Dryer
Yes, I know, this is probably one of my more boring posts. Actually, maybe not…I have a lot of boring posts. Well, we had our new washer and dryer delivered today. We left our old ones back in NY. We were going to bring them, but I thought it would be a good selling point […]
Switching From Incandescent To CFL
I am always looking to be as energy efficient as possible. One of the ways I go about this is to always use CFLs (Compact fluorescent lamps) whenever possible. I have seen these types of bulbs bring down electric bills, first hand. When we moved in to this house, I knew I had my work […]
The House is On the Market
Well, we went back to our house in New York today to do a final cleaning and get some stuff we left behind in the kitchen. On moving day, I thought it was just a few things. Today, I realized it was a full car load. When I say car load, I mean, trying to […]
The Day After Moving Day
Do you want to know what really hurts? My legs, that’s what. I am not sure if I ever told you that I hate moving. Boy, if there’s anything that can suck the excitement out of the big day, it’s the actual work involved with it all. And we even had a moving company this […]
We Bought the House
Wow, what a long day. Driving over to the new house takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes. It seems longer than it is. Today was the big day…not only for us, but also for the sellers. It must feel great to sell a house. I mean, your mind is most likely on your new […]
Eco Home Makeover by Sam’s Club
For some reason, I am getting a magazine from Sam’s Club. Perhaps it is because we used to be members of the store. A few months ago, we stopped going because we just couldn’t take another bite of their food. Not that it was bad, but let’s just say there wasn’t too much variety. Back […]
We Signed the Real Estate Contract
Well, we visited the house again this afternoon with the realtor. We liked what we saw and headed back to the office to sign all the paperwork and give a deposit. Before we did, both Laura and I took lots of pictures and even a video of the road the house is on. Just a […]
House Offer Was Accepted
I thought I would give you a little update on the house. The homeowners accepted our offer. The real estate agent is drawing up the contract and we are going to visit it once more on Monday. We are going to walk up and down the road for a second once-over. I guess it would […]
The Real Estate Search Has Begun
It seems that many people aren’t writing in their blogs these days…with me being one of them. As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s just been all sorts of crazy ’round these parts. Honestly, the last thing I have been motivated to do is write. Well, I think my dry spell is over. One […]
We Got a New Mattress
After months of tossing and turning all night and waking up with horrible pain in our backs, we decided to break down and get a new mattress. The old mattress was a Simmons Beautyrest that was really nice. I got the whole set for a little over $400 about ten years ago. Well, since that […]
A Little Bit of Ice and Moving Some Furniture
We woke up this morning to a little bit of ice hugging the tree branches. Not too much in the way of bad roads, but a bunch of schools were closed, none the less. The cars were covered with a coating of ice that could’ve made this morning a real pain in the butt, but […]
Another Lazy Saturday
What a weird feeling I had all day. The temperature feels like it’s around 60 degrees and it’s quite breezy. It feels like the seasons are changing. I am sure there will be some more annoyingly hot days, but I think it’s here. It’s nice, but it’s not. It’s nice because something new is around […]
How To Open Your Swimming Pool
If you were ever interested in how to open your swimming pool for the season, here is a great resource. If not, I have a funny story for you nonetheless. Last year, Laura’s parents purchased and had installed a beautiful in-ground swimming pool. Her mother wanted to have this for people to enjoy while at […]
How to Control Tent Caterpillars
We have a little problem. Last year, before we took down the big Red Oak in our front yard, I noticed that the leaves were looking a little thin. After a while, I found out the cause…Tent Caterpillars. Ok, the problem may have gone away that time because we had the tree removed due to […]
Home Depot is on Suspension
I won’t boycott them, because I like them, but Home Depot is definately not on my good list anymore. Lowes is just blowing them out of the water. I thought that my trip to Home Depot the other night was tragic because of all the dying plants I saw, but this trip topped the cake. […]
New Amana Electric Clothes Dryer
As mentioned in my previous post, our dryer stopped working last night. Ok, here it is…when I pressed the start button, I only heard the motor struggling, with no turning of the drum. If I had the front door open and fooled the dryer to think it was closed by holding the switch, I could […]
LG 11,500 BTU Air Conditioner
So I broke down again. I couldn’t have my sweet honey baby sitting in our living room sweating from the summer (or late spring) heat. The curtains are working well, but we still needed something to take the edge off. I hopped in my car last night and headed for Lowes. Laura asked if I […]
How Does a Bug Zapper Work?
If you have ever asked yourself that question, just click this link to learn more about Bug Zappers. I purchased a new bug zapper from Wal-Mart last Spring. Just to let you know, these things aren’t that easy to find. For some reason, Home Depot and Lowes don’t sell them. Whatever. The reason that I […]
A New Chandelier in the Family
Do you know how hard it is to find a good looking Chandelier? I mean, there are tons of them out there, but they all look so…so…Lowes or Home Depot. Kind of like, everyone will know where you got it…ya know? We have been living here for almost 2 years and we have yet to […]
Grease Marks On Clothes
Have you ever had a piece of clothing that went in your washing machine fairly clean and came out with a stain on it? Probably at one time or another. There are many things that can stain your clothing, besides you. Probably the most prevalent washing machine caused stain is rust. If you have a […]
How to Deal With a Bad Neighbor
If you are reading this, you are probably thinking, “Oh man, my thoughts exactly!” We have all had them and have heard plenty about them…bad neighbors. – Junk all over the place – Barking dogs – Screaming kids – Wal-Mart neighbors – Inappropriate holiday decorations – Parties all the time – Spousal fighting – Spying […]
Keeping the Boiler Running All Summer
When we first moved into our house, the boiler was turned off. We had no idea why. The home inspector told us that it was turned off during inspection, so therefore he could not comment on the operation of it. What a great inspector! I guess it was too far of a reach for him […]
The New House
On August 4, 2005, Laura and I purchased our first house in between New Paltz, Middletown and Newburgh, NY. If you are, or were aware of the market at the time we were looking, you would know that there were pretty slim pickins ’round these parts. Also, the prices were, shall we say, inflated. We […]