Tagged With: The House
Craftsman
I sometimes feel like I’m a mild acne on the face of this house, with my little piles of things sitting on the beautiful 90 year old floors and my cheap knickknacks cluttering the built-in cabinetry and the giant mantelpiece. A Craftsman doesn’t have the forgiving nature of a Victorian, which has enough wacky little … Continue reading
Applying myself
Gene and I are sitting in the unheated office, chafing our hands like two shivering Dickensian orphans, while I prowl around the onlines looking for jobs. “Brr,” I say. “Brr,” he agrees. “It’s really just the first joint of my fingers that gets cold,” I say. “Everything else can be covered in sweaters and stuff. … Continue reading
Dancing penguins
For my birthday, Gene got me a set of 100 Penguin book cover postcards: I was going to use a level to put some of them on the wall, but we couldn’t find our level and I am not a patient person. So… … Continue reading
Mellow fruitlessness
I am enjoying the autumn-esque nature of this rainy weather. (Especially since I know it will be sunny and in the low seventies again over the weekend.) Thick sweaters, tights, boots. Pumpkin spice lattes. And, of course, fall decor. (Warning, headline contains the word motherf***er.) Since McSweeney’s told me to, I decided to make some … Continue reading
Island Living
Much as primitive man used to do, I fear the approach of winter. And so, just as primitive man would, I feel driven to paint my kitchen furniture in cheery colors before the sun leaves us for the year. Some of you may have seen the kickass kitchen island which Adam picked up for us … Continue reading
The silence of the cheese
We have vines drooping with tomatoes and overflowing pots of basil in our garden, so naturally I am thinking about mozzarella today, the third ingredient in a caprese salad. It is my understanding — and taking a few Italian classes by no means makes me an expert, so don’t quote me on this or anything … Continue reading
In which we meet some neighbors
Gene got out the hedge clippers on Saturday night to clean up some of the greedier branches blocking the front paths, and I got out a beer and sat around to watch him clean up the branches. While he was clipping, he found a little robin’s nest in the loquat tree out front. I knew … Continue reading
I know a man with a wooden leg named Smith.
Last night I dreamed I found raccoons in our basement. Given the general brass balls of the Alameda raccoons, it’s not impossible that this will prove prophetic, but I think it was more likely my brain reminding me that I still have a load of laundry in the dryer waiting to be folded. Housewife dreams, … Continue reading
Banjo eats a fridge
Last night Gene and I picked up Adam and Christine’s old fridge. Each of us (each couple, that is) got a fridge with the house we purchased, and each of us was unhappy with it: we, because our fridge leaks puddles of water on the floor and has bits falling off the front, and they … Continue reading
Dr. Jones, sit down!
You would think that after eight months in a place, one would be entirely unpacked. Or at least that after eight months in a place one would NOTICE that one was not entirely unpacked. Alas, it took me until to today to really notice the tower of boxes still sitting unopened in the study. Stuff … Continue reading