A good-bye to the house that started it all

News alert: I'm bidding farewell to my little house. It's bittersweet, friends. There have been moments in this house where I've felt overwhelmed by the crushing weight of all the projects that needed to be done. (That's just old houses. They need TLC in all the nooks and crannies.) And then there have been all the moments that I look back on now with what I can only describe as a sense of reverence. I spent the better part of my twenties here and those were some seriously formative years.  

Dave and I have been on the quest to get a house of our own since we got married. One that we could call "ours". It took for.ev.er to sell his place. 14 months. Ouch. And then it took just about as long to find a house with the right kind of stuff in our preferred part of town. But, find a house we did. So, now, we're moving in about a month.

By some stroke of fate, my house sold in a day. We're still in the process of buttoning up the inspection requests, so it's not a done deal yet, but if all goes well, I'll be saying my sweet good-byes soon enough. We worked hard to get this place show ready, and I'm pleased with how things turned out. Here are some photos from our real estate listing, if I may. (Photo credit)

The living room

The living room again

The dining room and a glimpse of the kitchen

Our teensy hallway looking big and mighty

Our bedroom and the spare room that has had so many names over the years (remember when Brian lived with me?) and is now simply known as "Room 2".

 Until next time...who knows when that will be.

Salt and pepper

Just when you think a blog is dead, it's not. What has propelled me from hibernation? Salt and pepper shakers. And I want you to know about them because I think they are so smart.

They are made by Oxo and have a pour spout. Why don't all salt and pepper shakers have a spout? It makes cooking and baking easier and better.

Also, since my last post, unfortunately titled "Learning Garage" instead of "Leaning Garage" (which, by the way, has given my sister Lola immense joy. That lady knows how to appreciate a good typo.), I've been up to a few things. I took some more trips to satiate my travel bug.  Standouts include Jordan, Poland, and South Africa. I got married -- we're now nearly four months in, and so far so good. :)
And Penny is doing quite well, thanks for asking.

Learning Garage

Two people brought up my blog today and I had to confess I hadn't updated since June. So, here I am.

Back in June, the month when updating ceased, my dad came to town and helped straighten my garage. It was leaning and stressing me out every time I pulled my car in the garage. This project was handled just like every other project with my dad — I took pictures (and sent him this link); he did the dirty work.

After the garage was pulled back in place, Dave and my dad replaced some rotting boards, and a week later, Dave and I slapped a fresh coat of paint on it. Done.

Oh, also, there's this neat stuff called foam backer rod. Write that down. You can use it when you have extra wide gaps that need to be caulked.

Before

During

After

Lost and Found

I did a good deed yesterday. I found a dog wandering my neighborhood around 6:30 a.m. with a collar but no tags, so I corralled it in my backyard while I debated my next move. Since I couldn't call the owner, I ended up calling our local humane society, but they weren't open yet. Their phone system gave me another number to call for lost and found dogs. So I called that number...and it turns out it was for the police department! Did you know you should call the police for lost dogs? I was totally caught off guard.

I'm happy to report the dog was returned to its owners. 

Found!

 P.S. Heather -- thanks for helping me with the dog!

Streamers

Back when Dave had a birthday, I made a dozen of these streamers. Then, I left them up for a week and a half. When I took them down, I intended to throw them out, but that seemed like a waste of paper cuttery, so I stuck them in my spare bedroom closet. It's very festive in there.

Bonus – Penny Friday!

A funny thing happened

I got bangs. I feel like I'm wearing a Halloween costume. It's startling every time I look in the mirror, because I'm not so sure about this new fringe of mine.

I cannot smile with bangs; something frightful happens to my face.

Time Management, part 2

And then I went to China. My brother, sister-in-law, and I made the trek to the middle kindgom in early April. We dropped in on our aunt and uncle in Hong Kong, got yelled at in a Beijing subway station, and cruised the Huangpu River in Shanghai.

Here are some of my observations:

• The bikes in China are old. The cars are relatively modern, so why are all the bikes rusty and old looking?
• Asian bakery pastries are so tasty. We went to one almost every day, sometimes twice a day.
• I'm terrible at bargaining (because I hate it so), but still ended up getting good deals.
• To get anywhere took a lot longer than we expected.
• Cars do not yield for pedestrians. Cross the street at your own risk!
• Pizza Huts are fancy.
• When we would finally work through language barrier issues with waiters and ticket counter agents — through a combination of Chinese, English and hand signals — it felt like a huge victory for mankind.



Hong Kong city shot.



On the street in Hong Kong.





Making our way up to the big buddha in Hong Kong.





Greetings from the Great Wall.





See?! Old bikes.

 



In Tiananmen Square -- out of all the places we visited, just milling around the square is what felt most like China to me.



An Asian bakery. My true love! They all look something like this.



Colorful shot of Shanghai. So sci-fi.