Food hoarding?

I ran into the grocery store on Saturday at noon to get supplies for having our friends Corey and Shawna over for dinner. Shawna was an AOII with me, and Corey's the guy who got DJ into brewing beer. 

Exciting sidenote: Shawna is 18 weeks pregnant. Which is SUPER exciting for them. They're also selling their house in hopes of building a new one next spring. Which is EVEN MORE EXCITING to me. Seriously. You could give me the option: have a baby, or put our house on the market and build/ remodel a new one? I'd pick the house options. Don't get me wrong, I love our current house. I'm still house-fluffing it even. But... redesign stuff? squeee!

But back to my point, which is: holy shitballs, veggies are so much cheaper in the summer!!! I know, this isn't news to anyone, really. But I've paid $2.50 for a red bell pepper in January. Saturday? They were $.79 apiece! I bought four of them, despite only needing one for the salsa I made. So cheap! So yummy! 

That reminds me, I need to go home and slice the remaining three up for take-along-to-work veggies. 

And now, with this veritable cornucopia of cheap, delicious fresh veggies around, I'm trying to think of ways I could buy up a bunch of cheap fresh veggies in the summer and... hoard them for the winter. No, we're not of the mindset that we should have a three-year supply on hand for the coming Last Days. We just like good food, and I prefer to not pay out the ear for bell peppers during the winter. 

And part of me likes playing old-timey housewife. But I'm not dressing up in a hoop skirt to do it, like those reenactors you see in Virginia City. Those people are just grown ups playing dress up, and when thy subject their kids to playing dress up too, it's wrong. Borderline child-abuse. No kid wants to come back to school and show and tell that they played "ye olde timey shoppe" with their parents all summer. That's a recipie for getting beat up on the payground. 

Speaking of recipes, this post does have a point. Hopefully will have hoard-worthy veggies later this summer when all the tomatoes and peppers in my garden come in. But what if I don't? What if I'm in Europe when all the bell peppers ripen? 

And how the hell can I hoard them for winter use?

I don't know how to can things, but I'd be willing to learn. 

We have a food dehydrator. 

I could make a LOT of salsa. 

Can I freeze bell peppers? I heard once you can char them on the grill and then freeze them?

I think I'll be spending some time with the googles this weekend. And the MSU extension office! 

Vinyl Windows

I work in historic preservation, yet own a new house. I want an old house, but even in a recession we couldn't afford one.

People come into my office every day trying to find information about replacing their historic wood windows with vinyl. They talk about the tax credits, energy savings, etc. Here's the deal: vinyl windows are more efficicent and better for weather savings is BS. The National Trust for Historic Preservation offers excellent information about the pros and cons of replacing old windows. The most interesting for me? Replacing windows has a 40 YEAR PAYBACK PERIOD. Thats right, with all the energy you'll save it'll take you 40 years to recoup your "investment" on new windows.

I had to berate my mom into keeping the old windows at the shack this fall. Instead of tearing them out, I finally convinced them to restore the windows and build storm windows for additional insulation and protection. A well fitting storm actually can be more efficient than a new window.

If you read yesterday's post about drapes, you know I utilize curtains, blinds and drapes to further insulate our home in the winter. Our "energy efficient" vinyl windows still get ice on the inside of them in the winter. Let me show you how we try to keep our north-facing bedroom warm in the winter:

First, insulated drapes, again.

Then, our double-cell blinds:

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the photo!

Here's what our "energy efficient" vinyl windows look like on the back of the blinds:

Huh. Ice. And this is on the top rail. The ice on the bottom goes up half of the window.

 I'd hate to spend $6,000 in new windows for that.

One Year

DJ emailed me this morning a little reminder:

One year ago today we signed the offer to bulid our house.

One year from Saturday we got engaged.

Man, it's been a hell of a ride. And this fall, for the first time in 10 years, I'm not moving. No wonder I'm vaguely restless!

The perks of having a porch...

I broke out the hammock on Friday night and spent an hour and a half laying there, reading and relaxing. It definately doesn't beat the lake, but I think this might be my favorite place in Bozeman for the summer.

We're in the heartbreaking phase of spring. Beautiful, 60 degree days all week... and it's supposed to be in the mid 40's next week. Montana springs... love them, and sometimes hate them. But they make for pretty sunsets!

Landscaping day one.

We got a LOT done last weekend. Like seriously, a lot. I left work on Friday evening giddy with excitement over the things on my to-do list. Buy and plant bare root bushes, raspberries, asparagus, and hydrangea. Transplant herbs into pots. Plant sweet peas and sugar snap peas. Buy and plant aspens. Buy curtain rod and hang curtains that DJ's mom sewed for us. Pick paint for the porch chairs I got DJ for his birthday. Get the hammock out and sit. Seriously, I was giddy! It was beautiful out; 65 degrees and sunny. Nothing like delaying a return trip from Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday afternoon due to a snowstorm only to get sunburned on Saturday afternoon.

DJ and I decided we're too mentally burned out to further evolve the landscape plan I drew up over the winter. The sod was in, the bulbs popping up... and a lot left to do. So far, here's about all that was up:

Inviting, yes?

This weekend we took advantage of a local nursery's 15% off bare-root stock sale. Bare root bushes and shrubs are essentially sticks, with bare roots attached instead of root balls. They're cheaper, easier to plant, and generally do better in the long run.

Did I mention they are cheaper?

We put in three bushes in front of the house, all of them dwarf varieties so that they don't overpower the house someday.

A dwarf dogwood, which has red stems for nice color in the winter, on the far west corner. It'll look like this when it branches out:

In the middle, near the stairs, we planted a dwarf spirea, which looks like this in the summer, and whose leaves turn yellow in the fall:

On the right, near the driveway, we planted a burning bush, which turns a bright red in the fall. I'm all about fall color!

Harlow, of course, watched intently between chewing grass and ripping up pieces of sod. Seriously, we're going to need to overseed and fertilize our lawn. No aeration needed, thank you puppy.

I also bought a hydrangea stick. I say stick because, well, right now it really is only a stick. It's planted near the dining room window in the driveway. I'm a little worried that it won't get enough sun, but I can always transplant it later. I think hydrangeas struggle in intense heat? Anyway, you probably know by now that I love Hydrangeas.

 

The raspberry bush looks similarly like sticks. Four sticks, without any foliage or color, just sticking out of the ground between our driveway and the neighbors. Hopefully something comes up, because I want to be able to run outside for fresh raspberries all summer!

We're also waiting for the City to come out and plant our Branden Elm tree in the boulevard (free!). DJ planted two aspens on Sunday, which we got a screaming deal on. Two for one cupon, and the store scanned the wrong plants... we got $120 worth of aspens for $17!

So here's what we have in the ground now:

And how are some of those plants in the ground doing, you ask? Well... Some are pushing up, like these Irises from the lake:

While other lake-irises have had to survive being pulled out by an inquisitive puppy:

Some of the hyacinths are up, and blooming, to the point of being a nice snack for an interested puppy:

The crocus near the front steps shared the hyacinth's fate.

That damn dog better not eat my tulips! I think they're poisionous to dogs?

Setting up house: Getting Started

Before digging into setting up the house, I should probably evaluate the furniture we have, huh? I mean, it’d be un-thrifty to re-buy something we already have. And despite a $8,000 tax refund, I still need to be thrifty.

The basic stuff isn’t moving. The queen sized bed stays in the Master Bedroom. The Double bed in the Guest room. The dining room table in the… Dining Room (shock!). But the rest of it is all negotiable.

We have this Mission Style desk that I purchased from Pier One in 2003 for college. It’s huge, and I love it. It will likely end up in the office.

Now you understand why I want to get the office set up this weekend...

We have these book shelves, which although cheapy fake wood, at least match the desk. Another likely contender for the office.

Heh heh heh... it's a bit messy.(OMFG I'm hyperventillating at the lack of organization!)

We have this loveseat, currently residing in Shawna’s office at Bozeman High School. Office. (PS- yes, before we started dating DJ and I happened to buy the same couches. His are green, mine is tan).

We have these chairs, one a straight leg and one a rocking chair, which my Grandma Joyce gave me. They came out of the Parish house in Colton, Washington, and could be recovered easily. They could go together, or be split up. Maybe one in the Master Bedroom? One in the office? One in the entryway as a place to sit while putting on your boots?

Save the Date pamphlets on the chair.

Grandma says recovering them would be easy...

We have these shelves, which match this dresser and book shelf my dad made me as a kid.

 A Mike project.

The dresser fits perfectly into the alcove in the guest bedroom. The wall shelves are currently un-hung. The bookshelf is currently in the Master bedroom, and serves as my drop spot for jewelry since I don’t have a dresser in there. The bookshelf could move out of the Master Bedroom as long as its function was replaced.

Built by my dad. I could replace the drawer pulls...

We’ll buy new bedroom furniature eventually, but it’s not at all a priority right now. We get by with DJ’s dresser, his nightstand, and our closet. The rest can move in and out.

We have this cedar chest, which my grandfather built. It’s finished in a lighter stain. This could go anywhere. Maybe in the entry as a place to sit while putting your shoes on?

Built by Grandpa Bob.

We have this white small table, which my cousin built. It’s currently in use as a nightstand for me, although it’s way too small and short for the task.

Clearly I need more space for water glasses and books, and more water glasses!

We have these bookshelves, which have in the past been in my room as a kid, Gretchen’s room, the playroom, the Bonus Room and are now along the wall in our Dining Room acting as a sort of sideboard/ book display area. They actually work really well in that regard, and I’d like to keep them there until we can purchase an antique sideboard.

Winos.

We have one extra small table that matches our living room set. There’s not really room for it in the Living Room right now, but it could be used in the Office to perform the same function. Right now it’s in the closet under the stairs serving as the catch spot for gloves, mittens, etc.

Hmm, with all of those moving parts, and all of those different stain colors… where do I start?

Home Decorating

I’m looking forward to taking down the Christmas decorations this weekend and getting to the business of setting up our house. I mean, it’s clearly live-able, but it’s not really put together, you know? Sure we’ve got the furniture arranged, and a few pictures hung, but I have a mile long list of things we still “need”. Like a living room area rug. A filing cabinet. My loveseat back from Shawna’s office. To set up the office, at all. To make sure the guest room bed is in the right place. I need a bigger nightstand for my water glass collection and books.

We did hit milestones this week. The blinds were installed on Tuesday so no more flashing the Christian kids! I’m relieved to say that they do everything I wanted them to do. Top-down/ Bottom-up. Insulating. Cordless. The only catch is that I can’t reach the top of them in the living room. Good thing Grandma Joyce got me a stepstool for Christmas!

Levalor double cell blinds in "Sand". Yes, a very boring color that pretty much matches the wall color. We're such squares.

Of note: the stepstool in the bottom right corner. Our Christmas Tree.

The electrician also came today and installed dimmer switches in the living room and master bedroom, hung the pendant above the sink, and installed a floor plate. No more dark living room!

Restoration Hardware schoolhouse pendant.

Dimmer lights in the living room.

We received a Pottery Barn magazine in the mail last weed and while browsing through it I started to get excited about putting the house together. I also looked at a couple of items, thought “ooh, I like that, but it’s probably too expensive” and then looked at the price and went, “oh, that’s not too bad”. Friends, apparently I have arrived. I can glance at a Pottery Barn catalog and not drop my jaw at the prices.

And I almost ordered these Pottery Barn window treatments for the dining room.

Pottery Barn Dupioni Silk Drapes in "Wheat", for the Dining Room.

Source

Almost. They were 35% off. But even at that, they’re still $99 apiece. Times two windows. Plus a rod and brackets and loops to hang them on. Despite having arrived, I still don’t have $350 I’m willing to part with to cover a window that faces only the neighbor’s garage.

But, perusing the catalog did get me thinking about the overall decorating scheme for the house. DJ and I are both relative minimalists. I don’t do kitchy decorative figurines sitting around. We leave plenty of clutter all over the house by ourselves. We like neutrals, with a pop of color as needed. Organization is good. Have I mentioned that we’re cheap too? And I like old shit; like antiques? So yeah… we’ve got a lot of “likes” and “wants” and “needs” to fit into our “what can we afford”.

So over the course of the next few weeks I’m going to do a post dedicated to the décor inspiration for each room. Starting with the office, tomorrow. Because we’ve got random office crap all over our house. And it’s the one room in our house that is totally disorganized right now. And darn it, we need to file our paperwork somewhere other than a pile in the kitchen!

One Month Checkup

We’ve now been living in our home for four weeks. And let me tell you, it’s awesome. I think I tell DJ every day how much I love this house. I love how bright and sunny the kitchen is in the morning. I love the porch. I love parking in the garage. I love the wood floors in the downstairs. I love the Master Bedroom and Bath. I love the washer and dryer too!

There is still a list of things to get done. We handed over the “punch list” to the contractor last week. Things like hanging the pendant light above the sink, putting the downstairs lights on dimmers, getting DJ a garage door opener, and my critical item, gutters. Water from the roof drips directly onto the front steps, making it a slightly elevated ice skating rink. Luckily it faces south, so it melts pretty quickly.

A major item that we need to address soon is window coverings. We’ve procrastinated on them long enough; mostly because we can’t agree on what we want. DJ wants the two inch white blinds in every window.

I… well, I want a window covering which multi-tasks. I want it to insulate; especially in the 70.5 inch wide by 64.5 inch tall master bedroom window, which faces north. But I also want to be able to see in and out of them. And I want them to have texture. For the master bedroom and the downstairs area, I want to have the to-down/ bottom-up feature, to offer privacy while still seeing out. The same goes for the guest bathroom, and maybe bedrooms too. I’m leaning towards a cellulose shade, the double cells of which offer insulation, and when done as an inside mount they trap cold air between the window pane and the shade. The still let through a lot of light, which we’d mitigate in the master bedroom with outside mount curtains.

Because dudes, let me tell you, those double paned vinyl windows are not keeping the heat in!

We went into Home Depot a week or so ago, and browsed their books, which totally helped. We left feeling like we’d be able to come to some sort of conclusion. And I ‘m trying really hard not to dig my heels in. Stubbornness does not always win.

This whole conversation warranted a pretty sophisticated spreadsheet. When we started dating I often poked fun at DJ’s spreadsheet obsession. I mean, the man spreadsheeted everything, from our vacations to what to buy at the grocery store. Nearly two years later, I’m a convert. I mean, how else could I organize all of this information for us to make a good decision? See:

How else would I be able to tell you that a full set of cellulose blinds for the nine same sized windows we have in the living room, stairs, guest bedroom, guest bathroom and office would cost us $1,552.95? And adding the master bedroom window and the kitchen doors brings the total up to $2,091.00. Did I mention we just bought a house, have little in savings, and need to also save for a wedding? Sure. Gulp.

But, by manipulating the spreadsheet I can tell you that if we bought cellular shades for only the rooms we use right now (master bedroom big window, living room and stairs, and guest bathroom) we can knock it down to $1,106.70. Thank god Montana has no sales tax.

Now who is crazy enough to go into Home Depot on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to try to order blinds?

I mentioned we’ve procrastinated on this because we don’t immediately agree. This doesn’t happen to us very often. Usually my opinion is exactly what DJ thinks, and vice versa. So I guess in the name of not arguing we’ve just put off the inevitable. Interesting strategy, right?

Does anyone have the cellulose blinds? Or do you like the white two inch wood ones? Are they played out—so 2001?

Done moving!

Well, everything is moved. Note that I did not say it is moved in… Our stuff is in piles in the garage and in the corners of the rooms. And I swear our stuff multiplied in the garage at the apartment. We can’t have packed that much stuff into the condo, could we have?


Anyway, with the help of some good friends and my parents, everything was transitioned over. I still don’t know where most stuff is, but we’ve found the basics and enough to get by. Having so much help was invaluable, even if I did have to talk myself down from freaking out a few times. So many people. Moving our stuff. So much chaos. I wasn’t in control of what was going where. So disorganized. In through the nose, out through the mouth…

It worked out so well that my parents were able to be here. They helped us move on Saturday, and then dad spent Sunday installing drawer pulls, knobs, and bathroom towel, shower and TP racks. It would have been another month before DJ or I had the mental energy to put that stuff up. I’m so grateful. And I’d mentioned that I wanted the washer and dryer switched, and dad and mom just did it for us. I don’t think that DJ and I realized how much we needed their help until they were here! My mom even cleaned out entire apartment for us- by herself. Such a trooper!

By Saturday night we’d moved all of the big furniture and gotten trouble shot the cable to be able to watch college football. A couple of groups of friends stopped by just as I was about to leave to get pizza for dinner, and we had our first trick-or-treater in Aiden. Freaking adorable! It was great to have friends stop by and check out the new place.

Hopefully by this time next week we’ll have found a home for everything and be in some semblance of organization. I’ve got the Preservation Awards on Thursday night, DJ’s got a conference in Helena on Thursday and Friday, and we’re both just looking forward to spending some time at home!

We’ve agreed to begin working on wedding stuff next Sunday. My mom was trying to talk to me about it this weekend, and I’m so damn overwhelmed I can’t even think about it right now!

The Grand Tour

Oh, are you here for the house tour?

This is the front. It's yellow and grey. See the driving strips in the garage... tricky to back out on.

Next door? Well next door is where the sidewalk ends. But if you'd like to make mud pies, I think you'll find this lot to your liking.

Up the front walk we go. Why yes, yes the yellow is really cheery on a grey day like today. What's that? Yep, the front porch is concrete. And don't you like the way the steps came out? To the right and left of the steps I planted a ton of bulbs on Tuesday, so there will (hopefully) be something blooming here from spring through the summer. My favorite will probably be the irises from the lake.

Double locks.

Let me get those for us.

Yes, I know, I'm apparently moonlighting as a janitor. I have a lot of keys- what of it!?

Please come in! Go ahead and take off your muddy boots on the tile.

The contractor says to only wear socks on the wood floors through this weekend. The third coat of stain went down on Thursday night...

Yep, this entryway looks right out onto the back porch and the detached garage door.

And if you'll just close the front door behind you (you're letting the cold air in!), you'll see the downstairs powder room, and the bottom of the stairs. Didn't Dusty do a nice job on the tile?

Now that you're in your stocking feet, come in, come in!

Do you like the dining room fixture? The shades can be changed out! Fun, huh? Maybe red for Christmas?

Gosh, it's dim in here. Let me figure out which of these switches turns that on... That's better!

I know, isn't the kitchen AWESOME! It came out so well. I'm so relieved, happy, and excited to spend the next three months nesting and baking cookies and crock pot soups! Do you like the beadboard on the island and the backsplash?

Did you notice that the cabinets on the bottom have a center mullion detail that the ones on the top do? Small detail. And isn't the diswasher cool!

The island in the kitchen came out even better than I could have imagined it. The butcher block countertop is awesome, and I love the little cubby for cookbooks. I think I'm going to get a decorative basket for the top shelf, and make it the junk drawer.

The view of the dining room and living room from behind the island is pretty awesome too.

What's that, you want to see upstairs? Well lets go!

Yeah, the stairwell has like four different windows in it. The high ones will be tough to clean...

The stair rails might be a problem when we're the boys are moving furniature in on Saturday...

The one downside of this layout is that there is no linen closet in the house. I think we'll eventually get an antique cabinet to put on the wall to the left to use for storing sheets, towels, etc.

The east front bedroom. Now DJ and I are in a debate. I want this room to be the guest room, he thinks it should be the office.

I know! Such great natural light in the house!

Yep, if we put the bed against the east wall, I think it'll work. What did you say? You agree with me? I'll tell DJ!

Yep, it's a Jack and Jill bathroom. Connected to both bedrooms. Pretty handy, huh? It's like an independant guest suite up here! Bedroom, bathroom and office/ sitting room!

We ended up using a different granite in each room. I love the way this came out. Looks like we're missing a light bulb....

Did you see the pocket door? So guests can be here taking a shower, while another could still be using the sink area. They're separated by the pocket door to the right. I absolutely love how much natural light there is in this house. Have I mentioned that yet?

Lets keep going so you can see the west front bedroom.

Yeah, if you look back throgh there is a lot of doors!

I love this room. So much that I want it to be the office so that I can enjoy it more! I think the two windows, one facing south, the other west, remind me of the windows in the room at my Grandma Jan's that we always stay in. I miss staying with Janie.

So yep, the door out this room comes back in right at the top of the stairs.

That was a loop. Did you get that?

Swing left, and we'll see the rest of the house.

Remember that we sold the washer and dryer with the condo. Here's the new front loaders we bought! I might have my dad build a stand below them while he's here this weekend. My parents had those stands that you can buy with the washer and dryer; they were so tippy it sounded like an airplane taking off in the laundry room!

Yep, they're front loaders. See when I open the doors.... uh oh. Damn. I think they're in backwards from what I want. The doors in the middle would be a pain in the hiney when shoveling laundry back and forth...

Whoa! What happened?  The formatting just got all wonky in here... let's just charge ahead, ok?

Anyway, into the master bedroom we go...

Yep, canned lighting in here. We'll have them come in and put in dimmer switches...

So the only rooms in the house that don't have windows are the downstairs powder room and the master bedroom closet.

The closet has double shelves at the top on the left, as well as two rows of rods for clothes. The area for dresses is at the back of the closet.

And then I got them to work in these shelves for sweaters. We live in Montana, which means we have a TON of sweaters.

The bathroom came out really well too. Like the kitchen, DJ and I totally redesigned the layouts in here too.

Oh! They didn't quite get all of the stuff out of here... Heh, let me clear that off so you can see the countertops. As you can see, like the guest bathroom, someone could totally be showering, while another is getting ready in the sink area.

The toilet and shower area is pretty sweet.

We had kicked around the idea of doing a big tiled shower here, and then decided to go with the standard tub/ shower. We'd rather spend the money on a great kitchen!

Of course, DJ's favorite part is that he can sit on the toilet and still see the Bridgers as he takes care of business.

What's that, you need to get going? Well come downstairs really quickly, I'll show you the garage and back yard.

Out the back door we go. This deck is wood, and no, they haven't stained it yet...

It faces north and east, so there will be hosta and clematis planted here, in addition to the tulips, irises and daffodils I planted on Tuesday. It's kind of a mud pit right now. They haven't put on the gutters yet...

Down the deck we go.

THrough theis gap is the back deck and our small-ish back yard. The window over the kitchen sink looks out here.

The back fence is shared with Heritage Christian School. Hey kids! We're living in sin over here before marriage!

It's a little muddy to the west...

Do did you notice that little spot in the northwest corner of our yard that doesn't have sod down? Just beyond that little yellow flag to the left of your vision. Yep, those ARE drip lines. That's where next year's farm will go. What, no, I'm not crazy. Yes, I did have the landscapers put in drip lines for a vegetable garden... We're growing stuff to make our own salsa next year!

Let's runback into the garage.

Yep, its a bit oversized for two cars. I love it! No more scraping snow!

Oh, I should grab the garage door opener while I'm out here. Uh oh... there's only one... Um, don't tell DJ, but I'm just going to put it in my car so it doesn't get lost....

Yeah! the east elevation is pretty cool, isn't it!

I'm so glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by!