* Westley has never had his own space. The last time our living arrangements included more than one bedroom was when he was 3 years old in Chicago, and at that point he had absolutely no interest in leaving our bedroom (and we had zero interest in cleaning out the "guest room"). The general situation … Continue reading A Room of One’s Own
This post has been toned down from it's original rant. You read that right: this is the toned down version! "If you want something badly enough to whine about it you better be willing to do it yourself."1me, every damn day Backstory: The kids are constantly asking for things (toys, food, clothes, video games, liberty), … Continue reading Practice What I Bleat
I've been thinking a lot lately about the yourself part of DIY.1 When we moved into the house I had grand images in my head2 of us doing all the work going forward, little by little, turning to YouTube, WikiHow, and Red Green to learn all the new skills we would need, and becoming masters … Continue reading To DIY or not to DIY…
(aka, Aly gets lazy and gets almost nothing done) I had such lofty plans for my sophomore year of gardening as a grown-up. Then Spring 2021 came and has basically gone, and I didn't really get anything done. On the bright side, the one day I actually put in some effort on prepping the beds, … Continue reading Gardening: Spring 2021
While I believe this statement wholeheartedly, the damn things are also a lot of work. One1 of my favorite things about the house has always been the massive, old, original2 windows all over the place. That's a lot of windows. That's not even one side of the house. Unfortunately, the windows have not been re-glazed3 … Continue reading Wood Windows Rule
aka, What happens when you regularly wake up at 3am and you love baked goods.Full disclosure, this is not really about the house. You can definitely just cross off that 2/3 C of Oil if you decide to make this recipe. Also, beware of baking times because my apartment oven was always at least an … Continue reading Early Morning Baking Thoughts
Sergiu (almost) finished with our attic pantry space today! Significantly fewer trips up and down to the basement are in our immediate future!1 Aly's Motivation For almost a year now, we have been using a cabinet in the basement as our household pantry. It's been great to have a dedicated and fairly secure spot in … Continue reading Using Space Efficiently
When you're sad and frustrated that no substantial progress is being made on your enormous house renovation project, focus instead on the appearance of progress. After all, appearances are what's important. I've been re-watching Better Off Ted, and this quote seemed appropriate. The last item on our renovation to-do list is replacing the siding, so … Continue reading PAINT!
While most of the house will be restored using the original lath/plaster design, certain spots it makes more sense to use drywall. A little over a month ago (Sept 2020) Bridgette & I took on a very small drywall project while Elliot & Sergiu were out doing other stuff1. And we did a moderately bad … Continue reading Hanging Drywall
I really enjoyed how the scorching drought of June killed off all the grass, but the garden could have used some rain (and a less intense heatwave) Quick summary update on our first year of gardening in Wassaic: 1. BrassicasI planted three different vegetables in the brassica family, two of which I actually enjoy eating. … Continue reading Gardening Update – September
The Wassaic Maison 