Metal + Microwave

After year of use our microwave suddenly sparked and then emitted a familiar smell. Fire. After stopping it, and unplugging it, it was clear the enamel had worn off the sides and thus was equivalent to placing metal in the microwave. A no-no. It reminded me of all the EZ Bake Oven recalls when people feared they were going to set fires etc. After the "incident" I was a little scared of my microwave.

The good news is that I was able to fix it (more on that in a later post). The bad news is that we were without a microwave for a few days. This was not something I was prepared to deal with. I had no idea how often I used the microwave. Try the following without a microwave: heating up leftovers, warming your coffee after adding too much cold milk, defrosting something quickly. You get the idea. Needless to say, after a few days of heating leftovers in the oven and mornings with cold coffee the microwave has been restored.

Closets Con't

Looks like no one really likes the curtain idea too much. I have to agree. In the quest to repair our closets I tossed this idea around for our guest room. But, I have to say, it just looks unfinished most of the time. And, while I was originally thinking about adding the swing out doors I think that is going to take up too much space.

Closet Conundrum

Closets without Doors are:
	Great! I love the curtain idea.
	OK. Sometimes it's done right, sometimes it looks messy
	I don't want to fight a curtain to get to my stuff
	I like a nice sturdy door to contain all my junk thank you very much
	Curtain doors look like a HGTV DIY renovation good wrong
	Too trendy, tacky, and kinda lame.
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The beginning of the end . . .

I hope. With the new year approaching it's time to think about what the next plans will be. 2009 will wrap up the renovations with completing the bathrooms, kitchen, downstairs floors, deck and painting (among other small projects). The goal is to finish by summer's end and begin to actual enjoy our space by fall without thinking about making any changes.

Step 1 - clean out the clutter. Stuff is taking over our life and space. Since we have no basement and one small storage closet we are taking the first part of 2009 to clear out and clean up all the junk. This may require storage space elsewhere - but hey, I'm all good with that. Most of the stuff we never use anyway. Getting the "stuff" out will allow us to organize and live more peacefully. At least, that's the idea. Eh, maybe we'll just toast to our junk and call it a day.

Home from the Holidays

After a nice trip visiting friend's and family we are back at DC Rowhouse. The house is filled with luggage and gifts. We'll probably leave it like that for about a week as we fight over the Wii fit (you can snowboard with it!!). After that, we'll start to work on the house again. Maybe.

Just for giggles . . .

Somehow, the memory of shopping for our very first "grown-up" apartment popped into my head and I erupted in laughter from my office. My poor office mates must have found this very creepy/annoying.

Let me set the stage:

It's 2002 and Dan and I have decided to live together and move into a "real" apartment in Boston. We went to see a real estate agent and asked them to show us some properties. Now, we didn't have all that much scratch so we settled on something "under 1500, maybe more like 1200" for a price range and initially refused to look outside of Boston proper. I don't quite remember how many apartments we were show by this particular agent, but, I do know two things: he drove us around in a car and illegally parked at every stop, and he showed us the most fucked up apartment I have ever seen in my like (and I have seen some doosies).

We got to an apartment in the Fenway area and from the outside it seemed just okay. It was in a larger building and this realtor explains it was a two bedroom and going for 1400. He knocks on the door. It seemed like the tenants were home. I heard someone coming to the door. I felt promise building in my heart as I waited. Maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't have to look at anymore places and I could just plunk down in this one. The door began to open. Have you seen the Goonies? Yes? Well, Ma Fratelli answered the door and Sloth is plopped down in a chair behind her in the living room - which is a trapezoid shaped space of about 50 square feet. Ma Fratelli is also wearing her pants above her belly button and some tall white sport socks with red stripes on the top. I have no idea what she was wearing for a shirt, I believe this is because my eyes barely left the floor. I just remember panic setting in that I even had to set foot in this place.

Ah, the floor. The low grade basement-type carpeting had probably never been vacuumed. The two bedrooms that were directly off the living room, were filled with bare mattresses and a messes I can only describe as being the place were all good things go to die. The galley kitchen branched from the living room and was filled with trash. Some of the cabinet knobs littered the ground. I am assuming Sloth pulled them off (because he is super strong in Goonies and I will assume that applies to this person too) and simply dropped them out of his meaty hands onto the "carpet". I have no recollection of the bathroom. I don't think I wanted to even head down that road.

This "apartment" was probably all of 600 square feet and I am so thankful, because I was in and out of there in about 2 minutes. We were all silent when we left. It probably took about a week to process that visual massacre. The fact that I can still remember it so well 6 years later proves that it certainly made an impression.

Holiday Lights

On my way to the gym this morning pre-6am (I know, sick) I noticed how many people had their holiday lights still on. Did these people forget to shut them off the night before, or this their thing - leaving them on all night. This year, I put up some lights on our deck and I had the feeling I would constantly forget to turn them off. Enter the best product ever. I picked mine up from Walmart for 8 bucks, but they are all the same thing. It has a sensor that turns the lights on at dusk for a set amount of time (2 hours, 4 hours, etc). It's genius. Now, instead of tripping up the steps when I come home, there is a lovely light display. Seriously, it's amazing. Also, it's pretty eco-friendly since it only allows the lights to be on for a set amount of time and you never have to worry about shutting them off.