Posts

Posted on

Earth day clean up

Today my grand daughter’s girl scout group and the parents and grand parents were invited to help clean up a short road near the school.  There were other groups from the school who also were assigned roads to clean up…at least the debris on the sides of the road.

I couldn’t make it, as I have just gotten out of the hospital and am not supposed to do much of anything for the next week. Since I had thought I could go along, I had packed snacks in little recyclable bags to give the girls and my daughter picked them up to take along. They all looked so cute and ready to do their part to keep the earth clean.  I’m so proud my grand daughter is involved in caring groups like this.

Posted on

Entry hall revamp

After some time, I’ve decided that I would like to make the front entry hall more useful than what it is now. Since I’m planing on getting new carpet in the living room, I want folks to take off their shoes when they come over,  or come home, especially the guys in my family who are slackers when it comes to removing their shoes and also hanging up coats.

I’ve been looking at a lot of different DIY sites for ideas on more storage room, and also ideas for a bench so people can sit to put on or take off shoes, but also that would serve as a storage for gloves, hats, and such. I don’t want a coat rack, so I’ve been looking at antique hooks to hang coats and jackets on.

The floor without a doubt will not be carpeted. Not in an entry hall. I’d be just asking for dirty carpet, despite of people wiping their feet on the mat I have on the porch, and another inside the door. I’m thinking about going with a sort of stone floor look. I’ll of course know it when I see it. This week I’m planning on going to this carpet outlet store near here that also sells wall paper and other types of flooring besides carpet. Pictures of the finished entry hall, will be posted once I get my camera to work right.

Posted on

Help with Real Estate Hamptons NY

Usually people I know are looking for homes to buy or rent, but my friend Michael is looking for help with Real Estate Hamptons NY to rent or sell his home, so he can move closer to his family in Ohio. He is super picky about his property and assured me if anyone could properly sell or rent out his house in the Hamptons, that his real estate agent could do it. He also told me that the fees are reasonable and he’s totally comfortable putting his property in his agents hands.

I have dealt with many realtors who weren’t into selling a home for me or just wanted to make a quick deal and end it. In truth it was a horrible experience. Michale assured me that as he is not sure if he would like to rent on a permanent basis and leave the property without supervision, that the agent would help with all of those particulars. They have a lot of various services to choose from and I think this is great!

It leaves peace of mind that they are experienced in dealing with homes in the Hamptons NY and that if he chooses, my friend can leave his home to renters while he is living out of state. I know of course that he would make annual visits to his place to check on it, but while he is gone, this would be taken care of.

 

Posted on

Thunderstorms and Puppy Jake

Last weekend I found out our 7 mo. old puppy Jake, is terrified of fireworks. He doesn’t even have to see them, just hear them and he freaks out. I had wondered if he also would be afraid of thunderstorms when I was looking at the skies early this morning. My body felt a storm coming on and I think the dogs knew something was going to change weather wise just by the way they were acting.

Sure enough, it started getting darker and the skies looked a grey black. I saw the first bolt of lightening and counted to three… BOOM! My poor puppy went ballistic. I felt so sorry for him. He nearly flew under my desk, spinning my chair around and I almost tipped over. He was under there shaking so hard I think I heard his teeth even clicking. I went under the desk to him…which was hard to do even if I’m small. Jake is just a pup, but he is BIG and it was a tight fit under there for both of us. Still, I held him and kept telling him everything was okay. He didn’t stop shaking though.

So, now I know Jake is terrified of thunderstorms and fireworks. I’ll bet he’s afraid of gunfire also. Living around here, all of these sounds are like an every day experience. I’m going to have to find a way to teach him that these things aren’t going to hurt him. Bless his heart!

Posted on

Spouts in two days

For the heck of it, I wanted to plant some seeds in some old peat clumps that I had laying around in the garden shed. I put the peat clump in little clay pots after soaking the peat for a few minutes in water. What I think the peat clumps came from was one of those Chia Pet type planters, the never worked for me.

After I put three seeds in each pot…on top the peat, only pressing the seeds in slightly, I covered them with some clear plastic to get that green house effect. I then put the little pots on top of the refrigerator because it’s warm up there and the morning sun shines on it somewhat.

I marked the date on the calendar which was the 4th, that I had planted the seeds. The seeds sprouted in two days. I personally thought it was remarkably fast. I took the plastic off because in only two days the were growing so fast that the plastic was bending the stems. Now, after four days the stems are about two and a half inches tall. I might just start all my seeds like this!

Posted on

Help from a home energy audit

After hearing how having a home energy audit could save me a whole lot of money on my heating and cooling bills, I’m seriously thinking about looking into having these professionals come in and take a look at how I could cut my bill costs down.  Right now, they are nearly unfordable especially during the winter months. Just thinking of saving even a little amount of money on these makes me want to find out more about it.

I’m told that there are home improvement grants to be had also, something I didn’t know and am curious to see if these folks could help me with applying for one. I noticed so much that needs repair and improvement in this house, when I was doing the little repair work I do while spring cleaning. A home improvement grant would help so much and also make our property value increase.

If I can get a insulation contractor to come in, that would be great and these home energy audit people can help with this, I believe. I know that during the winter it could be a whole lot warmer in the house if we had a professional come in to insulate properly, we would indeed save quite a bit of money on our heating bill.

Posted on

Preparing for Easter

Not being sure how many family members and friends will be here for Easter is making it rather hard to plan on a meal and what to serve, not to mention how much food I’ll need. I don’t like it when this happens but as of now, even my kids are indecisive about what their plans are and my youngest daughter won’t be here since she moved to Florida.

This is the first time that the whole family won’t be together and also don’t know if they will be around the house on Easter Sunday. The way I figure it, I’m not going to have a sit down dinner like usual this year if I don’t know who will be here and how many.

I’m seriously thinking that tonight I’m going to shop for everything I need, then just make it into a buffet style dinner. I can get a ham that is already cooked and sliced (easy out) and then make side dishes and finger food. Oh yes, and paper plates will be used. The strong ones but disposable plates I can throw away. I cook, why should I do dishes too!? At least that is my take on it, if no one knows what their plans are. Okay, I guess my rant is over. Now to make a shopping list…

Disposable plates

Disposable knives, spoons and forks

Disposable cups

Have a Happy Easter All, and remember what it’s all about.

Posted on

Spring cleaning and little repair jobs

While washing down walls the last two days, I have come across some small cracks and little holes in the plaster that need mending. I personally do not even like doing this job at all, but it needs to be done and though it’s just a little project, I know after the repair work is finished I’m going to want to repaint walls that I had just painted last year. And of course I’ll want to paint a fresh new color on the walls. Which means, new color complimenting home decor items.

There are quite a few little home improvement repairs on my “fix it” list this spring. The ceiling fans need new pull chains, and of course I’ll shop for pretty things to put on the end of the chain, which means either going out to stores or shopping online for these.

There are quite a few BIG repairs that need done also, but for them I’m sure I’m going to either scope out DIY books and online tuts for this. One being insulating around my windows and putting up new trim. I know how to do the trim, somewhat. The insulating is another story. For now, I’m sticking to the little jobs I know I can do.

Posted on

Golf clubs for my birthday

Not being an avid golfer but being an interested fan, my best friend wants to take me to get new golf clubs. She highly recommends I’ll get good ones and I know she’s serious when she just practices in 101 degree weather! This woman is good and knows her equipment for the game.

Getting a set of clubs to me is a intimidating, but my life long friend told me that where we are going to get even hybrid golf clubs, is going to be fantastic and an adventurer, we can’t go wrong with going where the quality, value and also professionals are. Big plus to me, since I’m a brand new beginner and have no idea what I’m doing, but am willing to learn.

I feel by the end of the summer I may learn about the game and it will be fun plus great exercise. I may like this!

 

 

Posted on

Old house and ancient plumbing

While remodeling the spare bathroom, we have found that they no longer sell the bath and shower fixtures that will fit our ancient bathtub. The tub is small and is made out of molded cast iron. It’s also on an outside wall. To replace the tub, we would have to totally knock out the whole wall, somehow cut the tub into pieces and then haul that away, put a new tub and plumbing in and also new walls. This means we’d also have to replace the outside wall and siding. What a job.

What makes things worse, is on the other side of the adjacent wall where all the pipes are, is my son’s bedroom. That wall would also have to be knocked out and it is going to be one heck of a major project. The hot water was leaking and we tried to find the right parts to get it at least semi fixed, until we could go a head and do this improvement but my husband had to rig one up, since the hardware stores don’t carry the part.

I had to laugh when we took the parts in, because the man who was to help us looked at the  part, then at us with the most odd look. Like we were asking for something that was from the moon or whatever. He said he hadn’t seen one of these parts since the 40’s and even then they were nearly obsolete. Great. For now, we’ve decided to hold off on this project as long as we can, as we honestly don’t have the funds right at the minute to do a total remodel job. We have just finished the main bathroom. In the mean time, I am going to pick out tile and flooring, paint and at other items I may want to use once that darn tub is out and the plumbing in there is fixed. I can always look shop and get a idea of various prices.