Fixing Up The House - Room By Room

Randy & I bought a kind of old house a few years ago. The original owners were in their 60's when they built it & in their mid-90's when we bought it from them. It was in pretty good shape, all things considered, but had never been updated at all. We're talking bullet lamps, sertek ceilings, old wiring that needed updating, etc. It was like walking in to the haunted Brady Bunch home. Kind of cool, kind of creepy.

Here's the list of projects we've done that I can remember:

• re-wired everything
• re-plumbed everything
• worked alot on the yard
• screened in the side porch - it's the best room we've got! I love being out there.
• built a workshop in the basement
• added a bunch of insulation - well worth the investment of time & money
• put in new windows, including a bay window in the living room
• added a storage building
• added a covered parking area
• widened the driveway
• new, better gutters
• took out a wall between two bedrooms to create one bigger bedroom
  
• built a room in the basement for Randy's "stuff"
• built a game room in the basement
  
• added a kick-ass alarm system & camera system

So the house is kind of small by today's mc-mansion standards, just 1200 ft, but we've been able to add the attic as storage & we now have the entire basement being used, so that makes it seem alot bigger to us.

Now we are at the point of being able to start actually updating rooms. The bathroom was the first (needed it the most).

Here's a picture of it as it was:

First of all, why the walls were gray & white with that weird green color porcelain, I simply don't know.

Secondly, the room is tiny. No storage area at all.

Third, the tub is solid porcelain & very heavy

Pipes showing, naked lightbulb, no electrical outlets

Everything was discolored.

In short--yuck!

Here's the end result:


So, what do you think?

I still can't believe that Randy took out a 740 lb tub by himself, and yes, I have pictures to prove it.

For some weird reason the room feels bigger now.

It's nice to have a place to put towels, shampoo, etc.

So I know it's just a bathroom, but it is nice to have this project done.

We freecycled what we could of the old stuff but most of the fixtures were beyond what anybody wanted.

This is the only bathroom in the house so replacing floors, tubs, etc., was tricky! Luckily we have a shower at my office (just down the road at the time), but we had to replace the toilet & get the tile down in a matter of hours.

It was freezing cold too--sub-zero temperatures.

Here's Vena supervising the whole process. She's helpful that way.

I'll have to check with Randy but I believe this whole project cost a little under $1800

My New Toy

The Yamaha WX5 Wind Midi.

Thank you Randy!

Cute PIcture of the Week

The ox 'Heart', having a heart-shaped marking on his forehead, relaxes at Yamakun Farm in Yokohama, Japan.

Nothing Lives Up To The Flowbee

Remember the revolutionary home haircutting system? Your haircut was only a suction away! The Flowbee had one of the funniest commercials of all time but I haven't been able to find it for you on YouTube or anywhere else for that matter. Oh well, I'll send it out if I find it. Till then I leave you with the one still image of the mamaw & the magnificence that is the Flowbee...


Vince from Shamwow could learn a thing or two about making elegant commercials from this lovely lady...

Friday the 13th

The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriphobia.

The Stress Management Center & Phobia Institute in Asheville estimates that up to 21 million people in the US are afraid of this day & might even lay out of work or even stay in bed due to their fear. Hmmm, I didnt realize phobias could have such cool fringe benefits.

Tom used to have a phobia of macaroni & cheese. No joke, it would freak him out. He should have been phobic about telling me, knowing that I blog!

Personally, I am afraid of trying to pronounce paraskavedekatriphobia...

Blockbuster offer

Blockbuster is raising the price of their Rewards club to $19.95 a year beginning March 1st but till the end of this week (Sunday) you can add another year to your existing membership at the old price of $9.95 or purchase a new membership for one year for $9.95.

The Rewards club lets you get one free game or movie rental every month & additionally you can get a free rental with every five additional rentals a month, and Monday - Wednesday for each full paid rental, you can receive 1 non-new release rental free.

Just an FYI.

If it looks a little different...

I'm going to be goofing around with some customization options for this blog for the next few days. Just wanted to let you know.

Inventions

My friend Gary once decided that there needed to be some sort of system that would text your phone when your PO Box had mail, thus eliminating the need to drive to the Post Office. I thought that was a pretty good idea.

Randy has often thought out loud about the feasibility of an engine that would run with magnets only--& now it has happened. I can't wait till that becomes practical.

Through the years Tom has come up with too many ideas to even begin to list--most of them on the silly side, but interesting nevertheless.

I still want to see the surface of my desk turned into a giant keyboard/mouse area. That's getting closer.

Any other ideas for inventions out there?

Addicted to Work

I ask you, what kind of sick mind would come up with this?

It's a desk....

It's a bed?!?

I've only got one thing to say about sleeping this close to my computer....

YUCK!

I Don't Care What The Groundhog Said...

Today's weather has been amazing. Right now it's 64 degrees : ) This time last week I was posting (aka bitching) about how cold it was. Today the windows are all open & my cats have been outside on the side porch for hours now. I know it will change & get cold again soon but it's been really great to have at least this one day of basically perfect weather.

Harris Teeter Triple Coupons Triumph

Grocery shopping is one of my chores & while I don't really care so much for it (as opposed to doing something fun), I do like saving money. Putting a little effort into learning the "insider couponing techniques" then being able to see a tangible return on my investment of time is acceptable to me.

Here's today's receipt from the Harris Teeter triple coupons sale:

$94.33 Total before discount
$35.16 Total amount I paid after coupons applied
$59.17 Total savings

Not too bad for about 3 hours of time altogether.

White Squirrels and Suet Recipe

Today I saw 3 yep, 3 white squirrels playing in the yard. I tried for a photo but they took off before I could get the camera outside. Seems Hendersonville is catching up to Brevard finally.

I made some suet & put it out right before the cold snap last week & have had a lot of different animals eating it. Yes, I put it there for all the animals, squirrels, birds, whatever.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup lard
• 2 cups peanuts that have been grinded down to the consistency of crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 2 cups oats--not instant oatmeal
• 1 cup raisins
  

Stir lard & peanut butter together in glass pan until blended. It's ok to put the mixture in the microwave for a bit to help with the stirring.

Add cornmeal & raisins
Stir in oats
Roll into whatever shape you want.

Use within one week.

*I also use whatever raw nuts or berries I have to spare in the kitchen. Some people add powdered eggshells, but I don't & the animals don't seem to mind!

Here's a link to a photo Merle took of one of our squirrels a couple of months ago.

Raw Chocolate Vitamix Recipes

Randy says he learned how important chocolate is not just from me, but from going in & out of multiple offices all day. Through the years he's evolved from bringing home the occasional Hershey bar, to bringing home "the good stuff", ie Godiva, Vans, etc. What a good husband!

I do like the typical "good stuff" but in the last year or so my tastes have evolved to more exotic chocolate. I discovered chocolate and red chilis at Earth Fare (my favorite last year). The spicy zing along with the dark chocolate just tasted right somehow.

For Christmas I got some raw chocolate & a book about the health benefits of raw chocolate. I have seen the health claims in various places on the internet about chocolate but didn't pay much attention to them till I read the book. It was pretty interesting. For instance did you know that raw cacao beans are known as 'the food of the gods' and were used as money by the Aztecs? Ok, so you knew that.

Well then, how about this: Cacao powder and butter are the beans pressed and powdered. Both are antioxidants; rich in magnesium and potassium. Without sugar or dairy products the benefits of chocolate reach you in their pure state. When chocolate is eaten raw, the enzymes (important for health) remain intact and the amazing properties of chocolate are undiluted to be enjoyed to the full.

Tom & I have long believed that enzymes contained in raw foods are more important than mainstream media have portrayed. Tom says that what makes a cell living is the enzymes. For instance, what seems more healthy--a raw apple or a cooked one? Why do you think that is? We both have tried to up our intake of raw vegetables to some degree of success, & I think it has made a difference in our energy overall.

Back to raw chocolate. It is full of Tryptophan (the relax chemical), Anandamide (the bliss chemical), Phenylethaylamine (PEA, the joy molecule), Polyphenols (heart-nurturing), MAO inhibitor (appetite suppressant), and about 300 other nutritional compounds. But most importantly, it tastes really good! It's not sweet but can be sweetened with fruit, aguave nector, or whatever you use.

We created some raw chocolate drinks in the Vitamix & they are really good so I thought I would share:

Toms Raw Healthy Chocolate Drink

2 cups pure water
one cup raw cashews
3 medjool dates
1/2 cup raw cacao nibs

Add cashews to water & set vitamix to low for about 30 seconds
Slowly add pitted dates & cacao nibs
Blend up to one minute
Drink up

Lala's Raw Healthy Chocolate Drink

3 cups pure water
1 1-2 cup raw cashews
aguave nector
1/2 cup raw cacao nibs

Add cashews to water & set vitamix to low for about 30 seconds
Add cacao nibs
Blend up to one minute then strain.
Add aguave nector to taste.

Man, I've got to go make some right now!

Hope you like our Vitamix recipes. I am a Vitamix nut & have lots of them so if you want more let me know.

Drink up : )

Here's the link to where you can buy the book I've been reading.

Must Be Going Around

We got a knock on the door at the office around 2:30pm today. Turns out water has been leaking for at least a day now down into the church office downstairs. We opened up the closet where the water heater lives & surprise!, water was pouring out of the water tank. I don't know what the problem is, but we're pretty sure that some pipes are frozen somewhere...

I've been empathizing with Merle's frozen pipes as I read her daily blog but didn't realize I would soon have my own story.

Re: I Miss Snow

Let me be more specific...I miss snow, not cold! I can handle a little of the white stuff on the lawn for a couple of days but this whole windchill at -14 degrees can go back up north where it belongs! I hope everybody is ok, their pipes don't freeze, cars start, & they can stay warm.

Poor Little Guy! But at Least He Won't Remember a Thing...

This little boy's video has been making the internet rounds this week. I don't remember ever getting that much medicine from my dentist....

I Miss Snow

When was the last time Hendersonville got a good snow that lasted more than 24 hours or was deeper than 1 inch?

I can't remember.

Facebook Fatigue

I've been hearing the word "Facebook" for some time now & it's intensifying every week. Words like "Superpoke" are gaining ground in common American lexicon & the average business lunch includes reference after reference to Facebook, often ending with "hey man, look me up on facebook when you get back to the office".

I've been hired to teach a class on Facebook & tie it to guerilla marketing & it doesn't even bother me to do so. I think it's inevitable that Facebook will peak & then level off. Maybe it already has.

For those of you wondering (I can't imagine), Facebook is a free-access social networking site that allows users to join & instantly become part of networks organized by city, workplace, school, region, or interest to connect withothers. You create a personal profile & voila! the friend finder tool instantly starts suggesting others you might know so that you can add them as a friend to your profile.

Messages, free apps, etc. are all stupid-simple & require little or no real training on the part of the user. Within a day many newbies hook up with friends & loved ones they haven't been able to find for years.

I know people who admit to spending at least an hour a day on Facebook & from what I can tell, most folks using the service actually log in multiple times each day to check up on their posse.

You can update the world as to what you are doing at any given moment. Ex--"I'm craving a parsley salad" No joke, I actually saw that in December. I might not have seen that fellow since 5th grade but I now know he craves parsley salads.

It's exactly that kind of information overload that is going to tire us out. Oh wait, maybe it's the thinly veiled semi professional commercials my friends are throwing at me now. Or could it be the 90+ requests in my Notifications to "join ________ group & make a difference"? Information overload!

When I get asked to teach a subject to a group of business people it means the subject has become mainstream & business is now trying to figure out how to exploit it to their advantage. Not that I blame them. After all, we're talking about an extremely targeted demographic that they, "the business people" can market to for no cost but their time. Oh, maybe their integrity too, but I'm pretty sure most of them aren't using that anyway.

So start saying buh-bye to your love affair with Facebook. You'll be tired of it soon enough & it will eventually sink into it's proper place on the Internet. I don't think it will go away anytime soon, but it will evolve & it's appeal may be a bit tarnished by the time this massive wave of
"average joes just trying to make a buck" is finished with it.

Piece of advice--don't even ask me about Twitter.

See you at the next big thing.

Superbowl Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 cans white beans
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 pint fresh mushrooms-drained & sliced
• 1 medium chopped yellow onion
• 1 can green chilis
• 1 small can jalapenos
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
  
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts--cooked & diced
• 1 can chicken broth

Mix everything together & put in a crockpot on high for 4 hours. Eat with jalapeno cornbread, garnish with montery jack or sour cream.

Mmmm!