Archive for domesticity
Last night it snowed. Today it yarned.
So the snow storm came last night, but didn’t treat us too badly here in our little corner of New Jersey. I’d say we didn’t get any more than 10 inches. And I didn’t hear much in the way of wind, either. Whew. You know how I feel about wind. Still, even though we were [...]
continue reading "Last night it snowed. Today it yarned."I need to step up my game
For so many years our family room kind of languished in beige-land, but now that we’ve finally started paying more attention to decorating it, I’m noticing something: the Clarkesworld propaganda is multiplying. Sure, Neil, go ahead and put up a couple of posters, I said. Little did I know at the time, Vistaprint was being [...]
continue reading "I need to step up my game"Family Room Makeover
With Neil spending a lot of this summer home on sick leave, we’ve been congregating in the family room more than usual. It’s made us want to tackle small projects to make the space more inviting. I dug up this photo from 2011, but really, this is what the room has looked like most days. [...]
continue reading "Family Room Makeover"Fun with upholstery and curtain-making
Let’s file this under “slowest kitchen makeover ever,” shall we? When we moved here, more than fourteen years ago now, our kitchen looked a lot like this: (These photos were actually taken in 2007, but nothing much had really changed in the intervening nine years, aside from a few knickknacks.) Back then, as a housewarming gift, [...]
continue reading "Fun with upholstery and curtain-making"The cabinet of doom
I’ve mentioned here before that my so-called “studio” is actually my dining room table. And I’ve also shown you how it can go from clean and lovely to total disaster area in a relatively short time span. Despite all appearances to the contrary, I do actually prefer for my dining room to be neat and [...]
continue reading "The cabinet of doom"A banner day
I may have gone just a little bit banner crazy. I was in the middle of making letter tags to attach to my fabric bunting (because that’s what everyone does the day before a party when half of the house is still in need of a good cleaning, right?) when it occurred to me that [...]
continue reading "A banner day"It’s time.
I’ve been staring at this mess for a few months now, periodically shoving aside enough things to make a work space, but never actually putting anything away. The only thing that stresses me out more than looking at that mess is the thought of cleaning it up. Which is why it stays there, and I [...]
continue reading "It’s time."Changing of the guard
It takes me just about as long to take down Christmas as it does to put it up. In other words, about a month. I’m really so slow about the whole thing. I do a room, and then I live with it a while. Until I’m ready to do another room. And then I enjoy [...]
continue reading "Changing of the guard"I wish I loved to clean
For some people, the process of keeping house is a joy – it makes them feel especially good to maintain a clean and comfortable nest for their families. Oh, how I wish I were like that! Don’t get me wrong, I do feel good when I manage to be all domestic, make a nice supper, [...]
continue reading "I wish I loved to clean"Strawberry thief
Remember when I planted the strawberries? I was very excited to have a blossom on the plant already. Well, it ended up being the only blossom I got, but it survived and produced one lovely strawberry: I took that photo Friday morning, figured I’d give it one more day to ripen, and then pick it [...]
continue reading "Strawberry thief"
