Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Green is the new blue...or pink
Well, as most of you know, Nate and I are having a baby! I'm due in July - I'm ~ 16 weeks along - we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl yet, but we should know in a couple weeks at my next appointment. Things have been going smoothly for the most part - I've had some morning sickness but nothing that I couldn't recover from (I'm something of an expert of the boot-and-rally!). I'm glad I'm past the part where I fall asleep at 9:00 pm, and I'm getting used to sleeping on my side - even though it makes my ear hurt.
We're trying to be "green" about this because let's face it - a new person is a pretty big carbon producer. So, while we don't expect anyone to get us anything, if you do want to get us stuff, we're proposing mostly gently used or handmade items. There's lots of great stuff on your local craigslist, consignment shops, freecycle.com, Goodwill, and this spring - at yard sales. This way, your money goes to local people, there's much less packaging waste, and let's face it - the world probably doesn't need more plastic stuff from China. It saves money too! And don't forget - we don't need fancy wrapping - that all winds up in a landfill somewhere too!
So while we realize this is more difficult than just registering for stuff, we think with a little cooperation and communication it can work and be fun. Take your time, the baby isn't due until July which gives everyone lots of time to peruse the local "recycling" scene. If you look to your right, there's 3 lists - used stuff, used crib info (because cribs are one of the most recalled baby items you can get new or used), and new stuff. If you get something, just add a comment to this post (look at the end of this post for the add comment button) and we'll check it and cross it off for you! For a list of recalled items you can visit the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission at http://www.cpsc.gov or http://www.recalls.gov.
We're trying to be "green" about this because let's face it - a new person is a pretty big carbon producer. So, while we don't expect anyone to get us anything, if you do want to get us stuff, we're proposing mostly gently used or handmade items. There's lots of great stuff on your local craigslist, consignment shops, freecycle.com, Goodwill, and this spring - at yard sales. This way, your money goes to local people, there's much less packaging waste, and let's face it - the world probably doesn't need more plastic stuff from China. It saves money too! And don't forget - we don't need fancy wrapping - that all winds up in a landfill somewhere too!
So while we realize this is more difficult than just registering for stuff, we think with a little cooperation and communication it can work and be fun. Take your time, the baby isn't due until July which gives everyone lots of time to peruse the local "recycling" scene. If you look to your right, there's 3 lists - used stuff, used crib info (because cribs are one of the most recalled baby items you can get new or used), and new stuff. If you get something, just add a comment to this post (look at the end of this post for the add comment button) and we'll check it and cross it off for you! For a list of recalled items you can visit the U.S. Consumer Safety Commission at http://www.cpsc.gov or http://www.recalls.gov.
Baby Its cold outside
Well, this morning on my way to work it was -5 F, I had an apple in the back seat and it froze into mush by the time I made it to work! At least we're supposed to get some snow this week! Which is exciting. Since I haven't been able to run lately, the dogs have had to settle with playing ball with Nate and I in the backyard. When its really cold, Max doesn't like to have his paws touch the snow too much, so he tries to pick up his feet, it doesn't work so well, but its pretty funny!
But Max seems to recover, I don't think they're suffering too badly.
Maybe playing catch doesn't make the dogs tired, but I seem to be tired! And in my unguarded state, Nate is able to take pictures of me drooling on the couch!
But Max seems to recover, I don't think they're suffering too badly.
Maybe playing catch doesn't make the dogs tired, but I seem to be tired! And in my unguarded state, Nate is able to take pictures of me drooling on the couch!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Bathroom Ponderings
We've started trying to figure out what to do about our green-carpeted bathroom abomination but have been struggling to fit everything in. The big problem is the sloped ceiling, as this room is tucked up into the roof in one corner of the house. I drew up the room in Sketchup, an export of the current layout is below. You can see the slope in the wall next to the window, at it's lowest point it's about 36" off of the floor, so there's a lot of un-useable space over there. The shower is a fiberglass corner install (next to the toilet), and is really too small. The counter (despite it's massive 5' length) only has one sink, and only about 24" of useable space before the ceiling get's under 6'.
Below is about the only thing I've come up with that I don't hate too much. It's surprisingly similar to the current layout, maybe there's only so many ways to lay things out in this space.
Somehow, we'll drag the whirlpool hottub out of there, and build a knee (shoulder?) wall at about the 6'6" height and put a double vanity against that. There's just enough room for a 22" vanity to fit between the wall and the window. The toilet stayes roughly where it is, it'll get pushed over an inch or two to ensure that we've got 48" for the shower. We had hoped to get one of these for a shower, but it seems like it will work less well up against the toilet. Instead, we'll build that as a solid wall and build a custom tile enclosure. We'll put a sitting tub next-ish to the vanity. I could only find a model for a 6' tub, and we'll be using a maximum 5' tub, so there will be much more space then it actually looks like. I'll move the knee-wall in as far as possible to allow the tub to be in there and put builtins into the knee wall.
I dunno, maybe this works. I'm not totally sold and keep waiting for an epiphany.
Below is about the only thing I've come up with that I don't hate too much. It's surprisingly similar to the current layout, maybe there's only so many ways to lay things out in this space.
Somehow, we'll drag the whirlpool hottub out of there, and build a knee (shoulder?) wall at about the 6'6" height and put a double vanity against that. There's just enough room for a 22" vanity to fit between the wall and the window. The toilet stayes roughly where it is, it'll get pushed over an inch or two to ensure that we've got 48" for the shower. We had hoped to get one of these for a shower, but it seems like it will work less well up against the toilet. Instead, we'll build that as a solid wall and build a custom tile enclosure. We'll put a sitting tub next-ish to the vanity. I could only find a model for a 6' tub, and we'll be using a maximum 5' tub, so there will be much more space then it actually looks like. I'll move the knee-wall in as far as possible to allow the tub to be in there and put builtins into the knee wall.I dunno, maybe this works. I'm not totally sold and keep waiting for an epiphany.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Anybody Want a Cat
This is Kitten's foot prints in fresh wet polyurethane. Any normal cat would have taken a couple of steps and gone "Ick!" and turned around. Kitten on the other hand, slip-slided her way all the way across the floor, right through the middle of the floor.
We forgot to mention the house's former residents stopped by a few weeks ago. He got into the house when we were closing up the chimney chase. 
He (or she, I suppose) probably crawled into the chimney from the top and we disturbed him with the heat. He came busting out into the family room and then moved on to orbiting the dining room for ten minutes until we succesfully created a multi-blanket screen to direct him out the front door.
Hopefully, he found a new warm place to hole up. We need all the healthy bats we can get here in New York.
We forgot to mention the house's former residents stopped by a few weeks ago. He got into the house when we were closing up the chimney chase. 
He (or she, I suppose) probably crawled into the chimney from the top and we disturbed him with the heat. He came busting out into the family room and then moved on to orbiting the dining room for ten minutes until we succesfully created a multi-blanket screen to direct him out the front door.
Hopefully, he found a new warm place to hole up. We need all the healthy bats we can get here in New York.
Monday, January 5, 2009
When the dogs lay down with the cats
It must be the christmas season, when even the dogs are willing to allow the cats to snuggle up. Of course, Sweep will curl up with anything anywhere. Julie is more selective, but only a little.
We had some snow the week before christmas, so it was nice, everybody had a good time. Sweep did his best Christmas dog impression and Max ran around in the snow like an idiot. But he was a happy idiot, so it's always fun!
Lastly, the railing on the porch got started, but it work out there has largely been called due to cold, snow and laziness. We got most of the parts made and painted (which is always fun, painting in the basement, the sewing room, anywhere it's warm enough), but we've decided to hold off on finishing until things warm up. It should only be a couple of months! Either way, I figured you'd like to see some pictures of what it looks like! There's still a little yellow cross piece that needs to be added, but you get the idea. The panels are 3/4" PT plywood, cut with a jigsaw, and the panels fit into dado's cut in the 2x4 frames. It's relatively simple, but takes about 30 minutes to cut out a single panel. We've cut all of the full size panels and got about 1/2 of them installed.
Lastly, we got a ton of "Envi-8" blocks delivered today. They're basically giant wood pellets.
Each one is about 3"x3"x10" long, weigh about 8 pounds and they are just compressed sawdust and other recycled wood product, just like a wood pellet. I would like to see the monster that is used to smash these things into shape!They contain no filler, so they can be safely burned in a wood stove (even a catalytic wood stove), and since they are all recycled wood, they are a nice environmental compromise for a wood stove. My neighbor had bought them and gave a couple for me to try and they burn nice and hot and with very little ash. Unfortunately, I had to move a ton (no really, they came on a pallet and the unit of delivery is 1 ton), or about 600 logs onto the deck, through the kitchen and down into the basement. Ugh. The only downside to these is that the place we got these from they come in pre-packaged blocks of 8. Which is a little silly. So each group of 8 blocks comes in a little shrink-wrapped package? Heh? We'll get our act together better next year and try to get them w/o the packaging! Now I have this pile in my basement!
Hope you all had a great holiday!
We had some snow the week before christmas, so it was nice, everybody had a good time. Sweep did his best Christmas dog impression and Max ran around in the snow like an idiot. But he was a happy idiot, so it's always fun!
Lastly, the railing on the porch got started, but it work out there has largely been called due to cold, snow and laziness. We got most of the parts made and painted (which is always fun, painting in the basement, the sewing room, anywhere it's warm enough), but we've decided to hold off on finishing until things warm up. It should only be a couple of months! Either way, I figured you'd like to see some pictures of what it looks like! There's still a little yellow cross piece that needs to be added, but you get the idea. The panels are 3/4" PT plywood, cut with a jigsaw, and the panels fit into dado's cut in the 2x4 frames. It's relatively simple, but takes about 30 minutes to cut out a single panel. We've cut all of the full size panels and got about 1/2 of them installed.
Lastly, we got a ton of "Envi-8" blocks delivered today. They're basically giant wood pellets.
Each one is about 3"x3"x10" long, weigh about 8 pounds and they are just compressed sawdust and other recycled wood product, just like a wood pellet. I would like to see the monster that is used to smash these things into shape!They contain no filler, so they can be safely burned in a wood stove (even a catalytic wood stove), and since they are all recycled wood, they are a nice environmental compromise for a wood stove. My neighbor had bought them and gave a couple for me to try and they burn nice and hot and with very little ash. Unfortunately, I had to move a ton (no really, they came on a pallet and the unit of delivery is 1 ton), or about 600 logs onto the deck, through the kitchen and down into the basement. Ugh. The only downside to these is that the place we got these from they come in pre-packaged blocks of 8. Which is a little silly. So each group of 8 blocks comes in a little shrink-wrapped package? Heh? We'll get our act together better next year and try to get them w/o the packaging! Now I have this pile in my basement!
Hope you all had a great holiday!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Its time for beets!
Something Nate and I discussed this past year is eating more local food. We have been getting our meat (organic, free-range) delivered to our door from Englebert Farms in Nichols, NY. They are great, and great quality meats AND they deliver to Waverly! So when I saw that we could get locally grown, organic "winter" veggies delivered (to my work, now that I'm in Ithaca), I couldn't resist. So what kind of vegetables do you get in Upstate NY in the winter? Well, beets, lots of beets. And carrots, potatoes, cabbage, winter squash...lots of good stuff! And although Nate is not the biggest fan of beets, he's really making a good effort. Check out our first delivery
Its a bounty of delicousness. Especially the carrots - they may be the best carrots we've ever had! I made a great white bean chicken chili out of the navy beans. Mmmm...beans.
Its a bounty of delicousness. Especially the carrots - they may be the best carrots we've ever had! I made a great white bean chicken chili out of the navy beans. Mmmm...beans.
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