Snow, Snow Everywhere!

The first year I moved to Connecticut, within a week there was a blizzard. Having moved from Southeast Louisiana, snow is not something I have a lot of first hand experience with. After that winter, I'm pretty sure I developed some sort of post traumatic stress for the white fluffy stuff.

A week ago I experienced my first blizzard here in the creepy cape. I honestly didn't worry too much because, hey the house has been here forever! I made sure we had enough wood, I stocked up on the mandatory bread, eggs and milk (for that post blizzard french toast fix) and I figured we were all set. Around 5 pm the thought hit me "Hmm maybe I should make sure we have flash lights just in case..." about an hour later the power went off and did not come back on until Sunday.

 

Friday during the blizzard

 

Saturday, the day after.

 

 

There was no way to consistently measure the snow drifts. In some places it was 16 inches, in others it was 24. It all depended on which way the wind blew. Oh and apparently thunder and lightning is a thing during blizzards here. Good to know!

 

That car still hasn't moved....

 

So like I was saying, the power went off Friday during the early evening. I had blind faith that it wouldn't be off too long. Surely CL&P had crews prepared, right? RIGHT???!?

 

Apparently only so they could run into freshly plowed driveways...

 

So no, no they didn't. Instead things got real colonial around here pretty quickly.

Yes, this happened. Boiling water fail.

 

I tried my best to keep the kids entertained, keep the house warm, keep the dogs from eating everything etc etc etc. So the best laid plans of "oh I'll be snowed in so I'll use that time to clean!" turned into "Oh we are snowed in with no power, it's like extreme camping!" and I hate camping.

 

The kids in their cardboard entertainment center.

 

Overall I take from this experience that I take electricity for granted. Even the food in our refrigerator spoiled so I cant imagine if had stayed out any longer. Things would have turned savage!

 

 

 

Hope you guys are warmer!

 

 

Garage Saga!

I didn't realize I'd left so many cliff hangers!

 

Some of you might remember my garage and my lack of a key.

Damn you locked doors...

 Well as fate would have it, I finally HAD to open it. Daniel is deployed and I need to store his car.

Because a snowy hill is a perfect place for a sports car!

 My first run of cinderella-esque key locating did not go so well.

None of these belonged to the garage...

 

I gave up, maybe the hill would work as a parking place for now? By any rate I quickly forgot my plans due to the overwhelming daily chores, errands, etc.

 

Yesterday there was a freak snowstorm. Thunder blizzard? At any rate, not the kind of weather you want to walk around in which is exactly what I had to do because both dogs decided they needed a sight seeing tour of the woods. There I am, trudging along the road in a snow suit when I approached my garage. There was a light on inside! I'd never seen it on before, it was completely locked and to my knowledge, no one had been inside in at least a year. Now I had a need to get inside. My curiosity always get the best of me.

 

Another round of key harvesting found a few more contender. Standing outside in the blistering cold I finally found the key...on Daniel's key chain. Yes he too claimed he had no idea where it was.

Damn you lock!

 

I'll have to admit that I was a little too excited to get in. I ignored the amazon sized spiders as I threw open the door and found a treasure trove of... stuff.

Into the abyss!

 

Hey Look! A Vespa? Maybe?

 

Heck yes!!!

 

um....ok

 

So now that the garage is open, time to clean! I finally had a space cleared so I go back up the hill, try to maneuver the car into the garage while not getting hit by a passing car when I realize I need just a little bit more room. The issue is, this thing is in the way:

What is this thing??

 

So after all of that hard work, it doesn't fit. The car is too long! So back up the hill we go, except it's been snowing so it wont actually go back up the hill....

 

Yep it was one of those days

 

 

Coming Soon.....

AND WE ARE BACK!!!!!!

 

Lots of personal issues arose but we will be up and running with lots of new posts very soon. So very sorry you guys!!

Happy 4th of July!

Look! We decorated! See? It's red white and blue candles....

Ok ok, it's the best I could come up with.

 Happy birthday to our country (never heard that greeting until I moved to New England) and happy 239th year to the creepy cape! Here here to year 240!!!

Finally!

We've lived here quite a few months now but for some reason we still lack one thing, wall art. Sure we own a lot but it doesn't seem to make it up on the wall. I'm happy to say that after 4 months we've finally hung something up!

I know, amazing isnt it?

I cant guarantee that the wall wont be painted soon, thus it'll have to come back down but at least it's something.

So... it's a little high. Maybe I need to rethink this after all. A mirror perhaps to help redirect the light? Typically it's a pretty dark corridor.

The picture itself is an estate sale find. I noticed when I first bought it that it was a little grimy but I clearly underestimated it. Last night I finally got to cleaning it and well, damn that thing was filthy! It must have been in a kitchen or restaurant because it was covered in grease! The print is vintage though so I guess it's worth it. Completely disgusting and I felt like a needed a bath afterwards, but worth it.

The Things I Find...

For the past two months we've been trying to get the pool up and running. We finally have it to where it isn't so cloudy but that is for another post. The pool is surrounded but a fence and it's located on a hill.

And it's shaped like Mickey Mouse's head!!

Recently I've noticed weird holes showing up on the hill. They are about the size of a half dollar but I haven't seen anything go in or out of them.

We decided to go ahead and treat the entire hill with bug killer, just in case. (We have an ant problem up there any way so I figured it couldn't hurt.)

As I'm crouching over, I see something in the dirt. Not completely sure what it is, I decided to dig it up.

Oh yeah, that's not scary AT ALL

What is this?? I know that it looks like a hook, but a hook to what? It's around 3 inches long and sharp.

It just reaffirms my decision to buy a metal detector. That post is coming soon :)

Green, Green Every Where! Pt. 1

I have painted the majority of my life, on canvas, paper, etc. This in no way prepared me for my adventures in interior house painting. After 3 months of labourious decisions and 3000 paint samples, I decided to paint Jasper's room green. What I wanted was a bright, light green. This color existed in my head at least.

Lesson 1: Always get a sample first.

300 green paint sample. That is what I stared at for a few months. Green is a big commitment. Go too dark and you'll expect fat Brando to jump out at you like a jaguar in the rain forest. Go too bright and it's neon city. In my mind I knew exactly what I wanted. After a lot of comparing, holding up to the wall and lamenting I hit upon Behr's Honeydew color.

This is what it looked like in the catalog.

I thought it was the perfect mix of bright yet light, perfect for a 2 year old boy's room.

Above is a honeydew melon. I was expecting to get the color of the inner part of the fruit.

Instead this is what I got:

What the...

Maybe I was blinded by the 300 greens I'd stared at. I looked back at the paint color of the wall in the color sample and at the gallon of paint I currently possessed and what I had was indeed NOT a honeydew melon but, in my opinion:

In all fairness bananas do start out green but I in no way want the life cycle of a banana on my walls.

I'd prefer #1 or #2 actually...

So as the epic home depot freak out commenced, there was literally nothing I could do. There is no way I can put this color on his walls. Thankfully the play room needs to be painted as well. I guess my hand has been forced into a chiquita themed room.

Lesson 2: Test test test but put a drop cloth down first.

Jasper was in major "I'm 2 and I do what I want!" mode so I had to wait until he was in bed to run out and pick up paint samples. I want/need to get this project done soon so time wasted on crying over banana colored rooms is not an option.

This time I went into it thinking GREEN! Trees, shamrocks, H & R Blocks logo, etc. I think I came up with a few good contenders.

The numbers correspond to the order on the wall.

They are still wet so I will take more photos in the morning and update accordingly. Oh, what's that 4th color you ask? Why it's bananadew!

What's your favorite out of this bunch?

To be continued!!!

The Rocky of Lamps

I have added a new contender in battle lighting.

I love going to thrift stores, tag and estate sales, etc. You just never know what you will find. This lamp was an estate sale find and quite a heavy one at that. When I tried to pull it off of the shelf I thought it was either stuck or plugged in! Therefore not only will it aid in the never ending lighting saga but it could also be an excellent self defense weapon. Yay for home security!

I really liked the scroll work on this lamp. It's a nice mix of art nouveau and industrial. For a lamp, that's quite creative!

It will need a few repairs, a globe and I'm trying to figure out what goes in that hole.... Honestly I cant even make a joke because I'm baffled as to what would go there.

What is This??

Early, early this morning I made a discovery.

You see, I had a terrible nights rest. I kept hearing banging from somewhere in the house. It started around 3 am. Each time it happened I would get up to investigate but every time I opened the bedroom door, the noise seemed to stop. One by one I went to various rooms searching for the noise each time it happened. This went on until 4:30 am (and now I see why having a larger home is not always a great idea.) Finally, around 4:45 am I discovered the cause!! My 16 lb kitten was trapped in a cabinet in the bathroom and the banging was her hitting the door, trying to escape (and quickly giving up because, hey, she's 16 freaking pounds.) After freeing the semi-lazy beast I finally settled back into bed around 5 am only to be serenaded by the loudest, most off key bird in existence. It had decided that the tree right beside my window was the perfect place for an early morning love song. Some where around 5:30 I dozed off to be awoken, for good, by my alarm at 7 AM. As I'm laying in bed wondering if there is a way to trap the bird and send it far away (or feed it to the already plump cat) I looked at the head of the bed and saw this.

What I discovered is...I'm horribly unobservant.

 I've never seen this before. I've never seen one period so I have no idea what it is but I doubt it installed itself over night so I'm pretty sure I just assumed it was a telephone jack and didn't pay it much mind. Of course at 7 am, I'd rather look at this thing then get out of bed so here it is! Finally getting the attention it so craves.

7 AM photo quality

So I don't know, maybe my house is playing some kind of Morse code game with me. It's probably saying something like "get a head board!" or "clean the floors darn it!"

Really, who knows.

The House that Keeps on Giving

Recently it became very clear that I needed a metal detector. I was walking around outside on a nice sunlight day when I kept seeing gilts of something on the ground. After leaning down and poking around I came to one conclusion.

Mother of God I need a metal detector STAT!

Please ignore the leaves and sad, neglected picnic table. So far we have!

Above is what I have pulled out of the ground by hand, sans about 20 rusty nails and a heap of broken glass.

I have no idea what this is but it's about 11 inches long and white in some places.

I'm not sure what it was but I shall name it tetanus!

This...long metal stabby thing...is around 2 feet long and angled on one side.

Here it is again, intimidating the other yard relics.

Above is a sampling of the other items I've found. Random tiles, nails and socket type thing?

So yes, a metal detector is in order, if for no other reason than I really don't want one of the kids to accidentally fall on a nail or other random shape, pointy thing. I honestly don't know why no one else that ever live here never noticed giant metal objects poking out the ground, but hey, maybe I just look down a lot.

Summer relic hunting, here I come!

Lighting War: The First Battle Won!

Let's see if you can figure out what is wrong in these pictures...

If you said "Hey, those ceilings need to be painted!" then yes, you would technically be correct BUT if you said "Hmmm looks like you've got a lighting issue on your hands" then you would win a prize! (ok not really)

None of the bedroom/halls/other random rooms, etc have over head lighting. Some of the ceiling are rather low as well so I'm not sure how the original owners worked out the whole "candles + low ceilings= FIRE!!!" equation.

We've decided that busting into walls and running wires would not only be time consuming and wasteful but also an exercise in insanity. We have enough of that on our hands already so easy route it is!

Originally when I picked out this light fixture it was more for the "awww pretty!" aspect and not because I thought it was actually functional.

This was also an exercise in reading comprehension. As we were preparing to hang it, none of us realized it lacked one crucial item...

Ahhh yes! A cord kit! Now that would be helpful! So two trips to home depot later (apparently I had no idea what a cord kit really was) we had the correct supplies! Well ok not really. What's the best way hang a wire on horse hair plaster walls that love to crumble?

OMG COMMAND STRIPS! YOU THINK OF EVERYTHING!!! So yes, a trip to walmart later and we were finally (really) ready to go!

Here is a picture that shows the light with the wire. Not the prettiest thing but the light is hooked up to the light switch. (yes all of these lightless rooms have light switches, I see the irony here)

Close up of the light unlit. Yes, it looks nothing like it does on the box.

Woohoo instagram!

Here is the light lit up.

 I love the reflection on the ceiling. Over all it was worth it and my daughter loves it which is all that counts.