Monthly Archives: December 2010

so on the one hand, I picked up Seven before he was the last-kid-left at afterschool and made delicious surprise veg lasagna for dinner.

finally got the tree up and boy is it pretty. http://flic.kr/p/93vqHW

Heading into work I passed a blue Ver1 Honda Insight w a “start seeing motorcycles” bumpersticker and a funky young lady driving. #twinsies

Trying to talk myself into cleaning the kitchen and making breakfast, but @mikegrundy is adorably snoozing and it’s hard to get up.

Things that made @mikegrundy smile this morning: when Eleven said: “You’re a Grundy. Anything is possible!”

this morning I introduced the little dudes to the magic that is Elvis’ “It’s Christmas Time Pretty Baby” – I’m the mary poppins of stepmoms!

I’m pilot testing a Cr-48 and my major complaint is that the laptop doesn’t get hot w/ use. nice in summer, sure: but my lap is cold now!

I forgot to set my alarm last night. Woke up 2 1/2 hrs late and it’s been a mad scramble ever since. and! I’m still so tired!

so cold I must rethink my fancy outfit for fancy nyc holiday party. booties are still in, wool leggings and miniskirt instead of long socks?

home safe and sound after a late start from pittsburgh. it’s hard to say “so long” to such good friends. if only we had a private jet.

Pittsburgh! We actually made it to the Ethiopian place for lunch – we always normally miss the window!

Saw a motorcyclist commuting today in our 10degF weather and my first thought was jealousy! My 2nd was: get a full face helmet, dude!

the thing about cold weather is that I can’t ever complain: it’s 10degF at my house today, but it’s *0degF* at my dad’s house right now.

insulated attic! it is AMAZING. so quiet and much warmer! almost makes up for the crummy low appraisal we received. http://flic.kr/p/8ZGi9a

“intellect and romance triumph over brute force and cynicism!” http://tinyurl.com/36smtrx (thanks @Snufkin!)

RT @feministhulk “AMERICA” NOT NAME OF ANY COUNTRY. NOT EVEN NAME OF A CONTINENT, NAME OF TWO CONTINENTS. U.S.A. NOT HAVE MONOPOLY ON IT.

I love these feminists + explanation of rape culture: http://tinyurl.com/3y6savk (If it upsets you, pls thoughtfully read the whole thing.)

nice things about working from home: I can eat all the kimchi I want without smoking out my office with the delicious yet strong odor.

Old House New House

We’re getting new insulation today, and we’re on our first step to getting a bran’ new attic, so to speak!

Want a tour of the old attic?

Firstly, we have a real door and a real stairway up into the attic. I love that! and then when you reach the top of the stairs and you turn around, this is what you see (left of stairs and right of stairs):
attic - left of stairs
attic - right of stairs

and if you walk to the opposite end and look back towards the stairs, this is what you see:
P1000585.JPG

it’s a really big attic, and this is my favorite part – on the far side away from the stairs there are two gabled nooks:
attic - next to stairs

the one on the left is our pretend future guest room – it’s adorable, nestled up against the ratty chimney:
attic - guest room

each nook has this pretty stained glass window in it:
guest room nook

stained glass

We plan to leave the floorplan open, but make this corner the guest room area with a nice rug and my old four poster bed, a nice bedside table and a chest or something to put your bag on (come visit us!). Of course we’ll need a pretty lamp.

The other nook has a bunch of old tables in them right now – the previous owner wanted to be a model train maven or something like that. you can see them in one of the first photos. I think that one is a little more open but a little smaller, and would make a really cute little sitting area.

On the right side of the stairs the floor is more open and the ceiling seems higher, because there’s a better floor-space to wall-proximity ratio (I am SURE that is a real interior decorating metric):
attic - looking towards stairs

attic - towards stairs

The left side of the stairs will probably be a good place to put in some shelving around the edge of the stairs for camping stuff so it’s easy to get to. I think there are secret dreams of putting a desk in here by the window, too:

We won’t be finishing the attic for a good long time – maybe a year, by my projection of saving/spending ability vs more critical work to do on the house – but when we are ready, we’ll be putting in drywall, fixing up the floors, insulating more under the floors, running outlets down to the walls, and making it just incredibly lovely. I really can’t wait, it’s going to be amazing. Stay tuned!

ooh, I am SO glad we’re getting insulation this week. 2 hrs after heat shuts off for the day and it’s already back down to 55 deg inside!