Yes – finances can be fun. They’re really fun when you’re making wise decisions instead of boneheaded mistakes. Trust me on this. Several years ago, The Boy and I read Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. We didn’t really need a money makeover – we’re financially conservative folks. However, we loved Dave’s simple, easy to […]
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Granting Permission
After living on a tight budget for so long, it’s hard to give yourself permission to do things that you really must do. Things like buying new clothes – even when your current clothes are falling off your body because you’ve finally achieved your BMI and have kept losing weight. It’s hard to give yourself […]
Blame Mrs Stilley
My first “real” boss was Mrs Stilley at the Manhattan Roller Rink. She hired me to work the concession stand, then proceeded to teach me how to work hard and clean properly. Her saying? If you have time to lean, you have time to clean. I suppose that saying has stuck with me. With the […]
Brief Beauty
The Boy calls my plant pot collection in the garage the “plant graveyard.” That’s not very nice, I don’t think. Yes, I just killed my cactus that I’d successfully kept alive at my former company for five years, but I don’t kill all of my plants. Just most of them. But we have a new […]
Uncertainty
The Boy and I came home yesterday to a note pinned to our door. We thought we were in trouble for not getting around to mowing (again) last week. Instead, it was this: Alley work, starting later this week and going on for who-knows-how-long. Literally who-knows-how-long. Did you catch that part of the notice? Weather […]
Roses, Behave
We have a gorgeous rose bush in our back yard – lovely blooms, that is, but very badly behaved. The previous owners planted it too closely to the windows outside. Every time the wind would blow, the bush swayed and scratched the window. Irritating. I was inspired by photos of gorgeous climbing roses and decided […]
From the He Thinks He’s Funny Files
When watching a show with a scene in a blow dry bar: Me: I wish I could go somewhere and have my hair blow dried. Him: You could go in the bathroom. Him: I’d wait here so you could even have some alone time if you wanted. Source
How to Make Anthropology Curtains Cheaply
So more on the curtains. Call this: How to finally finish a project and make something that’s inexpensive look like something that’s very expensive. Curtains are a hidden expense. You want them, sometimes you need them, but they can be pricey – surprisingly so. When I read that drop cloth has a texture similar to […]
Making Time
I’ve been working on a project, off and on, since April: Sewing curtains for guest bedrooms. I started the project with the best of intentions, then life happened. And you know what happens when life happens. That’s right – nothing. Nothing happens at all. Eventually I grew disgusted with a half-done project and forced myself to finish it. I worked […]
Not the Weekend We Expected…
It seems fitting that the weekend following the Weekend Where Nothing Happened should be the Weekend That Was Unexpected. We expected to visit friends. Then someone had wisdom teeth removed (not the Hayleys) and that plan went out the weekend. (We love you, J!) So we stayed home. We did speed work in the rain. […]