The Boy and I did something last week that we rarely do – we bought a new (to us) car. We don’t buy cars often because cars are a practical purchase for us, and practically speaking, we don’t need a new car very often. But with our existing car having just rolled past 185,000 miles – […]
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File this Under Doesn’t Happen Every Day
Last night I pulled a bird’s nest…an actual bird’s nest…out of our exterior dryer vent. We knew the birds had built a nursery there, but didn’t have the heart to hurt the chicks by removing it earlier. For nearly a month, I’ve been hanging clothes to air-dry around our house all for the sake of […]
On Being Domestic
Some weekends feel as though they are jam-packed with activity. Concerts, festivals, meetings, appointments…it’s a sad thing when you feel like you need to return to work to have a break. Then other weekends are like last weekend was at the Hayley House. Cleaning, cooking, sewing, weekly shopping. Ah, being domestic. It’s a funny thing – […]
How To Build Your Own Frame
Have you ever needed a very specific frame size that’s not available off-the-shelf? I have – and I’ve also been appalled at the cost of having a custom frame built. Then I discovered frame kits. You simply select the length that you need (remember to buy two sets so you’ll have a full frame). If […]
Eve-ry-things-com-in-up-roooo-ses!
There’s a song in that title somewhere. Anyway, my roses have finished their first bloom, but other things are a bud in the Hayley yard. My little gardenia bush pushed out four blooms overnight, with another two buds. And the tomatoes are showing great promise! Exciting times indeed. And speaking of exciting times – the […]
That is Most Definitely New
Imagine the shock when returning home after a quick trip – as in less than 23 hours away from home – to discover that something was radically different. That’s what happened when I stumbled into the family room pre-coffee and opened the curtains. Could that be new grass? We ran out to the front yard […]
Flutterbys
Our backyard has become a haven for butterflies. So many I can’t even count…I’ve gotten to 20 before they all rise up in a flutter. They line nearly every branch in our hedges. It’s an amazing sight to see when we pull into (or out of) the driveway. Our lovely flutterbys (all colors and sizes) […]
Quick and Simple Pillows
I love easy projects, don’t you? I wanted a quick and easy set of pillowcases to gussy-up our sofa before having guests over. Pillows can totally change the way a room (and your back) feels. Enter dinner napkins, found on $3 clearance at Target: Using a pencil, I marked my seam lines and button hole locations. Why buttons? Because they are […]
A Dirty Secret
I’ve been hiding a terrible secret in the backyard. That’s right. I have a hot mess mini-garden. Just six feet wide and two feet deep, the bed was filled with mini rocks…rocks you could barely see underneath the mass of weeds growing in the bed. To be fair, the weeds were primarily wild strawberries, but still. Weeds. […]
Happiness Amidst the Chaos
I’d like to shout from the rooftops that we’ve reached a major milestone – guest rooms are on the way to being set up! The daybed has finally migrated to its final location in the Hayley home – the game room. It will either stay there as a seating area/extra bed when the pool table […]