Deranged Christmas Elf

About this week every year, Jason starts referring to me as the Deranged Christmas Elf. Apparently, I start to look frantic and unbalanced as I rush around the house decorating, dragging packages in from the car, watching Christmas specials on TV, baking cookies, and wrapping presents all in the name of getting into the Christmas spirit. I really do enjoy it. I guess I just look nutty while I'm doing it. Here are a few pics of what this deranged elf has been up to:








And, here are a few pics of some things that I've been obsessed with lately:

I bought several of these paper stars at the Handmade Market in November. Originally, I thought I'd use them as tags for Christmas gifts, but I love them so much I can't seem to part with them. Check out the artist's etsy site for more cool stuff: http://www.kcrushton.etsy.com/.


I'm also loving the cut-paper edition of The Night Before Christmas from Candlewick Press. I love the Victorian feel and the silhouettes are gorgeous. I want to live inside the pages of this book.

First Family Holiday

A few photos from Thanksgiving:

Mom making apple pie.

Gorgeous (and delicious) finished apple pie.

Newly painted dining room.

Jason worked really hard to finish the painting in time.

I love the persian violet paint. Mom wasn't so sure mid-painting,
but she liked the finished room. Always doubting me. Sheesh.

Jason getting friendly with the turkey.

Finished turkey.

Ready for dinner.

Friends and family.


Decimated table.

Hungry Howie: Cranberry Sauce

Remember when I was ambivalent about blogs? Back in August? Well, forget I ever said that. I love them now. I'm obsessed. I have a very long list of them that I read almost daily (I'll share soon) and any mundane activity I participate in becomes potential fodder for my blog. I love them so much I want to start another blog. Ferg and Jason W. suggested the perfect name for my second blog and I've been preoccupied by all of the potential posts floating around in my head ever since. Alas, I barely have enough time to maintain this blog, so maintaining a second would never actually happen. So, I've decided to add a periodic special feature called "Hungry Howie," (brilliant name, Ferg!) in which I detail my adventures in the kitchen.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm sharing one of my favorite holiday recipes for this inaugural "Hungry Howie" post. Most people I encounter don't share my enthusiasm for cranberry sauce. I think it's because they've never tried mine. The congealed stuff from a can just can't compare (though, I admit I kind of love it too). The great secret about homemade cranberry sauce is that it's so easy and yet so exponentially better than anything you can buy. Plus, it's fantastic with leftovers. Around our house, it's a favorite addition to stuffing sandwiches. (Oh, yes, I said stuffing sandwiches. Nothing beats bread sandwiched by bread! Preferably with more bread on the side!)

The following is adapted from the recipe on most bags of fresh cranberries and Cook's Illustrated:

3/4 cup water

zest of 1 orange

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 12 oz bag cranberries

2 tbs orange liqueur (such as Triple Sec)
Chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Combine water, sugar, salt, and orange zest in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until thickened for about five minutes. Off heat, stir in liqueur and nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Can be made days in advance.)

Major Dilemma

Newsflash: Jason was right about something. Sorta. Kinda. Maybe?

From the very first day we moved into our house I've been wondering: "What in the heck do we do with the third bedroom?"

I call it the "Tiny Bedroom," because at 6 ft by 14 ft it's, well, tiny. It was the obvious place to put our desk and computer. But then what? We want to be able to use it as a guest room too. Check out the dimensions on a twin size bed sometime. Even without a frame, a twin would easily eat up all of the space.

I think I've agonized about this so much because to me the appeal of a small house is that no space goes unused. We use every single room in our house every single day. So, of course, we want to use every bit of space we have as wisely as possible. And, as appealing as a room that is wall-to-wall bed seems, it's hardly practical. So, on a recent road trip, I was, as usual, mumbling out loud about the third bedroom when Jason interjected with an idea. Here's my recollection of the conversation:

Me: Man, I have no idea what to do with the third bedroom...I'm thinking about a platform bed.
Jason: A what?
Me: A bed that sits on a platform instead of a frame. It's modern. It would take up less space.
Jason: [puzzled face]
Me: Never mind. Maybe a daybed?
Jason: What about a futon?
Me [rolling eyes]: We don't live in a dorm.
Jason: I mean a luxury futon.
Me [dubious sideways glance]: Luxury. Futon. I don't think those two things go together.
Jason [excitedly]: It's the perfect solution. We can keep it folded up most of the time and then it can be a bed when we have guests! I'm sure there's a market for it. Like in New York City.
Me [amused sideways glace]: New York City, huh?
Jason: I'm googling it.

Guess what, people? There is a market for luxury futons and it is Durham, NC. There is a store here that specializes in the things--high quality wooden frames and a range of, yes, luxury futon mattresses. I can't believe he was right. AND, he's absolutely right that it is the best solution for our problematic room.

There's just one nagging problem. Now that I'm seriously considering buying one, I have to ask--to steal a line from Domino Magazine's Deal Hunter--"But is it Fugly?"



I think my judgement might be clouded by the fact that it solves so many problems. The Lindas arrive next week. Decisions must be made. Feel free to submit your comments for or against.

Doh!

Nothing quite illustrates our clueless homeowner status like this:

We have two furnaces. And we had NO IDEA. There is the broken furnace in the basement (though no longer broken as of today -- Hurrah!) and a second, perfectly fine, completely functioning furnace in the attic! There was no need to bundle up like Eskimos and freeze for two weeks. We could have just hung out upstairs. I feel like such a dolt.

New Internet Obsession: FOUND Magazine

I first heard about these guys on This American Life (easily one of my favorite shows--radio, television, or otherwise--ever) a couple of years ago. I'd forgotten about them until yesterday, when I had a sudden urge to look them up again. Maybe it was the ridiculously random grocery list I was writing that prompted me, but I set to googling "funny found items project" and found FOUND again. I lost a good portion of my day to clicking through the "Finds of the Day," so I had to share. Check it out here. It's both hilarious and heartbreaking (a favorite combination), I promise.

A Little Something to Brighten Your Day

10 Things I Love about Our House

I've noticed that some of my early posts are kind of whiny. Moving is terrible! Home ownership is hard! Sears sucks! We're cold! I hate thinking of myself as whiny. And it would be quite easy to whine endlessly as it seems that something is always broken in an old house.


[Whiny Sidebar: The part for the furnace finally arrived and after 5 hours of trying to get it to work, it turns out it is the wrong part. We will be shivering for another week at least. Sigh.]


All the more reason to look on the bright side, right? Plus, I've received several requests for more photos of the actual house. It is, after all, the very reason this blog exists. So, to remedy these two things in one efficient post, I present "10 Things I Love about Our House."


1. Glass Door Knobs




The original glass door knobs are quite possibly the single thing that sold me on the house.


2. Great Big Trees


3. Lovely Back Porch


That's wisteria vine!

4. Built-in Bookshelves


5. Gorgeous Banister

Perfect for sliding down!

6. Open Shelves in the Kitchen

7. French doors

8. Original (!) Tile Roof and Stucco Siding

9. Quirky nooks and secret storage

10. Traditional layout with an entryway

This photo also shows my 11th favorite thing...lots of wood trim and molding. Oh, and original hardwood floors. Ok, so that's 12 things.

Mourning the Fireplaces

I didn't really think much about it in August when the chimney inspector informed us that both of our fireplaces are irreparably damaged and that we should never, ever, ever use them because they pose a major fire hazard. It was 95 degrees! With 80 percent humidity! How often would we really use them anyway? I was just grateful that we were finally buying a house and that the previous owners agreed to remove the asbestos from the basement.

Now that it is October and the temperature is dropping into the 30s at night, and it turns out that our furnace is broken (!!!), I am missing the fireplaces very, very much. The furnace has a broken circuit board and a broken igniter. Whatever that means. Actually, what it means is that me and Mr. V will be spending our evenings this week bundled up in hats and scarves and fighting over who gets to cuddle with our little living furnace, Olive. The parts won't arrive until this weekend. Sigh.

Ta-da!

Thanks to my mom's inability to resist the urge to "tidy up" when she visits, the last few boxes that had permanently occupied various corners of the living room have been emptied and disposed of in the recycling bin. Apart from wondering where the heck a few things are now, I'm quite grateful. I was at a point where I barely noticed the unopened boxes strewn about the house anymore and when I did notice them, I opted to ponder the many ways that I could try to claim that they were part of the decor rather than, you know, do something about them. The best part about all of this is--aside from no longer living in what looks like a storage unit--that I get to present you with my first Before and After!

Here is the living room before:

Note that the pics above feature the previous owners' furniture and crazy ass book collection. I do not claim any of it.

Here is the living room after:

So much better, right? I wish I had known about this contest. I would totally enter. (I really need to see someone about my obsession with decorating contests. If last year's "Best Use of Fruit" Christmas wreath contest is any evidence, they are nothing but heartbreak.) Of course, the room isn't even nearly "done." I don't think it ever will be. We still need to hang art on the walls and there is hole above one of the windows that Jason cut out in an effort to "fix" a crack in the plaster that now actually needs to be fixed, but, the place is definitely feeling more like home.

Battle of the Valentines

Y'all. Mom and I went to The Hickory Furniture Mart this weekend and it was awesome. I do not know enough words to explain how stinking excited I am about this place. The furniture! The prices! A MG+BW outlet!! We're talking serious discounts, people. Like, run-around-and-load-up-your-basket-Supermarket-Sweep-style discounts.

I picked up this bad boy (with a little help from Mom) at more than 50% off MSRP:

It's being delivered this weekend. Suffice it to say, the battle has already begun over whose chair it will be. Mr. V and I may have to work out some sort of timeshare arrangement.

Linda in tha House!

I spent this weekend with my mom in Beaufort, SC, the town where she went to high school. It is a lovely place and I can see why she still talks about it with such reverie so many years later. It was interesting to walk down the main street and imagine my mom taking the same walk more than fifty years ago. It got me thinking about how places shape people, and how houses, in particular, can shape people. When we were house hunting I had a very definite idea of what I wanted in a house. Unfortunately, this idea of what I wanted had less to do with the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and more to do with the way the house made me feel. Thank goodness our realtor was patient, because I had an impossible time explaining this. I wanted a house with a kitchen that reminded me of my Aunt Jo's and a banister that reminded me of my Grandmother's, and a house with history that felt gracious and comfortable like one that I stayed in on vaction in Maine when I was twelve. I was always obsessed with the attic bedrooms in Home Alone and Sixteen Candles. And, at Christmas, I wanted a living room that felt like the living room in the house I grew up in. A very tall order, indeed. I've been thinking about this a lot, so I'm working on several longer posts.

In the meantime, here are some pics from the weekend:

The Bluff in Beaufort

Fried Shrimp at the Beaufort Shrimp Festival

Eeeeeeek!

We also made a side trip to Charleston. Charleston combines two of my most ardent obsessions--food and architecture--so it's no wonder I love it so much. Here are some of the things that caught my eye on this trip:

I'm desperate for real carriage doors and large gas lanterns. Also, I love the colors on this place:

P.S. Mom loves the new house. Whew!