New Rug

First of all:  I love World Market.  I just want to put that out there.  I mean, they carry Milka brand chocolate.  And their Mark West Pinot Noir seems to never be out of stock.  These things are important to me. 

We stopped in this afternoon to pick up some wine, and they were having a Rug Clearance Sale.  Yay!

Our old rug was from World Market.  It was fine, if a bit small and slippery.  But since I've painted, I am on a redecorating frenzy.  Here is the old rug in the freshly painted entranceway.

It's fine.  Just sort of blends into the floor.  But I wanted something with some attitude.  I brought home two new rugs to try.  The first of the two is the same smallish, slippery style, just in brighter colors.

Eh.  The bright colors that make it stand out from the floor actually make it seem smaller.
The next one is much more fun with a Moroccan-esque pattern.

Much better.  It's almost too big, but I kind of like that. It says, 'welcome to our home, we are not afraid of bright patterns here.'

The countdown to the cats ruining it begins.

Food That Starts With The Letter Q

I have a super sneaky trick for using up vegetables that are becoming, er, not-so-fresh.  It's really easy but I like to pretend that it's not, kind of like the mom on those old Rice Krispie treat commercials from the 1990s.  I can be all, "oh look what I have made for you, because I love you so much and I want you to have a healthy and delicious homemade breakfast to start your days this week."  When it's actually more like, "oops, i bought too much spinach and the onions won't keep any longer and what other kind of vegetables do I have in here?"

Just spray the inside of some muffin tins with some olive oil and add the chopped vegetables along with some fresh ground pepper and whatever kind of cheese you have on hand.  If you have some sad-looking herbs left over from some earlier recipes, chop them up and toss them in too.  Beat up some eggs with a little milk, cream, half & half...whatever you have.  You just need a splash to make the eggs fluffy.  Pour the eggs into the tins, about 2/3 or 3/4 full.  Bake at 350 for 30ish minutes.  And voila!  Quiche!  The name even sounds fancy.

When they cool, wrap them up individually.  Instant healthy portable breakfast.  I like to pop them in the microwave for about 45 seconds.  But mostly I like to say, 'there's quiche in the fridge for breakfast.'  It sounds so gourmet-bed-and-breakfast-y.

How Important Is Light, Anyway?

I totally fixed the leaky garbage disposal last weekend.  Who knew Plumbing was so easy?  Piece of cake. 

Electrician-ing must be just as simple, right?

I hated the ceiling fan in the kitchen.  It was big, ugly, and sticky with permanent dust.  And it didn't work.  The light worked, but the fan didn't spin.  Like an oversized light fixture that took up way too much visual space in my tiny kitchen.

This evening around 630pm (after the sun set) seemed like the best time to change the light fixture.  Even though I was working by the light of one lantern and two flashlights.  Even though I really had no idea what I was doing.  Even though I didn't even have a proper new fixture -- I had a ceiling fan globe and this metal box that the dude at Lowe's told me should work. 
Well, look!  It does totally open up the room. 

Except.  Um.  It doesn't work.  Whoops. 
Thank goodness for the little recessed lights above the kitchen counters.  They'll do for now.

I guess Electrician-ing isn't as easy as I thought.

Finally. Finished. Painting.

I have been painting for the last seventy-four weeks.  Ok, actually I've been painting for the last week, but it felt like months.  Bright and early Saturday, I got started on the prep work.  In case you are wondering, here are the steps you must do before you can even open the cans of paint.  There are twelve important steps, and they must be followed in order.

1.   Remove small items from the rooms to be painted.
2.   Drink two cups of coffee.
3.   Gather your painting supplies and pile them on the floor in the middle of the room.
4.   Wipe down all walls and baseboards.
5.   Watch a rerun of Law & Order:  SVU.
6.   Pull large furniture away from the walls.
7.   Place the loveseat directly in front of the television.
8.   Go find one of the ottomans that you had previously removed and place it in front of the loveseat.
9.   Make a grilled cheese sandwich.  Use TWO pieces of cheese and some garlic salt.
10. Watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother while eating.  Prop up your feet on the ottoman.
11. Check your email.
12. Place biodegradable plastic drop cloths over large furniture and floors.

I wonder why it took me so long?

The walls used to be Behr's Pure Earth color.  It looked light and, well, earth-y in the store.  But we have been living and dining in a cave for the last 18 months.  I guess this is why the Smart People tell you to take the paint chips home and look at them in your space.  The Smart People would probably also tell you to not paint your walls brown if you only have two windows and therefore not so much natural light.  Oops.

Ok, lesson learned.  In fact, I learned my lesson so hard that it took me six months to decide on a new color.  I finally picked Martha Stewart's Spring Melt. 

It looks bluer in these pictures than it actually is on the wall.  It's kind of like a light blue/gray-green color.  I love it.  I love it so much.  And it's a good thing I do....because I never want to paint these walls again.

Be a Great Cook. Or Just Look Like One.

When we moved into this new place in April 2008, there was a shelf in the kitchen that was so crooked, anything I put on it would eventually slide to the floor.  When I painted the kitchen a while back, I installed the popular ikea open shelving, mostly to have a place to hang my pots and pans.  I have approximately three cubic centimeters of cabinet space in this kitchen, so extra storage was necessary.

I  love those shelves and love having my cookware on all of those hooks.  Before, I filled up the shelves with a few jars of flour and sugar and pasta and some vintage tins.  Empty vintage tins, serving no purpose.  But now that I have actually learned (well, am still learning) how to cook, I have cabinets full of things like couscous and quinoa and orzo and rotini and whole wheat flour and...well, you get it.

Tangent:  I have a love/hate relationship with Target.  I love that it is less than a mile from my house (because I despise driving and errands so if I had to drive far for an errand it would never get done).  I hate that they employed that pharmacist a while back that denied prescription medication for moral grounds.  I love that Target hires actual, real designers to put out lines of clothing and housewares that are stylish and inexpensive.  I hate that they were giving money to anti-gay candidates in the last major election (but I hear Lady Gaga made them stop).  I love that they carry the Method brand of envorinmentally safe cleaning products.  I hate that their very existence puts lots of small companies out of business.  I try to be anti-consumerism, but every day can't be Buy Nothing Day.  So.
I went over to Target today for some airtight glass canisters.  Now I have all those beautiful pastas and grains out where I can see them and remember to cook them.

Not a huge change.  But it makes me smile.

Seven

This morning I got a call saying that Chloe the new couch is being delivered tomorrow!

I only had one problem.  The big broken low-rider couch was still in the living room.  Since I really want Chloe to feel welcome, I had to get this thing out of here.  So I called my condo management company.  Who gave me the number of our trash disposal company.  Who said that I could not just put the couch out on the curb with the trash in the morning.  (Oh, can't I?)  They said they wouldn't pick it up.  (Oh, won't they?)  They said I must first send them a check for one million dollars (ok, eighty bucks, but just as ridiculous), then call to schedule a day that I would be allowed to haul the old broken couch out to the curb for them to pick up.

Clearly they did not know who they were dealing with.  I am both impatient and cheap.  There was no way I was playing their game.

Unrelated:  have you ever wondered how many trash bags it would take to hold a dismantled ikea couch? 

The answer is seven. 

Extreme Makeover: Down The Street From My Mom's House Edition

The Extreme Makeover show is filming about a mile from my mom's house!  The whole town is talking about it.  It seems there is a wonderful teacher at the local high school that recently adopted three sisters after their parents died.  She lived in a small trailer, and Ty and his friends decided to build her a new house.  It really is a sweet story.  And a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at a home makeover show.
Just LOOK at how many people are there working.  No wonder they're able to turn these projects around so quickly.

They are like little blue-shirted, hard-hat-wearing ants, crawling all over that house.

Here's someone filming.  I think his name is Not Ty.

Look at all these people watching.  They actually ran shuttle buses from a local bank parking lot because there were so many people wanting to stop by to watch. 

I am not sure if this roped off tent full of furniture is the worker's chill-out tent, or if it's the furniture that's going into the house.  Probably both.

Only four days later, the famous bus was there.  Lots of neighbors showed up for the big reveal.

Here's a free preview.  I think the episode airs May 8th.

I didn't stay for the 'Move that bus!' segment.  I was just there to gawk on my lunch hour.  I didn't see any of the show's hosts.  I didn't see the nice teacher and her family when they got home to this circus.  But many people were there all day, with coolers and lawn chairs, tailgating for Ty.