I have this great idea and know I can pull it off. I am super psyched to get this done… I am almost flying through the air down the aisles to pick up what I need. I get home, start working, and realize… This is going to take a LOT longer than I had planned. So then I get bored or frustrated and move on to something new.
It seems everything I want to do lately ends up just like this. Have you had this happen? What was your experience? How do you get through it?
I purchased this home in 2010. At the time, it seemed like a great project house to live in for seven or eight years until I was ready to move on. It has been four years and I already have the real estate itch, but I love my house.
The bathrooms were just remodeled, during which we found a surprising collection of adult DVD’s from the previous tenants that had been hiding there this entire time. The kitchen could use some work but it’s been mostly updated. I had new floors installed, new paint put on the walls, and have decorated it to match my boyfriend and I’s tastes. Ok – actually my tastes because he is obsessed with log-cabin furniture and I’m not. I love this house.
Its just the two of us and our puppy dog here in this 1400 square foot townhome…and our neighbors that you can hear partying late into the night or banging bathroom cupboards at two in the morning. The backyard has been updated but the walls still need fixed. The whole exterior of the house needs repainted, even the outside of the single stall garage. It’s even across the street from the pool we never use. But, I love this house.
Our HOA is in charge of making sure the yards are done and the other houses look nice. Some days we can’t even get to our door because the bougainvillea’s are grown together over our walk way. The neighbors leave stuff out and have rust dripping from their metal southwestern accents onto the walls of their homes. Their dogs run around unwatched. But I love this house.
It could be the fact that my friends are finally at the age where they are buying houses too. Or, that their homes are newer, more updated, or even being built for them. It could be that I’m finally over dealing with an ineffective HOA. It quite possibly could be the basic American notion that we have to have more than our friends and neighbors, that what we have is not as good as want we want, or the green hand of jealousy that makes me want to move so bad.
After all, it’s just a place to live with walls and a roof, and floors and doors. It’s being with the ones I love that is my home. Here’s to just a few more years in this house.
I can’t remember exactly what year in school I was given The Giver by Lois Lowry as a reading assignment, or perhaps it was just a book I picked out at the school library. All I remember is, sometime in my later years in elementary school, picking up the book and falling in love with the story.
I am a huge reader of books – mostly fictional…it’s actually rare that I read a non-fiction novel. If it’s not a far away land and story that I can escape into, I get bored. Because I am so passionate about books, I approach every movie based on a book that I have read with skepticism. Will they be able to capture the magic of the story? Can the story be told in a meager two hours without losing the detail that makes it so powerful? Who is going to play the main characters and how are they going to butcher my love for the characters I have built up in my imagination?
This weekend, my darling friend Amanda invited me to see The Giver movie with her. I figured it would be my only chance to see it in theaters – it’s not something my boyfriend would go with me to see. I have to say, I left feeling happier with this translation of the story on film than I have for any other attempt in the past. The screenwriters and directors kept the story and subtleties intact. The cast fit into their roles like it was a second skin.
While I don’t remember the love story intertwined in the book, I believe that it was done so expertly. It helped to convey the true message that The Giver has sought out to deliver in it’s pages all of these years: Love and Joy and Hope make the struggles we go through, the pain and sorrow we experience, worth it in the end. If meaning we can love and feel joyful means that we have to hurt too, then I’ll take the pain so I can experience the light.
When I am asked if I have kids, which happens more often the older I get, I always respond with, “Yes and she has 4 legs and a tail.”
Dogs are practically children aren’t they? Let’s examine some of the similarities:
1. When they get sick you clean up after them….
2. Then all they want is to be held and cuddled.
3. They take up all of the room in the bed when they sleep with you.
4. And wake you up early in the morning.
5. They can’t wait to open Christmas presents… Even if they don’t understand what Christmas really means.
6. They love you always – even when they are mad at you.
What does your pet do that makes you think they are human?
I tried to keep things simple this week since it was our first week and I hadn’t planned out the menu ahead of time. I picked my menu items out of Mario Batali’s Molto Gusto cookbook – Italian is always a “go to” in our house.
First up, was the salad, which was a mix of arugula, radishes, and fennel. The cookbook says to use a Japanese mandoline to thinly slice them, but a sharp knife will work just as well.
For the main course, we enjoyed Linguine with Cacio e Pepe. It was so simple to prepare and had this light buttery sauce with just a hint on saltiness from the parmasean and peppery goodness. (FYI – I HATE pepper under normal circumstances.)
I highly recommend this for any day of the week!
Are you, like me, a DIY-er? Do you try to fix things yourself before calling a professional? Being a DIY-er can lead to some very interesting, albeit funny, stories. Let me start by saying, this isn’t my first rodeo baby. I’ve changed light fixtures and doorbells, patched holes, changed out doors, etc. While those projects may contain headaches, I’ve never had anything go as wrong as this last project did.
My downstairs bathroom sink has a leak and I haven’t been able to figure out what it is. It’s not leaking in the walls or under the sink. It’s a constant drip….drip…..drip out of the faucet. I don’t want to pay a handyman or plumber hundreds of dollars to fix something so silly. So, I went to Home Depot the other day (I LOVE Home Depot). I brought in the washer that sits inside the aerator. They tell me it looks almost near perfect and shouldn’t be causing the leak. So, they say, take off the handles and check the parts inside.
That’s it. No OTHER instructions.
So, my boyfriend and I are at home. He digs out his allen wrench and pulls off the top of the handle. Goes back to the garage and pulls out his regular wrench to loosen the mechanism controlling the water inside the handle (who knew handles were so complicated?!). Then, he turns the bolt, slowly loosening it, goes to pull out the mechanism doodad…. and WOOSH!
Water is literally flying everywhere – just spouting out of the hole where the handle used to be like it was Old Faithful. I’m running outside to find the off switch for the water so we can stem the flow before the house floods and our poor dog is hiding under the couch (she’s terrified of water). Water was on the floor, in the cabinet, on the mirrors, ceiling, wallpaper, bathroom door…. An hour and five soaked towels later, we finally cleaned up the mess and still cannot figure out what is causing the leaking faucet.
So take it from me DIY-ers – ALWAYS turn off the water before messing with your faucets.
In the most general terms, humans love to collect stuff – especially in the good ol’ U.S.A. However often we clean out our closets in our house, we always seem to have more stuff we can get rid of. And the piles seem to keep growing, as more junk comes in than goes out. This past weaken, we were going through our stuff and I realized, between the two of us, we have over TWENTY different cookbooks that we never use! Hello? Why would we go through cookbooks when we can just search online, right?
So, my dear boyfriend and I made a deal. And I’m going to blog about this so we don’t fall off the horse. Each of us will choose a new recipe every week from one of our cookbooks and make that recipe. I figure, what a better way to discover new foods and get out of our cooking – and eating out – rut.
In the most general terms, humans love to collect stuff – especially in the good ol’ U.S.A. However often we clean out our closets in our house, we always seem to have more stuff we can get rid of. And the piles seem to keep growing, as more junk comes in than goes out. This past weaken, we were going through our stuff and I realized, between the two of us, we have over TWENTY different cookbooks that we never use! Hello? Why would we go through cookbooks when we can just search online, right?
So, my dear boyfriend and I made a deal. And I’m going to blog about this so we don’t fall off the horse. Each of us will choose a new recipe every week from one of our cookbooks and make that recipe. I figure, what a better way to discover new foods and get out of our cooking – and eating out – rut.
Hello and welcome into my home! My name is Sara and I author this blog. (Duh!). I’ve started and not finished several blogs before this. To be honest, I tend to get board with projects and move through them. My goal this year is to really dig in and stick to a blog. I’ll be writing about all sorts of interesting and uninteresting things and LOVE to hear feedback from anyone reading. But first, let me share a bit about myself.
I am the youngest of four, and the only girl in our family. We landed in Phoenix twenty-three years ago and I don’t know if I could ever actually leave this great state. I currently reside in the East Valley with my amazing boyfriend of six years and our puppy Zoe. Since I love to keep myself busy (a trait I inherited from my dad), I am currently working on my M.A. in Industrial Organizational Psychology. On top of that, I volunteer with my church friends as much as possible, cook like crazy, and help small businesses with their social media needs.
I truly hope you enjoy reading this blog, as I share my experiences this year! If you ever have questions – you only have to ask!
XOXO
Sara
sara's living room 