Extreme Makeover Park Dedication

Thought I'd share this photoset in light of tonight's Buffalo-based Extreme Makeover Home Edition. Congrats to our neighbor Delores Powell, our fave organization PUSH Buffalo, and the rest of the crew that made it happen.

Y'all rock.

Scenes from our house painting (exterior)

We painted the house this summer, did I mention that? I could swear I wrote a post about it but when I tried to find it, I couldn't.



Anyway, here's a photo of the house in the beginning of the summer:

As you can see, the paint was starting to peel. The sides were in much worse shape, trust me.

Sean and Steve did the majority of the painting and had a little accident we refer to as "the caulking incident." It was the time they caulked the whole front of the house with non-paintable caulk and had to go over the entire thing again with paintable caulk. Yeah, it was awesome.


It's also the reason we ended up painting our house white. Because it was the only color that didn't show the caulking mistake. Because the caulk is clear. Because when we tried to paint over it with green the paint beaded up and ran away. Oops.





Anyway, it turns out we really loved the white. It opens up the whole back yard and we'll add some splashes of color to the door and window trim this Spring. We're also going to get a new fence in the backyard and I will (finally) hang up my window boxes.


Oh, and we're going to paint the cement porch--any color or paint suggestions?

Dreamy interiors

I'm inspired by Andrea Scher's photo challenge at Shutter Sisters:

I am manifesting a home. A dreamy house right here in my neighborhood... I
have a detailed list of all the things our ideal place would have, and gorgeous
light is one of them.

[...] This week's challenge is to show us your dreamy interior, or perhaps
its an image of someone else's you can link to.

Krisatomic did a similiar "inspiration" post a few weeks back and I found it lovely to step into her collection.

I regret that not all of my photos have the appropriate name/credit attached to them, so many were right-clicked and saved as I browsed the web. Nevertheless, enjoy:

"For Jane" originally uploaded by yvestown.

Lovely attic room with a great cottage feel.

Love the open shelves in this kitchen.

Another open shelf and a great half door!

So many Buffalo homes have towers like this...

The mini-gallery looks cool.

Scandanavian flavor + colors + playfulness = charming

Who wouldn't want a cup of tea here?

Another dreamy attic space.

Slideshow! PUSH Houses on the West Side...

I swear that an update is coming soon but for now I wanted to share some photos I took on Monday. They're part of a project I'm doing with PUSH Buffalo.



These homes are all on the West Side: Chenango, Massachusetts, W. Utica, 19th.

The Boo/Hiss board + a contest

The Boo/Hiss board is located inside our kitchen and was one of the first things I put up when we moved in. It's really a "Boo/Hiss" and "Thumbs Up" bulletin board but whatever. Here's how it looked a couple weeks ago:

Because I'm a pack rat I like to save scraps of paper that have virtually no value. The Boo/Hiss board disguises my hoarding tendencies as fun, snarky and maybe even worthwhile.

Seen below on the Boo/Hiss side of life, going clockwise: (1) a photo and interview excerpt with Janet Snyder from Kiss 98.5 in which the morning radio show host basically calls Mia Farrow a bitch because she had the gall to bring up genocide in Darfur, (2) Impossibly snide-looking boys in expensive suits on a yacht, being groomed for a life of priviledge and J. Crew trouser socks, (3) An article from the Buffalo News about Amherst residents rejecting a ballot measure that would protect a certain amount of green space from commerical and residential development, (4) Family Planning Advocates button which shouldn't be there because I heart FPA, (5) An article about the legacy of the Vietnam War in Vietnam.

As you can see, I've also included the all-white, all-male "Best News Team on Television" from a CNN ad in the New York Times. Also there's a business card from some weirdo Sean and I met in Puerto Rico. Not really Boo/Hiss material but we don't have a designated "Sketchy" portion of the board. Oh, and there's Janet Snyder again. If you can't read the Q&A that's ok, it's basically all about shopping and finding "the perfect outfit."

And now, some Thumbs Up, clockwise again: (1) Boss's Day card from Sean's secretary, sort of surreal for both of us that he's a boss and that he has a secretary, (2) Invite from a Mike LoCurto Rocky-themed fundraiser, (3) Article on Danny Glover's arrest in Niagara Falls, Ontario, resulting from a protest in support of Unite Here!, (4) Thank you note from CEJ, (5) Letter to Steve from a near-stranger who gave him his DMX and insisted that he pass it along to another young man when he no longer needed it.

The board might be coming down or changing focus soon so I wanted to make sure I honored all the snark and love. Speaking of prostitutes, check out our frozen-in-time Eliot Spitzer caption contest:

Add a new caption in the comments of this post and I will give the author of the best comment a yet-to-be-identified prize. And by "best" I mean that one that makes me laugh the most.

More Boo/Hiss photos and explanations up on Flickr.

Scenes from our front house painting & caulking "party"

Back in December we spent a weekend getting the upper apartment of the front house ready for new tenants. This included painting the walls and trim of several rooms, scrubbing the bathroom until it couldn't be scrubbed no more, and steam-cleaning the carpet. Oh, and re-caulking the tub.

Our previous tenant lived in the house for 13 years and kept it very clean. Still, after all those years the house needed (needs) some major updates, both cosmetic and structural. Our new tenants were on a tight time line so most of the updates in their apartment were, like I wrote above, of the cosmetic persuasion

Our friend & neighbor Kevin helped us paint on Saturday night. Here he is with Steve in the living room.

We decided to go boring landlord white with the painting but are flexible if our tenants want to paint it another color. Besides Steve, Sara, Sean, and me, we were joined by several generous friends and declared it a "painting party." I guess BEER + PIZZA + [any activity] = PARTY.

My father brought over a steam-vac and helped us clean the carpets. They were stained in certain places and generally very dirty. The above photo is of the living room after the carpets were cleaned and the walls and trim painted. Trust me, it looks so much better. Next time I'll do before and after photos.

My primary job was to clean the bathroom and I got really into it. I scrubbed the walls, the tub, the toilet, and the floor. I put a wax on the floor at the end and then admired its shine from the doorway (me to everyone else: "DO NOT WALK IN THE BATHROOM IT IS DRYING"). With Steve's help, I learned how to use a caulking gun and made the following video of my disappointment:

Scenes from Whit's first caulking experience

Warning: Use of a caulking gun may sometimes inflate one's sense of coolness.

Scenes from my kitchen, sunspot edition

I looked at this picture tonight while trying to find another photo on my Flickr stream. Even though I'm enjoying the snow right now, I thought this summer scene in the kitchen was sweet.

As promised: scenes from my "new" office

New floors, bright space.

Finally got around to hanging some stuff up.

Scenes from my office and bathroom makeover...

So my months of obsessing over all-white interiors led me to two simultaneous projects over Labor Day weekend: new (old) floors in the office and a brighter, whiter bathroom.

In the office, like every other room in the house except the kitchen and bathroom, there was ugly, black indoor/outdoor carpet. I'd like to take it all up eventually and decided to use my office--the only room with carpet not connected to another room with carpet--as a test run: how long would it take? would it be messy? what was underneath?

Formerly white and minimally damaged floors were underneath. Plus lots of staples, glue & insulation, and tack boards. Ripping up the carpet and insulation was easy enough. We hauled five four-foot pieces out in about a half-hour. The messy (and dusty and tedious and long) part had to do with pulling up the staples and tack board.



I wore this cool mask to protect me from allergens.

At the same time, we taped off the bathroom and began painting the walls and ceiling white. Previously, they were a light tan--for a bathroom with no window, it was too dark and dank. The splash-back (is that what you call it) area behind the sink and toilet was a yellow-ish color. I painted it and the woodwork a light grey.



After all the staples were pried and the tack board in the garbage, I scrubbed the floor with a mild detergent and let it dry overnight. I then collapsed into bed.

The next morning, I set to work painting the floor. We used one container of Dutch Boy's Latex Enamel. It went on smooth and thick and thus far, there have been zero scuff marks left behind. It was too expensive either--I think $28 with a mail-in rebate.

The first coat going on! And speaking of coats...



The bathroom took three coats of white. Sigh.

At this point I need to thank my mother who helped me throughout the weekend and especially in the bathroom. She OWNED the bathroom, she ROCKED the bathroom. She also got all mom on me and took charge of the carpet removal--just the kind of leadership I needed.

On Monday, Labor Day, she and my brother stopped by the house to pick up my mom's supplies. This is how they found me: a wreck. The floor's second coat of paint had dried and I barely had enough energy to drag the IKEA chair into the office and fix myself a cup of tea. I forgot how exhausting a renovation project really is.

More photos of the finished (and put back together) office and bathroom soon. For now, more photos of the improvement project can be found here.

Oh, and I won't be doing the rest of the floors for awhile. Maybe never!

Scenes from this summer's CSA share

The first week's share. Check out the garlic scapes!

Baby beets and my new tablecloth (found at a garage sale!)

Sean models this lovely little squash.

Wherein I reveal myself to be a crazy plant lady...

(Apologies for the cross post)

I'm a sucker for mornings. My house, a rarity in the tightly packed neighborhoods of Buffalo, has only backyards on either side of it (it is behind another house). The sunlight pours in throughout the day, switching sides of the house, switching rooms.

In the morning it hits my bedroom, gently nudging me out of my sheets so I can find what, for me, is often a breathtaking site: my home office, with its wooden table, bathed in brightness. As I write this, my desk is covered in a rectangular patch of sunlight; the window looks out on the building a few doors down. I've been told it was a dairy, now it is home to a Burmese family. The back half remains vacant.

Because the house is behind another house, there is no backyard. It is on the backyard. For this reason, I have attempted to grow a jungle of houseplants inside by the windows, and have only recently begun fiddling with the patch of grass we have between the two homes. I started my house-jungle with the ficus and Christmas cactus that had both survived my post-college moves and abandonment. Brynn gave me a branch of her enormous jade tree and last fall, with a $50 gift card to Lowe's left over from my June birthday, I brought home all the sickly and marked-down plants I could fit in my car.

For months now, I've done battle with one of these plants. It sits on my desk, close to the window I am at right now. I refer to it in my head as the Crazy Plant but according to the information card it came with, it goes by "jellybean plant," sedum, or Aurora Borealis (yeah, I did a double take on that last one too). It is a succulent, therefore more delicate than my viney and leafy darlings, and I've been a bit obsessed with its well-being.

Its little jellybean leaves are very fragile and often fall off when I touch them. As the plant has grown, its branches droop over the sides of the pot, with tiny white roots extending out, looking for something to plant themselves in. It has doubled its size and little miniature bunches of leaves pop up around its base; sometimes I drown them when I water the plant. A few months back, I realized that one of the drooping branches was headed on a road to nowhere so I picked it up, dropping leaves as I did it, and twisted it around another, smaller branch. It's doing ok now. After that though, I decided that unless I interfered, my Crazy Plant was going to kill itself. Each time I looked at it, I became stressed.

This morning though, after a week away on vacation, I came into the office and found the plant and its companion, another jade, thriving in my absence. I don't have much to explain for my sudden change of heart--my mellowing out about its obviously natural characteristics--but I now love the Crazy Plant. I suppose I always loved it, hence my obsession with its health, but now I love that it is crazy. It droops over the sides, in what I assumed was vain, but instead of dying, it just adapted. New branches have sprung from the side of the drooping branch. It's green and solid and really beautiful in its chaotic growth.

I've been sort of having a hard time lately, feeling like I can't see the path ahead of me as clearly as I'd like. This morning I am laughing at myself, at my obsession over this house plant's path--a sort of small example of my worry, unfairly placed on this lovely little succulent and its growth process. I don't really know what zen means to other people but to me it means letting the chaos of life wash over me, taking moments to notice the way a plant grows and apply that same lesson to my life. I'm going to be zen about this plant from now on, and I'm going to try to be zen about me.

I'm a sucker for mornings.

Silver lining

I've been meaning to share this photo for awhile, from the early spring when the lilacs were blooming. We now have roses bushes in bloom all over the West Side and it's fun to see them pop up all over, even the vacant houses.

I went on an explore with my camera in the vacant yard next door. The grass is overgrown and full of wild flowers, crazy weeds, and even morning glories. Please don't confuse this excitement with my endorsement of slum landlords though--just trying to find the silver lining!

A window in...

I made lentil soup for dinner tonight--it's still cool enough for it to make sense--and wrote a letter to a friend while it bubbled on the stove. I got up occasionally to stir the pot and add a little more black pepper, a little more thyme.

On one of these trips to the stove, I looked out the window near the sink and spotted three girls tiptoeing across the roof of their back porch. They were covered, from head scarves to long dresses touching their toes, in beautiful flowing fabric that played with the wind quite well. They soon saw me through the window and started waving excitedly. It was very sweet, the whole scene.

And now, my lentil soup recipe (it's all improvised):

1 tbsp butter
2 medium red onions
2 medium sized potatoes
one bag dry lentils
4-6 cups of water (you pick thickness)
3 celery stalks
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup brown sugar
about 1 tbsp hot sauce (or a couple dashes of cayenne)
black pepper and salt to taste
2 tbsp thyme
dash cinnamon

Cook onions and potatoes in butter in soup pot until onions are soft. Add water, lentils, black pepper, and salt and boil for 30 minutes or until lentils are softened up. Add carrots, celery, brown sugar, hot sauce, and rest of spices. Cook until desired consistency and adjust spices accordingly. Enjoy over brown rice or with a piece of whole wheat bread.

Spring lilacs

Spring has come to our backyard: lilacs everywhere! The white and light purple are technically from my neighbors yard (shhhh) and the dark purple from a potted lilac tree my Dad and Terrie gave me at the housewarming last May. Plans are underway for its permanent home by the porch.

Updates, all shapes and sizes

1) Two more regular characters have been added to the homestead scene, namely Sean and Sara. They both came off adventures of their own--Sara in the political world of Iowa, Sean on the coast of Kenya.

Over the past few weeks, Sara and Steve moved to our downstairs apartment and painted it fun colors, in the tradition of our fun house:

2) I started work at City Hall, heading up a Councilmember's office. I am learning more about the Inspections department and housing court than I ever imagined possible. Good stuff.

3) Been cold and snowy around these parts lately, producing crisp views like this one:

4) Mortgage company is still a jerkfest.

5) Our next door neighbors moved out (sadness) but our tenants have a new baby (happiness).

Scenes from Talent Nite!

Last Sunday, our house hosted its 1st annual Talent Nite. It was awesome. What was intended as a small, neighborly event quickly grew into a larger showcase so if you couldn't/didn't come this year, be on the lookout next time!

In preparation for the event, a stage was constructed Sunday afternoon. Steve and our long-term house guest/friend Harrison were subject to my insane hostess cleaning mania--another sign of my lovely mom's influence!--but they forgave me when they saw that I bought gummy bears for snacks.

The winners of each category, as seen above, were as follows:

1. BEST USE OF BODY PART BELOW WAIST - Kevin, "Amazing Moves"

2. MOST HILARIOUS - Jack, "Dino"

3. BEAUTIFULEST - Whitney & Steve, "Tonal Poem with Interpretive Dance"

4. MOST LIKELY TO GET YOU ARRESTED IF DONE IN PUBLIC - Jack, "Dino"

5. BEST USE OF MICAELA - a tie between Erin & Zoe, "Mind reading" and Liz, "Pageant Rules"

6) CLEARLY SPENT TIME REHEARSING - Anthony, "Mayor meets Motley"

7) POOR PILGRIM PITY PRIZE - Jewel, "A Night Without Armor"

8) BEST - Jack, "Dino"

All pictures can be found here: TALENT NITE set on Flickr.