Desert Magnolia

We had a humdinger of a hail storm a few weeks ago. Hubby and I were sitting out on the patio enjoying a glass of wine and some oysters one Saturday evening. The sky was dark and rumbly, but it was still warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the weather. After about 20 minutes or so, the rumbling got louder, then we thought we heard a freight train headed for us. But we don't have any tracks nearby, so that was odd, to say the least. The sound got louder and louder, and then the sky opened up and hail fell. Lots of it. Big ones, the size of quarters.  We fled inside and hoped our windows and roof and truck (in the driveway) were safe. After what seemed like forever the storm blew itself out, leaving a 3" thick coating of white everywhere, making it look like it had snowed, and lots of damage. In the weeks since, we've had our roof inspected, and the insurance company totaled it. We'll be getting a new roof in the coming weeks. I took our truck in to be lo...

We are not Irish. Per my Grandma Gin during a recent conversation, I have a wee bit of the Irish in me, but not much. Not enough to wholeheartedly celebrate on behalf of the Emerald Isle, really. But we do. For fifteen years now, we have. What began as a foray into a simple corned beef and cabbage dinner lo those many moons ago has morphed into an annual event that has continued to grow in size with each year. And, as we did the first year, we always end up watching Irish dance...Riverdance or Lord of the Dance, and my Hubby's not so secret crushes, Celtic Women. I swear, if he ever leaves me, it's going to be for a sweet-tempered Irish singer. I just know it. Our friends gently mock this corned beef/Irish DVD  tradition, but we get 100% invitee/attendee turnout, so mock they may, but attend they do. The menu typically looks like: Corned beef, sliced, then glazed and finished under the broiler Boiled new potatoes Cabbage wedges, also boiled Guinness Iri...

As part of the Great Home Improvement Project of 2011, as I've mentioned, we decided to move our bed into Son's room and buy a new one. Have you ever bought a new bed? If so, you realize that the decision..is one which must fit for a long long time. Our first bed we inherited from my Mom, over 23 years ago,  and it was kind of a special platform bed made from beautiful cherry wood but which sat on a makeshift platform. So part of it was gorgeous and the rest was kinda not so gorgeous, really. But we had other concerns as we were raising our family, and certainly other outlets for money, so we kept it. A long time. But then Son grew and grew and grew and really needed a bigger than a twin bed, so we gave it to him. And he had tons of room to stretch out, at last, and all was well. The bed we bought then was from Tema, was a modern metal platform thing in a cool anodized graphite color, and it lasted us for a long time, too. For some reason, shopping for a bed this time...

NYC never fails to entertain. From a weather or culinary or people watching perspective, it is without equal. It was cold, it rained cats and dogs, it got sunny but very chilly, then on the last day the weather began to behave and be downright lovely. But by then I was on my way to La Guardia, destined for the high desert once more. Food, was good. Daughter found two good restaurants in a row, a Mediterranean place, then the next night a French place, and then on her third night, we literally stumbled across a good Italian place. Once she had left, it was my colleague and I hitting and missing, mostly hitting, decent food. What never fails to amaze? When you're wandering and consulting your iPhone (he's really into that) you have an equal chance of finding good places to eat by just happening across inviting looking restaurants and choosing by their menu... On the last night we packed up our stuff, then headed out on foot from Javits Center to 1st Ave. and 1st St. That tr...

I don't mean to be boring with this whole project thing. I realize you probably don't really care that we chose Sensational Sand as the paint color for the bedroom and hall, or that we've opted for brushed nickel outlet and switch covers and knobs and hinges, but this is what I've been living--details like this are consuming me right now. Bedroom and Hall This weekend we painted the bedroom and the hall, and they look awesome. I am craving chocolate cake though, since the color of the paint very closely resembles very light milk chocolate frosting...and the texture style we're using is very very similar to that of a low profile frosting. I may have to get some cake at lunch. This craving started Saturday, and has not been fulfilled yet, which could actually rupture something inside my Princess self if allowed to continue without satisfaction. I'm just sayin'... The light on my dash right now, which prompted visit to Carl the mechanic Oh wait...

Bamboo floors? Not gonna happen now. Picture lots of deep conversations about warmth and noise and such, followed by opting for an equally cool but very different option. Carpet. Lambswool is the color, and I think it will look fabulous in our casa. It's going in son's bedroom, the hallway...and now the living room and dining room. Not kidding here. How we shifted from bamboo in one part of the house to carpet in more parts is kind of a mystery but has to do with 'while you're already upside down and at it anyway....' Oh, and we retextured the walls..ourselves. Contractor came back with a very strange and large quote which made us rock back on our heels and say what the fuck are you trying to pull here dude? reconsider our plan. My body, today, is feeling beat up, but we did it. The walls look cool, and will look even cooler once we paint next weekend. And hubby installed the new kitchen sink faucet which is awesome! For all the reasons we thought it wo...

Remember last week when I talked about the latest pipe debacle? And how I made a list about the projects we've decided to undertake as a result of having the room cleaned out? Well, we're making some progress. Probably the most difficult phase of any project is agreeing upon/deciding what to tackle this time. And we've done that. Our list now includes, in addition to the original: Replace kitchen faucet. (ours started leaking two days after the pipe debacle..wtf???) But this is cool because we're installing a better one anyway. That has separate hot and cold water handles and a higher arch on the faucet itself so we can get big pots and pans under it more easily. Yay! Remove carpet from hallway. Lay bamboo flooring in hallway. Refinish hall walls. Paint hall walls. Replace old, large, cumbersome queen sized bed with ours. Buy a new bed for us. (Unexpected in the scheme, but it will be cool and ours will look pretty against the bamboo floor which ha...

When you hear a sound like water running in your house, and water isn't running in your house, it is actually probably running in your house, just not in your pipes. Where it should be. I know this to be true from waaaay too much first hand experience with pipes and water and such. Eleven months ago, just four days before Daughter's 18th birthday for which we were hosting a dinner party, a hot water pipe burst. Right under our living room floor. Which required a leak locator (aka plumber with a divining rod). And a jackhammer, for cutting a ginormous hole in our living room floor once the leak had been found. And shovels and welding and all of that. Which made me cry. Well, it didn't all make me cry, just the part where the burly guy with the jackhammer made a precious family portrait fall, and shatter on the hearth. I don't usually cry easily. But that did it. So this time, this time hubby and I, who are way too familiar with hearing the sound of water running...

Spring in New Mexico can bring just about any combination of weather. It often snows unexpectedly, dropping 40 degrees in just a few hours and surprising us all with a big, wet, heavy snowfall. Sometimes it rains, like late last night. Big, fat raindrops falling hard for about a half hour. Our new peach tree out back got a lovely drink, and we're hoping will pull that fresh water up into itself to sweeten the essence of peaches to come. And the wind, well, the wind blows whenever it's not snowing or raining, which is most days. A fine layer of sand tends to settle, a layer full of allergens, so those who suffer (like my family...), have a difficult time avoiding the pollens that tend to bring on the hay fever. Remodels. This one, in spite of the terrible, parenthetical plumbing crisis that occurred right after Hubby and brotherinlaw demolished the bath and before actual reconstruction had begun, is finished. The tile looks amazing. The 4" white, shiny, Subway tile th...

So many decisions go into a remodel. Fortunately we made many of them last summer when we decided to remodel the Master Bath first, but buy enough stuff for both baths so when we saved up enough to do the second bath we'd have matching tile and toilet and fixtures and stuff. But the Master doesn't have a tub, and the hall bath does. And we're currently remodeling the hall bath. It's a well known fact that my Hubby puts up with quite a lot of shenanigans from his bride, and usually does so with aplomb and grace. This time he actually initiated said shenanigans (after much thought and I suspect a shot of tequila with my brotherinlaw). I love baths. Love them. They represent all that is relaxing and well and nurturing and calming and warm and soothing in the world (ok not all but a lot ) to me. They're a place to go with a lovely beverage (read martini or glass of wine) and a book and just 'be.' For awhile. Often quite awhile, involving draining cold wate...

You don't often see that stuff together, do you? If you're lucky, you never will. See, when in NY, a person sees and hears jackhammers. They're everywhere. Along with trash trucks abusing dumpsters in the wee hours. But jackhammers should NEVER be found in one's living room. Particularly when they're there because a hot water pipe decided to leak. In the middle of the evening. On Friday night. After a looooooooooong day of preparing the house for the hall bath remodel. Hubby and I were watching Up in the Air on Friday night, when all of  a sudden, during a quiet moment in the movie, we heard a sound. Like someone had left the water on outside. But nobody had. Or inside either. There's no terror like that struck by the prospect of yet another plumbing crisis. Our trauma of December still lingers in spite of our attempting to will it away, so when we heard that plumbing sound, we both panicked a bit. Which is no way to spend a Friday night. So we turned ...

Saturday afternoon. The mail comes, Hubby grabs it from the box, and, for some reason unknown to any of us, he opens the water bill then instead of when he pays bills at the end of the month. Water bills tend to be the same within each season, after all. Unless they're TWICE what they one before was. Which this one was. Really? WHY????? Well, 18,000 gallons more usage than the prior month. 18,000. That's a whole lotta water. Leaking somewhere. Many profanities escaped our mouths before we took several deep breaths and collected our wits. Which meant calling a leak detection service. On a Saturday. Which meant overtime. Or a premium. Or whatever they call it. But a LOT. A really nice man wearing a logo'd shirt and thermals and carrying a modern day divining rod found the leak. Fortunately, it was outside the house..but right outside Daughter's bedroom. And it was deep. 4 feet or so. Turns out the water main broke. And leaked. And leaked some more....