...cooking!

I think I said it before and I'll continue to say it - having a functional kitchen, albeit small, makes all the difference when it comes to my enjoyment in and practice of cooking. I am eating way more vegetables and way less processed food.

Today's adventure involved my new food processor (Cuisinart 7 Cup model) and a new recipe for Potato Leek Soup (courtesy of The Kitchn).

I read a post on the Kitchn about a simple recipe for Potato Leek soup. I like soup and I like easy. Coming off my success at making Lentil Brown Rice Soup,  I was game for a new recipe to add to my repertoire.

It basically consisted of frying bacon, cutting up potatoes and leeks, and giving it all a whirl in the food processor. It's good eats for lazy people - my fave.

Potatoes and leeks bubblin' away - check out that steam!

mmm...bacon. And my new toy.

I have neither an immersion blender, nor a potato masher (whole other topic)...so mutiple batches had to go into the food processor in order to make this a soup and not, well, hot potato water.

This could be a recipe for a disatrous mess.

Mess averted. Looks like pea soup.

I topped the soup off with some crumbled bacon and thyme. The thyme made a very tasty addition.

If you squint, you can see the sprig of thyme. 

Lessons learned for the next time: salt the water more (I never salt my water enough) and process less for a more chunky texture. 

Now my freezer will be full of literally three things: Lean Cuisines, soup, and fudge.

...picking out my new kitchen.

Now that The Wall is down, the kitchen renovations can begin in earnest. Or at least I can do lots of shopping and window browsing. Last weekend - er, I know, this is another tardy post. I've come to the conclusion if there's a picture from my camera involved, the post will be delayed in getting published. Moving on. - I went to Ikea and Home Depot to start looking at kitchen cabinet options. I came home with a buttload of pamphlets:

Pamphlets!

And the realization that I have VERY particular tastes. I want white cabinets. But I don't want that fake wood crap. I want real wood - just painted white. (Not that anyone but me will know the difference.) But it can't be that off-white color - actual white. And it can't be too country/traditional looking. I want something modern. But not stark modern. Contemporary modern. (Hmm...maybe this is why I'm single?)

Next up I'm going to hit up the warehouses, et. al. on Washington Ave. Maybe they'll have more of what I'm looking for.

I'm particular, but I have been planning this kitchen since I put the offer in on the house.

Ooh...Ikea Kitchen Planner. My idea of spare time fun.

This is the second floorplan configuration - I originally wanted to move the sink underneath the windows and then move the stove about 2 feet to the left. Then I realized my budget went to removing The Wall. It's okay, this new layout is still SO much better than what it is now:

Even though this looks like where country oak comes to die, the cabinets are really maple.

Kind of what the new kitchen will look like from same angle.

On the agenda:
 - Taking the ceiling up so I can put in 42" cabinets
 - Moving the sink over about one foot into the corner
 - Putting a pantry next to the fridge, as well as a cabinet above it
 - Installing the microwave above the stove
 - Putting in a 18" dishwasher
 - Additional recessed lighting and pendants above the breakfast bar

The storage possibilities are going to quadruple.  This is good news for two reasons: one, I hate clutter, and two, even though the current kitchen is less than ideal, it's still better than what I had - no counter/surface space and an oven that set off the smoke detector every time you turned it on - and that means I am cooking a LOT more now.

Just think of the gourmet treats I'll make when I get my new kitchen...mmmm.

...the onset of rennovations and cleaning up the mess.

First off, if you know me, you know that I hate mess and disorganization more than anything. (Hmm..almost anything.)  I can't tell you how many times I've been mistaken for a sales clerk because I straighten up the shelves/racks when I go shopping. 

So with that being said, please appreciate how hard it was for me was when I had contractors come in and remove a six inch, load bearing brick wall.  Because it made my entire house was one giant, disorganized mess. Every square inch.

I tried my damndest to tarp everything off. I had tarps over the staircase, the cabinets, what little furniture is on my first floor. I sealed off doors with tape. I put my small appliances in the basement. I moved a bunch of kitchen stuff to my bedroom. I put cereal and snacks in the refrigerator. My once overly organized kitchen was in disarray. And covered in plastic.

When the dust literally setttled, I had a nice new open floorplan and about 1/4 inch of red dust EVERYWHERE. It took me two days and an arsenal of concentrated heavy duty cleaner, windex, a shop-vac, and the help of local take-out restaurants to make my house liveable again. I still haven't tackled the basement and I'm afraid to see how much dust wound up on my kitchenwares stored there.

The saving grace in all of that is that the kitchen rennovations have officially commenced! I hope that within the next 6-8 months, my kitchen will look like a combo of this:

and this:

Wish me luck, because holy crap, I will need it.

...when the walls come down!

Ahhh....the day is finally (almost) here. Today is the day that the wall between my dining room and kitchen came down. Woo!! Words can't express how much I loathed this wall and relish in its demise!

The workers got to my place around 9:30...by 9:45 they were already going to town and there was exposed brick. These guys did not mess around. By 4:30...the wall was GONE! Granted, they need to come back tomorrow and finish framing the out opening and plug up the gaping hole to my basement, but I am oh-so-happy with what's been done thus far.

Now, I expected to come home and find the bathroom pipes exposed  in the middle of the room, but lo and behold - a plumber magically appeared and moved them! (Okay, he didn't magically appear, but he was summoned by the contractors and made the problem disappear rather quickly.) However, I did come home to a big, fat mess. (Apparently they're coming with a shop-vac tomorrow.)

Can't wait for the rest to be done, although I expect to be doing a LOT of cleaning this weekend.

...my first snow as a homeowner.

I will start this off by informing/reminding the audience that even though I'm an urban girl, I grew up in Bucks Co., PA. While it was actually named after William Penn's home, Buckinghamshire, it more appropriately describes all the freakin' deer.  I grew up in an area that was equally suburban and rural. And when it snowed, it snowed. It would take me 15 minutes just to get dressed to go shovel the driveway. And then another hour or more to help do it.

Suffice it to say, I know snow. So when I looked out the window this morning and realized that there was about 3-4 inches of snow already, and it hadn't stopped coming down, I thought the prudent thing to do would be to go out and shovel before it go too bad. (Note - I have a raging head cold at the moment, so finding the motivation to actually get off the couch and go outside was nothing short of a Christmas miracle.)

I got out all my snow gear and got dressed. Took my handy new shovel (thanks Mom!) and headed out to brave the elements.

Apparently I thought I was going to be shoveling the entire street during a blizzard.

Ten minutes later I was back inside.

This is the entire area that I'm responsible for keeping clear:

Was so tempted to move my car into that open spot.

I've shoveled more snow off my parents' front porch. It took me longer to get dressed than it did to shovel my sidewalk. So I shoveled my neighbor's steps. And then a part of my other neighbor's sidewalk. Then I came back in and had to remove all the layers.

Now I'm going to curl up on the couch with my Slanket and a hot beverage, Netflix some "Spooks," and not shovel again until tonight. At which point I will probably just throw on a coat and boots.

Oh man, I just heard someone start up a snowblower. *sigh*

...removing wallpaper. Or not.

A guide of things NOT to do when attempting to remove wallpaper.

1. Do not attempt to do any sort of manual labor after only consuming a mere 160 calories.

• This morning, I got up late and proceeded to go about my day shopping and running errands on an empty stomach. Baaad idea. No good can come of this. As a self-diagnosed "hypoglycemic," I should know better than this.
• When I finally did eat around 2:30, I filled up with...a can of soup. Then started to prep the bathroom for paper removal, which included removing a shelf system from behind the toilet (God only knows how they got it in there in the first place) - and this made me want to take a nap.
• Considering I didn't really do anything and was tired, I figured I was due for more food. A snack! A snack will do wonders! Filled to the brim with apples & peanut butter, I set off. It didn't work, 15 minutes into wall paper removal I was whiny and cranky and everything sucked. 

2. Do not attempt to remove wallpaper without reading up on the subject.

• Watching HGTV and TLC does not count as experience in removing wallpaper. I just went at it armed with a rented steamer, a very dangerous looking scoring tool, and a general idea of what to do.

The scoring tool is downright medieval.

And while I waited for the steamer to heat up, I "scored" the entire bathroom instead of testing a section that was somewhat out of sight.

• Somewhere along the way, I wasn't sure where the wallpaper ended and the sheet rock began.

3. Do not think that removing wallpaper is easy.

• Perhaps there are instances where this process is easy, but I had to go and try to remove textured AND painted wallpaper...that the aforementioned very dangerous scoring tool had trouble permeating.

After about an hour and the feeling that I was not only doing more damage than good, the bathroom was quickly becoming a "Project." I have enough Projects without adding a new one.

So as of right now, there's a bald spot in my bathroom. I have three options I'm willing to entertain - leave it as it and paint over it, cut a pice of wallpaper and put it up in the bald spot, or....put the damn shelf back and hope no one notices.

The bald spot.

...why my new house will not be home to children.

Aside from the fact that I just don't ever see myself reproducing (*shudder*), I apprently am not a baby-friendly person.

Exhibit A:
I tried to order woven blinds last night, and was told that I couldn't because the company wasn't taking orders due to a customer service issue relating to cord control and safety concerns. So owing to the fact that I didn't see any problems with the cords as they were...I'm apparently not baby-friendly.
(What? Do parents really not know how to keep a cord out of a baby's reach?? Come on. The sales lady and I bonded over this...her rationale, she survived just fine with cords the way they are. Right on lady. Right on.)

Don't do this.

Exhibit B:
I think this is fucking hilarious and I would totally use it. (I also have been trying to figure out a way to attach a swiffer to our cats' tails. What? I hate dusting.)


Baby Mop from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

...picking out a new color for the bathroom.

So, I figured that the bathroom, like my bedroom, would get an instantaneous "makeover" since it was one of the rooms I was not making any major changes to (at least not yet). It's compeltely liveable, laid out well, nothing's terribly annoying about it...except the painted wallpaper. And it wasn't like the previous owners were lazy and just painted over exisitng wallpaper, no they bought the type of wallpaper that you paint:

Close-up of textured wallpaper I have to look at everyday.

So I've decided it must come down, regardless of how good a job they did putting it up. And it will be painted. But that's where I"m a bit stuck. I know the general color family I want to paint it:

Towels that inspired the color palette.

Paints that I have chosen. Yup...brown.

So, I don't know which shade to go with. The ones on the left & middle (I hate my shitty camera!!) are cooler shades of browns, the one on the right are warmer. I don't like the top three or four of the warmer tones, but maybe one of the the bottom two? I'm worried it will be too dark, this is the room in question:

The floors are light, the doors are white, the sink cabinet is white, the shower curtain is white, the cover for the World's Most Inappropriately Sized Radiator is white, too...so maybe a darker brown will be ok? The window should let in a lot more light once I take the damn aluminum awning off.

Thoughts?

...being a real South Philly resident.

So...after many years of being a "resident" of Philadelphia, I broke down and became an actual resident of Philadelphia. Complete with new car registration and everything. This is what greeted me when I got home tonight:

This can only mean one thing...

...unrestricted parking!!

Now, if we can only do something about those old fuckers and their Bingo nights. 

Oh...and a sign I'm definitely in South Philly...this is also what I came home to tonight:

That is my door on the left. I share that awful awning with my neighbors. And now, it would seem, we share some tasteful Christams lights.

...the first month.

It's been a month since I moved into the house. Actually, it's been a little over a month, but things have been so hella crazy that I haven't had time to finish this post.  The first month has been interesting, to say the least.

There was the washing machine incident, which is mostly fixed at this point. At least I can at wash my laundry, if I can't quite dry it mechanically.  Then there is my ghetto internet solution. I will figure this out...maybe there will be a killer deal on a new router this Black Friday and I can join the land of WiFi once again.

I had some friends over and we tried out a few new bars, though I've yet to really try the restaurant and take-out scene. But that will come soon enough, which brings me to my next point - renovations. Or rather, the lack thereof. My kitchen is still fully intact.

I really hoped to have made some progress on the demolition front, but I've been preoccupied with things like roof leaks and not having an electrical outlet in the bathroom. In light of any major updates...here is my first round of (very lame) Before & After pics.

Master bedroom:
I bascially just painted. I haven't gotten around to doing much decorating, but those curtains came down mighty fast. I did not kneel on the ground to get the exact same perspective as the shot from the real estate listing to get the full effect...but whatever. You get the idea..it's not cream anymore.







The bathroom:
Again, not much done here except removal of ugly shower curtain, rugs, and valance. You can't see it from this picture, but that is wallpaper that's been painted. Textured painted wallpaper.
And I really wish you could see the old shower curtain, it has dolphins with little wave cutouts on it. Hopefully I will get rid of the World's Most Inappropriately Sized Radiator soon. But not before the wallpaper comes down and I paint.

That's pretty much it. Every other room is lacking any kind of update of any kind.

I'd like to say that my feelings toward the house and moving have warmed up in the past few weeks...but they really haven't. I still have lukewarm feelings that verge on contempt, but I'm working through them. Mostly aided by glasses of Riesling and chocolate.


EDIT: I removed the tables because apparently, the "preview" function in blogger sucks and I did not realize they were all on top of each other. :|

...registering for my housewarming party.

Yes. Yes I did. I registered.* I registered because I'm 30 and never married, and I just bought an entire house all on my own. I registered because, like Carrie Bradshaw said, at some point people stop celebrating your life events unless you get married or have a baby.  What if you aren't engaged or preggo?

"Hallmark doesn't make a 'congratulations, you didn't marry the wrong guy' card." - Carrie Bradshaw.  But it should, it really should.

"A Women's Right to Shoes" might be the best Sex and the City episode ever, if not one of the best TV episodes period. The premise is that Carrie has to leave her shoes at the door of a friend's house - a friend who made the choice to get married and pop a few out. Carrie gladly celebrates these choices - with support and gifts. But when her Manolos go missing - because the friend and her husband don't want dirt & germs tracked into their kid-infested home - the friend doesn't believe in replacing such costly shoes, or supporting Carrie's decision to spend $485 on Manolos instead of a Peg Perego.



After much deliberation and some consternation, Carrie ends up registering for her wedding to...herself. On the registry? One pair of $485 Manolos. Who gets the "announcement" card?  The aforementioned friend - who does replace the shoes and even sends along a note of congratulations.

The whole episode got me thinking.
Wedding registries were traditionally to help couples who were leaving their parents' houses for the first time to set up a new home of their own. They needed assistance in their new life together. They needed a damn blender.

These days, so many couples live together before they get married. Or they combine two single households full of stuff - in which case, do you really need to register for a new espresso maker when you already have two? Not that people shouldn't register when they get married, by all means do! But why do I have to wait until then?

I'm not getting married. Not yet anyway. (And what if I become the Old Cat Lady??) But I am setting up a new house. Granted, when I moved into my first post-collegiate apartment, I did buy things like a nice set of pots & pans...so I wouldn't register for those again just to get new ones. I AM registering for things like barware that doesn't come from Ikea, or a multi-bin hamper, since I now have space and my own washing machine. Most things on it are less than $40 and not tied to a specific store - friends and family can buy the items wherever they like. And no, I didn't ask for THREE new shower curtains.

Some people might think it's greedy or ungrateful. Those people don't have to buy anything if they weren't planning on it. I'm perfectly fine with that. The registry is really just to give an idea of what I need/want to people who want to help me celebrate the new house and life event.

But to those who disagree with my choice - I better get one hell of a wedding present when the time comes.


*at MyRegistry.com, in case you were wondering.

...what my house aspires to look like.

I love, love, LOVE these room designs. They're by Greg Natale and they're a fabulous mix of glam and modern. I love the dark woods and cool colors. The mix of glass and fabrics. The way they scream, "come live here and drink martinis!"

if only my living room was this sophisticated...

one day I, too, will have matching crystal table lamps.

….moving. And small talk.

I hate small talk. I think often times it’s thoughtless and insincere, done more out of social obligation than genuine interest. (And I suck at it.) People ask the perfunctory, “How are you? “ - but do they really want to know? If you started telling them about your shitty morning where you spilled your breakfast onto Dry Clean Only pants, or how the power went out so you overslept, you would most likely get “The Look.” The look where he or she politely nods and smiles at you, but his/her eyes are saying, “oh dear God, get me away from this person now, I was just being polite.”

This is how I feel when people ask me, “how’s the house?” Most, if not all, do have a genuine interest knowing that I just bought my first house in a new neighborhood. But I guarantee they don’t want the verbal diarrhea that I spew forth as I tell them about the myriad problems I’ve encountered in the past month.

Or worse, they probably don’t want to hear that I’m really not adjusting well to the move. How my routines are all off. How my stove’s cooking temps seem to be way higher than any other gas stove I’ve ever cooked on. How the nearest drop off mail box is now so far out of my way. How, despite only moving 1.5 miles south, I feel so far removed from EVERYTHING. Like I moved to a borough.

They want to hear, “Oh, it’s great! I love it! Best decision ever!” But if I said that…I’d be lying.

Now by no means do I hate the house/new ‘hood. I don’t even think I regret buying this house. I just REALLY miss the area I lived in for the past four years. It was fantastic. It’s like going away to college and really missing home. You know you’re in for good times; you just have a hard time getting past what you left behind.

So, to anyone reading this who knows me – unless you really want to know how the house & new location are going…don’t ask. I suck at polite small talk.

...new neighbors.

Depending on how neighbor relations go, I could regret writing about this. That being said, I'm doing it anyway.

The other day my Dad met my next door neighbor while out on the roof patching a leak (they were down to help with some stuff and mingle with the neighbors, who must think they live here).  Apparently she's singl(like me), well-spoken (like me ;) ), and seemed nice (hmm...people would say I'm nice. right?).  So she likes to spend time on her roof sans deck, outdoor space is at a premium in these parts. No biggie.

Cut to about twenty minutes ago when I catch a reflection in my TV (which should really just be called "my 42 inch monitor") of someone outside my window. Being the crazy paranoid person I am, I turn around expecting to see a lurker...nope. It's my neighbor. In a tank top. In 50 degree weather. 

I have no idea what she's doing out there and then I just see a pair of legs from the knees down. And they were, uh, kinda masculine in their, um, hair coverage.  Then they went away. And then I realized my hippie artsy neighbor is outside on her dirty roof doing yoga in a tank top and yoga shorts.

Meanwhile I'm inside on the couch in a t-shirt, flannel pants, and slippers eating Halloween candy thinking to myself, "is the heat really on??"

...how to hook up the interwebs - ghetto style.

Step one: Get a piece of shit router that's older than your laptop. Note, laptop must be running shitty Windows Vista.

Step two: String DSL line across dining room, right in the path of traffic, and over washing machine.

Step three: Affix DSL modem in place on stairway with blue painter's tape. Then run ethernet cable and power cord up through the railing.  Note - the tape must be blue to achieve maximum ghetto-ness.

Step four: Run cords across hallway and into room to hardwire laptop. Safety tip - Make sure to put a rug down to avoid tripping over wires. (For extra ghetto-ness, use a rug that completely clashes with the carpet or decor.)

Well, there you have it folks. Four easy steps to geting your very own ghetto interwebs connection.

...delivery fail.

I moved into a house with the world’s narrowest stairway leading to my basement. It has already caused me to send one, wonderfully option-filled LG washer and dryer set back. As a result, my dad measured the stairway and I went on my merry way to find a front-loading washer that would fit and wash more than two socks and a t-shirt. I thought I found them until the delivery guys showed up.

Delivery guy (after getting the dryer downstairs): “I don’t think [the washer’s] going to fit.”

Me: “Are you kidding me!? Mother ‘ucker.” (Yes, I said “ ‘ucker” – that’s what happens with my shi- gets ‘ucked with.)

I promptly call my mother. (Shocker.)

Mom: Hello?

Me: I’m going to fucking kill him.

Mom: Who? The delivery guy?

Me: No, my father.

Mom: Why? What happened?

Me: The washer doesn’t fit down the fucking stairs. It’s wider than 24.5”.

Mom: You’re kidding me.

At this point I had to hang up and deal with the delivery men, who suggested that I'd have to remove the drywall in the stairwell. They ultimately left the washing maching in my dining room. Right in the middle of everything.

Note – I would never wish any harm to father. Hell, we argue over who will carry my bags because I don't want him to exert himself.  I may be a bitch, but I'm no Lizzie Borden.

Cut to two days later when my father and I are trying to figure out how to get the washer in the basement, where it belonged.

Dad: Which way did they take the dryer down? Front first? Or side first?

Me: Umm…I think side first, but I’m not sure. Why?

Dad: Because the washer is only 23 ½” wide, so is the dryer …and the stairway is wider than that. They took it down the wrong way, no wonder they had trouble.

Lazy, lying delivery fuckers! I want my tip back.

In the end, my Dad and I got the washer down to the basement with minimal destruction to any property and I got my front-loading washer hooked up. Once again, Dad comes through.

What did I learn? Delivery men are liars and take advantage of single women.