Around the House

Boy– it’s that time of the year — busy, busy around here with yard work, so not much time to post.  And that covert operation put me behind in the leaf gathering job.   THANKS for all your wonderful comments about my little job.  Several of you asked whether TheManoftheHouse was pleased — I think he must’ve been as he brought me these beautiful roses the next time he went shopping.  Happily, I don’t have to build a retaining wall every time to get pretty flowers!

I’ve also had several questions over the last few months about whether we ever finished the kitchen re-do.  The backsplash tile was FINALLY finished yesterday.  There are still a few little things to do (new drawer pulls, under/over cupboard lights, paint touch-ups) but if we wait until those jobs are done, we’ll probably never be officially done!  So, here are a few before and after shots.

The stove wall.  Before with microwave over the stove.  Our kitchen was never vented to the outside and that was one big change that I really wanted.  Luckily, there’s a linen closet on the second floor, just above the stove area, so they ran the venting through the kitchen ceiling, the back of the linen closest, the attic and then the roof.  As daunting as it sounds, that was probably the smoothest, easiest job of them all.  Here’s the before.

And the after.  The tile guy was a case.  I told him I wanted those little four patch tiles put in a random pattern.  He told me he didn’t do random very well and I chuckled.  I was off doing something else, and when I came back in the room, the little four patches on the left were all lined up in a row.  So, I made him move them and I showed him where I wanted the ones on the right.  When I checked again, he’d laid the ones on the right out in the same pattern as the left — which doesn’t make them very random.  {Sigh.}

Here’s a shot of the old sink and ugly green tile.  The old sink was porcelain (I think?) and was chipped in a few spots.

So, we went with stainless for the new sink.  And that’s one of those spiffy touch on/touch off water faucets.  I LOVE it.  When I have messy chicken or meatloaf or something on my hands, it’s so nice just to tap that faucet with my elbow and have it come on.  And look!  No. Tile.  I can roll out a pie crust or cookies on the countertops – what a treat!

Here’s a shot of the inside of the sink.  The left side is big enough to set a (dirty!) 12″ skillet with handle flat on the bottom of the sink.  The jury is still out on those grate things on the bottom of the sink — I think they’re more of a nuisance than anything else.

Here’s the only shot I could find of the old tile floor.

We replaced it with wood, which is sort of hard to see with the window glare, but I LOVE it!

One of my very favorite things is the bookcase we had added to the end of the cabinets.  My cookbooks used to be in the family room and now my favorites can live in the kitchen.

When I was planning the kitchen, NoBlog Ina sent me some pictures of her gorgeous new kitchen.  In the process we discovered that we had the same oak windsor chairs.  I mentioned to Ina that I would be painting mine black and she asked to see a picture — so this one’s for NoBlog Ina.  I love the chairs painted black, although, they show a LOT more dust.

So.  Overall, I’m pretty happy with the new kitchen, although it’s a lot of brown.  I think I need to spend less time on Pinterest, drooling over the beautiful white kitchens.  I just couldn’t see throwing out our perfectly good cabinets, so we worked with what we had.  At any rate, the Patisserie Dome seems to be MUCH happier.

Even if she has to sit empty ’cause there’s no time to bake this week!

Thanks for sticking it out to the end!

XOXO,
Anna

Or…alternate post title:

My Top 5 Tips for How to Build a Retaining Wall in Your Backyard in Secret

1. Be sure that your husband/significant other is working very long hours/seven days a week at the office for a week or two. And in the event he should come home during daylight hours, keep the window blinds closed at all times.

Trust me ladies…you do not want to hear him yelling from the other end of the house “Luuuucy!  You’ve got some ‘splainin to do!”  Can you see the difference?   Closed blinds are mandatory.

2.  When your husband/significant other leaves for work at the crack of dawn, complain about all the work that you have to get done that day. That way he’ll know you’re too busy to be up to anything.  Be careful though…be sure the work you complain about isn’t tangible, i.e., don’t complain about having to mow the lawn ’cause you’ll have to explain why it isn’t mowed when he gets home.  Try something like organizing all the pictures on your hard drive or taking your mother furniture shopping.
(Hey, check out my cute project manager!)

3.  Be sure and hide all the receipts for construction supplies so they can’t be accidentally discovered. Hide them someplace he won’t look for the duration of the project.  Try the cleaning supplies cabinet.

4.  Clean up after yourself after each day’s work. Make sure all the shovels/rakes are in their usual place in the garage.  Be careful not to track any dirt/gravel into the house.  And be sure that the truck you use to haul supplies isn’t sitting in the driveway when your hubby/so arrives home from work.

5.  Be prepared with a response in the event you get caught before your project is completed. You know… in case you suddenly hear “What the (*&$ is going on here?”, it’s best not to be caught speechless.  Practice one or more of the following choices:

“Retaining Wall????  WHAT retaining wall????”

“Holy Cow!!!!  Someone’s putting a retaining wall in our backyard!!!!”

“OhMyGosh!  The Retaining Wall Fairy has paid us a visit.  Who knew there even was a Retaining Wall Fairy???”

And one last little thought…just for fun, you might want to keep track of the number of times that you almost got caught. (My count was 5, but happily, the project was completed (well, with a few minor touchups needed next week)  two hours before discovery — yipee!!!)

XOXO,
Anna

*Disclaimer: Should you choose to attempt covert operations such as those described above, The Thimbleanna Blog assumes no responsibility in the event of injury to your body or your untimely demise. In addition, if you have small children, do not, I repeat DO NOT, attempt covert operations. Small children will rat you out every time!

**Apparently, thirty years of watching man-preferred mindless tv can come in handy!

*Warning:  Picture Heavy Post*

It was a sad weekend here in ThimbleannaLand a few days ago.  You might remember that I’ve mentioned the Emerald Ash Borer in previous posts and how they were happily eating their way through our ash trees.  This past weekend was the day for the tree cutters to clear out all of our dead trees.  Mr. Tree Cutter and about 6 of his buddies showed up bright and early in the morning.  When they cranked up their chain saws, the kitties ran to the windows to find out what all the commotion was about.

They started in the backyard where the tree cutting was a little more difficult.  For various reasons, they couldn’t just drop the trees in the old-fashioned way.

I was fascinated, watching them all work.  There were two guys who climbed the trees.  This guy scaled this particular tree, cutting limbs as he ascended.

Once he had most of the branches off of the trunk, he backed down the tree a bit and started working on the trunk.

When he’d cut through the trunk, he would drop his chainsaw so that he could push the trunk over in the best direction.

It seemed like there should be some sort of dangling chainsaw ballad playing in the background.

Working his way down the tree.

In the meantime, there were guys on the ground, sawing the tree into pieces and loading them onto a trailer.  Branches were fed into a giant grinder/mulcher/thing.

After the they finished the trees in the backyard, they moved to the frontyard.  I moved across the street and sat on a rock.  I channeled my inner PW and took a picture of Marlboro Man the tree climber in his chaps tree straps.  (Hey, there has to be a little levity here, ’cause this was not a happy day.)

The front yard was a different operation.  There was room to let the trees fall.  Here Mr. Tree Cutter cuts the traditional notch in the tree.

They tied the tree to the front of a pickup and used the pickup to pull it in the right direction.

You may remember seeing this particular tree before.

It’s the tree that provided a safe home to the baby Cooper’s Hawks a few years ago.

This tree made a huge crashing sound (all those limbs breaking) when it came down.  Not gonna lie.  I sat there on my rock and shed a tear or two.

Four more trees and they were finished.  Three hours total work to take down years of tree growth.  We’re left with 9 stumps.

There is one little ray of sunshine though, at least for now.  For some reason, the tree below hasn’t been dying like the others.  I was just sick about three weeks ago when I noticed a few leaves gone and realized that it too, is an ash tree.  I LOVE this tree.  It’s so different and people comment on it a lot when they come to visit.  It stands there tall and straight all by itself.  It’s fun to stand under it and look waaaaaaay up to where the leaves start.   Just four days before it was scheduled to be cut down, a tree guy was here for another reason and he suggested that we try to treat it.  He said they’ve learned a lot about treatment in the last year (we’d been told a few years ago that it probably wouldn’t work) and they’re having great success.

We’re one of the first states to have the EAB and it’s estimated that we’ll lose 20% of our canopy here.  That seems high to me, although we see dead trees a lot.  For us, it’s probably about 25%.  Hopefully, by the time the EAB spreads much farther, they’ll have treatment perfected.  It costs about as much to treat a tree as it does to cut it down, so there’s not much to lose!   Anyway, we’re really hopeful (well, I’m really hopeful — TheManoftheHouse doesn’t seem to be terribly attached to the trees like I am) that our one remaining ash tree will survive.

So, we’ll see.   If you’ve made it this far, thanks for sticking with me and the tree cutters!

XOXO,
Anna

Did you all have a good weekend? Here in ThimbleannaLand it was a fun weekend of work around the house. I read on someone’s blog this weekend that the change of seasons causes a nesting instinct and I think the same is true for me. So I spent the weekend doing lots of little odd jobs that take up lots of time. All the work was made more fun with the help of the internet:

Reason #242 Why I Love the Internet:

People post cool cleaning tips.

About six weeks ago I decided I should try and clean the dingy blinds that I took down when I painted the kitchen. I had no clue how to do it, but the internet said they were washable. I rigged up some ridiculous contraption to hang them in the shower and proceeded to wash the first one with some soapy water. It was a miserable experience that involved the blind crashing to the shower floor more than once — and the after didn’t look any better than the before. I decided it would be a two-day job per blind when drying times were considered. But then, luckily for me, I never got around to the second (of five) blind.

Then, in a serendipitous moment, Pamela posted her method of cleaning blinds a few weeks ago. Never in a million years would I have come up with this idea. I was a little worried that this method might not work since our blinds arethe honeycomb fabric type, but I decided I didn’t have anything to lose.

And how simple is this method? Suspend the blind between two ladders, spray it with Krud Kutter and then hose it down. I added a third little ladder while drying the blind, so all the water wouldn’t pool at the bottom of the blind.

And here’s a shot of the magic elixir. Krud Kutter. I’d never heard of it before, but Oh My Gosh. I didn’t know my blinds were so dirty! This stuff is amazing.

THANK YOU so much Pamela for posting your great idea. I think sometimes as bloggers, we wonder if a post will help anyone. Pamela — you saved my blinds!

Reason #243 Why I Love the Internet:

You Meet Wonderful People Even If They Aren’t Bloggers

Enter Linda Noblog. You’ve heard me mention her here before — she’s probably reason 80, 121, and 157 too. We’ve had some great e-mail exchanges and I’ve learned so much from her. Last week she told me I needed to try the Banana Struesel Muffin recipe from the Sono Baking Company Cookbook. I made a quick batch on Sunday morning and they’re perfect. They remind me of my favorite Chunky Monkey ice cream! THANKS for another great tip Linda!  (And please don’t look at my cupcake papers — I know they would look much more professional sans papers, but I was l.a.z.y.)

I hope you all have a good week. Sneak in some internet time — I’ll bet you’ll find a Pamela or a Linda or more!

XOXO,
Anna