Away for the Holidays?

23 12 2009

’tis the season for everyone to be traveling and leaving their homes unattended for periods of time, while celebrating with loved ones.  So I thought I’d share what I do around the house to get it ready for my absence. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have a garage that would keep it a secret as to whether my car was here or not.  So it’s pretty clear to anyone wandering by when I’m not at home.  That (and my own sense of security) is why I installed an alarm system a few months ago.  I’ve read one too many articles about single women being accosted/attacked in their homes, so I thought it made sense to spend the extra money and put one in and it’s been great.  I think the alarm signs in my yard and on my front and back windows alone have given me peace of mind, let alone the window and door alarms, and motion sensors.  I can finally sleep peacefully at night and feel confident when coming home that as long as the alarm is still activated, there’s no one in my house.  So that’s my main security.

Keeping me safe!

Even though it’s kind of obvious that I’m not there, I do like to give the illusion that someone’s home (maybe my car’s in the shop, right?).  So shortly after moving in, my dad helped me install a light switch that has a built-in timer – I can set it for a certain time, or make it random. I always choose the random setting, so that it appears as if someone real is home and turning on the lights, instead of just a timer.  I also have a timer set for my bedside lamp in my room, so that it looks like at night, I’m in there reading when I’m not.  Some people also leave an upstairs shade open, to make it look as though someone might be home, but I have yet to do that – I generally close all the shades in the house, so that no one can see in. 

At this time of year, I was also happy to find an outside timer for my Christmas lights – it works really well now that we’ve had all that snow and I can’t get to my outside GFI plug easily, but basically, at dusk, my lights come on, and then six hours later, they go off.  So that will help with the appearance of someone being home too.

Love my light-sensing timer!

Before going away for more than a couple of days, I also let my next door neighbors know where I’ll be and for how long.  They help me out by picking up my mail and the paper, so it doesn’t pile up for too long, and they keep an extra eye on my home for anything out of the ordinary.  Sometimes, they’ve been known to put my garbage cans out, which really makes it look like I’m still here!  I never broadcast that I’m going to be away, but I think it’s helpful to let one trusted neighbor know where you’ll be. 

In addition to security, I’ve got to prepare the house.  I leave myself a long list of things to do in the days leading up to my departure (mostly because if I didn’t have a list, I’d forget something).  I unplug anything unnecessary (like, I definitely plan to unplug my space heater, even though it’s off, just in case).  I like to come home to a clean house, so I spend a little time each day straightening up and cleaning.  On the day I’m leaving, I take out my garbage and recycling, so that it’s not smelling up the house while I’m gone.  I make sure to run the dishwasher the night before and then handwash any dishes I use before leaving.  I water all my plants and clean out my refrigerator of any perishables that won’t last until my return.  And just before leaving (in the winter), I set my heat at 45 – that way I’m not using too much energy in an empty house, but it’s just enough that my pipes won’t freeze.  You can never predict how cold it might get in the winter, so it’s always a good idea to leave the heat on low, rather than shutting it off completely.  Finally, I double check that all the locks are bolted before turning on the alarm system and heading out.

So that’s my routine for leaving home for a week or so – how do you close up your house while you’re away?


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Projects for Next Year

22 12 2009

For me, winter is a great time to work on some home projects.  Once the holiday season is over, and we’re dug in for those cold, grey days, it’s a good time for some home improvements.  I don’t have too many things on my immediate list – long term, I’d like to replace some shades, paint all the trim in my house, paint the closet and bedroom doors upstairs, and a few other things.  But on my immediate radar screen, I’d like to paint an accent wall in my living room.

I plan to paint this wall a darker blue in the same color family

And I just hate the light fixture in my downstairs bathroom. Hate it.

Blech

My parents are getting rid of a decent fixture from their bathroom, so I plan to use that, and replace one of the glass covers that’s cracked.  I’m all about recycling, because light fixture can be expensive.  The one I really like, I saw at Lowes:

Right in the middle

I may also get around to replacing the ceiling fan in my bedroom as well, which has seen better days, and often makes a grinding noise when I’m running it.  It’s awesome. 

The thing I’m most excited about though isn’t a project, but a furniture addition – I think I’ll finally be able to get the dining room sideboard I’ve been eyeing at Pier 1 for the better part of a year:

The Alston Chest!

It says they have limited availability though, so I’m hoping to get it just after the holidays – we’ll see!

What projects are you planning for the new year?


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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

21 12 2009

Besides snow and lights and family and friends, one of the other things there is a lot of at this time of year is holiday parties.  Most people I know go to a lot of them, but this year, I went to just one, my sister’s annual Christmas party.  She’s held it every year for the past several years, with the exception of last year, because it fell a couple of weeks after my niece was born. 

This was the first time she and her husband were having their party in their house – when they lived in a condo, they would still host about 15-20 people, which was VERY cozy!  So this year, there was plenty of room for decorating, eating and enjoying each other’s company.

She decorated the table with the food with this cute little tree

There was TONS of food, but I snapped only a few pictures:

Her famous bruschetta

Pigs in a blanket

And this yummy spinach dip!

The party was a big hit, and the food was great – too bad I didn’t snap any pictures of all the desserts she had for us too! 

Continuing with the food theme (I’m hungry today!) – the following day, we celebrated my baby sister’s birthday (she’s 24, so not really a baby, but always to me!).  My dad put together a delicious tea brunch, complete with mini sandwiches and scones (he’s English, so you know they’re official).

We had cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches

 

Ham sandwiches with butter (my favorite, just like my granddad!)

Egg salad sandwiches (not for me, I'm not a big egg eater)

And scones - we added clotted cream and either strawberry or raspberry jam to them - mmm!

Lots of good cooks in my family!  Are any of you hosting holiday parties this year?


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I hate meeses to pieces!

17 12 2009

Last week, I was having a pretty good day. I’d just gotten back from the grocery store, which always makes me happy, and was starting to unload my food.  I went to put something in the cabinet next to my refrigerator, where I keep tupperware, plastic bags, saran wrap and other miscellaneous items and…I noticed mouse droppings. 

Ugh.

Not a Lindsay original photo...

My parents have had mice, so I didn’t panic or immediately call an exterminator, but I was thoroughly grossed out.  A friend later pointed out to me that of the infestations you can have, mice are probably the best one – that might sound gross, but they’re better than squirrels, raccoons, or jumping spiders that crawl over your face at night.  Yeah.

This was one of those days though that I wished someone else was here to deal with this, but I looked to the left and I looked to the right, and it was just me.  Awesome.  I proceeded to take everything out of the cabinet.  I threw out anything questionable, from the open boxes of Ziploc bags to the candle they had clearly been nawing on.  I put anything I planned to keep that could be washed in the dishwasher and washed it on the hottest cycle.  I went back to the grocery store and picked up new tupperware containers, new supplies, Clorox wipes, and two big plastic containers to put my clean and new things back in.  I also got D-con, a mouse poison.

D-Con

Now. I know there will be some of you that will argue with my poison choice.  I’m not an animal hater by any means, but let’s consider some things.  A few people suggested glue traps to me.  Not a bad idea, but then I’d have to deal with a live and scared mouse.  Apparently, you either have to drown them once they’re caught (I can’t imagine having to do that) or someone said you can pour vegetable oil on them and it frees them from the glue.  Not sure about that, plus I still have to pick them up and bring them somewhere to do that.  And I heard from more than one person that sometimes the mouse is so upset to be caught that it actually tears itself in half.  So no, I’m not getting glue traps.

Someone else suggested another kind of humane trap that simply catches the mouse.  But again, I’d have to release it.  I would love to say I’m brave enough to handle a live mouse in a trap (and if I absolutely had to, maybe I could), but the truth is, I’m not.  I don’t scream over spiders (maybe the really really big hairy ones) and I don’t worry about flies or bugs.  But rodents?  I just can’t make myself go near them.  Plus, I kept thinking that rodents carry disease, and I’d rather not take the risk.  So yes, I went with the D-con.

When I got home, I put on my lovely rubber gloves with ruffles (a gift from a friend), got out the soft scrub with bleach and cleaned out the cabinet (no worries, I also threw out the sponge as soon as I was done with it).  I got rid of almost everything in there – anything paper or cardboard was gone. I saved only the garbage bags, and got rid of their box.  I found new homes for some of the clean items coming out of the dishwasher and used the clean tupperware to house my cookie cutters, which had been in a box.  I threw out extra tupperware because I wasn’t sure I could make myself put food in there again, even if it was clean.  I used the Clorox wipes to wipe down the bottles of olive oil and vinegar that had been stored in there, and put everything in the plastic containers once it was clean.  Ahh.  I didn’t put anything on the top shelf except D-con and another supply of it near where I think they’re coming in.  Another friend suggested figuring out where they come in and sealing it off.  It seems that they never sealed up the cabinet next to the dishwasher, and that looks to be the only entrypoint.  Blech.  I do plan to look to seal that up, perhaps with some spray insulation, but that’s a project for another day. 

Since the big clean out, I’ve noticed only one mouse dropping.  When using D-con, there is the possibility that the mouse will eat the “food” and die in the walls of the house, which leads to a fairly distinct and nasty smell – it has happened at my parents’.  However, I was willing to take the chance, and so far I haven’t noticed anything.  I suspect that could be because we had a few warmer days right afterwards, so the mice may have gone back outside again. I’m really hoping this is my last bout with mice!


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Categories : General, Kitchens

Adding Privacy Liners to Blinds

18 11 2009

When I moved in to my new house, I felt very fortunate that I had blinds already installed because I knew that they could be a costly investment to start out with!  But that good fortune turned to disappointment when I realized that the previous owner had never cleaned them.  Because they are not my style and because she had three cats living here (and I’m allergic – and I suspect that’s part of my dog’s allergies too, poor guy), I decided to replace them room by room.  I particularly love the bamboo shades I replaced them with in my bedroom and bathroom – they make me happy every time I see them.

My lovely shades

However, my excitment over the shades was tempered when I realized that although aesthetically pleasing, they weren’t exactly private.  My parents have similar shades in their living room, and pointed out to me that particularly at night, with the lights on, you can pretty much see everything in the room.  Definitely not ideal for a bedroom and bathroom. Particularly, when the house behind me is where my creepy neighbor lives and I’m not entirely sure he doesn’t spend his days attempting to look into my house.  I finally picked up some privacy liners for the shades this weekend, and after some careful review of the instructions and installing them, they gave me an incredible measure of relief!

I started by taking the shades down (in a future post, I’ll talk about installing them, hopefully when I put them up in my office!).  It’s a fairly easy process – I just lift up the bamboo flap covering the top brace and there are two nuts and bolts holding up the shade.  I just loosened the right one a little…

RHS

…and then took off the left one, so that I could remove the shade. 

LHS

The next step is to lay the shade on a flat surface, with the side of the shade that faces into your home facing down.  It’s probably easier to work on a hard surface like the floor or a table, but I used my bed since it was convenient and my sheets were in the wash.

Flat surface

Next, I took the liner out of the packaging and read through the instructions.  I first had to remove the velcro tab from the liner and carefully affix it to the top of the shade.

Affixing liner

Once it was attached, I used the included nails to further secure it to the shade, starting three inches from each side, and then spacing them evenly across the top.

Spacing nails

All nailed

The next step was to attach the liner to the velcro strip, and stretch it evenly over the shade.

Stretched evenly

Then, it’s necessary to affix the bolster strips on the liner to the shade itself, so that it correctly folds when I open it. I rolled up the liner to reveal the top bolster strip, made sure that it was properly stretched and flat, and then, about three to four inches in from the side, I planned to attach it to the bamboo blinds.

Bolster 1

To attach it to the blinds, the liner comes with several plastic ties.  The tie is pushed through the blind to the front…

Tie to the front

…and then pushed back through another slat to the back. 

Tie to the back

Then, you push the tie through a small loop on the bolster…

Through the little loop

and push it together.  It doesn’t work like a zip tie, in that the end doesn’t push all the way through so that you can tighten this. 

All together!

(Sorry this is a little blurry - I got a little closer than my little camera was happy with!)

I assume that’s to allow for some give, so that the shade doesn’t pull.  For larger shades, they say over 37″, you’ll need to repeat this process for the middle of the shade, as well as the other side.  Since I was working with small shades, I only needed to repeat it on the other side.  I continued for the remaining three bolsters, smoothed out the fabric again, and re-hung the shade.  You can really see the difference between the shade in my guest room with no liner, and the shade in my bathroom!

Without liner

Guest room, without liner

With liner

Bathroom, with liner

So now I can be comfortable in my own home, without worrying about my creepy neighbor.  I plan to replace the shades in my living room and dining room eventually, and will definitely be getting these privacy liners to keep would-be peeping toms guessing!


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Categories : Bathrooms, General, Living Spaces

Lighting a Fire in Your Fireplace

17 11 2009

When I was looking at houses, a fireplace was never on my “must have” list, but I was very excited when my eventual home ended up having one.  During the inspection, the home inspector pointed out a small crack at the back of the fireplace, and suggested that I have a cleaner come to inspect it further before lighting a fire.  I finally got around to doing that last week and learned that because the fireplace is a pre-fabricated one, that’s common.  Unfortunately, the company that makes them is out of business, so it would be difficult to replace that back panel, which is where most of the heat during a fire resides.  He reassured me that it’s not a danger at this point and that I could still have a fire without burning my house down (phew!), but in the future, I’ll need to consider having him come back to seal up the crack and put in a heat reflector/shield, which will protect that back panel from further damage.  I certainly plan to do that, but not for a few months at least.

In the meantime, I can still enjoy a nice, cozy, crackling fire!

So in my weekend travels, I picked up a couple of small bundles of wood (not the most economical way of doing it, but I plan to only have a few fires).  I already had fatwood at home, which is a natural fire starter, so I didn’t pick up any of those lighter logs.  I called my parents to double-check the process and then got started.  I also made sure to have fireplace tools on hand, in case the logs shifted and I needed to move one.

When I had my fireplace cleaned, I learned that my grate was slightly too big (making it a bit of a jiggle to get the doors closed).  I did use the big grate for my first fire, but plan to measure the space and replace it soon.  My dad suggested that I start with four logs, the first two placed horizontally, with a little bit of space between them:

Two logs

The next two logs should be place at an angle, to allow for some room between them all:

Three logs

Four logs

Once the logs were set up, I checked to make sure the flue was open – this is key, because that’s how the smoke escapes your house.  Before you light the fire, check to make sure the flue is open!

Flue is open!

Then, I lit my first piece of fatwood and got ready for my fire!

Fatwood is lit!

I inserted it towards the back of the fireplace, between the top and bottom rows of logs, to help it set them afire.  I then lit another piece of fatwood and repeated the process on the other side so that it would burn evenly.

Starting to smoke!

It's starting to smoke!

Finally, the fire started to get going.

Just a little

Then it caught on a little more.

More fire

Finally, it was a beautiful fire!  I made sure to pull the metal curtains closed so that a certain curious basset hound of mine wouldn’t be tempted to check it out, though it turned out he wasn’t interested in the fire at all!

My first fire!

I was very excited to have my first fire, and look forward to many more successful cozy ones this winter!


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Hectic Fall

22 10 2009

Dear readers, I have not forgotten about you!  But between traveling, feeling under the weather, and generally not spending weekends at home this fall, I haven’t been working on my house other than the usual home cleaning.  However, I have been thinking about the blog, and recognize that being a Handy Homeowner Girl means more than just plumbing and projects - it’s also about being responsible for everything in your house, from cooking to cleaning to panicking over surprise costs.  So I’ll also be adding in some other topics along those lines.

In the meantime, I wanted to let you that I’ll be posting some blogs soon about getting your home ready for the colder weather, which here in the northeast showed up on September 1st.  Please let me know if there’s anything in particular you’re planning to do in your home that you’d like to share or have questions about!


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9-11-2001 – Never Forget

11 09 2009

Today, I break from posts about homeownership to remember the events of September 11, 2001.  On that day, I was a senior in college, asleep on my futon.  With the head of my bed closest to our phone, I was the one to pick it up when it rang that beautiful sunny September morning.  I heard my roommate’s boyfriend (now husband) ask for her, and he sounded so terrible, I thought someone in his family had died.  In shock as she listened to him, she told me to put on the tv and we saw the results of the first plane’s hit on the North Tower.  I knew my dad was supposed to fly to Portugal that day for a conference, and had it in my head that his flight was that morning.  In a panic, I managed to get him on the phone before the lines were too busy with frantic calls from loved ones and found out his flight was supposed to be later that day.  Since then, I’ve heard so many stories like that of near escapes and plain luck.

My roommate and I watched in shock and horror as the second plane crashed into the South Tower.  We called our friends in the next dorm to see if they’d heard the news, and found out that one of them had a cousin who worked there (we later found out that she was just in the lobby when the plane hit, and managed to get out safely).  We decided that we just wanted to be together, so I vaguely remember rushing around to throw on some clothes so we could head over there.  I was standing at the sink, my roommate at her dresser, when we heard Matt Lauer say the South Tower had collapsed.  I thought he must be kidding, and we rushed back to the tv to see that it was true.  After we reached our friend’s dorm room, the four of us watched the North Tower collapse, at first believing it to be re-aired footage of the first collapse. 

At that time, it felt like pure chaos.  On the news, they were saying that more than 30 planes were unaccounted for, and as we heard about the attack on the Pentagon and the crash of flight 93, I wondered when it would end.  It felt like the end of the world.  We were devastated, horrified, scared, and overwhelmed.  Finally, there was an eerie calm as we tried to make sense of it.  I still had to go to my job, first a lunch with my boss and another student – my boss was originally from Rockland county, so she knew firefighters in New York.  I’m not sure how that lunch went because we were both in a fog, but I do remember watching the coverage with her when we got back to the computer lab where I worked.  We were still in shock. 

The campus posted a website where they would update the names of those who had confirmed that they were okay in New York and D.C., so we watched for friends’ names to pop up.  Our college lost three alumni that day.  The school put together a hasty memorial service for that night and most professors cancelled classes.  The next day, I was with three classmates on an errand when the 7pm memorial time started – the President had called the nation to stand outside with candles at that time, in memory of those we had lost.  I stood in a parking lot with these three friends for an hour, until candle wax was melting over our fingers and the flame was threatening to burn out.  Motorists honked and waved.  More people joined us and we cried together.  But it was comforting, the togetherness. I always think of that night on the 9/11 anniversary.

And I think about my dad.  My dad who almost worked at Cantor Fitzgerald and was almost working there that day.  My dad, who had to sit in his office alone and watch friends and former colleagues perish as the towers fell.  What a nightmare for him, but how fortunate for my family that his life had taken a different turn.  I think of those friends.  Kevin Dennis, a stock broker for Cantor Fitzgerald, who left behind his wife and two young twin sons.  Randy Scott, a broker at Euro Traders, who left behind his wife and three daughters and who I can still remember sitting on the couch in our living room in Old Tappan.  And many more.  It reminds me that just because time passes, the loss is no less great.  I saw some of the young children at the memorial today, and knew that they may have never known the loved ones their families were mourning. 

Since 9/11, I have watched friends and family serve overseas because of the events of that day – my brother-in-law, cousin, their friends and our friends.  Their service and the sacrifice of their families reminds me of 9/11.  And I long for that sense of unity and community I felt in the days and weeks after the terrible events of that day – the sense that we could all get through this together.

Today, as I watched the families and volunteer representatives read the almost 3,000 names, I cried along with the family members who broke down remembering their loved one.  I thought about how I would feel if it were my sister, my father, my husband, my best friend lost that day.  My heart goes out to them and I hope they can find strength and peace today.  A father who had lost his son said that it wasn’t raining today – that these were tears.  I think he’s right. 

9/11 – We will never forget.


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Categories : General

Do Try This at Home!

17 08 2009

Last week, those crazy ladies over on Looking Glass Lane got me thinking about superheroes and their powers.  More specifically, it got me thinking about what my super powers might be.  Can I leap tall buildings in a single bound? Well, no. 

But I can dust an entire room in a single commercial break.

Which got me thinking about all the things I’ve had to learn to do in my first year as a homeowner (don’t worry, I did actually know how to dust already).  I can now mow the lawn, change a toilet handle, start up a finicky sump pump, paint a hallway with high ceilings, remove wallpaper, and many more things that had previously never actually found their way on to my bucket list.

While I’ve been on this journey of single gal homeownership, there’s been a lot of triumph, some frustration, and one tearful phone call to my dad in the middle of the night.  I’ve gotten a LOT of help – from my parents, friends, the internet and sometimes just pure trial and error.  But there’s never been just one place I can look up some of my silliest questions – you know, the kind that keep you out of the local hardware store for fear of looking foolish in front of the salty old fisherman types who work there.  So I’ve decided to blog about my (mis)adventures in homeownership in the hopes that maybe my experiences can help somebody else.  Maybe you’re a single woman, renting or owning a home for the first time.  Maybe your husband, boyfriend or partner just works all the time, so all the home stuff falls on your shoulders.  Or maybe you’re just the handy one in the house.  Whatever the reason, I hope that my blog can become a resource for you, or at the very least, a great source of laughter.

Do try this at home!

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