My sister and her husband are vegetarians and brought a tofurky for Thanksgiving dinner this year…
I think the family holiday mash-up video is going to be a new tradition.
My sister and her husband are vegetarians and brought a tofurky for Thanksgiving dinner this year…
I think the family holiday mash-up video is going to be a new tradition.
When narrowing down options to buy our first home, my wife and I focused primarily on century-old homes. I grew up in an 100 year-old house built by my great great grandfather, and both of us have a heart for the charm of hand craftsmanship, unique floorplans, built-ins and yes, those precious original hardwood floors.
So when we moved into our 1890 home three months ago, refinishing those floors was one of our top priorities. Last week my Dad came up from Florida, and the two of us spent nearly four nonstop days sanding, staining, varnishing and touching up.
Here are the results:
Dad varnishing behind the refrigerator:

Bathroom Floor (“Greg the Plumber” Part 2)
Before:

Not that I agree with the content, but this is a phenomenal example of grassroots in action.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPECIAL TIMES EDITION BLANKETS U.S. CITIES, PROCLAIMS END TO WAR
Early this morning, commuters nationwide were delighted to find out
that while they were sleeping, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had
come to an end.
If, that is, they happened to read a “special edition” of today’s New
York Times.
In an elaborate operation six months in the planning, 1.2 million
papers were printed at six different presses and driven to prearranged
pickup locations, where thousands of volunteers stood ready to pass
them out on the street.
Articles in the paper announce dozens of new initiatives including the
establishment of national health care, the abolition of corporate
lobbying, a maximum wage for C.E.O.s, and, of course, the end of the
war.
The paper, an exact replica of The New York Times, includes
International, National, New York, and Business sections, as well as
editorials, corrections, and a number of advertisements, including a
recall notice for all cars that run on gasoline. There is also a
timeline describing the gains brought about by eight months of
progressive support and pressure, culminating in President Obama’s “Yes
we REALLY can” speech. (The paper is post-dated July 4, 2009.)
“It’s all about how at this point, we need to push harder than ever,”
said Bertha Suttner, one of the newspaper’s writers. “We’ve got to make
sure Obama and all the other Democrats do what we elected them to do.
After eight, or maybe twenty-eight years of hell, we need to start
imagining heaven.”
Not all readers reacted favorably. “The thing I disagree with is how
they did it,” said Stuart Carlyle, who received a paper in Grand
Central Station while commuting to his Wall Street brokerage. “I’m all
for freedom of speech, but they should have started their own paper.”
I bought a house two months ago. One of the former owners worked at a greenhouse and has built up quite the garden in the backyard, complete with cucumbers, green peppers, grapes and myriad flowers, plants, etc.
I’ve spent more than 10 combined hours hacking it all down to get ready for winter, and I promise you anything that doesn’t come up on its own next spring is NOT getting replanted.
One of the fun parts of buying the home of people who’ve lived there 20+ years is the adventure of discovering long-lost treasures. Every time I hack into a bush, tree or clump of flower stems, I unearth hidden bounty!
Yesterday I discovered a small plastic box filled with ancient Hot Wheels. Earlier this week I discovered this creepy frog planter thing under a giant overgrown bush.

Then there was this treasure — some sort of metallic flower windmill thing bured under a big bush (note: I have no idea about plant names, so they are either bushes, flowers or flower bushes). This one has sharp edges, so will probably need to go.

And we can’t forget the super classy toilet flower planter.

Former owners told us this is where the original outhouse used to be and warned us not to dig around it much. I think we’ll just leave it until spring.
Today I posted the second post in a series of Perfect Porridge-endorsed independent band marketing tips.