New blogging friend

Actually she's not a new blogger OR a new friend, so maybe I should say "old friend who I recently discovered is blogging." Anyway, check out Hungry Gibby over there in my links. She did a great post today about the Whole Foods boycott.

My sump pump freaks me out

Now I know I've already posted about the sump pump in the basement, back in March or April when it sprang a leak and there was water water everywhere. But I just feel the need to discuss it again. To start it off, I now have this weird thing known as a BASEMENT underneath my house. You know, where I can go down underground, look out tiny windows and see people's feet outside, and see all sorts of pipes and stuff that were hidden in my previous Texas house. But this sump pump is this weird hole with a cover back in one corner of the basement with a pipe going down into it.

Not only does this hole in general weird me out, when it rains (or soon afterward) and it's doing it's job you can actually hear the water dripping down into it. Ever since the leak this spring I now obsessively go check to make sure the dripping is actually in the hole and not on my basement floor (thank goodness no more problems on that front). And I get a little freaked out when I see the water belch out the pipe that extends to the street, especially when I notice that it looks like my house is the only one with the water coming out of it. We think it may be due in part to the new air conditioner. The humidity has caused a lot of moisture to come out of the AC drain pipe which I assume is going down into the sump pump. But it doesn't make the situation any less weird for me.

Another project down

The painters finally finished up the exterior of the house yesterday afternoon after a LONG week and a half. Even though it was easier than some other projects since the workers were (mostly) outside, poor Lucy still went nuts with all those strangers out there. The kennel had an outbreak of kennel cough, so we couldn't even send her there for the day to get her away from it.

But we are very pleased with the outcome. In addition to changing the colors we had a built-in dog door and built-in air conditioner removed, all the decorative shutters taken down, plus lots of rotten window sills and shingles replaced.


Here is what the house originally looked like (back in November, which explains the lack of plants in front).


Lucy inspects the space where the dog door used to be. We never let her use it - it was covered in all kinds of funk from the previous dogs that lived here. Plus I realized a dog door isn't that great an idea in the winter when rain and snow outside forces you to clean dog paws upon reentering the house.


The house in the process of getting sanded down and prepped for painting.


Naked house front.


Finished front of the house. We are going to replace the storm door with one that is total glass up and down so the red door can be more easily seen. The windows actually have the same red accent on the frames, but it's hard to see with the storm windows back up. We are also going to replace the ugly light currently hidden by the branch in this pic with something a little more architecturally appealing, possibly on either side of the door.


Painted house from another angle.


New paint from the back. Not as nice as the front part of the house simply because this is the more recent addition. The window frames aren't as big and the actual windows are newer without the panes in the top. But I like the expanse at the top without the god-awful ugly HUGE AC unit that used to be there. This screen/storm door will also be replaced by one that is not quite so countrified.

The exterior plants took a beating with the workers and tarps all around, so I'll have to watch those to see what can come back next year. But now we can start deciding on what type of shrub to plant in front to soften up the look a little and cover up that exposed foundation. Our next big project is going to be getting the garage rebuilt. We got spoiled in Dallas after building that one with actually having our cars protected from the elements, and it will be even more appreciated with the winters up here. We are going to have to get a couple trees taken down to have that done, so it should be an exciting time around here.

Customer service

Can I tell you how much I love good customer service? I just had another good experience with a lifetime warranty being honored, though is it actually sad that a company doing what it is supposed to do is considered "good" these days?

The first good experience was with Calphalon a few months ago. For quite a while I had been cooking with (and grumbling about) my large saute pan - different from a frying pan in that the sides go straight up vs sloping out - that was no longer flat on the bottom. I was about to just get rid of it and go buy a new one when I remembered Calphalon has a lifetime warranty. So while I had to go through the trouble of packing up the old pan and shipping it back, it was totally worth it when the brand new pan arrived. The great customer service came in when I opened the new box up to discover they'd sent me the smaller pan. When I called the company about it there were no questions for me; just the woman on the phone falling all over herself apologizing about the mix up. They sent me another pan and a prepaid mailing label to send the smaller one back.

And today my brand new Henckel paring knife arrived in the mail. I'd noticed that my old one had a crack in the handle, which sure enough falls under lifetime warranty. So once again I just had to package up the old one and ship it back to get my new one.

Both these companies sent the replacement products much quicker than stated in their warranty. And as I said, it's too bad that honoring a warranty surprises me, but I'm now a lifetime Calphalon and Henckels customer.

What was in the garden when I returned from Texas

I snapped some pictures a couple weeks ago of what was blooming when I made it back home after three weeks in Texas.


Very excited to discover my hydrangea bloomed out blue. I love blue flowers.


This little patch of daisies erupted next to the hydrangea. It's actually a very nice little clump of flowers when you see the entire thing at once.


We have TONS of these tiger lilies blooming around the house. I hate the fact that once the painters start working on the exterior of the house next week any that are still blooming will most likely get trampled. Hopefully they will all come back next year.


All the hostas had little flowers shooting up out of them.


And a couple varieties of day lilies showed up too. I had one like this in Dallas.


And this one just had such a sunny, beautiful color.


I had to put Alex in this shot (holding his bear-shaped container full of Ben 10 toys) to show the size of these guys. We've decided to eventually get rid of the beds directly in front of the house to make our tiny front yard a little bit bigger, so I've got to find someplace to relocate them. But I think our full-sun options around our house are lacking. They may or may not survive, but I can at least give it a try.