Friday, March 26, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Do you love where you live? I have a friend that commented about how much she loved her house. That statement caught my attention. I've always been rather indifferent about my house. It's simply been a place to live. I like it well enough, but I've never thought "wow, I love my house, what a great place to live." I asked my friend what was it about her house that made it so wonderful? She replied with a answer that basically boiled down to "there's just something about it that I like."

About five weeks ago, this same friend was at my house, sitting in my living room. She was looking around and said I really needed to paint the living room. I agreed but I'm so indecisive about color that I've never done anything about it. She instantly said recommended two colors that would look wonderful. I said "great, you pick the colors and I'll paint it." Two weeks ago, she came over, we went to Lowe's, I bought the paint and we spent the day painting my living room. By the end of the day, I had a beautiful new living room. The colors are perfect. The living room is now warm and inviting. I didn't realize how stark it was until it was painted. I can honestly say I love my living room. Because of the amazing transformation in the living room I've been inspired to finish up some half started projects such as painting the kitchen.

Of course, shortly after painting my living room, I found out that at least at one point, I've had termites. I might (probably) still have them, however I haven't been able to find any live termites, just the signs that they've been here before. It's so frustrating. It's great that I haven't found an active colony, but like the bug guy said "they don't just pack up and move." So, I'm in limbo. Treatment will probably cost around $1300. Although I'm certainly not thrilled about how expensive it is, I would get the treatment in a heartbeat if I found live termites. However, since everything we've found it old, I'm uncertain how to proceed. Part of me thinks I should just get the treatment and be done with it. The other part thinks I should hold off a bit and just really watch for any new signs of termites. I've learned a lot in the past two weeks. I know what to look for. Clearly I don't have a huge, active colony at work in my house so it's not like the house is going to fall down around me in the next month or two. I think I'm leaning towards waiting a bit, keeping a close eye on things this summer, continuing to pay off debt and working on my small home improvement projects. In all likelihood, I will end up getting the treatment, if only for peace of mind. But in the meantime, I can proceed with my short term goals of paying of my last credit card, painting the kitchen and loving my house...termites and all.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

How to make applesauce

Peel, core and cut up apples into chunks.

Put chunks into a slow cooker.

Add cinammon if you want.

Set slow cooker to low.

Cook for several hours to desired doneness (chunky to mushy.)

Eat.

Enjoy.

Really...that's it.