KateOhKatie blogs

…would be 2-story, Craftsman style (arts and crafts) house.

…would have a detached garage out back, with a room above it for Jeff’s study.

…would be in a quiet, established, older neighborhood where none of the houses match, and where the streets are a practical grid–not just a maze of cul-de-sacs.

…would be old and sturdy and authentic and lived-in and loved.

…would have have chairs and a swing and some hanging plants on the big ol’ porch, and grass growing up between the bricks on the front walk.

…would be filled with a collection of furniture accumulated from antique stores and refinished by me, each piece picked out and adored, and the end tables won’t match each other, and the bedframes might be wrought iron.

…would have a warm, comfortable kitchen, sunny and large with a breakfast nook in the corner.

…would have wide-open windows as frequently as possible.

…would have a clothesline in the backyard, and an old picnic table, and maybe a couple chickens and a chicken coop.

…would hold books on built-in shelves in the living areas–kids’ books on the lower shelves, mine on the middle ones, and Jeff’s at the top.

…would have a dining room with a big, loooong table of dark wood–maybe with benches running along either side, and that’s where we’d eat most evenings.

…would hide nooks and crannies and practical storage in unexpected places, with no space wasted.

…wouldn’t bother with massive bathrooms or a master ’suite’ when smaller spaces work just fine.

…would have an attic just like in the movies, with enough space to store baby clothes and Christmas decorations and all that other good stuff.

…would have a girls’ room and a boys’ room and the girls might have a pillow-filled play loft for reading and playing princesses, and the boys’ room would have a super-secret ‘cave’ for playing dragons and having daytime campouts.

…would have a yard filled with old, old trees and some peony bushes and a bench at the back, and a redbud tree and some more nooks and hidden areas for playing, and a vegetable and herb garden right outside the kitchen door.

…would be the kind of place where we could live for 40 years or 50 years and never want to–never have to–move.

…would have a basement with rickety stairs going down, and shelves for holding canned fruits and vegetables, and the washer and dryer in the corner, and might be haunted.

Is that so much to ask?  Guess we’ll find out in a few years…

(If I told you my neighbors had chickens, would you believe me?)

And better still, would you believe that I actually think it’s pretty cool?

I think I’d like to have chickens someday–I really do.

Ba-KAW! (bye!)

Jeff and I just made our second donation to Barack Obama’s campaign.

We can’t afford much, but we give what we can…

Maybe our $XX will be the amount that sends him over the obstacle that is Hillary

Who watched tonight’s speech?

I  was really impressed by it (surprise surprise!)–it was much more of a ‘general election’ speech rather than a ‘primary’ speech.  The message was clear:  It’s time for the Democratic party to move past this divisive time, and unite in the face of ol’ “Four More Years” McCain.  And hopefully Barack will be our man to lead us there

When I was growing up, Mom and Dad’s house–my house–was always cluttered (usually by some activity directly relating to my brother and me).

First it was the plastic toys, dozens of stuffed animals, every Lego and Duplo block imaginable.

As Ryan and I entered elementary school, then it was the invasion of Mom’s PTA stuff. Copy paper boxes full of newsletters and handouts, piles of paperwork.

When we got a bit older, the house started to seem even smaller. Clutter was everywhere.

So when I was 16, we moved. Into a house with THREE WHOLE TIMES the square footage but, somehow, even less storage space.

Next thing you knew, it was the scrapbooking storm of ‘aught two. Mom and I set up work tables. There were scraps of paisley paper (coordinating striped paper on the reverse!), little metal brads and wooden stamps everywhere.

That segued nicely into the wedding event of the century, headquartered in–you guessed it–Mom and Dad’s house. Cobalt glassware rested on every surface. Thanksgiving dinner 2006, we all ate with bolts of tulle on our laps and boxes of personalized napkins and matchbooks under our feet.

~~
Is it any wonder, then, that when Jeff and I established our own household, I have always been militantly anti-clutter? My home is my sanctuary, and though I might not be the best one at dusting or washing the windows, I was always ruthless in my mess prevention policies.

So then this? This? Is not acceptable:

at all.

Folks, meet my garage sale pile. In our small apartment, literally the *only* place for it is the middle of the living room floor.

Last week I started pulling too-short pants from the back of the closet, old shoes from under the bed, and ‘vintage’ appliances out of the kitchen drawers. Tucked away in their hidey holes among our 450 square foot home, it didn’t seem like much. But here, out in the open, it’s a lot. It’s suffocating me.

Coupled with the moving boxes, I can hardly stand to be in my own house–and that’s not a fun feeling. Last night as I stood on a box of wire hangers and surveyed the mess under my feet, I told Jeff, “The garage sale must happen this weekend.”

He gingerly stepped over a box of lava lamps and sci-fi paperbacks, just in time to catch me as I stumbled from my perch. As he opened his mouth to reply, his foot caught in the canvas strap of an old shopping bag and, tripping, he nearly impaled himself on a set of mismatched butter knives. I retrieved Othello from his nest amidst a pile of old turtlenecks, as Jeff looked for Macbeth under a stack of dollar-store picture frames. We were in agreement. This stuff has got to go.

I don’t care how hard it’s raining next week, or even if it’s a tornado–come 7:00 Saturday morning, I’ll be outside trying to sell this crap my valuable possessions to any sucker who thinks they need some barely-worn jeans and a set of metal stacking storage cubes.

Because the clutter? It does not work with my lifestyle. In fact, it stresses me the fuck out. Let the tornado take it.

Who wants to buy some mismatched Tupperware and a plywood bookcase?

Pretend that this post is an awesome 80’s montage.  A “gettin’ stuff done” montage, done to the tune of everybody’s favorite “gettin’ stuff done” montage music:  Takin’ Care of Business.

In this montage, we’re showing Jeff and my preparations for our upcoming move.

• I fill a ginormous box with my hardcover books, making Jeff strain his back as he attempts to lift it.
• Both of us tossing item after item over our shoulders, into the ever-increasing Yard Sale Pile.
• I walk by in the background lugging an armload of winter coats, as Jeff, in the foreground, serenely sits and browses the Internet.
• Jeff affectionately picks a bit of dust out of my hair, acquired at my time in the back of the closet.
• A cat in a box.
• Two cats in a box!
• Two cats in two boxes!
• Empty boxes.
• Good-natured bickering over, “do we really need to save the armchair that has been systematically decimated by tiny cat claws?”
• Jeff driving down to Columbia with boxes full of our possessions (for the purposes of this montage, he’s got sunglasses on, the windows rolled down and moonroof open, and the radio blaring–what else?–Takin’ Care of Business.
• I dig through just-packed boxes in search of my cell phone.
• Jeff walks in the front door, picking and climbing over towers of boxes, only to find me passed out among them, packing tape in one hand and a Sharpie resting on the cat’s nose.

And that, my friends, is why I’m too tired to post any pictures.

…bake a cake, I sometimes spoon a bit of batter back *into* the bowl, to tide me over ’till the cake is done.

…am around toddlers or kids, I always wear my sturdy silver Tiffany’s necklace.  It distracts crying babies–gives them something to do as I rock them to sleep–but is sturdy enough to stand up to a good yank.

…get up in the morning, I always kiss Jeff before getting out of bed.

…wash dishes, I hold contests with myself to see how many clean dishes I can cram into the drainer.

…read a book with an image on the cover, I frequently check back and look at the cover image during breaks in reading.

…wear handknit socks, I have an extra bounce in my step.  Must be that springy wool!

…drive my car, I rarely bother to take off my purse unless it’s a long trip.

…do laundry, I must do it ALL in one massive marathon.

…eat Chinese, I always eat one item at a time out of the stir fry–except shrimp ( I intersperse those throughout).

…watch a movie, Jeff has to read the captions/subtitles, as I can’t see to read them myself.

…fall asleep at night, it’s usually to The Colbert Report.

…take a shower, I shampoo –> shave –> body wash –> face wash.

…sneeze, it’s very cute (or so I’m told).

…run out of Diet Coke, the first thing I do when I get home with a new 12-pack is chug two cans.  Before I even put away the frozen veggies and such.

…listen to music, I always sing.

…get sad, looking through my yarn stash always helps.

…write a letter, I use my very best cursive on the recipient’s name and address.

…have a good dream, it stays with me all day.  Bad dreams don’t.

…cuddle a kitty, I must always kiss its ears to watch them fold back.  Kitties’ anger is cute.

…finish a sock, I wear it all day–even if I haven’t finished the other one yet.

…need to relax, I settle in with a History Channel marathon (love me some poorly-acted historical documentaries!).

…feel the urge to buy something, I usually go grocery shopping and come home with strawberry cake mix, twizzlers, and honey braided pretzels, but no milk, lettuce, or bread.

…eat an apple, I slice it first.

…write a blog post, I frequently pause to look out the window and daydream a bit.

In lieu of an entry actually composed by Yours Truly, here are some Postsecret cards from the past few months that I’ve found particularly funny/intriguing.

Just a few of my favorites

This is what my computer’s weather program says is happening outside right now:

(yes, that’s The Knitting Heretic’s blog in my Google reader)

And this is what the sky looks like from my front porch, also right now:

(love the abandoned high school across the street )

Not that I really mind, y’know.  But still.

I finished these on Saturday afternoon, just in time to wear on our super-quick overnight trip to KC:

The pattern is Blueberry Waffle Socks by Sandy Turner, only I did mine in fingering-weight yarn over 64 stitches instead of the DK-weight the pattern’s written in.

Yarn is Trekking XXL, which is quickly becoming my (and about a million other knitters’) sock yarn of choice.

As of right now, these babies have barely left my feet since I first pulled them on on Sat. afternoon, and they’re still firmly in shape…such is the nature of Trekking, and of wool–that most wondrous of wondrous fibers!

That striping was really unexpected, too.  I thought if would self-stripe pretty evenly…guess I was wrong

I’m also seriously in love with this waffle pattern.  It may have to make another appearance sometime.  Soon.

Now I suppose I should *probably* take them off, and I should *probably* shower before work, but I don’t wanna!

Finally, the socks on their trip to KC:

The very trip which shall serve as blog fodder for tomorrow.  I bet y’all can’t wait, can you?  (It’s OK to say “yes, yes I can.”)

We’re back from the grand apartment hunting trip in St. Louis! We viewed about 14 places (is that a little or a lot? Depends on how you look at it…) and did come away tentatively successful.

Saturday started out in a rather discouraging way…place after place that was dirty, moldy, icky, bad part of town, ugly, dark, blah blah blah. We’d been from one end of Clayton to the other end of University City and back, and without any real success. I was cranky and tired and Jeff was tired of me being cranky and tired…we were quite the pair.

Finally, at the end of the day yesterday, the last agent we worked with said, “I have one more you might like. We just refinished it; it’s not on the market yet…”

And this is it! It’s the top floor of the home (the house is a top/bottom split duplex), and it’s amazing!

We submitted our application and deposit yesterday after looking at several other places first, just to make sure that The One really was The One. (We had a couple other close contenders, but when it really came down to it, we loved what we found )

So the place isn’t ours for sure yet; the application is still pending. But we’re pretty sure we’ll get it, one way or the other (may have to add co-signers…).

That’s the major stuff; here are the specs:

~University City neighborhood–on a quiet street with lots of other families, and grad students. Big trees
~2 bedroom, 1 bath
~JUST remodeled
~Carpet everywhere except hallway, kitchen, breakfast nook, and bathroom
~Central air and heat, but the old radiators are still there–just not hooked up (perfect for cats to sit on without burning their furry butts!)
~We have half a basement for storage, plus there are washer and dryer hook-ups
~2-car garage, to share with the apartment below
~Newly remodeled, with fresh paint, new carpet, all new bathroom (except tub), all new kitchen with new appliances, floor, etc.

Now, a plethora of photographs.

Closer look at the front (our door is on the left):

Going in the front door!

You walk in the front door, and immediately head up a flight of stairs, with a landing and a turn (that window on the side of the house in the first photo, is in the landing). Here’s the living room, looking down where the stairs go:

Picture window in the living room:

The side window…very Scandanavian, no?

The living room is at the front of the house, so that balcony from the first picture? Here’s the door that leads to it:

Balcony door on the left; coat closet is the white one straight ahead.

Here’s the balcony:

It extends to the left, beyond what you can see in the photo there. So it’s big enough for a couple lounge chairs, the grill, side table, etc.

Back inside, there are lots of beautiful glass doorknobs (this one is on the coat closet):

Standing in the living room, facing toward the back of the house, you see the dining room:

(love that archway).

The living room runs the whole front of the house; the dining room is about half as wide–closets and bedrooms and stuff fill the other half-width.

The beautiful new dining room chandelier:

I swear to you, if I’d gone to the lighting store myself, I would’ve picked out the same one.

You walk through the dining room to get to the small hallway that leads to the rest of the house. Next up is the bathroom (it’s all new too, remember?):

Those sconces are beautiful; the floor is slate tile (I think); porcelain pedastal sink; gorgeous oval mirror; new toilet (the bathtub–which you can’t see here–isn’t new, but it’s definitely in thoroughly adequate condition).

Inside the medicine cabinet, just ‘cuz I like to be thorough:

Back in the hallway, Jeff guards the linen closet door (left), and the basement door (right):

I took this picture, standing in the bathroom doorway. The dining room doorway and master bedroom door are to the left (out of the shot), and the second bedroom door and kitchen doorway are to my right (also out of the shot). Confusing enough?

The hallway light; another fixture I adore:

I love how in all this renovating, they kept the house’s age and aesthetic in mind–they didn’t go ultra-modern at all.

Here in the hallway is the original phone holder (the phone would rest on the platform, and its cord would feed through that decorative hole in the center down below):

Next up, the kitchen! Standing in the kitchen doorway:

Same thing, part two (you can see the stove on the right of the shot above; now it’s on the left):

Same thing, part three (you can see the edge of the sink on the right in the shot above, now it’s on the left):

Oh yeah, see that thing in the second picture? The one still wrapped in blue shipping plastic? That’s our brand new DISHWASHER!!! First time I’ve ever had one

Across from all that business, is the fridge and some more cabinets (we’ll have cabinets out the wazoo!):


To the right of the fridge is the pantry (it has a door; that picture’s jsut at a funny angle):

Off the kitchen, all the way at the back of the house, is the breakfast nook (for those of you keeping count, yes we have a dining room AND a breakfast nook! Squee!):

It’s small…just big enough for a small table and a couple chairs, and my plants (it has lots of light, when it’s not rainy outside).

Exposed brick and the sloped ceiling tell me that the nook is probably not original:

But that’s OK; I still <3 it (new hardwood floors, too!).

A thermostat serves as proof of central air and heat

The stairs down to the basement:

Moving on to the bedrooms…

first, the smaller bedroom. We’re going to use it as Jeff’s study room, with my crafting stuff in one corner, and possibly a futon or hide-a-bed for guests:

View out its window:

Smallish closet and yours truly:

Now, on to the master bedroom!

It has a bigger closet:

I also took this incredibly interesting and helpful picture:

That was supposed to show the back-set area where we’ll probably put the bed. Well, I fail.

Heading out the front door:

Bye, House! We’ll see you next month, hopefully! (trying not to get our hopes up *too* far, but like I said above…if we need to add co-signers in order to be approved, either set of parents are willing to help us out with that).

So what do y’all think? Isn’t it a step or two up from our current place?

::EDIT:: Tuesday morning. Here’s my ghetto rendition of what the new apartment’s floor plan is like, as I recall it:

Just in case you care. Which you probably don’t. Unless you’re my mom (hi Mom!).