august 12 - shhh, don't tell

Chachi discovered we have cable.

We decided not to put a tv in the living room, so our little Sony is stuck downstairs with all of the boxes. The Olympics started the other day and we're missing all of the action. Chachi noticed the cable wires outside looked, shall we say, unorthodox, so he tried hooking up our tv. Bingo!

   

august 9 - we need some dip

Chips, chips, and more chips. Paint chips, that is. We spent the morning at Fregosi paint store and here's what we have to show for it:

I want to pick colors based on the name of the chip, but that might not be the best strategy. I do like the Ocean City blue - it's the big chip on the right, between Simply White and Soft Pumpkin.

july 12 - moulding removal

The upstairs hardwood floors will be refinished and restained starting next week, and it was suggested that we remove the moulding before they start. Break out the pry bar and safety goggles!

Someone doesn't know his own strength.

Check out the fab seafoam green paint.

We also removed some of the "safety features" - the inside security gate and the bars on the windows - and cleaned the fridge.

    

More here.

july 24 - floors are done

And just in time - we're scheduled to move in 4 days.

july 4 - new fridge

You know how stores have big sales around each holiday? We could have found a great deal on a brand spankin' new fridge at Sears, Home Depot, Lowes...

Well, that would have been too easy. Instead, we found a beauty on Craigslist, and a guy to haul it for us. We should have taken him up on his offer to bring a friend to help. Instead, the walls (and Chachi) suffered a bit:

     

Just add it to the to-do list: Patch walls in the stairwell.

may 27 - we got it!

Our agent called around 9pm Italy time while we were on vacation with the other Struths to let us know we won the house at probate court!

Maybe we'll look for some Italian marble to bring back with us for the kitchen...

april 19 - bid

We wrote the bid with our agent this afternoon, then celebrated our 1st anniversary with a special dinner at Quince - in our wedding clothes!

april 16 - inspection day

Big day - a pest inspector came to see our potential new home, and I took lots of pictures. After all of the beautifully remodeled and expertly staged homes we've seen, this one is quite a change. We definitely noticed more work that needs to be done, but we're still going to bid. Fingers crossed!

More here.

july 25-28 - moving weekend

I had great intentions of sorting through all of our stuff before packing, separating items to keep, donate, and garage sale. Then all of a sudden we had only 2 days before the movers showed up, hence:

But Chachi was a big help:

The movers were great and the move itself went very smoothly. Now we're in and the house looks eerily similar to inspection day. Hmm. 

     

the kale cover-up continues

Still not a big fan of kale, but cooking it with bacon fat and smothering with creamy polenta sure helps. We received kale and mushrooms in our latest (and last) produce delivery, so this recipe was perfect.

As suggested by reviewers, I sauteed the kale with the mushrooms, and reserved the pancetta to sprinkle on top of the finished dish. Wish I had halved the polenta - we have a ton left.

Probably won't buy much kale in the future, but I bet this would be great with spinach.