From The Archives: Want To See My Hot Press?
Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published way back in 2017 and the experience is still seared into my brain. Enjoy! Moving to a foreign country – even one where you speak the language – is a humbling experience. My advice? Settle into the feeling that you are going to be the biggest idiot in the room. A little humor and humility go a long way toward settling in. When we were looking for a house in Ireland we toured an owner-occupied home they were putting on the rental market. During the tour, the owner made a passing reference to the hot press. “I’m sorry. A hot what?” In hindsight, my…
6 Flower Monogram Embroidery Ideas
To stitch or not to stitch? Earlier this year I was really into flower embroidery and even tried my hand at flower monogram embroidery. I had sew much fun. Everyone asks me, “What are you going to do with your creations?” All 31 of them. And I still have more hoops to use. Told you I was into it. Ha! Besides simply enjoying my creations, I could hang them, gift them, sell them, use them as Christmas ornaments, turn them into giant necklaces, make a keychain I’d never lose because it was so big, or maybe leave them around town for random strangers to be utterly confused when they find…
Happy List: #353
Hey, hey! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. It’s good to see you here. This week on the blog was a random one. I shared how to fix headphones with misshapen earpads. What I didn’t mention is that when earpads start to wear out, they will leave little black flakes on your skin. I’ll be looking at Handy Husband freaking out that he has skin cancer and then realize, nope, it was his headphones deteriorating. *sigh* I also shared how I plant the hydroponic lettuce that I buy from the grocery store. This week it was on sale for $2.50 a head. It makes me feel very victorious when I…
How To Plant Hydroponic Lettuce From the Grocery Store
I love buying the hydroponic lettuce from the grocery store. Did you know you can plant your hydroponic lettuce in soil, if it still has a rootball, and it will continue growing? Lettuce try it and see what happens! I don’t have a particular green thumb, so if I can do this, so can you. Here’s my simple process for getting hydroponic lettuce to grow in soil. First, don’t pick all of the leaves off the lettuce before you want to plant it. Leave some healthy leaves on the plant. I have the best success with the lettuce continuing to grow if I plant it within two weeks of buying…
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How To Fix Misshapen Ear Pads on Headphones
If the ear pads on your headphones are falling apart and misshapen, don’t throw those expensive headphones away. You can fix them! I first tried to reshape the old ear pads. Got them wet. Tried to reshape them. Coaxed them to cooperate. It worked better in theory than in practice. But I had to try. That’s when I discovered that for most major brands of headphones, you can find replacement ear pads online. The replacement ear pads should come with directions and replacing them isn’t hard. I’ll show you how it looks to replace the ear pads on these Bose headphones. It should be similar to yours. Step 1: Remove…
Happy List: #352
Hi! Welcome to today’s Happy List. I’m delighted you are here. This week on the blog I shared the thing I never noticed about white farmhouses before. It made me question my powers of observation. I also shared the way we display Handy Husband’s running medals and race bibs. Running probably saved his life from a physical and mental perspective, so I’m definitely supportive of his desire to run races. As always, thank you for being here today. It makes my day to share things with you that interested me, made me smile, or made me think this week. I hope it makes your day too. If you want to…
How To Display Running Medals and Race Bibs
Do you know someone who is REALLY into running? Let me show you how to display running medals and race bibs in a fun, artistic way. All you need is a cork board or an old door and some cork. Now take the ever-growing collection of race bibs and running medals that are stuffed in every junk drawer, glove box, backpack, and coat closet you own and staple them to your cork board. That’s it! It’s faster than running a 5k and, dare I say, far more enjoyable. If you’re turning an old door into a cork board to display running medals and race bibs, it’s best to find an…
The Curious Thing About White Farmhouses
I have recently been assigned the excruciating job of selecting a trim color for our white farmhouse. Who gave me this task? I did. Who decided I was qualified? No one. Who will be upset if I pick the wrong color? Me. I make a million decisions (give or take) a day. Why is picking one paint color so difficult? I have picked baby names faster than I’ve picked a trim color. Not even joking. Anyway, in all of my research (aka Googling and walking around the towns near me), I noticed a curious thing about white farmhouses. Not always, but often, the accent color of a white farmhouse comes…
Happy List: #351
Hey, hey! Welcome to today’s Happy List. I’m over-the-moon to have you here. This week on the blog I shared the four old house construction techniques that were used to build our home. We discovered them during our recent project to put new siding on the house. I also wrote about how our home insurance was affected by the changes we made to our siding. There are some mysteries in life we are not meant to understand. This is one of them. Once again, thank you for being here today. It makes my day to share things with you that interested me, made me smile, or made me think this…
How Much Our Insurance Changed With Hardie Fiber Cement Siding
When the wood siding on our very old house started to rot away, everyone told us to reinstall new wood siding because that’s what buyers of old houses on the East Coast expect. Clearly, “everyone” hasn’t had to maintain painted wood siding. We decided to have Hardie® fiber cement siding installed instead because our priority for protecting our almost 250-year-old home was to make it fire-resistant, deter wood-eating pests, protect it from severe storms, and add resistance to moisture-induced rot. If an owner of an old house isn’t sleeping well, you know why. We have a lot to worry about! Fiber cement siding protects our home from all of those…
