Behold the Tamp!

Yet another excellent find from the Habitat Hand-Me-Ups store. The tamp (table + lamp) was $15 and a shade from Target was $20. It's pretty 70's fabulous.I got my first gas heat bill. It was a bit more than I'd hoped ($80) but it's been a cold month. I've been sleeping in the den because the couch is more comfortable than my bed at the moment. It'll be interesting to see if this makes a difference.

A Wonderful Evening

Last night, some members of the 5th grade team from Durham Academy came over for dinner. I taught with most of them last year and they are some of the most gracious, fun, and interesting people I've ever met. Can't imagine having made it through my first semester of teaching without them. I provided bread and local goat cheese, pumpkin soup, black beans and cheese grits, an apple crisp, and brownies. Others brought wine, an amazing salad with a white balsamic vinegar dressing, fall vegetables, guac, salsa, and chips, and cornbread. There's something about a really great meal in the company of people with whom you feel totally comfortable. Little kids playing on the floor, folks making the dishes in the kitchen, folks loading the dishwasher before they left, and more food than could ever be eaten. Despite the fact that I have plenty of chairs, the real action of the party was in the kitchen with people sitting on the floor and leaning on the counters. It was the happiest and most peaceful I've felt in a long time.

More photos from the evening are here.

More Habitat Finds

A couple of recent Habitat Hand Me Ups Thrift Store finds, including a table I refinished.

Before and after

A bookcase I bought for $12

Fall!

Great, blustery fall weather this week. I've been spending too much time on my school blog to get much accomplished here. Looking forward to having the 5th grade team from Durham Academy over for supper in a couple weeks.

House Blessing

I love house blessings; they combine two of my favorite things- homes and the Eucharist. The last house blessing I had at my apartment in Chapel Hill was crazy. There were 55 people there. People received their communion, went out the front door and came back in the back door.

Tonight's house blessing was a much smaller affair. It was great because there were a range of people and not necessarily the group I would have chosen if I was just trying to have my best friends. There were also children underfoot. During the house blessing liturgy, there is a prayer in each room of the house and an accompanying antiphon. It went so quickly; I kept wanting to freeze time. I had been planning for the occasion literally since the moment I bought the house. I suppose in some way it is how parents prepare for the baptism of a child. Father Timothy was incredible, as always. I love that he is just as comfortable celebrating at a coffee table in a living room as at a high altar.

Here was the gospel text for the evening from Matthew 6:

25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

There are pictures from tonight posted here

The Back 40

Well, ok, it's more like the back .3 acres but pushing the lawn mower up the hill last night it definitely felt like more than that. Some friends had graciously given me a lawn mower they weren't using any more and I was happy not to pay $40 to the yard guy. It was hard work but I had a great sense of satisfaction when I finished. The house blessing is tomorrow and I'm super-excited. Still a couple of things that need to get done before then, but I think I'm generally on track.

To Strip or Not to Strip

The kitchen door steps of my house were painted an atrocious Carolina blue. The color didn't match the rest of the house at all. I think painted bricks are a travesty in the same way that I think carpeted hardwood floors are a disgrace. However, I also had heard that removing paint from brick was incredibly difficult, so I had decided to paint the steps black to match the shutters. However, as I started to paint, I realized that there were only about 4 coats of paint on the steps and stripping them might be an option. So, I made a second trip to Home Depot for a stripper (the paint kind). I worked for awhile but realized one can was not going to be enough, so I made a third visit to Home Depot. You can see the progress below. There's still lots to be done, but there's some nice brick underneath in great condition.

Other People's Stuff

I'm making a concerted effort not to buy anything new if I can reasonably find it used somewhere else. While I'm not as hard core as these folks, I am trying to do most of my shopping for non-consumables at thrift stores and yard sales for both cost and environmental reasons. Yesterday was the Binkley Baptist Yard Sale. It, along with the ABC Sale at Chapel of the Cross, are the big ones when it comes to church sales in the area. I love the chaos of these sales. They're a great place to get furniture, kitchenware, and books. My other favorite place to pick up used things is the Habitat Hand Me Ups store in Durham. They've recently expanded and the selection is amazing!

A used tea crate I got at the Binkley sale for $2. It makes a great table!

A table I found by the side of the road and refinished. I'm happy with the result.

Anathoth Garden

One of my favorite places is Anathoth Community Garden in Cedar Grove, NC about 30 minutes from my house. I went out on Saturday for the monthly Eucharist and to pick some flowers. They're on my mantel now (see pic below) but I'm taking them to some of the teachers at school on Monday. Anathoth is a community garden started by Cedar Grove United Methodist Church. For me it is a source of free produce, good physical labor, and fellowship with those with whom I might not normally interact. Everyone from kids doing court-ordered community service to Hispanic migrant laborers to Duke Divinity School students is there. Every Saturday workday is followed by a big potluck usually with food folks have prepared using produce from the garden.

Bathroom Pictures Finally!

The bathroom in the midst of painting

The finished product. The color is not quite as dark as the photo shows. It was hard to get a good pic.


The floor. The color is not showing up true to life.

The Bathroom Saga III

The tile is finished! Now, I just need to get around to painting...

Durham: The Bull City

When I bought Amelia (I decided on the informal name), I moved back to Durham where I lived for the first two years of grad school. Durham's a great city, although not without its flaws.

Here are some of my favorite places in Durham:

Elmo's Diner- diner food that doesn't make you feel awful after you eat
Durham Academy- the school where I taught last year
Foster's Market- one of my favorite restaurants when I first came to Durham
Watts Grocery- a restaurant with way yummy local food
Durham Bulls Athletic Park- a great old-school feel
Duke- the greatest university on the face of the earth :)
Fullsteam- just a twinkle in Sean Wilson's eye
One World Market- fairly traded handcrafts from around the world

The Bathroom Saga II

The bathroom was due to be finished today, but, alas, it was not to be. The extra tile didn't come in until late afternoon and the floor is going to have to be re-grouted because the grout color doesn't match. The tile guys are scheduled to come in the morning so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to paint this weekend.

The Bathroom Saga

I've always loved tile bathrooms; they just feel so substantial. So when I decided to buy a house, I wanted to put tile in the bathroom if it wasn't there already. The house I bought didn't have tile so I decided to take the week before I had to report to school to get it re-done.

Oh the folly. The work that was supposed to take 48 hours is still not finished. Thankfully after 5 days of being without them I now have a (mostly) working shower and toilet. There for awhile it was like camping in my own house.

The bathroom before

Toilet under the carport

The exposed walls
The work so far- still need some tile put up and the drywall mudded and sanded

Why I Caved

I resisted the urge to blog for a very long time. I thought (and maybe still think) that it is (or at least can be) a self-absorbed sort of pursuit. I'm justifying a blog to myself by representing that the blog is about the house, not me. That's certainly not a completely accurate statement, because, although I've owned the house for exactly one week, I find myself inexplicably tied to her. I'm having the bathroom re-done and I actually found myself apologizing to the house for letting someone take a saw to her beautiful plaster walls.

A proper house, like a proper thoroughbred or an automobile, requires a name. The house's formal name is The Cottage at Wells' Farm. At 900 sq ft plus the porch, she certainly is a cottage and from the deed I discovered that the land was once part of R.I. Wells' farm. I'm still ruminating on what her informal name should be. It has to be old-fashioned and a woman's name. Any suggestions?