A Repair and a Hidden Treasure

So Ohio Edison called me last Monday to tell me the box around my electric meter was rusted, and needed replaced. I said, "Oh. Don't you do that?" Nope. My responsibility. Okay, no biggie. This house came with a one-year pre-paid home warranty, so I thought I'd check and see if they'd cover it. According to the paperwork it looked like they would, so I put in a service request, and the next day a local electrical contractor called me, and came out that afternoon to look at it.

While he was here, he noticed something else which he said would be a problem. (Of course ... these things always mushroom). Specifically, this ...


... is apparently bad. That little junction where the wires from the street meet the wiring at the house isn't supposed to be within three feet of a window. Obviously, it is. Now why in the heck that should matter I have no idea, but he said when the local inspector came to check the replacement of the box (which would be required), he'd surely flag that. Fortunately, having that moved away from the window isn't that big a deal - it doesn't involve any rewiring, just literally unhooking the straps holding it in place and moving the whole thing away from the window. So while it's annoying and will cost extra (the home warranty won't cover that), it's not too major.

After the electrical contractor made his resport to the home warranty people, they initially told me they wouldn't cover the meter box, because it was cosmetic. I told them that Ohio Edison was requiring it because they said if it's not fixed it could become a fire hazard. So how is that cosmetic? (other than a burned down house wouldn't look very nice). She put me on hold, came back, and said "Oh, okay. We'll cover it." But the electrical contractor they first sent out wasn't qualified to do that work (wtf?) so they'd have to send someone else. Which they haven't yet, so I'll have to call them again tomorrow.

Groovy. The joys of homeownership.

However, another of the joys of a new home is discovering hidden treasures. I once again failed to take a good 'before' picture of this, but nevertheless, in the Dining Room of Doom, the former owners had put in a dropped ceiling. I am not a big fan of dropped ceilings, and that room was dark and cave-like as it was, the dropped ceiling really didn't help. I was really curious to see what was above those panels, which would determine how hard changing the ceiling was going to be. I had no idea - knowing that room used to be a porch that was later built in to a full interior room, I figured it could well be about anything. Or maybe nothing, maybe just open all the way to the roof rafters.

The other night I finally had to know, so I took a broom handle and lifted up one of the panels. What I found astounded me. Having a hard time believing it, I quickly shifted several of the panels out of the way, and sure enough - there it was.


A beautiful wood board ceiling. In perfect condition. I was totally thrilled! I mean, that's a great ceiling. I have no issue with that. It's charming, it's got character. It's beautiful!

I have been very concerned with this room, because every single thing in it needed something done to it, and I was kind of overwhelmed by there being so much to do. I was afraid that it was going to involve major (and expensive) renovation, basically gutting the whole room and rebuilding it - something we aren't ready for this year - but I didn't know how long I could live with that room in it's current incarnation.

But once I saw that ceiling, that changed everything ... because now there was one thing that didn't need anything done to it (other than the dropped ceiling taken out) to lighten and open up the room. Which meant I did in fact have options to 'fix' this room, this year, soon, and for relatively little expense.

Yesterday and today the Dread Reverend took down the dropped ceiling and re-wired the light (which had formerly been attached directly to one of the ceiling panels). The difference is amazing!




Yep. It's gonna be gorgeous. Those places where the top of the paneling is uneven don't matter, because we're going to put up a wide molding strip along that edge, painted in a contrasting color. I don't know if many people put a line of molding 6" down from the ceiling, but ... yeah, I don't care. I'm keen on using what works, and I think it'll look kind of interesting - if it's done well.

In light of this discovery, I am ready to start tackling the renovation of this room. The first thing we're going to do is paint the paneling, instead of ripping it all out and re-doing the walls like I initially considered.

We're also going to get a new door.

This one is too dark for this room, not only in its surface color, but in that a solid door in a room that already doesn't get enough natural light isn't working for me. On top of that, it has that big mail slot in it which isn't working right, it doesn't close all the way, and there's no seal on it anymore. This is probably one of the largest contributors to this room being so cold back in February and March (although it's not the only one - there are other cold air issues that have to be dealt with in the dining room and kitchen). We did start stuffing a detachable coat hood in it every night, which helped a little, but ... not enough.

What I'd like to put in this door's place is something like this. (no mail slot - we'll install an actual mailbox outside)


It would let so much more light into that room. Of course, it needs super, super insulated glass. Pella sells one that has triple-pane Low-E insulating glass with argon. I'm sure it's expensive, but if I'm going to stick an all-glass door in a room that I already have trouble keeping warm in winter, I want the most insulated door I can get my hands on.

We're also going to be getting rid of this silly shelf.


Yeah, I'm sure it served a purpose when they put it there, and it is handy for accumulating junk (hence the fact we've got stuff laying on it despite I can't stand it ... it's just too convenient). I haven't decided what's going in that big useless "window" between the kitchen and dining room, although the Dread Reverend had a really awesome idea involving water that I'd like to explore.

We're going to replace the carpet too, with something lighter in color. I initially wanted something like stone tile, but the Dread Reverend's all about a low, close-weave carpet. I don't think I have an issue with that (it might help with warming up the room in winter), and it shouldn't cost much at all since it's such a small room.

So - paint, a door, carpet, and something with that shelf. Then we can start on phase 2 - banquette seating, and a display area for my mom's china.

There's every chance that the room which was initially my least favorite in the house could well end up being one of my favorites - at least initially, because it'll be the room that I get to completely re-do to our own personal tastes, wall to wall. Most of the other rooms, for the time being I'm still stuck with at least certain elements of the former owners' decorating style. Like the wallpaper all through the downstairs. Yeah, it's all nice wallpaper, no hideous ugly patterns, but it's not what I'd choose. Eventually we'll replace it, but not right away, so for now I have to decorate around it.

But that dining room is going to be totally our own creation. It's going to go from hate to love in very short order.

Done ... Done!!! ... DONE!!!

First, thanks Lisa! Yeah, having a kitchen in the Imaginarium opens up a lot of possibilities ... being able to clean up after my messy self ... a stove for experimenting with teas, candle making, soap making ... oh yeah. :o) I considered getting rid of the stove, but we didn't, mostly due to not knowing what to do with it. Now I'm glad I kept it. It does desperately need the faucet either repaired or replaced, but that's a down-the-road project.

Getting your own Imaginarium will be great! I was more than willing to accept just a single room, but we just didn't happen to find a house that had the number of bedrooms we needed (that would have required 4) before we found this place, with the entire flipping apartment! So I lucked out, big time!

I'm terribly excited about the living room furniture! I just now looked at the pictures again, and just kind of went, "Sigh - oh wow!" Yeah, it's gonna be great!

But in bigger news ... we finally are done moving out of the old house! I'm both embarrassed and relieved to say that we just finished this past Saturday. We hauled the last stuff that's coming to the new house, and hauled out almost a dumpster full of garbage to the dumpster behind my office (permission aforehand, of course) so ... I'M DONE! Now I can just focus on this place.

I have to say, I was very concerned about feeling nostalgic and sad about leaving the old house for the last time. And under some circumstances, it could well have happened. I mean, as I said before, I lived there for 15 years ... but more than that, my dad was so involved with that place, doing so much there, and that's what I anticipated being most painful to leave.

But the cure for that was to drag out the moving for two freaking months. That made me so ready to be done with that place that it overshadowed all the painful nostalgia. When we were done, and I was leaving for what I knew was the last time, I did walk around briefly and kind of gave a nod of respect to the place, but ... it wasn't as big a deal as I was afraid it was going to be.

I'm sure that in time to come, I will remember the place with wonderful fondness, but I'm not going to "miss it" or be even remotely sad about leaving it anymore. It was a great place for me that served it's purpose well in it's time, but ... it was high time to move on.

I did get several things that were important to me. My dad bought me a miniature rose many years ago, not long after I moved into that house. It always did phenomenally well ... here's a picutre of it at the old house ...


... and I was determined to take it with me. Because it was small, it was easy, and I got it Saturday - we dug it up, brought it home, and planted it out front. I also got a few other gardeny things that came from my dad.

I was a little disappointed that I couldn't take more plants. My dad had bought and planted for me two holly bushes when I first moved in, which had grown to enormous proportions. I'd have liked to bring them, but they were just so huge, it would have been a major, major undertaking to try and move them. So I didn't. He also bought me a bunch of groundcover plants just a few years ago, which I'd have liked to have brought - but there were so many individual plants. There were some other things, too, that I wish I could have brought.

But ... I got the rose, I got the Santa (story there for later), I got the cedar planter barrel and a piece of the unfortunately deceased dogwood and the toad house, all of which my dad got me ... and I got the yard goose and garden frog my mom got me, as well as her garden gnome I got her ... and I'll be content with that.

After all ... my dad's the one who instilled in me a love of gardening (or in my case, a love of attempting to garden, I've never gotten very good at it). But I know what he loved ... petunias ... holly ... his apple trees ... and I can plant those things anew here, with him in mind.

Now that we're done "moving out," I can focus on "moving in." Tonight I went into a flurry of work on the living room. It has been more or less a storage facility since we moved in, but knowing the new furniture was coming (and ready to have a new place to hang out, besides the basement family room), I was ready to clean it out. So I did. I got almost all the stuff that was stashed there put where it goes, and it's mostly empty and ready for the new furniture!




The rocking chair (an antique) and the sea chest are staying. The table in front of the window is probably staying too, although I'm not sure it's staying where it is.

And while unpacking boxes, I found some surpises! It was kind of like Christmas in April!

I found a sort of party dish set, four dishes and four punch-type cups, all glass, the dishes looking like sunflowers ...


... it had to have been my mom's but I have no recollection of it, or where it came from. It's really cool, though. I also found this dish ...


... which is kinda cool. It's very heavy, thick glass. I'm sure both of the above are old, antiques even. This is both the joy and curse of unpacking stuff I didn't even know I had. On the one hand, it's beyond wonderful to finally have room for these treasures! Finally I can actually unpack them and have them in my life, instead of stashed away somewhere till I don't even know I have them! But on the down side, now that my mom and dad are gone, I have no idea where these things came from, their story ... and have no one to ask. That's a shame.

I also found 5 wooden wall sconces with glass hurricane-lamp style chimneys or globes, which are very cool.


I knew my mom had a few of those, but I didn't know there were so many! I especially like the ones on the left, it's not clear in this picture, but they have roses on the top, which I think will fit in well in the living room decor. I know there are two more packed away in storage that I do know the provenance of ... her brother got into woodworking after he retired, and he made them for her. They'll turn up eventually. But I'm not sure where these came from.

I also got the 'home office' moved to the spare room.


It's not done yet, but it's all in there, and that's a huge first step. I'm using the built-ins, and will have to figure out later what to do with my dad's desk, which is still in the living room.

So things are moving along wonderfully here.

And I'm psyched about some new projects, as well. I've been working diligently on my calligraphy - pictures some day! And I'm anxious to start working on my picture quilt wall hanging. I'm sad to say that for the moment, I've kind of lost interest in knitting ... but I don't think it's a permanent thing. I think it's just because moving opened up so many new possibilities that knitting that has just kind of taken a back seat for the time being.

I think that's all for now. The Dread Reverend is out of town for work till Thursday, which is partly what prompted my flurry of house work ... I'm bored and lonely. I'm sure I'll keep busy this week.

Furniture Frenzy Redux - It Pays To Shop Around

I know that whenever I make snap decisions without a 24-hour hold, I often have second thoughts, after the glamour of the moment has worn off and the dregs of reality are allowed to rise to the surface.

So we didn't actually buy that sofa and chair set I posted about the other day, but put a deposit on it, with the plan that I would sleep on it, then stop at one other local furniture store we hadn't been to yet to check out their selection, before finalizing anything.

It's a good thing I did. As many things as I liked about it, the following morning I had a couple concerns. One was the overall darkness of it - the dark brown leather was actually my least favorite part when we first looked at it. Also, even though I liked that the back had the large pillows, there was something about that which was bugging me as well - the fact that the large pillows were the only back to the couch (that you could see; the actual structural back was low, behind the pillows, and didn't show - which was just as well, as it was plain and not worth looking at anyway). I was also concerned that the chair wasn't a good match, scale-wise, to the sofa.

I still liked the set, style-wise it was exactly what we were looking for, and had we found nothing else, I'm sure I could have been happy with it - but it had a few down-sides.

But while checking out the last furniture store, we found something we liked even better. It had everything good that the other set had (they're almost identical in style), but without the flaws. It's not as dark, the dark brown leather is out and it's primarily a burgundy shade (a color we wanted to incorporate into the scheme anyway); the side chairs are better - more proportionately matched to the sofa; and while this one still uses the big pillows on the back, it actually has a back to it as well, and very pretty one - curvy with carved wooden accents, much more appropriate for the look we're after. Gives it a more balanced look, too.

As a bonus, both chair and sofa are more comfortable than the other set; it's a better name-brand of furniture; and the whole thing (sofa and 2 chairs) cost almost the same as the other set.

So, here they are:





Unlike the other sofa and chair, these are actually part of the same set. But we didn't get the tables that went with this set, so that we could have some more variety in our furnishings. And the seat cushions on the couch are reversible, so if we flip them over, they're solid burgundy on the other side, which will tone down the amount of gold paisley, and make the chair look more complementary than a twin. It also has more color variety in the pillows, rather than all of them being identical.

I love this set, and I definitely like it better than the other one - so it's good that I waited and shopped around a little. We got our deposit back from the other store, and went ahead and paid for and ordered this one - no 24 hour hold needed, I'd already done that and knew that this style was exactly what I wanted, and this particular set had none of the deficiencies of the first one. So it was a winner.

Now that we've made our choice, we know the exact direction the living room will be taking, and can start planning the rest of the theme. We have to work on window treatments - I wish I could have gotten a swatch of the fabric, because it's going to be hard to pick out any drapes or material without one - and a large rug for the seating area. We found one we liked at the furniture store, but wouldn't you know we picked one that wasn't technically for sale - it was one their decorator had bought to 'set a scene' for another furniture set. They said they'd ask whether or not they could sell it to us, and how much ... so we'll find that out on Monday. If so, that'll work out well; if not, then we'll keep looking. Rugs are ungodly expensive - one of the others we liked was $800. I didn't even pay that much for the sofa, I'm not paying that for a rug. We'll find something nice and reasonably priced.

And we need the coffee table - or cocktail table, or whatever they're called these days - but didn't see anything we liked at this store, so we'll have to keep looking for that as well.

I'm just so psyched! It's going to look so freaking phenomenal when it's all put together! At least one person looked at this picture and kind of went, "Oh. Yeah. That's, umm, nice." I understand - this style certainly isn't for everyone! And that's perfectly okay - it's not their house. ;o) I know that when that room is done, and I walk into the parlor of my 18th century sea captain's coastal home, it's going to be absolutely fantastic!

And thanks, Rhys - you think of everything. ;o)

Furniture Frenzy!

On a whim this week, I told the Dread Reverend we ought to stop in a few furniture stores. We have no living room furniture at all, it's just a big empty room right now (well, except for the things that are still stashed in there because they haven't found a home yet), but living room furniture shopping hadn't been high on our list of priorities with all the other things there were to do. Yet it's been a constant small niggle in the back of my head, that I'd really like to get that room fixed up.

Since we were on vacation, I thought it would be a good time to stop in a couple local stores and check out what's available. I didn't anticipate finding anything right away. We have a very, very clear and distinct theme in mind for our living room, which is a bit quirky - so finding the right pieces (at a price we can justify paying) was, I figured, going to be tricky.

So we stopped in a couple today, and ... well. At the first store we found something we thought might do, but we decided to think about it first. So we stopped at a second place. Initially we found something we liked better than at Store A, but the upholstery was rather hideous, and the salesman told us it couldn't be ordered with other upholstery. We asked him if he had anything else in that style, and initially he said no. But about 5 minutes later he called us over to a dark, back corner of the showroom where he said he remembered something else that might be kind of what we had in mind.

I walked over to it, gasped, clapped my hand to my mouth, bounced up and down a little bit, and said to the Dread Reverend, "That's IT!" Then I backpedaled little, thinking, well, it's only the second place we looked, maybe we shouldn't be hasty, etc. etc., yada yada.

Nope. That was it. It's just about exactly what we were looking for, what we had envisioned without even knowing whether what we envisoned actually existed. And the price was good. We hunted around a little more and found the perfect side chair to complement it.

But since I almost never make snap decisions (depsite the initial reaction), I wanted to sleep on it overnight, so we put a deposit on it but will have to return tomorrow to finalize the sale if we still want it.

I think we're still going to want it. I'm so terribly excited about it I can't stand it. I didn't have my camera with me (of course - who takes a camera furniture shopping? although in retrospect it'd actually be a good idea), but I was able to find the pieces online, so here are a couple pictures.
The Sofa:



The Chair (of which we ordered a matching set):



I know ... it looks a little opulent and fussy. But you have to understand the theme we're going for in the living room: 18th century sea captain's home. That's it, in a nutshell. A wealthy seafarer's home on the coast - which will, eventully, include beautiful nautical accent pieces.

After my initial reaction to the sofa, my next thought was, "Oh, I don't know ... it looks too fancy for us." But then I remembered what we were trying to accomplish, and realized, no - there's no such thing as "over the top" when you're trying to create the look we are. And this is great for it.

Granted, that sofa isn't particularly "authentic period" ... but we weren't trying to pass an inspection, or even to impress anyone else. What was important to us is that it conveyed to us the feel we were looking for. And this set does it.

It's not just for show, though - of course it's useable furniture, and we well intend to use it. Neither of us are the type of people to have a 'show living room' that you can't use. Ha. We sat on it, flopped around on it, it's comfy! The only upholstered bits on the sofa are the main seat cushions and the back cushions - which means, easily 're-done' if we get tired of the current upholstery, or manage somehow to ruin it. I can make different covers for the back cushions to add some color and personal flair to the decor. It's great. And having the back being cushions (as opposed to solid upholstery like most couches) does tone it down a bit, dramatically speaking - it adds a little casualness to the formality.

A side note - the picture doesn't do the couch justice. It looks pretty 'blah' in that picture, but it looked grand and beautiful live and in person - and that was in a back, dark corner of the show room. We even had to carry one of the cushions up front to a window to see the colors clearly enough to compare them to the upholstery of the side chair, that's how dark the corner it was in was. But even with that, it looked so cool. I think the problem with the picture is it doesn't convey the colors - there are actually a multitude of colors in the upholstery pattern on the sofa, including a very pretty burgundy-orange as a great accent. You just can't see it in the photo.

I dearly love decorating, and have always wanted to be able to "do up" a room, or heck, a whole house, beautifully decorated. To date I've failed, in part because of lack of funds, and sometimes due to lack of anything to work with (a la the old house). This house has the presence and style to be worthy of nice decorating, where it will actually work - where the rooms respond to the colors and styles you dress them with, and actually look like something - where you can actually achieve "a look" if you do it right. I'm hoping I can do it right. I was very excited because although the upholstery on the sofa and the chairs was entirely different, it seemed to complement beautifully. The sofa has a broad, paisley-ish style to it, with - as I mentioned - quite a few subtle colors woven through t, while the chair has a smaller diamond pattern with only two colors - but they both share those two exact colors, two shades of greenish-gold and gold - so they go together beautifully.

The only thing I've been concerned about is that the chairs seem more fragile and delicate than the big, heavy, massive sofa. I'm not sure if it will make the living room look "off-balance." But my instinct (if it's any good) tells me it can work, it will just have to be slightly finessed.

And I'm okay with that. My decorating 'style' (such as it is) isn't very pristine. It's more of an eclectic mix-and-match kind of thing. And if I have the eye for it that I hope I do, my mixing and matching of pattern, color and scale will give us a living room worthy of the best 'decorating magazines.' Well, for what that matters - actually, it all comes down to personal taste. I've seen rooms in those magazines that were hailed as masterpieces that I thought were hideous. How you put your home together really is, ultimately, all a product of your own personal taste, not what some magazine says you should do.

Anyway - I'm so freaking excited I can't stand it. Unfortunately it'll take 3 weeks to get it, which means we won't have it for the housewarming party next weekend. And there's still other stuff to get ... a coffee table, a side table or two (we opted out of getting the matching tables that 'go with' the sofa, because (a) we didn't care for them as much, and (b) we aren't trying to have a 'cookie cutter' living room where every single piece matches exactly; we have other ideas in mind for the tables). We have to re-do the window treatments. And lose the wallpaper at some point, and paint the walls; and maybe get a nice decorative rug for the 'seating area.' And some lamps.

Well ... you know how decking out a living room goes. Mushroom city. (You start with one small thing, and then it just grows and grows from there). But that's why we wanted to start soon ... to get that "look" we're going for, it could take a long time, finding just the right piece here, another there. We lucked out (I think) in finding the perfect foundation pieces so quickly, and adding the accents will be a fun treasure hunt.

On another side note, this furniture store had the perfect Imaginarium chair! Remember when I was going on about the round chair? They had it! It was $500. That sounds steep, but considering the only ones I could find online were, like, $1800, that's a pretty decent price. I really liked it, and I'm still debating on whether to splurge and get it. A couple things are holding me back. I didn't care so much for the upholstery (and didn't ask if it could be ordered with different; seemed nothing in this store we did ask about could), and ... I'm waffling. I have a nice chair and table arrangement in the Imaginarium now. I'm not sure whether a $500 round chair 'just for fun' is something I should be considering just now. So I'll have to think on that some more.

Well, that's the news for today. I got my project table set up, so I think I'm going to go work on some calligraphy.

Imaginarium Progress

Yesterday I puttered around in the Imaginarium all day. I got one of my framed Tolkien posters up on the wall ... it adds a very homey feel to the place.


I got my dresser moved upstairs, and sorted a bunch of semi-scrap material by color.


Why so anal? Because there's something I've been wanting to do for a very long time - a picture quilt, or landscape quilt. So having the material sorted by color makes it much easier to know what I have and find what I want. I have larger pieces of material too, like whole pieces bought for certain items of garb that I've never made yet, but I have a great place to store them too ...

... in the cedar closet. That's one of the things I love about this house ... no matter what I need to stash or store, I can always find a great place for it. Of course, this could be a little neater, but I'll get to that later ... for now I was just trying to get it out of the way of where I was working.

I have a First Project in mind. This is the area over the stairway as you're looking down the stairs ...


... which is just begging for some interesting decor. I've decided to make my first picture quilt experiment as a wall hanging for this empty spot. The whole idea and image came to me in a flash, but despite the small but serviceable array of fabric scraps, of course there was nothing just right for what I needed. So I ventured out today to pick up a few pieces.


Fortunately, for a smallish wall hanging done in 'picture quilt' style, the pieces needed can be fairly small, so I didn't have to buy much. A couple of 'fat quarters' and half-yards of some other stuff I liked. All in all a pretty inexpensive start.

I didn't actually get started on that project yet, because I have another I was anxious to try out. Some time ago I decided I wanted to learn a little calligraphy. I'm not necessarily planning to become a great illuminator or anything, but I wanted to try it out. I got a book and pen set, which was great, except I was having trouble with the nibs which came with it. So while I was out in the crafty stores today, I picked up a couple new nibs. I was excited to try them out, so I just spent the last couple hours playing around with that - but it worked great. So now that I can consistently get the ink in the pen and actually write something, I can begin practicing properly forming the letters (as opposed to just faking it and making it up as I was doing while messing with the nibs).

It is phenomenal to be able to be up here in the Imaginarium, actually dreaming up and working on new projects!! I didn't realize how much I missed this, until I finally got to start doing it again. It had ceased to be an option at the old house, with no place to keep anything, being unable to find the stuff I did have, and no decent place to work on things. This is fantastic.

I just wish it'd warm up. It's cold up here today, because it's freaking cold outside - in the 30s and snow! In April! WTF? I am hoping that before next winter I can get this heat issue fixed ... with, as I mentioned before, beefed up insulation. It doesn't seem like anything's going to help, but I have to believe that it can and will. Seeing as how there's none in the walls right now, leaving my walls radiating cold that's the same temperature as the attic (which is almost as cold as the outside). The only other thing to look at is the fact that the one heat duct in this half of the upstairs puts out very little hot air. That might need some tweaking too.

But that's okay ... summer's on it's way, and hopefully I'll get this dealt with before winter.

Impromptu Nonsequiturs

Conficker and Windows Updates

This is a little out of date, I meant to post it two days ago, but got busy. But anyway - I didn't know anything about this conficker worm until Tuesday when all the headlines on the internet started blaring information about it, due to its imminent uprising on April 1. Since I run protection software, I wasn't too worried about it. Till I read that one of the things it'll do is try to disable your automatic Windows updates.

Funnily enough, a month or so ago I noticed that when I turned the computer on in the morning, I was getting a little error bubble telling me that Windows could not check for automatic updates. (I have my computer set up to automatically do Windows updates every morning at 8:00 a.m.) It offered me the option of manually updating, but when I tried that, it wouldn't download any of the updates. I always got an error message.

So when I read that conficker doesn't like to let you update, then I got nervous. I went to the Microsoft website and ran a comprehensive scan they offer for free there. (The fact that I could do that was a good sign, though - according to what I read, if you have the conficker worm, it will block you from doing things like that). The scan turned up no conficker, although it did turn up three trojans picked up from trying to download from Limewire. (I know that because when it gave the names of the files in which the trojans were located, they were the name of a song I'd recently tried 3 times - unsuccessfully - to download from Limewire; I detest Limewire and only go there when desperate, and after that last bout, I uninstalled it from my computer and don't intend to ever put it back).

Eventually, after slogging through the convoluted help sections of the Microsoft site, I was able to find some information on my particular update error code. Turns out there are three lines that get inserted in the registry (Microsoft doesn't know how they get there - interesting) but if you delete them, it doesn't "seem to" cause any unwanted side effects, and often fixes the update problem. I tried it, it worked, updates are back on schedule.

Interesting.

Chicken and Biscuits
It's been awhile since I had a foody post. I'm starting to really like to cook, to search out new recipes and then experiment and tweak them. I'm no gourmet cook yet, but I get by. My favorite site is allrecipes.com, because there are thousands of recipes to choose from, you can search by main ingredient or even just what you have in your cupboards, but more important are the reader's reviews. That's where you get the really good information for ways to make a so-so recipe even better, or tweaks that people did when they didn't have one or more ingredients the original recipe called for, and useful stuff like that.

I found a great recipe recently that I tweaked a bit and will pass on to you.

Chicken & Biscuits
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
some (about half a bag is what I had on hand) baby carrots, cut into 1" pieces
3 or 4 potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1" pieces
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
1/4 tsp thyme (or so; more to taste if you wish)
1/4 tsp black pepper (ditto above)
salt to taste
some frozen peas
all purpose baking mix
milk

(I hope you remember that I'm one of those "a pinch of this, a bit of that" kind of cooks ... measurements are all relative).

This is a crock pot recipe - I've been searching out a lot more of them because now that I don't get home from work till 5:30, I'm not in the mood to start dinner the second I walk in the door - and if I do take half an hour to unwind first, then I stand around cooking for an hour or more, and have dinner at 7:00 or 8:00 at night. And the 'quick' stuff just isn't as good to me any more.

Whenever I'm cooking meat in a crock pot, I prefer to brown it first. It's a little time-consuming, and takes away some of the convenience of just tossing things in the crock pot before work, but it's worth it. It not only looks more appetizing, it tastes better.

So here's what I did.

Brown the chicken breasts in a little oil olive. Have the oil hot and sear it quickly, don't try to cook it through. Cool it, then cut into approximately 1" chunks. (I browned it the night before and left it in the fridge overnight, then cut it up in the morning; have you ever tried to cube hot chicken?) (Yeah, you could cut it up first and then brown it, but I don't think that would be the best way to proceed ... but try it if it floats your boat).

Place the celery, potatoes, carrots and cut-up chicken in the crock pot. Stir the soup, about 1/2 a cup of water, the thyme, salt and pepper in a bowl, and when mixed, pour over the stuff in the crock pot. Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours. When you start the next step, toss some frozen peas in and stir it up; they'll thaw and heat up by the time the biscuits are done.

The original recipe was for chicken and dumplings, with the dumplings being biscuit mix dropped onto the top and left to cook another half an hour. But I had used a small crock pot and knew that I wasn't going to have enough dumplings if I did that. So instead I followed the directions on the package to make up a batch of biscuits, then served them split with the chicken mix poured over top.

This sounds kind of mild. But I'll tell you what, it was phenomenal. Really really good. Of course you could always tweak the spices a bit to your liking. And make homemade biscuits if you're good at that sort of thing (I happen not to be, yet).

A note about chicken in the crock pot. I had read dozens of times that if you cook chicken pieces in the crock pot, 7 to 8 hours is too long, they'll overcook and develop some weird texture, or something. Some allrecipes.com reviewers suggested putting the chicken in the crock pot frozen to avoid that problem. Others said you should never put frozen meat in a crock pot, but I didn't want to do it anyway, because I wanted it browned first - and browning it, then re-freezing it was more trouble than I was willing to go to. I was in a dilemma - because to make any chicken dish in the crock pot, I had to let it cook at least 8 1/2 hours as that's how long it is from the time I walk out the door for work till the time I get home - I have no way to cook it any less time.

I decided to try this anyway, and can tell you I had no problems with it at all. Even with cut-up chicken, which would cook faster; and even considering that when I browned my chicken I cooked it just a tiny bit too long, until some of the pieces were already almost cooked through when I put them in the crock pot, even so - after about 9 hours in the crock pot (the last half hour being turned down to "keep warm" while I made the biscuits), the chicken was delicious, and not at all overcooked. I don't know if some people have crockpots that just get hotter, or whether mine is somewhat defective (although it's relatively new), but regardless ... cooking unfrozen chicken in the crockpot for more than 8 hours didn't cause me any grief. And this was just one of those recipes that was way better than the sum of its ingredients.

Vacation!
I'm on vacation effective immediately! I finally did it. For the past several years I'd been taking a vacation at the beginning of August (for Pennsic), then the end of September (my annual birthday trip), then had nothing from the first of October all the way through till the following end of July. Was not working for me at all. I do have a third week of vacation, but it always got divvied up in little chunks, a day here, two days there. And that long stretch was killing me.

So this year we took the week of spring break off, so the Dread Reverend can have the kids all week. Initially we were going to go to North Carolina again (once a year just isn't enough), but with the move and all, we decided to stay home instead. I'm just thrilled to get a week off work. While I don't want to spend my whole vacation working on "the move," I am hoping to putter around putting some more things away, and fixing up the Imaginarium - which will be fun, not like 'work.'

I have several imminent projects for the Imaginarium. I want to paint the insides of the kitchen cabinets, and decide what I'm doing to the outside (painting all, painting part, some other decor), then get some more of my stuff put away in them. I want to get the Christmas decorations that are currently living there put away in whichever cubby is going to become their home. I want to get a dresser that's been in the living room since we moved in, moved upstairs where it goes, so I can put my material and things away. And I want to find a sewing table ... so I can start working on projects! That's the last step to beginning some sewing, is finding a place for the sewing machine to live and room to do that work.

Because I have new sewing projects I want to try ... curtains for some of the rooms, decor-stuff like that.

I'd also like to start working on the bookshelves for the library. Right now all the books are still in their boxes, and I'd like to get them out. I haven't decided whether I'm building the shelves from scratch, or buying pre-made ones. That would be expensive, but far less time-consuming and easier - I'm sure the finished product would look better. I'll put some thought to that in the coming week.

I'd still kind of rather have the library in a more accessible place ... either in the main living area of the Imaginarium, or even downstairs in the living room. But the main area of the Imaginarium doesn't really have room for the library - the wall spaces are all small, broken up, and oddly shaped, so I think if I filled all that area with custom-built bookcases, it would just look cluttered. And we had initially said no bookshelves in the living room, because we had that at the old house and got really tired of it. Of course, one difference there was we really didn't have room for them, so they were making the place look cluttered. In this living room, we do in fact have room for them. It's something I'm still considering. Fortunately, there's time, as we haven't done anything with the living room yet anyway.

I almost regret getting rid of those 20 or so boxes of books in the last few years ... now I'd have room to have that much library!

I think that's all the news that is news (or passes for same around here) tonight.