homeatlast's Profile

I'd love to know how this got started, i.e. did you all mutually decide to get together or was it an invitation from one member of the group?

I live in a co-op and my across-the-hall neighbor thought it would be nice to have a very casual holiday open house this past Christmas. She's lived here ten years and I've been here two. Sadly, she feels she only knows me! We chose the Sunday afternoon between Christmas and New Year's and, about a week before, put flyers under the doors of the 24 apartments in our building inviting all the residents for wine and snacks, with a reminder the day before. We were disappointed to find that only one other couple attended the open house -- although it was nice to meet and spend time with some new friends, I would like to have met more of them.

I wonder if there was something we could have done differently -- we'd like to try again this year, but I'd be sad to think we'd have the same result as last year.

There's a floor lamp that I despise -- I think it's called a "torchiere" and it's in every single "House Hunters" episode I've ever seen. Skinny, black, about 6 feet high with sort of a wide cone-shaped dish holding a bare bulb pointed at the ceiling. Ugliest thing I've ever seen, yet everyone seems to have one.

And those 80's builder-grade beige laminate kitchen cabinets with the honey oak strip running along the edges. I made a U-turn out of every apartment I saw them in when I was house hunting.

Two things come to mind:

The charcoal filter in the Brita pitcher should always be wet, i.e. the water level should never be below the bottom of the filter. A dry filter is ineffective (or something like that).

Doesn't everyone thoroughly wash every part of the pitcher when changing out the filters? Otherwise, that's just gross!

And, yes, Sharkey the dog is named after Sharkey the Editorial Director!

Melissa Clark's column in the New York Times last September featured this recipe for creamed corn with gorgonzola, tomatoes and pine nuts. Mouth watering, I picked up all the ingredients on my way home that night -- it was heavenly and I made it every night that week! I've been dreaming of summer corn and tomatoes ever since and they're almost here . . .
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/dining/15apperex.html

bepsf - I agree 100 percent. While I'm currently trying to reason with myself that I don't need the $600 Rohl bathroom faucet, I can't understand cheaping out on something you use so often, especially given the high annoyance factor of a leaky faucet. Spend the bucks where it counts!

VancouverHomeBody -- I think that's a snowdrop and, by nature, its little white flower drops/droops its head!

In high school (many more moons ago than I care to count), my messy bedroom was a thorn in my own side! When I started working, I made my bed before leaving the house and, to my surprise, there's seldom been a day since when my bed's been unmade. For me, it's the first step to a neat, clean bedroom.

As far as the "worn once, wear once again" clothes, I've kept a clear shelf in my armoire for one or two pairs of jeans and a couple of sweaters so that even though they're not fresh from the laundry, they're wearable because they're folded and stacked neatly. Now that I've splurged on a Mitchell Gold chair for the bedroom, it's always available to curl up with a book -- and it will stay that way.

Keeping the dresser neat meant putting away jewelry every night -- which I didn't do -- so now there's a necklace tree and a pretty dish to hold things I wear very often. It keeps me from leaving the house without a watch!

My teenage self would be shocked at the complete turnaround!

Oh, do I love peonies! These are all gorgeous arrangements and just the sight of them gives me hope for those soft, warm days of spring. Will it ever come?

I have battery-operated candles from Target (store brand) and am quite happy with them. I have both single candles and sets of three on one base. They have a sturdy base, go on at dusk and off at dawn and the bulb flickers like a real candle. (I think it's an LED bulb, but not sure.) Last year, the batteries I put in all of them lasted from the day after Thanksgiving until around January 6. It was so nice to coming home to candlelit windows every night that I was sorry to put them away