Jessica ND's Profile

I think the most important thing is to give your kid a name that you like. A name is a gift from parents to their kid, and *most* of us will carry that name for the rest of our lives, out of respect for our parents, if nothing else.

My biggest pet peeve is weird spellings. I think it's totally lame and cheesy to give your kid a cutsy, "different" spelling. Kids with weird spelled names will constantly be asked if their name is spelled correctly on documents.

Downtown has some great antique stores, Main Ave Antiques, Antiquest on Broadway, Funky Junque....there's a HUGE Antique Mall over in Moorhead--sort of out of the way from the rest of the cool stuff, though....just google their addresses online...the best thing about Fargo/Moorhead is that they're laid out in a grid, so places are really easy to find just by their addressess alone (as long as you know where Main and Broadway are!)

Hey Lola! I lived in Fargo for 10 years, just moved out to western ND 2 years ago, so there's a bunch of cool stuff to see in Fargo. Downtown is definitely the first place you want to visit. Lots of trendy, cool stores downtown, some restaurants, and an Art Gallery I think (the Plains Art Museum--although that MIGHT be in downtown Moorhead, which is basically just an extension of downtown Fargo) and they're all within walking distance of each other. If you can aford it, check out the HoDo, which is the bar/restaurant on the mainfloor level of the Hotel Donaldson, which sits on Broadway (the main street that runs downtown). It's pretty much THE "hip" place to be. But in my opinion, the BEST bar in town is Dempsy's, which is an Irish pub. Really cool atmosphere there, really great music, especially on weekends (also downtown, right on Broadway, about 2 blocks north of the HoDo). If you want to visit a "club" tho, there's only one of those and it's called "The Hub." It's on 25th street, which is quite a ways from downtown. If you've never been to an old school movie theater, check out the Fargo Theater (also on Broadway, really close to Dempsey's). They usually show "artsy" type films, but if that's not your thing, sitting in the theater munching on popcorn is pretty cool just for the ambiance of the place.

Once you're downtown, the city of Moorhead is right across the river. If you're in to history at ALL, there's this really cool museum to visit call the Hjemkomst Center--hit has a replica of an old-school Norweigian Church outside, and a full-scale model of a Viking ship inside.

By Memorial Day weekend, Bonanzaville should be open. Bonanzaville is in West Fargo, and it is like a big, ourdoor museum (think colonial Williamsburg) showing what the bonanza farms (giant farms during the 19th century) were like. It's pretty cool--again, if you like history at all.

If you want a regular shopping mall, West Acres is the best place for that, although it's only a one story mall (North Dakota doesn't have any "good" malls--gotta go to Minneapolis or Denver for that!!!)

Check out the parks right along the Red River. By Memorial Day, they should be open and no longer flooded. There's bike trails all along the river on the Fargo side. Very pretty, great exercise.

Anything else? I might be able to be more helpful if I know specifically what you like to do. Fargo can't compete with the "Big Cities" as far as stuff to do (although Fargo likes to PRETEND it can), but as far as "Big Little Cities" go, Fargo has it going on!

I think what I would consider doing is getting rid of the "cloth" flag and perhaps painting one on a feature wall. I've done this before with the American flag, and it looks awesome!

I don't think there's anything wrong with working with what you can afford. I do happen to have a few pieces of Le Creuset. I have some Pampered Chef Stoneware, and I just bought my first (and not last) piece of All Clad. But I went YEARS with worn out hand-me-downs.

I learned to cook on those hand-me-downs, though. And I'm under no delusions that higher quality cookware makes ME a better cook. But it makes the cooking experience a LOT more fun for me. And because it makes me ENJOY cooking, I cook more. I've gotten my money's worth many times over because it makes me avoid the McDonald's drive-thru.

So to each their own, I say.

I'm continually astounded by the people who post rude comments on this site about other people's homes. Whatever happend to, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all?"

I think the owners of this house have a right to rennovate it however they want, regardless of other peoples' opinions. And personally, I think they did a great job. The knotty pine, ugly and unsalvageable bedroom wallpaper, icky parquet floor weren't doing this house any favors whatsoever. They were NOT original to the house (MAYBE the wallpaper was--hard to tell, but regardless, it was SHOT), and even if they had been, oh well. Bottom line is that the homeowners can do whatever they want to their own home. I think that their rennovation is much more "in spirit" with the house than the "before." They remodeled tastefully, and in a traditional classic style. Times change and evolve, and there's no reason why homes shouldn't change and evolve with the times. Memories and history live on inspite of things like wood paneling or wallpaper in a house like this--not BECAUSE of them.

I'm a landlord, and regardless of whether I "liked" the rennovation, if my tenants did it without my prior approval, not only would I evict them, but I would most likely take them to court. Totally NOT OK.

I was going to suggest you putty the scroll work. I have these gross 1970s kitchen cabinets that have similar scroll work to this, and I hate it. I've been searching for solutions as to how to get rid of it cheaply. Everyone says not to putty it because it will eventually crack and fall out and make it look like crap. However, I've seen some suggestions online to use, not wood putty, but full-blown bondo--like the stuff they use to putty cars. When I do my cabinets, that's what I'm going to use. At minimum, if you do the prep work, it's going to last you a decade or so--and by then you might want something new anyway (since, as you say, this isn't an heirloom piece).

So my suggestion would be to Bondo it. Sand it down, and then either paint it an awesome color OR consider experimenting with veneer. Because the piece is so square and flat, I think this would be a perfect candiate for applying a really sweet wood veneer.

Good luck!

I meant to type pre 1960

Does anyone know if this card catalog credenza is one-of-a-kind or if it's mass produced somewhere and thereby available for me to buy???