House Made

What?  You don’t remember that particular diddy about worms circa third grade?  Huh.

Beth here.

After owning a Wriggly Ranch for about two years (obtained via our waste company), I finally located some red worms (via eBay) and gave them a happy home in our basement.  I’ve been feeding them our fruit and veggie leftovers once a week since February, and am happy to report that we had our first worm poo harvest last weekend.  The little guys had created enough to fertilize all of the plants in the vegetable garden.

Best of all?  Unlike the friendly chicken and cow, the worm supplies poo that doesn’t stink us all out of the yard or invite the dog to roll in it.

If you want more information on the art of raising worms, aka Vermicompost, see the Wiki article.

Beth here.

Merideth and I have been hassled by various loving friends and family members because there hasn’t been an update in a couple weeks.  (My sweet sister said, “Your hand is crampy.  Got it.  Move on.  Make something up if you have to.”)

So, for the ones of concerned readers, we’re fine.  We’ve been doing lots of non-house-blog-documentable things like regular house maintenance, and I just didn’t think anyone wanted to read about how I mowed the lawn this weekend.  We’ve also been doing more fun stuff like going to our 6-year-old niece’s baseball game, re-reading Harry Potter in preparation for new and improved Harry Potters, and sitting in the hammock.  Merideth and her tools have been mildly sidetracked with building patio furniture, which I’m sure she’ll share if it comes out cool.

During this non-posting period, we’ve been discussing how best to tackle the next projects.  It’s the calm before the storm!  Or rather, the calm before the slight fog or misting rain.

hallway from bedroom


hallway from dining room

Beth here.

Merideth went to Memphis for a long weekend, and as will happen if left to my own devices, I became obsessed with a project.  This time, I did not rest until the hall between the bedrooms and bathroom was beautiful.

The hall, although only about six feet long, has five (FIVE!) doorways in it (both bedrooms, bathroom, linen closet, dining room).  This meant a lot of cutting in.  A lot.  Like six hours with the brush to get all the trim and doors and ceiling edges coated in primer and paint.  Admittedly, I am ridiculously fastidious about my edges, but c’mon.  SIX HOURS.  The dog and cat declared it to be the most boring weekend ever as they crammed themselves into the hall, wondering why I was staring so intently at the trim edge.  (By the way, both animals have a charming primer stripe somewhere on their bodies, causing them both to be calle Pepe Le Pew.) 

The paint?  Took 20 minutes.  I’m calling the color “Realtor Yellow” as it’s the color we’re seeing all staged houses painted recently, but Benjamin Moore calls it “Windham Cream” (HC-6).

Please take note of the beautiful bathroom seen in the background of the first picture.  You may admire the hallway and bathroom equally.