DIY Tablecloth

A nice dining room set is currently on our wish list.  In the meantime, we get along just fine by covering up our sad old table with a nice tablecloth.  I went out and bought a formal white tablecloth and a festive tablecloth for the holidays, but was wanting something more casual for everyday.  Not seeing anything that fit my criteria (1. must love it, 2.  must be able to afford it) I was biding my time.  

And then I stumbled onto this Tablecloth Tutorial on Pinterest: 

Photo & Tutorial from Hamburger Panda

Duh!  I own a sewing machine.  I can sew straight lines with it.  Therefore, I can make my own tablecloth.

About a week later we were helping Jim's family with an estate sale at his Aunt Judy's home.  Judy was an avid seamstress and had an enviable stash of fabric.  Low and behold...there it was...perfect tablecloth fabric for $1 a yard!  

I like it when Pinterest teams up with the Universe to send me important messages. Make your own tablecloth, Nicole.  Seriously!

When my mom came to visit in February I felt confident that I had the back-up necessary to fire up the ole Singer.  In one afternoon (which was more measuring and ironing than actual sewing) I was able to whomp up our new tablecloth.  

Ta da!  Of course, my initial attraction to the fabric might have been motivated by the perfect match with our Peacock and Scarlet Fiestaware.

I like to call them Ms. Peacock and Miss Scarlet.  We have Mrs. White, too.  Looks like any future Fiestaware purchases will need to be Plum, Mustard, or Green...

Nicole did it.  With the Singer.  In the Dining Room.  

PS - The Hamburger Panda tutorial was great - very easy to follow and lots of good photos.  

PPS - Whomp up is Montanan for make.  As in, "bein as I'm hungry I oughta whomp up some dinner."  

My Secret to Happiness

When my mom came to visit in February we found a very cute shop on NW 23rd, and I bought the first cute thing for our mantle:

It's true.  Love and a dog have made my life very happy.  

All you need is love...and a dog.  

And a mop. 

You need love, a dog, and a mop.  

Do you see that face?  She's so guilty she won't even look at me.  Good thing I'm so happy ;)

Window Washing Made Easy - Really!

I sure love Pinterest.  Recently, I pinned instructions for Streak-Free Window Cleaner.

Photo: One Good Thing by Jillibee

Seemed like it might be too good to be true, but I figured I'd give it a shot when the sun came out this afternoon.

Ya know what?  IT WORKS!  Really well.  Zero elbow grease and/or squeegee-ing required.  Too good not to share.

I had no idea how grimy our windows had gotten over the winter.  It's like the outside world came into sharper focus!

House Tour

We moved into our first house back in October and Jimbo posted a few pictures from our initial visit.  It seems like it's high time to take you on the tour!

I consider the house "furnished" but not "decorated."  You'll notice lots of bare walls.  As much that blankness is bothering me, I'm taking the decorating projects slowly.  Thank goodness for mountains of inspiration on Pinterest!  I thought it might be fun to give you the "before" tour and then unveil decorating projects as they are completed.

The Front Room - complete with Jim's beloved Steinway and a big front window for Sugar to monitor the cul-de-sac.

Looking from the Front Room into the Dining Room (and the Kitchen beyond that).

Entry & Hallway - we love the cut-outs opening to the Dining Room on the right. 

Kitchen - glass block windows on either side of the stove allow more natural light.

Kitchen "view" (complete with a dirty soup pot) into the Living Room.

Living Room, Patio, and Backyard

Living Room

Pantry!!  One of my only finished spaces...I couldn't resist painting it a wild color.
This is "Jack-O-Lantern" from Miller Paint.

Laundry Room - VERY exciting for us =)

Guest bath 

Guest Room!  Come and visit!

Office (Nicole's side)

Office (Jimbo's side)

Master 

Master (and some legos...)

We (and by "we" I mean our dear friends Karen, Jen, Jonathan, and Spencer) did a lot of painting prior to moving day so we're happy with our wall colors.  Now that you've taken the tour, feel free to schedule your visit and start sending in your ideas for decor!

Welcome to Monica & Chandler's!

We made it!  We're IN our new home!  Thanks to the world's greatest friends our new place is painted, every last thing we own has been schlepped, furniture's assembled and beds are made.  It's a pretty exciting time here at Hotdish Central.  Every day one of us turns to the other to say "can you believe we own a house?"  Our first mortgage payment isn't due for a whole month so we are love-love-loving home ownership!

Do you know what that means for you?  In addition to our here-and-there ramblings about cooking, crafting, choral music, and canines, we'll have all sorts of home improvement and DIY projects to trot across the blog.  For our debut project, I'm only showing you the front door.  =)  

If you run in our circle of friends, chances are good that you can quote episodes of Friends like it's your job. Seriously, if some struggling cable network ever works up a Friends Trivia Hour our people will be the champs!  Move over, Ken Jennings, we've got the game show domination thing in the bag.  We spent the last couple years bringing Jimbo up to speed by rewatching the entire series, so it was his proud graduation from the Friends Academy when he suggested we frame our peephole.

Genius!  Why didn't I think of that? For a quick second we googled "Monica's Door Frame" and found that you can buy replicas online for upwards of $30.  Are you kidding?  I can do better things with that $30!  Perfect opportunity to do it ourselves. 

Enter the cheapo frame from TJ Maxx:

This gold finish did NOTHING for me so I took a page from Mrs. Lovely's book and bought sent Jimbo to Home Depot for my first can of spraypaint.  Even better?  He also picked up this swell plastic trigger.  Now my spray-finger won't be sore or covered in paint!  

One coat of Rust-oleum Colonial Red, a little double-sided adhesive tape, and done!

Mmmmmm....shiny & red.  These are good things.  

Never one to be left out of the action (but easily bribed with a biscuit to do what I ask of her), Sugar volunteered to show you our entry.  I once heard  that your photos should always have someone in them...

 Welcome!  Can't wait to peer through that cute peephole at all our future visitors.  

PS - you can have your own swell rug (in a few other nice colors) from Costco =)

PPS - I'm hoping to provide better photos (not taken with my phone) soon.  It's a long story for another time, but my camera took a swim this summer and I just got a replacement.  So glad Santa came early so I can really document important things like spray paint triggers!

The Best House Yet

Dear Loyal Friends,

As some of you know, we are seriously considering settling down in Corvallis and have began our search for our first home.  Below is a show and tell of the house we really like!

It's located in a small subdivision in SW Corvallis.  It's adjacent to a retirement community and the Corvallis Country Club (no Dad, we can't play unless we're members)

The entryway is right next to the first living area that has a great dining area framed in by this low wall.  

Of course there is a great Sugar window that looks out on the street.

Nicole's must is a separate laundry room/mud room.  This stands right off the entry way and connects to the garage.  Perfect for dog doors to the back yard.

The kitchen is divided by the other living area with this great little bar.  

We're pretty stoked about the layout.  

Huge pantry (including spices and a pencil sharpener).

Then there is a little hallway back to the bedrooms.

 Here is the guest bath.

 Two bedrooms mirrored with great closet space and a cool nook above.

 And a nice big master bedroom.

 With connected bathroom including TWO sinks!  Oh ya.

 Great skylight, don't need the light at all during the day.

And of course, an amazing walk-in closet!

The negatives are a small yard, close proximity to neighboring houses and a pretty small front yard.  It does however have a little porch!  The kicker is that all the lots share easement through the back yard for a stormwater system and this yard has three manhole covers that give access to that system.  All and all the benefits outweigh the negatives.  A great neighborhood close to friends, stores and campus.  An awesome house with high ceilings and a wonderful layout.  Now if we can get the low price we want, we might just be moving up in the world.  Goodbye 900 square feet and no garage, hello 1786 with a two car garage.  We won't know what to do with ourselves!

~jim

Year of Nothing?

At the close of 2010: Year of Awesome, we determined that the new year should be 2011: Year of Nothing. Now that we've tried YON on for size I can safely say that I'm not cut out to do nothing. So it's really morphing into Year of Want To (as opposed to Have T0). Would anyone be surprised if I told you I made a list of all the Want To's?

In no particular order, I give you things I want to do (and a few things that just really need to get done):

1. Picnic. We received three different picnic kits as wedding gifts and they're all different. Clearly it's a sign that we should be dining al fresco. A lot!
2. Family Camping Trip. Nearly a year ago we promised my aunt and uncle that we'd help them break in their camper and boat. Sounds like tough duty, huh?
   
3. 20th Anniversary Celebration. 2011 marks the 20th year that Brenda Lee and I have been BFFs. We told ourselves we'd celebrate on our 10th anniversary, and then we didn't. Our 15th came and went before we knew it, so now we need to go big for our 20th!
4. Close probate on Dad's estate. It's not fun, but I really want it finished.
5. Organize & consolidate our finances. Between the two of us, we had a ridiculous snarl of accounts, cards, banks, investments, etc. It's time to bring order to the chaos.
   
6. Remember how to read. Though I haven't regressed as far as illiteracy, my post-graduate school moratorium on reading has gone on too long. I downloaded the BBC Book List and will be reading my way through it. I'm not reading everything, though. The Hobbit is just creepy, and I'm the one person I know who doesn't like the Chronicles of Narnia. This is not a forced march so I'm skipping the weird stuff. My progress on the list will be a post for another time.
7. Spend time with my girls. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: friends don't get better than my girls. I don't want to turn in to one of those married ladies who doesn't spend time with the gals.
   
8. Get Dad out of the closet. We need to spread Dad's ashes this summer. I'm sure the office closet was not his first pick of final resting places. Everybody will be happier when we "out" him.
   
9. Golf. At least once with the Davidson fam.
10. Learn about home-buying. I have a LONG way to go in that particular realm. If I don't start educating myself now, our first home will be a retirement home!
11. Paint my nails a dark color and leave it for a week. I already confessed my inability to get past pale pink on my digits so this will be an interesting experiment. Just for funs.
    
12. Craft. Thanks to Year of Awesome, I'm more than a year behind on scrapbook and photo projects. Must make & do!
    
13. Welcome Jimbo to adulthood. The Dish Fairy hits the big 3-0 this year, and continues to insist that birthdays are no big deal. I just can't tolerate that kind of attitude and will be mandating birthday hoopla.
14. Play tennis. OSU's new courts are nearly finished and I'm about to forget which hand swings the racket.
    
15. Spend less time at the Vet. We're seven months into Sugar's epic food allergy investigation, and have had a few other mishaps along the way. I think we're finally making progress, and am hoping it won't be long before our disposable income goes to something besides hypoallergenic kibble and steroid injections.
    
16. Take dance class. While Jim was away at school we often talked about what we'd do when we lived in the same zip code and this one came up over and over.
17. Do something with the wedding photos. They are beautiful and precious and intimidating. I don't even know where to start with the framing and albuming and scrapbooking but I don't want them to gather dust in the closet with the golf clubs.
18. Figure out how to cook steak. As a recovering vegetarian, I'm really good with chicken and flummoxed by beef, pork, and a fair amount of fish.
19. Go to the coast. Even if it's just for a day of kite-flying. 
20. Go to the Farmer’s Market.  An absolute necessity, right?  The Farmer’s Market is one of the things I love best about Corvallis – they really do it right.  We might live here for the rest of the year or the rest of our lives, but I’d hate to miss out on the market either way.   And then there’s the deliciousness to consider…nom nom! 
21. Welcome Baby Benaim.  In keeping with the current trend among the ladies in my life, my darling Schmerin has a bun in the oven.  And what a cute oven it is!  She’s one of those gals who carries her pregnancy like she’s smuggling a basketball under her t-shirt.  
22. Welcome Baby Lovely. That trend I was referring to?  It’s no joke.  Nikki-6 is sporting her own baby bump, due within a week of Miss Erin.  I wonder if this will slow down her running, canoeing, biking, hiking, or DIY home improvements?  Probably not!  

This list has been formulating for awhile, so I already have some progress to report. I'm relying on ya'll to keep me accountable!

This message was typed by fingers bedecked in Quarter of a Cent-Cherry.

Things I Cannot Do

Beth and I have a lot of schtick. One of our best not-too-slapsticky bits:

N: "Know your role."
B: "Play to your strengths."

This exchange usually follows decisions about who's going to do what (or who should have the good sense to step aside to let the experts whip up the cocktails). Years into "knowing my role" and "playing to my strengths" I think I can also clearly sum up all the things I should never be called upon to do.

* sit through an episode of "Scrubs"

* foxtrot

* apply false lashes

* touch a picture of a snake

* tolerate a messy office

* roll my tongue

* drink Dr. Pepper

* remember a damn thing

* win a video game

* throw a ball without bringing shame on myself and my family

* paint my nails anything other than clear or pale pink

* calculus

* back a trailer

* pull an all-nighter

* confidently order in French

* remember the proper use of a colon vs. a semi-colon without referencing "Rules for Writers"

* label the countries on a map of Africa

I humbly submit these to our loyal readers in the event that we're ever faced with a Foxtrot-related emergency. However, should you need something color-coordinated and cross-referenced by zip code in time for the Happy Hour, do feel free to give me a jingle.

Monday Musings

Lacking anything content-rich for the blog, I give you Monday Musings. Do with them what you will =)

* I like Michelle Obama - especially her JCrew cardigans.

* I've become one of those people who's ridiculous about their pet. I guess there's no going back so I'm just going to start owning up to it.

* I can't foxtrot worth a darn. Honestly, we just spent two weeks of our dance class on foxtrot, and it's already left my brain. I sure hope I'm never in a life-or-death dance off.

* You can have my blueberries 'cause I don't like them. You can have my blackberries, too.

* I'm ready for the OPB fund-drive to wrap up. I bet I'm not alone. I wish I had lots of money to give them so we could all get on with it.

* If I had lots of money, would my first stop be a public radio donation? I bet I'd buy a few JCrew cardigans first. Now I feel shallow.

* I just answered "What is Voice Over Internet Protocol, Alex" to Jeopardy and made my husband proud. I got a fist-bump.

* We rent. I'm itching to own a home the way that most women my age are itching to have a baby. I walk by new construction and coo things like "don't you just love the way they smell when they're brand new?"

* All my blog-worthy ideas come to me when I'm at work or falling asleep. You would think I'm a much better blogger if you were just rattling around in my head all the time. It's funny in here, I'm tellin ya.

* Did you ever notice that, right after you learn a new word, you hear it/see it frequently? The word "nascent" and I have been playing this game for about three weeks. I think my new subscription to TIME magazine is partially to blame.

* I like TIME magazine.

* I like Lady Gaga.

* I don't know how to reconcile the last two statements.

* I tried to make these for my valentine last night. Martha sure makes it look easier than it is. I think I'll just buy my ice-cream sandwiches from here on out.