A squared T squared

Notice anything different about the two photos below?

T-squared (Talla's Turtle) and A-squared (Alex's Aligator) took a nod from their Uncle Cam (Colleen's Alligator Mascot) and dressed up for the holidays*.

A little background on Cam. Last year at Christmas we arrived at Alex's mom's house and found a lit up alligator in the front yard. I'll let Alex tell you the story about his pet alligators (that's right - plural!) another time. Over the course of the year Colleen dressed the alligator up for each holiday. 

Colleen learned I like turtles (I was known as Talla Turtle growing up) so that same Christmas we received alligator and turtle yard ornaments for Sheridan. They lived a boring life in our front yard for most of the year. 

They were screaming for a more exciting life so I decided to paint them shiny gold. A quick cleaning and a few coats of high-gloss gold later and we had ourselves fancy yard ornaments.

I don't think these guys will dress up for every holiday, but they seem to be enjoying their Santa hats for now.

*For those of you that noticed the abundant leaves instead of the snazzy Santa hats, here is photographic evidence that the yard was clean for at least an hour. Take a look at all those leaves about to take assault on the yard!

We Have Fun.

Sometimes we forget we're grown ups.

Charleston, SC, November 23

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC, November 9

Our Tree

On the morning of Sunday, December 1st our living room looked like this:

We spend a lot of time in our living room. We love the energy of it. We both agreed our big window was screaming "put the Christmas tree here!" We were nervous about rearranging the room since we loved it the way it was, but a few hours later it looked like this:

The love seat was moved down to the living room and the room was opened up. We like the new arrangement significantly more that we thought we would. We can't quite decide if we just like it because it's a change or if we like it enough to keep it. We do know the new arrangement increases our need for an area rug and some behind-the-couch art. The room is looking too naked. But - we created the perfect spot for the tree!

You'll notice I painted a little "happy holidays" banner on the window in front of the tree. I immediately wanted to re-do the banner and add additional stuff to the tree - it's now a week and a half later (an only a week and a half until Christmas) so I've accepted both as done. It's funny how much more I can enjoy our Christmas decorations once I just accepted their imperfections.

When Alex helped me decorate my tree last year he shared that he didn't really like my ornaments because they weren't personalized. We've now started the popular ornament-a-year tradition. Last year Alex started things off by getting me a mistletoe ornament. This year's ornament is a miniature sweetgrass basket we picked up in Charleston a few weeks ago.

I'm hosting two different holiday gatherings this week. I'm looking forward to sharing our tree with some friends.

Bright Idea?

We've agreed since the beginning of our home-sharing adventure that Sheridan is just a temporary home. Since we're not sure how long we're going to live here, we're very budget conscious when it comes to decorating. Lighting has not been an exception. We did several lighting makeovers rather than purchase new.

The first light to get a makeover was the dining room light. The house came with a nice, standard brass chandelier. It was fine but didn't really go with the room after we painted it. Rather than purchase a new chandelier I spray painted the brass one high gloss white. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I kind of dig it. I'm thinking of adding a pattern to the faux candlesticks before calling it done.

Before and after (for before, before photos visit the bottom of this post):

The next light was a tiny little reading light I purchased from IKEA years ago (I think I was in college). The light had a brown and tan vine pattern that no longer fit my style. I had some leftover black and white tweed that I liked much better. I thought spray adhesive would do the trick but a few days later the material started coming off of the original shade. I added some hot glue to the edges and haven't had any problems since.

The third light makeover was also for the living room and is still a work in progress. We found a lamp at a local antique store for less than $20 and a shade at ReStore for about $5. I spray painted the lamp high gloss black. Initially I like the shade but later decided that while the shape was good, the fabric was bad. It's naked right now but I hope to get some white striped fabric on the shade soon.

Coincidentally Alex bought another house in our neighborhood and the previous owners left the same lamp! Now we sort of have a pair - Alex left the second one in the other house for his current tenants to use.

Three lamps for about $30. 

Tadaroo

On July 19 Alex surprised me with a dog. Best birthday present ever. We named him Tad. Talla and Alex's dog. Don't worry, you're laughing with us, not at us.

I'd love to show you some pictures that capture Tad's adorableness but he doesn't sit still long enough. I have nearly 100 fuzzy ghost-like shots of him on every camera and camera phone I own - he just won't stop moving!

The rescue organization told us he's about three years old. When strangers comment on how cute our little puppy is we don't correct them - pretending he's a puppy gives us an excuse for his high energy.

In lieu of an actual shot of Tad, here is a felted Tad Alex's mom made for us while she was in town in October.

Alex is the only one that can seem to get Tad to sit still. I guess I would be still if a creature over eight times my size man-handled me.

Thankful for casserole.

My first post in almost a year!

Three years ago my outdoorsy friends started a tradition of doing a Friends-Giving potluck dinner right around Thankgiving. This particular group of friends always finds a way to make things more interesting. After exchanging 99 emails (literally!) we decided the 2013 Friends-Giving should include a casserole only dinner, except for the deep fried turkey, followed by big wheel races. Good times were had by all and it was a nice reminder to give thanks for awesome friends.

Given the success of casserole Friends-giving, Alex and I were not surprised to find a note of thanks for casseroles on our dining room chalkboard after leaving Sheridan in the hands of our friends for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Tim (our former house mate and friend included in group described above), his sister Ginny, his brother-in-law Ken, and their puppy Miles spent the Thanksgiving holiday at Sheridan. Our Canadian friends Jacob and Stephanie joined them for the holiday feast. Alex and I were in Baltimore with Alex's family. We were happy friends enjoyed the house and Tad was happy to have a playmate for a few days.

We're not sure what some of the other items on the chalkboard refered to, and we're not sure we want to! I wonder if they predicted Alex would be bringing home a T.V. when they included television on that list...

A little bit of background on the chalkboard. My last apartment had a large chalkboard painted onto the kitchen wall. I loved it. I would always write excerpts from books I was reading and around Thanksgiving I would include a long list of things I was thankful for.

I missed my chalkboard and our dining room walls were feeling a little empty so I decided to create a chalkboard for Sheridan. I found an old picture at an antique store in town and talked the guy into selling it to me for less than $20. I cleaned it up, spray painted the frame aqua, then rolled a few coats of chalkboard paint onto the glass. Super easy project. 

Since this chalkboard is part of the dining room, here's an update on the dining room. A more complete update coming soon!

Starting place:

Wallpaper removal:

Today:

And now you know why I'm thankful for casserole.

Night Stand Reading List

First of all... Wow...  It has been a while since either Talla or I has successfully posted anything on this blog. Back in June, our summer roommate, Tim, was supposed to post something but never did.  @Tim - We are still waiting on that post, man!  Better late than never.  There are 3 posts that I have drafted over the past 4 months that I just need to upload pictures for.  Those will be up before long.

Pictured above are the three books currently sitting on my nightstand.  Two of which I am halfway through, and the third has yet to be started.  As a back story, I have discovered that on the whole it is really nice to live with your significant other.  While all the quality time together has brought Talla and me closer together, it has not been all rainbows and sprinkles.  There are times (like right before she gets her period) when we are each a bit more irritable.  Sometimes Talla and I just don't get through to each other.  I realized, that it might be because women and men are different in many ways, and a common response that might make sense from a man to man doesn't make sense from man to a woman (& Vice Versa).

As such, Talla has recommended that I read this book called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.  Now any time I enter a crucial conversation, I start with the phrase: "When you do _____, it makes me feel _____."  I think it has helped in some cases.  There is other stuff that I've learned from this book too...

On the bottom of the stack, you see a book with a title called "Assholes finish first" - the other half of the saying: "Nice guys finish last."  It is by Tucker Max, a Duke Law graduate who first got famous from blogging about his ridiculous sexual exploits and drunken tyraids while he was in college.  He compiled his posts into a book, and it was fairly successful.  I never read it.  This is his second book, and it has got to be more ridiculous than the last.  While I do not condone or wish to emulate his behavior in anyway, his memoirs are very entertaining.

I found it in the closet of a house I bought down the street back in September.  After ten pages of 'Mars' one night, I decided I was done with it for the night and picked up 'Assholes'.  It has been my routine the past few nights: 10 pages of 'Mars'; 10 pages of 'Assholes'.

I'm lucky to have someone like Talla who can appreciate the humor in how I complement my bedtime literature.

I Love Flowers

Homeownership has changed me.  I never thought I would say this: but I.  LOVE.  FLOWERS.

First we had the Daffodils - emerging in mid-February, then the pink and white azaleas exploded in the front and back garden, followed by these cool purple flowers, then red ones on the back.  (Check out my early post about flowers in March, 2013: http://sharingsheridan.blogspot.com/2013/03/february-flowers.html) When I thought it was through, a flower blossomed giant white snowball like flowers in the front, red Gerber Daisies shot up on the side of the house, and meanwhile, the peach colored irises crept up in the back.  As they began to wilt the roses bloomed, and as they began to wilt, white and pink flowers shot up from what we thought to be an empty flowerbed.  In late may a 10 foot probe began to shoot out of the yucca plant, and it bloomed right as Talla and I returned from our California vacation (we saw many Yucca plants out there.  In the low lying regions they were past bloom, and in the higher altitudes they were just blossoming).  Before the last flower dropped from the yucca, the first orange day lillies started to bloom on the side of the house.  No sooner did I think they had all finished, but sure enough the Hastas blossomed, followed by lots the Crepe Myrtle Tree blossoming red bunches of berry like flower clusters.  At the same time some black-eyed susans popped up and the border shrubs have blossomed purple flowers.  It is amazing! I never realized just how magical the transformation of a garden could be.

Late summer Day-lillies

Spring azaleas in full bloom in back yard

Azeleas, monkey grass, border lillies, and irises emerging.

Hostas popping up

Flowers emerging in front

Front of house in mid-spring

Azelea next to driveway

Front of house in spring

Irises in full bloom

Flowers popping up in late summer

Daisies on side of house

Gerber Daisey

Next year, what I might do is set up one of those cameras that takes a picture every 10 minutes, and at the end turns it into a movie.  I think that would reveal the magic of my garden. (Since I am posting this on 3/1/2014, I think I am going to have to get rolling on this ASAP)

Talla laughed at me in April, when I started picking some of the Daisies for her.  Now she can't help herself.  She loves going out in the garden and clipping some of the latest blossoms.

This garden has been masterfully archictected.  As it turns out, Talla and I discovered from our neighbors that Barbara (the woman who lived here before us) would spend just about every day out in the garden.  We don't nearly have the time for that, but I think that she set it up in a way that it needs minimal maintenance.  Just weeding and the occasional watering.  I just hope that I don't mess anything up!

It rains! It Pours! It Never STOPSSS!!!

On NPR today, local ecologists spoke about the massive amounts of rain that Charlotte has experienced this summer.  Charlotte typically has fical weather during the summers, and if you are smart, you bring your umbrella with you wherever you go, but this summer has been a completely different animal.

A few years ago, the city engaged in a civil engineering project to repair the cities flood plain areas - calling for improved storm drainage, tearing down homes in certain locations, and turning floodplains into "greenways"  (public parks/bike paths). Thankfully, they did this last year and the year before, otherwise this summer could have been much worse for certain Charlotte residents.  Remarkably, reports of flooding have not increased from years prior, due to the improved City drainage systems.  Rain reports have indicated that this summer, Charlotte has experienced 3 times the amount of rainfall compared to the average over the past 5 years!  The worst reported downpour was in Cawtaba County on July 27th, where the received over 12 inched of rainfall in just 12 hours!  They thought the downpour would cease, but it just kept coming.

Here at 3808 Sheridan, we have had some notable experiences with the rain this summer.  Our house is located on a caldisac at the bottom of a hill, and we are kind of on the side of that hill and another one.  Anyways, when the rain comes, it rushes down the bank of the street, in front of our house, and into the storm drain in front of our Neighbors - 2 doors down.  They are at an elevation that is a solid 15-20 feet below us.

During a heavy rain, the water pours out of the downspout above the top floor of our house, and it creates a solid stream that shoots over the gutter in front of the kitchen - landing right in front of the crawlspace.   In order to minimize the amount of water seeping into the crawlspace, I placed one of our trashcans below the kitchen window.  It will fill up with about 100 gallons of water after 2 rainstorms.  This was a challenge to empty at first, so I rigged up a siphoning system using the two hoses that the previous owners left with the house.  First I will connect the two hoses at the low point in the yard.  The beginning of the hose connecting to the spicket, and the end reaching the bottom of the water can.  I will turn the water on, shooting some water into the water can, and then I will quickly disconnect the two hoses, enabling the flow of water to reverse, and effectively empty the can.

It is on my list, but I intend to nail in a few pieces of flashing on the roof that will deflect the flow of water and enable it to effectively drain. (I did this in December 2013. So far it has been functional)  Additionally, Groupon offered me a deal for gutter cleaning for only $59.  They will be coming out on Saturday the 17th while Talla and I are in Charleston.  (They never came)

Another problem with the way the backyard is sloped, is that we get a large flow of water that settles in the vegetable garden.  The image shows this problem during a recent storm.  The water slips out of the cracks in between the railroad ties, but it does it slowly, and it doesn't dump where I want it to.  I discovered I can redirect the flow of water with a drainage ditch cutting across the back yard.  Additionally, I will drill a hole in some of the railroad ties to let the water drain where I want it to.  (Next to the grill).

When I purchased the house, the inspector noted high levels of moisture in the crawl space.  I had them put in a vapor barrier before moving in.  Just a few days after we moved in, I also installed a plastic garden barrier next to the house to redirect the water coming out of the downspout that happened to be flowing back into the foundation.  Without these slight repairs, I would suspect a dangerous amount of mold and moisture below the house! 

Frisbee Golf

If you say "Frisbee Golf" loud enough in a large group of people, someone might identify him/herself as a frolfer by correcting you: "Umm... don't you mean 'DISC' Golf??'"  Then you will inevitably get into a conversation about its validity as a sport.

I have grown quite fond and intrigued by the sport.  Just in my back yard, we have a world class Disc Golf course.  It is a full 18 holes of fun.  Disc Golf has all of the frustration of normal golf - with shots inexplicably hooking to the left or right, seemingly perfect puts dropping in and then inexplicably bouncing out the basket, and challenges of finding the right disc for the right shot.  It is oh-so-sweet when you knock down a long range put, or when your drive does the elusive but much desireable "S-Curve" and lands close to the basket.  The main difference between disc golf and 'club' golf, is that disc golf is free.  The "drivers" cost $10 versus $200-$300 that you would pay for a decent 3-wood.

Here is the Kilborne Park Disc Golf map:

Talla knocking down a 15 foot put on the practice green:

At first, I just bought two discs.  Since then I have bought an additional 10, and I have enough discs for 3 people to play with some variety.

Just about everyone that has visited the house now has played a full 18 rounds of frolf. Including my cousin Tom and my friend Joe.  Joe picked it up really quickly, and I began to get a bit competitive when his drives started landing closer to the basket than mine.  Ultimately, our games came down to who puts best, and I was able to oust him.

So far my best score has been a +10.  My friend Nate has tought me a new technique called the Tomahawk, that I might implement to get it closer to par.

Electrifying

The Whirlpool set that came with the house:

Pretty nice right?  Well they are from 1989, and the dryer didn't work that great.  Talla had a set in her basement, so I went ahead on sold these on craigslist (for $175!  Booyah!)

After we got the new washer and dryer lugged into the house, I realized that there was one small problem....

Crap.... 

Back at Home Depot, they had no Dryer cords that would fit in this outlet.  I did manage to find what I was looking for, but it was a cord for a range.  The staff at HD "strongly" recommended that I not try to put the range cord on the back of the dryer.  Since they couldn't explain to me WHY this was a bad idea, I went ahead and bought the cord.

Then I did one of the dumbest things that I had done in a while.... 

In my defense, I didn't want to go through the work of installing the new cord just to find out that the plug didn't fit again.

I plugged in the new cord to test it (not attached to anything on the other end).  As soon as it went in, 220 volts sparked violently at my feet.  Woops!... didn't think that one through.  In the pictures below, you will see some charred areas on the copper from the "test".