We’ve finally arrived at our new home! It’s a lovely Vancouver special that is spacious enough for our family and cheap enough for our budget – it just needs a bit of sprucing up. We’re renting the upper suite and plan on making a few improvements over time. There have been a lot of articles written about updating Vancouver specials but most of those projects involve major renovations. ...
While we were in Yellowstone, I used my mom’s herbal bug spray and it worked really well. But, as I didn’t want to deprive her of it as she headed back to Illinois, I didn’t have any the night we stayed in Shelby, Montana before crossing the border into Canada. Wow! I have never experienced mosquitos like the ones that bit the crap out of my legs as I hurriedly unpacked the car in the motel...
Road tripping and camping almost always necessitate hacking. Now, I can’t remember exactly everything that was hacked during our road trip from California to Vancouver, but I know it included whittled-stick marshmallow skewers for smores, a “cake” made from stacked cinnamon rolls for my sister’s birthday, and a crazy improvised flotation device (a.k.a. log) that my husband tried to ride...
This Summer, on our way to Canada, we stopped at my aunt and uncle’s home for a few days. They have just under 50 acres in the lower Sierra Nevada mountains and it’s relaxing and gorgeous up there. Their property runs along a creek of cool, clear water lined by some amazing native plants and blackberry bushes. We were there too early for blackberries, but we did get to experience the slow...
A big plus of our apartment is the loft, but it also poses a challenge. When my son started crawling, climbing and walking, we needed to figure out a way to childproof our loft. A baby gate at the top and bottom of the stairs prevented him from going up and down on his own and (potentially) falling down the stairs, however the half wall was still a major issue to address. We searched and searched,...
Lately I’ve been looking for a bag that can carry my laptop and serve as a purse, plus have a bit of room for a water bottle, a lunch, etc. I don’t like having to carry several small bags, but I also didn’t want a big giant bag. Finding a happy medium was difficult and everything that was designed to hold a laptop looked too preppy and everything that wasn’t looked...
WiFi is a serious issue in my home. With my sleep-crippling Netflix addiction (Orange is the New Black!), my husband’s obsessive compulsive email disorder, three teenagers (each with their own Internet fixations: Tumblr, Twitch and YouTube) and a toddler obsessed with SpongeBob, it is very important that the entire apartment, as well as the balcony and park behind the apartment, have optimal...
My son’s overalls got wrecked in the wash when on of the hooks got stuck in the drum during the spin cycle and the strap tore off. There wasn’t enough salvageable denim to just reattach the hook, so I used some striped fabric scraps as a bridge. It’s not my favorite hack, but they turned out cute enough. And, since he’ll soon outgrow these overalls, I didn’t spend...