Front loaded with mildew

S: I'm ashamed to share this post....but I'll do it...to keep all you front load washing machine owners informed.

We had heard that front loaders were infamous for mold, so we use Affresh tablets every month or so to clean our washing machine. The other day I was doing the laundry and pulled out the tray to add my laundry detergent. I bent over to pick something up and noticed mildew around the bottom edge of the tray. Zach undid some of the screws and pulled the tray out.

It was horrible.

The part that we couldn't see from the outside was COVERED in black mildew. Looking in further we could see more of the gross black mess. Zach ended up having to take apart the rest of the washing machine so we could clean all the mildew.

I felt pretty dumb when I dug the manual out of the filing cabinet and found the maintenance guide simply outlined on two pages. This probably would have prevented all the dismantling, scrubbing, soaking, and bleaching.

Have a seat and a bowl of soup

S: I went into Crate & Barrel the other day to pick up some soup bowls, my first non-gift purchase from that store. It's not that I don't like what they have to offer, and I certainly appreciate how wonderfully organized the store is. It's just that I know I can almost certainly find similar items elsewhere, for less. But back to what brought me to the store...the soup bowls. Oven-to-table soup bowls to be exact. Surprisingly, Crate & Barrel wins out on this one, offering them for less than Target or even Walmart.

While there, I saw this chair:

Image: Crate & Barrel

I got this one for free when my grandma moved:

Crate and Barrel loses this round.

So even though the soup bowls were a great deal, I don't foresee many more trips to this store, unless I find $1,099 underneath the chair cushion.

Making a house a home

S: Earlier this year we remodeled our master bathroom. With all it's newness, it took a while for it to feel like ours...I've felt that with a lot of the rooms we've remodeled. So I'm usually thinking of ways to improve our space and make it feel more like home. I've been eyeing the work of cori D for a while, and recently purchased two of her prints. I'm pretty much in love with these and I really like how they look in our bathroom.



Thanks to Hobby Lobby's generous 50% off sales, I was able to get two frames for the price of one. They didn't have any white frames in the size I needed so I spray painted them. I ended up having to go to three different stores to get acid free mats cut. Apparently acid free mat board is a special order item....luckily the last store I tried sold me some leftover board. Looking back, I was pretty uncordial to the Michael's employee at the custom framing department when he informed me that they don't cut mat boards while you wait...not even regular mat board. I would have to order a precut board that would take a week to arrive. I have a problem with outsourced mat board cutting.
However, I did find two candle holders that I really liked, and ended up putting one in our bathroom. I had two 50% off coupons but could only use one at a time, so Zach got in the check out line in front of me and we ignored each other until we had successfully purchased both candle holders for $25.

I have a few special items grouped around it. The green daisy-and-button pressed glass canister was my grandmothers, and stores our cotton balls. Next to that is a sweet little wind up clock that also belonged to her. Much to Zach's dismay, it still works, and the ticking keeps him up at night unless I stick it in a drawer. I got the other canister from a resale shop, different design but same color, colonial green. So this is my happy little corner of the bathroom that keeps me on time, reminds me of my grandma, and gives a warm glow.

Fall is here!

S: Austin got some much needed rain this weekend, and although stuck indoors, Zach and I were busy at work. I spent most of my time sewing, making these pumpkin drawstring bags for my etsy shop.


Zach spent his time organizing the garage. It's really looking great, we'll share those pictures with you soon!

Craft Cabinet

S: I just reorganized my craft cabinet. I like opening the drawers to look inside...it's amazing what a few plastic bins from the dollar store can do.

I bought the dresser in college for $15 at Goodwill. It's made of solid wood and metal, and is super heavy. It was black when I bought it, but I think it may have been red in a past life. We used it as a tv stand when we lived in our apartment. Zach worked his magic and made the top drawer front fold down for our dvd player, and cut a hole in the back for cords.

When we moved into our house, I repainted it a cream color with some paint left in our garage from the previous homeowners. We left the top drawer as it was. It's great for things like sketch pads and paper, making it easy to slide them in and out rather than digging through a drawer. We've gotten a lot of use out of this thrift store dresser!

Hose Reel Repair

S: Several months back we had a pretty bad hail storm that did a lot of damage. A couple days after the storm Zach discovered a baseball sized hole in the top of our plastic hose reel box. We had just purchased it and weren't willing to pay $45 for a new one when everything else was fine. But every time I went outside it taunted me with it's imperfection. Something had to be done.

My mom suggested gluing a piece of plastic on top to cover the hole...good idea! However, when I went in search of plastic at home depot, I was directed to the plexiglass. Obviously something see-through would not work. Then Zach had the great idea of using vinyl tile. I have to admit that I was against this idea at first and was skeptical of how it would look, but it turned out great. We picked up an 18" x 18" peel-and-stick vinyl tile for $2.50. I trimmed it down a couple of inches and added a little extra glue to the top of the hose reel to make sure it would stay, then pressed it down into place. Such a cheap and easy fix...I wish we had done it sooner!

Family Tree

S: Our front lawn has been struggling to stay alive against the water restrictions and triple digit heat here in Austin. The only part that looks decent is the patch underneath our lone oak tree, which is shaded from the sun. So for Zach's birthday we decided to buy another tree for the front yard. My mom came to visit over Labor Day weekend and we went by Red Barn Garden Center to pick out a tree. Zach ended up choosing a Lacey Oak. We were able to save a lot of money because all of their shade trees were 50% off! We also picked up some plants for the front flower bed, lantanas and salvias. Getting the tree home was an adventure....

Z: An adventure like driving a car through a forest a forest through the city.

two of these things are just the same...

S: While Zach began digging the hole for the new tree, my mom and I worked on making a small bed with a limestone border around our existing tree.

Step 1: Lay out your stones to get the spacing right.

Step 2: Dig out grass and a deeper border for stones.

Step 3: Lay down paver base and compact.

Step 4: Lay down paver sand and compact. We used a rubber mallet and a small board to compact the layers.

Step 5: Place your stones and add more paver sand if necessary to even out the height.

Step 6: Add mulch around the tree

Thanks for all your help mom!!!

Z: Limestone dapples Austin top soil and eventually you hit solid limestone. This geological feature makes for great foundations and difficult digging. I needed to dig a hole for the lacey oak about 2.5 ft down and 3 feet across. Its pretty amazing how a basketball sized chunk of limestone will slow you down. After fruitlessly jabbing around with a shovel for a few minutes, I broke down and bought a pick axe. I had never wielded a pick axe before, but like its name implies, it's half weapon. A pick axe allows you to wage war with the earth. During the Battle of Lacey Oak, I defeated two great limestone warlords from the FrontLawn region and their battalion of lesser rocks. My armor proved essential during the fight, for on multiple occasions, as my pick axe struck the limestone warlord, he fired pieces of himself to blind me but luckily my safety glasses head visor deflected the flying chip attack. With the limestone conquered, I claimed the region by erecting the oak tree and lining the monument with cut limestone the bodies of my victims.

After