A Long Weekend
July 6, 2008
“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.” -Erma Bombeck
Also I think Erma Bombeck forgot to mention the sparklers and the inevitable burns. Because some people insist that they don’t need to wear shoes. Even though it is dark out. And the burned up sparklers are not visible against the blacktop driveway.
In case you are wondering how to make that potato salad, hop on over to Work It! Mom for our family favorite. I also have an old stand-by pasta salad recipe and spicy grilled corn on the cob that is so tasty, well you will have to restrain yourself from eating it all. Unless you like talking to your guests with teeth filled with corn kernels.
Mmmmm, yummy. I have a lot of other recipes up over there that I have not had time to link to individually lately. For the next few weeks they will all be recipes that you can cook on your grill or single burner. This is because I have no working kitchen.
We are in the middle of Renovation-palooza. In six weeks our house will be finished. Or we will die trying. Possibly from exhaustion, though more likely a murder-suicide scenario. Because OMG did my husband just really suggest something so incredibly stupid, or OMG why does my wife buy the most expensive faucet known to mankind that only has directions in French. For the record, it is not the most expensive faucet, my husband just thinks all things should be able to be purchased with the spare change found in the couch cushions.
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I can’t believe you can actually see the light at the end of the renovation tunnel. Ours is coming along, but I think we’ll be on the never done renovation plan.
July 6th, 2008 at 11:43 pmDelurking to say thank you for that lovely quote from Erma Bombeck. That was perfect. Now I want potato salad.
July 7th, 2008 at 12:09 amJust finished remodeling our ONLY bathroom and it almost ended in divorce. I shudder to think of a kitchen remodel!
July 7th, 2008 at 12:24 amLove the sparkler photo.
Sorry about the burn.
Good luck with the renos.
Hey, I’m talking in threes!
July 7th, 2008 at 1:46 amI feel your pain! We’re in kitchen renovation hell as well. We had a similar struggle with the faucet selection. I decided you use it everyday, get what you love. I did! Thanks for the super helpful recipes. Eating out isn’t nearly as much fun when you have to do it!
July 7th, 2008 at 2:04 amAnother insanely good low-light photo!
July 7th, 2008 at 2:16 amThe salad looks yummy, can’t wait til it’s sumer here to try it
July 7th, 2008 at 3:06 amSo when you say the house will be finished, you mean, completely? All rooms finished, done? What will you do when it is done, after the relaxing of course
Ha ha! God, you are so funny Chris.
And the faucet must be so worth it. Please post pictures. Or direct us to them when the work is done.
July 7th, 2008 at 3:10 amI hear you re the ‘most expensive faucet’. My husband likes to buy things with the spare change found in the car doors, and likes change from that thanks. He can’t work out why he then gets cross when something breaks a few months down the line and we have to replace it again, spending more than we would have in the first place had we bought a good quality XXX (insert item name here) in the first place. And he doesn’t understand why I subsequently go insane at him when the cheap-ass Ikea chest of drawers, previously broken by him during installation - despite being fixed to the wall as per instructions - falls on to my 2yr old nearly squashing him permanently. Yikes. It pays to spend up in the first place, and we’re now on the hunt for an antique chest of drawers, one that is made of solid wood and might cost as much change as you have in your pocket (and then some!).
Great news to hear you’re nearly done on the renovations - I’d love to say enjoy the completed project and have a well-deserved rest, but knowing you guys, you’ve another crazy-ass project in the pipeline! C’mon, spill!
(p.s. also, what happened to your No-Spend project?)
July 7th, 2008 at 4:18 amIf you have time, I’d love to see more sparkler & kid photos! Congrats on seeing the end of renovation in sight!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:31 amLast weekend we tore into the last major project in this old house…a master bedroom closet (from 9ft of hanging space to 22 ft!)and a new master bath out of the old closet. Just like doing the kitchen a couple of years ago, I find it knocks my whole sense of being out of whack. My bedroom was always the place I could go to escape. The rest of the house could be a mess, but if I had my sanctuary, I was all set. Even the cats don’t know what to do about this renovation. They aren’t sure where to sleep and wander around mewing!
When we did the kitchen over, it was a real eye opener for me. I do like to cook, but I never realized what kind of a stress reliever it was for me at the end of the day, until I couldn’t do it anymore. (Hey, we all march to different drummers!) We also timed it for summer with the idea we’d just grill and get by with a microwave, paper plates, and the bathroom sink to wash what was needed. The first inkling that this was not quite what I had in mind was the first morning I tried to put the coffee pot under the faucet to wash it and discovered it wouldn’t fit!
In the end, you’ll be thrilled with the result. But the road there…not so much!
July 7th, 2008 at 6:56 amSo many features of the house are stuff I just settled for, or are done in a half-@55ed fashion, due to a combo of our actual budget and husband’s insistance that the bargain-basement versions are just as good. Don’t settle when it’s stuff you’ll have to live with for years!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:09 amIf it makes you feel any better, you don’t have to be in the middle of renovations to have the murder-suicide atitudes. We both woke up with PMS yesterday. A fun day was had by all, and lots of cleaning got done just so we didn’t have to talk to each other.
July 7th, 2008 at 7:38 amWhat’s a holiday weekend without a little renovation? And the sparkler burns? My mom used to give me gloves and a long sleeved shirt. It was hot, yes, but she didn’t have to deal with tears and I didn’t care because I had sparklers!
July 7th, 2008 at 7:52 amI like the recipes you’ve posted over there. I originally found you through the Parenting blog, are you going to do that anymore?
July 7th, 2008 at 7:59 amI can’t wait for the grill/ food ideas….we start our kitchen on Thursday and will be without a kitchen for a month. Gotta go pack our whole downstairs…Aaaaa!
July 7th, 2008 at 8:59 amChris - Cant wait to see pix of your kitchen! Great sparkler pic & I hope the burns are healing! Now I will head over to read the recipes. I need some new ones. I love my potato salad recipe, but I think my family is tired of it!!! Time for something new.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:40 amHaving seen the size of your couch, that might just be possible!
Thanks for the recipes! They’re always fabuous.
July 7th, 2008 at 9:43 amI just think it’s ridiculous how much faucets cost. Really they redirect water and start and stop it, why can’t they cost what I have sitting under the cushions in my couch? Congrats on being almost done, that must feel heavenly!
July 7th, 2008 at 11:17 amChris,
how do you do it? would you mind sharing your incredible technique for the sparkler photo with us who aren’t as talented and who didn’t capture “a single” good shot of sparklers this 4th.– would appreciate it very much!
July 7th, 2008 at 11:22 amI love that Emma Bombeck quote - so appropriate!
Also, rennovations are complete torture! Hubby (like your hubby) also thinks that if something can’t be purchased at Walmart price it’s unnecessary.
Becky
July 7th, 2008 at 11:48 amAnd yet, he has his plasma television, so I think it’s a double standard.
http://www.stinkylemsky.typepad.com/
I made the pasta salad this past weekend for a pot-luck and everyone loved it. I have been saying for years I needed a go-to pasta salad recipe, and now I have it! Thanks!
July 7th, 2008 at 1:56 pmWe got burned feet too. Why don’t they ever listen to us?
July 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pmI’ve been meaning to ask you - do you have a resource for window restoration - I am getting ready with fear and trepidation to restore the glazing on my 1937 windows. Thanks for making me laugh!
July 7th, 2008 at 4:56 pmRenovations? You have my sympathies. We have been sloooooowly gutting our house for three years now and I have just about had it…and we haven’t made it to the kitchen yet. Sigh.
July 7th, 2008 at 5:10 pmThat is THE coolest sparklers picture EVER!
I took a cute photo of my two-year old with his first sparkler, but it is nowhere near that cool. Cute, yes. Awesome, No.
I aspire to get a REAL camera so I can take photos like that!
July 8th, 2008 at 4:59 pmLove the Erma Bombeck quote.
Don’t forget to take pictures BEFORE the murder/suicide, and have taught one of the kids how to upload the photos of the completed house to your blog.
Good luck with the final phase of restoration!
July 8th, 2008 at 6:13 pm