Homely Category
I lived in the house my parents built until I was 18 years old. Since then, on average I’ve moved at least once a year. Below, you can read all about my housing shuffles, apartments, househunting, and cozy homemaking. The summary since I started this blog in late 2000: Olympia, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Seattle. Spring of 2005, Andreas and I bought our first house in Seattle’s Rainier Beach neighborhood.
Living next to the dealers
14
Jan
2006
In: Homely
There used to be a really nice big family that lived in the house just south of ours. The kids used our driveway to get to the sidewalk, and the parents were always good for a nice hello. Then we stopped seeing them. After a couple months, we realized they must have moved out.
We rarely see the new neighbors. They keep the blinds closed, and have three cars out front. The one time I saw one of them getting into their car, he ignored me.
And then there are the visitors. Our neighbors have a steady stream of visitors who swing by for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. It’s usually in the evenings, especially on weekends. Sometimes they’re late visitors (I’m reminded of waking up one night to one of their visitors having an argument with her boyfriend via cell phone, while standing in front of our house), but we usually stop hearing the sound of car doors opening and closing sometime after midnight.
Then there are the smells that come from the house. Skunky. Then there was that one time we came home and saw a Jaguar parked in the driveway. These are not people with friends who drive Jags, folks.
So obviously our neighbors are dealing weed. And, from the looks of the traffic in front of their (and our) house, a lot of it. This is irksome to me, not because I have a problem with people selling weed (I’m all for decriminalization), but because they’re so fucking obvious about it. It’s like they picked up a law enforcement handbook on “Tips for identifying in-home drug dealers” and followed every single bullet point. (Frequent visits! Strange smells! Jaguars!) They’re an insult to understated drug dealers everywhere. But hey, at least it’s just weed and not coke or crack or speed. The steady stream of visitors are relatively quiet and laid-back.
But I remained irked that the neighbors are so bad about hiding what they’re doing. I’m tempted to go over there and say “Look, we all know what’s going on over here. Now, either share or stop being so obvious about it.” What’s a little extortion between neighbors?
Today was an about-house sort of day. After several early blows when it came to picking green for the living room, we finally found the right green. We bought it when we painted the new bedroom — the lilac and this sage compliment perfectly (so said that nice computer at Home Depot) and so we bought bunches of each. Today was the day we’d slated to paint finally paint the living room. Third time’s a charm!
As the first rolls went on, we stopped in horror. Our first green had been way, way too industrial. Almost neon. Our second green turned out to actually be a taupe — greyish yellow. And this third green? As it went on it looked, well, flat light grey. Really grey. Greyer than grey. But we had faith! We kept paining.
And eventually (THANK GOD!) it was green. A really nice green. A sage — my favorite comfort color.
Then we just kept clucking around the house. Andreas worked on making preserves out of the Asian pears from our tree. I made lunch (!) and then later on, dinner (!!!). Unheard of: me cooking twice in one day. Keep in mind that both meals involved frozen foods (lunch: soy chorizos; dinner: veggie kielbasa), but still. PS: the food was really tasty!
As we settled down to eat, Andreas said, ‘What a night … I’ve got beer and my wife served me dinner. Now THAT’S the good life for a man.”
I smiled and said, “And you’ve been canning fruits all evening — so butch!”
The illusion was shattered. I’m sure we’ll be back to our typical gender-skewed norm tomorrow.
Cluck cluck
24
Aug
2005
In: Homely
I’ve finally started settling into my new office, the “Red Room” and our former bedwomb. I wasn’t sure about the room at first — I was frustrated by the lack of usable wall space (two closets eat a lot of square footage) and the colors felt too dark for working. But I’ve done some shuffling around, some purchasing of plants and rotating of furniture and lighting of candles to deal with dark corners and now it’s feeling quite nice. I’ll have to take some pictures.
Despite moving in over four months ago, the house is just now starting to feel like home. And a really nice home, at that! I like our house and I like our neighborhood. I do wish our neighborhood was closer to downtown and had walkable commerical areas, but all things considered I’m pleased as punch with my homebase. I’m picky about my environs, so that’s saying something.
Another thing I like about late summer
20
Aug
2005
In: Homely
Hammock Heaven, originally uploaded by .Ariel.
Pesky Varmint!
13
Jul
2005
In: Homely
Our pond-loving raccoon returned. It didn’t eat any fish, but our water hyacinth population has be decimated, and for some reason the naughty critter pulled the pump filter out and shredded/ate it. Damn!
It’s done!
5
Jul
2005
In: Homely
Good Morning!, originally uploaded by .Ariel.
The french door project is finally complete. Whew! For extra drama, here’s the before shot.
In other house-related news, yesterday I mowed a lawn for the first time in my whole life.
Living next to the dealers
14 Jan 2006 In: HomelyThere used to be a really nice big family that lived in the house just south of ours. The kids used our driveway to get to the sidewalk, and the parents were always good for a nice hello. Then we stopped seeing them. After a couple months, we realized they must have moved out.
We rarely see the new neighbors. They keep the blinds closed, and have three cars out front. The one time I saw one of them getting into their car, he ignored me.
And then there are the visitors. Our neighbors have a steady stream of visitors who swing by for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes. It’s usually in the evenings, especially on weekends. Sometimes they’re late visitors (I’m reminded of waking up one night to one of their visitors having an argument with her boyfriend via cell phone, while standing in front of our house), but we usually stop hearing the sound of car doors opening and closing sometime after midnight.
Then there are the smells that come from the house. Skunky. Then there was that one time we came home and saw a Jaguar parked in the driveway. These are not people with friends who drive Jags, folks.
So obviously our neighbors are dealing weed. And, from the looks of the traffic in front of their (and our) house, a lot of it. This is irksome to me, not because I have a problem with people selling weed (I’m all for decriminalization), but because they’re so fucking obvious about it. It’s like they picked up a law enforcement handbook on “Tips for identifying in-home drug dealers” and followed every single bullet point. (Frequent visits! Strange smells! Jaguars!) They’re an insult to understated drug dealers everywhere. But hey, at least it’s just weed and not coke or crack or speed. The steady stream of visitors are relatively quiet and laid-back.
But I remained irked that the neighbors are so bad about hiding what they’re doing. I’m tempted to go over there and say “Look, we all know what’s going on over here. Now, either share or stop being so obvious about it.” What’s a little extortion between neighbors?
Today was an about-house sort of day. After several early blows when it came to picking green for the living room, we finally found the right green. We bought it when we painted the new bedroom — the lilac and this sage compliment perfectly (so said that nice computer at Home Depot) and so we bought bunches of each. Today was the day we’d slated to paint finally paint the living room. Third time’s a charm!
As the first rolls went on, we stopped in horror. Our first green had been way, way too industrial. Almost neon. Our second green turned out to actually be a taupe — greyish yellow. And this third green? As it went on it looked, well, flat light grey. Really grey. Greyer than grey. But we had faith! We kept paining.
And eventually (THANK GOD!) it was green. A really nice green. A sage — my favorite comfort color.
Then we just kept clucking around the house. Andreas worked on making preserves out of the Asian pears from our tree. I made lunch (!) and then later on, dinner (!!!). Unheard of: me cooking twice in one day. Keep in mind that both meals involved frozen foods (lunch: soy chorizos; dinner: veggie kielbasa), but still. PS: the food was really tasty!
As we settled down to eat, Andreas said, ‘What a night … I’ve got beer and my wife served me dinner. Now THAT’S the good life for a man.”
I smiled and said, “And you’ve been canning fruits all evening — so butch!”
The illusion was shattered. I’m sure we’ll be back to our typical gender-skewed norm tomorrow.
Cluck cluck
24 Aug 2005 In: HomelyI’ve finally started settling into my new office, the “Red Room” and our former bedwomb. I wasn’t sure about the room at first — I was frustrated by the lack of usable wall space (two closets eat a lot of square footage) and the colors felt too dark for working. But I’ve done some shuffling around, some purchasing of plants and rotating of furniture and lighting of candles to deal with dark corners and now it’s feeling quite nice. I’ll have to take some pictures.
Despite moving in over four months ago, the house is just now starting to feel like home. And a really nice home, at that! I like our house and I like our neighborhood. I do wish our neighborhood was closer to downtown and had walkable commerical areas, but all things considered I’m pleased as punch with my homebase. I’m picky about my environs, so that’s saying something.
Another thing I like about late summer
20 Aug 2005 In: HomelyHammock Heaven, originally uploaded by .Ariel.
Pesky Varmint!
13 Jul 2005 In: HomelyOur pond-loving raccoon returned. It didn’t eat any fish, but our water hyacinth population has be decimated, and for some reason the naughty critter pulled the pump filter out and shredded/ate it. Damn!
It’s done!
5 Jul 2005 In: HomelyGood Morning!, originally uploaded by .Ariel.
The french door project is finally complete. Whew! For extra drama, here’s the before shot.
In other house-related news, yesterday I mowed a lawn for the first time in my whole life.
Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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