coming out of hibernation

It's el Nino, warmest January on record, shit be budding. Spring is going to be early this year, is what I'm trying to say. Seed ordering season is right now.

We dropped a packet at seed savers exchange just now. On the self sufficiency tip we decided to start out slow. Maters are apparently hard to grow round here. As much as we want to snowed under by tomatoes (red snow? is that a late 70s drama film set in 19th century russia? sounds like it) we let it go this year. I really didn't want to jump right in to $64 tomato territory.

What we did go with was herbs. We've got 10 kinds on the way, including all the classics, stevia, and two kinds of basil. There is some veg coming too. Peas, green beans, lettuce and two kinds of cucumbers.

Now all we have to do is figure out where to start the seeds, where to get soil, and were we're going to put the raised bed (which we have to buy first).

Hey there, Rearranged Design Readers!

Thanks for clicking through! And thanks to Ana for letting me do a guest post!

We haven't been working too much on the house during the winter. (It's hard enough to stay awake in the Seattle area during the grey months.) We do, however, have some big projects slated for the spring! Hope you'll check back periodically!

But now for some good news!

Yes, it's true, the furnace is being problematic at the moment. But, as I keep telling Leff, once we have it upgraded (with a wonderful tax credit!), we won't have to worry about it for, what? 30 years?

It will suck in the short term, don't get me wrong, but I'm gonna' go for the positive outlook.

And since I'm being all shiny and happy, check this out! Our fireplace passed inspection with flying colors! Here's our first fire at Casa Rakkaleff!



The cats love it, I love it, and I think it'll be fun to roast marshmallows soon. You know, after we finish with Thanksgiving.

Speaking of which, Leff and I have decided to skip our nacho Thanksgiving tradition this year. (We'll make them with leftover turkey on Black Friday. It'll be the perfect antidote to skipping the shopping fracas. Also, a nice compliment to the beginning of DVD Season in which we avoid all seasonal programming as if it were the plague. Or maybe H1N1.)

Anyway, we're going with the adapted Plymouth Rock version of things. Which means pies. Since it's only the two of us (unless someone shows up) I decided to make mini pies. (Idea adapted from Megan.)

I've made mini pecan,



pumpkin



and key lime pies.



And, I'll be honest, I'm really excited about my first nonvegetarian Thanksgiving in, what, 13 years?

K, time to reorganize the kitchen for the upcoming flurry of cooking. What? It always takes me about six months before I figure out where everything goes.

it never rains but it pours

Ok. We got a new thermostat, to replace the crappy one. Guess what. That wasn't the real problem. Oh no. It's that the heater is old and gray (well, blue gray), and has been tearing itself apart for the last umpteen years. Yes indeed folks, it's time for a new furnace. Huzzah.

The current one still works, for now. But the oil nozzle will get clogged again because of all the debris in the can, or whatever. What do I know from furnaces? The point is, it's not emitting carbon monoxide yet, but it could start any time. And then, after weeks of making us sluggish, it will put us to sleep and then set itself on fire.

Sigh.

At least we got some space heaters, from the fine folks over at Mitchell Lumber (full disclosure, Mitchell is owned by the husband of the owner of Samudra, which Rakka and I are huge fans of. So it may seem that there is a whif of nepotism in my endorsement; but technically there isn't. Either way, Jeff has been really helpful).

Really, I should be looking at this as an opportunity. A 30 year old oil furnace can't be the most cost effective thing ever; here's the perfect excuse to replace it with something super efficient. But the price tag is daunting. That $8000 tax credit is looking very important right now.

stupid, crappy thermostat

This one is from the "there's always something" files.

See, we have this heater, see. It's a big, hulking, oil mother. It makes warm air come out of the vents, very warm air; it's what heaters do. All good stuff when it's freezing out.

We live in America and nothing can ever be simple; there's always a way to make complexity seem like an upsell. And so, we have this ridiculous thermostat that does almost everything. You program it to have a different target temp night and day, every day of the week. You can put it on hold in three different ways. I'm pretty sure there's a bread slicing attachment. There's just one thing they left out: the ability to consistently turn on the F!#@ing HEATER.

Stupid, crappy thermostat. I use the term "crappy" a lot, but I really mean it here. If you had a thousand monkeys throwing poop at a thousand bits of paper, you'd eventually have the blue prints for the Ritetemp 8030C Thermostat. It's a home depot brand, and it's been discontinued due to extreme crappiness; and for home depot that's saying something.

We need to get a replacement asap. I don't trust myself to install something like that, so even though the heater guy was out here last week we have to have him back; aslo asap. Even he said, btw, that ours was one of the w orst thermostats he'd seen (and he's seen a few).

Night Time is the Right Time

Now for the grand finale....*drumroll*...it's the house at night!





Even the moon cooperated.




Happy Halloween, everyone!

Daytime Decorations

As promised, here's a picture of the decorations in place.



The lanterns hanging out on the porch:



Here's Leff's picture of what it looks like inside right now. It's kind of cool. I want to live like this all year!



(Leff also has more photos of the decorations here.)

I'll post again tonight! That should be around 4:30 pdt.