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Whatever Happened to New and Improved?
Remember the old days when companies in the United States wanted to build things bigger and better? Ever upward! Remember? EVERYTHING was “new” and “improved”! American companies built products with exceptional quality, just because THEY COULD do it!! I’m not so old that I can’t remember those days. It seems like a million miles away, [...]
Continue reading...Is Emergency Preparedness A Pipe Dream?
5. November 2011
I’m reading this very old book, Historic Storms of New England. It was written by Sidney Perley and published in 1891. His narratives go back to the first recorded natural disasters of the year 1635, a mere 15 years after the Separatists (English Pilgrims) landed on the shores of Massachusetts in 1620. The book is [...]
Continue reading...Save Some Bucks With a Refinanced Mortgage
3. August 2011
When I was a kid, I remember seeing TV show episodes in which the characters would burn their paid-off mortgage papers in a “mortgage party.” I remember thinking “Wow, this must be something very significant!” and then also thinking, “What the heck is a mortgage?” Hoh boy, do I know what a mortgage is, now. [...]
Continue reading...How to Keep an Old House Cool in the Summer
27. May 2011
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…. before the 1970s malaise and even before the Industrial Revolution, most homeowners focused more on keeping their homes cool in the summer than warm in the winter. Back then, wood and coal were plenteous, and labor was cheap (not to mention that families had dozens of kids [...]
Continue reading...Get Rid of It. Yeah.
26. May 2011
WHAT IS IT with all this crazy weather?? Will someone please tell me?! Flooding here, flooding in the Mississippi?? Vicious tornadoes and I saw that they even had snow in Colorado?? In late MAY, for pete’s sake. My area is still cleaning up from late April’s flash flooding. Everything is just so messy. Like everyone [...]
Continue reading...Tax Time Draws to a Deadline….
4. April 2011
Oh my gosh, it’s April already. APRIL! We haven’t got our taxes done yet. Usually the husband gets them done in the first few weeks if February. But this year, we might actually owe money. So, haha, we’re putting it off until the bitter end. Because I am self-employed, the sheer amount of paperwork is [...]
Continue reading...Working Overtime
31. March 2011
It’s been almost 9 months since we started out major kitchen renovation last year. It seems like it was FOREVER ago. It gobbled up almost the entire year last year. I have PROMISED myself that I won’t be doing any more major renovations this year (even though the upstairs sorely needs it), not until I [...]
Continue reading...Finding Good CFL Bulbs
29. March 2011
The Old House Journal has a terrific article called How to Find Energy Efficient Bulbs That Don’t Suck: Nutrition Facts for Light Bulbs. Starting in January 2011 light bulbs are required to be labeled with lumens, watts, kelvins and efficacy. Greek to you too? Not worry. The label is now clear, easy to understand and [...]
Continue reading...Incandescent vs. CFLs
28. March 2011
In 2012, sales of incandescent light bulbs in New York State will be illegal. The bulbs nominated to fill the void: Compact Fluorescent Lights, or CFLs. The government’s Energy Star website says that CFL bulbs use “75% less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and lasts up to 10 times longer.” Honestly, I’ve been using CFL [...]
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I’m Rebecca
:) I’m a married mom of four teenage children. We live in Upstate New York. We bought an old 1855 home and acre property, over 10 years ago. We've been in the slow, agonizing process of living in the home while (trying) to renovate it. When I'm not renovating, I'm a freelance writer and blogger.
We've learned to dig a French drain, plant huge flower and vegetable gardens, wire a circuit panel, install furnace ducting, understand the enigmatic complexities of the plumbing system, and more. It's been *quite* the adventure.
You can read more about us here, read up on the history of the home, and read about what we've renovated so far. Thanks for visiting!
- Parging The Foundation Walls
- The Silent Summer: No Crickets, No Peepers!
- Building a Winter Cat Shelter
- The Tempurpedic Mattress Update
- How to Create a Serfdom
- Mrs. Mecomber: Hi, Marcia. The counters are maple butcherblock. I...
- Marg: The last one looks like something that would happe...
- Marcia: I was just wondering what type of wood your counte...
- lin: As for the last photo: Poor duck!...
- Mrs. Mecomber: Lin: BWAHAHAAH!! A week later I am still cracking ...
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22. November 2011
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