This is one cool guy that I had the pleasure of sharing some learning experiences with at the University of Michigan- Dearborn. He graduated a year before me with a Bachelor of Science in Land Resource Analysis, picking up Certificate in geospatial analytics and mapping. Within the last year or so he’s taken a position …
When we took on our upstairs renovation, it was with the understanding that it would take a while because we intended to DIY almost everything ourselves. However, sometimes it can pay to call in a professional, so I thought I’d take a minute to detail what we take into consideration when we decide to contract …
There are two doorknobs in the house that are not quite making the cut these days. The bathroom doorknob usually behaves, but every once in a while, it falls off and locks in a guest (or one of us). The door to the front bedroom is totally broken. You have to use pliers to open …
Here’s our first monthly “Masters of War” series post, which highlights invasive species in Michigan so you can recognize and help report them. I thought we’d start off with this particular plant since our first featured scientist, Jake Bonello, spends a lot of time mapping its location and treating it. Name: Phragmites australis, commonly called Phrag …
Alternate post title: Mortgages for Millennials We know a few couples who are looking to buy houses in the next few months, and have been answering a lot of questions about the mortgage process for them. It occurred to me that mortgages are confusing (we learned that first hand) and having recently (FINALLY) completed the …
By now, you’ve seen a picture or two of our little house, but just as a reminder, this is what it looked like when we first moved in: The white aluminum siding is was filthy and very chalky looking. The dusty blue color above the porch and on the shutters was in good shape, …
I mentioned emphasizing native plants in my post “Looking Out My Backdoor”, and got a request for what some of my favorites are. The short answer is almost ALL of them (not poison ivy), but that’s not really helpful. I could end up writing another 15 page long post just on natives, but I decided …
Today is my wonderful husband’s 28th birthday. I warned you that occasionally you’d have to hear about how great I think he is, and today you’ll just have to tolerate it because it’s his special day and I love him to pieces. I’m going to try to describe to you how great he is and …
I don’t know how anyone else feels about this, but for me, moving out of my parents’ house came with a whole lot of responsibilities I didn’t have to manage before. I had to keep the house clean, feed myself, feed the dog, make sure the bills got paid on time, and continue staying on …
I have grumbled some about my postage stamp-sized kitchen on this blog thus far, but I like it a lot more than I did when we moved in. When we were renting the house from Seth’s parents, the walls were bright red, the cabinets were the worst light-wood laminate I can imagine, and the cabinet …