Amy Currioman » Home and Garden

Dreamy bathroom

Amy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:59:31 +0000

When we were faced with expanding our house, I had the pleasure of drawing the blueprints myself. I especially enjoyed designing the new kitchen and bathrooms. I hired our new neighbor across the street to custom build our bathroom cabinets. He had spent some time in vocational training as a cabinet maker, and he offered to build our cabinets for cost. They came out beautiful! I hand painted the knobs and pulls to coordinate with the wallpaper.

And the luxurious towel warmers made me feel like pampered royalty! There simply are no words to describe how wonderful it feels to get out of the shower or bathtub and have a warm towel ready for you. I only wish that I’d had enough space and budget to put in a large spa tub too!

Need a new dehumidifier

Amy — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:07:32 +0000

For some strange reason the dehumidifier that I’ve had for a few years has decided to trip the circuit on the surge protector it is on every time I turn it on. So I’ve decided that it is time to buy a new dehumidifier. I really hate to have to buy a new one; they are so expensive! But without one the basement gets that musty smell that permeates everything that is stored down there, even though I have a couple of fans running down there to keep the air moving. Maybe the basement is just so big that I need larger fans; I really don’t know. I have to say it is a royal pain in the neck to have to go down there every day to empty the dehumidifier, but there is no drain or window that I can have it drain through. So I’ve been spending about an hour online looking for the best price on a dehumidifier, and getting more and more depressed! Those buggers are more expensive than I remembered! Geez, I get tired of “biting the bullet!”

Honeysuckle

Amy — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:03:16 +0000

This morning when I left the house I noticed the air was heavily scented with a sweet scent. I looked around trying to figure out where the sweetness was coming from. The only thing that I could see in bloom was the honeysuckle that has overtaken the fence that lines the property boundary line between us and our neighbor. I never realized that honeysuckle had such a sweet scent that could be sensed from so far away!

I remember as a child my Dad showed me how to pull apart a honeysuckle so I could lick the drop of nectar from it. I used to enjoy doing that a lot as a kid. I haven’t done that this year yet, but I did do it last year when I was showing my own kids how to do it. I was disappointed by their lack of enthusiasm for what I was showing them! Oh well, maybe when I have grandchildren they will enjoy doing it with me!

Tuesday Freebies

Amy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:58:28 +0000

My horoscope said nothing about how great today was going to be. First, I went to Starbucks and they gave me a free chocolate cherry mocha coffee. They had made one for someone else who decided they didn’t want it and the barrista didn’t want to throw it away, so she asked me if i would like it. Heck, yes!

Then I went to Home Depot to get a couple of rakes for my overdue yard work and went to the self checkout. The rakes both had the bar codes on them, but the second one would not scan. the checkout display said to wait for assistance. I waited and waited and even with 4 idle workers milling about, no one came to help me. So I got a little ticked off and loudly asked “Where’s my assistance?” the clerk came and tried to scan the rake, but it didn’t work. So he went somewhere else and left me standing there along with a growing line of other impatient customers. When he came back he tried to scan it one more time. It still didn’t work. He leaned toward me and said softly, “I’m not going to charge you for this rake. It’s not your fault the scan won’t work and I’m sorry you’ve had to wait so long.” He smiled and handed me the rake – another freebie!

Decorating for Christmas

Amy — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:38:26 +0000

Our Christmas tree this year – most of the ornaments were hand made, mostly by myself or family members or friends. Isn’t it pretty? I even crocheted the angel topper and the tree skirt myself! This year the tree is a small 3 1/2′ artificial tree that had light bulbs already strung on it. I just didn’t want to bother with stringing lights this year myself! And we decided on a small tree to put on a table to help keep the dogs from bothering the tree. The last couple of years one of our dogs decided that chewing the strands of lights was a good idea!

Sewing a quillow

Amy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:29:56 +0000

I’ve spent most of the last two days sewing a quillow. Do you know what a quillow is? It is a quilt with a pocket sewn in so that the entire quilt can be folded into the pocket. Once that is folded in, the quillow now looks like, and can be used as, a pillow. So it is a quilt/pillow, therefore called a quillow. I’ve made several quillows in my life. I’ve sold some, and I’ve given some as presents.

This one I just made is being sold to one of my husband’s friends. He is planning to give it to his wife as a Christmas gift! I made a matching pillow case for it, so he can get a pillow form from the local fabric store to put inside it, or they can insert a throw pillow that they already own inside it.

Anyway, here is a picture of my lastest quillow! I hand-tied this one instead of machine quilting it. I thought that the pattern of the fabric lended itself to hand-tying. When I make a quillow, I let the fabric “tell me” what type of quilting would be the best suited. I hope the wife enjoys it!

Shiny things

Amy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:26:38 +0000

My hubby loves chrome because it is shiny. I can’t really blame him, I like silver and gold shiny jewelry too! So for him, chrome is jewelry for his motorcycle and his truck! In the house, however, my hubby is all about stainless steel. Especially whenever we have to replace something. When we moved into this house we needed new appliances. I didn’t care what color they were, I just needed some appliances that worked! So we trotted off to the store and it became obvious that he would agree to just about anything as long as it was stainless steel!

So now that Christmas gift time is approaching I’m thinking about buying him some bloomus stainless steel fireplace accessories to set beside the fireplace in the family room. Or perhaps a nice shiny bloomus stainless steel mailbox to use as a drop box beside the garage. I’m sure he’d also love a nice bloomus stainless steel birdfeeder for the back yard!

Serendipity

Amy — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:35:18 +0000

While I was putting the boxes of items on the new storage shelves I tried to take a peek inside them to see what was in them. I wanted to use a marker to write on the outside what was inside to make it easier to find later. It really has been a mess down there! I was pleased to find several boxes marked “Planters” and “Garden Statues.” I’ve been wondering where my favorite Decorative Planter had gone to when we moved down here three years ago!

We’ve been putting off buying any new Outdoor Planters until we found our “stash” of planters, and now that we’ve come across it we can sort through them and clean them up and see if any are salvageable to use on the front porch or back deck next spring. Now I’ll be anxious for spring to come again and it isn’t even winter yet!

Clearing out the basement

Amy — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:29:34 +0000

We recently bought several of the 5 shelf plastic heavy duty storage shelving units to put in the basement to help to de-clutter it. Well, today I decided to march down there and start the de-clutter battle. I put together four of the units and started piling boxes and boxes and boxes on them! Although I would ultimately like to organize them, my mission for the moment is to clear up floor space as much as possible. It’s going to look pretty good when all is said and done!

So very sad

Amy — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:18:33 +0000

We have a small herd of deer that we enjoy watching in our yard every day. They seem to be such gentle creatures; it’s a shame that they have those stupid ticks that carry lyme disease! This morning I went out to run errands and found a dead deer alongside the road just a couple of houses from our house. A sick feeling hit me as I realized that poor thing was probably one of “our” deer. I always feel so bad for any animal that I see lying beside the road, but it is much worse when you’ve started to feel like it is ‘one of ours.” I am now anxious to see the herd again later today, to take a head count.