Sweat Equity

We've submitted an application to the DIY network TV show, "Sweat Equity" to come help us with the largest project remaining on our to-do list: finishing the addition on the back of the house and remodeling the kitchen. We haven't heard back from them - yet - but we're hopeful! We think our story is fairly compelling. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Savin' money!

We got our first utility bill today since our attic got its new winter coat. It was a whopping $100 cheaper than our previous month's bill! And since temperatures have been roughly the same, we have to attribute most of it to the new insulation. I have to admit we also finally got around to programming our thermostat so that the temp drops during the day and while we're sleeping, so I expect that helped a bit too.

Barley-Almond Pilaf

I tried a new recipe tonight and this one is definitely a hit. It tastes great, plus is loaded with protein and fiber, and not very many calories. A great substitute for potatoes or rice.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup pearled barley (I used medium barley)
2 cups chicken broth (I used low-sodium version)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup toasted almonds, crushed (I bought "Almond Accents" from the produce section. They are already slivered, toasted & flavored)

Heat olive oil in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add barley and stir constantly for 2 minutes.

Pour chicken broth into the pan and bring to a boil (let it boil for a couple minutes). Reduce heat to low and cover. Cook until barley is almost tender, about 30 minutes. Remove pilaf from heat and let stand 10 minutes; season with salt and pepper and stir in almonds.

Cabin in winter

 

We spent the weekend at the cabin, mainly to make sure the place was okay. We hadn't been there since Thanksgiving. Here's a pic of the big snow plow remains pile in front of our garage. My husband tried to run the heavy-duty snowblower through it and just managed to break the snowblower. Luckily we didn't have as much snow to trudge through to get into the house. You can also see my new car in this pic. We parked in the neighbor's driveway since we couldn't get into our own. It was a nice, relaxing weekend.

I got my Prius!

 

My Christmas present finally showed up today and we went to pick it up from the dealer this morning. It's an amazing car that rides nice, is easy on the fuel bill and is pretty snazzy looking too. One of the coolest features, though, is that it has a smart key. This means that you don't need to use it. Just having it in your purse or your pocket is enough. You walk up to the car and it automatically unlocks the driver door or the trunk (but not the side doors). Then when you get in, just hit the power button. When you get out, just touch a button on the door handle and it locks the car. If you accidentally leave the key inside, it won't lock and it will beep at you. The key is just a fob with buttons for locking/unlocking door and it has a real key folded down inside in case you ever need it. Cool, huh?!

It also has bluetooth connectivity to my phone so I can make and receive calls through the call while I'm driving. Won't have to touch the phone.

Of course it has GPS navigation and we're getting Sirius satellite radio, but they weren't able to install that this week (have to go back when we get the plates).

and the other great feature -- that is especially nice right now -- is that it has heated seats. Ahh.

Insulation man

 

I've been meaning to post this picture for a few weeks. This is what Jamey looked like when he came down from the attic after spending 3 1/2 hours blowing in cellulose insulation! It was hilarious. But we were too tired to laugh about it then. It was a grueling day -- and we never would've survived without help from our good friends Mike and Rick. But we could certainly notice a difference in the warmth inside our house immediately. The insulation that had been up there was 3 to 5 inches. You're supposed to have 12 to 18 inches. We blew in enough new stuff to bring it up to the 18 inches.

We're still working on the second attic portion that extends over part of the garage and an addition to the house (mostly the kitchen). And we're insulating and adding drywall to the garage, which is also desperately needed. The work out there has been slow going. So far Jamey's gotten an attic ladder installed and done some insulation on the garage walls.

Outcry before publication

A paper in upstate New York had to publish this interesting note from the editor because citizens have gotten in an uproar over the fact that the newspaper filed a public records request asking for a copy of the database on all gun permit holders. They haven't published anything yet. In fact, they haven't even gotten the data yet! Wow.

False Pretenses

My former employer, The Center for Public Integrity, just released a first-of-its-kind investigation into the untrue statements made by the Bush administration. The byline on the article is none other than Charles Lewis, the founder of CPI (and my old boss). He no longer works there full-time, so this must've been a special project.

The analysis shows how in the two years prior to the beginning of the Iraq War, the president and his top advisers issued 935 untrue statements, including the notion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. It also says, "Nearly five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, an exhaustive examination of the record shows that the statements were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."

Chuck was also on NPR this morning talking about this story.

I've been waiting for a story like this!

An ugly job

This weekend we're tackling an ugly and enormous job -- adding insulation to our attic. We got up there to find less than 7 inches, including some spots that were almost bare. A telling sign was that this morning, with an outside temp in the negative numbers, the roof inside the attic was covered in frost! Clearly we're losing a lot of hot air (and money!) out the roof.

So last weekend we made 3 trips to Menards to get 80 bales of blow-in insulations. Yes, I said 80. It's hard to believe we need that much, but we do if we want to get to the maximum 18 inches in thickness.

Today, Jamey and his co-worker, Rick, are installing vents in the eaves and tomorrow we'll get the blower machine and Jamey and his friend, Mike, will be blowing it all in there.

It's horrible work that I would've preferred to have hired out, but Jamey insisted it was a waste of money to pay somebody to do this when he had the know-how and ability. I'll be curious to see what his opinion is on this by the end of the weekend.

Best of 2007

Since everyone else seems to do the "best of" lists at the end of each year, I thought I'd throw out my favorites in a few categories.

Movies:
I didn't see very many in the theater this year, but the ones I did were generally top-notch. Here are the ones that moved me most:
1) Juno. Extremely well done movie. Great dialog, acting, storyline. Funny, sad, dramatic, all at the same time. It's hard to get that combination right.
2) Dan in real life. I usually don't like Steve Carrell but I really liked him here. He created a very lovable, endearing character and I was rooting for him to get the girl!
3) 3:10 to Yuma. I was quite surprised that I liked this one since I generally don't like westerns. But the acting was superb and the drama/tension kept me glued to the screen. I would've preferred a happy ending, though.
4) Michael Clayton. Great, old-fashioned drama with a solid performance from George Clooney.
5) Knocked Up. A little on the gross side, but I liked how this movie raised the societal issue of young guys acting like children. It's so true!
6) Music & Lyrics. Yes, it's cheesy but right up my alley.

There are several that I haven't seen yet, that I have high hopes for. Here's the list: Atonement, Love in the time of cholera, No country for old men and The Kite Runner.


Books:
I made it through some really great books this year -- including a couple that will probably reside in my top 5 for a long time to come. Here they are:
1) A thousand splendid suns. I could not put this one down. I was so moved by the two female characters and I felt sick over the horrible things they had to put up with, cried at the death of one of them and cheered when the other gets her reward.
2) Richistan. This is non-fiction written by a reporter from the Wall Street Journal who writes about the super rich. This book is just packed with detail about how these people live and how they live such different lives from the rest of us that they essentially have their own country that the author has named "Richistan." I think I plowed through this thing in something like three days.
3) The Kite Runner. Disturbing, moving account of two boys in Afghanistan. This one is probably better in terms of the writing quality than A thousand splendid suns (and won more awards), but I think I related to "suns" more because the characters were female. Still, Kite Runner was spell-binding and deeply moving. Wonderful characters.
4) Bridge of sighs. This is the latest from Richard Russo, who wrote Empire Falls -- my all-time favorite book. This one wasn't quite as good, but I liked it because Russo creates such wonderful, deep characters.

TV shows:
I'm starting to get ticked about the writers strike cause there's nothing to watch on TV. I'm subsisting on Netflix, re-runs of Gilmore Girls and movies on HBO. Not sure how much longer I can hold out.

Here are the shows I'm most anxious to see back:
1) Brothers & Sisters. Great cast. Great acting. Need I say more? Oh yeah, and Rob Lowe as eye candy.
2) Gray's Anatomy. I know this gets slammed for being too much of a soap opera, but who can't help but want to know what happens next?
3) Private Practice. This spin-off from Gray's has been thoroughly panned by the critics, but I like it cause it's an escape for me. They live in such a vastly different world than my own, I like to see what happens to them.
4) How I met your mother. This is one of the few shows my husband and I can agree on. The dialog is sharp and witty and they seem to keep coming up with entertaining storylines.
5) The Closer. This TNT drama with Kyra Sedgewick is fun to watch.
6) I'm also eagar to see "24" and Jack Bauer back on the air. It hasn't been on since last May and I haven't heard a peep about when it might be back.