the giraffe life

It's common knowledge that you can borrow books for free at the library, but look what I got to take home with me (forever!) from my library:  a new bookcase/bookshelf display-type item! It used to hold children's books but a bigger, two-sided shelf replaced it. So it was outside with a free sign on it! I couldn't believe my good fortune - I think it will be perfect in the baby's room. My plan is to give it a good scrub to try to remove those adhesive marks and then fill it with books! Thankfully my parents saved some of my books from when I was younger and I've received a few as gifts so I'm excited and ready to get set up! Acquired anything for free lately?

When we got our tax refund last March, we put my portion toward our mortgage debt and my husband's portion toward our California vacation . Both money well spent. This year we're spending all of it (plus a little more) on new floors for our upstairs.  In less trafficked places the carpet still looks decent. But the hallway and our bedroom look particularly worn - and of course the corners, which Monkey tore up her first two months here rather than one of the scratching posts.  We really love the hardwood floors we have downstairs so that was our first thought for upstairs. It would be cheaper to replace the carpet (about half the price) but the tax refund made us more willing to pay the extra. Plus the hardwood should last much longer than carpet ever would and I think it's easier to keep clean (especially for our family members with allergies).  The installation should be an interesting process with three cats in the mix! We're very excited f...

I'm still working on cleaning out the spare bedroom. Though no one consistently uses the room, we have a dresser in there because it matches the bed. Many of the drawers have gradually been filled over the years and now I'm trying to clean them out . . And I came across two bags of old cards and letters. (I have another bag that I'm currently filling, which made me forget about these two.) I reread them and stirred up lots of good memories. Some went in the trash because they were just plain cards that someone had signed their name to, but I kept all the special ones with a message inside. So I thought - I'll put them in an empty plastic box so they can be stacked neatly in the closet.  The only problem is that the containers don't hold nearly as much as I thought they would! I don't think I could possibly toss any more - so tomorrow I'm off to buy another container. Do you save cards?

Do you hang coats on hooks? We tried using the hall closet (around the corner from the door), but this is much quicker and then we can use the closet for out of season items. But this particular coat rack has seen better days. At first glance, it seems fine. Several hooks, a little space to rest things on top. Then the hooks started breaking off one by one, followed by the whole coat rack falling off the wall. Good times.  So we replaced it. And by we, I mean Mr. G :)  And not that I'm wishing for an early winter, but I am looking forward to loading this with heavy coats and winter hats. We're saving the old one for now, because we may be able to salvage the hook portion and use them elsewhere in the house for lighter items (I'm pretty sure the weight is why they were breaking). Where do you hang coats?

When we bought our house, there were plenty of things Mr. G and I didn't notice because we were inexperienced homebuyers. One of those things was how shallow our sink was:  Here it is in use . It's nearly 6 inches deep (about 14 centimeters). That's not terrible, but coupled with the low faucet, that left an 8 inch (20 cm) clearance for pots. Which is a huge problem for me because I love soup and make a big batch almost every weekend. Cleaning huge pots is already a chore, and fighting with the sink didn't help matters. (And just so you don't think I wanted a new sink just so I could easily clean a soup pot once a week:  It was also irritating to clean tons of other things - skillets, cake pans, serving trays - anything larger than a dinner plate basically.)  So I started plotting to get a new sink. And by plotting, I mean searching on craigslist (a website similar to the classified ads in the newspaper) for a deeper sink. Luckily it worked out and I found a ...

Ladies' Home Journal recently featured an article on Tiny Homes , about 3 different families living in small spaces. The average American home is 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) as of 2010 ( source ), while the homes featured in this article were 128 sq ft (12 sq m), 960 sq ft (89 sq m), and 336 sq ft (31 sq m). average size of an American home through the years The families ranged in size from a married couple to a married couple with 2 kids, and for the most part, they were happy with their decision to downsize and live in smaller digs. While I think the two super small homes are a little extreme, a family of four living in a 960 square foot home sounds doable. The most important thing is that the house be well designed for that scenario.  Mr. G and I lived in a house that was just under 1100 square feet and had ample space. Every room had a good size closet, the kitchen cabinets went right up to the ceiling, and there was no wasted space in the floor plan . . b...

I just read a great post over at Economies of Kale . She went through all her clothing and tallied up exactly how much she has of each type (similar to this guy , but not as extreme). It has inspired me to do the same :) But first, here's some pictures of where I store my clothes. Almost all of my tops and sweaters are in this closet (the baskets up top are for sheets and out of season clothes): In the spare bedroom's closet, I hang all the clothes that are too tempting for my cats - anything with dangly bits or lace edging, and long dresses. I keep jeans, shorts, hoodies, and pajamas in my dresser drawers (my husband and I share a dresser); socks and underwear are kept in my nightstand.  On to the tallies: 73 Tops Tank tops: 9 Short sleeve shirts: 28 Long sleeve shirts: 13 (+1 jersey - I'll give you one guess as to  which team ) Sweaters: 17 (a popular Christmas gift) Hoodies: 5 34 Bottoms Jeans: 5 Capris: 2 Shorts: 5 (+1 skort that I should probably ...

So I promised you more details about the quilt I mentioned here . It was a present for my hubby. Care to guess the theme? I guess the post title kinda gave that away ;) While I am super proud of this quilt, I did very little of the actual sewing, pinning, etc. and don't feel comfortable writing a post with any semblance of a tutorial. Instead, I just want to share photos and some of the behind-the-scenes logistics.  I came across the quilt above online (sadly, I have no source) and loved it immediately. My mom's made tons of quilts - probably around 35 - so I emailed her the picture to see if she could recreate it. Usually, she starts with a pattern or measurements in mind, not just a photograph, but she was willing to try! Picking the colors was easy - my husband loves the Flyers, so we took a Flyers' hat to the fabric store, and bought the closest color matches. Then we played around with varying size stripes that would add up to 84 inches (since our bed is...