Maggie's Musings
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Love it or List it
My husband and I have gotten in to watching HGTV, getting ideas for decorating our house and tips on home improvements. He likes Holmes on Homes because it gives him ideas and shows how to do home improvement projects. I liked Holmes for awhile, but his whiny voice is getting to me. He's so self-righteous. My husband likes how the home owners always give him a hug at the end. I guess I could hug him if he did all of that work on my house for free.
Both of us like Love it or List it, with new episodes on Monday evenings, and Property Virgins. Hillary and David can be really dramatic, but that's what makes the show entertaining. Hillary always finds major structural problems that will take her whole budget. Then in the end the house looks like a totally brand new house, what would normally cost $100K, not $30K. And David finds three houses for them to look at, in an attempt to get them to move, and gets disgusted with the clients every time. They just don't seem to appreciate his hard work.
What gets us on both decorating shows is the young peoples' expectations. They have to have an open floor plan, granite counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms (at least 2 and a half), stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors and a double sink in the bathroom. They also want a minimum of three bedrooms, and if they already have a kid they want four bedrooms.
First off, I really don't understand everyone wanting an open floor plan. I like having separate rooms and don't want to be able to see everyone in the family all the time. To me that defeats the purpose of having a big house. I went out with some friends and spouses after work today, all empty nesters, and we all realized we don't need separate rooms for one another, we need separate floors for ourselves and our husbands--forget the open floor plans. And we wonder what happened to starter homes. We started with a two bedroom, one bath home over forty years ago and after our third child we upgraded to a story and a half with one and a half baths and four small bedrooms. We raised five kids there and didn't think anything of it.
We bought our current house fifteen years ago, and it is over one hundred years old. No such thing as an open floor plan. No granite counter tops or double sinks. One and a half baths. It has hardwood floors, but they're about one hundred years old and creaky. But our house has lots of character. I love the built in cabinets and shelves in the living room, dining room and family room. I love our big yard and all of our flower beds.
But getting back to HGTV. What we really wonder is how they do it all so cheaply. We got an estimate about five years ago for a wrap-around porch, and the bid was $35,000. We didn't do it. But on these shows they do a whole rehab for $30,000, including a new kitchen, bathrooms, maybe a new roof or a small room addition. I know they don't include labor in their improvements, but I'd like to have them come to my house and do those improvements for $30,000. I'm beginning to think we need to love or leave HGTV.
Both of us like Love it or List it, with new episodes on Monday evenings, and Property Virgins. Hillary and David can be really dramatic, but that's what makes the show entertaining. Hillary always finds major structural problems that will take her whole budget. Then in the end the house looks like a totally brand new house, what would normally cost $100K, not $30K. And David finds three houses for them to look at, in an attempt to get them to move, and gets disgusted with the clients every time. They just don't seem to appreciate his hard work.
What gets us on both decorating shows is the young peoples' expectations. They have to have an open floor plan, granite counter tops in the kitchen and bathrooms (at least 2 and a half), stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors and a double sink in the bathroom. They also want a minimum of three bedrooms, and if they already have a kid they want four bedrooms.
First off, I really don't understand everyone wanting an open floor plan. I like having separate rooms and don't want to be able to see everyone in the family all the time. To me that defeats the purpose of having a big house. I went out with some friends and spouses after work today, all empty nesters, and we all realized we don't need separate rooms for one another, we need separate floors for ourselves and our husbands--forget the open floor plans. And we wonder what happened to starter homes. We started with a two bedroom, one bath home over forty years ago and after our third child we upgraded to a story and a half with one and a half baths and four small bedrooms. We raised five kids there and didn't think anything of it.
We bought our current house fifteen years ago, and it is over one hundred years old. No such thing as an open floor plan. No granite counter tops or double sinks. One and a half baths. It has hardwood floors, but they're about one hundred years old and creaky. But our house has lots of character. I love the built in cabinets and shelves in the living room, dining room and family room. I love our big yard and all of our flower beds.
But getting back to HGTV. What we really wonder is how they do it all so cheaply. We got an estimate about five years ago for a wrap-around porch, and the bid was $35,000. We didn't do it. But on these shows they do a whole rehab for $30,000, including a new kitchen, bathrooms, maybe a new roof or a small room addition. I know they don't include labor in their improvements, but I'd like to have them come to my house and do those improvements for $30,000. I'm beginning to think we need to love or leave HGTV.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter!
Warning...Picture Overload
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| Standing on the steps of the deck, waiting for the Easter Bunny. Every year I make them stand on the steps and pose for a picture before they can hunt for eggs. |
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| Grandson Jack and Granddaughter, Erin. |
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| My great niece, Ellie. |
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| Seven of my eight grandchildren--the oldest, Katie, was upstairs getting dressed as the Easter bunny. |
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| Abbey and Corinne, cousins and best friends, in the dresses I made them. |
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| My great niece, Molly. |
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| Granddaughter Katie dressed as Easter Bunny hunting for eggs. |
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| Baby Stephanie stopping for a bottle. |
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| Nephew Jack checking out his loot. |
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| My oldest daughters' three children, Sara, Michael and Katie. |
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| My great niece, Lila. |
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| Stopping to compare their baskets. |
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| Niece and nephew, Cece and Teddy. |
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| Brother in law, Dave, with his granddaughter and my great niece, Marin. |
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| Stephanie |
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| Out of town grandkids--Stephanie from Cincinnati and Jack and Corinne from Boston. |
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| My daughter, daughter in law, son and their daughter. |
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| Jack and Corinne hunting for eggs Easter morning. |
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| Waiting for guests to arrive. |
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Just a Little Bit Longer...
In less than 24 hours my son, d.i.l. and new grandbaby will be here. I can hardly wait. Friday morning my daughter and two grandchildren from Boston get in. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep the next two nights. I have to go to work tomorrow, but I'm taking off Friday. I would have taken off tomorrow, too, but there is an award ceremony at school and I was nominated for an award. I know I won't win, but it would look bad if I didn't show up.
Still working on the dresses for my two grand daughters. I was going to make basket liners for all of the kids Easter baskets, and monogram them with their names, but there are sixteen of them and I don't think I'm going to get around to it. I had to stop sewing last night and tonight to do some cleaning. I got the two bedrooms where the guests will be staying in pretty good shape. I just keep moving stuff to the attic, then to the basement, then to Good Will or Charity Clothing. I've been really good at getting rid of stuff this spring. I think I've given away close to 30 bags of stuff. I've never watched that hoarders show, but I'm sure I would qualify. I hope no one nominates me for that (like my kids).
Still working on the dresses for my two grand daughters. I was going to make basket liners for all of the kids Easter baskets, and monogram them with their names, but there are sixteen of them and I don't think I'm going to get around to it. I had to stop sewing last night and tonight to do some cleaning. I got the two bedrooms where the guests will be staying in pretty good shape. I just keep moving stuff to the attic, then to the basement, then to Good Will or Charity Clothing. I've been really good at getting rid of stuff this spring. I think I've given away close to 30 bags of stuff. I've never watched that hoarders show, but I'm sure I would qualify. I hope no one nominates me for that (like my kids).
Monday, April 2, 2012
Easter Mosaic
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| Family Easter |
We're getting ready for our family Easter celebration on Sunday, so I pulled up some pictures from last year and made a collage. I have a large family, so we should have over fifty people at our house. I can hardly wait!
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