All I Want For Christmas is... a working oven!

It all began the first night we slept in the house back in August. We had set sleeping bags up on the living room floor among the contractor bags and cleaning supplies and got cozy in our new home. When we woke in the morning there was a new smell we noticed, the unmistakable odor of gas! (You may remember this story from our first work weekend at The Nest). We called National Grid and they sent Matt out right away to take care of the issue. He took one look at the ancient appliances, found the gas line to the oven and cooktop and switched them off. All cooking appliances were from henceforth unusable. "Ok" I thought, "that's a plot twist." We managed for quite a while this way, with no stove or oven. I used the crock pot, the toaster oven, the George Forman Grill ... And we ate about 50% of our meals from the Whole Foods Hot Bar around the corner. And if you know me, you know how important food, nutrition, and cooking home made meals is to me! It sure kept things interesting!

Over the next few months we were able to safely resurrect the cooktop, a heavy duty stainless gas number that I love. It needed to be scrubbed and greased and reassembled. And now it does the trick! Except that it needs to be lit with a lighter because there is no pilot light, always a bit hair raising.

But still no oven. Honestly I got accustomed to this. But I called The MassSave Program about a month ago to let them know our knob and tube was being remediated and that I was ready to schedule the insulation job. They looked at my file and... surprise! They let me know that I would also need a working oven to fully pass their inspection and be eligible for insulation installment. So all of a sudden the oven got bumped toward the top of the list.

I hemmed and hawed. It would be a financial risk to try to have the old oven repaired. Just having someone take a look at it would cost $100, then parts and labor on top of that if it could even be done. Still, it may never work quite right. It's probably 30 years old after all. Very few have even heard of the brand: Chambers. And ovens are particular, they need to cook evenly and efficiently to make baking and roasting successful. Still, I didn't WANT a brand new state of the art oven straight out of the box. A large expense considering the way money has been flowing out these days. But I had to figure something out. 

My first stop was to call local appliance repair guys, including my old pal Derron (the hero of the dryer saga from a few months ago). But I learned that no one seems to sell refurbished ovens, the liability is too great.

Plus the built in cabinet space for the oven in our kitchen is 24 inches. An odd size for 2015. There weren't many options for new ovens in this size and they were pricey.

So I scoured Craigslist. And hooray! Finally I got a hit! A guy in Vermont was selling his brand new 24 inch gas oven. They had planned a kitchen remodel and then not followed through with it. That oven could be mine for $299! I called and emailed right away. When he called back and told me where he lived, I discovered that acquiring the oven would be a 6 or 7 hour round trip. I would also need to rent a vehicle and find someone to make the drive with me and help me lift it on the other end. He wasn't willing to meet me in the middle. And in fact, he was downright nasty to me. But he had the goods. So I decided to grin and bear it. A week went by and I finally had a solution. I found a courier through Derron who could go pick up the oven for me. I called the seller again... he was crotchety again... and arranged the pick up. At last! I would have my oven!

Then I got a text from Derron the next day: "He sold the oven locally"... WHAT? We had an arrangement! I called and spoke to the guy. Let's just say that wasn't pretty. And I sulked for a bit. But then it was back to the drawing board.

My parents suggested I try Build.com, a building supply company they've used in the past. When I reached out by Live Chat, I was connected with Kourtney. She found me an oven! The right size, free shipping, and a good price. Crisis averted! I placed my order and we scheduled the delivery window. I'd have to wait two weeks, but at this point I was just happy to have something in the works! Kourtney and I shared Home Reno woes and Craigslist sob stories before saying happy holidays and goodbye. She was great.

A week later I got an email. The oven I ordered had been discontinued and the one I purchased was not actually available. This was getting silly. I spoke with Kourtney again. She was almost as disappointed as I was. Now she was like a dog on a bone. In about 2 hours she had found two other options and had me back on the phone placing the order. Two more weeks to receive the oven.

I scheduled a day off to be home to receive the oven. I booked a plumber to come and do the install. And two days before the Big Day I got ANOTHER email. The oven would be delayed another 5 days!

At this point I was singing "All I want for Christmas is a working oven" in my head daily. Slight change of plans and I was more than ready when the day finally came.

The day before Christmas Eve, two guys in a Budget rental truck came to make the drop off. I was all but jumping up and down when they pulled up. They looked amused when I said "You guys are totally making my day!" They carried the oven up to the second floor. I gave them a Tupperware of Christmas Cookies. And they were on their way. Mike the plumber was just finishing a repair in the bathroom sink and was ready to get that oven locked and loaded.

The kitchen went from a bit rough, to downright chaos for a while there. Pulling the old oven out of the built in revealed 30 years of fine and pungent dust in the built in cabinet, the kitchen was full of ovens, and there were tools and parts everywhere. Madness! But before too long we were testing out the broiler. Success!

I'm THRILLED to close the chapter of The Oven Saga. So as a celebration of this Christmas Miracle, I made a big batch of Spiced Nuts. I love this recipe and it's always a crowd pleaser. Last time I served them, my friend Kate Welby has said "these taste just like Christmas!"

SPICED NUTS

Recipe courtesy of the fabulous Kate Radville. 

Ingredients

1- 1.5 lbs of nuts (the original recipe called for just pecans, but I like to do a mix of pecans, almonds, and walnuts). 

Sugar

salt

cinnamon, nutmeg, other spices

2 egg whites

2 tbsp water.

Directions

1. Mix 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar, 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, and some nutmeg in a large bowl (you can experiment with other spices added in like clove, ginger, cocoa powder, and/or cardamom)

2. Beat 2 egg whites with about 2 tblspoons of water in a separate med size bowl. Add the nuts and mix/toss by hand to coat. 

3. Dump coated nuts into the sugar/spice mixture, toss and mix to coat.

4. Spread the coated nuts onto a cookie sheet (lined w parchment).

5. Bake for 1 hour at 250 deg, stirring every 15 min. (the stirring seems to be the most important part). If your nuts don't look completely dry at the end of 1 hour, bake for another 10-15 mins. 

Let cool and enjoy!

I Got the Powah!

When the house was inspected we discovered that the original electrical wiring was still in use here at The Nest. And needless to say, a lot has changed in terms of electrical wiring since the early 20th century! The nest was running on Knob and Tube wiring which is severely outdated for all our 2015 toys and gadgets and appliances. Not to mention dangerous! This 100 year old wiring was heavily worn and melted in some places. We heard from neighbors that the previous owners had had some trouble with it, arcing and so on. Yikes! There was also only one outlet in each room. Having the option to plug in electronics on opposite sides of the room is one of those things you take for granted in newer construction. The house was going to have to be completely rewired. A BIG job!

So we called in a few contractors and started to take bids on the job. I called about 10 different electricians and many of them said the job was just too big for them! We had four companies prepare official bids for us and wow, the difference in price and the difference in professionalism of the contractors was pretty mind blowing. We had one bid for under &15k (but we watched this bozo crash into a street sign while pulling out of the driveway). And the highest priced bid was almost $40k!! We finally settled on a relatively small local company: Conor O'Keefe Master Electrician.  

I was impressed with how eager they were for the job and the level of experience they had with jobs like mine. They also worked with us a bit on the price, given that Bill and I agreed to do some of the prep and finish work (well, let's be honest, Bill was the one who ended up doing said work... but I handed him tools and did some very important cheerleading!). I signed on the line and the guys showed up the next week start giving The Nest her brand new Romex nervous system!

That was Sept 21. That was 13 weeks ago. We went through three months of having the crew in our space almost every day. I grew pretty accustomed to the "knock knock knock GOOD MORNING" announcing their arrival at about 7:05AM. The guys probably spent more waking hours at the nest than we did! We got to know each other pretty well, Ryan and Brian were the primary crew working at The Nest. I got a kick out of their matching names and the fact that they've been best friends since childhood. They were respectful and professional and very hardworking! Ryan has been with Conor's company since he was 16 years old! 

We had our work cut out for us too. Since we agreed to pitch in on the prep work, occasionally Conor would let Bill know about a crucial carpentry task that needed to be completed before they proceeded with part of the project. So Bill had to squeeze it in on nights or weekends, between his full time job, a side project he was working on, and his music. No time for rest! And I had to take frequent trips to the hardware stores to select and purchase the ceiling fans, sconces, and overhead lights to be installed. I spent hours staring up at this sight at Home Depot. A little overwhelming!

All in all, Conor's crew installed seven ceiling fans, two bathroom fans, 4 overhead lights, six sconces, and dozens of outlets. I often left The Depot with a cart looking like this!

We never knew what new surprises would be there when we returned home after our workday. A new hole in the wall with horsehair plaster spilling out? A new outlet installed? Then finally new fixtures, room by room? But there was always dust! Fine white dust that was generated every time the guys cut into the walls. It was a slow process. And hard to keep morale up because so little of the guys hard work was actually visible, except for new openings for outlets and rare glimpses of brand new wires that they fed through twisting passageways in the walls and ceilings. 

Not gonna lie, they guys were great, but it was getting a little old having them in the house, the dust, not knowing which outlets would be working on any given evening, having to ask if it was ok to use the crock pot (wouldn't want power to be cut midday and come home to uncooked dinner!) And you must be wondering what Simon thought about all this stomping and cutting and activity in his space. Well, he handled it quite well actually! He never seemed to be spooked by the noise and they guys said he "just stares at us" all day! A resilient turtle he is. 

But just when I was up to "here" things started to move a bit faster. The guys started installing the fixtures. And my favorite part: dimmer switches everywhere!

(If I was Queen I would make dimmers mandatory on every light switch in the land. Trust me, dimmers are a serious game changer).

Finally Conor let us know that the guys had finished feeding the new wires through the walls and it was ok to start closing up all the surgical sites! We started patching holes right away. Of course, the tenants came first. And then we started our patching and painting jobs, room by room. Stay tuned on that one, that huge job is still in progress...

Once all the wires and fixtures were installed, The Nest was ready for the big finalle: updating the service from 60 amps to 200 amps. This update would bring her up to code and allow us to run higher powered appliances without tripping fuses all the time. Bring it. So Conor showed up with his bucket truck and went skyward to get the job done. 

He worked his magic and ta-da! We were in business! There were a few more odds and ends to wrap up, and the guys were hustling to get it done. It reminded me of the last phase of a big move, where you walk around a mostly empty apartment picking up odds and ends, seemingly a never ending job. The very last step was for Conor to come and haul away the dozens of contractor bags of construction waste that were stashed in the basement and attic. He swept the basement and left the keys in the mail slot. Lee, the company CFO and also Conor's mom, came to collect my final payment and we celebrated with a hug. Hip hip hooray!!!

We will need them to come back again in the future when we reno the kitchen and add living space on the third floor. But for now we can check that OFF THE LIST! 

Big thanks and high fives to Conor, Ryan, Brian, Jeff, and Lee. You were respectful, diligent, patient, accommodating, and generally GREAT through this saga! I think I'll kinda miss my extra housemates! But I'd rather see you in the grocery store  than at 7:05am when I'm still in my PJs ;)

Putty and Paint Make Her What She Ain't

There was a bit of a lull in visible (morale boosting) activity at the nest this fall. We had to do a lot of waiting on other projects while electricians completely replaced The Nest's nervous system. Stay tuned for details on that huge project, scheduled to be complete this week (cross your fingers please!) But now that the electrical update is in its final stages, we could get to work on some interior cosmetic updates.

After spending months living in a construction site, I was more than eager to beautify at least one space in the house. We started with the living room. 

I had a blast visioning color schemes and details with my friend Liz Martin of www.thecharlestonweekender.com. She is a design coach with a knack for combining fresh modern decor ideas within people's true style. We had Pinterest and polyvore boards going back and forth and the ideas started to really gel! 

Most of the furiture has been with me for many years. And almost none of it was purchased new! The couch has been moving with me since my clinical fellowship year in Detroit (where I purchased it from a friend who herself got it on Craigslist!) The rocking chair was a curbside find, just needed a bit of woods lie and love (thanks Bill!). The white mid century modern chair belonged to my parents and was a fixture in the home where I grew up! Really the only new purchase was the rug ("it really tied the room together"). 

Slowly the details of the room started falling into place. Liz sent me this color scheme pin which I loved! (Yes, a common nickname for me among some pals is "Frienda," originally coined by Clark and Aimee!)

Finally it was time to start patching and painting! Apparently, a saying in the business is: "Putty and Paint Make Her What She Ain't." Well, I'll tell ya. It's true!... But it's also a lot of work!

First Bill patched the large holes from the electricians work with One Strike Ready Patch and joint compound. Then he taught me how to patch the gaps in the trim with caulking. We "spooged" Alex quick dry caulking in the cracks and then had to use a finger to smooth and sculpt the material to the contours of the 100 year old trim and molding. Then I used white semi-gloss to paint all the trim. This took hours and hours, but somehow eventually it was done... And then I had to do a second coat! Finally I hobbled to bed. Tired but satisfied. The next day I was sore and stiff, but excited to see my work in the daylight. Well, daylight is an unforgiving lady and I could see all the streaks and thin spots that were invisible the night before. Bill and my friend Sophie (and her doggie Ruby) helped me finish off with a third coat. And assured me I'd get better with practice. 

Choosing the color was no small feat. My mom gave me this booklet of Benjamin Moore colors that she used when they built their home about 10 years ago. I've been shopping the hues for weeks! 

I finally narrowed it down to a few different shades of blue. I bought sample sizes of the paint ($7 each and totally worth it) and excitedly swiped them on the wall. But "oh no!" Not right at all. Sort of a repeat performance from my "Cookie Monster blue" front porch. The colors look so different on the wall. I went back to the store and had the guy make me a special blend, 25% Woodlawn Blue and 75% white. Bill, Sophie, and I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting the paint to the edges of the trim and rolling out the walls. 

Then, it was time for the main event. I remember the day when Bill told me that I could paint the radiators "any color I want." What??? ANY color?? Well, then, I'm painting it gold, obviously. 

But first I had to peel and brush and chip away 100 years of dust. Lovely. 

Sophie and I used oil based paint and disposable brushes and rollers to paint every nook and cranny. And I couldn't be more thrilled with the outcome! (It did take about 5 days for the smell to dissipate, complicated by the fact that we caulked the windows shut a while back to keep heat in, which also keeps paint fumes in apparently). 

Then Bill built me these custom window sills as a special place for some of my darling house plants. 

And we hung a hook for my spider plant. This plant was a "fly the nest" gift from my mom when I moved into my first apartment in college over 10 years ago!

I arranged a collage wall over the couch which includes some of my own original photographs, some art I've collected including a piece done by my mentor Dr. Nancy Helm-Estabrooks, and some prints from a 1926 National Geographic that we found in the attic! 

The very last thing was to install the custom blinds I ordered. Being on the top floor has its perks, it feels like we live in a tree house! But it also feels like "The Bill and Brenda Show" for the neighbors each night. The blinds arrived on Tuesday and I couldn't wait another minute to put them up. I measured and drilled pilot holes, then screwed in the brackets. The blinds snapped in and voila! The room is complete!

Not an easy task, and we are only just beginning, but oh my is it all worth it! Nothing like the feeling of relaxing on the couch in our new living space and looking around at our own handiwork! 

Blessed!

#NewWindows2016

antique window weights

Mother nature has a way of teasing here in New England in the Fall. You'll get a warm day and then the temperatures will drop to the 30s. Maybe you'll even get hail. Sometimes you will look outside your window in the morning and see shockingly blue sunny skies, but you'll step outside and realize it was a trick! It's actually blustery and freezing. Lots of us have good warrior-like intentions of not turning the heat on until a certain date. Here at the Nest, we were thinking that we might hold out till November first this year. Turning the heat on seemed so unreasonable at the time since I can't have insulation put in until the electricians are finished, and their job is taking much longer than expected. Not to mention the windows. The windows at The Nest are all original single pane, weighted windows. very charming in theory, but not very good at keeping the inside in, and the outside out. In fact, some of the windows sashes were removed from the frames and completely missing glass.

not cozy

But when the temps dropped near freezing for the second time, we had to cave. The heat had to come on. And something had to be done about the windows!

I was planning to replace every window before the cold weather set in. Unfortunately, due to cost it turns out that the job will have to wait. In case you were wondering, money doesn't grow on trees! Plus, since I'm a landlady now, this change of plans didn't just affect me. I had the tenants to take care of too. And I hated breaking the news that the windows would have to wait. After an evening or two of heated brainstorming, we decided we would just seal up the existing windows to buy me some time to get good sustainable financing lined up to do the project. That will have to wait at least 6 months because of my current debt to income ratio yadda yadda yadda.

But the climate inside the house was getting more difficult to ignore. It was getting pretty breezy!

So one Friday, mom and I went around our apartment lowering all the storm windows that were in decent enough shape to move. Some of them looked a little dicey. Then we caulked all the windows shut. It was fun at first! But then it got a little tedious. We were glad to be done!

But there were still missing panes of glass in four of the windows! Bill measured the sashes and bought glass at Ace Hardware from a very grouchy but effective employee who worked in the garden level workshop there. Bill secured the panes in place with points and caulking. All those things combined made it feel pretty cozy in here after all! We will do the plastic too at some point.

traveling with fragile cargo! at least its only 2 blocks!

A few weeks ago, I worked all day at my second job and Bill spend the day doing carpentry prep work for the electricians. Oh, and remember how I said some of the storm windows looked dicey? Yea, well the second floor window that hangs right above my car parking spot was one of the dicey ones. While I was at work a big gust of wind caught the storm window and it sailed to the ground, smashing exactly where the windshield of my car would have been if I was at home!! Bill texted me and I was just so grateful that I wasn't home. I don't know if I could have handled that!

Then it was time to take care of the tenants. After I was done seeing patients that day, I rushed home and changed into ratty jeans and a UVM hoodie, gave Bill a smooch, then we got to work. We sealed all the windows in the apartment with shinking plastic. I used a step stool to place tape around the perimeter of the window frame, then Bill followed behind, cut the plastic to size (like a huge sheet of saran wrap), and used my hair dryer to shrink it into place. Luckily, the job one a little bit faster than we expected. But still we were not finished plasticing windows till after the sunset. Finally we were done and we marched upstairs to celebrate and have dinner that had been cooking in the crock pot. Spaghetti Swquash and Meatballs. It's hard not to be smug when you planned ahead and had a slam dunk dinner ready to be devoured after doing a job like that. We rested our bones, but that wasn't the end of our night! We finished up the night rehearsing for our live music yoga class scheduled for the following weekend. (which, by the way, was a total blast!).

Of course, the week after we put all the plastic up the weather turned warm again and the temperature change made our plastic sag and wrinkle. We pouted, but what can you do?

Obviously this is just the beginning of the windows saga, just the first chapter of #NewWindows2016!

my BFF this season. brr!

How does your garden grow...

I thought I knew a thing or two about gardening. I thought it was a-ok. But it wasn't until I started to design and create my own garden and put my hands in the dirt that surrounds The Nest that I really caught the gardening bug. The first sign was when I had Bill hold a flashlight for me while I dug and planted the first batch of plants after sundown. I just could NOT wait till the next day!

After weeks of digging, cutting, dragging, bundling, building, planting, watering, and just generally toiling, the front garden is pretty much done for now. It's hard to overlook the dramatic change to the appearance of the house and neighbors pass by daily and remark about the transformation and the work and care we have put in. I'm grateful! It's comments and cheerleading like that that help me stay focused on what we have accomplished instead of getting wrapped up in how much more there is to do. It can be overwhelming!

As soon as all the overgrown brush was cleared, I started dreaming up the plan for new plants and flowers. Here's what's been planted so far: 

Meet Jackie, she's a Weeping Cherry Tree and the Queen of this garden. A gift from my mom. The same species that we had in our front yard in the home where I grew up. 

Fragrant Lavender at the base of the staircase. 

Forget Me Nots that will love the shade of the Cherry. 

A line up of stunning flowering perennials: Lily, Shasta Daisy, Bee Balm, Echanasia, and Fox Glove, choreopsis (not pictured) and some Ajuga for ground cover. 

And finally, Todd. A Juniper Tree. Named after our amazing Real Estate Agent Todd Denman. 

I've learned so much about the art of gardening in these past few weeks. Although there is plenty more to learn! Mostly from my mom, one of the greenest thumbs I know. But also from the neighbors stopping by to chat and share ideas. My favorite moment was coming in from a particualrly long and hot shift in the garden, during which I had been chatting with all the neighbors. I looked in the mirror and saw this!! 

Just one of the side effects of that good ol' sweat equity!

Here's a little before, during, and after tour:

Just when I thought I had run out of garden projects for season, my mom brought over a few packets of bulbs. Those first precious flowers that come up in spring have to be planted in the fall before the ground freezes. So, as they say, the work is never done. But it's so worth it!

We Are Fa-mi-ly! 🎶

This past weekend my cousin came to visit! And by visit I mean... WORK! My mom is one of seven children and my dad is the middle of three, so I've got lots of cousins who I love dearly. But Megan... Well, I'll just say it... She's my favorite. Out of all the cousins, we are closest in age. So we sat at "the kids table" together. We played endless games of make-believe at the beach (we were the best mermaids ever!) And we have enough random inside jokes to make anyone groan. She's got the truest heart, so when she offered to come help with the house in a Facebook reply, I knew she was serious!

Megan knows her stuff when it comes to building. Her dad (my uncle) is a contractor and has taught her a ton! Bill was even impressed, especially when his drill burned out and she quickly offered "I've got a cordless in my trunk, wanna borrow it?"

Megan, my mom, Bill and I had a solid "to do list" dreamed up for the weekend. We wanted to paint the front porch, expand the driveway a few more feet, lay mulch and build a retaining wall in the front garden, and finish clearing the backyard of brush and debris. Makes me tired just thinking about it! We also threw in a few bonus jobs, like staining a set of table legs for an antique oak table top I got as a hand-me-down, and clean the chandelier in the dining room. And guess what, we did it all!

First, we tackled the front garden. Adding mulch made it look much more finished. Mom put it perfectly: "it's like makeup for the Earth!"

Megan and my mom dug out a few more feet to make more space in the driveway. Hard work!

Bill built this killer retaining wall to keep the dirt in the garden and give us a good border to follow when the snow comes and we need to shovel. 

We started painting the porch. But I was very disappointed when my Cadet Blue came out looking like Cookie Monster Blue!!! I just couldn't convince myself to love it. So Bill and I went back to The Depot to have the color adjusted. 

While we were out, Megan and my mom disassembled the chandelier and ran the crystals through the dishwasher. Magically years of dust and cigarette smoke residue just dissapeared! Check out that before and after pic!! Now it's officially dazzling!

Late at night, after mom left and Bill hit the sack, Megan looked at me and said "ok, what's next?" I laughed, but then realized she was serious. Not many people have a battery like mine and I was happy to take advantage of our momentum! 

We finished off the night staining the table legs so they would be ready for Bill to assemble later. 

The next day we added the second coat of paint to the deck. And the crowning jewel to the weekend, we finished completely clearing the backyard of brush! The swamp monster was defeated!

On Thursday we put all the bundled brush out on the sidewalk for the Trash Service. They took it all! 

Finally, as the sun was cooling off on Sunday, we cleaned up the tools and looked at each other. It was time for a treat. We had a nice trot down the street to the pizza place for cream soda and slices. Three cheers for a job well done!!

Having my cuz there by my side was yet another reminder of how blessed I am to grave such an amazing family. It reminded me of my mom and her sisters, how they show up for each other when it matters most. 

I remember when I was in high school and my mom was sick. My Aunt Carolyn (Megan's mom) showed up to help out. Not only did she give my mom a hand with the basics, but she also managed to enlist me and my brother to help her paint the living room walls! It's memories like that one, and the memories that Megan helped make when she visited that really make up the yummiest parts of life.