22 November 2013

7 Quick Takes: Doorknobs, Cellphones, and a Cute Sous Chef



Well, I got the call I was fearing today. My childhood pet died. Frisky the cat lived a wonderful 20 years, roaming around the cul-de-sac I grew up on for all those years. I wrote a post about a month ago about my cat if you want to know more (like why he only has 3 legs).



Speaking of my family, they are all driving here for the holiday! My mom, dad, sister (pregnant with twins!), her husband, and 2 kids are all piling in a van tomorrow and making the trek from Georgia to Indiana. They'll be stopping overnight and getting here on Sunday. I'm so excited. I even have a list of fun stuff we can do--which was a harder list to make now than it would have been a few months ago, since a lot of things are just not doable or even open in the cold weather.

In a house update, we have been changing out the door knobs this week.

BEFORE

AFTER

It's definitely an improvement from the brassy gold thing (and that obnoxious handle thing which can't be childproofed and I kept getting my finger caught in). But I'm still not 100% sure about it. I feel like oil-rubbed bronze would have looked better with this wood, but I loved the kitchen knobs that were stainless on wood so everything just got based on that. I don't know, what do you think?

We also got a tile and grout cleaning done by Stanley Steemer today. I thought it would be more dramatic, but it turns out that our grout had long ago been sealed and painted. That's good, in a way (except for the grout paint that got on the tile), but I'm still glad we did the cleaning.

BEFORE

AFTER

Now if it's dirty, I can only blame myself! (Or, um, a certain toddler who throws food if she doesn't want it . . .)

I have spent the last month researching, and I think I'm ready to take the plunge. I will soon be a smartphone user! B decided to cancel his dumbphone with Verizon, since he has a company iPhone. He has barely used his dumbphone in the past year, but we kept paying for it every month. Well, that frees up just under $40 per month for us, and I can finally cut the apron strings from being on a family plan with my mom and dad (which was cheap, but, um, I've been married for 4 years! It's time!).

I have decided to go with a no-contract plan, since for a single user I am 100% positive it's a better deal than any of the big names. While Republic Wireless is probably the best deal out there with Virgin Mobile a close second, I have decided to go with Ting instead. I'm going to buy a Samsung Galaxy S3 off of Ebay for about $200. The good news is that if I hate the plan, I can just find something else. I'm purposely choosing a good phone that can be used with a lot of different no-contract plans, just in case this happens. But I'm excited about this. Hey, I might even join Instagram! I've been a dinosaur for wayyyy too long.

(Also, there is a referral program that can save you money so let me know if you want to join after I join. Some internet stranger gave me a link for a $25 credit!)

My husband B has his "weekend" mid-week for whatever reasons. This is good sometimes, like when I want to go to the gym while Cora naps. B confessed to me tonight that while I was out on Tuesday, he decided to watch Sleeping Beauty on his own while his daughter was asleep. He mostly did this because neither of us could even remember that movie. (I'm actually not sure I have ever even seen it.) Cora has some Disney princess board books that we read, and in the Sleeping Beauty one they call her Briar Rose just randomly, and it bugged him.

Well, over dinner tonight he gave me the entire synopsis of the movie and even threw in a critique of why it was sub-par to Snow White. It apparently needed more singing.

As much as I feel that Cora is a Daddy's girl, she is starting to get pretty clingy to me. Especially when I try to cook dinner. She clings to my legs and wants me to pick her up.

My solution: making her my sous chef. I even put an apron on her today. (I think Santa needs to bring her one in her own size. Hint hint, big guy.)
My phone started ringing right as I was taking the picture.
She immediately went from "cheese!" and smiling to this.


For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

2 comments:

  1. 1. So sorry about your kitty!!!
    2. Yay your your fam coming up! We head to my mom's on Wed and I can't wait!!
    3. I'm a fan of the oil-rubbed bronze, myself, and we recently changed ALL our brass knobs (they were the brass version of your new knobs) to a bronze version of your old ones. Well, close anyway. S was to the point that he could open either type of knob, and I am not a huge proponent of childproofing everything and "just saying no" to the kids, so I picked my new knobs for me, not them! Guess that makes me a bad mom....oh well. They're only toddlers for a couple years, but those knobs are staying put FOREVER! :-)
    4. Are you sure the grout was painted? Maybe it was just colored grout? I had NO IDEA there were so many choices until we started doing tile work on our own. We did a backsplash in our house in Hampton Roads and I spent FOREVER picking out grout. Same with the backsplash in this house...and we just remodeled our master bath and went through the same thing with the floor tiles!
    5. Way to go on the smartphone! I just got an iPhone a few months ago and love it!
    6. Too funny about B watching princess movies!
    7. Yay for a sous chef! I wish my boys had patience for that...but then, I also enjoy watching them wrestle with their daddy while I cook! :-)

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  2. I'm sorry about Frisky! You wrote a beautiful post about him a little while ago and I know he had a great life. :)

    I'm waiting for the day when we can afford for me to join the Smart Phone world; I have no idea when that will be, so maybe I'll throw a party when it happens! :) Enjoy!

    Mike has often been guilty of watching the kids' movies - he's such a kid at heart, although I think that's something that makes him a great dad. :) I bet it's the same for your hubby too! :)

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