I fully recognize that the majority of the population just buys shit based on looks & price alone, and doesn't invest the brainspace to such things as comparison shopping the hell out of major appliances. Alas, I am not one of them.

I'm STILL in the hunt for a fridge, Dave pulled out the cabinet blocking the way to new fridge glory back on VALENTINE'S DAY, and I still don't have a new fridge. The one that I'd been circling like a shark at our scratch and dent sold, literally, the Monday after V-day, and so the first loop I got in was "that was such a great deal, nothing else compares!" Yeah.

Now, I'm looking again as our local appliance store (I would really rather buy from them than the big box, for many reasons) is having a "warehouse sale" in two weeks, and because I have a very specific arrangement that I want — 30" wide, white, bottom freezer — there are only a handful of models that even meet that requirement.

So while Dave was camping this weekend, I was back on the prowl yet again. I've basically narrowed it down to one of 2 GE models, and one LG model.

There are three from GE that would fit, and work, the two lower priced have a freezer door instead of a drawer, and smaller, adjustable bins on the fridge door and the difference is about $400. (The only difference I can find between the two in the $800 range is an icemaker, which I don't care about.) There is one from LG, a french door model, that has all the groovy configurable stuff, but the freezer drawer is plastic instead of wire and just feels a little less.. durable. Or something. But I don't know if that's because the doors are half size, either, you know?

But, good god, researching those? Apparently, LG sucks and GE is where you should go. Unless you have a GE fridge, then you should really check out LG. And not to mention, BOTH companies have sucky info on their webpages — terrible photos, if they even HAVE any interior shots, and no explanation of their features, or images to show what the hell they are talking about. Great. One has a "Sweet spot" shelf. WTF does that mean? They don't say. And GE's comparison tool just looks at the text, so one of the differences it highlighted was because one said "adjustable, split" and the other said "adjustable split." OMMFG.

So, both of you still reading, tell me about your fridge. Did your GE catch fire? Does your LG make birds sing? And if you have a bottom freezer, door or drawer? I'm putting photos in, just because I can. I feel like the LG (bottom, but it would be in white and not stainless) seems like the most configurable of the three, but worry that a company that makes a great cell phone might fuck up the fridge. And searching, god, people will ALWAYS bitch about what goes wrong, but not say much about what goes RIGHT, right? Which is also part of why I want to use the locals, if something goes wrong, I don't have to go through a Home Depot offshore call center phone tree. Right? (Local co. sells both brands.) Prices (from Home Depot's site, local is always similar) are 800, 1200, and 1200.

So really, and even if it's not these brands, what drives you nuts about your fridge? Is there a feature you can't imagine ever doing without again? Is a drawer and configurable bins really worth 400 bucks?

I bought a mattress, a Serta that is being delivered on Thursday. I ended up buying a floor model that felt nice enough, figuring that if it makes it the next 5-7 years, I’ll be happy, which it probably will, since the one we’re one is 15 years old. 5-7 years gets us out of the infant (if we have another)/little kid stage and into our 40s (OMFG) when we might want one for our aching backs at that point, anyway. Worst case scenario, we swap out to bring back our old bed, right?

So, with the bed ordered, we moved Ingrid into her big girl bed this weekend. Really, it’s more like a crib that fits grownups, but a big step nonetheless. We put the former guest bed (a full size) mattress and boxspring on the floor, against two walls, with a rail up, so she’s pretty cozy in there. We have a gate on her door, so that she doesn’t wander down the Darwin stairs in the middle of the night or something, and it’s working really well, woohoo!  But our guest room had to be reconfigured to fit the queen size bed, and that’s still kind of a clusterfuck right now. The frame is assembled (I picked that up when I bought the mattress) and the disassembled crib is being stored under the frame, so that’s all there. We’ll move our bed into that room on Wednesday night, our new mattress comes on Thursday morning, and Th. afteroon I will get both beds made up with their respective bedding.  My parents and sister arrive Friday (my sister is in Maine, but working with my folks, so I won’t get to SEE her til Friday) and they will all be staying here. Parents in guest room (thrilled to be in a queen, I am certain of that) and Kate will probably tuck into Ingrid’s bed, with or without the wee one. We have the aerobed here, and she can sleep on the living room floor if she wants, but she’s game to sleep in the grown-up crib. We have a grad on Saturday, my folks will head home and Kate will stay til Wednesday, and stay in the guest room. You can see why I wanted to just Get This Done, eh?

But now I have a couple big projects ahead of me, namely, to tackle the closets. OY. Ingrid’s needs to be fully converted to be her OWN closet, and not half piles of fabric and craft supplies, and the hall closet needs to be organized into something other than "pile of duffle bags + wedding dress." I plan on moving this rolling cart that currently has crafty stuff on it into the hall closet, and restricting all of my craft stuff to it. I have a ton of stuff I probably won’t use, but I don’t want to get rid of my sewing machine or anything, so by having the sewing machine on the cart, I can just haul it out when I need to. In that closet, currently, is a big plastic rubbermaid trunk, that has old fat clothes in it, so I’m going to purge that, and use it to store Ing’s baby clothes. Again, with the "I can fill this but keep nothing else" motto. Goodwill the rest or whatever.

After that, we need to deal with the desk in the guest room, which is ugly, but Dave made it with found countertop and 2x4s and it was the first thing he ever made, way back in the Casa, but even he now sees that it needs to go. A simple desk/filing cabinet is all we need, we don’t have a desktop computer, and if we ever did, it would be an iMac which doesn’t require a CPU stand, so it’s hard to find a functional, pretty, small desk that isn’t 800 bucks at Pottery Barn. (They have basically exactly what we’d want, but, yeah, out of the budget.) I also figure if we have a second that we probably wouldn’t even set up the crib for a while, now that I have Dave on the cosleeping train, and we could probably put it in the guest room, if we did (though it would require unbolting the headboard/back wall of it from Ingrid’s room — pics to come) because, seriously, we give babies way more room than they need. Kids, too. Ing’s room is where she sleeps, for part of the night, and where her clothes live. She plays in the living room or outside, and while I can see us moving by the time she’s a teenager (into one of the two houses next door, which are slightly larger, have better garages, first floor bed/baths and yet are still on the awesome street with double lots — those two houses are basically the only place I want to move) if we don’t, it’s kind of nice to put the squeeze on her space and force her to hang out with us. 🙂 Seriously, the big roadblock to us having a second baby is money, not space. We can fit a baby in, easy. A second daycare payment, not so much. SIgh.

I’m pretty sure my upstairs will feel less chaotic by Thursday night, if only to get all the beds in place and set up. Get those closets done, and it’ll be even better. Here’s hoping!

(Down 3 lbs this week. yay, WW!)

Okay, topic at hand: Mattresses.

Ingrid’s nudging ever closer to Big Girl Bed, and I want to put the full size bed from the guest room into her room, put our bed into the guest room (queen size) and get us a new queen size bed. (Well, I’d love a king, but I just don’t think we can swing it in the weird stairway, and in our room.) I went and laid down on several mattresses at the Serta dealer yesterday, and… eh. They are all beds, you know? I like a firm bed, most likely not a pillowtop (and a eurotop seems to be just a different shaped pillowtop) and I don’t need a boxspring, I don’t think, because our platform makes our old bed so high, and new mattresses are even bigger.

My biggest concern is that it will sag or be weird too quickly, which is something you can’t gauge in the store. And since I’ve never laid down cash for a bed — always made do with hand-me-downs — there’s a big part of me that’s like "eh, fuck it, get one that isn’t too expensive or too tall, and call it a day."

On that note, anyone have any recommendations, or anti-recommendations? I’m all ears.

This Money Challenge is weird, man! It’s not even February, and I’ve found myself seeing so MUCH that I would probably typically buy — like these super cute divided plates at Target, in the shape of ladybugs, or something from the Pampered Chef fundraiser at Ingrid’s daycare (the timer — my mom has one, and every night when I use my PITA one, I crave it) or looking at the clearance endcaps at Target, you know, just in case. Wild.  Anyway, this has also led to some major windowshopping, so I made a list of stuff I want to do in the house, and thought I’d write it all down for posterity.

Basement:

• small space heater for Dave’s area, one that is super-duper Gay-Ron-TEED to not set shit on fire, and even then, it would only be used with a person right next to it. It’s damn cold down there! I’ve played GH with him a few times, but my fingers literally get numb…. it’s like 49. Which, of course, is how cold it got in our bedroom in our apartment — I can’t believe we lived like that for that long!
• Replace the 1/2 bath’s blue sink with a laundry tub
• Get a small chest freezer (I like the split design of this one, but a 5.0 cf one is cheaper)

First Floor:

• New fridge. Lordy, yes — ours is still humming along, but it’s almost 20 years old, and I know, I KNOW if we got a new one our power bills would drop. I’d love a bottom-freezer one, because we need to basically get the smallest there is, to fit the hole that is there. I’d especially love one from Elmira Stoveworks, but that isn’t going to happen. I’ll probably end up with the cheapest energy star rated one that fits, when the time comes.
• Rebuild and extend from deck, and add railings and decent stairs
• Figure out the woodstove situation/ get a propane or alt fuel stove to replace it
• New dining table & a small hutch in the dining room

Second floor:

• Bathroom — I’m immune to the pink swirly plastic tile and cowboy brothel vanity, but god, it needs to all go. At least the pink carpet went in the first 3 months of homeownership!
• Guest room: When Ing moves to a big-girl-bed, I’d like to move the full bed (currently guest bed) to her room, and then move our old queen size bed to the guest room, and upgrade our bed. I would love to get a King* but even with split boxsprings, I don’t think it would fit around the stairs at the top.  A queen in the guest room means I’d take down the wall of shelves (which I’m not liking these days anyway) and position the head of the guest bed there, opposite where it is now. Then get a nice desk for the corner where the guest bed is currently, perhaps an L shaped one, and put a (real) bookcase on the other wall.
• Ingrid’s room: with a full bed, I’d like to build a platform out of the little 2’x1′ bookshelves/storage cubes she has now, so that there is storage under her bed. I’d probably want to take down her bookshelves, too, as they seem like a total climbing hazard.
• Hallway: Install one of those drop down attic staircases

Whole house:

• Finish replacing windows, and possible the kitchen door
• New roof
• new siding

So, you know, that’s all. Ahem. As it stands now, if we get an economic stimulus check, it is going straight into the house either as windows or pre-buying oil, so that we don’t end up stimulating the economy even more, later.

The last several years, we’ve had the crappy metal 5 dollar tree stand, and during an end-of-season sale last year, I picked up a new tree stand, that has a tall, deep reservoir and a broad, stable base. Awesome!

Except, as in years past, you still can’t see the water line clearly when you’re filling it. Or, I can’t anyway — it’s a dark green base, and obviously in the shade of the tree itself, and I’m always sure I’m going to flood the thing.

Til this year!

I put one of Ingrid’s smallest rubber duckies (she has a ton, no idea why) into the reservoir, and when I’m filling it, that bright yellow thing just floats right on up, and I can tell when to stop.

Also? My kid loves the swiffer — another internet friend mentioned the genius idea of making it kid-size by taking out center connecting rods, so i did, and Ingrid is crazy excited to have the swiffer be just right in size for her.

Yessir, I did. Finally. I ended up going with the the best version Atrium, the Atrium 8700. Low-e, argon, grids, full screen*, blind locks, night latches, whole 9. They are still not the Best Money Can Buy, but really, neither is our house. And they had more chambers and are aluminum reinforced, which the HD windows were not. I only ordered two; they will go into Ingrid’s room. We plan on doing it room by room, and she gets dibs because she hates blankets, and it’s almost winter.  And we love blankets — wrapped up in layers of down, we are, (and, let’s be honest, Ingrid ends up there every night, too — she still hates blankets, but being wedged between two humans being heated by down means that she doesn’t suffer much of a chill) and this weekend, I’m pulling out the flannel, so we can survive with our windows another season. Plus, if they suck, her room faces the back and side yard, so it’ won’t look weird on the street. It’s nice to have made a decision, anyway. But then doing that led us to start talking about our dream version of this house, and that led me to looking at house plans online, and… man, I wish money was no object. I’d love to just expand this one, not even a ton, just enough to have a first floor bathroom and a master bathroom, really, and laundry not-in-the-basement . . . like this one, for instance — the nirvana of a master suite, jack & jill bathroom, AND 2nd floor laundry? Holy carp, I’ll take it!

But, money is an object, la la la. But hey, the window thing has at least started. A little bit.

*Why do most people not have full size screens? I’ve been looking, and I never see them, but I really want them so that I can vent from the top down in summer, so that excitable toddler doesn’t throw herself overboard. Maybe it’s a mom-paranoia thing that only I seem to think about, along the lines of turquoise baby bathing suits (which I won’t get because I want my kid to be in CONTRAST to the pool floor)?

I’ve asked this in all the usual places, and am going to ask here, too. Anyone have any experience to share about replacement windows?

Our windows are original, and suuuuccck. Dave seals us in in October, usually, and then I have to fight to remove the plastic in MAY, and even then he’ll hesitate, because "we might have another cold night…" We’ve suffered through REALLLLY warm spring nights in our hermetically sealed abode, and I hate it. Plus, we’d have to (literally, I’m not kidding) claw our way out in a fire, as he seals them with silicone caulk, rope caulk, AND plastic. It’s nuts.

Anyway, we want new windows, and we want fairly basic ones — vinyl, double hung, low-e, argon, inner grilles, nothing wicked architecturally interesting or needing to be preserved. We had two estimates from window companies, the lower quote was $350 a window, for Harvey Slimlines. But, the guy Dave freelances for with the home improvement show is all fired up to help us, and to use Home Depot windows (they are a sponsor) which are the American Craftsman/Silverline brand. When I research any of it, the HD windows get a lot of flack Out There, Harvey has less thana  dozen comments, mostly positive, and any other window we could get locally for DIY is just NOT mentioned. Most of those are Canadian made, which is probably why there’s no info out there.

Now, the least expensive option would be the HD window. We’d get the top model of their (admittedly budget) line, and replacing windows would probably become a show, and T would help us install them as barter for Dave’s work. (An arrangement they’ve done before.) We could do twice as much using HD than Harvey, which is good, of course, and since we’re going to do these on a cash basis, we could get more than one room done before winter.

My own justifications for the HD window, are that a) of course there’s a lot of negative chatter out there, they are probably the MOST available-to-everyone window there is. Most other windows are regional, so cater to a smaller market, etc. B)ANYTHING would be better than what we have, right? So how bad is bad? When there is a warranty, as well? C) when people are talking about hos much they suck, they aren’t really mentioning the model number, and there seems to be a wide range of features on the different models, so maybe that’s just a blanket statement, like "Ford Sucks" or something…D) Say we go HD, and in ten years, the windows have crapped out — will there be newer technology then, that combined with an increased income (one would hope) that would make replacing again feasible?  The cons are the DIY/relying on barter and favors to get it done, and the stuff I’ve read about them sucking in general.

The Harvey would be more expensive, but are apparently a better window. Having an outside party install would cost more — almost double what DIY using HD would be — but it would be done without having to work it around everything else. (Although, one of us would likely have to take a day off every time they came to do a room, and that adds to the cost as well.)

My current thought is to get a Home Depot window for the kitchen, as sort of a test drive. Unlike cars, of course, windows can’t be traded in or sold back, so I really don’t want to hose this decision. I figure since the kitchen window is the one odd sized window on our house (in that it’s smaller, not that it’s not a stock size) that if we hate it, and go with Harvey for everything else, it won’t stand out as Not Matching, since it’s different by default. (Also, it would be nice to have extra ventilation in there this winter, as opening the door usually means being greeted by snow. (Oh, sad, and we could never open the door because of Fat Kitty, now that I think about it. And that’s no longer a concern. 🙁 Dave and I both still talk about her, we are such saps, and really miss her…)

What would you do? Anyone out there have any experience with HD windows? Or Harvey, for that matter….

An Aha! moment, earlier today, whilst whining to Jeanne about the tv situation… get a new tv! Our hand me down tv has been great to us, but we can spend less than three hundred dollars and get a bigger, better, tv with a digital tuner and good sound, thereby undoing the need for the damn stereo and speakers altogether. Dave balked, initially, until he went to bestbuy.com and checked them out, and now he’s going tomorrow to look at them. Hee. and also, DUH. I have a JOB. That’s like 2 days of work to buy a new tv and eliminate half of the childproofing worries in this room. Score.

So, I mean, yeah, I have the Most Stationary Baby Ever, but we’re trying to figure out what to do re: babyproofing. Because while she’s not motoring about, yet, it’s really only a matter of time, and at this point our living area is basically an invitation for toddler mayhem. What ends up happening, is that I look around, and in my HEAD I envision the perfect solution — a long credenza or low wall unit type thing where the TV lives, to start.

When I met Dave, I had a little 13 inch tv from when I first went to college (still have it, too, upstairs) and that was Just Fine. But Dave being Dave, the first thing he did was to run everything so that the sound goes through the stereo, which, okay, that’s cool. Then someone gave us an older 19 inch tv, so we swapped that in, and then we moved here and didn’t have Magical Free Cable like at every other place we’d lived, so we got our bunny ears. At this point, to watch the news, four separate machines have to be turned on — the tv, vcr, stereo, and bunny ears. (They’re electric.) And that requires two remotes, because we can’t get the stereo towork with any remote other than it’s own.  The speakers are each standing on two separate shelves — those cheap Target shelves — and we have DVDs stored there, but they are super tippy, and so that will have to change. The TV/VCR/ETC is on the old dresser I bought at a junk shop, god, YEARS ago, I lived on Court st…, and that’s not a bad place for it. It’s deep, so the vcr and dvd player are pretty safe from a kid shoving a fistful of goldfish crackers into it, it’s heavy and wide and low, so tipping is absolutely NOT a concern. It’s old, so the drawers take some wrestling with to open, so, again, not a concern for a wee one. BUT, it’s just a hair too small, width wise, to hold all that stuff. (edited to link to a pic: Tv stuff)

When I go to look for something to flank it, or something to replace it, I get lots of armoire type stuff, which I don’t really want in our living room, as I prefer long and low. Or, of course, I go to like DWR or Ikea and see the perfect thing and then spend a lot of energy giving both sites the finger, DWR because I don’t have that kind of money, and Ikea for being so goddamn far away and having such a weak internet commerce segment that it’s basically nonexistent.  I haven’t looked at Actual Furniture Stores yet, maybe I should, but I’m expecting to see massive wall units that are wide and tall and totally designed to hold one’snew widescreen, freestanding, HDTV. I just need, like, a run of kitchen dabinets that are 3/4 height or something. So annoying.

I did pick up some of those snap together chrome wire cube shelves for Ingrid’s room, and some bins to slide in, so that’s something…. and we eventually need to tackle our closet and guest room. It sucks, because the general rules of thumb regarding getting rid of clothes kind of don’t apply to me, because I haven’t worn a lot of stiff in the last year, but that’s because I’ve been pregnant and now, nursing. Maybe I should just get rid of everything and start fresh, anyway.

The storm on Friday quickly turned to mild and melty on Saturday and today, and clearly, spring is in the air, if I’m obsessing about organization and housekeeping.

Any babyproofing tips for us? Beyond "fence in your goddamn Darwin stairs already?" Sigh.

I have dishwasher issues. I mean, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth and all that, but every time my mom visits, she does dishes, but it’s never helpful because I end up doing them over again, the right way. I mean, for one, she’ll emtpy/fill the dishwasher when she wakes up, which is often sometime between 5 & 6 am. I remember one morning, dave and I listening to her slam dishes into our (steel, don’t forget) cabinets and Dave saying, in that dry way of his, "I didn’t think we had that many dishes." She’s just loud, I’ve vented about that before, but anyway. I have, for YEARS told her to not TOUCH my dishwasher, because I have a list of rules about it. For one, the only thing in the dishwasher is tableware. Pots, pans, wooden spoons, spatulas, etc… do not go in the dishwasher. The Good Knives never do, especially not blade up, but both dave and I have been bitten by that particular bug before.

So, to illustrate my insanity point, I took pictures.

My mom’s version. No attention to space usage, unless "expose as much surface area to lower jets as possible.

Bottom rack: dishes are all facing out, there’s a BOWL, big plates crammed into small plate spaces.  It’s important to note that at this point, my mom will start harping on me to run the dishwasher, because "it’s full."

And now, the RIGHT WAY:

Drinking vessels line the sides, with the handles turned to allow maximum capacity. Vessels are tucked between the outer prongs and the edge, not dangling over/off of them. The bowl-braid allows for maximum bowls, but allows water and detergent to still flow freely. There is a rare, but allowable, placement of drinking vessels at the back of the rack.

Bottom rack: Plates face in, towards the jets. NO BOWLS. little plates in the little slots. I didn’t run it at this time, because the back had to be filled. I will run metal mixing bowls and glass pie plates/casserole dishes when there’s a gap like that.

Yes. I am neurotic. Interview with HR at 9. Good vibes, please.