on real estate

Hmmm … it is as though the author has documented the voices in my head …
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/business/yourmoney/31money.html?ei=5087&em=&en=b0e102f041d0a49f&ex=1212379200&adxnnlx=1212220837-9opWcG%20fOP65jolWPZg0ow&pagewanted=all

phd milestones 1 & 2

If you’ve been following along at home you may know that I’m in the process of completing a doctoral program. All coursework and comprehensive exams are finished. Now to research and dissertation.
They stage it out in specific milestones so it doesn’t seem too terribly daunting (well, theoretically). Today, I met with my adviser, got a firm commitment [...]

a grass skirt for your boudoir

What fun for a tropical bedroom … with the right accessories and high-thread-count duvet this could be lovely as opposed to kitschy. There’s that fine line between quirky and tacky. The price is quite precious but I’ll bet one could find/make virtually the same bedskirt at a fraction of the price.
http://www.softsurroundings.com/P/Island_Grass_Bedskirt/80/
http://www.softsurroundings.com/P/Island_Grass_Bedskirt/

 
 

height doesn’t matter

If you have cooks of dramatically different heights (like my 5′ girlfriend and her 6-5′ husband … oh that’s right, he doesn’t cook, ha ha), you may find that pendant lights above the counters are impractical. Here’s the solution, courtesy of Kelly at Kitchen Sync … pulleys that let you adjust the drop.
 http://kitchensync.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/pendant-lightin.html

tabula rasa: slate, the final frontier

a wii for mii????

I have so far resisted the lure of electronic games.
Yet I have been hearing over the past few months from friends who are absorbed by tennis and bowling in a virtual sportsworld in which they are embracing their inner athlete.
I’m intrigued by this new Wii Fit Board. Yoga in a virtual world? Perhaps I will [...]

the end is near …

I try to resist political commentary for many reasons.
But it does not matter what side of the current campaign you find yourself — blue, red, male, female, black, white, young, old, war or peace (Wow, we have a lot of dichotomies in this race, don’t we?)
Maureen Dowd, with her characteristic slaying wit, provides this hypothetical [...]

hope for children

Thomas Friedman is one of my favorite thinkers and writers. If you’ve not read “The World is Flat,” you might consider it. Your perspective of our future will be forever changed. (If the size of the book is daunting, the books on tape are excellent).
He’d been on sabbatical from the New York Times while working [...]

small victories

My new washer/dryer are installed at the new house (the LG steamwashers). With all the construction most everything I moved over there to stage the old house has a fine layer of dust (even the stuff in boxes looks pretty pitiful), so I look forward to breaking in these two little lovelies with a whole [...]

who is this craig, anyway?

I’ll post more this weekend about the house renovation but in the meantime, I’ve had some issues crop up that were not part of the original contract. Concrete restoration/stabilization, pool repairs, some installations, irrigation overhaul, deck surround, washer/dryer install, etc.
Having experienced subs hired by the GC who was supposed to babysit them (at a 15% premium), [...]

kill the chirp

OK, admit it: Who hasn’t had a chirping alarm drive them batty? You don’t have batteries on hand and all the stores are closed. Or, as in my case right this second, the person who made the decision on where the alarms would go thought the ceiling peak of a one-and-half-story bedroom was just the spot. Huh????
I [...]

fast fix for glass

In my old house I have 12×12 stained glass panels stuck up with doublestick tape which is hidden on the outside by the window panes. I love them and planned to take them with me. However the window configuration in the new house requires me to skip the two garage windows because there are eight [...]

more on bulbs

I just ordered a bunch of CFLs through a local nonprofit that is working on a fundraiser with our local utility company. They ranged from $12 to $15 for a three-pack, depending upon the wattage. But, $6 of every three-pack goes back to the charity, one that I support. They allowed all nonprofits to participate [...]

a light-bulb moment

Over at the Green Daily blog, I found an evaluation of different CFL bulbs. Apparently they are not created equal.
The author’s favorite was the Phillips Marathon brand. She was less than thrilled with Bright Effects. She also liked N:Vision, which was recommended by the folks at Popular Mechanics.

the ’50s revisited

If you’re looking for mid-Century style with today’s technology, look no further than www.boothsandbars.com. They distribute several lines of retro appliances in vivid, neon and pastel colors. And who would have thought it, avocado is back!

green remodeling to support recovery

A nonprofit in New York, www.greendemolitions.org, rips out kitchens for remodelers, offers them a donation for the charitable gift, and then sells the semi-complete kitchens (which may include appliances, counter tops, hardware, cabinets and sinks) far below market value. It’s a pretty nifty idea both for philanthropy and greening up your remodel.

 

hand me a line

Well, the low-tech solution to green clothes drying is a simple laundry line. According to both the Times and Dwell, the laundry line is making a come back.

instant hot or cold water

I’ve seen these hot/cold instant water dispensers in some of the kitchen blogs, and they purport to use less power to provide your perfectly-temperatured water automatically. Best I can tell they work on the same principle as the tankless hotwater units for showers, sinks and baths.
As a big fan of tea (hot, cold), I finally [...]

pool update

Well, for the two or three of you who are kind enough to visit fairly regularly a) I thank you, and b) I have a pool update.
I feel almost a little guilt complaining about not wanting a pool that I have. My analogy is that I have an oven because it came with the house [...]

the florida fires are very bad

The combination of low humidity and brisk winds — and an arsonist — has meant the loss of dozens of family homes on the Florida coast. It’s very scary and terribly tragic. So far though it sounds like everyone has been able to get out of their homes safely.
And what with the Chinese earthquake killing [...]

gizmos and gadgets and whizbangs, oh my

I’ve just discovered a new website, www.prepara.com that features some pretty cool innovations. The one that drew me there was a soil-less, indoor plant growing container that dispenses nutrients and water using new-fangled technology. Now you can have the fresh basil or rosemary for a quick clip while cooking. I wonder if it can grow tomato plants? [...]

size matters

At least it does in the morning when I’m trying to juggle three appliances with large chargers in one outlet. From www.360electrical.com comes this handy little gizmo, which allows you to rotate the individual outlets. They are only $10 a piece. I found this invention on the House Beautiful website.

 

when options run out

An article in the Times reveals that people who have lost their homes are now running out of the funds to maintain their self-storage units. So all their worldly treasures are auctioned off to the highest bidder.
How terribly, terribly sad. If you’d like to read up on this new trend, please see the article at: [...]

go green and live rich

If you have not read any of David Bach’s work, you should. No matter your age or income. I found “The Automatic Millionaire” eye opening. It changed my perspective on how to save … and fit right in with what my Dad had counseled for years (Strange how it makes more sense in writing from [...]

write left

I’m not entirely sure what that headline means but I am a tiny bit weary and thus little creativity.
I was a writer by trade for many years and then got into education and fundraising, both of which I love … I mean truly love. We had commencement this weekend and I cry when the student [...]

small update on the house

Yes, I do remember that I’m supposed to be renovating a house. Who would have predicted this market for sales of the old one? Well, probably a whole lot of us but it seemed to slide so quickly.
So where am I? Well, with one mortgage too many. But aside from that, I will put up [...]

my dreamish sink

Shortly after my posting on copper sinks I came across this lovely one from Overstock. But I have to ask myself, even with the discount, how in the world should it cost $2,000?
My investigation shows that there is a dramatic difference in quality among copper sinks but how do I know if this is the [...]

to be or not to be — your own general contractor

I thought a GC was necessary for me because between work and school, I knew I did not have time to babysit the subs.
As it turned out, I’ve had to babysit the GC. And not all that successfully.
I did much of the research on my own for products and except when I couldn’t purchase items myself [...]

let there be post lights

Just two short days after placing my post light order at lampsplus.com (turns out I found an even better coupon and by ordering each separately paid only $84 each with no tax and free shipping), they arrived.
They are even more adorable and larger than they looked online — and they have a photo sensor for [...]

copper sinks

Bronze and copper may well be on their way out (as some trade publications have predicted) but I really do like them. I have bronze fixtures at the beach and a really cool copper sink (it’s about 20 inches deep by about 12 inches wide at the top, in an inverse cone shape with a [...]

certified green home simply divine

Wow, I had the pleasure of visiting one of the few LEED certified homes in Florida this weekend. I did not know this in advance but instantly upon entering the house I recognized that it was green green green.
The couple who painstakingly replaced a home damaged by hurricanes to make it friendly to the earth [...]

quite resourceful for eco-friendly building

Just about everywhere you look you see that manufacturers and companies have latched on to green marketing. But how do you decipher what is truly earth friendly from what it simply an advertising pitch?
GreenSpec has released the seventh edition of its directory, which uses objective data (and accepts no advertising) to provide information on more [...]

size matters

That is particularly true in the morning when I’m juggling the power cords for three appliances in my bathroom.
A handy new device allows you to rotate the openings on your power outlet so that two large power packs can be plugged in simultaneously.

 
 

recession? what recession? what $7-$81 million buys

Well, the housing slide hasn’t hit the highest tier of the market. Check out these homes available for $7 million.
You might note that the first was originally built as a dog kennel in Rhode Island. Here are details from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/greathomesanddestinations/30gh-what.html
Lest there be any doubt, this Palm Beach mansion sold in Florida’s disastrous [...]