Surprise! ... even more garage hijinks, disgusting dilapidated hijinks

Just a quick update on the garage renovation.

Well, thankfully we will be starting the year with a mostly cleaned out garage. But it was a long road getting to this point. Here's a quick rundown of what we came across in the process...

The Worst Invention Ever? Possibly...

After painting most of my house using a standard, good-quality paintbrush, I thought I had hit the jackpot when I found this:

As Seen on TV's Point n Paint

Emergency Preparedness- notes from a CERT lecture

We had CRAZY winds here in Los Angeles and trees were falling all over the place, knocking over power lines, houses, and cars. Altadena, Pasadena, and other nearby areas got hit hard. It seems like a good time to share some notes I have on emergency preparedness.

Earlier in the year, my workplace had a firefighter come and give the staff a CERT refresher lecture. CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Training. This program educates regular folks on what they can do to prepare for a disaster. In case of a severe disaster it may be a few days before emergency services could get to you, or even longer before basic utilities may be up and running. It was such a great/terrifying class. And this wasn't even the full course, which takes weeks. I thought I'd share my notes from the class. My notes are kind of stream of consciousness, and skip around topics, but the info is accurate. I hope they can be helpful to someone out there.

Disclaimer: This is not a comprehensive list of everything you need in case of emergency. There's much more to be aware of and do. Honestly, I think everyone should try to find one of these courses and attend. It's so informative! 

Need a security system? Get one today!

For anyone who is scared of people (me), a security system is crucial.  After researching different companies and getting bids from ADT, Protection1 and Protection Alarms, I decided to go with FrontPoint Security.

Garage Renovation: the horrors within

Look at it. Just sitting there. Looks so innocent. You'd never guess what a nest of pestilence it is inside...

Experiment: Night Gardening!

These days when I get home from work, it's already dark. That combined with busy weekends has made me feel like I haven't gardened in forever. Not cool. I decided to do something about the situation and just try gardening in the dark.

My goal was to replace a gnarly looking section of lawn with better-looking and drought-tolerant plants. The results were mixed. The planting went okay and I did manage to replace another 15 square feet of lawn with succulents. But ultimately I didn't enjoy the actual gardening as much as I typically do. Here are some tips in case you try it yourself...

Just where have you been??

Yeah, we checked out big time on this blog over the summer/fall. But we were sooooo busy! And we have so many stories to share now! Now that daylight savings is over and it's too dark to garden after work, we have no excuse for not posting. So what exactly have we been doing?

Erin bought a house and has many stories to share about that.  She closed escrow while in Italy (prego!),  battled ancient rosebushes, learned the joys of working with contractors, discovered how not to paint a house, killed a geranium, visited every Home Depot in LA, and dismantled her kitchen faucet - remantling of faucet to be seen. 

I've started redoing my garage, and I will have many stories to share about that:
Why does my garage really need to be a garage? Oh you say there are zoning rules about that? Phooey. Revisiting rats vs. termites (the reckoning). How much shelving should I get vs. how much crap should I just throw away. And most importantly, is smashing up concrete really as fun as it seems like it would be?

Stay tuned for updates with your favorite home-improving conservators...