Fudge and Furniture Pt 1

Technically, this probably belongs on my recipe blog, and I will probably cross-post it there, but since it really has more to do with procrastination than cooking, it seems more appropriate here. The end of every fall semester generally involves me making several pounds of fudge.* This isn't because I like fudge, in fact, I generally detest chocolate, but I love cooking and know lots of other people who love chocolate. Therefore, fudge gives me a way to be productive, stay healthy, and procrastinate all in one activity.

This is the first semester that I haven't been taking classes, so I would have predicted that the fudge would have been made already. Wrong. I'm not sure if it is the fact that I didn't have a zillion papers to write this week.** I bought all the stuff for fudge and even made a batch when we were down in Arkansas, but haven't yet made any here.

You might be tempted to think that the absence of fudge means that I am entirely caught up. Um, no. Instead I have rearranged my entire downstairs. It's not entirely painted yet and we still need to pick out the new floor, but we wanted to introduce the new layout before holiday guests arrived. The ultimate goal of the new layout is make the downstairs more baby friendly, but essentially the living room is now the dining room, the eat-in kitchen area is now entry way space for shoes and coats, and the weird space with the fireplace that we never used is now the living room.

I'll post pictures and the fudge recipe soon, but for now, I have to finish figuring grades that I promised students :)

Happy last day of classes!

Notes:
*I know I've been making fudge as long as I've been in grad school, but I don't think I started making it until I was a senior undergrad. Apparently, grad school lends itself to finding new hobbies that are solely driven by the need to procrastinate.

**This is not to say that I haven't been busy. Between teaching the internship, knowing that I'm behind on synthesis statements,*** and being pregnant, I feel just as exhausted, if not more, than if I had been taking classes.

***I was shocked to discover that awareness of one's own procrastination, while it doesn't not seem to prevent the act, does seem to have a draining effect. I would like to be able to procrastinate and not stay up at night feeling guilty about it or feel so guilty that I simply get my work done, but I'm not a fan of the guilt trip exhaustion.

More Painting Pics

We finally got the bedroom semi-finished. There's nothing on the walls and please pretend like the comforter and dust ruffle don't look like they've been shoved in the guest room for nearly 3 days. We had to go get a new battery for the Camry, so we didn't get started on putting things back together until late tonight.

I love PAINT!!!

I'm addicted now. I need to paint every room in my house, but this may be a problem in terms of graduation. Either way, the living room paint job is done (minus some touch up work around the ceiling). Here are the pictures, keep in mind that the color reproduction is a little off.

Looking toward the front of the house...


My reading corner...

Home Improvement Tip of the Day

If you are painting your walls a color other than white, buy a can of "ceiling white" when you buy your wall color.

Painting

We've been talking about painting since we moved in this house over a year ago, and today we finally did something about it. The people who lived here before us apparently liked the sterile, unlived in look. I'm not a fan. Here are before and after pics. Keep in mind that we still need a second coat in some spots and the furniture, but you can get the idea.

Before...


In Process...


After is still to come...

Alley Etiquette

We have new neighbors across the alley (in Illinois detached garages are very popular, so we have an alley that all of our street's garages, and the block behind us share). The benefit of that set up is that we don't have exhaust and chemicals from the garage coming into the house. We also have a gorgeous street view in the front because when you drive down our actual street you don't seen ugly driveways, trashcans, or garages full of junk. The downside is that it's a very narrow space that only moves one way.

Our old neighbors were not the most considerate people. They constantly blocked our driveway by parking in the alley, and frequently their kids' toys would be in the middle of the alley. When we saw the "for sale" sign, we were overjoyed. Last week the new neighbors moved in, so understandably we had a period of semi-blocked alley space. Today, however, there was a little red sedan that was parked directly behind our driveway for several hours. There was no unloading or reloading, it was just parked.

I have always been the type to write things that I would never have the courage to actually say to people. I probably should have walked across the street with the old neighbors and explained to them the issue, but I didn't. Now we have the same issue all over again. I actually wrote out a note to put under the windshield of the offending car and then chickened out. Do I walk over with a cake and say "welcome to the neighborhood, please move your car"? Do I just be the neighbor who leaves notes and never introduces herself? Do I not say anything?

We have a lovely neighborhood with very friendly people, but I really wish we could have neighbors that would understand the alley etiquette.