Fall Yard Cleanup

It's truly amazing just how many leaves you can rake up in a lot that's only 0.1 acre.  I suspect that the hedges around the edge of our back "yard" form a nice leaf-catcher.

Here's the product of two Sundays' worth of raking and bagging:

12 bags full!

It's kind of funny how we do this every year in this part of the country, and we're just accustomed to having to do it.  And interesting to feel obliged to do your part in a neighborhood!  I have fond memories of jumping in piles of leaves as a kid, and I'm glad we'll have enough yard and no shortage of leaves for our kids to jump in.

Here's a shot of the front of the house, post raking:

And now you all know that we're Friends of the Woburn Public Library!

A Beautiful Autumn Saturday

It's just a gorgeous fall day.  We walked around the back pond at Horn Pond, which is less than 1/2 mile from our house.  The community gardens have been put to bed, the leaves are changing and falling, the sun is out, and there's a brisk chill in the air.  The geese and swans are still in town, though.

Food Adventures: Burritos!

This morning, after breakfast, we did a burrito assembly line.

We've talked about making batches of burritos before, and we recently made a couple extra burritos after having taco night leftovers.  We've both made and frozen batches of burritos in the past and thought it would be a great way to stock the freezer for work lunches.  Last night was Date Night, and this week we had dinner at Market Basket and then went grocery shopping.  I know, very hip, eh?!  But it was lots of fun.  There's a prepared foods counter and grill separate from the deli -- I got a tasty turkey and muenster sandwich, and Ben got a cheeseburger.  We shared some mozzarella sticks, mmm.  And we sat at the little café tables, eating our dinner and stabilizing our blood sugar before braving the hordes of people searching for grocery deals at MAHket Basket.

A nice surprise was watching the Veteran's Day college basketball game ESPN was broadcasting from the USS Carl Vinson.  I'm not usually a fan of basketball, but it's pretty cool to watch a game being played on an aircraft carrier, with the president in attendance!

So this morning, after eating our own breakfast burritos, we started up the burrito line and made about 12 to freeze.

Make sure you heat them up first -- makes it easier to roll them. Just 30 seconds will do.

Chop chop!

I could do this in my sleep!

:)

Here's how we do it:

Don't fill them too full, or they'll go everywhere when you start to roll.

Fold up from the bottom and squeeze that bottom tortilla flap over the filling. Then fold in the sides, and finish up rolling.

Tada! Ready to wrap in foil.

Labeled and ready to store in the empty tortilla bags. (Some have chicken and rice and some have egg. All of them are delicious.)

"It's like 12 meals at Chipotle!" --Ben

The cleanup crew awaits...

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer true...

It's looking like a lovely fall day. Probably a good day to take out the air conditioner.

Probably also a good day for raking and sweeping leaves.

We love burritos!

And that's it for Burrito Saturday -- time to go play outside!

Before and After: The Study

I'm sorry it's been so long since our inaugural post! This fall has been pretty hectic at 16 Morse. We've kept working on the house, slowly but surely, and finally have something major to show for it as of today: the study renovation is done!

Here's what the study looked like on one of our first walkthroughs:

View entering the study from the dining room. Lots of dark wood paneling, only one window. We were pleasantly surprised by the nice light it gets later in the day, though (it's a west-facing window).

The laminate flooring continues in here from the living and dining rooms, which is nice. So is the old wood trim. But it's still very dark in here.

We decided that this would be the study, which would be my "office" and where we'll put the household files as well. We also knew immediately upon viewing this room that we'd need to paint it. We decided to use the same paint we got for the living room -- a nice pale coffee color called "Tightrope." Subtle yet classy, neutral yet warm!

It was hard to paint while storing some boxes in the study, so we ended up pushing things against two walls while painting the other two first. That method worked pretty well, but made it take longer. Here are some halfway shots:

Window wall and long wall are done, including trim. And random pipe to nowhere.

One more wall to go!

Cords to the cable modem and router that I kept tripping over, and the one wall left. The last wall, on the right, is the one we decided not to paint.

We decided not to paint the last wall.  Well, I decided -- it's a different type of paneling and it didn't take to being sanded well at all. (We sanded first so that the paint wouldn't slip or peel off the paneling -- great tip from Gayle and Frank!) And since I was doing the last of the painting, it helped it be done faster. :) That's the wall to the dining room, and we'd like to do something else with it in the not terribly distant future anyways, so there you go.

And now for the finished paint job and organized setup, just finished today:

Tada! It's done!

Desk setup and storage.

Window treatments make things homey. I bought these curtains while living up in Pepperell and never used them!

My old maps from teaching Latin finally get put to use again.

Corkboard salvaged from the old office purge. Maybe it will help us track takeout menus??

It's amazing how finishing one full room can really help you feel like you've accomplished something. Now the printer has a proper home, rather than the dining room table or a chair in the corner. And I've unpacked my iMac and desk (ahhhh) and a bunch of books. Things are coming together!

Our goal is to have the first floor unpacking/organizing/improvements done or nearly done in time for Thanksgiving holiday visitors, and we think that will really motivate us to get even more things done. Watch for more posts soon!