enough said

This link speaks for itself: http://randasfans.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/pickleback-crush-following-up.

flickr

For those of you who are interested in seeing the (slow) progress on our house, check out our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehappyhomekeeper. There are a few photos uploaded of the changes that we've made (mainly of our swapped out gross! ceiling fans and light fixtures - check out the one that looks like it was made of pipe cleaners). We'll be adding more as we (slowly) progress.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Finished Dexter: Season 4. May need to order Showtime.

giveaway winner

Congrats, JJ! You're the giveaway winner for the week. It was a tough decision, but I think the best woman won.

Send your N.C. address to mrthbtn@gmail.com. I'll get your copy of Reichl's book out to you early next week. (And thanks for being a loyal reader.)

Keep sweeping, Martha

wood stress work

I should be writing right now in a serious way about postfeminism and the kitchen, but instead I'm fixated on a little house problem that we're having - cleaning the splattered paint off the woodwork. You see, one of the reasons that we decided to buy our little house was because all of the wood trim had been left untouched - a rare find on the D.C. housing market. Well, I should qualify that. Untouched, that is, except for the fact that whoever painted it before sometimes like to randomly spray paint across the baseboards. Grrr. I'll admit this caused me some concern when we were making a decision about buying, but I thought, "No problem. I can handle this - especially if it means preserving the original wood trim."

But, I'll be honest... it's a huge pain. And, it's presenting us with the only serious obstacle to painting the walls of our house. I don't want to paint until the baseboards are clean, but I really don't want to clean the baseboards. So, that's why all our furniture is still scattered throughout the house - dressers in the office, cardboard boxes filled with pots and pans, clothing stacked on the guest bed.

We did have a breakthrough last night though (in part because our blueberry, rum, and basil cocktails and a new episode of Top Chef made it a bit less painful) - finding the perfect combination of Goof Off, scraping, scouring, and sponging to get almost three-quarters of the bedroom clean. This weekend (keep your fingers crossed), we'll be prepped and primed and ready to paint.

Keep sweeping, Martha

Hooked on Dexter: Season 4 (and loving Debra Morgan). Mr. Beeton watched the other three seasons without me because I boldly declared the show did not interest me. Little did I know.

lucky number ?

Sometimes I'm amazed at how many comments some bloggers get on their sites, and I wonder how to make that happen. Recently, while in OCNJ, my sister (who knows all the good blogs) turned me onto Young House Love - a couple who blogged about their DIY home renovation projects so successfully that they are now make a living as full time bloggers (so jealous)! I've been wondering what I can do to further promote my site. Have my post updates announced in my Facebook feed? Change the name of my site? (Did you know that the term "homekeeper" has strong Christian connotations? I'm wondering if people stumble upon my site and leave confused...)

My sister insists that the only way to have a successful blog is to have giveaways. Yes, giveaways. (Apparently, she is of the belief that to make money you have to spend money.) At first, I thought that was just silly, but then, when I accidentally ordered two copies of the same book the other day, I thought, "Hey. Maybe I'll give this a try."

I'm sure that some of you have heard of Ruth Reichl - food writer extraordinaire. My new book - which is about contemporary women's food memoirs - deals a lot with Reichl because she loves, loves, loves to write memoirs. I stumbled across a book she wrote, Not Becoming My Mother, the other day and decided to order it. Then, I noticed that there was another book listed For You Mom, Finally, so I ordered that, too. They are the same book, however; Reichl changed the title when she got some flack for seemingly bashing her mother.

So... if you'd like me to mail you a FREE copy of For You Mom, Finally (the paperback edition), just post a comment on this entry. Next Friday, I'll pick the lucky winner and send whoever it may be a copy of the book. Sound good?

Now get writing.

Keep sweeping, Martha

greetings from...

We've just returned from a week at the Jersey shore so filled with ups-and-downs that it made my stomach flip-flip the way it did when I rode the tilt-a-whirl with M & m. When we returned to our house, it wasn't necessarily calming. Painter's tape was still up in the alcove; the woodwork had not magically cleaned itself (as I had hoped); and the bathroom was still un-primed. At least our bed was back together; Mr. Beeton assembled it mid-week when he was back in D.C. for work (just before leaving we had split the box spring ourselves so that we could finally get it up our narrow stairs).

And, of course, the refrigerator was bare when all we wanted was a little comfort food to make it seem - on some level - that we were home. I rummaged around and found some arborio rice, and of course, we always have white wine and parmesan cheese. A quick stop off to the grocery store for chicken stock while on our walk with Ella completed the necessary ingredients for this easy risotto I found at ThinkInsideTheIcebox.com. We've done risotto before, but I think this one is my favorite. It's good enough to make the ugly tiles on your kitchen floor disappear - almost.

Keep sweeping, Martha

PS - Look for a future post about a really sweet little homemade cookbook I received! I'm hoping to debut some of the recipes at our housewarming party.

Finished reading The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark and Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Watched Hot Tub Time Machine.

1/30/11 Update - Yikes! I linked to my favorite risotto recipe tonight and a scary SPAM message came up! Sad, too, because we tried to find a replacement recipe, and the one we settled on wasn't nearly as good. What happened to you - ThinkInsideTheIcebox.com???

hiatus

Salt air here we come. I am ready.