Brewing and Sewing

Dan and I have continued to battle both illness and the malaise of winter, but we're slowly getting moving again. Over the weekend, Dan got started on cooking up his first batch of home-brewed beer, which is now sitting fermenting in a five-gallon bucket in our basement! Here he is loading up the grains in muslin to go in the pot for cooking.

I finally have made some progress on our living room curtains. As you might recall, the front windows of our house have been without any treatments since we moved in. We've definitely felt like we are on display more than once, and the untreated windows have left the room feeling unfinished.

Since the windows have interesting trim, I wanted some simple window treatments, and since the windows are all different (and odd) sizes, it seemed that the easiest, cheapest way to get curtains would be to make some! I picked up some inexpensive linen and basic tension rods and finally got started on the big curtain sewing project.

I only have one curtain finished, but so far, so good!

We're Still Here. . . and We'll Have Beer!

Last weekend, we had the pleasure of having our first overnight visit from friends! Jimmy and Gaby came down from New Jersey to see us, and it was awesome having another opportunity to share our house and our little town with the people close to us. The weather was perfect for strolling around Media, and our friends John and Barb (and their daughter Evelyn) were also able to join us for our first dinner party in our new place! Here's a picture of Jimmy and Gaby with Dan in front of our house before they headed out of town last Sunday morning. We were so happy they could come for a visit!

Many months ago, when Dan and I first decided to dip our toes into the world of real estate, one of the reasons we were so excited at the prospect of buying a house was the amount of space it would give us. We've always been pretty content in our smallish apartments, but we dreamed of having space where we could dust off some of our ambitions like brewing beer from home and creating a designated writing space for Dan. This weekend, we got started on both when we picked up a desk for Dan (another Craigslist purchase) and Dan spent some Christmas money on homebrewing supplies!

The new desk marks the start of creating Dan's writing nook in the basement!

Dan's so excited to have his homebrew starter kit!

Giving the bottle capper a squeeze!

If we could both manage to get over illness (first I was sick, then Dan was sick, and now I think I'm getting sick again), I think we're getting ready to start tackling some projects again. I've recently purchased a compost turner, so I'd like to get a compost started in the backyard, and about six weeks ago I bought some fabric that's still waiting to be turned into curtains for the living room! We've had enough time away from the paint rollers and brushes (and fumes!) that we're starting to think about picking up some paint projects again, so hopefully we can get started on that soon and start seeing some more big changes! Thanks for sticking with us while we get well, and please keep checking back! I promise there's more to come!