Going Domestic

It's not like it's coming direct from Sweden ...

Is anyone else beside themselves with excitement now that the commercials for Ikea's 2005 catalog are airing on tv? In previous years I've always filled out a form on their website to receive a copy of the catalog (last year's arrived thoroughly mangled - ugh!). I went to do that again today, but there's a note saying that mail requests must wait until mid-September ... very sad!

... let me count the ways

There's an article in the Globe and Mail today about a new Stats Can study that found that the number of multicultural marriages in Canada is ever-increasing. One thing that I've always wondered is why that for a marriage or partnership to be considered mixed or multicultural, there has to be a visible difference in the skin colour of the participants. Would not partnership between someone raised in New Zealand and someone raised in Poland have significant differences and challenges?

Where was this a year ago?

I was beginning to think that there was a dry spell in good home-related reading, but I happened upon a special feature that the Toronto Star has been running: Your First Home. We already have one of those, but the articles have some good suggestions on finding a realtor, mortgages, neighbourhoods, etc.

I must admit that the only resource that Chris and I had when we started house-shopping was a copy of Buying & Selling an Home for Canadians for Dummies, and we basically picked our realtor at random off of a website. We did interview him before deciding to work together, but I am relieved that we were a good judge of character because it takes a certain sort of person not to mind looking at over sixty houses over five months and without being tempted to drop your clients :)

In Ca$h We Trust

I read an article about two years ago about attached men who keep shoeboxes stashed away containing photographs of former loves, poems, and letters (I think that Chris has one, actually). According to this new article, though, women have secret stashes, too - excepts theirs are more likely to contain cold hard cash! Do I have a secret stash? If I do, it's called my personal savings account, which Chris is fully aware that I have.

And in other news, the media is once again having some fun with Martha ...

Friday Reading

Sometimes I think that the writers at the Washington Post sneak into our home while we're at work for inspiration!

• Fall Furnace Upgrades - Chris and I are just hoping that our 30 year-old furnace just makes it through the winter!


• Drafty Charm - the deteriorating seal on our windows is really beginning to trouble me ... bring on the plastic!

More Power

After work today, Chris and I are supposed to stop by Timber Town and pick up new baseboards and trim for our dining room and living room. Our baseboard endeavors are going to be made easier with the electric mitre saw that my dad lent to us when we were in Edmonton three weeks ago. Having a dad with power tools is definitely a good thing, but one of these days, Chris and I are going to have to expand our one-tool household and buy something to keep our drill company. This article on stocking a home workshop from the Washington Post seems like a good reference point to start from - even if I've been coveting a hand-sander for awhile!

Light Reading

• I'll have what she's having - about the effects on one half of a relationship when the other half is on the Atkins diet ...
• Breaking the hot water habit - now I really want to run out and buy a new washing machine!
• Should we even bother with basements? - I *heart* my basement, but I do live in a land-locked province!
• Garlic, the brightest bulb - well, there goes part of my spring gardening plans ...