Your daily dose of random

I heard a new [to me] song on [country] radio as I was driving in today that I just loved. I even thought to myself that the woman singing it sounded as if her man actually cheated, like it wasn't a song written by a hitmaker performed by a teenager wanting to top the charts. I thought her voice sounded low and smoky, I loved the lyrics and I couldn't wait to google the title so I could find out who sings it.

It's freaking CARRIE UNDERWOOD.

That is all I have to say about that.

In other news, actual neighbors have replaced the day laborers inside the new house next door to me. And while I'm used to looking into the living rooms and yards of the people who live across from me, and the kitchen of the people who live directly opposite, I am not used to this new living room view, which is better than all the others combined. I can see: the kitchen, the washer and dryer, the stairs, the fireplace and probably any furniture they put in their living room. I assume they'll get shades or curtains soon, but I have shades too, and I don't keep them down all the time. Welcome to cramped, tight, close, intimate city dwelling, where neighbors become intricately familiar with each other's pajamas, parties and choice of television shows.

What I will not be able to handle is washing dishes. There's about one Phillip-length of space between our two kitchen windows and I do not want to look up from my sink to see my neighbor standing in front of her sink washing her dishes. What are we supposed to do? Wave? We'll just be standing there knowing each other is RIGHT THERE, but never looking up because that might mean eye contact and hello, awkward! What I need is a sheer little cafe curtain, but I've been to Target and all sorts of kitchen/linen stores and I haven't been able to find one. They are too big or too thick or funny looking when I string them on a tension rod. I fear I'm going to have to MAKE a curtain, which means learning how to thread a sewing machine, which means we'll have to hope my neighbors string up a curtain soon because mine is never going to happen.

Is that unfriendly? I don't want to be unfriendly. I have about fourteen loaves of zucchini bread lying around my kitchen counter and I'm thinking I might leave a loaf for them. That's neighborly! Maybe if I leave them sugary baked goods they won't think so badly of me when I finally put up my don't-want-to-look-at-you-anymore kitchen curtain.

Okay. I am sitting here thinking: Dear God. My website is the dullest thing on the internet. But! We are saved! I have just received an email from my mother (who just received an email from me about how it is only TUESDAY and I'm BORED and GAH and CAN I GO HOME YET) and my mother wants me to know, in the tone of voice one would use to announce Rex Manning Day, that today?

TODAY IS JOHNNY APPLESEED'S BIRTHDAY!

If your mother is not a lifelong elementary school teacher, you may not know this important date. (Look! My mother IS a lifelong elementary school teacher and I FORGOT!) (Do you even know who Johnny Appleseed IS?) My mother will have you know that Johnny Appleseed's birthday is a major holiday in elementaryschoolland and her 19 third graders celebrated appropriately: cutting, cooking, eating and acting in a play about apple slices escaping from the apple pie. I am sort of wishing I could go back to third grade.

So! In honor of Johnny Appleseed I will share with you all this extremely easy recipe for an apple dip, which, I believe, would go rather well with WASHINGTON apples:

16 ounces of cream cheese (the fattening kind)
1 cup of brown sugar
Lots of walnuts. Or other nuts. Or no nuts at all if you are one of THOSE people.

Mix! Dip! Eat! Thank Johnny Appleseed!

And I promise not to write anymore until I have something worthwhile to say. So... see you next year.

Comments

[Jenn]

Ha! I'm going to have the kitchen window problem in a few months. The house that is oh, 6 feet from ours is being rennovated and resold. We had ugly shutters over the window (courtesy of the krayzee lady we bought the house from) and have been meaning to hang up curtains (we even HAVE THEM, just haven't hung them). Last week I walked into the kitchen only to see somebody hanging out the next door kitchen window, installing a new window. Yeah. Time for the curtains.

[Jen-Again]

Ah- staring at the neighbors through the kitchen window- I have lived that one. I found that the best solution for us was to use a frosted film (http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=324&PHPSESSID=20060926131924380626898) to give the windows an opaqueness. We just frosted the bottom half of the windows so that at eye level we weren't staring straight into the other kitchen. Still let in plenty of light, added privacy.

If you are more talented, I have had friends who started solid at the bottom, then added paterns to soften the transition from frosted to clear. I had a hard enough time just making it level, but I am all thumbs with anything artistic.

[Maureen]

For curtains, I recommend flying out to Massachusetts and going to Nobrega, which is what I *think* the store is called. When you get here, you'll just have to call my mother and ask her to come with you so you can find it. But you will have to drive, because my mother refuses to drive on Route 16 in Everett, and I really don't blame her. We got dining room curtains there that KICK ASS and were so unbelievably cheap! If you'll excuse me for being crazy boring for a second, I bought 4 valances, 4 shear 84-inch dotted Swiss panels, three fancy curtain rods of the sort that cost $35 each at Target, and 2 other valances which were only $3 each so I couldn't leave them (even though The Husband thinks they are "too girly" merely because they have a single tassle), all for under $200. I think it was about $175. If you have never purchased curtains before, you might think that is a lot of money, but trust me, it is very very cheap for all that stuff.

On another note: Johnny Appleseed was born in Leominster, MA. I know this becase Leominster, MA was on route from home to college, and on Route 2 there is a gigantic "Welcome to Leominster, birthplace of Johnny Appleseed" sign.

[Renae]

I was going to write about my cute curtains but now I just really want to go see Maureen's mom and get more curtains! I think a trip to Boston this time of year sounds lovely!

Seriously though, my curtains. I found a sheer curtain that was super long but cut it up and sewed it and now have two super-cute shorter curtains that are perfect for our kitchen and bathroom windows. I think I found the original sheer at Target - being sheer I didn't know if it'd work for privacy or not but it's perfect and still lets the light in.

[Christina/Mrs Broccoli Guy]

I totally had that looking-at-the-neighbors thing in our first house... I planted a rhododendren and prayed for it to grow huge very very fast. :-}
btw... I love your random posts and I don't think they are boring at all. :-)

[Vanessa]

Ok - first try IKEA. Not sure if you have one, but online is just as good. They have these great sheer roman shades that will soon be gracing our bathroom windows. Because in our house there is no fan in the bathrooms so if you don't want to suffocate after a shower, you must open said windows which have a clean shot of our freaky illegal alien neighbors.(little rant, I appologize :)
Otherwise, try iron on hem/seam tape. NO SEW!!!! Just have the lovely lady at the fabric counter cut to measure and if she won't do it, at least all you have to do is cut and iron!!

At least you can look at it as a valid excuse for added shopping. When you buy new curtains you MUST by new accessories!

[orangepaas]

Dude, i learned to sew *just so that* I could make curtains to deflect the fact that my bedroom windows face our neighbor's kitchen. It's a fabulous skill to have -- v. rewarding.

That said, if you're not interested in being suzy homemaker ...I second the idea to look at IKEA. If you have one there. You can't order their textiles online.