Little House on the Hillside

The pound and the furry

     Ok, it wasn't exactly a pound, it was the Monadnock Humane Society animal shelter. But it was furry, and I'll be damned if I wan't going to somehow make this title work. Anyway, this all points to one thing--actually, two things: cats on the hillside.
We finally got settled enough to go find a couple of cats to make our home even homier. After a few hours of looking, we chose two 1 year old boys, named Finbar and Frodo. How cool is that? We didn't even have to rename them! (truthfully, Finbar was known only as Finn, but we decided to make him a bit more formal and celtic-warrior sounding).
They are hilarious, get along very well,  and pretty much beat the stuffing out of each other every waking hour when they are not perched on laps. They are exactly what we were looking for.

The only bummer is that now we cannot name our first child Frodo, it would be way too confusing. Well, there's always Gandalf...

My slipcovered life

     So we now have this great little house. We are very happy with how it came together: the layout, window placements, functionality. The tile looks great, the kitchen is primo, the floors shine like a waxed turtle (???). Then, we filled it with all of the tag sale cast-off third hand furniture we have acquired over the years. The pull-out couch with the tattered arms. The papasan chair that no one can sit in without going ass over teakettle. The loveseat we received from my sister on moving day (which is actually the nicest thing in here). The knocked-together shop class bookshelves next to the undersized coffee table beside the rickety student desk. We are bringing a whole new meaning to shabby chic.
We do have a few cool things. The old oak dining table is a perfect fit. The wild blue dresser somehow works. Our bed is comfortable. But I do not know what we would do without the modern-day savior of cash-strapped design-on-a-dimers everywhere, the slipcover.
Two tannish slipcovers, one for the couch, one for the loveseat. Just like that, we were back in the game. A couple of colorful pillows, a boldly patterned blanket and a few strong cocktails later, our rooms aren't looking too bad. A good save until we marshall the resources for some new furniture. Of course, the best thing we did was to jettison the papasan. Goodbye, dorm room--hello, showroom!

The next big step will be to agree on paint colors for the trim, cabinets, wainscoating, etc. Then the next even bigger step will be to actually apply that paint to the aforementioned surfaces. Then we will have what my mother-in-law refers to as 'Pop!' As of now, I guess we only have 'fizz.' But look out 'Pop!' I'm coming for you. And tell your buddies 'Snap' and 'Crackle' that they're next.