House in Progress

It's SPRING here at HouseinProgress (FINALLY! Gee whiz!) and you know what that means, right?

(Behold! The labor of a long, desperately crafty, how-is-Mama-gonna-keep-you-busy winter...)

Continue reading "First Sign of Spring at HouseinProgress" »

Posted by jeanne at 5:43 PM (0)

Wowza, thanks to everyone for the emails. We are, indeed, still here in the HouseinProgress, though life has been in fast forward for the past few months.

Everything is fine. Well, there were a few bumps in health and logistics, but everything turned out fine.

Finding that having a three year old who gave up her nap for good in January, increasing the hours of our respective work commitments outside of the house, and trying to stay on top of our volunteer activities put a bit of a crimp in our blogging. That and the fact that our WYSIWYG is broken and I am tired of HTML.

Continue reading "Update" »

Posted by jeanne at 6:11 PM (6)

I love, love, love design and products from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland for three reasons:

1. Their products are beautiful.
2. Their products are useful.
3. Their products are durable.**

The Sweden Shop sells the kinds of items that you will use everyday and pass down to the next generation. And, rumor has it, they are having a big SALE starting TODAY! (January 24th through February 1st)

ALL BLANKETS AND DALE OF NORWAY SWEATERS ARE 30% OFF!!

ALL CHRISTMAS MERCHANDISE IS 25% OFF!!

Yippeeeeee!

Continue reading "Ooooh! Big Sale at The Sweden Shop!" »

Posted by jeanne at 12:02 PM (12)

I am not a fan of closets only because I am not a fan of hangers. Not just wire hangers, any hangers. They make your clothes and coats hard to find, they get tangled, they get stuck, things get crowded. I hate hangers.

Hooks? Hooks, I love. Give me a wall full of hooks and I don't care that all my duds are out there in the open for everyone to gawk at. Because I CAN SEE THEM, TOO! Everything. Easy to find. Right there. It's beautiful.

So, it's understandable why I've hated our front hall closet since we've moved in.

Continue reading "I Used to Hate This Closet" »

Posted by jeanne at 12:45 PM (19)

Obama Inauguration + Bloggers + Tasty Sexy Oatmeal + Mimosas + Spruced Up House = SUPER FUN!

I get very few chances to hang our with groups of bloggers. I have blogger pals that I hang with one-on-one, not in the context of blogging. So, to be able to join up with these cool women for such a great cause on a great day was a load of fun.

Besides, isn't it TIME that we finally get to enjoy the fruits of our labors thus far and get to entertain? We did so much of it in our old condo. Before we got married, or even knew Aaron, I was an entertaining machine at 421 West Belden Ave. So, yeah, five years has been too long to go without having parties in the house.

(Sharing a laugh with M.J. Tam from Sugar My Bowl and Chicagonista)

Continue reading "Start with Substance Oatmeal Inauguration Blitz Recap" »

Posted by jeanne at 9:38 AM (2)

I'll write up the Obama = Oatmeal / Start with Substance / Inauguration Gala later today, but first I want to pay tribute to Melissa Velez-Luce from My Very Own Chef who served up an oatmeal that was so decadent that I felt like I had to go to confession after eating it.

Continue reading "Bringing Sexy Back...to Oatmeal. I'm serious." »

Posted by jeanne at 7:42 AM (5)

Sorry! I was so excited about how spiffy the place was looking that I forgot to post the "before" pics. So, if you really want to see how far we've come, click for the rest of the post and PREPARE TO BE AMAZED.**

**Amazed that I didn't run down the street screaming, never to return.

Continue reading "Yeah, but what did it look like BEFORE?" »

Posted by jeanne at 2:48 PM (4)