DIY: Door Draft Guard

It's mid-November and here in the Hudson Valley of New York and a few weeks ago we started on the heat at night.  Turning up the thermostat also means turning up our gas bill and I'm remembering what it looked like last winter and it wasn't pretty.  We moved here last December, but it wasn't until February that we got our first bill and realized we needed to find ways to keep the heating costs down by keeping the heat in.  Locating drafts and leaks is an ongoing project, but one of the biggest I couldn't figure out how to block:  the front door.

But I was at Home Depot this weekend and saw an ingenius product called the Twin Draft Guard.  It was only $10.98, which isn't unreasonable, but it occured to me that I could make the same thing in about 15 minutes for less than $3.

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Puppy Meet & Greet Weekend

Lots of zooming around this weekend.  On Friday I drove up to Massachusetts so Lil could meet her grandparents and Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Zeke. Pheobe and Zeke were great teachers and showed Lily how to go hiking, wrestle in the yard and how to eat ice.

On Saturday evening Colleen and Fitz came up for the night.  Colleen and I had Girlz Nite! at the Italian restaurant near my house. 

Then we went home to watch SNL with Fitz and Abe. I introduced everyone to the game Angry Birds and for the rest of the weekend Colleen and Fitz stared into their phones. 

When I was hiking with my parents in Mass I was talking to my mom about the Great Blue Herons I see in the Hudson River and then on Sunday I was at the park with Lily and saw one.  Love 'em. 

The Ancient Art of Temari

I learned about something new yesterday - the anicient Japanese craft of Temari.  Esentially, termari is the creation of hand-stiched thread balls.  The balls were used as toys and eventually became an art of the upper class.  Historically, temari balls were given as gifts, but with the emergence of sites like Etsy, temari balls are being sold by crafters for $40-$80. 

Some of the temari balls I see for sale are so gorgeous.  I'm thinking that would be fun to have an assortment of them in a bowl on your coffee table, use one as a pin cushion, use one as a very expensive cat toy (and I don't mean that to be sarcastic, I know there are people out there who appreciate modern, finely crafted cat toys), but mostly I'm thinking that these could make really awesome Christmas decorations!(Hmmm, I smell a craft project....)

Lots and lots more examples of temari balls after the jump!

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BFF, Bowling, Baby Animals

This weekend Allyson came to visit me and meet Lily.  Allyson hasn't been to Beacon since last December when we first moved here so it was great to show her around town, discuss wedding plans and, of course, COSMIC BOWL! 

More photos of puppy Lily (I know that's all you people care about!) after the jump.

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Something Phishy

Um, did I mention that I went to see Phish at UMass Amherst last Saturday? And the next day I got a new puppy...it was a pretty insanely awesome weekend. 

Anyway, yeah, I went to Phish with four dudes I've been friends with since high school and beyond.  I hadn't seen Phish since 1998/99, but I used to be a pretty big fan back in the day.  The show at UMass was UH-MAZ-ING.  It was like we took a time machine back to the 90's to swim in a sea of beautiful music and glow sticks.  At 2am we hit the McDonald's drive-thru and got Happy Meals (Halloween buckets!). My love for Phish has been reignited.