Home Matters

Home is Where You Defend Against Zombies

Posted by Michelle on Apr 29, 2011 in Home Matters, Life, Pop Culture, Reaction | 1 comment

As any geek-family knows, a zombie escape plan is about as essential as any emergency contingency plan.*

But who needs a zombie escape plan when you have this zombie proof house?

The World's First Zombie Proof House

Perfect to raise your family, entertain your friends and protect them from the inevitable zombie invasion of 2012.

Zombie Proof House -- Fortifications

I mean, just look at those defenses! Secure yet movable concrete walls. Only one, easily defendable entrance on the second floor.

* For the record, yes, we’ve discussed both our earthquake and zombie invasion plan at length with relatively equal seriousness. Sort of. Honestly, they’re just about the same except one involves escaping hordes of brain-eating undead and the other involves escaping hordes of lawless, gun-toting hillbillies or gang members, depending on what part of town we’re in. Both The Hubs and I agree we’d rather take on zombies any day.

Coupon Dork

Posted by Michelle on Apr 18, 2011 in Home Matters | 1 comment

So about a year ago, I mused about why we don’t coupon. But being the sheep that I am, I couldn’t help but watch Extreme Couponers and be utterly amazed at the deals that they can get. While the idea of hoarding groceries makes me cringe (and seriously, does anyone NEED a gazillion boxes of heartburn meds?) the prospect of saving a few bucks is more than a little appealing.

On a whim, I decided to grab a Sunday paper and clipped some coupons as well as loaded up more on my store club card. I made a list, I checked it twice and am hoping that I can stretch this week’s grocery budget. Honestly, I’m not too confident but we’ll see once I get back from the store.

Seedling update, #1

Posted by Michelle on Apr 13, 2011 in Gardening, Homeschooling | 0 comments

Since sowing the seeds on Friday, we’ve been taking them down daily from the refrigerator to check on their progress and make sure the soil is nice and moist.

The packets all said that germination within 7 to 10 days so I was very surprised to see soil displacement as quickly as Saturday afternoon. By Sunday, 3 out of 5 of the seeds were all starting to germinate. By Monday morning, 4 out of 5 of the seeds are sprouting! The lone hold out seems to the basil which is taking its sweet time compared to the others.

We’re setting the tray out on the kitchen table where it will get plenty of sunlight. TLE is very excited that her plants are growing! (So am I!) She can’t stop crowing, “My plants! My plants!” I’m just hoping that she won’t disturb the seedlings on the kitchen table. We’ll see

UPDATE: The basil seeds were poking their little green heads out of the soil on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon, they were almost fully sprouted. YAY!

Garden Misadventures, 2011

Posted by Michelle on Apr 8, 2011 in Gardening, Home Matters, Homeschooling | 0 comments

I haven’t had much luck with gardens. Twice I’ve attempted to plant something in the ground and twice I’ve been thwarted by poor planning or the dog deciding that the raised bed was a great dog bed.

This time, I’ve decided that we’ll go smaller and opt to plant a container garden rather than revisit the failed raised bed attempt. I’ve got some planters but we’re not quite ready to plant yet so I decided to start some seeds indoors. I still have no idea what I’m doing but it seemed like a good opportunity for a science lesson.

We bought this Burpee seed starter kit at Target. It came with 25 pellets that you add water to. It was fun watching the pellets expand!   TLE loved pouring the water and then watching them grow. If you listened carefully, the pellets made some interesting sounds as they expanded too!

We sowed 5 different types of seeds: pumpkin, cucumber, lettuce, basil and shingiku (an Asian green used in Japanese and Chinese cooking.) I took the seeds out and TLE helped stick the larger ones in the hole in the pellets and covered them with dirt. We discovered that pumpkin seeds are bigger than cucumber seeds and that lettuce, basil and shingiku all have very tiny seeds.

TLE liked the project but was rather, um, disappointed that “her plants” aren’t ready to plant yet. I explained to her that seeds take time to grow and that we need to be patient. She’s looking forward to checking the tray regularly for the plants’ progress.

After several days of unseasonably high temperatures, we’re back in the middle of a cold snap. (Brr!!) I placed the seed container on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen where it is slightly warmer.  (And it keeps it OUT of her reach!) Hopefully the temps will improve and coax the seeds to sprout in the next two weeks.

Are you prepared?

Posted by Michelle on Mar 13, 2011 in Home Matters, Life, Media | 0 comments

Pray for Japan

While I have no real connection to Japan, save for a few friends that live there (and thank God, they’re safe!) and a deep love and appreciation for the Japanese culture, I have been glued to the Internet this past weekend to find out what is going on in Japan.

The tsunami’s force as it plowed through the coastal areas was as breath taking as it was heartbreaking. As we live our daily lives, it may be easy to forget how powerful nature can truly be.

California is also part of the Pacific Rim of Fire and the activity in New Zealand and now Japan has made us very uneasy. Luckily, we do not live on a major fault line ourselves (living at the edge of the Bay Area does have some advantages) but we do live close enough that damage is always a possibility.

I still remember the Loma Prieta quake in 1989. While we were fairly well away from its epicenter, the house still swayed and rocked for about ten seconds and was a magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale. I can’t even imagine how horrific the several minutes of the Japanese quake must have been.

The Hubs ™ and I have talked some about our emergency plans. This has been made more urgent by the Japanese quake. Where would we go? What would we do? Our earthquake kit is not prepared — a huge oversight on my part. That will have to be rectified as soon as possible.

Are you prepared for a disaster?

Garden Update: Coming up green!!

Posted by Michelle on Jun 1, 2010 in Gardening, Home Matters | 0 comments

Just a day or so after I mourned the effort, it looks as though all the seeds I sowed about two weeks ago are starting to sprout! First up were the daikon and then the Thai basil. Today I peeked outside to see a lovely row of green coming up on our cilantro patch and the snow pea patch. HOORAY!!! I also checked the seeds I am starting in the garage and I’ve got a sprout! Hooray!!

I am so stupidly excited. You have to understand, I thought I had a black thumb! Maybe my dreams of a freshly picked summer salad aren’t so far off. I’m debating sowing some lettuce seeds in the space I still have in the planter.