Sibling Rivalry: Annuals vs. Perennials

Consider the flora of the earth.  You find large, powerful trees as well as tiny flowers and everything in between.  Some produce yummy things to eat while others would kill you an instant.

Today I'm here to tell you about two distinct types of flowers.  Sisters, if you will.  The Hussy and the Good Girl.

Consider the wildflowers I planted in the spring. One bag of annual seeds covered the south side of the backyard. They were tall and skinny and produced flowers faster than you can say WonderBra.  Yup, those annuals were hussies, putting their goods out there for all to admire.  

Come over here, soldier, and gimme a kiss.

But take a look at these other wildflowers.

Here's the shorter and heftier big sister.  The one who took months to become substantial. The one who made her admirers wait for what seemed like an eternity for a bloom.

I'm worth waiting for.

These gals are perennial wildflowers, which means they should come back year after year.  It took them forever to bloom and grow because they were busy building roots since they're in it for the long haul, not just a one-summer-night's-stand.

My own red-headed flower standing in front of the perennials.

We planted the perennials in front of our (not so) lovely compost pile (which currently has three rather large tomato seedlings growing out of it), in hopes that flowers would distract critical eyes.  They've been fairly low maintenance and have tolerated the drought very well.  I'm glad I managed to stay patient because I was ready to rip 'em out a few months ago.

Yes, Good Girl, you were worth waiting for.  Sure, your sister's a tall drink of water, but you're the keeper.

(So next year when you're planting your garden, think about investing in perennials.  Cheaper in the long run, and they aren't as promiscuous!)

Peanut butter and WHU????

Y'all, I've had a religious experience over here at The Kiefer Cottage, and it's all thanks to peanut butter...

...

...and pickles.

Last night, I read an article from the NYTimes on the cult classic: the peanut butter and pickle sandwich.

At first, I thought that sounded kind of gross.

But I love Bread and Butter pickles, and I love Peanut Butter, so I might as well give it a try.  (I also love liver and pickles together and if you haven't tried the combination, you should. And don't give me that "I know I wouldn't like it" because I've missed out on winning tastes when I refused to try something new.)

First, I spread the peanut butter on a piece of bread (I didn't want to use two pieces in case I hated the thing).

Next I added slices of pickles.

Then I folded it over and ate it.  I felt it needed a lot more pickles, so I doubled the number, and then decided this might be the most delicious new thing I've tried in quite some time.

I shall eat this again.

Ryan, on the other hand, decided, after one bite, that only a crazy fool like me could enjoy such a strange combo.

That's okay. More for me.

Tried anything new lately?

I linked up to The All Star Block Party.

Whistle While You Work

Ever have one of those days when you're all set and ready to clean this messy house up and while you're at it, the kids will magically start doing chores (even the baby, who looks quite strong for his age) and obviously you're only a few hours away from being worthy of a feature in "The Cleanest House in America" challenge?

Drew loves to "help".

Nah, me either.

I find cleaning sucks the marrow out of my life and not in Dead Poets Society kind of way.  And I grew up in an immaculate house. So where did this malaise come from?

I'm not sure, but I think I'll blame high fructose corn syrup.

Oooh, a puzzle!  Cleaning can wait.

Republic Wireless {Affordable Cell Phone Service}

While I'm sitting at my front window watching my neighbors get their houses filled with new energy efficient appliances, their windows repaired, and their holey walls patched up, I figured I'd tell you about something Ryan and I did to save money recently.

It had to happen, especially since my student loan payment just tripled (!!!) now that my 4 year graduated repayment plan has expired. As a side note,  Income Based Repayment (IBR), while a life-saver in some instances, isn't always the best choice.  It would mean my monthly payment would be less than the interest owed, so if I ever made more money or were somehow blessed with a lump sum from the heavens and later decided to pay off the debt completely, I'd have to pay back MORE than what I owe right now. Also the thought of taking 25 years to make payments makes me kind of ill.  If I had eye-popping debt, you better believe I'd do it, but mine hovers around the price of a baseline luxury sedan (one with manual windows, that is).  At this rate, I'll have a huge portion of it paid off in six years, with the rest soon after.*

Anywho, up until now, Ryan was on his parents' cell phone plan, and it was time to cut the cord on that (many thanks to my generous MIL for allowing us to mooch a bit). Meanwhile, I was on another carrier's contract for a seemingly outrageous amount for not much benefit (1000 minutes, no data, for $50/month with me using perhaps 100 minutes a month).  We needed an alternative that wasn't too expensive and was contract-free so that our monthly outlay for portable communication devices (sounds swanky) wouldn't exceed what I was already paying just for my own service.

In steps Republic Wireless. They've been in Beta forever, or at least close to forever, testing their hybrid phone model, which primarily uses Wi-fi for calls and data as well as standard phone networks when Wi-fi isn't available. We finally got in on the beta waves after 10 months on the waiting list.  Right now, we're paying $45/month (taxes inclusive) for our cell phone service. Not just for one, but two smart phones.  You can use it unlimited as long as you're connected to Wi-fi, which the phone finds automatically, and you get limited service on the Sprint network when you're not in an area with Wi-fi (I'm not going to say "car" unless you promise that you're not driving and texting/talking. Seriously, you might as well be drunk doing that, so just don't).

Republic is not for you if you

1) Want a top of the line phone (ours is perfectly respectable but not state of the art) or

2) Need unlimited data all the time anywhere or

3) Have to have perfection 100% of the time with the service (the VOIP is sometimes a bit noisy--this is still Beta, which means they're testing, tweaking, and perfecting right now) or

4) Can't pay for an un-subsidized phone (we had to pay outright for ours, so they were $250/each**, which we saved up for over several months. Most contract plans keep the phone price down because they make up for the subsidy with the higher priced data and minute plans).

But if you're a casual technology user, needing to save money yet wanting more than a basic dumbphone, consider Republic.  I've had no issues with the phone and am getting plenty of dopamine hits with the constant access to the interwebs.  Pow! Status Update! Pow! Pictures of kittens! Oh, that dopamine feels so gooooooood.

(Another alternative is a prepaid plan from any other carrier.  It seriously pains me to see people who struggle to put money into savings every month pay too much for cell phones.  I mean, some pay hundreds for their devices and have nothing in the bank?  Folks, there are ways to have a fun gadget and not go broke.  And if your friends make you feel bad for not having the latest and greatest, well, they aren't your friends.  It's okay, I'll be your friend.)

*As a result of this drastic budget change, we'll be relying on some leftover supplies to do a few projects but otherwise we have to not pursue anything major at this time. Kind of sucks, but I'd rather stay current than go into default in the name of home renovation.

**It's a Motorola Defy XT.  Very hardy. Dropped it into the toilet (with clean water THANK GOODNESS) and it came out unharmed despite being completely submerged. Didn't even have to do the "put it into a jar of rice" trick.

Disclosure: Nobody paid me for this review and I'm not affiliated with Republic except as a full-price-paying customer.

We didn't get it

A few months ago, The Kiefer Cottage was selected as a finalist for a great program for historic homes.  We were told we'd get anything ranging from a few meaningful things (seal up the exterior kitchen walls for instance) to a full-on, very expensive, whole house weatherization bonanza.

The work is scheduled to start Thursday.

And we're not getting any of it.

I am so bummed.  We did receive a free professional audit of the home completed along with a long list of recommendations to improve the energy efficiency of the house.  Apparently, our house deserves a gold medal in leakiness.

Our furnace is pretty bad, our AC worse, and we have little to no insulation in our attic (as well as no heat upstairs, but we didn't need a professional to tell us that!).  

We'll never know the reasons our house wasn't selected, although I do know the scope of the entire program was tweaked after we were assured we'd be getting more than a token, so I can't dwell on it.  And we are getting a few things like a water heater blanket and a low-flow shower head. I'm sure they'll be shiny and help us a bit.  (However, where is my free Obama cell phone? Okay, I have no idea what that whole thing is about, but I figure if I put it out there, maybe he'll send me one)

Yesterday, I pretty much knew the news about the grant would be bad, so I drove myself to distraction. That is, to the movie theater.

Argo was a great flick.  Intense, thrilling, and often very funny.  I left feeling better because I realized that Ryan is totally channeling Ben Affleck these days.  Just needs a full beard.  And perhaps to grow a few more inches.  Taller, that is.

Anyway, I'm currently drowning my sorrows in hard cider and trying to rework the budget (let's see, we can cut all fun from the spreadsheet.  Wait, already did that. That's why I blog. It costs me nothing) so we can buy a new furnace when ours finally kicks the bucket rather than just building a bonfire in the family room (the thing's like 30 years old. It's just a matter of time).  I'm thinking the girls are old enough to start their vaudeville careers, so we'll be having soft shoe boot camp every morning from now on.  I've always wanted to be a stage mom.

You say vaudeville ain't the thing anymore? Ugh, back to the drawing board.