He's here! Yes, we ended up adopting a little boy. On Thursday we went to see this sweet little female Maine Coon mix and fell in love with her brother. Yesterday he saw the vet for his health certificate and this morning we brought him home.

After meeting him on Thursday, we went to dinner and discussed potential names for the little guy. We had the best intentions when brainstorming, we really did. We considered keeping the theme of city/town name (London being the originator), and Dublin was the best we could come up with, but it just didn't really fit. Then we considered Shakespearean names, but they all seemed too big and extravagant for this little sweetie. So Sean and I began bouncing book and TV character names around. He threw one name out there that made me stop, think, and (as much as I didn't want to at first) agree that it was a good name.

So without further ado, I would like to present....

Captain Malcolm Reynolds!

To be referred to as 'Mal'...like in Firefly.





He's already making himself at home.



How's London handling the situation?

Well, we brought the crate in and set it out in the living room for London to approach and check out the contained new arrival. He sniffed, flinched, and then ran oh-so-manly-like under the master bedroom. Mal later infiltrated the master bedroom and they were hiding under the same bed, in two opposite corners.

Now Mal is still curled up, enjoying the sun in the bay window, and London has emerged and is settled on the chair back behind my head. There he's able to keep a good eye on the new intruder. But he's friendly, and behaving towards us as he always has.

This is promising.

If you've been following my tweets or facebook updates recently, you'll know that Sean and I are looking to expand our household. London has been our baby for the past two years (I can hardly believe it's been that long) but every time we're in a show or booked solid outside of work, we feel terrible leaving him alone. He is very attached to us, and lately we feel he's been letting us know that he feels neglected.

So we decided that to help ease the loneliness, we'd look into getting him a playmate and companion. We were waiting until we were finished with Moon Over Buffalo rehearsals, so we would be home to give the new addition the attention (s)he needs to get acclimated. That time has come, and we poured through Petfinder's listings to find felines that stood out to us.

I'm going to take this moment to reach out to shelters and give them some constructive criticism. Sadly there are many pets out there that won't get the attention that they deserve for the following reasons:

1. No Picture - Yes, it's incredibly shallow, but potential adopters want to know what this animal looks like. Our society is very visual, the photos are what will create the initial connection. Descriptions help, but they can't be relied on to get someone to call. There are a sea of competitors out there looking for a home. You want the animal to stand out. Without a picture, you're just asking for your candidate to be skimmed over.


2. No Description - Pictures create an attachment, but sometimes a false one. Potential adopters need to know if an animal's personality will fit what they are looking for (to be covered shortly). It's wasting the adopter's and the shelter's time when the two don't mesh. That can easily be rectified in the animal's profile. Canned descriptions or mere contact information can be just as bad. Petfinder does not make it easy for a shelter to link directly to its website. Potential adopters want ease of use and immediate information. If you don't provide it, another shelter will. It shows when a shelter takes the time to individualize each animal's description, and can only help the pet find its right home faster.

Some of you may feel differently, and I understand that shelters are volunteer heavy, I'm just speaking from my recent experience.

Ok, so back to those of you looking to adopt a new furball. Before you even begin your search or browse the listings, you need to take a few minutes and do your homework.

KNOW WHAT YOU WANT IN A CAT.

Analyze your home environment, your family's situation, how you expect a cat to fit in to your lifestyle. In particular, consider the following:

1. Cat's Personality - Are you looking for a spunky, high-energy entertainer or a more docile companion? If you are looking for a particular personality, highly consider a matured cat over a kitten. Kittens often haven't fully developed their personalities, so it's a gamble when you bring them home. Adult cats (6 mos +) have come into their own for the most part, and you'll have a better sense of what you're getting yourself into.


2. How Often You Are Home - Will the cat need to entertain himself/be alone much or are you home to feed him attention? Would it make sense to adopt siblings who can keep each other company? Some breeds require attention be lavished upon them frequently. Other cats could care less if you were home (unless it's dinner time).


3. Kids? Other Pets? - Will this cat need to be tolerant of young children? Other cats? Dogs? Iguanas? Rescue cats are special cats and come with a history. Some have special needs, others have been traumatized. Those cases won't do well with young children startling them, making loud noises or rough housing. Others have come from homes where they've been exposed to and do well with kids and other species of pets. Petfinder has icons which will alert you to any sensitivities or special needs a cat may have.


4. Social Tendencies - Analyze the activity level of your home. Are you quiet homebodies or the social hub of the neighborhood? A retired person keeps a very different home than a young, social couple or a young family. Will the cat enjoy being a social butterfly when friends come over, or will they stress out and hide the moment the doorbell rings?

Knowing how the cat will need to fit into your home will make the search easier and the result better for everyone. Make sure to discuss these needs and desires with shelter employees, who have developed relationships with their animals. They may be able to direct you to a cat you might not have considered.

Sean was not a cat person before London. I had grown up with animals, so I felt the lack of furry friendship. As his Christmas gift to me, he conceded to getting a cat. We thought about what we wanted, and decided that our ideal cat would be long haired (Sean's preference), playful and entertaining, but at the end of the day, would want to snuggle on the couch. After meeting only two cats, that is just what we got.

One of my favorite times here in Massachusetts is the fall, when the leaves change color and I am able to enjoy a beautiful display of golds, reds, and flaming oranges on my way to work. I also have a birds eye view of a forest out the windows at work, which makes for a pleasant distraction. Sadly, after the ice storm last winter and the Asian Longhorn Beetle invasion, my neighborhood has very few hardwood trees left.

This past weekend my mom and I went to Tower Hill Botanic Gardens, where we had a chance to witness the color of late season flowers as well as the colors of the trees.

There was even a bumble bee braving the chill and strong winds to get some late season nectar. He was awfully still while I was taking his picture.

I think he was still alive...

Get out and enjoy the season while you can!

There seems to be a bit of dust and cobwebs in this corner of Wake Up Juliet... That isn't to say things haven't been happening at the Casa Gardell, we've been quite busy in fact, both with the house and with a show. This has sadly cut into my writing time. But don't worry, there will be many updates very soon. We are having a housewarming with members of Sean's family on Saturday, which means lots and lots of cleaning, organizing, and finally unpacking boxes that have been keeping the spiders company in the garage.

Sean doesn't like spiders.

But because we'll be all clean and sparkly for the weekend, I intend on taking lots of pictures to give you all the Grand Tour of the Casa Gardell. I then will do something I've been wanting to do for ages: posting those pictures on Rate My Space to see what people think. Not that others' opinions matter much, we decorate for ourselves, but there are some brilliant ideas that can come from that website.

We've also had another major improvement...the yard is now cleared! That's right, over Labor Day weekend, landscapers came in and took a backhoe to the field of brush and poison ivy that was our backyard. Now we look forward to peeking out our back windows to see how much grass has appeared overnight. It's amazing! And the yard looks so big! And public...absolutely NO boundary or border between us and our neighbors. That will change eventually. We already have a fence fund started.

Keep checking back, I'll have pictures aplenty to show over the weekend!

I'm no chef. I have to look up how long and what temperture to cook meats, even if I just made it the other night. I'm notorious for over cooking just to avoid hearing Sean ask "is it cooked?" My latest endeavor has been to endear my hubby to bison meat, in the hopes of giving him a leaner red meat. Well, today, I did it!

So here's my pathetic attempt of writing down my "recipe":

• 1 package ground bison meat


• 1/3 vidalia onion, chopped


• low sodium teryaki sauce

I mixed the bison and onion together in a bowl, then splashed enough sauce in there that the meat felt slippery when mixed together. Divide the meat into 4 patties and cook in a skillet on the stove.

Easy peasy! Enjoy!

As you may remember, we began the weekend very motivated with a list of projects in hand. To recap, they were:

• Dumpster - to rid our home/yard of it's previous junk yard feel


• Appliances - these were our new arrivals! They were to be delivered Friday


• Doors - internal doors on sale at Home Depot. Intended to be painted and installed

And there I was on Friday, thinking it would only take us a weekend. Man, was I naive!

So here is a recap of what really happened with each of the projects:

Dumpster - This actually went relatively smoothly, and served its intended purpose. It was dropped off while we were at work on Friday, and luckily wasn't filled by the torrential downpours which also arrived that day. Saturday we cleaned out the garage, which was holding dozens of bags of lawn debris, and I attacked the wombat cave junk pile in the back yard. By early afternoon, I was able to smile at the back yard for the first time since we moved in.

Appliances - The appliances arrived close to the latter end of their 12:30-4:30 delivery window on Friday. When I got home, the stove was installed, and Sean was already swearing over the new dishwasher. The microwave lay untouched. That dishwasher refused to install quietly. After several hours, a broken copper pipe, and multiple trips to the hardware store later, Sean called it a night and waited to attack it with his dad in the morning.

While I was waging war on the junk pile outside, Sean and his dad spent a few hours lying on the floor in front of the dishwasher, finally succeeding. After that, the microwave popped in without a fuss. I was able to cook a full dinner for them last night!

And now, the before and afters of the kitchen:

Before:

*Sorry, I thought I had a better before picture uploaded. I'll replace this at a later date.*

After:

That dishwasher wasn't done with us yet, though. Last night we discovered that the plastic hose had been crimped during installation, and was leaking. Thankfully, Sean and his dad seem to have fixed it for now, but see the "new problems/projects" list below for the damage.

Doors - These were another headache. We originally intended on replacing all the interior doors (9 in all), but the store's stock had us switching to plan B and we came home with 6 doors in hand. We realized that our house doors are weird sizes (of course). They were just a hair smaller than the stock door sizes, which meant they wouldn't squeeze in unaltered and shaving them would be a pain. We were right.

While poor Sean worked to create custom doors to fit each frame, I discovered another issue - paint did not go on easily. They are supposedly primed, but whatever primer they used seems to suck up the paint. The roller I tried was useless, and I finally resorted to slopping gobs of paint onto the door with my brush, then spreading it. Probably not "correct", but relatively effective.

So in my "perfect world" imagination, I would have been showing you all the doors proudly hanging. But, in reality, I have 1 measley painted door to show you, and another on its hinges, but untouched by a paintbrush.

Before:

After:

As I am quickly realizing, a homeowner's project list is never done. While we got some things accomplished, more have added themselves to the master list. Here's what has cropped up this weekend:

• Due to the leaky dishwasher, we have to replace some insulation and a ceiling panel in the downstairs bathroom.


• Must buy a new hose for the dishwasher.


• Doors, far from done.


• Discovered that London has been using my soon-to-be craft room as a personal toilet (no pictures, I figured Monday would make you sick enough), must clean the carpet.


• Now that we have shiny new appliances, the cabinets need shiny new hardware.


• Because I'm painting the doors a nice chocolate color, I must finish the rest of the trim in the hallway, kitchen, living room and dining room.


• We've designed a patio that we will install once we get a landscaper to dig up the back yard.

All in all we had a productive weekend, and a lot of big projects are coming together. We just have to work through the frustration we often face with these projects. Nothing goes right at the Casa Gardell, but it does eventually happen.

I hope your weekend was less stressful. Care to share any projects?

~Briana

TGIF, right? Time to finish off the work week and enjoy the weekend! Well, I don't know how much enjoying we'll be doing, but we're hoping to be very productive around the house and yard. What started as a simple weekend of renting a dumpster to get rid of the wombat cave* debris has quickly turned into a multiproject weekend!

The dumpster should be dropped off this morning, we've got some new arrivals which should be delivered this afternoon, and tonight we'll be picking up some interior doors (on sale!) and doorknobs. Tomorrow I'll be painting all of the doors.

So stay tuned, I'll be back with befores and afters!

What have you got planned for the weekend? Any Home and Garden plans?

~Briana

* The wombat cave, for those who are not familiar with the story, was the mountain of mystery lurking in the corner of our backyard when we bought the house. Sean decided a wombat was living in there (Wombats are not native to Massachusetts). Turns out it was really a bunny, but the pile consisted of steel railings, fireplace inserts, and all kinds of junk that have been extracted, but still reside in our backyard.

We're quickly nearing the one year anniversary of owning our 1970s split-level home. The inside has been coming together (well, the upstairs at least) but the outside has been another story.

The previous inhabitant was a recluse, and in his eyes the backyard was nothing more than a dumping ground for anything he didn't want inside. He kept the front lawn mowed and that was about it. To add to the disaster, a huge ice storm brought down pine boughs that covered everything.

This spring we dove in, determined to have it in decent shape by the end of summer...those were the innocent times.

Since then:

• I discovered poison ivy (the hard way), turns out is was EVERYWHERE!


• We've finally managed to clear all the boughs


• our two front trees have been cut down by the city due to Asian Longhorned Beetles


• I planted 3 rose bushes and some veggies


• Discovered earwigs eating the leaves


• Rain has plagued our efforts


• We've managed to improve the front yard (we have real grass!)


• We've lost hope for the backyard

After clearing mountains of pine boughs, yanking out giant weeds reminescent of Little Shop of Horrors, spraying 2-3 bottles of poison ivy/weed killer, and raking up piles of pine needles, we've come to the realization that unless we get some professional help with the extensive poison ivy and weed root system, we'll be repeating this battle year after year. We're big on doing it ourselves, but this was too much for us to chew.

Enter the landscapers! We had our first company come and give us a quote to see if this was financially doable. To our delight, it is!  So we'll be calling in a few other places to try and get the best price possible.

I'll keep you updated, and hopefully soon will be able to show off some before and after photos!

So, are any home/yard projects getting you down? Have you had to call in the big guns?

~Briana

...peppers! Ok, so you certainly can't pick a peck from my plant (how much is a peck anyways?), but I was thrilled to see this little beauty hanging from the plant as I left this morning!



It's nice to know that my plants have prevailed through all the rain and earwigs that are plaguing my gardening efforts this summer.

Visit our circa 1970s split level as we renovate, decorate, and landscape to make it our own. Here you'll also find mood boards, inspirations, and many other goodies to satisfy your nesting tendencies.