homey

Someone on my friends list had a post about real estate and it reminded me of a conversation Mr. Jenner and I had about our house and various casual future plans of moving house one day. We have an adjustable-rated mortgage which for the time being has been low and pleasant but that will end in a few years and we will have to see if we can get something decent or if it would make more sense to sell the house and move elsewhere. It is complicated and involves many factors blah blah boring grown up talk. Ideally we'd might like to move to England in a few years but if that wasn't feasible (mostly for economic reasons hello crap exchange rate/obscene real estate) then we are more inclined toward finding something slightly more rural but near the water. We both grew up near the water and I think that it is the most... familiar and comforting place. Vashon Island is probably where we might like to live. There is definitely one particular perk to Mr. Jenner's job in that he can work nearly anywhere in the world as long as there is high-speed internet access. Hippity-hoppity.
I looked to see what homes are going for on Vashon Island and it was about what I expected. Of course (of course) I found an absolute dream house and wish it wasn't for sale now.
Here it is. It is right on the water, has beach property, several bedrooms, a view of many things and I could play out my Betty MacDonald fantasy. She is a local writer who moved to Vashon Island in the forties and wrote a book all about her life there. the book is Onions in the Stew and it is very funny. I think she and I would have been kindred spirits. That dose of house-love, extreme sarcasm and the love of a good party.
Anyways if I had this house I would invite friends for long weekends where we would eat too much, go swimming in the freezing water and have long conversations why it is so unfair that bosses make people work.
I'd also accept this house as a close second.

house-bound

Today I canned blueberry spice jam. I think I am done canning jam for a few months. The current collection includes: strawberry, chocolate raspberry, raspberry and now the blueberry spice jam. Plus valencia orange marmalade and blood orange marmalade. I should think about canning more tomatoes and then in the Autumn I will make apple sauce or something.

Continuing on the house theme from the earlier post I have questions for people who might know something about the subject of potentially tiling a bathroom. Here is the situation. We noticed in the bathroom off of our bedroom that the caulking around the tub is beginning to crack/mildew beyond our control. Mr. Jenner was just going to remove the caulk. (let's giggle about the word caulk for a second since we are twelve.) Then he was going to re-caulk the area and call it good. But when he had a closer look we noticed that part of the dry-wall in one spot near the tub is crumbling away. The sheet-rock is fine so that isn't too much of a worry. But we have this fitted plastic siding around the tub and that is beginning to crack/warp and really that should be replaced. What started out as something simple is turning into something more vast. We are thinking that ripping out this bullshit siding and putting in tile might be the way to go. Is this a good idea? Is tile superior to bastard fitted siding? And if we did that we'd hire someone to do that. As a question for local folks, is there someone anyone would suggest to do this job? Any personal recs? I am going to peruse the list that my local neighborhood mom listserv as well.
The upside is that we can update the bathroom and make it pretty. Of course we still have to address the main bathroom at some point. As anyone who has ever been to our house can attest, that is one ooogly bathroom. I will be in there and sometimes I want to say out loud, "Somewhere a hotel room in 1977 Reno is missing its bathroom." My own private time-warp while examining my pores.