Posts made by author 'Paige O. Roberts'
19
A Home For Hosting
My grandmother loved to host parties and could find any occasion to do so. It didn't matter what we were celebrating, she had specific decorations and menus. Sometimes she would let me help her create the hors d'oeuvres, other times she put me in charge of passing them out to her guests. She was never afraid to set a dress code, either, so all her friends would show up with a bit of dazzle and glam. I used to feel so special just to be around everyone, even though I didn't know them and was one of the only kids in the room.
I often think back on those parties, and how fun they were, but also how out of reach something like that feels for me. I have hosted small gatherings at my house, but nothing like the events my grandparents put on, an...
5
Surviving Winter In The Northeast
It's no secret that this winter has been a cold one here in the Northeast. Still, we saw that January thaw like we do every year, and now we will suffer the rest of the winter on the frost-heave-roads because of it. But as it always does, that random 50-degree day vanished as quickly as it arrived and was replaced by some seriously brutal temperatures. I have learned to hardly trust what the weather apps say, as I've lived here long enough to know that the prediction can change in a moment's time, or be completely wrong altogether. Still, they said it was going to be cold this past weekend, and it certainly was—though not as cold as they said it would be.
I don't know if it's me being a New England curmudgeo...
15
Organizing In The New Year
As silly as it can feel to make New Year's resolutions, each December I still seem to find myself considering what I want to shift or change in the year to come. There have been years where I made big plans and stuck to them, others where I fell short, and some years where I made no resolutions at all. This year, however, I am giving a lot of consideration toward trying to change some habits regarding the amount of stuff I own and how it exists in my house and my life. This isn't necessarily a new resolution being put into motion in 2026, as it's something I've been working on in recent months—although, I will admit, I've been a little halfhearted in my efforts. Still, I see the New Year as a chance to recommit to this, and I feel good about...
2
So Your Kitchen Appliances Are From The 1980s—This Might Be A Good Thing
My sister and brother-in-law bought a house over the summer, and from the start, they have wanted to change and update the kitchen. It is dated both in appearance and somewhat in functionality. While I was visiting them for Thanksgiving, my sister told me that she opted to get Thanksgiving dinner from a local restaurant rather than cook at home because her oven is so small. This is true; the oven itself is tiny, though the entire stove and oven unit itself is normal-sized. This had us talking, and put us on the topic of finding out just how old the oven truly is.
After some quick research, we determined her oven was a model made in 1982—making it over 40 years old! Albeit small, that oven works completely fine, and so does the stovetop. It reminds me of my late grandmother's house, which was a scene ripped out of a magazine from the 1970s. Each one of her appliances was that Coppertone brown from that era, but they all still worked: The fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer were all still in operation when I last was in that house, which would have been sometime in the 2010s, right before she sold it.
23
Does Your Home Have A Secondary Heat Source?
It's officially winter, and we've already seen several days and nights where the temperature has gone below zero. I remember a few Decembers back, we were hit with a stretch of fifty-degree days filled with rain and heavy winds. The wind caused a ton of damage, leaving a lot of people without power, one of them being me. Without any power, I also had no heat, and it seemed as though in a matter of hours the warm rain was replaced by bone-chilling cold. To this day, I don't know how I made it out of those few days without a frozen-pipe disaster.