YAY!

We finally got the base cabinet we needed for the kitchen, cut the countertop and secured it in place. While we don’t have miles of countertop in our kitchen it certainly FEELS like we do.

Just having everything on something that’s supposed to be a cabinet is fulfilling.

Sorry I’ve been lax on pictures lately. Everything has been nothing short of hectic between planning a wedding, getting our kitchen (and the rest of our apartment) together and I’m finally making an effort to go back to the gym. Go me!

I started Weight Watchers on Thursday of last week and since then I’ve lost 6.5 lbs. I’m being honest with myself and I really think it’s mostly water weight loss, but it’s better than nothing and frankly at this stage of it I’ll take what I can get – anything to keep me motivated.

My goal is 140 lbs. That’s right in the middle of the healthy weight area for my height and because I have broader shoulders and hips I think that will work well for me. (I’d be slender without looking anorexic)

This morning I weighed myself at 188.5. That’s 48.5 lbs to go – too bad that I probably won’t continue to lose 6 lbs per week! That would make this incredibly easy.

I’m figuring this is what is going to happen:

I’ll lose weight up to 175 fairly easily – probably before the handfasting this September.

175-165 will take probably 2 months.

165-155 will probably take another 2 months.

At that point I’m not sure what I’ll do once I break the 150 mark. That’s a place I haven’t been since college – freshman year of college at that. I can say it will definitely be surreal.

The food on the Weight Watchers plan is actually pretty good. I enjoy cooking and since I’ve been in a cooking rut the last few months this has been helpful.  The portion sizes are a lot smaller than what I’d normally make, but I think so long as I really stick to them (and be okay with not being stuffed full) I’ll be fine.

The last week I’ve been making some pretty tasty meals including:

Tortellini vegetable salad

Asparagus, new potato and chive fritatta

Apple braised chicken – one of my FAVORITES (then again I love to braise anything)

Beef-vegetable pie (which if I brown the beef on the stovetop instead of cooking in the oven it will end up better I think)

Creamy curry pasta primavera – VERY tasty as well

and Wednesday I’m making Grilled ham steak with nectarine salsa

Doesn’t that sound tasty?

For next week I have most of my list prepared:

Chicken tortellini soup

Asian Noodle-Peanut salad

Beef, blue cheese and spinach quesadillas w/ Tex-Mex rice and bean casserole

Tofu and snow pea stir fry

Dijon Pork Cutlets

Baked Mac and cheese w/ broccoli

Japanese noodles w/ garlic toasted tofu

Huevos Rancheros

Cincinnati Chicken chili (one of my favorites kinds of chili!)

So far Garry has really liked the food. I’ve asked him to go on the diet with me, well not really “with” me, but not to buy junk food and bring it in the house or leave wrappers in the car. He can eat whatever he feels for lunch (although I’m nudging him to eat reasonably healthy lunches) but for dinner he’ll eat what I cook and in the portion I give him (and NOT complain that the portion is too small – that’s key).

What will be nice is when he will learn to cook that way too. Whenever he cooks the portions are ENORMOUS (at least double) and again, no surprise that we are where we are. He’s gained some weight since moving home a year ago and I’d like to see him lose some weight as well.

Losing It

And by “it” I mean the extra 50lbs of flab sporatically attached to my body.

I love food, and I’ll be honest, as of the last few months I’ve been pretty reluctant to actually cook a meal that was anything close to interesting. I’ve tacked on another 10lbs so now I’m sitting at 195lbs. Some people say I carry it well, I say that’s a load of balogna.

With our wedding coming next year I have been nothing short of frantic to lose this weight. I know it just doesn’t come off overnight, but I feel like a scared chihuahua running in circles and yipping pathetically about being worried I’ll look like a beached beluga whale on my wedding day.

So I joined Weight Watchers.

I’m counting it as part of my wedding budget – because at $40 a month it’s not cheap. We’ll see if it works, but at the very least I’ll have some more exciting meals coming.

Catering to your needs

One of the big hurdles in figuring out or wedding plans is catering. I didn’t want to feel resigned to marinated chicken and baked ziti being served on our big day, but in the world of catering that tends to be the norm.

Not trying to sound like a spoiled princess, I made the comment to my parents that I’d like something a little more “upscale” than that (not “expensive” but a little more creative). It’s been difficult (for me) to ask them to pay for some things regarding our wedding – mostly because of the history that I have with my family and money – but more so because I like to prove that I am self-reliant. Even having Garry help out sometimes was difficult for me to accept (although moving to our new apartment in February solved that).

I hunted around on the internet for local catering companies, what kind of food they offer and I was annoyed to find that most of the places had roughly the same menu. Augh. Finally, I found The Lost Dog Cafe.

Lost Dog (as we all affectionately call it) has been one of my favorite local restaurants since I can remember. It’s once of those places that’s fun, ecclectic and honestly, I’ve never had a bad meal there. My favorite dish is the Greek Chicken (for dinner) and there are LOADS of sandwiches too. On Friday I had a chicken sandwich with asparagus and sundried tomatoes. *drool* it was really good.

Garry had never experienced the deliciousness that is the food at Lost Dog. There was always one reason or another we never made it down, but finally he got to experience the magic of their food.

(No I wasn’t paid to write this post – their food really is just that good)

To my surprise they also do catering. When I looked over their catering menu I thought I was going to faint! They not only had my Greek Chicken listed as an option, but a whole array of food from varying cultures – there’s Greek, Asian (Thai and Indian), Latin, Americana, Italian, Cajun, Mediterranean.

Yum!

And you can choose to do tapas, afternoon tea, sit down meals, stations (you can do a few different stations too!) and it’s all so very yummy and delicious.

Just looking over the catering menu gets me drooling and dreaming of stuffing my face full of Greek Chicken the day of our wedding! 😀

Too many cooks

I finally really learned the meaning of the phrase “too many cooks in the kitchen” yesterday.

Garry and I had my friends Pam and Rick over for dinner last night. I felt a little bad for Garry seeing as Pam is my ex-boyfriend Dylan’s mother and she works for our sister station in a neighboring city (there was a lot of chat about work, Dylan and my other ex – Dave – that works at the other station as well) but, more importantly she’s a dear friend of mine and is really like  a second mother.

Garry was getting a little impatient with my speed of getting dinner prepared so he went in the kitchen and started dinner. I was making asparagus carbonara (one of my favorite recipes) and I realized it’s definitely a meal that is best made when only 1 person is making it.

First off – I made an ENTIRE box of pasta. Yeah. That’s a lot of pasta. We needed maybe half of that. Once the pasta and asparagus were finished cooking and drained Garry was like “ok what do we do now, ok what’s next…” (which DRIVES ME UP THE WALL when he does it!) and – as always – I got a little flustered and just started throwing everything in instead of paying attention to what I should’ve been doing.

Well, it ended up that I put the entirety of the eggs into the mix (you’re only supposed to use the yolk) and Garry had turned the pan on before I needed it so it was hot and the eggs IMMEDIATELY started cooking before it could coat the pasta. I tried to throw some more wine in there to loosen it up, but to no avail.

The meal was okay. It was edible, but sometimes I just need to cook alone in order for the meal to turn out how it needs to turn out.

If you’d like to check out the recipe for Asparagus Carbonara, you can find it here.

Overall dinner was good and Garry made ice cream pie for afterwards (one of my favorite summer-time desserts) and it’s really easy to make. It’s a pre-made (or if you’re feeling ambitious you can make it yourself) pie shell (usually we use an Oreo shell), take some ice cream (a pint is usually enough) and soften it (usually right after you get home from the grocery store is a good time to do this because then it’s already soft), fill the pie shell to capacity and then even out the top so it’s nice and flat. THEN take some of the Magic Shell topping and cover the ENTIRE top of the pie with magic shell. Put it back in the freezer to solidify.

Yeah, it takes all of 5 minutes to make, but it is soooo good. We make it every year for my birthday (it’s in August so it’s always too hot to bake a cake) and have it with Chinese take-out.

Cabinet!

There was a moment of YAY on Tuesday when we went to Lowes and purchased our brand-new kitchen base cabinet!

I’ve been waiting for MONTHS to accomplish more with our kitchen and I”m hoping Garry will be so kind as to put the countertop on the cabinet for me so it can be fully functional by the weekend. 

Having this cabinet opens up more space in my office which will allow for actually finishing my office! YAY!

With having to tackle that task on the horizon I’ve been thinking more about the color scheme and designing silliness I’m going to do in there. The carpet is a blue commercial berber kind of deal and I’d like to keep everything flowing nicely through the space. The kitchen has light blue, brown, tan and cream – so I’m thinking of painting the walls tan. I know, sounds boring, but with white molding, white futon (faux leather) and two-tone espresso and white desk and night stand (a few throw pillows here and there and some artwork) – I think it will look awesome!

But more exciting right now is finishing the kitchen – or at least getting it to one more level of functional. We’re hoping that after the cabinet is installed we can start working on fixing some of the walls and painting. I think we’ll only be able to get one wall done until we start replacing our wall cabinets however, but it’s a start!

FYI – our cabinets are just plain unfinished oak and our countertops are just the pre-cut (you size it yourself) pieces at Lowes. So far we have our sink cabinet in and it looks awesome! (Although I’m thinking it needs one more coat of stain and definitely some poly – which we neglected to do during the winter – oops!) and our flooring still looks pretty good. We’ve definitely learned some important lessons about renovating so far (like take your time and do it right the first time).

Although there is one small, teensy-weensy problem. Our cabinet doesn’t have a shelf – meaning we’ll have to put one in there (Augh!) at some point. However, for the most part the cabinet will house our larger appliances (mixer, blender and some of the larger pots and pans) so we might not need a shelf afterall. After that is figured out (and we get some more moola) we’ll get to fixing the walls and installing the wall cabinets (that will be fun).

Right now our kitchen still looks like it’s from the ghetto, but in about 2 months time it will look infinitely better I think.

Kitchen on the horizon…

It looks like this will be the month I finally get to have a fully-functional big-girl kitchen! YAY!

Victory is mine!

(Sorry, that’s my favorite “I’ve accomplished something” music – it’s from Final Fantasy VII)

It looks like maybe in a few weeks we’ll finally be able to get the kitchen counter we so very desperately need. There are also some slight cosmetic issues that need to be taken care of as well – we have most of the stuff to take care of that already – and possibly we’ll get the upper cabinets done too.  I could be looking at a whole new kitchen by my birthday! 😀

I’m a little over-excited about this to say the least.

Until then though – we’re sticking to our regularly scheduled budget/plans and unfortunately that is mostly a lot of very uninspired meals. I know this blog has really gone downhill since I stopped cooking loads of really awesome food.

However, mostly it’s because Garry and I are engaged and we’re planning our wedding for next year! (you can read my blog on our wedding here) So I’ve been preoccupied with making sure we have money to cover the costs that need to be covered and all that stuff.

This weekend is 4th of July which is the 2nd most-holy-grilling-day (next to Memorial Day weekend). Much to everyone’s surprise – we don’t own a grill. Luckily a friend of mine is willing to let us borrow hers for our Crazy Lady Night next week where I’m hosting it for the second time. We’re having an Americana-themed party (I love themed parties) and it should be a good time. Although – outside of hotdogs and hamburgers (and of course – spiedies!) I’m not too familiar with grilled recipes – so does anyone out there want to share their most glorious grill recipes with me? (FYI – I’m allergic to anything that lives in the water and mushrooms)

Faerie Fest 2010

Faerie Fest went really well this year – we had tons of people come through the front gate (where I was stationed most of the weekend) and everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.

There was awesome music there too – thanks to Teribus and Jenna Greene (whom I got to see multiple times over the weekend) and many other musicians and performers. It was loads of fun.

We had lots of vendors there too. My friend Rob had a tent for his store Imagicka and thankfully the folks at Goblin Road came back with their ever-so-cute little goblin stuffed animals.

I purchased a red-headed Nose Goblin this year (I desperately wanted one last year, but was broke) and decided that his name would be Loki Jr.

(For those of you who don’t get the reference – Garry’s nickname is Loki)

I carted Loki Jr. everywhere this weekend. He was our front gate mascot and I think it drummed up quite a bit in sales for them because everyone was asking me about him (and a lot of my friends ended up purchasing one).

Well, then I got a little carried away.

I decided if his name was Loki Jr. he should have poofy hair like Garry. So I took my needle and picked the wool yarn hair. In the process I ended up pulling out quite a bit – which I’m going to (at some point) sew on his chest for chest hair. Then I thought that he needed clothes. So I found a rabbit skin ($4) at a vendor that I bought to make a winter cloak. THEN (I know, I went a little overboard) he needed a little key necklace (like the one Garry has that I have him years ago) and lo’ and behold there was a vendor that had little brass keys. I purchased one and put it on a piece of leather thong.

Here’s where I went a little nutsy. I decided I’d like to “tattoo” Loki Jr. So my friend Laurie brought me some embroidery floss and I went to town. So far I only have the outline of the backpiece done, but it shouldn’t take that much longer to do that (if all else fails, I can always undo the embroidery – the fabric is strong enough to take it – and paint it or use permanent marker).

I also have some of his military gear (the name badge for his cammo) so I’ll make a jacket for him with that on the back. I also have some fabric scraps I can make some fun stuff too. Yeah, I know, I’m a dork.

Anyway, I told the people at the booth my plans and they thought it was hysterical. They do some customized work, but those little guys tend to run around $200. I may have them do one for me next year with longer hair – I think they could manage that for me without too much cost.

Loki Jr is not a snuggle stuffed animal – he’s sitting on my bookshelf in the dining room with his rabbit cloak (which needs a good sized cloak clasp). He looks really cute up there.

So that’s the story of Faerie Fest and Loki Jr. I’ll have a few pictures up soon. 

Until then, what to make for dinner other than frozen pizza?

CLN, Camping and other random stuff

June is always the busiest month for me. At work we have a ton of events with the school year coming to a close. We have our Litha (Midsummer) ritual usually the 3rd weekend of the month and then I work at the now annual NY State Faery Fest the 4th weekend of the month (which just-so-happens to be this weekend – you can go to www.nyfaeryfest.com to check out the details!).  Of course sometimes there’s the occasional wedding thrown in there or some other project, trip or whatever – you know just to keep things interesting.

We’re also still meeting weekly for our Crazy Ladies Night. This week we had Wings N’ Wings – in preparation for the Faery Fest we all decided it would be good to make our faery wings together (because apparently I’m the grand-master wing maker… um… what?) and if you’re making wings, well you should eat wings too. (I’m all about theme parties) So each of us brought chicken wings or something to go with wings.

I made some more of the glaze from my Raspberry Chipolte Ramen and was planning on using that as a wing sauce. Well, I went to our newly established grocer (it’s a regional company that bought out our local company) and seriously – they did not have chicken wings. Okay, they did, but they were Hot and Spicy chicken wings and frankly that just wasn’t going to work. There was nothing in the store that I could use for chicken wings. So I sucked it up and bought little breaded chicken tenders and decided to use my glaze as a dipping sauce.

Turns out it worked really well – everyone loved it!

Oh, I also brought my handfasting dress with me to try on. (You can read more about that and more details of our wedding and handfasting here: http://bigpaganwedding.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/sabotage/)

We had so many different kinds of chicken wings there it was awesome! There was honey teriyaki, honey mustard, barbeque… although nothing  really spicy (well my dipping sauce was a little spicy, but I like to eat wings that are spicy enough to burn off my stomach lining so my perception tends to be a little skewed in that department).

Anyway, we had a good time, as always.

But back to making wings. There are a couple of ways to make wings, but the ones I find the most “realistic” are the ones made with craft cellophane. I just finished the wings for Garry and I last night (well they’re almost finished – I need to put the arm ties on there and maybe add some more decorations and then they’ll be done).

Here’s a step-by-step of how I did it.

Materials List:

10 or 12 gauge craft wire

Wire cutters

floral tape

craft cellophane (you’ll need enough for both sides of the wings – so chances are you’ll use an entire roll or more if you want something larger than 18″)

Taper candle or Lighter

Incense

Spray adhesive (I think – a glue that dries clear that’s NOT super glue – I learned that the hard way)

Scissors

Stretch lace, elastic or ribbon

1 ft. strip of fabric

*Misc. decorations (ie feathers, glitter, paint, silk flowers, etc.)

*optional

Step 1: Figure out what kind of wings you want to make. You’ll want to make sure that in your design there is either a cross bar (like an X) or at the very least a bar that will be able to be flat against your back. The easiest way to make fancy wings is to cut multiple lengths of wire (2 of each length) and make one big X to start.

Step 2: Secure the wires together with floral tape until your wings are one piece. This is the framework for the cellophane.

Step 3: (this is the daunting part) Wrap floral tape around ALL of the wire. Why? Well, it improves the integrity of the wire and it softens any sharp, pointy bits where you cut the wire (so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else).

Step 4: When you *finally* get all of your wire wrapped roll out your craft cellophane and cut out a rough shape of the actual “wing” part for both sides (lay your wings on top of the cellophane and trace about 1″ around the wire (or more depending on your design) where the “wing” part is – don’t worry about the cross bar).

 Step 5: Get your glue or spray adhesive and glue the wrapped wire to the cellophane on both sides and let dry.

Step 6: When your glue dries warm your iron to a low, dry setting (like Nylon) and iron the cellophane. It will wrinkle and crinkle (that’s what you want!) and kind of melt together a little. Make sure you iron both sides and get all of the edges and around the wire.

Step 7: Trim any other excess you want to trim off.

Step 8: Light your taper candle (or use a lighter) and “lick” burn the edges of the cellophane to seal the edge and give it a slightly wavy or tattered look. **Make sure to do this in a well ventilated room – and if you feel the need to – wear a respiratory mask**

Step 9: If you want your wings to look a little more tattered (this is optional) light a stick of incense and you can burn little holes in the wings. Also, if there are any parts of your wing where you accidentally burned past the wire (and you have gaps) just glue them back together.

Step 10: Add your arm bands/harness by tying the stretch lace, elastic or ribbon in a loop around the back piece (for arm holes) or if you’re looking to have four pieces (to tie either around the chest or arms) just tie one end at the crossbar.

Step 11: Wrap the piece of fabric around the crossbar (and allow the arm bands to peek out) and glue in place.

Step 12: Decorate as you wish!

I will probably have pictures up of our wings (and of a bunch of other fun things) next week.

After getting the wings finished – I had to address the issue of food. Camping for a long weekend requires being very selective of food since it needs to be able to be stored easily (not a ton that needs refridgeration) cooked easily (fire and a stick) and has good nutritional value (not 6 bags of potato chips).

Luckily, since Garry and I go camping on a regular basis I have this down!

For dinner in the evenings we’re making foil packets. Basically, what you do is take a bunch of your favorite veggies, chop them up along with meat (I’m making chicken for myself and steak for him) and marinade (or sauce, or just olive oil and some spices/herbs) and put it in a foil packet and let it cook over the coals of a hot fire for about half an hour.

The best part about these is that you can make them ahead of time and freeze them (in plastic bags) and pull them out as you need them. They also store really well as long as you have plenty of ice (which thankfully we will – if we didn’t then I’d suggest cooking everything first, then freezing and reheating in a fire).

A foil packet is basically all the veggies and meat wrapped securely in tin foil. I tend to plop everything in the middle, fold up the long sides (and fold the edgest shut) and then roll up the two ends so everything is nice and secure. You also want to make sure you use pretty heavy-duty tinfoil – otherwise it may split and you’ll burn some of your meal.

Another take on foil packets is to make kabobs and roast them on the fire. There’s a local variation on that called spiedies. It’s just the marinated meat and you eat it with italian bread. The marinade is similar to italian dressing, but with a few more ingredients in it (I think more garlic). If you want to check it out for yourself two very good brands are *Lupo’s: www.spiedies.com, and *Spiedie and Rib Pit: www.spiedieandribpit.com

*I was not paid by either company for an endorsement, they just happen to be two local companies that have particularly tasty spiedie marinade

For breakfast – there is nothing that beats peanut butter toast in my mind. Bread and peanut butter also store really well (so long as you keep them out of too much heat, but they don’t need to be in a cooler) and you can always toast the bread over a campfire. Mmm… melty…

Lunches are easy too – ham and cheese subs. I make them ahead of time and pack them in a large tupperware container. We can add condiments later if need be.

Crackers are great for snacks (if you take them out of the cardboard and put them in a plastic container they won’t get soggy from humidity) as well as the traditional trail mix and granola bars (only if you’re making trial mix and it’s a HOT humid day – do NOT add chocolate chips – they will melt and then you’ll be a sad panda when your granola is a gooey mess – unless you have a spoon – then it’s okay).

Keep in mind, if you’re planning on being very active (ie, hiking) it’s very important to stay hydrated. We usually bring a gallon of water (we have a spigot that we can get water from where we camp so we never really have to worry about good, clean drinking water) and some low-calorie gatorade packets so we can keep our electrolytes in balance. The packets are great becuase they’re lightweight and it’s a little more “earth friendly” than carrying around a ton of plastic bottles of the stuff.

Most importantly (and I see this every so often when we’re camping) is to limit your alcohol intake. Chances are good you’re burning WAY more calories than you’re used to in an average day – so if you’re going to drink, drink moderately! Listen to your body – make sure you drink plenty of water and eat enough protien and carbs. Fruit is another good thing to have with you (so long as it’s kept well out of the heat).

With that – it’s time to start planning my costumes for the weekend. Whee!

Raspberry Chipolte Ramen

I came up with a new Noodle Night recipe that Garry was a little hesitant about at first, but he ended up really liking it.

I’m a fan of mixing tastes – sweet and salty, spicy and creamy… I love the juxtaposition – hence came the Raspberry Chipolte Ramen.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (cut into small strips)

1/2 bag of frozen cauliflower

1/2 jar of raspberry preserves (I used the sugar free kind)

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

A few shakes of cayenne pepper (to taste)

Chicken flavored ramen

Directions:

Cook your chicken in a frying pan until just about done. Add cauliflower and cook until done.

Meanwhile set your water to boil for the ramen – cook per directions on packet, but don’t add the seasoning packet.

When chicken and cauliflower is finished – add the raspberry preserves and spices. Stir until preserves liquify into a glaze and coat the chicken and cauliflower. Serve over top of Ramen noodles (make sure to pour a little of the sauce onto the noodles!)

Honestly, this was really good. SO good even that I’m adapting it to make chicken wings tonight for our Crazy Ladies Night.  Normally we don’t do “theme” nights (usually if we do I’m the one that heads it up) and this week we’re doing Wings N’ Wings.

This weekend is the NY State Faery Festival and I’ll be working the front gate for a good chunk of the event. We’re encouraged to dress up and since most of the women from our group plans on either working or attending I thought it would be fun to all make our wings together and eat chicken wings!

I’m going to take the recipe above, but add some honey to it to get a better texture for wing sauce. Should be rather tasty! I’m definitely looking forward to it!

Home Safety

Garry and I fortunate enough to live in a relatively nice neighborhood. Unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen in good neighborhoods.

Yesterday apparently some guy was walking around the property of our apartment building. Garry asked the guy if he could help him, he replied “No.”

A little suspicious, Garry said “I’m the property manager, is there something  I can do?”

The guy said “No” again and walked off at a quick pace behind the house and to the house behind ours.

Garry followed him a little ways, saw the guy dart across the yard and then back up the side of our house. The man got in a truck and Garry wrote down the license plate #.

Weird.

So Garry is really nervous that someone is going to try and break into our apartment building. We’ve started taking more advanced precautions, which even if there’s nothing to worry about – it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Things like renter’s insurance is really important to have. If someone breaks in (or if there’s a fire, water damage or anything of the sort) your belongings are covered. Chances are, if someone breaks in they’re going to go for things like tv’s, game systems, computers and jewelry. More than likely they won’t go for your book collections or photo albums.  We signed up with the same company the car is insured with so that gives us piece of mind.

Another thing to do is to have your pets microchipped. I’m not entirely sure on the cost (I don’t think it’s more than $30), but you take your pet to the vet’s office, they’ll inject the microchip into the skin between their shoulder blades. You fill out the information and the vet enters it into a national database. This way, if your pet is ever lost and ends up at an animal shelter or vet’s office, you will be contacted immediately. Most places will have a scanner that picks up the information on the microchip (your name, address and phone number) so they can contact you.

Safe deposit boxes are great for items (like birth certificates, deeds, SS cards and passports) that are difficult – or impossible – to replace. Personally, I keep a copy of my birth certificate at my home, my mother has mine in a safe deposit box in Florida. Luckily, the hospital where I was born is pretty good about printing new copies for you if need be.

A home safe is something I have mixed feelings about. If you bolt it to the floor that’s one thing (a theif can’t run off with all your valuables) – and if there is a fire, flood or some kind of disaster, your valuables will be safe. (ie, heirloom jewelry from 3 generations ago, family photos – also from over 3 generations ago… etc) In this instance I would keep the original photos in the safe and have copies printed (it’s really cheap to do now) to put in the house. That way you never have to worry about losing those photos forever.

A dog is another good home protection measure – that is, if you’re a dog person and would be so inclined to own a dog anyway. I get a little annoyed when people say “I got a dog to protect my house” instead of “we got a dog, he’s part of our family and also happens to be a good watch dog.”

I can say that by taking these precautions I feel a lot safter in my home.