Random Musings

cleaning my office

2012-02-10T11:56:00.000-06:00

gulp! I cannot believe that I'm posting a pic (for all the world to see!) of my office in this state. However, being able to take pics after? Gooooood motivator.

So here's the before. see what three years of not having in office system does?

And just to keep things truly real, the view behind my desk:

Please ignore the green walls - that's a home improvement project that is waiting for another day (month, year, whenever-i-get-to-it). I find that when I'm insomniac-ing, the green brighten ups the space well, but egads it is definitely not my cup of tea. What these photos hide so well is the absolute and utterly shoddy workmanship that was invested in the last paint job(s). Drips on the baseboard. Unpatched holes. ick.

The goal at this stage is to simply get things into a functional state. As mentioned, at some later date I'll give it the whole diy treatment, but right now there are three other areas in the house that are in-progress. So, like the cobbler's children, I'll wait.

ta-da!!

Here's what I did:

Toss out all the garbage - including "scratch paper". I know that over the next few days, I'll be grumbling that I can't find paper for quick notes, but it's important to get a fresh start.
Move stuff that doesn't belong in this room out! Here's a sampling of what I found:

easter decor
first aid supplies
clothes (technically, this room does have a closet...)
CDs, car CD organizer
wood shims
cleaning products
loose change

Find a place for stuff that needs to reside in my office. This included improving where/how stuff that wasn't finding its way home should be stored. Things that fit into this category:

owner's manuals
old financial statements (keep/toss/shred??)
articles for my to-read pile
current paperwork - I divided this into two categories: financial and academic
stationary - envelopes, thank-you cards

Rediscover the systems that I like:

a bin for electronic bits, like extra earbuds and chargers
a folder for home design choices
gift shelf

Clean: dust and wipe down. 'nuff said
Reconfigure

I found a cable that let me use dual monitors with my mac, so now the one that was previously assigned to the PC (and rarely used) is usable vertical real estate
Having the little folder system & trash can behind the desk made it feel cramped, so now those items have been dispatched to other parts of the room.
Please don't judge my art placement - I just used the hooks that were already there. Hat tip to anyone who knows what the poster is from...

Thank you Centsational Girl

2012-02-04T04:25:00.000-06:00

Have you seen the blog Centsational Girl? It's a lovely design, diy and lifestyle blog that was one of the first I added to my gReader rolls.

Well a while ago - almost a year to be exact - I won a giveaway for lavender that Kate grows in her garden. Kate was so wonderful, she even sent me more than the giveaway specified!

So what did I do with all that lavender?

yup! eye pillows. There were enough to make 3 generously sized pillows, all of which I am happy to report, are still going strong.

Kate - if you're reading - much much belated thanks.

Meal Planning

2012-02-03T04:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday was T's workplace annual shindig. So much fun!

Saturday
out

Sunday
beet salad

Monday
roasted root veg with cornbread

Tues
leftovers

Wed
out

Thurs
Fast Soup

Fri
Stir Fry

Food from the holidays

2012-01-28T05:12:00.000-06:00

I have to admit, I am especially terrible about taking pics when people I love are around. I just get too caught up in the fun and excitement to break out the dSLR. What this means is after all that holiday planning here, here, and here these are my food pics:

I will say, that this was the most relaxing Christmas I've had in a long while. All that organized prep work meant my work/school productivity stayed high while ensuring a cozy (and tasty!) holidays for my family.

Meal Planning

2012-01-27T04:14:00.000-06:00

CNY was Monday!! Instead of all those calories in one meal, we spread out the yummies over the entire week.

Saturday
Turnip cake
Chinese BBQ Pork

Sunday
Boiled dumplings and braised mushrooms

Monday
Asian lettuce wraps
Adzuki bean soup

Tues
Steamed fish and rice

Wed
out

Thurs
out

Fri
Fast soup

30 while 30

2012-01-21T05:16:00.000-06:00

My birthday is next week! I'll be thirty. egads - I remember thinking that 25 was old. And while I certainly don't feel old, I do feel that at 30 I can no longer position myself as the young sprout. That deserves some sort of commemoration, right? As part of the transition to adulthood I'm implementing a 30-while-30 plan, inspired by Jen

Health and Happiness

Exercise 3x/week regularly
Run a 5K
Blog regularly; increase to 3x/week
Lose 30#
Learn to use my dSLR
Do two social activities a week
Visit another country
Make 2 quilts
Talk to Mom daily
Go to a concert

Academic

Go to 2 conferences each in Summer and Fall semesters
Write 3 papers for Journal (not conference) submission
Pass prelims!
Present 2x to the working group
Go to one dept networking event monthly
Work on thesis daily
Create an academic web presence
Write a program that calls C code from within R
Apply for graduation (gulp!)
Push a package to CRAN

House

Paint Kitchen cabs and reconfigure dw area
build headboards for the beds upstairs
build a kitchen banquette
install new flooring
refinish stairs
finalize a basement design
do something about the interior doors (replace or add molding and paint)
install trim for formal dining area
epoxy coat garage floor
plant a garden

Gong Hei Fat Choi

2012-01-14T16:23:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! (on the 23rd)

For me, the (western) New Year, with all its pesky resolutions and diets has always paled in comparison to Chinese New Year. If you've never celebrated a Chinese New Year, the closest comparison is Thanksgiving + Christmas. On the serious side, it's a time for family, tradition, and remembering ancestors. There's also plenty of food, lights, decoration and lucky red envelopes.

Here are some of my (food) plans for Chinese New Year 2012, year of the Dragon!

Source: steamykitchen.com via m on Pinterest

Source: userealbutter.com via m on Pinterest

Source: en.christinesrecipes.com via m on Pinterest

In a nod to the very real fact that I have some significant weight to lose, this year's cooking fun will be much lighter calorie. Unlike last year's table....

Timeline for Holiday prep

2011-12-14T15:54:00.003-06:00

Today (December 14)

create food shopping lists and schedule (done)
finish shopping for T's presents. start wrapping!!
2 coats poly closet rods (when.will.this.closet.be.dooooone) (one down)
deep clean downstairs bath

Tomorrow (December 15)

Pre-cooking shopping trip & place order for roast
deep clean upstairs bath
deep clean fridge
2 coats poly closet rods

Friday (December 16)

day 1 croissant dough
wash floors/vacuum
prep spare room

Saturday (December 17)

day 2 croissant dough/kringle
clean out garage

Sunday (December 18)

pre-cookie shopping trip
make ice cream and refrigerator cookie dough
clean oven

Monday (December 19)

gingerbread cookies
declutter
christmas dinner shopping trip

Tuesday (Dec 20)

macaroons
upstairs clean

Wed (Dec 21)

brown butter cookies
downstairs clean

Thurs (Dec 22)

russian tea cakes

Fri (Dec 23)

make-ahead toffee pudding
stollen
pick up roast

Christmas eve (December 24)

make-ahead stuffed mushrooms
make-ahead mashed potatoes
make-ahead brussel sprouts
make cranberry cake

Christmas Day 1 (Dec 25)

heat up ham and mushrooms
roast cauliflower
reheat toffee pudding and sauce

Christmas Day2 (Dec 26)

roast roast
heat up mashed potatoes & brussel sprouts
make rolls

December 29

new year's shopping trip (except bread)

December 30

prep any thing for new years' eve
make shaker pie

New Years' Eve (Dec 31)

cook all new year's eve foods
stick roast into crockpot
buy bread

New Years' (Jan 1)

bake pickle chips

Pre-cooking shopping trip

2 lb butter
2 c almonds
10 lb flour
1.5 c whole milk
panko bread crumbs
9/10 oz frozen chopped spinach
9 oz canned artichokes
12 oz cream cheese
cumin
nutmeg
1/3 c shredded parm
shredded xtra sharp cheddar
feta
14 oz almond paste
2 lbs powdered sugar
dried cranberries, 1 c
6 oz dates
currents
molasses
chicken stock
3 c cranberries
brown sugar
cream of tartar
cornstarch

Cookie shopping trip

3 lbs butter
1 lemon
2 oranges
eggs (4)

Christmas dinners shopping trip

2 packages mushrooms
plain yogurt
1 head cauliflower
eggs(10)
2 c whole milk
5 c cream
potatoes, 10 lbs
2 lbs brussel sprouts
bacon
orange juice
onion & garlic
5 lb ham
roast

New Years dinners shopping trip

rice noodles
carrots
green onions
1 lb soft tofu
hong kong style noodles
1.5 lbs sirloin steak
cabbage
peas
3-4 lb chuck roast
16 oz giardiniera
perpperocini
good seasonings zesty italian salad dressing mix
10 oz beef broth
2 bagettes
eggs (5)
3 lemons
1/2 lb raw shrimp, deveined
1 can condensed milk
1/2 c walnut halves
egg roll wrappers

Holiday Meal Planning - the cookie tray

2011-12-12T17:00:00.000-06:00

Just a brain dump of the treats I am considering for the cookie tray

smittenkitchen.com via m on Pinterest annies-eats.net via m on Pinterest

101cookbooks.com via m on Pinterest

mexican wedding cookies/russian teacakes
browned butter sugar cookies
refrigerator cookies
chocolate truffles
gingerbread cookies
Grandma V's pepper "biscuits" (not biscuits at all!)
limoncello macaroons

Holiday Menu Planning - the grand scheme

2011-12-10T14:21:00.001-06:00

This year I get to plan food for two days of Christmas!

Both Days: Cookie tray

Day One

Breakfast: Kringle
Apps: Stuffed Mushrooms
Drinks:
Glazed Ham
T's cheesy scalloped potatoes
roasted cauliflower
Dessert: Eggnog Ice cream and Sticky Toffee Pudding

Day Two

Breakfast: Stollen
Apps: Cheese plate
Drinks: sparkling cranberry juice
Prime Rib or Porterhouse + gravy
Mashed potatoes
Brussel Sprouts
Salad
Rolls
Dessert: Cranberry Upside Down Cake

After we've eaten all the leftovers, it's time for New Year's Day. My mom is visiting from out of town, so we try to do something special both for both New Year's Eve and the big day!

New Year's Eve - Chinese

Shanghai Style Fried Noodles (mom's secret recipe)
Fried Tofu
Creamy shrimp with honey walnuts
HK style fried noodles (mom's way)
Chinese hot pot??
egg rolls?? (only if I can figure out how to fry these in the back yard, trailer-style)
steamed buns + adzuki beans

New Year's Day - Food to watch football by

pickle chips
italian beef sandwiches
shaker lemon pie
fresh fruit
any cookies recipes that didn't make it to the cookie tray :-)

Later in Jan - Chinese New Year!!!!!

Weekend planning blog hop

2011-12-02T05:30:00.001-06:00

It's that time of the week again! Thanks to Molly and Gia for kicking my tush in gear to have a plan for the whole weekend (and not just careen around wildly)

Friday
Stat homework
work on closets

Sat
meal plan and grocery shop
study for stat final
work on paper
weekly cleaning, part 1

Sun
Church
study for stat final
weekly cleaning, part2

Meal Planning - Thanksgiving week

2011-11-18T06:35:00.001-06:00

Saturday - baked chicken + veg
Sunday - chicken curry salad
Monday - veg lasagna + veg
Tues - leftovers + veg
Wednesday - Fast soup
Thurs - Tday!!!
Fri - out
Sat - out
Sun - leftovers

Blog Hop Time - weekend planning with MHH

2011-11-17T12:49:00.001-06:00

Can you believe I had this post written before Molly's invite went out? yay me. No really, yay Molly and Gina.

Fri
Meal plan and grocery shop
Study for stat exam

Sat
Make chocolate truffles for Thanksgiving
Study for Stat exam
vacuum (even the couch!)

Sun
Youth group & church
Finish with the chocolates

Bonus points
work on research paper 1+ hrs
exercise 2x (stationary bike or neighborhood walk)
finish a project blog post
figure out how to network my mac to a linux box
make T get all his stuff off the downstairs guest bed
clear off table in kitchen

* the original code from My Happy House has been modified to display all blog hop posts

Applesauce

2011-11-01T07:36:00.001-05:00

Aka "how to wake up quickly on a cold fall morning"

1. Buy a dozen apples when they're on sale for $0.88/lb. think "applesauce is good with pork chops"

2. Peel, quarter and slice apples. This should fill capacity of a 4 qt ss saucepan.

3. Cover and cool on low with a cinnamon stick. (optional: stir occasionally)

4. Go about your evening. Pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. Watch a movie w/ the bf. check email and fb.

5. Go to bed.

6. Lie in bed at 6am, after the alarm has gone off, thinking about what to do for the day.

7. Realize the apple sauce is still cooking. Yell "oh sh*%" repeatedly as you race to the kitchen. Phew, not only is the kitchen okay, but the applesauce is yummy. Turn off the stove, and spoon applesauce into storage containers.

My speculation is that we avoided major disaster because the lid was very tight fitting *and* the "simmer burner" is low output. When I pulled the applesauce off, it's temp was actually lower than what I would expect in a crock-pot and the apples had caramelized beautifully (this "recipe" contains no sugar). After 12 hours of cooking, this was a pretty loose applesauce.

Halloween decorations

2011-10-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

I followed directions found here

Meal planning

2011-10-22T17:50:00.001-05:00

Sat - pumpkin spice pancakes + cinnamon apples
Sun - Asian baked chicken + broccoli
Mon - Mediterranean pasta
Tues - fast soup
Wed - green apple curry
Thurs - ravioli + red sauce
Fri - stir fry
Sat - dumplings???

Weekend planning blog hop!

2011-10-21T09:05:00.000-05:00

I'm getting better! Friday instead of Saturday morning planning. Weekend planning blog hop! Courtesy Molly and Gia.

Friday
midterm (eek)
work (4 hours)
celebratory dinner

Saturday
finish guest closet (so overdue on this one)
Still needed: 2nd/3rd coats paint on shelves and baseboard, more caulk, cut/stain/poly closet rod, install rod holders and hooks.
Start framing access panel in T's office: cut away raggedy drywall to studs and add top crosspiece
Express Challenge+
finish slides for Tues presentation w/ ABS
meal plan/grocery run

Sunday
Youth group morning
write up for tuesday meeting w/ H.
spillover from Sat

Pumpkin sherbet - recipe review

2011-10-18T00:00:00.000-05:00

As alluded to in this post, I have made pumpkin sorbet.

Source: skinnytaste.com via m on Pinterest

Do you know that I am obsessed with all flavors pumpkin? Pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin spice lattes (not starbucks, my local barista has a better source), pumpkin blizzards, pumpkin pie, pumpkin baked goods....

This recipe for pumpkin sherbet tastes just like pumpkin pie with the texture I imagine that store ice cream (dryers/edys) would have without xantham gum.

Next time (and there will be a next time) I will take a more pumpkin pie approach by cooking the puree with brown sugar and spices before adding the dairy.

See the original recipe at Skinny Taste

Update 10/21/2011 - apparently IE can't handle a pic without specific instructions for height and width. grrr. now fixed.

Weekend Planning Blog Hop!

2011-10-15T08:18:00.000-05:00

What does it say about me that I do my weekend planning at 7A on Saturday morning? Well, for starters I'm not as organized as Molly, obv. Check out her site: My Happy House

As for me:

Saturday

Farmers garden (yams here I come!)
install closet rod holders and vacuum guest closet
1 coat paint on shelves and trim
meal plan/grocery shop
study for midterm
make new and improved pumpkin sorbet (and take blog photos)

Sunday

Sunday school for the kiddos
study for midterm
weekly deep clean of kitchen
1 coat paint shelves and trim

That's all folks!

Pork and apples - recipe review

2011-10-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

Source: noblepig.com via m on Pinterest

This is a very tasty recipe which will probably not make it into heavy rotation. Frankly I was a little disturbed by the residue in my pan after cooking. Although the flavor combination was heavenly, so I might have to figure out a baked version....

The only change I made to the original recipe was to omit the pan sauce and parsley. There's quite a bit of frying involved and we ended up munching as items came off the stove and chatting. While I'm not condoning the world of eating while standing up, it was a wonderful bit of camaraderie in an otherwise busy week.

If anyone is looking at this recipe with boneless pork chops on hand, just butterfly them to get the right thickness. With bone-in chops, you will need additional trimming.

Visit Noble Pig for details!

If I can't be bothered to take pics...

2011-10-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

at least I can point you to others' beauty. This recipe comes from Meal Planning 101, and is listed as Tikka Masala.

Source: themealplanner.blogspot.com via m on Pinterest

The original recipe is a slow cooker one. However I was lazy the night before, and there isn't a lot of time for meal prep when work starts at 6A! I started cooking at ~430P and we ate at 7P, about 1 hr was hands on. The bf love-love-loved this (and so did I).

Note: While cooking, the spices used in this recipe may seem overwhelming. The bf is heat-phobic and had absolutely no issues with the version I made, although consider yourself warned regarding biting into any whole peppercorns your garam masala mix includes. It was very savory with a hint of sweet and tang (from the yogurt).

Marinade:
1c yo-lite vanilla yogurt
1 T rice vinegar
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
9 chicken drumsticks, skin-on/bone-in

Mix everything together in a container with a lid (or use plastic wrap) and stick it in the fridge for at least an hour. The recipe says up to one night, so this step is a good target for the night before or during your morning or lunch break. Hands-on time: 5 minutes, Dish count: 1

Sauce:
marinated chicken (see above)
1 small white onion
1 T ginger
28oz can diced tomato
6oz can tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 T garam masala
1 T green curry paste (I used Thai Kitchen brand)
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
olive or canola oil for frying
rice

Chop onion, mince garlic and ginger. In a large skillet over medium heat, saute ginger, garlic and onion until fragrant and onion becomes golden brown. Remove to plate. To the same pan (medium-high), add marinated chicken and brown on at least two sides. The goal here is to develop the flavor in the pan and caramelize the chicken skin, not to cook the meat. Remove chicken to plate. Without adding any oil, spoon in tomato and curry pastes and cook, stirring sporadically until no longer bright red, about 2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, spices, sauteed onions/ginger/garlic, chicken and any accumulated juices to the pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and cook, covered, until chicken is tender and falling off the bone. If you have a rice cooker now would be the time to start it. Hands-on time: 35 minutes, Dish count: 2

To serve:
1 c whipping cream
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cumin

Stir spices and cream into sauce and return to simmer before serving spooned over rice. Hands-on time: 2 min, Dish count: 0

Leftovers:
This recipe made four large adult portions, which could have easily extended to 5. When going to reheat this, I discovered that the sauce and chicken had refrigerated into a large lump, and was concerned that it would dry out. A quarter cup of chicken broth solved that dilemma.

Other notes:
The bf has already asked that this recipe be prioritized in the meal rotation, and next time, I will use plain yogurt, plus add some sweet curry powder to add yet another dimension of flavor. Yum!

Compared to the original recipe, there are fewer dishes (no crockpot insert or broiler pan) and I think that any extra hands-on time is recouped by the fact that all cooking occurs in the same pan, resulting in a beautifully complex sauce.

Weekend planning blog hop

2011-09-23T06:37:00.002-05:00

Friday

finally finish hanging curtains
readings for class
second coat of paint on the house back side (around the electric/gas meters)

Sat

IRB submission
weekly cleaning of kitchen
start hmwk for next week
caulk and prime shelves in guest room
dinner out
grocery shop and meal plan

Sun
Go to ed hour - kiddos have homecoming, no Sunday School, yay!
paint closet, one coat.
clean out craft corner in living room

see My Happy House for other weekend plans.

How to remote into a windows environment from Linux

2011-09-09T15:41:00.000-05:00

Our department offers remote desktop to access special software that is to expensive for me to buy. Like SAS, which has a $10K site license. Gah! I'm a poor grad student. Of course I am willing to suffer to remote desktop for free access.

IT offers some very nice instructions for Mac and Windows users. However, if you're a Linux user, SOL.

" If you are using a Linux you don't need any help from me "

Seriously? I use Linux 'cause I'm cheap. and stubborn. and willing to DIY. Not because all information is already stuffed into my brain cells. hrmph.

Here's what to do:

know the address of the target windows server. duh!
install rdesktop

open a terminal window
type: sudo apt-get install rdesktop
you will be prompted for your admin password.

connect

type: rdesktop dept.server.address.edu

I guess that was easy.

Yummy Chicken Quesadillas

2011-09-08T00:00:00.000-05:00

This is my take on the recipe posted by The Foodie Bride, which was inspired by a recipe that can be found elsewhere.

Modifications:

We only have a charcoal grill. Sorry, but I'm not [cleaning and] firing up that sucker for two ears of corn. And its been raining for 10hrs straight. blearch. Instead the corn was cooked on the stove [in a regular skillet]
The bf is opposed to anything remotely spicy. So sweet peppers instead of poblano. On the plus side the pepper came via the farmers market. nom nom

Ingredients:

2 ears corn
1 sweet pepper (green)
olive oil, butter
splash of balsamic vinegar
1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
sour cream and plain yogurt, for serving
cilantro
3 chicken breast halves, approx 1.25 lbs (includes extra chicken for dinner salad the next day)
1/4 c flour
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, coriander
1/2 tsp chili powder

Method:

To cook the corn I followed directions from this site for two ears of corn. I then repeated the method for my sweet pepper. Why? Because I've roasted over my (gas) elements before and find the process a little too labor intensive for a quick meal, am too cheap to buy the jarred stuff and still want the roasted flavor. So there. I did follow the recommendation to marinate overnight in vinegar, though.

To cook the chicken breasts, I followed this method which is inspired from Joy of Cooking. Instead of pounding chicken into submission, I simply butterflied the breast (less messy). The flour was mixed with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, and coriander.

To assemble: first shred chicken. Add equal amounts chicken, corn, peppers and cheese to 1/2 of tortilla. Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro. Fold in half and place in preheated nonstick skillet (for extra tastiness, brush tortilla or skillet with a little bit of butter). Flip the tortilla over once it's nice and brown.

Serve warm with toppings of your choice

Timeline:

Corn and peppers were cooked Saturday morning, while I was puttering around the house, picking up clutter and the like. If you need a way to motivate quick clean, this step is ideal because you will get better caramelization with less-frequent stirring. How's that for wonders? Clean home and yummy food?? count me in! Total time was 30 min, including prep and clean up and ~15 min of down time for other things [coffee... blogging...snuggling... cleaning...]

Saturday evening, while making dinner, I cooked the chicken too. Then I stuck it in the fridge. Easy-peasy.

Sunday dinner, we assembled and "grilled" the quesadillas on the stove. For fewer dirty dishes, this step could be done on an actual grill. Honestly, the hardest part of this was shredding chicken. Enjoy!

Weekend Planning Blog Hop RECAP

2011-09-06T16:17:00.001-05:00

Friday:
Stat homework done! well, does working until 1am count?
Pasta and red sauce for dinner (nom nom)
clean kitchen started on Friday, finished Sat after Costco Run
meal plan for week

Saturday:
Costco Run
stop at big orange for a gift card
shop for dress for wedding we're going to next week found a shell that will update a dress I already own. score!
grocery shopping
farmers market run
prep for Sunday dinner
clean upstairs bath even unscrewed the drain dohickey and cleaned that out. ew.

Sunday:
Church
Lab homework
prepare for meeting next week
clean small bath, vacuum den
start cutting back bushes
Paint fascia and overhang for front and rear stoop - Prime + 2 coats
homemade mayo
frame closet upstairs for new shelves.

Pinterest is a time sink

2011-09-05T07:00:00.023-05:00

... but so useful for organizing project ideas.

much better than the system I was on in gReader.

see my boards here

My new and improved method for using gReader.

1. install the toolbar buttons for both gReader and Pinterest

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

The leftmost one, labeled "Next >>;", allows me to scroll thru gReader unreads in my browser. To install, simply go to Reader Settings, Goodies, scroll down to "Put Reader in a bookmark" and drag the button onto your toolbar. Voila!

Pinterest is rather self-explanatory

2. Now all I do is click "Next >>" and periodically "Pin It". Sooo much easier to see all the effort people are putting into their blogs and comment. Fun times!

Weekly meal planning

2011-09-03T08:25:00.000-05:00

So instead of wondering all week - primarily from places I can't see the meal plan list - what's on the durn thing, I'm trying an electronic version.

Saturday - quick soup
Sunday- chick quesadillas recipe here
Monday - chicken salad with homemade dressing recipe here
Tuesday - baked salmon
Wednesday - pork stir-fry
Thursday - date night
Friday - with friends

Do you blog hop? Thanks to My Happy House and A Life in Progress for hosting! hop hop hop

Weekend Planning Blog Hop

2011-09-02T15:03:00.000-05:00

I'm joining My Happy House and A Life in Progress for the weekend blog hop:

Friday:
Stat homework
Pasta and red sauce for dinner (nom nom)
clean kitchen

Saturday:
Costco Run
stop at big orange for a gift card
shop for dress for wedding we're going to next week
grocery shopping
clean upstairs bath

Sunday:
Church
Lab homework
prepare for meeting next week
clean small bath, vacuum den
start cutting back bushes

blog hop weekend plans

2011-08-05T07:48:00.000-05:00

My Happy House is hosting a blog hop! Details here

Friday:

Take car to shop for window replacement (unpack from trip first)

Pick up rental car

Pay for repair

Student poster session!!!

Award ceremony

Return rental and pick up my car (juggling of both schedules and vehicles at its finest)

Saturday:

Farmer's Market

Meal plan for week + grocery shop

Finish trimming porch column

2page of prelim proposal

Liz's bday party

Sunday:

Church

2 pgs of prelim

install shelving for guest bedroom

clean kitchen!!!!

Mom's baked chicken

2011-06-12T07:51:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

1 tray chicken pieces (thighs, drumsticks), skin on - about 3lbs
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 tsp minced ginger
4 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs sesame oil
salt and pepper
honey

Method

Mix all ingredients except for honey in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Marinate overnight in fridge, turning periodically to make sure all pieces are evenly coated.

Heat oven to 400F.

Pour bag contents into a 9" x 13" foil-lined pan. Bake for 45 minutes, turning halfway thru for even browning

Brush with honey and return to oven for last 15 minutes. Cover with foil if the chicken is getting too dark.

Serve with steamed rice.

Fast Soup (and dumplings)

2011-06-11T07:19:00.001-05:00

I love soup. This recipe makes it to our rotation at least once a week. Super-fast, semi-healthy, cheap comfort food

Ingredients

4 c chicken stock
1/2 lb pasta (we find that whole wheat noodles work well)
2-4 eggs
4-6 dumplings
Veggies that you have lying around (frozen carrots and peas work well)
hoisin sauce
rice vinegar
s & p

Method:

Heat chicken stock and an equal amount of water to boil in 4 qt pot. Add eggs and dumplings. When the eggs are solid and dumplings float, add the pasta, salt and pepper. Cook for 4-6 minutes more. Add veggies. When veggies are cooked thru serve, with a squirt of hoisin and rice vinegar in the bottom of each bowl. nomnomnom

Note: this recipe works well without dumplings.

Start-to-finish: 30 min

Weeknight Spaghetti and meatballs

2011-06-11T07:08:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, spaghetti and meatballs were a special event. Dad's family is Italian, so he took a lot of pride in authentic cooking techniques. The sauce bubbled for hours, the meatballs were big and fried in plenty of olive oil. The kitchen floor was covered in the detritus of onion and garlic skins, green pepper bits, etc .....much to my mother's dismay.

Since I don't have the ability to spend that much time in the kitchen =( and I'd like not to be 300+ lbs, my version is significantly lighter.

Ingredients

Meatballs
1/2 lb beef
1 lb pork
3/4 c bread crumbs
3/4 c grated parmesan
2 eggs
3 cloves minced garlic
2 tbs dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp dried oregano
splash milk
salt and pepper

Sauce
A jar of your fave sauce. Pick a savory one (garlic or mushroom seem to work best). Or make it from scratch
2-3 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
pepper

1 lb dried pasta of your choice
shredded parmesan for serving

Method

Mix all ingredients. I have found that fresh garlic is essential. Powdered doesn't cut it. Use a 2 tbs cookie scoop (I used the coffee measure from a defunct machine) to portion out the meatballs as a single layer in a freezer-safe container. Or, if you're like me and have one of those brilliant side-by-sides with no storage space whatsoever, place the raw meatballs in multiple layers on a metal pie plate. Separate each layer with wax paper. Regardless of your method, when the meatballs have frozen thru, stick 'em in a bag.

The key to making this a weeknight meal is to make the meatballs ahead of time. I make a batch of these every month or so. The process can be broken down further. Mix ingredients, stick bowl in fridge, portion out some meatballs, stick bowl in fridge... you get the idea. No need to thaw before using.

On the night you want to eat 'em:
Fry the meatballs in olive oil until they are brown on all sides. There is no need to thaw them. The meatballs do not need to be cooked completely at this time. Once all the meatballs are browned, add all the sauce ingredients and bring to a simmer. Now is the time to start the water boiling for the pasta. After the sauce has been simmering 20 min, add dried pasta to the boiling water. When the pasta is done (see packaging for cooking times, usually 6-7 min) your sauce will be ready.

Start-to-finish (not including meatball prep): <1 hour. This includes eating time and cleanup!

Weeknight Spaghetti and meatballs

2011-06-11T07:07:00.000-05:00

A new fave violinist

2011-05-19T05:58:00.000-05:00

Desperately seeking ....

2011-03-23T15:59:00.006-05:00

well, not Susan. Okay, weak joke.

Daily, I read blogs. Sometimes I'm in awe. Other times the reaction is 'nice, but not for me'. But overall, I'm impressed. I'd like to be one of those bloggers that inspire on a daily basis, but between life and my sheer laziness..... 'nuff said. Anyways, the below are proof that I'm here, plugging away, and seeking approval for a job (semi-) well-done.

Some pics to capture the past few ~~weeks~~ months (lo quality, from the phone)

My attempt at a gingerbread house that looks like the real thing. I didn't know what to do about the front stoop, though.

omg. these poor bushes were soooo overgrown.

nom nom Chinese New Year!

nom. nom.

Paperwhites!

What does net worth really mean?

2011-03-12T00:27:00.003-06:00

From discussion regarding the envelope system @ imperfect to a more free form method @ thrifty little blog to more meticulous techniques followed by kinless (see the nyt article) money is something that may not be quite the taboo subject anymore.

We all know that financial wealth is limited if money in - money out = small, regardless of how big the number on the left is.

And, let's face it, it is nice to see the total number at the bottom of net worth calculations increase over time. It's an easy way to see the cumulative effect of many life choices. But what does net worth really mean?

Should you include your car or residence in calculations? From an accounting perspective, yes. But in reality, are any of us going to profit by our primary residence? Chances are we are either in our houses to stay or are looking to upgrade, which means rolling proceeds in their entirety into purchasing the next one.

I like the view taken by Spencer Sherman - take that net worth and divide by annual money out. What does that buy you in time? Sherman even goes on to say that the retirement goal to strive for is to spend 4-6% of one's holdings annually. That makes sense, right? If the retirement nest egg stays current with inflation, under this guideline it will last 20 years. Which will take me from 65 to 85. Very reasonable.

Guess I'll be working for a long time yet....

To practice blogging....

2011-03-04T00:00:00.002-06:00

One must post. And while school is in session and the bf is around, there is simply no way I can keep this blog 'purely craft' and have any sort of publication volume. Science audience, deal with the craftiness. Crafty types, deal with the science.

Today I learned: 'Hello World!' using PyQt (more info can be found here and here). There are a lot of well-written tutes that cover actual lessons. The snippet below is more for testing that your system works.

Code:

import sys
from PyQt4.QtGui import QLabel, QApplication
App = QApplication(sys.argv)
Label = QLabel('Hello World!')
Label.show()
App.exec_()

Voila!

Note: I had to paste code line-by-line into idle because it is fussy about carriage returns

ouch....

2010-12-07T15:59:00.001-06:00

"this isn't like a normal scientific presentation"

Things you don't want to hear from the course prof...

Erm....

2010-11-14T15:46:00.000-06:00

what are non-cheese dairy products?

Let the holiday baking commence!

2010-11-13T13:43:00.000-06:00

Alternative title: what cookies?
Alternative title 2: So these are pasticcini...

This is from Rachel Eats who found the recipe during travels (and significant research) in Italy. When it came across my Reader subscription back in June, I marked it for holiday baking. ~~We have a tradition in my family~~ My mom and I have a tradition of making Italian cookies for the holidays. Over the years I've refined my "favorites" list to two kinds of biscotti, X- cookies (with figs! yummy). The list is short because we're all about quality, people. As a sidebar, let me state for the record that while I have Italian heritage and a tendency to the esoteric - turning this tradition into to one about "getting in touch with my roots" and blah blah blah - Mom votes strictly by taste buds.

Ever heard of Amaretti? Literally translated, they mean "little bitter almond things". Unfortunately *real* amaretti use bitter almonds, which are not sold in the US because they need to be first process to remove cyanide. Eek! Just buy the imported ones from Lazzaroni.

"Pisticcini di mandolre" translates to "almond cakes" (per Google translate), and makes use of good 'ol sweet almonds. Rachel writes from London, so instructions at her site all make use of metric units. I've taken the liberty of listing the conversion below. If you have time, please visit the original post here; the photography is beautiful, writing both elegant and conversational. There are a tremendous store of wonderful recipes - the archives make for both an engaging read and cooking inspiration.

These are almond cookies for the almond paste snob, where the predominant flavor is almond (not sugar), with an aftertaste of fresh citrus. And immediately after the flavors subside, your tastebuds will scream for more. Whole eggs add richness without sacrificing any of the delicate crumb - I really can't imagine a more perfect balance of flavors. As a bonus, oh-so-easy-and-quick to make.

The cast of characters: sugar, almond flour, eggs and lemon.

I never seem to capture a true before shot. Here you can see that the poor lemon has been denuded, and that bag of almond flour was full before this recipe!

The dough significantly reduces in volume from initial combination (above) to shaping (below).

Rachael mentions the need to both generously coat hands with powdered sugar; I would say that if you use a spoon (not cookie scoop) only periodic and light dusting is necessary. I did roll the cookie rounds in a small ramekin of powdered sugar before placing on the baking sheet, using about 1/2 cup for the whole batch.

Baking times will vary, depending on your oven and color of the baking sheet. (Above) 18 minutes, with a turn halfway (Below) same timing, on a lighter baking sheet.

Rachel's notes indicate a yield of < 2 dozen. I suspect my idea of a walnut is slightly smaller than hers, as I was able to get 45. It also might explain why mine aren't chewy - instead they are delicately crisp and crumbly and not too sweet. If you like amaretti, the 18 min baking time is ideal; for a chewier crumb, use a shorter baking time of 12 to 15 min (or size 'em 3x larger). Any way they are perfect as an accompaniment to tea, coffee or hot chocolate.

And of course, the measure of how simple any recipe is:

Pisticcini di mandorle from rachel eats (converted for US audiences)

10.5 oz ground almonds*
7.0 oz powdered sugar
2 large eggs
zest from 1 lemon
additional powdered sugar, for dusting

Method:

Heat oven to 350F
in a small bowl, randomly disturb eggs with a fork
in a medium bowl mix almonds, sugar and zest
add eggs to almond mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. The volume should decrease significantly and become a soft, sticky dough
Portion the dough into balls approximately 1 inch in diameter. Dust liberally with powdered sugar
Place on parchment-lined baking sheet. Using two fingers or your thumb, flatten slightly. The cookie should be about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. While the cookies do swell during baking, they don't really spread, so 1 inch spacing is adequate.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until top is browned
Allow to cool on parchment paper before transferring.

*Note: the recipe calls for ground almonds, which can easily be obtained by tossing whole almonds into the food processor [not too long, it'll turn to almond butter]. I don't have a food processor in this kitchen, so I purchased mine pre-ground, but if you are planning to make large quantities keep in mind that the 3 lb bag of whole almonds at Costco is <$10 while a 1lb bag of the almond flour is ~$11, which may justify the $40 price tag of a sturdy 3-c food processor. Store excess nuts in the freezer to prevent 'em from turning rancid.

Food project [and new page]

2010-08-06T00:00:00.001-05:00

Have y'all heard of use real butter (urb)? Totally amazing food and photography blog from Jen (who has a PhD! in science!). I want to be Jen when I grow up. Well, with the minor subs of home renos for skiing; WA for CO.... and all the lovely idiosyncrasies that make me me.

Anyways, my foodie habits have never been very focused, so I thought it would be nice to work my way thru a set of recipes. The dedicated cook would select a benchmark cooking technique book, so that subsequent recipes would build on skills acquired prepping earlier options. However, I have myself and a hungry bf to feed combined with a meager food budget. So I chose Jen's recipe index as my workbook.

Ground Rules: make 2 recipes per month, no repeats. drink recipes may be omitted.

Progress?

2 down, hundreds to go

Tracking?

Initially, I thought I'd have a screenshot of the recipe list and cross 'em off over time. Two problems: (1) the screenshot wouldn't include the latest recipes (2) I'd technically be reproducing copyrighted work. Bad, bad karma
How this is going down: For each recipe I try, there will be an addition to the project-urb page, in the style of Jen's recipe index - but with my own pics. Just for clarification, I am not swiping any code from the urb site [we're talking a simple 3 column list, people]

The next trip - part three

2010-08-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

A funny thing happened at the airport.....

My flight out of BWI? Delayed 4 hours. Not only would I miss my connection, but I would have to spend the night in Detroit.

This was my Sunday morning:

At least I had some entertainment:

The next trip- Part deux

2010-08-04T00:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday I had a few hours in the morning and decided to go back to D.C. and take in the sights; I intended to go to the Air and Space museum, but ended up stumbling into the National History Museum instead [mostly to avoid the heat]. Apparently the day I chose to wander to the Lincoln Memorial....heat index of 114F. Yikes!

The Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

National History Museum

The next trip - Part one

2010-08-03T00:00:00.001-05:00

So I actually spent 3 weeks in July traveling for work. Yikes! My last trip was just outside D.C., and as expected, connection FAIL.

Here's my lovely plane. Note that no passengers are boarding because, well, we did board. And then there was a problem with the wing flaps not working right. And I am totally OK with not flying on a plane that has problems getting the wings to flap. But it did mean that I got to my lodgings at 1 AM instead of 5 PM. With a presentation to an international audience at 3 PM that day. Eeep! Could have totally been worse.

I made arrangements to fly out Sat evening (the conference ended Fri) to do some sight seeing in D.C. Friday night I caught the last half hour at the Natural History Museum

After getting my bags searched, I was greeted by:

What a friendly guy! Scale is not really obvious here, but he's about 6' long.

I always think it's interesting to learn about how (and why) the people behind the scenes practice their craft. Here's the fossil room:

I really liked the models of various animals:

And of course the architecture is amazing

Afterwards, a bunch of us from the conference met for Ethiopian food on the south end of Georgetown. Oh.my.goodness. Totally delish!

(credit)

This pic was taken at the restaurant we ate, although not by me.

Vegas Photos

2010-08-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

As far as a Vegas trip is concerned, mine was pretty tame. M-Thurs there were presentations, tutorials, networking events, etc 8a - 9p. And then I flew out Friday morning pretty early. So no shows, and with my per diem, not really much good food.

So it turns out, that as big as the casinos are, they're not big enough. Seriously. There are several companies that own multiple properties on the strip, and resorts that have the same owner are connected by air conditioned trams. The stations may or may not be air-conditioned, but with trams running every 3-4 mins, it's better even than walking across the street.

Tip: even if your destination is not on the route, use the [free] trams to minimize walking outdoors.

During the week I was there, temps were ~115F during the day and stayed in the upper 90s until 10p, so my wanderings are limited to the resorts accessible from the Monte Carlo: Aria, CityCenter, Bellagio and Vdara.

Here's another view of the City Center shopping complex [top photo looks left of this]. Seriously, it's like only the good stores: Tiffany's, Louis Vitton... you get the idea. For people who really like the Vegas lifestyle, residential condos are available adjoining this area.

Remember this shot?

Part of this awesome Dale Chihuly installation in the foyer at Bellagio. Better pics can be found here.

Here's some more decorations. These can be found at multiple locations in the shopping promenade, again at the Bellagio.

Also at Bellagio is a garden with fantastic decorations. Right now the theme is ants.

The insects and mushrooms are sculptures, but all the greenery is alive.

Beautiful succulents!

Here's an ant transporting an egg

I also liked this quartz sculpture, which lit up at night:

What's this?

Ah, yes, the world's largest chocolate fountain

yum!

Totally amazing ahi salad. In addition to a nice greens mix, with various tomatoes and olives: watermelon. Unexpected and oh so tasty. I am making it a point to include more fruit in my salads.

some parting shots from my hotel room

Still resolving technical difficulties

2010-08-01T23:03:00.000-05:00

So if you've been following along, this post mentioned issues with pics loading. I've fixed most of the July postings, but still need to go thru June and May.

I think I managed to break *all the pic* hotlinks.

Slowly but surely....thanks for the understanding

Guess where? answers

2010-08-01T16:28:00.001-05:00

To recap, the game is Guess Where? ala Waldo

Your hints:

=

Las Vegas!!!

This was my second work-related trip in July, and as the first pic suggests, there was a 5 hr delay getting in. Grrr. The reason? I missed my connection (in Minneapolis) due to:

a takeoff delay after a bird flew in the engine. FAA regs require extended inspections after such an event, which I'm totally okay with]
there was no agent at the gate in Minneapolis to open the jetway. Huh? Literally, it took ~30 min to get an agent.

So I ended up missing the connection by about 10 minutes. And, the best part is (after standing in line for what, 45 min?) - that the Delta rep accused suggested that I could have made the connection b/c their metrics showed that even with the 1st delay that I could have made it. Right. Because they don't track when doors open, just when the plane gets to the door.

Anyways, more pics tomorrow! yay!

What I am thankful for

2010-07-22T16:51:00.001-05:00

aka "when life hands ya lemons"

I haven't whined about it here, but my relationship with my extended family is not the best. It wasn't until I had the chance to see how T's family interact (and how wonderfully they have accepted me) that I made my peace with the simple fact that people I grew up thinking of as "family" look at me as "that girl who's the child of my father's much younger wife". It still hurts, but why waste energy on what's not going to happen? Let's just say physical distance brings with it perspective.

Today, I had the wonderful experience of seeing how all those little, petty slights over the years have made me a better person. Well not necessarily better - I can be selfish, spoiled and petty just like any other - but I am waay more willing to stand up for myself within my own cohort. Polite, firm. But definitely assertive.

These were things that my parents never felt the need to teach/show me. Mom's response to challenge is to yield or shut down. Dad bragged about never being laid off b/c they'd have to hire four people to replace him; or yelling (seriously, even at the grocery store).

no comment on this one, folks.

Guess Where? Part 3

2010-07-19T00:00:00.000-05:00

Final clues....

Guess where? Part 2

2010-07-16T00:00:00.000-05:00

Here are some hints:

three guesses

2010-07-15T00:00:00.002-05:00

....what this means?

Giveaway @ House Notes

2010-07-14T15:37:00.000-05:00

Meg @ House Notes is hosting a giveaway for a $40 CSN gift card. Enter here. Good luck!

Bday Cake!

2010-07-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

As promised - an update!

Here's the cake - I used one-third of this recipe. Cut into quarters, level and frost. A crumb coating is essential, as the cake is very moist.

For the Peanut Butter frosting, I used 1/2 the recipe to achieve a pretty thick coating. Perhaps if you're a better cake-froster than I, you could get away with less?

Not much waste!

This is what was left over using 1/2 the chocolate ganache. Next time I'd use 1/4 the recipe.

I have fallen off the bandwagon

2010-07-13T00:00:00.000-05:00

Remember this post where I whined about the disastrous state of my house?

Well I totally fell off the bandwagon.

Between deadlines, and traveling....nah, that's just an excuse. Anyways.

Today's post at My Happy House was inspirational.

I'll let you know what happens.

Giveaway @ V and Co

2010-07-12T13:21:00.000-05:00

Vanessa of V and Co is hosting a wonderful giveaway for a quilt kit. Should I be telling you? I certainly don't need the extra competition! Check out details here.

Did you know there are 61 tutorials on her site? Just a small fraction of what she blogs

Giveaway @ Recaptured Charm

2010-07-12T03:04:00.001-05:00

Lisa @ Recaptured Charm is giving away a beautiful sterling silver cross in celebration of reaching 400+ followers.
Please visit her blog to enter.
Also, check out her fabulous makeovers. The kitchen transformation is especially awesome.

Technical difficulties - sorry

2010-07-10T04:36:00.000-05:00

You may have noticed that I've been tweaking the layout recently.

One of the features I added is the slideshow gadget, which lets me show off photos I don't blog.

Well, apparently that triggered a picassa error due to volume of accesses, and some images on the blog were replaced with blue question marks (that's the error icon in safari, at least). grrr

I have removed the slideshow.

The blue boxes should go away over the next couple days.

Thanks for being patient.

Yum!

2010-07-10T00:00:00.002-05:00

You know its summer when the grocery abounds with peaches! And while I thoroughly admire all the postings I see about grilled fruit.....

...not going to happen. Don't get me wrong - I like the taste of grilled fruit. Just not the work. It seems like a lot of work for fruit. Maybe someday if I have grillable fruit on hand (do bananas grill well? idk) on a day we grill dinner? Or if we get a gas grill?

until then:

Yum!

Method:

Peaches, cut up any way you want
splash of balsamic vinegar
couple twists of the pepper mill
sprinkling of powdered sugar (optional, I never do)

Shhh! Don't tell

2010-07-09T00:00:00.010-05:00

T's bday was Tuesday. And since he was in ITALY, we had to settle for air-smooching over skype. But never fear! We'll be doing the actual celebrating Saturday, 'cause T is home TODAY!!!! Happy dance ~ happy dance. Can you tell I'm excited?

Here's part of his present:

(root beer!)

Another present:

via http://nordictracktreadmillsreview.com

(can you believe it was free?!)

And I'll be making this scrumptious, sugar laden celebration. Since there's only two of us, I'm only making 1/4 the recipe. And it will be square. See my trial run of what size cake is appropriate.

Stay tuned!

Happy Fourth

2010-07-08T14:05:00.005-05:00

It just so happened I was in Seattle for a workshop just before the fourth. And I thought, since work is footing the bill for travel, the least I could do is spend some time with family. Yay! My flight home was on the fourth, so no fireworks =/ But here are some roadtripping and beach pics:

Leaving WA, the weather was cruddy. Here we are (I think?) driving thru Olympia. Even from the interstate, the view was pretty nice. Look at all those evergreens!

By the time we headed into OR, the rain had stopped. Do I see water? This was after about 2 1/2 hours of driving.

See? the sign says we're almost in OR

BEACH!!!!

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach OR

I'm really lucky that we have family who own vacation property in the area. A motel room will cost ~$250 during peak season. Instead we stayed at the cabin - just 7 of us and one bathroom! All I had to do was make breakfast (no cleanup) and wash dishes after one meal (so that the cooks didn't).

More beachyness. I just love walking the beach early in the morning! Just look at the mist coming off the ocean. This was ~730A; my second trip of the day ^_^

Here are the million-dollar homes along the beach. Not only a gorgeous view, but beautiful inside as well! Some of these are actually fractional ownership. I think $200K gets you 4 weeks??

Sigh, why do I live so far from the ocean....

... mountains, and trees?

Can't you imagine taking a nice long run on the beach, then soaking your feet here?

Happy Fourth of July!

Ode to Fish

2010-07-07T00:00:00.009-05:00

I like fish

Tilapia
Salmon
Halibut
Trout

Broiled
Steamed
okay, even fried

but my favorite fish is Goldie, the betta
you were my best pet
1.5 years old-to-me
but probably really almost 4

I'm not sure why you died
I left a light on
slow release feeding cube (which I noticed you didn't touch)
I even cleaned the tank before I left

It would really stink if you died because you didn't know the cube was food

I miss how you would come check things out when I wash my hands
I miss how you get scared by the bubbles
I miss how you wouldn't eat the yellow flakes

RIP, Goldie

Things I like: Food

2010-07-06T00:00:00.001-05:00

Things I like: Flowers

2010-07-05T00:00:00.001-05:00

Things I like: road trips

2010-07-02T00:00:00.002-05:00

Sorting thru my photos, I discovered that I don't have too many action shots. I'm still a budding photographer, so this might reflect my inability to snap well-composed action shots. Or it might reflect my serious laziness at lugging a DSLR around.

Washington

Idaho

Montana

Yellowstone/Wyoming

New Mexico

Iowa

(sadly this plant is no more)

More electrical work

2010-07-01T21:11:00.002-05:00

This was a electrical box in for some of the den lights

See how it's not attached to anything? Not safe, or up to code.

Because the switch was an afterthought, there is no adjoining stud to fasten to. Enter the old-work box:

See that flag sticking up? and the screw in front? After shoving the box into the hole, tightening the screw clamps onto drywall between the front lip and flag. There's a second flag on the bottom of the box. Easy peasy. Seriously, it was an 88-cent fix.

Grumbling

2010-06-30T00:00:00.001-05:00

Check this out:

Yes that is Romex peeking out directly from the drywall. No, this is not up to code.

I went to replace the pendant light above my kitchen peninsula and discovered that whomever did the install chose to forgo having a electrical box. Instead of drilling a standard sized hole, they cut one 2 1/2" in diameter (standard is 4"). Oh and by the way, there's a stud right thru the middle.

After freaking out and calling my mom (vmail), looking up electricians, and googling "no electric box light fixture", I determined that the best solution [as in gentle on the pocketbook, up to code and accessible] was to install a pancake box.

Supplies:

4" pancake box. This comes in 2 versions: 1/2" thick and 3/4" thick. Measure your drywall thickness to determine the correct size. This will hold a light fixture up to 35 lbs. If you are hanging a fan, make sure it is rated for fan use.

via drillspot

*****

4" wood screws (2)

via amazon

*****

Drywall saw. Much faster than a utility knife.

via homeimprovementsdepot

*****

Utility knife, for cleaning up raggedy edges. You can use this instead of the saw, as well.

via home depot

Process:

Turn off power. Remove existing fixture, if necessary.
Trace the pancake box onto the ceiling. A pancake box is designed to be attached directly to a stud through the back of the box. If the stud adjoins the hole or your choice of location is between the framing, you will need to select a different type of box.
Using your drywall saw and a utility knife, cut the drywall out. This is messy, so cover your counters with a protective sheet
Figure out which knock out you want to use. Use a hammer and flathead screwdriver to punch it out from the outside of the box.
Pull the Romex through the knockout. Attach the box to the stud using wood screws.
Attach fixture and restore power

Cost:

Electric box: ~$2.50
Drywall saw: ~$9
screws: free, lying around the house
utility knife: free, lying around the house

Total $$: $11.50
Total time: 1-2 hours, including cleanup [this could totally be reduced with practice - this was my first time cutting drywall]

Tada!

Much better than waiting for the electrician to show and paying him $$$

Note: A pancake box is a terrible idea if you want to install track lighting. Just sayin'

Bean curd rolls

2010-06-29T00:00:00.001-05:00

I made Bean Curd Rolls this weekend. Bean curd rolls are a dim sum dish, where ever so thin layers of soy are wrapped around a filling. The rolls are (traditionally) fried and steamed.

Recipe from here

First, cut up the ingredients

Make a sauce

Fry the meat in a little oil + the sauce. If I were making this again, I'd definitely marinate the meat a few hours to overnight (and sub ginger for the bamboo). While the recipe doesn't say anything about organizing the workflow, after cooking the filling is a good time to stick everything in the fridge. For these first few steps, a good timing would be to do the prep cutting while you're making dinner the day before service, stick everything in the fridge. Then, depending on whether you're a morning or evening person cook the filling before bed or the next morning and stick the filling back in the fridge. Hands on time (including cleanup) at each step should be about 15 minutes. Easy peasy.

The next day, soak the bean curd sheets in water

And wrap your filling. Here's a pile ready to be cooked. These could also be refrigerated a few hours (overnight?) before cooking. The wrapping stage is the most time-consuming. Still, it only took ~1 hr to wrap all the bean curd up, and I suspect with practice hand-on time at this stage could be reduced to 1/2 hour.

Another improvement (or maybe I didn't read clearly) is to soak the sheets in warm water. Should feel lukewarm to the touch. It takes ~1 min for the sheets to soften, and as tempting as it is, don't soak more than 2 sheets at a time.

The original recipe says to pan-fry, but I was trying to be healthier, so I skipped that step. 6-7 min in the steamer seemed to be just fine. It's very important to steam in a bowl, to catch the tasty juices.

Okay mine aren't uber pretty. But they are fairly neat intact packages of yumminess. And, after realizing how easy they are to make at home, I don't think I'll order these in the restaurant again.

Also, this is cheap food! A package of bean curd sheets is < $2, and you only use 4 oz of meat (1 small pork chop, < $1.50).

I had the soy sauce, sugar, wine and wood ear mushrooms on hand. If you have to buy all of these ingredients, that would add $15 to the grocery bill, but you would use only ~$2 worth. So maybe total cost of $4-5 for ten large rolls. In a restaurant, this dish typically runs $3-4 for three half-sized rolls. Plus the filling is not of as high-quality ingredients.

An alternative to Photoshop

2010-06-28T00:00:00.002-05:00

Photoshop is expensive. I think it retails for ~$800 to the masses, and $200 for the student edition. But Mac and Linux users have an alternative. Behold the alternative (yes, even on windows).

GIMP

the GNU Image Manipulation Program

All the functionality of Photoshop, but free.

Note I said all the functionality. Not the power. One area where GIMP is lacking is a centralized distribution of actions (Photoshop will sell you packages of these), so you will need to use your interwebz research skillz to identify tutorials and scripts that fit your needs. Start with keywords "GIMP" and "actions". Also, many of the Photoshop tutorials are applicable.

Have you ever wanted to do stop-motion photography? I have. And here's my first one:

iPhoto (part 2)

2010-06-25T00:00:00.062-05:00

Hi there. So we were talking about the power of iPhoto, a photo-management software which comes pre-installed on Macs.

And we had these lovely shots as an example

Guess what?

It's only a two-part process!

Part 1: From the Edit menu, select the Adjust widget

See that little eyedropper [just to the left of tint]? Click on it. Then click on something that is suppose to be white or grey white in your picture. I chose the white bedsheet-slipcover on the chair.

You'll get something like this

(the second pic in yesterday's post)

Improved, but we can do even better

Part 2: Your Adjust widget should look something like this [I also increased the exposure]:

Now we're going to play with Temperature and Tint [found in the lower 1/3 of the menu]. Just nudge the sliders until you find a pleasing combination.

iPhoto to the rescue (part 1 of 2)

2010-06-24T00:00:00.004-05:00

Okay, for all you photography geeks, I know, Photoshop is the weapon of choice. However, for us poor folks, what are the options? I'm going to talk about what works on the Mac platform because that's what I'm using right now this instant. (Full disclosure: I also have a dual boot Linux/Vista tower and laptop).

Pre installed software: iPhoto

Check this before and after

Before:

Let's not talk about why this is a weak picture, compositionally. It's horrible for other reasons, as well. With the poor indoor lighting everything is bathed in a yellow brown bath. Eww!

After:

While it's still not perfect we can see leaps and bound of improvement, no?

And with a little more tweaking

Folks, this is the same picture in all three.

In the next post we will talk about how to get from start to final product

My butt hurts

2010-06-23T00:07:00.000-05:00

Remember this post yesterday about how good I was at exercising? Well today, my butt hurts. As in I put a pillow on my office chair and when I wanted to cycle today it hurt so much I dragged the exercise mat and put in the 30 day shred to get cardio in.

I'm hoping that with more practice, I'll be better. Googling seems to indicate that the sitbone soreness primarily affects people who cycle (spin) < 20 miles, three days per week. I'll try again tomorrow.

leftovers

2010-06-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

This is my very first pillowcase

I made it from scraps of the curtains I hemmed. There are three pieces on the front. Obviously you can see the vertical seam on the right. There is another one in the horizontal direction just above the second ridge from the top.

I got so excited, when I had some leftover trim from another set of curtains, I made another pillowcase:

In this one the construction is a little different. Each "stripe" is a single piece of fabric. I also didn't have enough curtain fabric to cover then entire pillow, so I used leftover from another project. Here is the back:

And what's inside?

Yep, a $5.99 walmart pillow. Please ignore the speck of sock-lint on my carpet.

Not to shabby for someone without a sewing machine, right?

Exercise

2010-06-22T00:00:00.004-05:00

Ever since I felt the floor sway when doing jumping jacks to the 30 day shred, I've fallen off the exercise bandwagon. Sure, during TV time, I've been lying there on the living room floor doing pushups or sit-ups or using the handweights for bicep curls and tricep dips. But, as we all know, cardio is important too.

So today I schlepped my laptop down to the basement and spent 40+ min on the stationary bicycle. Actually I watched 1 episode of Hell's Kitchen. According to the display, I burned over 300 kcal and rode 13+ miles. Woohoo! I kept the resistance at the highest I could maintain a 20mph pace at during the episode part, and increased it for commercials (intervals).

via amazon

This is T's stationary bike, and when I was still running, I used to tease him about it. But it actually works pretty well. It's about 3 years old, and has moved cross country once after shipping. The only really obvious wear is that the seat wobbles just a smidge. Mostly this is noticeable when you're starting up or dismounting. Two peeve about the design: (1) the pedals are situated so that you push forward, not down, which takes a minute to get used to and (2) the handlebars are not adjustable.

Another yummy dinner

2010-06-21T00:00:00.000-05:00

With T out of town, I am all about the shellfish [T's allergic, so we stick to regular fish for our seafood].

For less than the price of a frozen pizza, you can buy a bag of raw, deveined, 16-20 ct shrimp at the grocery store. A quick stir-fry with salt and pepper. YUM!

Here's after playing in iPhoto a bit

Okay, maybe shrimp are the right subject for this effect.

*****

15 min later

*****

The shells were recycled to make broth for a quick noodle soup.

I heart Craigslist

2010-06-19T11:05:00.000-05:00

Within twelve hours of posting this craigslist ad, the old storm door was gone. Yipee!

free storm door

Date: 2010-06-18, 2:32PM CDT
Reply to: sale-868kd-1798905556@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

Free storm door with glass insert, no closer. Completely intact, works fine. Fits a 36" opening. This door is a "right hand reverse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Door_Swing_Diagram.jpg

Why am I getting rid of it? The original homeowner installed a left hand front door with a right hand reverse storm door - a very awkward arrangement. I tried to flip it around, which does not work. You will need to flip the handle back to its original position for installation in your house. Please make sure you grab all the parts: glass insert, insert frame (hinge attached), top metal frame (36" long), side metal frame (~7.5 ft), 2 gaskets (~7 ft each). Total 6 pieces

Location: Driveway of

PS. Timbers in driveway are free too!

I will remove this post when the door is gone. Thanks for looking!

So far today I...

2010-06-18T15:38:00.000-05:00

1. installed the doorbell

still need to caulk the gaps

2. installed the electrical box [1.5hrs]

3. did all the hand-washing of dishes

need to put dry dishes away

4. did one load of laundry

5. swept the front porch

6. removed the storm door and listed it on craigslist

7. took a shower

8. ate lunch

9. participation for online class

dinner

2010-06-18T00:34:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, I fulfilled a promise to myself and toddled off to the local farmers' market. When I was living in WA this was a weekly habit - it was a good way to get really fresh produce that was also really cheap. Part of the reason was the presence of one or two families that would drive produce in from E. WA - stuff the farms couldn't sell to grocery stores because it was too ripe. Just so we're clear, we're talking about non-organic here.

Here in the midwest, a farmer's market is a whole different ball game. It's really more than an elitist event and produce is 2-3x the price it is in grocery stores. Case in point: beans are 3.99/lb at the market, .99-1.99 at the store. Although there is absolutely.no. comparison in the arena of freshness.

Imagine my surprise when I find gai lan at one of the stands.

yum! dinner for 2 nights

Updated chandy

2010-06-17T00:00:00.003-05:00

How many of you have one of these guys? Mine is the el-cheapo model, which meant the brass coating was already wearing off. I'm not really sure how something hanging in mid air can wear off, but anyways.

Enter my friend, ORB:

Plus some cute lampshades:

Tada!

I still need to make a cord cover for the chain part, but otherwise - lookin' good!

Cost breakdown:

ORB paint: free, leftover from previous projects ($ 2.97 at Wally World)

lampshades: 5 @ $4 each

material for cord cover [future work]: free, leftover from previous projects

Total cost: <$25 including tax. A completely brand new chandy would cost ~$75-125 and the shades can be transferred if we ever have to replace this one.

I'm linking up to:

Happy House Cleaning Challenge

2010-06-16T00:00:00.001-05:00

Week1 score: 7/7

Yay! Some days I didn't get to until I was procrastinating on other tasks after lunch. So this week my goal is to get the bed made before lunch

flowers, take two

2010-06-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

Remember these?

Well, it's been four days of humidity and air conditioning [not to mention initial shipping], and they were getting a little sad. So I divided 'em into pretty and not.

Here are the pretties:

Aren't they wonderful? I just love how this one is hiding under a leaf [perhaps in anticipation of the forecasted thunderstorm?]

Instead of Sticking to the Diet (or Yummy Red Velvet Cake)

2010-06-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

For me, part of the problem of being on a diet is having no outlet to cook. I'm as big a fan of leftovers and food ready to nuke as every other working person out there, but sometimes it's nice to cook. Although not so nice to clean up after. Actually, I'm a bigger fan of baking than stove top cooking, and deserts really aren't in the cards right now.

After working my way through Cake Boss, I was seriously hankering after making a cake. A layer cake. And since I make these guys, oh, once a year or so, we can assume my skills are nonexistent.

I started with this recipe, from smitten kitchen. Let's pause for a minute to wax lyrical about Deb [full disclosure - I do not know and will likely never meet her: this is strictly a blog crush]: the recipes on her site are wonderful, are well-written, well-photographed, and highly accessible. Did I mention that her son has the greatest head of hair? My mom says Deb must be a good person because of how kindly she words her responses to comments.

Anyways, back to me. Since it's only me here for the next month, and I really didn't want to eat a frosted 9" 3-layer cake, I decided to reduce the recipe by 1/3, to bake a square 8" cake. The idea was to cut the single layer of cake into quarters (4" square) and make a mini-cake, which I could work on for the next week.

Last night I made the cake:

Can you believe how red the batter is? Apparently 2 TBSP red food coloring is one bottle. Yikes!

The red was evident even after baking:

But when I cut the cake for assembly, ah, there was too much cake.

In the above pic, the stack-o-cake is just 3/4 of the sheet. Which I dutifully filled and crumb coated:

Refrigerated and coated again:

Can you believe that this was my first time crumb coating a cake? This is the moistest cake I've ever tried to frost. Well, it definitely looks homemade. As a proof of concept cake, it was a success: the 4" mini layer cake is a good alternative for one, two or three people with small appetites. If I were to redo this particular cake, I would have refrigerated the frosting a smidge, and been more thorough with the crumb coating step. If you leave the sides unfrosted, I think half a recipe of frosting would be sufficient, although this application required about 2/3 of the frosting recipe.

And what of that last piece?

Mini-mini cakes:

I ate one (guess which?) and the rest went into the freezer.

lunch

2010-06-12T19:09:00.001-05:00

Don't get me wrong. I like my bread.

Also, rice, pasta, noodles, potatoes - basically any carb. But right now, my body doesn't need to be using carbs as its primary fuel source, it needs [read I want it] to use the fat, already hanging out on my tummy and flabby arms and thighs.

So bread, for now at least, is not on the menu.

Today's lunch? tuna salad, in a bowl.

And lest you think that this is boring plain ordinary tuna salad, here's the recipe

1 can tuna, drained (packed in water)
1 TBSP light mayo
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sriracha
salt and pepper, to taste

That little red blob - not ketchup. And for those of you who are heat-adverse, no worries. The sriracha adds just an idea of heat at the finish of the bite.

And at ~150 cal, this would be a good snack as well.

What a sweetie

2010-06-08T15:41:00.001-05:00

So when I wrote about my desire for a clean house what I neglected to mention was the complete meltdown I had the night before.

I was totally stressed after trying [with only mediocre success] to write a paper, for a class that I need to get an A in, tackling some ambitious projects around the house, and preparing for a meeting the following day. Plus, w/T out of town, the combination of a solitary work environment and limited time/energy for anything else is seriously depressing.

Anyways this cumulated in a meltdown over skype the other night. Starting with a rant and ending in tears. Tears!

So today this comes in the mail:

Yup. He's a keeper. Thanks, Sweetie!!!!

FYI - the flowers came with a $15 gift card - basically, free delivery!

I need a clean house

2010-06-07T19:16:00.000-05:00

Do you ever feel that you want need a clean house? I do. Usually it's when I'm in the middle of a big project at home/work and haven't had the energy to do much more than get dishes into the machine and dirty clothes into the hamper. Or that time of the month. Whatever.

But I think right now is especially atrocious. T is off yonder for school and I've indulged myself by taking on tons of diy projects and slipping on my housekeeping.

I need help.

And I am frugal with a capital CHEAP, which means any solution has gotta be free.

Enter:

The rest of the peeps are on week 3, but I'm starting today, with week 1.

Fingers crossed

[Thanks Molly!]

Daily

2010-06-07T00:00:00.004-05:00

Ate:

kashi bar 170kcal
soup 220kcal
frozen bar 120 kcal
frozen dinner 240 kcal
ice cream bar 120 kcal

daily stuff

2010-06-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

ate today

2 ice cream bars 260kcal
1 piece fried chicken ~500kcal
10 small wedges of pineapple ~100kcal
soup ~200 kcal

total 1060 kcal

level 1 of 30 day shred ~100 kcal

net: 960 kcal

diy FAIL

2010-06-04T00:00:00.002-05:00

Yay! I have a working kitchen faucet.

When going to repair this monstrosity:

I found myself in the unenviable position of not being able to completely remove the thing, and not being able to just put it back to the [sad] state it was before. I could blame the lack of clearance behind the sink bowl. Or incorrect tools. Or my short arms that left me with face full of pipe and still not there.

Oh who am I kidding.

kitchen faucet: 1 me: 0

Last Wednesday, a nice plumber from Watson's plumbing came out and replaced the faucet. He had this handy extendable basin wrench that had a metal grippy [the one you buy at Blue has a plastic one]. And complained about the clearance.

So now my sink looks like this:

It's a Delta Windermere model, carried at Blue in both chrome ($78) and brushed ($88). One quirk we immediately found was if both hot and cold are turned on full blast, the aerator restricts the flow and causes a vibrational feedback. We fixed this by simply backing off on the valves below the sink. The plumber was convinced if I had purchased a different (read: better, more expensive) model I wouldn't have this problem, but I'm okay with the fix.

Today

2010-06-03T21:44:00.000-05:00

very very bad on diet

pria bar 110 kcal
6" subway veggie delite (9 grain bread) + mayo ~450 kcal (ouch!)
1/2 corn on the cob ~40 kcal
3 asparagus spears ~10kcal
chicken breast ~80kcal
ice cream ~150
apple tart ~150

total: 990

Okay, so maybe I freaked. not so awful as I thought.

No need for a workout

2010-06-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

Spring is most definitely in full bloom. And, in addition to the years of neglect that my poor house has experienced inside, outside is just as bad.

The backyard is a two tiered terraced garden down to a flat/grassy area and then the house. It's a fairly significant slope (guesstimate 45 degrees?) and the area right next to the house is absolutely FLAT. We can all guess what happens during heavy rain. Yep, basement leakage [thankfully not flooding].

My first task is regrading the area directly adjacent to the house. And in order to do that I first had to remove the railroad tie edgers.

Man those are heavy! I think the long one (5 ft) weighs about 100lbs. It took me about 2 hrs to move these suckers from the backyard to the front. Part of the problem is that it's just lil ole' me doing the heavy lifting, and the second part - well, see those three little pieces? They used to be one, which was too long for me to wiggle around the house. So I used my sawzall to cut them up. Word of advice: get the longer blade, next time.

Part 2:

Digging a french drain to intercept the water coming to the house.

Today

2010-06-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

I ate....

pria bar (110 kcal)
soup (250 kcal)
frozen meal (300 kcal)
ice cream bar (120 kcal)

so far: 790 kcal. Yay! I get to eat another (small) meal.

So many projects, so little time

2010-06-02T21:36:00.001-05:00

Hope y'all had a wonderful memorial day weekend. Mine was pretty quiet, yet productive - sort of. It seems like I work best in spurts. Right now there are at least 6 projects in the works. Six! It's like I have DIY ADD or something.

Anyways, here's the weekend summary. I made rice-krispie inspired treats for coffee hour [at church]. The source of inspiration was a recipe by Heidi Swanson at 101cookbooks.com [click here for the original recipe]. Since Christmas, when my holiday baking resulted in purchasing/using 15lbs of sugar (yes. fifteen), I've been limiting the household granulated sugar consumption. Plus I wanted something appealing to midwestern palates. And everything had to be from the pantry.

The final recipe:

2 c Kashi "twig" cereal [note: puffed rice does not work well]
3/8 c peanut butter [I used Skippy chunky]
3/8c honey
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/4 c coarsely chopped almonds
handful dried cranberries, coarsely chopped [to add color, almonds and Kashi are kinda boring]
1/2 tsp salt

Method:
In a large bowl, mix cereal, almonds and dried berries. Melt the honey, peanut butter, salt and gelatin together [~5 minutes on a gas stove]. Pour melted mixture into dry mixture and stir well. Spoon into muffin cups and refrigerate [to set the gelatin]. Makes ~12

Notes:
I found that the treats were not quite as sticky as traditional krispies. This wasn't a problem for the crowd I was working with, but if I were to serve these to young kiddos, I'd up the gelatin by 1/2 tsp. Also, when I make these again, I will reduce the salt - while tasty, I think a better balance can be achieved with 3/8c commercial peanut butter and 1//4 tsp salt. If you're making this with an all natural/no-salt nut butter, I'd keep the original salt amount.

Oh and here's a teaser of one of the projects:

Art Institute of Chicago

2010-05-28T00:00:00.007-05:00

This is from a trip last fall - my first time in Chicago! We went to the Art Institute, and rode the "L". And of course, Thanksgiving fun. Lots of pics follow.

We started the day by riding a train (not the L). Here are my attempts at action shots.

Oops! Lets work on composition.

Okay, better.
At the Art Institute, we saw famous paintings:

Can't miss the Grant Wood. What photos and postcards don't capture is the emotion in their eyes. By the way, it supposed to be a farmer and daughter (not wife).

I confess, there are some pieces of art that are cool looking, but I don't "get". This one reminded me of a bad texturing job.

Here's what they look like up close. I had trouble focusing through the acrylic protective case, for some reason my camera wanted to focus on the case instead of art. I suspect I may have been standing at an incorrect distance?

And some are just strange:

It's scary watching everyday artifacts being transformed into art. Does this mean I'm getting old?

[Note: they were calling the desk an example of midcentury "art"]

I loved the traditional ethnic items

and

The new wing was gorgeous:

Too soon, it was time to catch the L to train back to where we were staying.

I think we did a pretty good job of surveying what the Institute had to offer. To give all the pieces the attention they deserve requires significantly more time than we had.

Tip: take advantage of the free readmission to leave the museum for food. Not only cheaper, but shorter wait times.

so cute

2010-05-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

Stella's Day from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

Oops...

2010-05-27T00:00:00.005-05:00

As documented here, I am on a mission to be rid of all brass in my house.

Enter one brassy fireplace:

So what's a girl to do? I've been seeing on the blog-sphere here and here how wonderfully the Rustoleum high heat product works. I selected the paint-on application because I was worried about overspray.

(image via lowes.com)

When they say it's thin, think thiiiin. As in if I applied the coats lightly enough to prevent dripping, I could see the brass color. And it was shiny. Maybe I didn't stir the paint well enough. Maybe I got a bad can. I don't know.

Woe! The original brass could not be restored: I had sanded it down as part of the prep. I was so upset I couldn't take any photos. Think shiny, lumpy, incomplete coverage.

Enter:

(image via amazon.com)

and voila!

here's a close-up:

Note #1, the spray is a flatter, grey-er black than the commercial finish. I think with better prep (eg primer) the brush on application is better to touch up a fireplace that already has some black.

Note #2, the spray on comes in two versions: high gloss and the flat, above. Make sure you're getting what you want!

I am linking up to Domestically Speaking's Power of Paint Part y

afternoon

2010-05-26T16:52:00.000-05:00

watched several episode of celebrity apprentice
started a new house project
worked on two house projects
cleaned downstairs and basement

3 new files for work

et: granola, healthy choice soup, coconut frozen bar

An oldie but a goodie

2010-05-26T00:00:00.006-05:00

So this was actually my first second third real project in the house. At the time I just took pics for Mom and my memory. Sorry for the poor lighting. My photog skilz are mad limited [okay, I'll stop ...], and this room doesn't have any windows nearby, plus, knowing me it was after 10p.

This tiny powder room on the main floor had those ugly peel 'em stick 'em tiles that did not match the rest of the house. And when I say did not match I mean to the left beige diamonds, to the right green boxed. See for yourself:

I guess the with the midwest humidity and all the tiles had shrunk a little and turned all brittle. Gaps between tiles, corners breaking off, all matter of krud getting in there. No matter how much I scrubbed, it looked dirty. [the beige "background" probably didn't help either.]

Since the corners were already coming up, I figured "no prob" this will be a snap. Man was I wrong. First, the tiles were still firmly adhered in the middle. Second the whole floor was covered in adhesive. If you've ever had to remove adhesive tile before, well, it's certainly one of the circles of hell.

My Technique:

Safety implements: glasses, chemical resistant gloves, mask or lots of breathing breaks.
use a [metal] paint scraper or 5-in-1 tool to get as much of the tile up as possible. If you will be re-coating the floor with carpet tile, or laminate you can be less careful about gouging the subfloor. I was planing on refinishing the wood underneath, so me? anal. retentive.
Use that paint scraper to, well, scrape off the thickest part of the goo. This is also a good time to examine the condition of the floor. When I moved in, I was told the toilet had leakage problems, which would have necessitated more invasive procedures. Luckily, everything was nice and sound.
Get out the hair dryer. If you are fortunate to own a heat gun, that will work too. I don't own a heat gun, so I just used my hair dryer [the $7 walmart one]. The nice thing is that I didn't worry about burning, or singing or setting fire to anything.
Methodically work your way across the space, using the hairdryer to soften the glue, and the scraper to remove softened gunk. This is boring and tedious. You will ask yourself why? why? And you will think that the glue is all gone only to find more.
After the previous step, there should still be a haze of glue there. As in, it doesn't scape up but you can feel it with your bare hands. Okay, on to the heavy-duty chemicals. I chose mineral spirits. With a dampened paper towel, start scrubbing. The mineral spirits will dissolve remaining adhesive. I found it worked best to dampen the area with spirits first and let it sit before commencing the big scrub.

After all the gunk was off my beautiful floors, I discover that the plywood underneath was better than anything I can buy at big blue. I couldn't cover it with cheap laminate! So, after much scrubbing and sanding, etc, ta-da!

I'm linking to Hookin' Up 5/27

evening

2010-05-26T00:00:00.004-05:00

ate:

healthy choice soup
frozen meal
coconut bar
limeade
evening snack

ttl: <750 kcal

did:

4 house projects, folded last of laundry, took out garbage, went to bank, lowes and grocery shopping
fixed two files for school project

summer's here

2010-05-25T11:54:00.001-05:00

In case you haven't heard it, Summer has come early. 80F temps. 70+% humidity. Blearch.

Keeping the lights off seems to help. As does AC. Although my unit is probably at least 15 yrs old, so I'm babying it along. I'd like to hold off replacing it for at least 1 year.

I will say, I have no desire to cook/eat during this.

Let there be light!

2010-05-25T00:00:00.004-05:00

After my fan and dresser projects, I was feeling positively giddy about spray paint. To the point of looking around to see if there are other projects that I could "fix" for a mere $2.97.

Enter builder-grade fixtures:

Blearch! We're talking builder grade from the nineties, folks. Since the house was built in the 60s, this was an upgrade. Not only are they cheap-o [12.88 @ Lowe's], they're brassy. And they only hold one bulb each. Grr. Their only redeeming quality is that the knob that holds it all together isn't flush. So it's a fairly straightforward task to change out bulbs.

After a few coats of Krylon's ORB:

But I can still see the brassyness. Especially when the light is on. I am on a mission to get rid of brass in the house. My solution? Frosted glass spray paint.

Here's the same treatment using Rustoleum's Semigloss White on recessed lighting in the den:

If you look really closely, you can see it's not an absolutely flat surface; when this room had be painted previously, they didn't bother to tape OR wipe off any extra smears of paint. Classy!

Project breakdown:

cost:
frosted glass spray paint: ~$4.50
ORB: free [left over from den & dresser projects]

time: start-to-finish, 24hrs; hands-on, < 1hr

Note1: if you are looking for a factory finish, this process will not do the trick. However, if you are just trying to get 95% of the way there, it does the job. I figure my house will never be considered "new", but I'd prefer the perception be "slightly used" instead of "needs to be gutted".

Note2: the frosted spray paint is a lot more fumey than regular spray paint. I was in the garage (with the door open) and periodically would go back into the house to escape fumes.

Note3: If you are just trying to swap out one old builder-grade fixture, I'd say you're better off just buying one. The time savings is totally worth the $5-6 extra bucks of savings. However, I have four (4) of these puppies, and it took only 1 can of each paint type to transform all of them, so for me it was < $10 vs. ~$50. Totally worth it.

monday monday monday

2010-05-24T14:53:00.000-05:00

after a weekend of being bad to the diet - pizza and rice - I've been good today

bfast: granola
lunch: healthy choice soup

although the scale says I regained 3 lbs over the incident. I don't *think* I overet by 10,000 kcal. eep!

Random Musings

cleaning my office

Thank you Centsational Girl

Meal Planning

Food from the holidays

Meal Planning

30 while 30

Gong Hei Fat Choi

Timeline for Holiday prep

Holiday Meal Planning - the cookie tray

Holiday Menu Planning - the grand scheme

Weekend planning blog hop

Meal Planning - Thanksgiving week

Blog Hop Time - weekend planning with MHH

Applesauce

Halloween decorations

Meal planning

Weekend planning blog hop!

Pumpkin sherbet - recipe review

Weekend Planning Blog Hop!

Pork and apples - recipe review

If I can't be bothered to take pics...

Weekend planning blog hop

How to remote into a windows environment from Linux

Yummy Chicken Quesadillas

Weekend Planning Blog Hop RECAP

Pinterest is a time sink

Weekly meal planning

Weekend Planning Blog Hop

blog hop weekend plans

Mom's baked chicken

Fast Soup (and dumplings)

Weeknight Spaghetti and meatballs

Weeknight Spaghetti and meatballs

A new fave violinist

Desperately seeking ....

What does net worth really mean?

To practice blogging....

ouch....

Erm....

Let the holiday baking commence!

Food project [and new page]

The next trip - part three

The next trip- Part deux

The next trip - Part one

Vegas Photos

Still resolving technical difficulties

Guess where? **answers**

What I am thankful for

Guess Where? Part 3

Guess where? Part 2

three guesses

Giveaway @ House Notes

Bday Cake!

I have fallen off the bandwagon

Giveaway @ V and Co

Giveaway @ Recaptured Charm

Technical difficulties - sorry

Yum!

Shhh! Don't tell

Happy Fourth

Ode to Fish

Things I like: Food

Things I like: Flowers

Things I like: road trips

More electrical work

Grumbling

Bean curd rolls

An alternative to Photoshop

iPhoto (part 2)

iPhoto to the rescue (part 1 of 2)

My butt hurts

leftovers

Exercise

Another yummy dinner

I heart Craigslist

free storm door

So far today I...

dinner

Updated chandy

Guess where? answers