next week, this is what is being installed in our kitchen!right now, we have no vents from the inside of our house to the outside. not in the bathroom, not in the kitchen. and while we really wanted the bathroom done, we figured we'd just kill two birds with one stone and get a new hood for the kitchen too, vented to the outside.the bathroom fan is nowhere near as sexy as this one. it's nice, quiet, energy efficient and powerful - 70 cfm to pull all the humidity from our showers straight outside. the humidity in the house is pretty damn high - it causes stacks of paper in the kitchen to warp from the moisture. kind of gross. we have a dehumidifier from the 70s, but it's loud and noisy and could probably be reverse engineered to power a small country. i'm a little worried about the kitchen fan, only because i haven't got a plan for how i want the kitchen to look. i'm the type who doesn't like to start a project until i know every facet of how it will all fit together. for instance, we still have the crappy fabric curtains on the kitchen pantry because i want to know what color we will be painting the kitchen before i buy/make new curtains. but i am stoked to have a fancy, gorgeous stainless steel hood in the house! our old one was that beige-almond color and it didn't even self-vent. if a hood doesn't vent to the outside, usually it will suck the air up through a filter and then blow the air back out, usually at face level via vents in the front. the original hood didn't have these vents! it was made to be vented outside. if you took off the filter and looked up, there's the fan and then... a piece of foil?! above the foil was the bottom of the cabinet. and it was soo noisy. then fan just rattled the foil and it all did nothing. this new hood will allow us to cook things like bacon and not have our bedroom still smell like bacon 3 hours later (like last saturday). so excited!!
austin got cold. DAMN cold.thursday and friday? beautiful. hot. sunny.saturday? rainy, drear, freezing. FUH-REEZ-ING.
s.g. made me these awesome wrist warmers for my birthday! though my hands look a little weirdly... shiny here. i can't wait to wear them in the "fall"! or maybe at work, since they do seem to keep the office arctic.thanks s.g.!! i LOVE them!her etsy store is to be found here.
It had something to do with the rain leeching loamy dirt And the way the back lane came alive, half moon whispered "go" For a while, I heard you missing steps in the street And your anger pleading in an uncertain key Singing the sound of you that you found for me When the winter took the tips of my ears Found this noisy home full of pigeons and places to hide And when the voices die, I emerged to watched abandoned machines Waiting for their men to return, I remember the way I would wait for you to arrive with kibble and a box full of beer How I'd scratch the empties desperate to hear You make the sound that you found for me After scrapping with the ferals and the tabby, Let you brush my matted fur How I'd knead into your chest while you were sleeping Shallow breathing made me purr But I can't remember the sound that you found for me I can't remember the sound that you found for me I can't remember the sound
- Virtute The Cat Explains Her Departure, The Weakerthans
i am terribly sorry, but that eco stripper totally blows. i tried to be good. to treat you with respect. but, unfortunately, i do not have the time or energy to sand a crappily varnished wood tabletop down to bare wood. it just ain't happening.
i am enclosing a picture of said table in question for reference (see the lovely eco friendly bottle of stripper?). nothing special, just a small kitchen table used in lieu of a counter top. as you can see, parts of the varnish had been worn away, leaving it feeling scummy and sticky, even when "clean". just looking at this table made me bat shit crazy inside.
ahhh... here i am feeling good - happy to be doing something to calm my inner soul AND doing good by you, earth.
and here, i am feeling the crazies start up again. what the hell is going on here with the eco stripper?! i used it a couple of times (three), to see how much it could remove, but alas, it left me no choice but to abandon it to the trash heap. (actually, i think it's still in the garage. note to self: move that shit in the garbage, where it belongs.) i ran out to home depot, bought the real stuff, all hardcore and AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! *insert choir of angels* (it was, at least, low voc.)stripped it for real, sanded it with my new hand sander power tool and then gently and lovingly applied delicious all natural linseed oil varnish. (whoops, just realized that i only used 1 coat... maybe i should revisit the table later next month...)the smell of linseed oil was intoxicating! it brought me straight back to college - adding linseed oil to thin inks and mixing, mixing, mixing the colors together with those flat spreaders. mmm... process. i love process. additional pictures are enclosed to show you what real stripper helped me to accomplish. i'm sorry i had to resort to solvents that do not care for you, but... the table looks damn good, am i right?
delicious and golden - i can't stop touching it. i mean, i didn't do a super duper job - i wasn't that stressed about it. the legs weren't touched at all and there are some spots where i could have sanded even further to remove gouges or a weird pink marker spot, but all i wanted was smooth. smooth and un-chunky. i. love. it.
and you! i still love you, earth. and i will continue to recycle and bring in my own bags to the grocery store and make a mini-ecosystem in my backyard! promise!xoxox,me
so much going on! i'll be posting more as i am finally coherent after a 18-20 hour drive from austin, tx. (red room cinema was able to play during sxsw!)here's the playlist from part of my drive back to tampa - talking and podcasts were also employed to maintain brain activity. variety is needed, otherwise too much of the same artist/album will put me right to sleep. i particularly enjoyed the transition from 'are you sincere' by andy williams to 'dracula X' from the castlevania soundtrack.i made it from mississippi to gainesville, fl before anthony kindly took over; i was a little woozy and delirious by then. though, apparently, i utterly rock the graveyard shift. i enjoy driving at night with little traffic. i put the cruise control on 75 mph and go from there. cruise control is my savior - otherwise i'd end up slowing down, slower and slower... and slower... until i'm driving at a measly 55 mph and we'd still be on the road even now.have you noticed, though, that the shuffle for itunes totally blows?! definitely frustrating.
so bruised and sore am i!
falling over onto our lawnmower didn't exactly help, either.... but it seems i have been running into everything this last week. dark splotches on my knees and shins and backs of my legs, arms, hips and hands. refinishing and hand varnishing a small table is also great exercise. the fingerprints on the pads of my right hand are finally coming back after i seemed to have sanded them off (and numb).
and can i say how satisfying it is to work with wood?! sometimes i think i was meant to be a carpenter. i have pics to share later, but smoothing that linseed oil varnish onto the bare wood was extraordinarily sublime. it was like the wood became warm and alive under my fingers. every time i walk by the table, i can't help but run my hands all over it - it's so smooth and gorgeous and golden.
...anyways, i can't wait to heal so i can cash in on my birthday present - MASSAGE!
this is exactly what my pepper plant does not look like:
1. re-learn italianstarting now.
next week, this is what is being installed in our kitchen!
