Tuesday, February 26, 2008
What Can't I do with a Hot Glue Gun?
Lucy is giving us a nice morning nap, so I had a chance to address a small problem that has been bugging me: our kitchen cabinets, particularly, the cabinet that holds all our tupperware-type containers. We need a lot of them because of all the stuff we freeze, but we can never find lids to match the containers, and it's generally a big mess with a lot of wasted space. My idea: lid holders attached to the door. Our cabinet doors aren't very thick, so I couldn't buy any of the ones that screw in without some ugliness on the front of the doors. So I decided to make my own.
MacGyver-like, I used some cardboard that was going into the recycling bucket. My tools of choice: Utility knife and hot glue gun. I rigged up two of them and attached them to the inside of the cabinet doors. We'll see if they're durable enough, and if so, I might have to add a few more!
Here's the view from above:
In other small project news, we added a new smoke detector on the first floor:
We also discovered, while trying to replace the batteries in our other smoke detectors, that they are in fact hard-wired into the electrical system. So we won't be taking those ones down. I think we will add some battery-powered ones, just for some extra security. Apparently, you're supposed to replace them every 10 years anyway, and who knows how long these have been around?
[Lucy awoke mid-post, so that's all the project-doing for today.]
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Small update
So Lucy has sorta put the blog on hold for quite some time now. We don't really do much home improvement, other than taking dirty diapers out to the trash (a definite improvement). Things are going pretty well. After a few days of much fussing and very few long stretches of sleep, Lucy slept last night from 7:45 pm until 5 am this morning. For those of you who can still do math, that's OVER NINE HOURS! We've been reading two sleep books (The No Cry Sleep Solution and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) to figure out how to get Lucy into napping more during the day. Maybe if she does, I'll start posting more.
We have another stove update: the oven door is broken. For a few days, it was just "a little bit broken," meaning, the oven door didn't shut all the way, but you could still use it. Now it is in full scale broken-ness, meaning that the oven door will not stay closed at all, unless it is held up, say, by something like your hand, or, as you can see here, a bungee cord:
Any suggestions from our readers that don't involve bungee cords or buying a new stove? I know, I know, someone is going to complain about why I'm so down on bungee cords (see this post for my previous anti-bungee-solution stance).
In other small updates, those of you who were our guests last winter will be pleased to hear that our heating system is not nearly as noisy as it was last year. Those of you who have had the pleasure of sleeping at 83 Durant in the winter time may remember some scary pipe and radiator banging. Apparently the poltergeist living in our boiler has left. Perhaps it was the boiler cleaning, or perhaps it was the new steam vents, but it's much nicer this year. We do need to re-shim this radiator:
Because it seems to be the biggest source of banging right now. But other than that, we have mostly peaceful nights (except for that whole baby waking every four or five hours situation).
We have another stove update: the oven door is broken. For a few days, it was just "a little bit broken," meaning, the oven door didn't shut all the way, but you could still use it. Now it is in full scale broken-ness, meaning that the oven door will not stay closed at all, unless it is held up, say, by something like your hand, or, as you can see here, a bungee cord:
Any suggestions from our readers that don't involve bungee cords or buying a new stove? I know, I know, someone is going to complain about why I'm so down on bungee cords (see this post for my previous anti-bungee-solution stance).
In other small updates, those of you who were our guests last winter will be pleased to hear that our heating system is not nearly as noisy as it was last year. Those of you who have had the pleasure of sleeping at 83 Durant in the winter time may remember some scary pipe and radiator banging. Apparently the poltergeist living in our boiler has left. Perhaps it was the boiler cleaning, or perhaps it was the new steam vents, but it's much nicer this year. We do need to re-shim this radiator:
Because it seems to be the biggest source of banging right now. But other than that, we have mostly peaceful nights (except for that whole baby waking every four or five hours situation).
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Lucy slept through Christmas morning, which was just fine with us.
The Sufjan Stevens Christmas album has been getting lots of play around here. I'm partial to his version of "I Saw Three Ships", but I can't find a link to that online. Here's a nifty little animation of a different track:
I can also recommend this John Fahey Christmas album. There's not much Fahey Christmas on youtube (exception: a weird instructional video involving Auld Lang Syne), but here he is in 1978. You gotta love youtube.
The Sufjan Stevens Christmas album has been getting lots of play around here. I'm partial to his version of "I Saw Three Ships", but I can't find a link to that online. Here's a nifty little animation of a different track:
I can also recommend this John Fahey Christmas album. There's not much Fahey Christmas on youtube (exception: a weird instructional video involving Auld Lang Syne), but here he is in 1978. You gotta love youtube.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Farm Theme!
We finally put up the blik decorations we got a while ago for Lucy's room. Her walls now feature chickens and sheep! We're not sure yet how she feels about them, but we sure do like them!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Long time, no blog
I haven't managed to blog in over a month, for reasons that can be summed up in one word: Lucy. I have her in the Baby Bjorn right now, where she's alternately sleeping and nursing. I'm taking a break from grading to do a long-awaited blog update.
Obviously, things around 83 Durant have changed enormously. Every room in the house is in complete disarray. We did manage to get a Christmas tree while Jessamy was visiting. It's pretty funny looking, but I like it.
In other repair news, we had to get a new kitchen faucet after my mom discovered a substantial leak running under the sink. We didn't know how old the faucet set was, so we ended up getting a new one installed (back on December 5th, for future reference). The faucet head pulls out to be a sprayer hose, a feature we like a lot.
We had another kitchen failure this week: the oven stopped working. We were a bit distressed by this, particularly when Jake discovered it when he was about to put a batch of cookies in the oven, and while we had a whole chicken in the fridge that we had planned to roast for dinner. The stove is pretty old, but we like it, and in any case, we weren't exactly prepared for such an expenditure or the researching of the right stove.
So we did the usual: turned to the internet. If you google "Magee Stove" you'll find very little useful information. You will find this hilarious link, which is to a letter to the editor of the MIT newspaper announcing the candidacy of a Magee stove for student body president. Follow the link -- it's really funny.
Jake thought this link from a do it yourself message board was promising, and he actually called a guy's home phone number to ask for help. Jake will hopefully fill in the details here about the exchange, but after a few back and forth phone calls, the guy talked Jake through how to fix the stove! It was awesome!
That's all for now. I imagine our home projects (and the blogging about them) will be slowing down. We'll try to keep getting the pictures up on Flickr for your enjoyment! Happy Holidays from 83 Durant!
Obviously, things around 83 Durant have changed enormously. Every room in the house is in complete disarray. We did manage to get a Christmas tree while Jessamy was visiting. It's pretty funny looking, but I like it.
In other repair news, we had to get a new kitchen faucet after my mom discovered a substantial leak running under the sink. We didn't know how old the faucet set was, so we ended up getting a new one installed (back on December 5th, for future reference). The faucet head pulls out to be a sprayer hose, a feature we like a lot.
We had another kitchen failure this week: the oven stopped working. We were a bit distressed by this, particularly when Jake discovered it when he was about to put a batch of cookies in the oven, and while we had a whole chicken in the fridge that we had planned to roast for dinner. The stove is pretty old, but we like it, and in any case, we weren't exactly prepared for such an expenditure or the researching of the right stove.
So we did the usual: turned to the internet. If you google "Magee Stove" you'll find very little useful information. You will find this hilarious link, which is to a letter to the editor of the MIT newspaper announcing the candidacy of a Magee stove for student body president. Follow the link -- it's really funny.
Jake thought this link from a do it yourself message board was promising, and he actually called a guy's home phone number to ask for help. Jake will hopefully fill in the details here about the exchange, but after a few back and forth phone calls, the guy talked Jake through how to fix the stove! It was awesome!
That's all for now. I imagine our home projects (and the blogging about them) will be slowing down. We'll try to keep getting the pictures up on Flickr for your enjoyment! Happy Holidays from 83 Durant!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
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