Spicy

The old house had this really neat cupboard in the kitchen. It reached almost all the way up to the ceiling and it held, well, just about everything. Take a look at the bottom part.

See how much fits in there?

The two shelf arrangements in the middle are on spindles that swing out allowing access to the back row of shelves. I used to store ten pound containers of flour and sugar on those shelves as well as cookbooks and such. Only food stuff that didn't go in this cabinet were the cereals, it was that big. This is only the lower part of it, too: the upper portion of the cabinet held china and crystal place settings for twelve.

We cannot store the fancy dishes in the kitchen anymore - but that's fodder for another post. Today is about food storage.

The new house has a dedicated pantry closet but it isn't as large as the lower cupboard at the old house. There are, however, more upper cabinets so we are storing all of the seasonings and spices in one of those next to the stove. Of course, those short little containers of allspice, cloves, and such can easily disappear amongst the taller bottles and jars. My solution was to visit the Dollar $tore.

They had these little rectangular baskets that most people buy for organizing their silverware or pens and pencils. I picked up two packs - six baskets for two bucks. Next, I dropped by the home center and purchased a package of short screws with pan heads for a couple of dollars.

Back at chez trek, I carefully measured my cabinet door and started drilling holes.

We are very happy with the results

For anyone who might be interested in duplicating my efforts, here are a few important tips:

• When measuring the width of your cupboard door, be sure to allow for the depth of your little basket: you want your door to close properly!


• The baskets will take up space in the front of the cupboard. You aren't creating an apperture to an alternate dimension; you are utilizing the room you have in a more organized fashion. Remember to allow for the depth of the basekts when loading the shelves.


• Align the baskets carefully with respect to the existing shelves. The bottoms of your baskets and tops of the containers in them must clear the shelves or your door won't close!


• Anchor your basket at each end. Evenly distribute additional screws so that the weight of the spice containers will not tear the unit from the door. I used four screws per basket.

I know that I said this was a post about food storage but go with me on this next bit, okay?

The existing faucet was old and didn't work well when so Number Guy installed a new faucet and soap dispenser in the kitchen before we moved in. The faucet came with a specialized tubular wrench and the soap dispenser came with it's own funnel. These are the kind of items that I really want close at hand when I need them but don't want cluttering up a commonly used drawer or cabinet.

Remember how I said that I bought six baskets? After I installed the three baskets in the spice cupboard, I installed another one under the kitchen sink to hold the wrench and funnel. I mounted this basket up high on the wall of the cabinet, next to the side of the sink. This is normally dead space so I am really pleased with being able to use it to keep two infrequently used items close to where they will be used.

Soap boat?

One really cool thing about the new house is the three-fold increase in toilet facilities. For the past fifteen years, we have owned a two bedroom house which had one bathroom. When it was just Number Guy and myself, this was not the biggest issue. Afterall, we had shared an apartment which had only one bedroom and one bathroom. The bathroom in our house, however, was located on the second floor.

You can imagine how exciting it was during the Infamous Ankle Incident of '07.

Here at the new chez trek, we have three, count them, three bathrooms. It is taking a bit of getting used to the new arrangement.

For example, the first night we slept here, I kept feeling like I was at a fancy-schmancy hotel somewhere since the master bathroom is en suite; second day after we moved in, I caught myself thinking, "Oh, I need to use the bathroom, let me just put this over there and then I can zip up the stairs. Oh, wait! I don't have to go upstairs: there's a bathroom right here, on the first floor!" Amazing.

Having invested in multiple sinks and toilets meant that we had to invest in additional soap holding equipment. Since we just plunked down a huge heap of Hamiltons on the new house, I decided to visit the goodwill store, where I found a pair of glass dishes that made me smile and I just had to bring them home with me. One is in the kitchen.

The other one is here in the powder room

Can you see why I had to have these? Yep, we've used unscented Dove soapfor years now and doesn't it look perfect in the new soap boat?

By the way, the two soap boats were in a bag together. Total investment: 99¢. Tickling my funny bone: priceless.

Relocation

Hello? Is anybody out there at all?

It's been about six months since I last posted so I cannot be surprised if there's nobody checking in anymore. If anyone is reading this post, would you please leave me a comment so that I know I am not alone here? Thanks.

I suppose one could say that I am sort of relaunching the blog today. I changed the name and everything. You see, the knitting mojo flew the coop quite some time ago but I have been seriously working a new mojo which ties into why the blog was in a state of silence for so long:

chez trek has relocated.

We didn't move all that far but we now have a somewhat bigger domicile and I have been rocking the diy projects.

As part of my relaunch, I would like to share some of the cool projects I have been doing around the new digs.

Are you like me? Do you hate having to dig into a drawer full of kitchen utensils in order to locate a measuring spoon? This is my very thrifty solution.

First, I measured the opening of a likely cupboard next to the range hood. I cut a paint stir stick a little smaller than that distance. Next, I cut a second paint stir stick slightly smaller than the first stick. The larger paint stick is the size used for five gallon buckets; the smaller is used to stir one gallon paint cans. I glued and clamped the two sticks together and left them overnight.

The next day, I painted the piece front and back with several coats of Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch Semi-Gloss White.Spray paint is an amazing thing. Who knew?

Read the directions carefully on your spray paint and follow them. Don't ask me how I know this.

After the piece was dry, I drilled pilot holes and counter sink holes for securing the rack to the inside of my kitchen cupboard. I also drilled evenly spaced pilot holes and installed the four cup hooks.

Our cabinet doors have a laminate layer which means that predrilling is a must. So is patience.

This is how my little hook rack looks installed.

Bottle openers are mingling with the spoons it seems...

My measuring spoons now have a permanent home and are easy to find - and nobody gets poked by a fork or sliced by a knife digging around a drawer full of random other kitchen implements!

In which Pipey delivers

Remember when Neatnik blogged about our chickens and how my allergies meant we had to give away the chickens? Well, the hens are doing quite well. Emma and Ash are still living with Pipey and his wife and Emma has started laying already! Pipey delivered us a half dozen Emma-eggs this morning.

Neatnik has been suffering from a migraine for the past day and a half so she is home sick today. I made her a special lunch.

Lunch ala Emma

Apparently, Emma produces some very fine eggs because they were gone before I could even ask for a taste. I am hiding the remaining four eggs so that Number Guy and I get to sample the goods.

Sadly, Elle, Red, and Dee all grew up into fine roosters so Pipey couldn't keep them. He got three more hens and the roosters went to live at a new farm.

Sexist socks

What is it with the clothing industry and sexism? Don't misunderstand me here. I'm fairly flexible about folks flashing their favorite fashions. Heck, I'm married to a guy who regularly dons a skirt kilt, but there are lines and then there are lines.

And a line has been crossed.

This is a screenshot from an email I received today. I once ordered a wool sweater from the company in question, so I will now receive marketing emails until the end of time.

Even if I should up and decide to move to the tropics, I suppose...

If I were to be selling athletic supporters, I'd put ads in mens magazines. Target demographic and all of that.

I can understand that an ad sporting a big, hairy, male foot in a cute, strappy summer sandal is not very likely to promote huge sales of said sandals to teenaged girls.

Although maybe in the transvestite demographic....

Ahem.

What I cannot understand is why men can buy socks labeled warm, warmer, and warmest but we women can only purchase pedicure-prim, aloe-infused socks.



What? Only guys go outside in the winter? Only strapping, strong, muscular men shovel snow? Only women are entitled to soft sole skin?

In which prof trek offers extra credit

Programming students had an exam last night.

Posted this on the board:

   if ( you.feeling() == AMBITIOUS && time != EXPIRED && you.writeFifthProgram() )
      out.println("Earn extra credit.");

I am such a geek.

How to speak dragon?

We visited with Neatnik's Great-Uncle iPhone and Great-Aunt Basket over the long weekend. Neatnik loves visiting them: getting there involves a multiple state drive and she gets to be entertained by a stand-in grandpa.

Neatnik has a bit of a fascination with dragons lately. She wants to read How to Speak Dragoneseand How to Train Your Dragonis currently her favorite movie.

Yesterday, Uncle iPhone introduced the child to Dragon NaturallySpeaking.When he told her that she could talk to the computer and it would type for her, her ears perked up. He set the hook as soon as he told her the name of the software. Check out what she spoke to the computer:

Hello, my name is Neatnik. Amazing, isn't it? Are you happy? Uncle iPhone, my friend, is over here. If what is your name? Is it really Dragon? Do you have dragon back. I said breast. No breath!

I'm using the DragonBar Premium. I think Uncle iPhone rules here, but I rule back home. I am now going to choose a new font.

DC will ever use DragonBar Premium? I said do you ever use DragonBar Premium? What is your favorite color? Do you like seeing? I said, do you like to sing? Why are you not working too well?

Aunt Basket, please come here, will you? 'Cause I want you here. Wait one second. I am sorry, but Aunt Basket is not available. I hope to see you soon.

Goodbye! Thank you for listening!

In which Neatnik earns extra credit

Neatnik's teacher offers the students extra credit for projects that they do on the subjects of the stories in their reading textbook. Last week, they didn't read a story so there was no project but Neatnik looked ahead and reported back to me that they were scheduled to read Two Tickets to Freedomnext.

This got us to talking about the Underground Railroad and the quilt code. Some quilt researchers are certain that quilts were used as signals on the Railroad since the escaping slaves wouldn't have been educated, the written word was useless to them. Quilts, however, are made up of pictograms and those images have symbolic meanings.

Neatnik decided that she wanted to make a booklet of quilt blocks. She researched online and settled on ten quilt blocks to reproduce in mixed media. I got to teach her how to use my sewing machine, Liquid Thread,an X-Actoknife, a rotary cutter,and PowerPoint,and Neatnik got to practice her computer and ironing skills. My other major tasks were ruler holder and paper positioner - because I didn't really see the need for any bleeding, I held the paper still while Neatnik cut.

Seriously, though, Neatnik was amazingly focused on this project and she spent over 20 hours on it between the research, the typing, and the crafting parts. Then she came home from school today and told me about visiting National Geographic's Underground Railroad web site today.

I am so proud of how much she enjoys learning and creating!

WMBP - now with more circles

In honor of All Souls Day, let's have a catching up type of Wednesday Morning Bullet Post.

• In Mexico, November 2nd is also known as the


Sent this ecard to
Number Guy this AM.


• Well, crud. There goes the idea of posting every day in November.



• On the plus side, the pressure is now off.



• I think I've become addicted to Thread Words.



• It is still a free download so go get your copy now. I'll wait.



• Well, it sure took you long enough to come back. I did warn you that it is addictive, right?



• The little circles in the game are a good way to segue into the next bullet point: today is



Look for Circles Day


• Wrote a note to Neatnik's teacher about Look for Circles Day.



• She sent back a thank you note saying what a great idea and that the children's journal entry for today will be on circles. Can't wait to hear what Neatnik writes about circles.



• Can you believe that Neatnik is now a Junior Girl Scout?



• Her troop is spending a lot of time this year working on their aMUSE Journey. Today's meeting activity is making "Role Model" dolls from pipe cleaners, yarn, and


buttons!


• Their troop leader is working towards her outdoor certification so that the girls can go camping. Neatnik is going to some of the workshops as well. In the first session, they will be making hamburgers over an open fire and learning about fire safety, so she will need a mess kit and dunk bag.



• I had an aluminum mess kit as a kid and can I tell you how much those things suck?



• If you didn't dry each item scrupulously as soon as you washed it, the aluminum pitted and everything tasted like it was wrapped in tin foil. Even if you did carefully wash and dry the cup, beverages all tasted like tin foil and when they served up that sticky bug juice, the cup was ruined for all eternity. The stupid pieces never nested and clipped together after the first time you opened it and the flimsy cutlery was a joke.



• I got the supplies form for the first session and it clearly stated

"You may pre-order a mess kit (for $6 each) from council if you don’t want to make your own."



• Make your own? Wicked brilliant!



• We recently were at a community day fair where Neatnik got a



Nice, new blue plate


• We have some plastic cups I got years ago at the grocery store for 50¢ each and small bowls which were three for a dollar at the Dollar$tore. A larger black bowl that originally held a pasta dish I scored for free on a promotion at the milk store rounded out the dishes requirement.



• There are a variety of thrift store spoons and forks in the kitchen drawer but I'll need to locate a butter knife. They usually sell cutlery at two or three for a dollar.



• Total cost for the mess kit will come to just over a buck. Thrifty, unique, and easily identifiable.



• Why did the programmer die in the shower?


He followed the instructions
on the shampoo bottle.

How many circles are there in your life? Go forth and seek: after all, they are all around us.

In which trek drives by the blog

October is flying by me! I've been amazingly busy this semester. I'm teaching three different courses, one of which is brand-new to me and another of which has an entirely revamped structure. Not a lot of spare moments on my hands. Just wanted to reassure the folks who asked that I really am still here.

Hoping to post for real again soon.

Maybe I should sign up for NaNoWriMo or something...