February 2012
20 posts
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Cookie monsters
Matt and I have both been craving cookies lately. On a recent trip to the grocery store, Matt bought bulk semi-sweet chocolate chips in the hopes that I/we would make some cookies. On Saturday after running some errands and having dinner out with friends, we decided we just had to make the cookies. Chocolate chip, obviously. But which ones? I have a few recipes which I’ve used in the...
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Playful pups
I wish we could have seen Sonny and Max when they were little. How adorable are these Brittany pups? Ours still wrestle and play like puppies, as in this video from last summer. They are great playmates. For those who don’t have dogs, this is friendly play, not fighting. They’re careful not to hurt each other.
Max and Sonny wrestling from Kelly & Matt on Vimeo.
-Kelly
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Side venting the clothes dryer: many lessons...
This is not a recent project, but one that I’ve been meaning to share because it might be helpful to others. When we bought our house, it came with an old school washer and dryer in the kitchen. They took up almost the whole wall on the far side of the room. (Also check out that horrible fake wood counter and backsplash. Those came out in short order too.)
One of our first big...
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Shimmage (Shims the easy way)
Installing the trim is way easier if I staple the shims into place before hand. In the picture, the shims don’t support the window (there are ones that do this but are mostly cut off), they just create a plane that will keep the sill and casings flat/vertical (or at least nearly so).
When I first started shimming the trim I just used a razor blade to cut the shims to the length I...
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26 weeks
Obligatory photo of my growing belly, this time with bonus: our sweet Sonny dog.
This is your biweekly pregnancy update. Two more weeks have gone by already?! I used to feel like baby’s arrival was so far in the future and I just have to wait so long, but now I feel like he’s starting to sneak up on us. Fortunately, we are actually making some great progress in our massive...
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Productivity is relative
This past weekend, we had a packed schedule and didn’t devote a whole lot of time to working on our house projects until Sunday evening when Matt started moving all our bedroom furniture around in preparation for some major changes I’ll tell you about later. We did much more socializing with more people in that one weekend than we normally do in two weeks. That could make me feel...
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DIY Valentine's Day
Last week one of my crafty friends held the traditional holiday card making party. This one was Valentine themed, obviously. Mostly the various craft parties are a nice excuse to get together with some fun ladies, eat some food, and be a little creative. I didn’t have any goal in mind other than socializing, so I didn’t make a huge batch of cards, but I did end up with a few cards...
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In between projects
Haven’t wrote about programming/development work I’m doing in a long time. I’ll spare you the details but want to share a thought about the “in-between limbo.” When you work on a project for say 8 months, it’s hard to finish it and it’s hard to move on. This is especially true when it is R&D (but house projects, community projects, and others share...
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Deal of the day: Pioneer digital A/V receiver
Pioneer 5.1 Channel A/V Receiver
We have set up the Pioneer 5.1 Channel A/V Receiver. Now we wait for it to receive the movie.
We bought this Pioneer 5.1 Channel A/V Receiver a couple of months ago for $140 from Newegg. Today Woot has it for $135 plus $5 shipping, which I think is a good deal. We have been really happy with the receiver. We have our TV and related boxes (TiVo, blu ray)...
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The myth of the 10 month pregnancy
Like most pregnant ladies (I assume), I’ve been counting the weeks of my pregnancy. I follow the stages of fetal development in books and my babycenter.com weekly emails, compare my belly size at week X to photos posted by other mommy bloggers (to reassure myself that I’m not growing a giant), and calculate how many weeks or months until our little is born. With all of this focus on...
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Seattle Hands On Skills Fair
Sustainable Northeast Seattle is hosting the second annual Hands On Skills Fair. We attended last year with our friends Lauren and Barrett, and we all loved it. Between the four of us, we learned some container gardening tips, how to make cheese, ideas for clothing repurposing, water cistern installation, and Tai Chi basics; plus made soap and bread, and got to spend time together. It was...
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Happy doggiversary!
It’s been a whole year since we adopted Max and Sonny! We could not be happier with our furry family members. They are so sweet, intelligent, funny… I could go on and on. They learn more and bond with us and each other every day. The other day a stranger at the dog park called out to me, “those are some great dogs you have there.” I agree and I’m so proud of our...
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Shooting pain and ladders
Earlier this week I had some unusual muscle soreness and I’m really curious about the cause. Starting Sunday evening and lasting until Tuesday, the sides of my shins (but not the front) felt very sore. The location is strange; I’ve had shin splints a few times when I’ve jumped into running too quickly after not doing it for a while, and that’s always been concentrated in...
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24 weeks
16 to go. This pregnancy is flying by so far. After the usual first trimester nausea and fatigue faded away, I have been feeling great. I really hope this keeps up. I’m trying to do right by exercising, eating nutritious food, and getting enough sleep. This kid is a strong kicker and mover. Kicks are kind of fun and reassuring, but it’s a pretty weird feeling.
I am pretty sure...
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Temple Grandin
It’s been days since Kelly and I watched the movie named after her. It was so excellent that even now I’m still jazzed with the feeling of getting to look behind the curtain. Awesome that someone with such a difficult condition, autism, has done so much to help others deal with it; and through it, has helped human beings better understand their furry friends and deal with them more...
