gundy's Profile

My go-to for softening butter fast -- grating it with the large holes of a cheese grater.

toughcupcake, I am right there with you.

I wrap them and put them in empty shipping boxes I have stacked in the basement, or sometimes in empty luggage. If I have a bigger gifts it'll be a problem but so far it's worked out fine.

Why would Muslims be celebrating Christmas?

Up next: toilet paper that has messages like, "You're wiping your ass with what used to be a hundred year old tree" or "that streak of red could be the beets...or it could be colon cancer!"

I don't think I would like for my morning cup to nag me.

remidema, there are no cleaning chemicals in Magic Erasers -- they're microabrasives.

This is absolutely inspiring and totally amazing. I knew about propagating moss but had never thought of using the side of our house as a canvas like this...I love it.

I can't agree with some of the folks here that you should not care about your neighbors' discomfort -- in fact, I applaud you for being considerate. Yes, noise is part of apartment life, and yes, for YOU your baby's needs should be paramount, but your neighbors didn't ask you to have a baby and to ignore or handwave away their discomfort would be incredibly self-(or baby) centered. I have two kids and understand how tough it can be when it comes to middle of the night crying -- but all the understanding in the world doesn't get me back to sleep if I've been awakened by a crying neighbor kid, know what I mean? It sucks no matter how it happens.

Kids are going to be at least a little noisy regardless of their age or stage of self-control, but this doesn't absolve parents of the responsibility to minimize their and their children's impact on the people around them. I think the suggestions of a little gift or note saying you appreciate their patience and understanding are fantastic and would go a long way to good neighbor relations. (on preview, like ElleBee said.) In the meantime, adding fabric and rugs is probably the best you can do to mitigate the sound. Also, maybe try moving your baby's crib to abut an internal wall, if that's possible?

Best of luck!

Bah, I totally jumped the gun. Sorry for the snippiness, abbygraykit.

I swear to god, some of the commenters here are must be the most miserable people who view this site as one more outlet for their disapproval. I would suggest cross-stitching "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" into a sampler and hanging that up in your impeccably decorated apartments, but I'm certain that would invite a huffy discussion about how passe samplers are.