siobhan.'s Profile

Paul McMullen was an Olympic middle distance runner when he lost several of his toes in a flip flop/lawn mower accident.

He was able to return to running (and is probably the world's fastest 8 toes miler...), but it took years of hard work during what should have been his prime racing years.

Wear boots!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McMullen

My newborn mostly had leaky diapers on the sheets (and a snotty, runny nose, spit up and one particularly bad weekend, vomit and diarrhea).

I went with plain white from Ikea. Lots of them. And I changed the sheets at least every other day (and layered them with waterproof pads so in the middle of the night, I just had to strip off a layer - there were a couple of nights those first few months when multiple layers came off in a single evening).

If there was one thing I would NOT design an infant's room around, it would be bedding.

Nothing. I'm very allergic to dust, so there is an expanse of meticulously maintained hardwood floor underneath our Room and Board Parson bed (which doesn't use a box spring - just a mattress). Al floor space must be easy to clean in our house.

Cleaning service. Best invention ever. As someone said above, it monetizes some tasks (taking questions of emotion, gender roles and your relationship, etc out of the picture), will free up time for both of you.

I hired a service when I lived alone in a tiny apartment, continued it in a bigger apartment with roomies (ending the vast majority of roommate conflicts) and continued when I bought a home, got married, got more pets, had a child, etc.

It isn't that expensive (at least in my neck of the woods). Our service is locally owned/operated by a mother/son team (yep, a burly 20 year old guy cleans my toilet) and uses organic products. And because it's their job, they have the best tools and techniques and they aren't emotional about anything (their gaze doesn't linger on any photos, etc). They just get stuff done way more quickly and efficiently than I do.

Also, our home is simply designed to be cleaned. Even if we have to do it, it doesn't take long. I'm always amazed at how people create work for themselves, then complain about how much they have to do (I'm not saying this is the OP's case - she doesn't sound like she's making more work for herself than she needs to, but I see it a lot on this site).

I don't do vignettes. They look lovely in photos, but they are a dusting nightmare. Our shoes come off at the door (guests and grandma can keep them on). Laundry hampers have many compartments so clothes are pre-sorted. We have 2 dish drawers, so there is always someplace for dirty dishes (even if the other dishwasher is running). We have a vacuuming robot that keeps the floors clean between cleaner visits. And we have a rule that kitchen counters and table have to be cleared off and wiped before bedtime. My 2 year old has to put his toys in the toybox before bed.

I do most of the grocery shopping and get our son out of the house on weekend mornings. In those times, my husband works on some major home renovation projects we've got going on (room by room replacing all of the woodwork in our house, etc).

We split cooking, but often do it in bulk on the weekends so that weeknights are easy.

Even with laundry (which includes cloth diapers right now), I doubt we spend more than 15 minutes a weekday on in home chores, and it is pretty evenly divided between my husband and I.

We spend lots of time on home stuff on weekends, but again, it is even, based on skill and doing projects we enjoy.

We have an LG Tromm Steam washer and dryer. 5 years, cloth diapers (so lots of laundry) and no complaints. No complaints at all.

Most floor finish manufacturers say not to use vinegar or oil soaps. Vinegar apparently dulls finishes and oil soap coats floors in oil (making them impossible to recoat - they have to be fully resanded and refinished - instead of just buffed and topcoated).

http://www.mybonahome.com/iWantTo/clean-my-hardwood-floor.html

Apparently the Buro Tree is no more (and I'm sad I didn't get the Frigg model while I had the chance...):

14/11/2011
The End of the The Buro Tree

After a great run and some excellent awards, and attention the Buro Tree has run its course and its time to say goodbye. We are sorry to say that we will no longer be producing any more Xmas trees. We are moving on to explore new adventures in design which you can keep with at our official Buro North website.

http://www.burotree.com/news/

I third the chimney balloon. We have them in our fireplaces (which have dampers, but are still drafty). The difference is AMAZING.

I don't even understand how one enters it. It appears to be lifted about 6-8ft off the ground by it's stilts, but there does not appear to be a ladder or door from the ground to the structure in the model.

I attended college with Laura Veirs, and I can personally testify that she is simply a really cool woman with amazing musical taste and talent. I can't wait to get my hands on this!