sldoug's Profile

I grew up in a conservative rural environment and yearned for the big city (Seattle, in my case). I found, though, that when I finally moved here I rarely/never took advantage of what the city has to offer and prefer to mostly stay home, which probably means I could happily live most places. I do strongly value living in a progressive city, I really appreciate Seattle's moderate climate, and I like the "energy" of the city and knowing that there are possibilities all around me, even if I'm not taking advantage of them. For a long time I aspired to live closer to Seattle's urban core, but now that I have young kids, I appreciate being able to have a good sized yard and living on a street where my kids can ride bikes, etc. Probably I'd be happier with the cheaper prices in the suburbs, but the urban snob inside me is willing to pay for the cache of having an actual Seattle address. :-)

I was the baker in my house growing up and was often tasked with meeting sweet tooth needs with limited on-hand ingredients. Chocolate no-bake cookies (when we had no eggs and/or it was too hot to bake), crazy cake (the one with vinegar) (when we had no butter), and snickerdoodles (when we had no chocolate). Not only were these childhood staples, but they got me through college and graduate school. Now I'm passing the torch on to my own children.

It'll take more than a few hours, but I wanted to pick a project that I have no interest in doing so that my enthusiasm for the Cure will carry me through! A while back I painted my living room and left the ceiling and trim edges messy since I knew I'd be repainting the trim and ceiling soon as well...except that was three years ago and I've been living with (and hating) those sloppy edges (not to mention the chipped, scuffed trim and the patched, blotchy ceiling) ever since. Finally, finally, finally, I will paint my ceiling and the trim in my living room!!

I love the smell of quince! For Thanksgiving last year I made a pear and quince pie with cardamom instead of cinnamon and it blew my apple pie out of the water. So good!

I'm not sure what mine is, but a few weeks ago I was having lunch with my 73 year old dad and he idly commented on the song in the background and wondered what it was. I pulled out my phone and used Shazam to find out and it completely blew him away. Afterward, any time anything remotely technical and futuristic would come up, he'd expectantly ask me, "Can your phone do that too?"

Mmm, I love capers in mundane ol' tuna melts!

I never knew that holding one's silverware in a certain manner (or eating with one's fingers) would be considered bad manners! I just thought it was part of a person's individual style/personal preferences, like maybe I prefer to touch my food or maybe my fork just feels better in this position.

I agree with jarobinson1. $5 per person is actually a pretty pricey meal at my house, which is one reason we don't eat fast food -- it's too expensive!

My ABF experience sucked as well. We chose them because they gave the cheapest quote for our Tucson to Seattle move, but when our stuff arrived all the boxes on top were soaked as if the container had seriously leaked. Unfortunately for us, while some of the boxes contained dishes and such, most of the soaked boxes were full of (ruined) books and photos and such. If I were to make that kind of move again, I would definitely not risk my stuff with ABF.

My aesthetic is bright and colorful with a little bit of whimsy/silliness, so it hasn't been too hard to incorporate my kids' stuff into that, but we live in a small house (800 sq. ft. for the three of us) so the biggest challenge has been not letting the toys take over. I rely most heavily on storage furniture (we have two expedit bookcases laying horizontally with bins in the bottom rows that hold all the piece-y toys; our coffee table is a trunk that holds our games, etc.), and I also try to incorporate some of their more interesting/fun/visually pleasing toys into the decor, on shelves and such. One effect I didn't expect was that, as long as they're within reach, adults will actually play with the toys too! I love that!

Oh, and I am ruthless with the grandparent toys. My kids seem to have the same grandparents as all the other commenters and at first I felt sooo guilty about getting rid of stuff but once I made the leap I realized that no one, not the grandparents and not my kids, even noticed!