Cyclokitty's Profile

I'm self-employed and much prefer working on my own than on display in an office. I hated the constant interruptions, the meetings, the tour by either big wigs or major clients (seriously? they've never seen people work before? I felt like a zoo animal), or that unlucky time when I sat near a co-worker who spent 1/3 of the day complaining, 1/3 of the day SPEAKING LOUDLY INCHES FROM MY HEAD ON HER PHONE, and 1/3 of the planning the rest of her day. Oh, the hate.

At home, I can bury my head in a project for hours and then walk over to the kitchen for a snack, or if I'm expecting a delivery I can move research to the living room and be near the front door, or can do errands in the middle of the morning when there are few line-ups and work a bit later in the evening to catch up. But I've noticed since working on my own, the reduced distractions mean I'm rarely running behind on projects because I'm not putting up with other people's nonsense and can work peacefully on my own.

My desk is a mess. Must work on it.

Growing up, we rented an apartment with a lease that stipulated no painting but a previous tenant had painted three walls in my bedroom a ghastly bright yellow green and put on the fourth wall wallpaper with large green palm trees. The rest of the apartment was haphazardly painted in a beige or light blue and the bathroom was brown and orange (not the nice shades that work well together either). Since the landlord had no intention of repainting the place for us (or any other maintenance, as it turned out), my mom said we'd paint it as soon as we could afford it. We painted it twice over the next 6 years (always in white) and did other little fixes on our own and actually left it in better condition than when we arrived. Including light bulbs -- seems the previous tenants took every light bulb with them when they moved out (to a larger apartment upstairs) and we had to buy them since it's tough moving in the dark (it was a rainy day when we moved in and the place was quite dark in the apartment). I figured this boded poorly for our future in this apartment and I was correct.

Is it possible to replace the pumpkin with sweet potato? My Boy is allergic is pumpkin but loves ginger added to nearly anything. Or would butternut squash be better? I'd try this out with the graham cracker crust first (yay graham crackers!) and then try it again with ginger snaps or even vanilla wafers.

Lovely home and I also think the wallpaper choices are quite stunning. We moved into a house with old beige wallpaper on every single wall and questioned the sanity of the person who picked beige. If only he was able to see the vibrant, imaginative wallpaper in this house tour.

I'm also enjoying the debates around "man cave" and "glamour squaw". Usually, I worry about linking to the home owner's blog because most blogs are absolutely horrible examples of too much time and too much showing off. Leah's is preachy, like nearly all blogs, but without a superior tone that is so irritating and pretentious. I agreed with the post about a plastic pack of apple squeeze snack found on the beach: real apples are better than processed plasti-squish sugar muck.

But getting upset over the words "man cave" is rather short sighted. Most homes are decorated with an eye to the comfort of guests and often young children. If someone is lucky enough to have a home big enough for a room saved primarily for the adults, like a parlour room or formal living or formal dining room or a den or work shop or sewing room or whatever is set aside from the normal activities that would involve children and their sticky fingerprints, then name it whatever the heck you like. Boudoir, man cave, swing room, den of inequity, bar room, room with the massive tv that may only show sports and Caddyshack, then hey, it's your room.

I'm not qualified to comment on "squaw" because I'm of European ancestry but I do know that English is mostly made up of words borrowed from other languages. I doubt Leah uses squaw in a derogatory way and if the intention is to return the original meaning to squaw I think insulting someone who is doing just that is mean spirited and slow on the uptake.

Loving that wallpaper!

O.O I know what I'm making for treat breakfast on Sunday!

For years I thought pizza dough was some kind of esoteric, magical, secret recipe that only online mages and Julia Child could ever possibly create.

But 2.5 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of yeast, 1 cup of warm water, and a teaspoon of salt mixed by hand in a bowl, then kneaded for a couple of minutes on the counter, then put back in the mixing bowl with some olive oil, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and left in peace for a couple of hours, and a slightly sticky pizzza dough happens for you.

Not that I'm hating on self rising flour and Greek yogurt, sounds really easy and quick, but flour-yeast-salt-water combo is as simple. And I don't have to find fairly pricy self rising flour or Greek yogurt at the closest grocery store.

You had me at "milk and honey peanut butter balls".

I bake our white and whole wheat breads at home and anyone who can resist cutting into one of the fresh out of the oven loaves and snarfle it down while making growly noises, is a far stronger person than me.

This may be pure bread evil but I always slice sandwich bread before putting the cut loaf into the freezer. That way I can grab sliced bread for sandwiches or toast and it'll be plenty fresh.

*breathless*

All those tiles.... oh, my heart! Love it!!

I need a kitten bottle opener.

The urban farm looks great! I'm gonna guess it's not for the lazy.... like me. Very inspiring.