Saria the Cat's Profile

Sorry, about to get preachy here. If your primary reason for giving your cat access to the outdoors is so you are not inconvenienced with cleaning/smelling a litter box, you should not be a cat owner. There's a long list of very good reasons why you should keep your cats indoors, and a very short one for why to let cats outside ("worker" rural cats, strays, ferals, other cats requiring to be outside before you adopted them). Not wanting to take care of a litter box should not be on that list.

If someone said they wanted a dog but didn't want to walk it every day so they'll just let it roam the streets during the day when they're not home, you would say that that person should NOT be a dog owner.

Average lifespan of indoor cat: 14 years.
Average lifespan of outdoor/indoor cat: 4 years.

Keeping your cats indoors benefits you, your cat, and wildlife. Recent study about cats let outdoors: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-kitty-killers-20120807,0,6611224.story

Excellent timing for me. I'm an incoming grad student, I just moved into a new place, and reading AT makes my heart ache to see so much design that I feel is out of my financial reach. Thank you for the inspiration!

LOVE the blue tile, especially with the scalloped edge. Absolutely adds character and interest to the space. Also love the cabinet hardware.

And as someone with open shelving for our daily use dishware and mugs... That type of layout is pricelessly convenient and sweet. Of course, you can only get away with this kind of thing if you have pretty dishware that matches your space, which they accomplish here. Ours happen to be brightly color-coordinated Fiesta ware, which make me happy every time I look at them.

Here is a sort of productivity routine tip. I attended a PD workshop where I learned about "Focus Time." When you have some flexibility in your own workday, whether at home or at work, try using a timer and structuring your work/productivity hours according to these rules:

- 40 minutes "Focus Time" (work on the task at hand, or set of tasks at hand, uninterrupted --- DON'T check email!)
- 10 minutes "Collaboration Time" (check and respond to email, Twitter, etc.)
- 10 minutes "Play Time" (chat with coworkers, play with eyeshadow, browse blogs)

I find I am much more productive with any task when I follow this kind of schedule for the hour. Constant email checking and responding really eats up more of our time than we need, and actual URGENT emails are few and far between. Chances are, if anything is about to explode if you don't respond within 40 minutes (the length of your focus no-talk time), people will call you on the phone directly or barge into your office. If someone does interrupt you during focus time, very visibly pause your timer and ask what you can help them with. Coworkers learn not to bring anything physically to you unless it warrants interrupting "Focus Time." Of course, if you're at home with kids, you probably have to be more flexible or gentle about this, but I can imagine it is equally valuable to have some structure that lets your kids know when Mommy/Daddy needs 30-40 min of space to finish something.

DURING the main interaction times (eating, strolling, talking), of course the smart phone should be put away. But before and after, a smart phone is invaluable. It's also great for satisfying spontaneous cravings and desires. My boyfriend and I find Yelp and Flixter indispensable when we feel like having a spontaneous date out. Flixter is an awesome movie times/tickets app because it also tells you the Rotten Tomatoes rating for each movie.

However I do want to emphasize that I would be very unimpressed with a guy that did no Yelp (or other) research before the date and then proceeded to try and do it DURING the date instead of already knowing at least a good starting point for food/activities!

This house looks so open, airy, and fun for a young one to grow up in! I am not a minimalist/modern person when it comes to my own indoor tastes, but I think they did a great job.

As for the books by color, I do this and I think it is BRILLIANT! You become much more intimately familiar with your books this way, and I never have trouble grabbing a book when a friend asks for one. I am a visual person and I frequently read/use/lend books and so this works for me. It's also much more efficient once it's established --- just shove the book back in the right "color zone." Organize by author's last name? Blaaagh! Maybe if you only read certain books. I have lots of reference books, art books, textbooks, and other books with multiple authors, and trying to keep them put back in the right place sounds like a nightmare. Also, you'd be surprised...A lot of books on the same topic are given the same kind of colors... My red book section has lots of cookbooks, my white section has lots of non-fiction, my pink section has books on sex and gender. It works!

Okay, I'll stop now.

You know, lately I've been thinking that I'm just simply the WRONG demographic for Apartment Therapy. I've always enjoyed looking at the house tours and getting design inspiration, but lately posts are trending towards what I'd consider a high-income, high-consumerism lifestyle.

The idea of having JEANS, a casual item, that are so expensive you must think of alternative methods of washing them, seems totally absurd to a person like me. My favorite jeans are dark wash American Eagle, usually $40 new. I wash them inside-out and in cold. When they get worn out (after 6 months)...I buy a new pair.

Am I in the wrong place? Is there a "design on a shoestring" blog I should be reading? Or a "design for middle income" blog?