deirdre's Profile

This article only discusses LEED for new construction, the LEED EB (existing building) that many buildings are trying to retrofit and achieve does indeed cover the main issue that the article discusses. The building must benchmark its performance for at least a year and then prove over another period of time that it has improved performance enough to achieve 'points' so score high enough to achieve LEED status. They are also talking about forcing buildings that achieve LEED EB to have to re-certify every few years to prove that they are still achieving that improved performance.
Basically, I appreciate the concerns and agree with them, but considering that there is so little new construction going on and the majority of LEED certifications going on right now are LEED EB, this article is very short-sighted.

The responses on this are so funny! There seems to be a lot of people who feel as though if someone tidied their place, it would be some kind of judgment on them... or maybe they have something to hide or be defensive about? Maybe I just don't get it - anyone is welcome at my place to clean any time! OCD and cleaning-compulsive types welcome!!

Maybe I'm an optimist or something, but I feel like most people who would start to tidy things have good intentions and aren't passing judgment. No one's place is clean 100% of the time, especially with kids or a busy lifestyle. I honestly, don't watch much TV, so once the kids are asleep, the toys ALWAYS get put away. I have also been known to take a broom to the floor, load the dishwasher and wipe down the counter. I'm not breaking out the rubber gloves and scrubbing toilets or anything, but I just feel better knowing the annoying things are sorted for when they come home. If I have a few minutes to try and make someone's day a little easier, I will, with the hopes that karma will send a similar gesture my way.

p.s. Dear Karma, my place is a mess - I'll take that help any time now...

Do people really give gifts like this? I need some different friends, I think! Seriously though, its lovely to see how beautiful some of this stuff is, but I'm way too practical for these kinds of things. Although I long in my dreams for a KitchenAid (and for the cabinet space to store it), the rest of this list was pretty over the top for most of us. Anything that I'm scared to use for fear of breaking it shouldn't be in my kitchen. I refer to the America's Test Kitchen "equipment corner" for many of my tools (most anything spending more than about $25 on). Even in the instances they recommend the expensive items in their testing, they usually try to select a "best buy" item that was a solid performer in their testing that doesn't cost a fortune.
The Forschner Victorinox Fibrox chef's knife that they recommend $29 for is absolutely the best value around. Feels great and works fantastic. I gifted this knife to my mom, sis and aunts a while back and they all still rave about it.
I also don't get the deal with enameled cookware. My Lodge cast iron skillet and dutch oven (another ATK recommendation - available at Target for about $20-30 each) do a great job. Also the lid for the dutch oven fits my skillet. Bonus. Yes, I would love for them to be a pretty color, but for a fraction of the price of decent enamelware with similar performance, (safe) non-stick properties that last a lifetime and no risk of damaging the enamel finish - I can deal with the black iron color.
The OXO V-style mandolin slicer is on my list for Santa... we will see if I have been naughty or nice. I thank ATK for not letting me have junky kitchen equipment! I blame you for giving me the idea to lust after copper bowls!

LakeDreamer - Tumble towels and sheets for a few (5-10?) minutes after washing and then hang up to finish drying. Makes a huge difference and the vinegar helps too and keeps things smelling fresh (don't worry - your towels won't smell like a salad)

missbynski - Dryers are a HUGE energy hog. All that heat that your dryer gives off is busy doing its little part to heat up the planet. Plus the expense of the energy. Plus it trashes your clothes.

I wash almost everything. One warning, liquid fabric softener will ruin silk! I found this out before I knew it was such icky stuff. Anyhow, now I use homemade laundry soap and I wash all my wool sweaters in with everything else and lay flat to dry.

I don't know specifically about those beetles, but for nearly all crawling insects die when they come in contact with diatomaceous earth - available at any decent garden center and chemical free.

Parhelia:
So basically, red worms (composting worms) dont like to be at deep depths and move upward to feed so it depends on your system. The bag setup, they eat at the bottom and move up to feed as you add scraps, so once they do their work, you open up the bottom of the bag a little and mostly castings will come out. You just stop harvesting when worms start coming out (no worries, just add the ones that came out back to the top of the bag). If you do a box setup, most of them are setup in tiers. You start them in the bottom bin, then as they do their work, you add another bin that nests on top of that. The 2nd bin has holes in the bottom and you add your scraps to the new bin and they move up through the holes into the next bin to feed. You then harvest the castings from the bottom bin once the worms have migrated up. Some people do it very rustic style all in the one bin or side-by side and that's tougher because you basically dump out the bin, sort the worms out of it by hand and then use the castings. (Icky). Basically, if you're squeamish, its probably best to use a tiered commercially available system like http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=4891 where you never have to touch the worms and the harvesting is very easy.

Best DIY worm bin ever!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Worm_bin_bag_for_indoor_vermicomposting_and_easy_s/
It regulates the moisture really well, pretty easy to make (I put mine on a metal Ikea laundry hamper frame instead of building the wood one) and they seem to love the bag!

I'm venturing a guess that the 1st respondents have their heat and hot water provided by their landlord?
I live in a 750 sqft 1BR in Chicago and am pretty conservative about the electric and still pay about $28/mo. My heat and hot water are provided by the landlord, so my big expenditures are electronics and my dear sweet dishwasher (which I recently stopped using the pre-wash cycle and 'hot start' and the dishes come out just as clean even thought its always packed to the gills - I just wish, one day, to get 'green'/phosphate free dishwasher soap that is worth a darn... *sigh*).

Try for one thing at a time. Appeal to their sympathies about the border, for starters. Seems unanimous that this is the #1 contributor to the ick-factor. Then try another improvement.

If they aren't receptive to other improvements, keep paying your rent on time and keep the place tidy and ask the landlord over after a couple months to make your case for a new color/etc. If you're paying timely and the place is clean, looks good and is orderly, they are more likely to soften up.
Its tricky as a new tenant. To your new landlord, you're a stranger asking them if you can do work that could potentially lead to unnecessary/costly expenses if you make a big mistake or screw something major up... They have no idea what to expect and what your skill level is. Hope you can sweeten them up a bit!