nereid's Profile

great place AND fabulous shoes!

My husband made a pretty big mistake a few months ago by leaving his backpack in plain view in the back seat of his car parked right outside of our apartment building - his reasoning at the time was that it didnt contain anything of value in it , just a note pad, book etc.and the pack was itself very old - of course this rationale does not stand up to the thieves perspective. We woke to find a very large chunk of concrete had made its way through his passengers side window - bag gone. We were out 250 dollars on the window repair , and the use of the car for most of the day:( We both drive very old - ugly cars and are usually proud of our frugality when it comes to autos but this just goes to show everyone every where is a potential target , especially when prudent safety precautions are not heeded. In the end we decided that our cars were more likely to be targeted for these kind of smash and grab tactics than actual auto theft so we started emptying our cars of anything of value religiously every day and leaving the doors unlocked. That way we hope that when a thief decides to peruse our cars for valuables he will choose the door handle and not the window - saving us at least that expense.

I can't say my idea of the perfect home would be near my mother in law...but...nice home guys!

This post speaks to me. I'm constantly weighing this issue and its a surprisingly complicated one. When I was growing up I had what always seemed to me (and still sort of does) , a very heavy load of chores. I can remember an average days duties at age six or seven included making my bed, cleaning my room, setting the table, making a salad or other similar easy side dish for dinner, and either hand washing or rinse/drying the days dishes with my sister on an alternating schedule. We also had to help my folks do a major whole house clean every saturday which included emptying the trash , vacuuming and sweeping - the occasional mopping, and more intensive bedroom cleaning. We were also always expected to pick up our own playthings when we were done with them. Our responsibilities grew to include laundry and general pick up duties in communal rooms as we got older. By the time I was in middle school I was able to make whole dinners for my family and frequently did. Now that I am a parent to a ten and almost two year old I'm torn. One the one hand I'm glad I learned so much and feel very competent at taking care of my family. Between stints as a stay at home mom I also found that my work ethic was very appreciated by my employers. So, its clearly helped me become who I am . But these feelings are not consistent with how I felt about my lot during my childhood - when I thought my chores were burdensome, unfair, frustrating and down right soul crushing. I definitely dont give my eldest anywhere NEAR the level of chores I had. She has assisted in cooking only when she took an initiating interest, and aside from picking up her own room and playthings when the mess reaches a critical point, she is only expected to put her own dirty dishes into the sink, and shoes and school things into their respective places. I don't think I'm giving her enough in the way of life skills given this leniency but I relent whenever she protests whenever I try to give her more because I'm more concerned with filling her childhood with the sense of dread I felt. On the other hand I fear I'm setting her up for hardship later on when she is set out into the working well and must care for a family of her own.

we actually bought a haier portable washer on amazon for around $189 I think. Its totally automated, and fills from our bathroom sink - drains into the tub. we do all our laundry in it and couldn't be happier. It came complete, didnt need any special fittings or mods to our rental, easy to hook up. We also installed a portable dryer and use the ikea antonius ceiling mounted drying rack over our tub. It feels awesome to have turned our bathroom into a laundry room as well and skipping the coin op laundry room in our building has saved us money even over the increase in our power bill:)

Too bad Apple is part of an investigation into colluding with major publishers to drive up the price of ebooks. Oh and can I just say that people need to stop obsessing about the newest gizmo and throwing away perfectly good devices that end up polluting the earth? You really DONT need a new cell phone every year or two - and you certainly shouldn't be viewing any e reader device that's still working as "old" or "obsolete" !

There would seem to be something rather important missing in this post - namely the tutorial on how to make a "life of full time travel" a possibility. I'm pretty sure I could do this step - selling all my stuff that is - but then, what about the rest of it? I guess my creativity and conviction has been failing me if I haven't yet figured out how to do this...must.think.more....

I think people on AT tend to like more modern styles, this is a nicely done cottage space and for those of us who like cottage thanks for the tour! My only criticism is of the photography/ photo styling. Its mentioned that this space suffers from a lack of natural light, and despite the nice rooms, there are shadows in every pic that emphasize this fact. Why weren't lights turned on (not a single lamp aglow?) to banish these shadows and create a warm and cozy cottage look? Also why weren't flowers and other greenery used on some of the empty surfaces? Even when the homeowner doesn't ordinarily use them I know photo stylists typically put them in for effect before shooting these homes. Was there a bias at AT against shooting this home properly because it doesn't reflect the predominantly modern aesthetic of this site?

In defense of shopping at Amazon (who I do NOT work for). If you can get the product you want from a local and or independent business please do so, but if you find yourself choosing between a big box "mart" and Amazon for a particular product dont hesitate to chose Amazon and don't feel too bad about it. I do have a professional background as a retail store buyer and I can tell you they are far more wasteful establishments and have worse worker policies than Amazon , due impart to their biz model. A retail establishment needs to buy all its product speculatively and to entice spending - the "best" practice means buying more than anticipated demand as running out of something is considered a deadly sin. There is also the "need" to build full enticing displays.This almost always creates waste at sales end and this cost is always built into the retail product price which is why Amazon usually (not always) has a good price. Amazon doesn't need to do this, nor does it have countless retail buildings with their large parking lots and flooding lights everywhere and on all the time. But again prioritize local and independent when you can.

uh - you're forgetting a few posts I'm sure! This one comes to mind! ;)
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/house-tours/matthews-refurbished-retro-airstream-house-tour-140718