Kaete's Profile

Hear hear! I agree completely!

Even my mother now prefers text messages left instead of voicemail, because it's sooo much easier for someone who is getting a little hard of hearing to deal with than trying to replay a voicemail a dozen times to understand what it says.

As for people who hate texting or clicking on little keys - someday you will experience a modern smart phone. Most of them will record text for you, which is awesome! The technology is still somewhat in its infancy, but by the time you're ready to deal with the smart phones, probably all the kinks will the ironed out. Right now you wouldn't want to dictate an essay with them, but they're perfect for the kind of "Hey, I will be late for dinner" or "Mom, when is Uncle Roger's birthday party again?" type of questions that used to clog up voicemail.

And even if you HATE HATE texts - please, when it comes to important, exact information, give in a little and text or email it! I have a relative who insists on giving phone numbers or addresses over the phone on voicemail, which invariably ends up with something getting messed up in translation as I replay it a few times and try to get it right. Three seconds of effort spent texting the number to me would make sure I had it exactly right, and could copy and paste it to my contacts as well.

Internet foodie guilt is probably the farthest thing from my mind when it comes to staying in budget.

My problems are mainly: A.) Will my family EAT it?
(This is the biggest problem, really)

and B.) Is it healthy?

Making things that are both healthy enough to be part of our regular diet and that will actually be EATEN by the whole family is the problem, not any worries about my local CSA.

Personally I could easily eat veggie soup for a month, but I find that it's common for food preparers to feel this way about their food variety needs, while people who are usually the food consumers often do not.

I bet it makes her smile every day she looks at it. :) And it's the "NC" blue, too!

To paint over really cheapo furniture with fake veneer, it helps to VERY lightly sand with a fine grade sandpaper. Sanding hard would just rip the cheap plastic veneer up.

When I've done it before, I also sprayed the piece with a primer specifically for plastic. Helps the paint adhere. No problems with flaking or bubbling after that. :) In my case I filled in holes and chips with wood filler, and that seemed to do fine too.

This is an awesome project, I love everything they did!

The advice to step back from a pan and let it keep heating a few more minutes might be bad for a non-stick pan, especially if it's cheap or light-weight. Light non-stick pans left alone on the burner can reach above the recommended 500 degree limit in two minutes, and even thick, high quality pans can do the same in less than 10. At that point they start producing fumes, not good.

No such limit for a cast iron skillet or regular pans, of course. But something to keep in mind for non-stick. You don't really want to leave them alone. Other pans, no problem!

My biggest cooking sin is definitely overcrowding the pan. Whoever wrote the advice to use two pans is clearly not the one doing the dishes! ;) I kid, I kid. :P

The extreme weather alert is probably a very good idea - how many of us actually use the radio or TV anymore? I'm certainly not going to be getting the old fashioned sorts of weather alerts anymore.

Oh my goodness, the additions are great! I love the little blue door on the left sooo much!

Of course, the garden is great too. :)

I usually try to remember the spoonful-of-sugar method. Say something nice, stuff any criticism in the middle, and try to top it off with another nice point.

As for the rug in the picture, I really like the paint lines! I'm guessing that's just overspray, but it gives it a lovely shaded effect. Might look different in person, of course, but from an itty bitty photo online it looks great.

What an awesome quick fix! I love what you did with the floor.

What an awesome idea. I hope it takes off!