angelinethebaker's Profile

It was really fun making a full-size pinata, but in the end it was a lot of time for something destined to be destroyed!

The arrangements look great! My best tip for grocery store flowers is, if you buy the bouquet, go ahead and separate it all at home to reassemble the way you like. And if they have included greenery that you don't care for, remove it and/or replace if you have a yard you can raid for a substitute.

I admit I'm surprised by the tone of this post. The idea that you have to "be a floral designer" to make a bunch of lovely flowers into a nice arrangement is silly. Why wouldn't you be able to create a nice bouquet with store-bought flowers? All the grocery stores near me, from large to small and from basic to grand -- all of them stock flowers and even the ones with the worst selection are bound to have something that looks good on any given day. You might have to be more flexible and choose by what is freshest over what is your favorite type of flower at the lesser (usually cheaper) stores.

I think we got a great deal on our house because the owner was always present while we looked at it. It was a little creepy -- she was nice enough, but clearly emotionally invested in the house and seemed to be seeking the right buyers for her baby. The market was deep in its slump and there were not many buyers, period, so she was shooting herself in the foot, to our benefit. We were the only ones who stuck with her as she grew nuttier through the buying process. I take Zestimates with a grain of salt, but by that measure we got $90,000 in equity the moment we moved in. So if the real number is closer to half that amount, I'll take it!

Track lighting! I bought Hampton Bay track from Home Depot because it is inexpensive and very easy to swap out the fixtures if I like different ones down the road. I prefer the regular ceiling-mount track over the dropped track -- much easier for DIY. I used halogen-bulb fixtures, but you could also buy the ones meant for regular bulbs but use LED bulbs instead. Cree brand from Home Depot is top-rated and I've been happy with them in lamps, but have not tried them in my track. With LED bulbs you could put many more fixtures on the track without blowing out your circuit.

Try halogen bulbs in your vent hood, too. They do burn hot, so that could be an issue for you, but it has not been a problem for me.

Yikes, 450 calories! That seems off. Dunkin Donuts' website says their chocolate cake doughnut is 290 calories.

Oh, and a quibble: Krispy Kreme doughnuts are icky! Greasy, overly sweet and small (a blessing considering the first two, but even if you like the taste they are smaller than competing doughnuts). Even Safeway does better.

I use a long-handled dandelion-puller. It is imperfect -- often enough the root snaps. This can happen with a fork using the method detailed in this post, but the fork is more effective than the long tool. However, it is SO much easier to weed with the long tool standing up rather than on hands and knees that I think the tradeoff is worth it. My lawn has many, many dandelions and the roots go every which way, not just straight down. So I use the easiest method and weed frequently, preferably when the soil is soft after a rain. After a year living here the lawn is much improved and the beds rarely get dandelions (lots of chickweed, though -- ugh). Many attacks with the long-handle weeder have resulted in smaller, weaker dandelions. I figure if I can keep after the dandelions for one more year I can dial back the weeding to a more normal level.

Perhaps my favorite AT party post ever!

I finally tried strawberry/rhubarb last week when a sale on both items caught my eye. Kinda disappointing! Maybe it works better with really good local berries, but I thought the strawberries mellowed the pie out too much; the cooked strawberries were quite mushy and a little flavorless. I'm going back to my old fave rhubarb pie, no additives. Rhubarb is also wonderful in a crisp or diced small in muffins. Or cooked into a syrup and poured over vanilla ice cream!

Wire shelving worked out very well in my kitchen. We had an odd "leftover" corner by the fridge with a window in it. With the wire shelving light still comes in the window and we get storage. It's far enough from the stove area that greasy dust is not a problem. When I assembled it, I put the bottom shelf up about 4" so our vacuum or dust mop can get under. I thought it might look odd to put a shelf in front of the window that way, but actually filling the space improves the look of the room because having it open just looked weird. There used to be a small desk there that we removed to install a larger refrigerator. I didn't bother cutting the desk down because we never used it; it felt too cramped even at full size, and it was drafty by the window and back door.

My shelf contains: a plant, my vintage mixer, a basket for produce that's not in the fridge, the microwave, a big basket with all the dish towels, the food processor, a radio, and our recycle bin. There is a tall, not well-used space next to the recycle bin, and I think I will use it to hang my oversized pots! Thanks for the idea.

I'm the main cook, but if my husband is away I definitely feel free to to go with pizza or taco dinners. Since our whole lifestyle is set up around the idea that there are two parents to share cooking/cleaning/homework help/driving etc. it is stressful to have to go it alone. Dinner out, takeout food, and Trader Joe's frozen can be the relief valve that allows it all to get done without anyone ending up a screaming lunatic.