kthomson's Profile

If you have a project to finish that involves sorting through boxes of stuff: get an acquaintance -- or hire someone -- to help you. Even if you think you don't need professional help, having someone there to help you sort through things is a great way to get some outside perspective on how to organize, and question whether to keep it or toss it. Just make sure it's not your husband/wife or a long-time friend, because you might end up in even worse shape as you dredge up old photos, trinkets and such and spend hours looking through photo books instead of working on your project.

The other value of hiring someone: it makes you set a time and keep an appointment to work on it.

I'm happy to say I've stuck to my 08 resolution: no more purchases of water or any other beverage in plastic bottles. Not that I was a big user in the past, but we bought a few metal canisters last year and we use them all the time.

For 09, I'm going to try kitchen composting. I've heard mixed reviews about vermiculture -- the worms just don't eat as much as they should -- so we're thinking of getting a Naturemill in-kitchen composter. Based on what I've read, we'll need to be vigilant in properly managing our organic waste (adding sawdust and baking powder routinely), but I'm going to give it a go.

We have soapstone countertops and a sink in our kitchen and it's a *great* surface to work with. Functional, almost impervious to scratches and burns, and looks great -- especially when oiled with mineral oil, as they suggest you do every few months.

Our supplier was Vermont Soapstone, who were very easy to work with. The pieces come by truck, crated. Our contractors had no problem with the actual installation since the pieces were already cut to size and edged/finished, but watch out -- soapstone is very heavy. Plan ahead and have enough people there to lift and shift things into place.