dashingbean's Profile

Different foods call for different means of packing. I usually pack sandwich lunches bento style in plastic rectangular containers and use silicone muffin cups to make separate sections inside as needed. For wet foods, I have a stash of stainless steel thermoses. Have a few mini-stacking tiffins - so cute - that were a great deal at an Asian supermarket.

Here's my favorite tip, particularly if I'm packing my own lunch: once I've packed all my food in containers, I wrap them all up in a nice kitchen towel, furoshiki-style, and stow it away in my bag. When it's time to eat, I unwrap the kitchen towel and use it for a personal mini table cloth.

Yes. It's true, that is not up to code. A bathroom must have an operable window for ventilation or a fan. Talk to your landlord about getting one installed. It's a matter of public health and safety. Not to mention the fact that it will be better for the building too. Hopefully your landlord will remedy the situation without having to get the local authorities involved.

I should add: I use a ratio of 1 part oats to 4 parts liquid. Could be just water, or half water half milk. The oatmeal turns out very smooth, so if you like it a bit chewy, this may not be the best method.

I live in a 1910-era house in Michigan, my piano is on an exterior wall, and it's fine. I get my piano tuned every other year, it's a Story & Clark, so nothing overly precious. Now I wouldn't put a piano near a baseboard heater, radiator,or an egregiously drafty window, but I think that generally it shouldn't matter whether it's on an interior or exterior wall. Especially if you air condition in the summer, your home is a relatively controlled microcosm. That said, my piano tuner did recommend letting my piano acclimate to my house for 3 or 4 months before getting it tuned for the first time, and always get it tuned at the same time of year, whether it's every year, or every other year.
If you have a Steinway, well, maybe my advice is too casual. But for a run-of-the-mill piano played by the average recreational player or student, don't worry about it. Place it where it makes sense in your space.

Do you mean a hand-crank drill? They are great for kids, though I haven't seen an kid-size version. We got a Fiskars one for my son when he turned 9 year-old and it fits his hand, but it's big. It's very safe and we feel fine letting him go to town with it.

Is that an exterior door in the bottom corner of your living room? If so, why not use that one instead, and move your computer desk up by your bookshelf. You have plenty of room near in that corner. Then I'd move the TV to the bottom corner where that circle is, and flip the L-shaped arrangement of the couches so that when you enter, you'd walk along the back side of one of them.

But if that kitchen door is really your only entry option, I think having some kind of solid partition between the door and the stove would block more than half the view of the kitchen and direct the focus to the dining area (I'd also move the table closer to the window). Could you get a cool old door for a partition? Maybe use brackets to secure it to the wall? Or maybe something lighter weight that could be ceiling mounted, like painted pegboard. Then you could hang all sorts of hooks and containers on either side, if you're in to that.