Not cat-proof.

I had wanted to find a cat-proof solution for my plants this summer. So I was thinking of vertical hanging bags. But then S came up with this free solution using stuff we had already. Not as pretty as what I had envisioned, but it was okay with me and probably easier. And I liked that it was re-purposing the shelves the previous renters had left when they moved and did not clean all the random stuff and trash out of their/our storage unit. So...it seemed like a good idea.

I thought it was cat-proof. I mean, I didn't think there was enough room to walk around the pots on the shelves. I wanted to ask S to help me move the shelf to be centered in between the windows so that it was not close to either window sill, but that didn't happen before everything fell apart. So the shelf has stayed in its location.

It is clearly not cat-proof. 

That's Pippi on top of one of my my non-flowering daisy plants. 

I bought these daisy plants back in May. Well, they are supposedly daisies, but there are no daisies at all. I have two pots of leaves. Just leaves. Leaves that I try to remember to water. They appear to be pretty comfortable.

The daisies are refusing to bloom this summer. Maybe it is an act of solidarity?

Pippi is not this cat's real name. It's just what I named her. Her real name is probably, you know, a French cat name. But, even so, she seems to like the name Pippi too. She comes when you call her by it.

Does anyone else name the neighborhood animals you see around and then actually talk to them using their not-real names?

Pippi did not seem to mind too much that I got in her face with a camera.

At least someone is getting some pleasure out of the no-daisy daisy plant.

 

 

Before and After Birks



Photo credit: Adventures Along the Way

It's winter and I've been thinking about ways to avoid the Season of Splinters in our little apartment. As you can see from the photo, the wood floor is rather worn. We kinda like the rustic look, but we do not like the huge splinters (over an inch long sometimes!) that we get during the dry winter season, which, to be honest, is closer to about half the year here in Québec.

This past weekend, I was reorganizing my shoes and looking for ones that need repairs. I ran across these shoes I got for cheap at the Birkenstock factory in Germany over 10 years ago. Clearly they have seen better days, and they could use some leather conditioning and re-gluing of the inside liner thing. The strap on the shoe on the right of the photo had broken a year or two ago, and I had tied it in a knot to hold it together.

But sitting there on my bedroom floor surrounded by shoes (and soon-to-be splinter territory), an idea struck. Voilà! New and improved indoor shoes! (Though they are not quiet enough to wear at night since we have downstairs neighbors, so it's probably not the final splinter solution. But for now, I am happy to have a no-splinters-in-the-daytime solution.)

Photo credit: Adventures Along the Way



Patching things up.

Over the last few years I have been focusing on being more eco-responsible and really incorporating the reduce-reuse-recycle thing into my daily life. When we moved to this apartment almost two years ago, we tried to look for things we needed at second hand shops first, and that preference has continued, though we don't really need much these days.

I've started re-purposing old things we have to meet new needs. It's been a fun challenge. Learning to sew has opened up so many more possibilities of modifying my clothes or making stuff out of repurposed t-shirts. When I patch up a hole in my favorite shirt or in my most comfy jeans, I get a thrill from the pioneer feeling of it all. I love feeling resourceful and making stuff last longer.

There are more green changes I'd like to make in the coming months. One goal is trying to find somewhere to buy eggs without packaging. I've heard the market in town sometimes has eggs, so I am going to give that a try in the coming weeks. I'm also working on improvising patterns to make some fun clothes I'll wear out of my large collection of unworn, old t-shirts. And I am really looking forward to growing some some herbs and veggies on our back porch again this year...only this year I'll elevate the containers of edible things so the local outdoor neighbors' cats can't get in them.

Anybody else have any eco-friendly goals to implement this summer?

Finally getting around to the hallway.

When we moved into our apartment in July 2010, this wall pictured above was unfinished white plaster. It was the only white part in a very yellow hallway, which is a color continuation of the yellow and red walls of our dining area. The new wall replaced what had been a door before the bathroom renovation that was done before we moved in. So to make the hallway look normal again, we had bought the yellow paint in almost the same shade of yellow as the rest of the apartment, but then we never got around to sanding it down and actually painting it. Finally, this summer we got inspired and did it. (We also learned that a primer coat would have been a good step not to skip. Oops. We are hoping the yellow paint will outlast our time in the apartment, despite the lack of primer.)

Once the wall was painted to almost-match the rest of the hallway, I was ready to get up some pictures that had been waiting since the move to be hung. I did a draft of an arrangement by laying the frames on the floor of our dining area and re-arranging until it felt right to me. Then, I made "patterns" of each frame out of paper to be recycled, which was a method I learned about here.

I taped the patterns on the wall and re-arranged until the collage was like I wanted it. Then measured and marked each pattern with the spot where the hanger needed to be nailed for the frame to hang in that exact spot.

Then I nailed the hanger hooks right into that spot, removed the papers, and hung the frames in their respective places. It worked really well, and I only had to re-do one nail for which I must have done a wrong calculation. Yay, for less unnecessary holes in the walls!

Summer

This is what became of the second tomato off my tomato plant this summer. Yum.

Learning.

As I mentioned before, I am learning to sew. What is particularly exciting for me about this is that I can now alter all those clothes I have that don't fit quite right, which is quite a fabulous thing since I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores, often without even trying them on. (Yes, I know that sounds crazy, but I have gotten quite accurate at choosing things that fit and are flattering.) The problem is...sometimes they just need minor adjustments....like that dress I have had a couple years that would have been perfect shorter, but I didn't know how to hem t-shirt material. But now I do because I learned to sew by modifying and re-purposing old t-shirts. And I have the courage now to just try sewing things. Here's what I have done so far:

• Hemmed the aforementioned too long black jersey dress to a cute length to go with leggings
• Re-hemmed two skirts whose hems I had ripped out this summer
• Put darts (for the first time ever) in a full skirt that was just a little to big in the waist
• Altered four tank tops to fit more narrowly (they were too wide and looked sloppy)
• Hemmed a pair of sweat pants that I had gotten at camp long ago and had always been tripping over (since I am short...)
• Made an elaborate Christmas-y project out of re-purposed t-shirts which I will later post on
• Shortened the dress in the above photo. I still need to narrow it though because the skirt is wide/poofy enough to look rather circus-appropriate
• Almost finished making a skirt out of re-purposed t-shirts
• Altered a pair of shorts to have the waistband in a permanently "turned down" position, since this is how I prefer to wear this pair of old college logo shorts
• Attempted to alter a pair of old scrub pants to fit better. This project has not yet been successful.

There are many more projects I am eager to attempt, but I have been ordering them so that I can build my skills up to the level to attack more complicated alterations. I feel I am ready to begin with slightly more challenging things, and it's pretty exciting to think about narrowing a blazer I bought, even though I knew it was a little too big, because I loved it so much. And of course, then there is always the Swiss sheep herder dress that is going to hopefully become a little edgier looking after I shorten it.

Sewing 101

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been learning how to sew on a sewing machine. Not the one in the photo, though that is one of ours. We have three actually, which we acquired all for free over a couple of months last winter. Our first one is a Singer. This is the one I am learning on, given to us by a friend. The Stitchmaster in the photo is our second sewing machine. One trash day last winter in Montréal, S found it on the curb with somebody's trash and carried it home. It came in its own sewing table (which it can collapse into when not in use) and we love its funky retro teal color. It got damaged in this summer's move though, so S is fixing it so it will be usable. The third one is another Montréal trash day find from last winter. It's a Brother and rather run-down, but S brought it home in hopes that it might be useful for spare parts for our little teal one. Amazingly, he has been able to use numerous parts which have happened to fit.

Anyhow, I have enjoyed learning on our little Singer. S taught me how to do the basics and I have learned a few things off YouTube sewing videos, so now I am just experimenting with several projects. I have been learning on some old t-shirts I have been wanting to upcycle, and it is great to be doing fun things with them and giving them a second life doing something useful. My first project was a double-sided scarf made from two t-shirts (one red, one grey). It turned out quite well and I have been wearing it around the house this fall when I get cold. The t-shirt material makes it really soft and cozy. My next projects will be some alterations of some of my thrift store clothes (shortening things that are too long, adding darts, etc.). I am excited to finally be able to modify these clothes so they will fit properly and I can wear them.  I am also thinking ahead to Christmas and wondering if I might be able to create anything fun for gifts this year. I have a few ideas in mind, but am still brainstorming and looking for new and simple projects. Any suggestions?

Dirty laundry.

I have a lot of clothes I hand-wash, including clothes that say "Dry Clean Only"* and I hand-wash a lot of the random thrift store clothes I buy that seem a little delicate or vintage. Only the problem is....over  the years, I have acquired a lot of clothes that I would put in the "hand-wash" category. And as someone who doesn't want to be hand-washing stuff regularly every week to stay on top of it, I usually procrastinate until I get a large pile of things that need to be hand-washed. And then I wait. And wait some more. And when I finally really want to wear something in the pile enough, I wash that and as many other things as I can fit on my drying rack and hanging in the shower. But even after that, it doesn't begin to put a dent in the load. And I am tired again of the effort of hand-washing, so I end up waiting a while before hand-washing some more. It is has been a bit of a sisyphean struggle.

But today, while trying to figure out the right way to hand-wash some vintage dresses I bought recently, I ran across the brilliant idea of putting delicate clothes in a pillow case and tying it up to go in the washer on delicate cycle with Woolite. So, I grabbed two white pillow cases and tossed one probably-should-be-dry-cleaned-white-vintage-dress in each.** And the verdict is: they came out of the wash and look perfect. Whiter, clean, and no damage. Amazing. I already have in another load in the washer including a couple of dark previously-hand-wash-but-now-pillow-case items. Whew. This short cut has me looking forward to less hand-washing and more time wearing fun clothes that previously spent long lengths of time in hanging out in the dirty "hand-wash" pile.

*For some of the "Dry Clean Only" clothes that seem to be at risk of damage with hand-washing (wool sweaters, etc), I use Dryell. I once worked at a dry cleaners, and since those four days of employment there, I am a firm believer in Dryell. My job at the cleaners was steaming and ironing ladies dresses, and I must say that dry cleaning does not get B.O. out.
**They were two for $15....I can not bring myself to pay to dry clean them and have not yet been able to find Dryell in Canada.

Grounded.

So, as you know, we recently moved into our new apartment that just had a bathroom renovation. The bathroom is huge and looks nice.

But.

When you look closer, there are a few problems. Some are relatively minor like the paint not being entirely finished and some of the "white" paints in the room not matching. Or the missing finishing metal piece that goes around the toilet pipe covering the hole where it goes into the wall. Or the lack of a mirror and medicine cabinet above the sink.* Or the door being cut too short and not "square." Other errors are not so minor: the sealant around the tub has missing spots that might leak to whatever is below us in the not-too-distant future, the hot and cold water plumbing is reversed, and the tile and grout on the floor are already cracking. (Mind you, this cracking happened within two weeks of installation!**) And then there was our major problem:  the electrical wiring was done unsafely. S knows more (and cares more) about our electrical wiring than the guy who did the repair work, who had set us up with ungrounded wiring in a bathroom of all places.***

At first I thought the renovation guy was trying to do a good job, but was just not the best at doing some stuff, but after seeing his electrical wiring short cuts (who does that???), we think he is an overall devotee of short cuts. But no worries, thanks to S and his wide range of skills, we are slowly upgrading the apartment.**** And we are now grounded.

*We bought some of our own that I guess we will take with us when we move.

**These things are frustrating, but I keep reminding myself that we do not own this apartment and we did not hire or pay for the renovation.

***As in, there is an actual possibility of, you know, electrocution.

****And shed/locker. Just the other day S created a new floor in our shed/locker. The original flooring was not even at all (maybe at a 30-ish degree angle?), and he created a new floor to go on top of the existing one using only the resources of what was in the shed. The shed was left FULL of junk (ex. old mug collection) from the previous renters and we spent several hours cleaning it out. We did keep a few things (old pieces of cabinet doors,bricks, plywood, etc) to re-purpose into shelving, flooring, etc., as we try to upgrade the shed/locker into something useful.