My hubby and I are planning a kitchen remodel. The kitchen in our 1947 home has the original cabinets which are sort of built-in but with rather low craftsmanship.
When we first moved in almost 5 years ago, a wall cabinet had a pair of doors with straight sections cut out of them and the bottom shelf had a large and irregular shape cutout covered by a piece of wood on top. We speculated that the cabinet was cut to accommodate a large microwave when the technology first became available to consumers. We traced the shelf cutout onto the piece of wood that was covering it, cut the wood, and attached it to what’s left of the cabinet with several straight metal connectors. I then covered all the cabinets with plastic shelf liner so the big flaw of this wall cabinet is no longer too visible and it functions like its old self.
While installing the shelf liner, I discovered that the base cabinets were attached to the walls without any wood in the back. What I mean is that the back of cabinets are the plaster walls with the sandy textures exposed and no paint. The sand is falling off constantly. Installing the shelf liner was a nightmare. The sand is also problematic for storing pots and pans. Who wants sand (or whatever it is) in their food? The solution was installing $200 worth of chrome kitchen organizers. … continue reading this post …
I’ve been a believer of Chinese medicine since the third grade. Back then, I had a 103-degree fever that wouldn’t go away for three days and my mom took me to see a different Western medicine doctor each day. A relative recommended a Chinese medicine doctor and I guess mom was ready to try anything by that point. The doctor prescribed me some black pasty herbal pills and a formula of Chinese herbal tea. I was up watching TV hours after taking the medicine. My mom thought it was quite amazing since I had stayed in bed for days.
Growing up, I continued to seek out Chinese medicine whenever I got ill. And I was always sick with a high fever and the common cold. When I got the same thing the first Christmas I spent in Portland, I was away from my immediate family. My aunt hadn’t had any experience with Chinese medicine. She gave me regular Tylenol and I still kept boiling up. My temperature reached 104 degrees at one point. I’ve been at 103 degrees many times and that wasn’t bad. At 104 degrees, I was delirious. The ceiling was turning. Brain cells must be frying. I don’t remember one bit how I came back to life.
I found out about Ignite Portland recently and marked my calendar to go to its 5th appearance last week. But I didn’t feel well after a hard day of snowshoeing so I decided to stay home. Thanks to online videos, I can relive the event without waiting in the cold outside to get in and fighting the temptation of pizza and beer (I am allergic to wheat). I’ve watched several presentations. My favorite so far is Bram Pitoyo’s The Secret History of Fonts You May Not Know Before. Bram gave away a T-shirt in the middle of his presentation. That’s way cool!
My hubby and I spent last weekend near Mt. Hood. I got a good deal on Expedia to stay at The Resort at the Mountain at $250 (with tax, etc) for 2 nights. According to their website, the cheapest room starts at $139/ night. If it wasn’t the recession, I wouldn’t have gotten the deal. The hotel has just completed a major renovation. I don’t know how it looked before but it now has a modern interior, sort of another W Hotel wannabe. The outside of the buildings didn’t appear to have any work done. Gray two-story buildings all around. One building has a broken gutter hanging off the roof. However, considering we stayed at the Vegabond Lodge a few weeks ago, this past weekend was a major improvement.
