bathroom cabinets

Just a warning, there are lots pictures...

In October 2010, I just got back from my bike trip and my bike was broken so I decided to tackle a house project. I chose to redo my master bath cabinets. I got started and realized I didn't have a before picture. So with one door already undone, I took the before picture.


I chose a color as close to the tiles as I could get. The color is called "parmesan", a slight off white. I sanded the doors and bases. I didn't completely strip off the staid, just enough so the paint would have something to hold on to. Then I rolled on a wood primer. I think it took 3 layers before I was happy with the coverage.





I had to get a picture of everything just painted white because I waited months before getting the courage to apply the glaze. The guy at Home Depot told me I should practice before putting it on the actual doors. That most people weren't able to do a good job so if I practiced, I could get hired to do it for others. That's not my goal but it was my goal to not comlpetely ruin my nice paint job.


I finally took the plunge and glazed my first door (without practicing first). It's really easy. You paint a layer of glaze on. It doesn't have to be uniform but you do need to work it in the crevices. Then you take a rag and wipe it off. The longer you let it sit, the more it sticks to the door. Here's the first glazed door nextto a painted one for contrast.


After that pic, I went back and wiped off some more glaze because it looked too heavy on the glaze for my tastes. Handling the doors was making my hands sticky and I managed to get my finger prints all over the last door. No problem, just put a new layer of glaze down and wipe it down. All evidence will be gone.



Thursday night, Adam told me I could go get the hinges for the cabinets. That was all I needed. I was going to finish this project over the 3 day weekend if it killed me! Friday night, I finally got the bases glazed. And I went and got the hinges as well as the twine I needed for the handles.

I was hoping to find already made rope in the color and size I wanted but that didn't happen so I bought twine in the color I wanted. I cut off a small length of 6 pieces of twine and played around with it until I liked the rope. You remember that rope braid that took me three weeks to learn? Well, that's what I used to make the rope.



Saturday morning, I walked my dogs for 2 hours, then Adam asked me to help on a tow. Three hours later, I was at home again and decided to do my grocery shopping. When I got home, Adam had decided he wanted to go to the church 4th of July party. So we went and we enjoyed ourselves. I really wanted to call my dad but I had learned that morning that I needed to make dessert for the family dinner for Sunday so I baked a 2 layer cake and did the dishes and by then, it was already 11:30. Sigh. Not a scrap of work done. Sunday was spent at church and then we went over to the family dinner where I unveiled my cake (that'll be another post). We were there until late and I got to call and talk to my mom and dad. Monday morning, we woke up and got the dogs fed then made a couple sides for a bbq we were going to. We got our sides made then headed over to our garden for some weeding. Most things are poking up out of the ground now. It's so exciting! We then headed straight to the bbq where we chatted, ate and swam in their pool. It was lots of fun. It started to rain really hard so we had to go rescue the dogs who were trapped outside in it. So, Monday at about 4, I finally actually got to work on it!

I drilled my holes bigger for the handles on all 6 doors.


I made what I thought would be enough rope. Turned out to only be enough for 4. Looks like real rope, huh? I guess that's why they call it a rope braid. ;o)


I made the two knots so the handle would stay in place. Then I taped the edges and slipped them through the holes.


Once I got them through the holes, I pulled upward to tighten the knot on the front side. I then removed the tape and unraveled the rope. I tied the knots on the backside. I pulled each of the 6 strings individually, otherwise, there would be loose strings. Then, I took 3 in one hand and 3 in the other and pulled apart to tighten the knot as much as I could.


Then, I applied glue into the knot and on all sides of it and cut the extra length of twine. The glue dries clear so you son't notice it.


I did run out of rope so I had to make some more. But finally, all had their handles attached.


I ran upstairs and put the new hinges on the doors. I went to put the first door on the base and realized I had bought the wrong hinges!! Nooo!!!!!! I took them all off and ran to the store to get the right ones. I got there at 7:30, they closed at 8. I put the new hinges on...the right ones this time. I had to detach some of the doors and rearrange them so they would close right. Adam had to help me figure that one out.

I stood back and survey my work...Do you see it too?? There are two fake drawers on top that needed handles too!


All the while, it had been raining and the dogs were being clingy. Jasmine and Tucker were helping me out...then Bear joined too. I ran back down stairs and made some more rope. Ran back up, drilled the holes (with Adam's help because I kept catching nails and it wouldn't work for me). I attached the handles and was so tired that I didn't even sweep up the saw dust all over the room.


Close up of the handles.


Left cabinet


Right cabinet.


Woohoo! 8 months later, it's finally done!!! I finally finished a project!! It feels so good and the fact that I like how it turned out is an even greater feeling.

Now, what can I glaze next? ;o)

mending: replacing a button

Adam's church pants are the same pair that I used to have Mom teach me how to hand hem on. Adam wasn't altogether satisfied with my work since it was all lumpy and bumpy at the hemline. It's true, I didn't do a very good job since it was my first time but I was proud of my handiwork anyway. Now, the pants have lost the button.

I had tried sewing buttons on when we were first married. It seemed like a simple thing but they would always come off for some reason. I did a search on the internet and found out that there has to be some slack in the threads so it can manuver into button hole without stressing out the button and threads during the proccess as well as while it's being worn. So the way I accomplish this, is by simply putting a toothpick between the button and the pants. Unlike the darning, this uses a double strand of thread with a knot at the end.

When I'm done weaving the threads through the holes, I remove the toothpick and wrap the thread around the threads where the toothpick was creating a shaft. Then, I bring the needle and thread back down through the fabric and tie off. It's a simple change that has made all the difference in how well the buttons stay on. Now, 2 more buttons to go on other clothes before I am done with replacing buttons for the moment.

homemade detergents

I attended a class recently that taught me how to make my own laundry detergent. The funny thing is, I've been making my own dishwashing detergent for a couple years now but I didn't know that I was already making half the laundry soap too.

Here's everything you need (that grater is never used on food...it's kept in the laundry room cupboard so it doesn't get accidentally used):

To make the dishwashing detergent, I mix equal parts washing soda and borax. The box of washing soda is smaller than the borax so I just pour the whole box of washing soda in a very large mixing bowl, then pour an equal amount of borax in on top of it. Then I mix those two up real good and put them in a couple jars. I was reusing the cardboard box with the pour spout being so small, it took a while to get the soap loaded into the box...and if it clumped up, it would clog the spout and I'd end up pouring way too much out when the clog finally moved out of the way. So a jar with a little scoop is much easier to deal with.

When I need laundry detergent, I simply take 3 cups of that mixture and add a bar of soap, grated finely and stir it up well. The most traditional soap used is Fels Naptha. It's a very hard soap and takes some elbow grease to grate it. You can also use Kirk's castile or Dove or Ivory. All of those are softer and still pure soap. You don't want to use the other body soaps...I don't know why but they say not to. With a HE washer, like I have, I only have to use 1 Tbsp a load. For traditional washers, you use 2 Tbsp a load.

I was buying a bottle of the most pure washing detergent I could find to try to keep my hives at bay and it was costing me about $5/bottle for 32 loads. Fels Naptha costs about $2-3/bar, depending on if you can find it on sale. Kirk's soap only costs $1/bar. Each box of Borax and washing soda costs a little less than $3/each. So, at most, I'm spending $9 for all the ingredients. But I get about 60 laundry loads and enough detergent for a couple months of dishwashing loads as well. I've never had a problem with anything getting clean compared to the storebought soaps.

mending: darning tights/socks

Most people are lucky to be of a "normal" size and can find all kinds of things that fit them but I am a bit taller than the average woman and tights/pantyhose are always hard to ft. Usually, the crotch hangs about midthigh. I refuse to wear them when they're like that. I found a pair while on vacation in Utah one year that miraculously fit me. I have looked multiple times and haven't found another pair since. So, I make sure to baby my tights since I may never get another pair again. From time to time, I get holes in the toes and I have to darn them. I would only darn socks if I really had no money to buy new ones since they're cheap and last me 2-3 years, or more, as it is, or if they're a more expensive variety, like wool but there are people out there who still darn their cotton socks.

It's a simple thing but does take a little time, especially for bigger holes. It's best to do the repair before you actual break all the threads but I sometimes let it go long enough that it's too late. A stitch in time, saves 9, as the saying goes...and it's true. I have never had to redarn an area so it is very strong. Darning is basically weaving the new thread into the old fabric.

This time, I had let it go way too long. I had one foot with a completely broken through hole and the other foot had a broken through hole and a smaller threadbare hole.

To do this, you need thread that matches the size of the yarn used...so wool socks will need thicker thread and these tights. I use cross stitching floss. You also need a basic needle and a darning egg of some sort. I use an old lightbulb which is just about perfect. (If you look closely at the bulb, you can actually see where I've used it in the past.) I have this one tucked in my sewing basket since we no longer use these lightbulbs. And of course, you'll need you holey tights.


Slip the lightbulb into the toe you need to work on and slightly stretch the toe around it. This makes it easier to work on. The needle will glide on the lightbulb without catching other threads as well as help to keep the original shape of the toe.

You don't ever want to make a knot because it would irritate your foot, especially if you're repairing the bottom part. Use only one strand. Leaving a short bit of tail, make a running stitch all the way around your hole. When you get back to the beginning, start making stitches from top to bottom, bottom to top, and repeat until you reach the other side of the hole. You don't want to cinch the two sides together so leave them slightly loose. Try to leave the hole exactly the same size as it was when you started.

In this picture below, I just finished the top to bottom stitches and am now ready to begin weaving.

One thread on top, one on bottom, repeating until you reach the other side. Repeat back and forth until you have finished. You'll finish it up by doing one more running stitch around the hole and snip the thread, leaving a bit of a tail.

I realize this is an awful pic but it was the best I was able to come up with. The top hole is the threadbare one I haven't touched yet. The one in the shadow is the one I just darned. It's just to show you the weaving proccess but I actually fill it in much more desely than that.

This is what it looks like when I have finished with the dense darning in each hole. You can see the whole area I have had to darn over the last 8 years...the area with no white peeking through. As it stretches a bit, the little tails disappear.

Like I said, it's super simple but it has definitely been a handy skill for me to have!

sock bun curling

I found this video on youtube about sock buns. I was curious so I watched it. It is the most amazing thing. You take a sock, cut off the toe and roll it into a donut shape. I have a white sock and I then rolled a knee high (one of those cheap ones you can buy in a little plastic egg) that was close to my hair color. That way it doesn't show through if you don't get your hair all the way around it. So to make the bun, you make a ponytail and put a ponytail holder in it. The you thread your ponytail through it. Then you proceed to roll your hair in it as you bring it down to the scalp. It stays like magic! No pins, no scrunchies, no nothing. It's just too neat. And the thing is, it looks really nice too. Way better than my buns ever look. I watched another video by the same girl about how to use this technique to curl your hair. She had these beautiful curls so I tried it after spraying my hair with a water bottle. No curls at all. So I tried again with wetter hair. I think I let it dry way too much though before putting it up because the curls disappeared the moment I brushed it.

So here it is before I went to bed.

This is after I woke up. It really holds well!

Then I took it down and this is what I saw. Not as much curl as I was hooping for but I was happy enough with it.

Then I put it up and that was all the curl that was left! Uggghhh! I really dislike my hair's stubbornness!

I am going to try again though with wetter hair...and maybe put some gel in it to help it hold.

fluffing the pillow

This has been a very busy week, for Adam even more than for me. Adam's friend's father died on Saturday (a week ago) and he's been spending a lot of time at their house, helping out and then coming home and doing things to get ready for the viewings and funeral. The last couple of nights, we've stayed up late working on finishing up the slideshow and programs. Today was the funeral and I took the day off of work since the funeral was in the middle of the day. I slept in until noon and I can't tell you how much I needed it. I do hate wasting my whole day asleep though. The funeral was nice. The Temple president spoke as well as the former Swedish Temple president (where he served a mission with his wife). They'd been temple workers for the last 26 years. He got to see the newly renovated temple one time before he passed away.

Anyway, I needed to relax a little one evening after waking the dogs and before Adam got home and we started work on more of the preparations. We go through lots of pillows at our house. We like them firm and in no time, it seems, they are FLAT. We both really need new pillows again. This time, instead of adding more pillows to our ever growing stash, I decided to do some transplanting. Tucker had eaten the corner off one of the pillows when he was a puppy and I kept the pillow around anyway. (Still need to mend the pillowcase so it can get back into circulation.) That was the donor pillow.

I took Adam's pillow and cut a slit, large enough for my arm to get in there and move around in, in the blue band on the side. I took fluff and filled in the spots that were fluffless (is that a word?). Once the pillow was full again, I stitched up the hole with a whip stitch. Nothing fancy, or pretty...but it did the job.

Instead of buying new pillows, I'll just keep adding fluff from older pillows. I have a problem. I can't throw them away when they're still usable so this way, they actually will get used up without filling up a landfill...and saving us money at the same time.

Now, I just need to get mine done!

Little Miss Muffet

Again, I got this from the book "Nourishing Traditions" that I got for Christmas. This recipe makes "cream cheese" and whey. The cream cheese can be used like you would use cream cheese except that it is kind of gritty when cooked in a dish. Maybe if I used whole fat yogurt that wouldn't be the case but I have no experience so can't say for sure. It's healthier though because it's full of probiotics unlike real cream cheese. The whey is what I use to lacto-ferment things like sauerkraut and the carrots that I really like. Also, you can put some in the soaking water for beans and it helps to lessen the things in beans that give you gas.


It's super simple to make. You take a muslin cloth, or a few layers of cheese cloth, draped over a bowl. Dump the yogurt into the cloth.


Tie up the ends and hang it above the bowl.



This is what's left over. The cream cheese lasts a few weeks and the whey lasts a few months.

Working with poly rope & making bikejor lines

I've been looking for a better alternative to the leashes I've been using for bikejoring. I found my alternative in hollow braid polyproplene rope. I found out how to do a simple loop splice and then I ran with it.


All you need is hollow rope and a fid (the black thing in the above pic). Lehigh company supplies one with each bag of rope.


Simply thread the end of the rope into the fid. You need to have at least 6 extra inches of rope for the the splice. Put the end of the rope into the fid and thread it through the rope and pull out the other side.


Then, thread the fid through your loop (which has been pulled down to the size you want it to be).

By the spot where you originally threaded the fid through the rope, put the fid down the center of the hollow rope.

Feed the fid & rope through the center of the hollow rope until all the extra rope had been pulled through. Snake the fid out and you've done a loop.

So, with this new piece of information, I built myself a bikejor line for two dogs. I still have to buy the bungee to insert but other than that, it's done. I got all the parts at Lowe's for $18. (That's the rope, 2 steel rings & 2 swiveling hooks.) I made sure each piece was rated for more weight than my dogs are. The various parts are rated for 170 - 300 lbs working load.

I'm not sure how long it is but it's longer than what we've been using so I'm happy about that. I've been nervous about running into the backside of one of the dogs.

This is my favorite splice of the whole line. I had to add a second line to allow for two dogs. I did my own splice that seems to be as strong as the other. I think it looks the most professional of all the splices.

Sprouting

I've been interested in sporouting for about a year now but I didn't really know how to do it or where to find the things I needed (other than online) so I just never did it. But when I went to Boise Co-op to buy the grains, I found the sprouting section they have. They carry a sprouting lid for wide mouth Mason jars. It was only $4. I bought a small bag of mixed seeds with broccoli, radish, lentil, mung bean and alfalfa. I was reluctant to pay almost $6 for the very small bag but after doing three batches of sprouts, it's not quite as bad as it seemed. You only use 2 tsp. of seeds per batch and I've barely made a dent in the amount. They've already paid for themselves. They taste better than the ones I've bought at the store and are tons cheaper. Even Adam likes sprouts so he'll be pleasantly surprised when I make some for him. It's super easy to do too. You just put the seeds in the jar, screw on the sprouting lid which has tiny holes in it. You leave the water in overnight. The lid makes it to where you don't ever have to take it off through the whole process. In the moring, you empty the water and rinse the seeds a couple of times. Do that again every 12 hours for 3-5 days until the stems develop 2 leaves. At that point, put the jar in the sunlight for a few hours to turn the leaves green. Then, put it in the fridge. They keep for a few days.


The seeds in the first jar are the same amount I used in the second jar and it ended up filling the jar completely.

Monthly Challenge for October

This is my report for October's challenge.

This month, with moving and everything that goes along with that, I didn’t get started with my experiments until there was less than 2 weeks left in the month. So needless to say, I didn’t get as much done as I hoped. I had hoped to try to capture wild yeast in 3 different ways, and learn to stretch commercial yeast in at least 3 ways.

I started with a technique called Japanese Yeast Water. You put a handful or two of raisins in a jar filled 80% with water. Store it on the counter or in a cupboard. You loosely cap it and in a couple of days, the raisins will begin to float to the top. In 3-6 days, you should be seeing bubbles on the top of the water. The bubbles are the yeast. It was at this stage, both times I tried it, that mold grew on the raisins floating on the top. I don’t think this kind of yeast is as useful as some others so since I lost the yeast water twice, I gave up on it. If you are interested in learning more about it and how to use it, visit http://originalyeast.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-to-make-yeast-water.html.

Next, I started what I call a wild grape yeast sponge. Aside from floating in the air, yeast is also present on the skin of fruits, especially grapes and berries. So if you mix together equal parts of flour and water then add some grapes to the mixture, you should get yeast. I did that and set it in a warm place, loosely capped. I think on the second day, there were small bubbles in the mixture and it smelled slightly yeasty. The third day, there were more bubbles but the smell turned to something off. The next day, the bubbles were gone and the smell was almost enough to make me throw up. So I got rid of the grapes and kept it for one more day. No progress so I threw it out. I tried this one again as well. On the second day, there were bubbles and the yeast smell was there so I got rid of the grapes before they had a chance to go bad and ruin another batch. I fed it an equal part of flour and water and let it sit. The next day there were still bubbles so I fed it again. The next morning, the bubbles had disappeared and that nasty smell was back. Failure again so I gave up on that method as well.

The third way to capture yeast I wanted to try was making a sourdough starter. There are lots of recipes online to start a starter with commercial yeast but that wasn’t the point of my experiment so I found a recipe for a starter that I think has gotten me my first success!

Procedure for Making Sourdough Starter
Day 1: mix...2 T. whole grain flour (rye and/or wheat)2 T. unsweetened pineapple juice or orange juiceCover and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
Day 2: add...2 T. whole grain flour2 T. juiceStir well, cover and let sit at room temperature 24 hours. At day 2 you may (or may not) start to see some small bubbles.
Day 3: add...2 T. whole grain flour2 T. juiceStir well, cover and let sit at room temperature 24 hours.
Day 4:Stir down, measure out 1/4 cup and discard the rest.To the 1/4 cup add...1/4 cup flour*1/4 cup filtered or spring water
*You can feed the starter whatever type of flour you want at this point (unbleached white, whole wheat, rye). If you are new to sourdough, a white starter is probably the best choice. All-purpose flour is fine--a high protein flour is not necessary.

Repeat Day 4:Once daily until the mixture starts to expand and smell yeasty. It is not unusual for the mixture to get very bubbly around Day 3 or 4 and then go completely flat and appear dead. If the mixture does not start to grow again by Day 6, add 1/4 tsp. apple cider vinegar with the daily feeding. This will lower the pH level a bit more and it should wake up the yeast.

The yeast we are trying to cultivate will only become active when the environment is right. When you mix flour and water together, you end up with a mixture that is close to neutral in pH, and our yeasties need it a bit more on the acid side. This is why we are using the acidic fruit juice. There are other microbes in the flour that prefer a more neutral pH, and so they are the first to wake up and grow. Some will produce acids as by-products. That helps to lower the pH to the point that they can no longer grow, until the environment is just right for wild yeast to activate. The length of time it takes for this to happen varies.

When using just flour and water, many will grow a gas-producing bacteria that slows down the process. It can raise the starter to three times its volume in a relatively short time. Don't worry--it is harmless. It is a bacteria sometimes used in other food fermentations like cheeses, and it is in the environment, including wheat fields and flours. It does not grow at a low pH, and the fruit juices keep the pH low enough to by-pass it. Things will still progress, but this is the point at which people get frustrated and quit, because the gassy bacteria stop growing. It will appear that the "yeast" died on you, when in fact, you haven't begun to grow yeast yet. When the pH drops below 3.5--4 or so, the yeast will activate, begin to grow, and the starter will expand again. You just need to keep it fed and cared for until then.

Once your wild yeast is growing, the character and flavor will improve if you continue to give it daily feedings and keep it at room temperature for a couple of weeks longer.After that time, it should be kept in the refrigerator between uses/feedings.

I followed the direction as closely as possible. I did forget about it one night and fed it the next day but everything is still alive and going well. Around the time she stated, the starter appeared dead so I used the vinegar like she said and the next day, is was bubbling again.
I will continue on with keeping the sourdough starter alive and actually making something with it. I will also work on doing some of the yeast stretching things I’ve read about and report back another month on those things.

Should you blindly trust your doctor?

When I went to my doctor 2 weeks ago, I told him what I was doing. I scrub every night with a sodium chloride solution, letit dry for a little while, put on some neosporion and bandage it back up until the next night when I do it again. Despite the infection that had set in in the surrounding tissue, he said it looked great and that I was doing everything just right. "Keep doing what you're doing, take the antibioticsa and come back in two weeks so I can make sure everything is healing properly." So I have an appointment for Monday. I got the information on how to take care of the wounds from the nurse at the doctor's office, the pharmacist (on what to use to clean it) and my knowledge of basic treatment so I can't blame it all on the doctor but I have been doing exactly as I had been since it was "perfect".

Adam told all his coworkers about my accident and a woman from Boise called him on Friday and talked to him. 6 months ago, she fell off of a ladder and cracked her leg open to the bone. They told her to do pretty much what I've been doing and she was doing it. It got infected so they put her on antibiotics but told her to keep doing what she was doing. And she did, for a while. But the infection got so bad, the doctor started talking about the need for amputation. So she found a wound specialist (I have never heard of sucha thing) and told him what she had been doing to take care of it. He said that basically, it was he wrong thing to be doing. He told her what she needed to do. She's still wounded but it's no longer infected. So Adam came home and talked to me about it and told me I should do some online research about how to treat road rash.

I looked a number of sites and they all agreed that letting it scab over is outdated...that's one of the worst things to do because it results in scarring and it takes longer to heal and it's what causes all the itching during healing. Also, they all agreed that scrubbing is also outdated as it aggrivates the wound and does more damage and it takes longer to heal.

So what AM I suposed to do?

Treat it more like burn than a scratch. Initially, you have to do as much scrubbing as it takes to get the road grit and everything else out of it but that should be the only hard scrubbing you ever do on it.

So here is what should have been doing all along and I would be healed by now:
1. Clean wound with a Sodium Chloride solution (yeah me) lightly removing, with a guaze pad, the tissue trying to form a scab (exudites I think they're called).
2. Blot dry with surgical guaze sponges.
3. Apply Carrasyn V gel or Silver Sulfadiazine (both are burn creams).
4. Cover with burn treatment pads (2nd Skin, Tegaderm and Bioclusive are the ones named and 2nd Skin was rated the best)
5. Hold in place with some conforming guaze roll.
6. Use surgilast to hold it all in place.

The wounds need to be cleaned daily. Followig this from the beginning, most road rash heals in 10 days, more severe rash can take 2-3 weeks to heal...with minimum scarring.

I trust doctors pretty well. But I really need to take a more active part in my own medical care...get myself informed and make sure I'm doing the best thing for my body.


Oh,oh, oh...one more thing. I learned a handy tip from the best site I found. Leave your bandagig on and wrap the site with saran wrap and take a quick shower. Dry off, then remove the sarn wrap. I can take a shower again!!!! :o)