wasps

We never took an organic approach when it came to wasps. The hive was up a tree, 25 feet in the air. Kitson balanced on top of the ladder, which balanced on top of the roof, and hit the hive with spray foam.

renovating on the cheap

Here is the master bedroom before our renovation.  The closet had sliding doors. This meant you could only see inside one half of it at a time.  The wire shelves were crooked, as was the floor.  The linoleum had two overlapping layers in the closet, apparently having been cut too small.  There was a wallpaper trim.

Before we moved in we took down the wallpaper and painted the room Mascarpone with Chantilly Lace baseboards (white and whiter).  Eventually we added a blue accent wall in Cumulus Cotton.  I wanted bifold doors.  I wanted to see the whole closet at once.

After we moved in we spent a few days sleeping in the dining room while installing new floors in the bedroom, right over top of all the old layers.    It actually made the bedroom floor level with the rest of the house and minimized the slope in the closet.  Instead of buying new doors we cut the old ones in half, turned them into bifolds, and painted them Stonington Grey.

We were able to reuse the middle shelves, we gave the wire ones away, and added dowels to hang our reduced wardrobe.

We got the doorknobs from my in-laws  who had been saving them for us since they renovated their house in the nineties (before they even knew I existed).  The hardware is sixties era and apparently there is more.

The clothes are arranged using the folding method described in "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up".  What you see inside is both of our entire wardrobes minus underwear, accessories, coats, and shoes.  Our socks are in the box.

The rug is in the same position it was in when my daughter was born on it last December.  The rose painting was meant to be used as a meditation tool during labour (a blooming flower). At the time it was wedged in the middle of a pile of junk and there was no time for meditation.

purple passion

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Lavender.

normcore

Normcore is a trend toward plainness.  The goal is to be nothing special.  The dress is very basic.  Classic articles of clothing are key.  The button ups are white and the strait leg denim is blue.

Normcore is a reaction against everything alternative, which is now available by mass market. Too many lumberjacks are roaming coffee shops with typewriters.  The only way to stand out is by not standing out.

minimal exercise

When I was pregnant everyone kept telling me how I hadn't gained any weight, that I was all belly.  I was feeling smug about it to be honest.  Now that Lavender is two months old the scale tells me I'm 18lbs heavier than I was before the pregnancy.  It turns out I had gained weight.  No big deal, it's just a number.  I'll turn the weight into muscle!

Last time I got really fit I used weight training for a minimalist fitness program.  The trick is to only work out twice a week but lift enough weight that all of your muscles hurt for the next two days.  The muscles grow as they repair themselves during the rest days.  Once you have some muscle then your body burns more calories at rest, which helps to shed fat.  Avoid time-wasting cardio, except for a quick warm up to prevent injury.

I killed it at the gym last night!  I was the sweatiest person in the room.  No one else's face was as red as mine.  Soon I'll be able to do one pushup again.  Now if I could just find an efficient way to look after my heart and lungs I'll be set.

the stamps

Safeway has tricked us into going for a big shop before the stamp deadline ends.  I wonder what $160 worth of groceries will look like balanced on Kitson's bike trailer.  Yes, we have two cars with gas in them.  Oh and it's raining.

since minimizing the workload we're taking austerity measures

We painted the hallway mostly white, with some cumulous cotton (blue).  We chose the cumulous cotton because it was the closest thing to the colour of the year which we loved (a breath of fresh air), but was cheaper.  Actually, that was last year's colour of the year, we're a bit behind. We have to use what we've got before we buy more paint (or anything else).  We used the white (mascarpone) because we had a gallon kicking around.

With any luck the last of the 90's yellow should be covered up by tomorrow.  It wasn't so much the colour that was the problem but the smears of white putty from holes I had filled back in September.  Using the roller on the arch should be exciting.