One Dad's Life

Home Remodeling - Details Count!

Recently, my beautiful and talented wife remodeled our bathroom.  When I say "our bathroom", I'm referring to the ONLY bathroom in our house!  This is challenging, to say the least.  While you can do without a sink or cabinets for a while, we really need the tub and the toilet!

In any case, she pulled it off and with style, too!   I've been meaning to write about this since she finished the room (we still want to replace the tile around the tub), but for whatever reason, just didn't get to it.  However, when I was in the room the other day, I noticed how awesome the light was and took a single picture of the corner of the sink to kick things off.

 

I don't remember all the locations she bought all the accessories from, so hopefully she will correct me if I get anything wrong!

She reused our old vanity and top (along with the faucet), but sanded and repainted it.  You can't see this in the photo, so I'll probably need a part 2!  She also applied a new coat of plaster to the wall, as some areas of the old stucco had worn down to the brown coat of plaster.  You do have plaster walls, don't you?  If not, rip out your current walls and put them in! Seriously. Drywall is...icky. She didn't try to match the old texture, and instead re-did the entire room with this new texture.  We ended up liking it so much, she did the same thing to our kitchen, which had a sand-finish plaster wall.

Finding the mirror was tricky, as we had a specific size that it really had to be very close to.  The old mirror was one of those beveled mirrors with no frame and filled the area just right.  We needed to find something to fit the style we were going for, but still the same size!  Any way, she found a few possibilities at Home Goods, and this particular mirror happened to be EXACTLY the same outside dimensions as the old one.  It fits perfectly, both in style and color, as well as size.

I think she got the hardware from a variety of places, and is a brushed silver look.  The addition of a hand towel rack is a new touch.  I love putting flowers in the corner of the sink (and frequently do), so the towel rack was positioned to allow a vase in the corner.

The towels themselves were purchased from Target.  In fact, she went to nearly every Target in the St. Louis area to get enough of the towels.   The towels themselves are nice and thick, but mono-chromatic.  So, she sewed the material you see across the bottom onto the "display" towels.  This material is the same material that was used to create part of the shower curtain. The shower curtain is also not shown, clearly a "part 2" will be needed!

The vase itself we purchased from the glass-blower in Silver Dollar City (Branson, Missouri), during a family vacation a couple of years ago.  It was our only souvenir.   It may be hard to tell in the picture, but the glass is tinted and iridescent!  It's amazingly cool.  The flowers themselves came from the Dierbergs florist and are real, so they won't stick around too much longer.

So you see, my wife can build more than doll houses! Go ahead and click the link if you don't know what I'm talking about.  Now, just wait until she finishes the kitchen...

Wordless Wednesday - How Does Your Garden Grow?

If you've been visiting "One Dad's Life" for any length of time, you know that my favorite photographic subject is flowers.  My favorite location for taking pictures of flowers? My yard!

Coneflowers are one of my favorites in our yard. They are brightly colored, have a lot of contrast, and as a bonus frequently have Bumble-bees on them!

Today's shot is from the archives - way back in July, I think, so I'm hoping I haven't posted it before!

Nikon D60.  Exposure f8 at 1/40 of a second. Available light.  ISO 100. I don't remember if I used a tripod or not! Shot with the 18-55, f3.5-5.6 kit lens. Click on the photo for a larger version with less jaggies.

Hummingbird Success!

Sometime last September,  we put up a Hummingbird feeder for the first time.  We hung this feeder off one corner of our screen porch, and waited.

No one came to visit!

We started thinking that perhaps it was because the feeder did not have enough red on it - it was very muted and really cool looking, but I don't think Hummingbirds are interested in cool.  They are interested in RED and the nectar that's behind it.

So, my wife made some streamers out of red vinyl, and we hung them around the feeder.  She's crafty!  A few days after doing this, we had Hummingbirds for a full week.  Then the Hummingbird season ended and they all flew off to Central America for winter.  But we were excited, because now we knew how to attract the little guys.

So this year, as soon as the migration of the Hummingbirds reached the St. Louis area, we put out our feeder, complete with red streamers, and waited.

No one came to visit!

Still, I faithfully changed the nectar every 5 days or so, but never saw a bird, or noticed the nectar level drop.

That is, until this weekend.  I still hadn't changed the nectar from before my trip to China and had forgotten to tell my wife how often it needs to be done, and how to make the nectar.  I was more concerned with my trip, honestly!  This weekend, I preparing some food in our kitchen when I noticed a Hummingbird darting around the feeder.

NATURALLY!  They show up the ONE weekend when the nectar is probably moldy after not being changed for a few weeks.  Bleh.  I was afraid I'd ruined the chances of the birds coming back, but I non-the-less grabbed the step ladder and took down the feeder in a frenzy to clean it and replace the nectar. 

It was an arduous task, due to the fact that sugar water cannot sit outside for several weeks without causing problems, but I got the feeder cleaned out and the nectar replaced.  I hung it back up and was very shortly rewarded with a Hummingbird visitor! 

Life is good!

 

Of course, if you know me at all, this whole episode doesn't really count until I also get a picture of it. So I grabbed the Nikon, and rushed back to the porch.  Amazingly, the bird was still there and I got a fairly decent shot, considering my rush and the fact that I shot through a black metal screen at a very small bird flitting about rapidly.  You can barely make out the blur of the wings above the bird as he landed on the feeder.   I'd like to see more of this blur, but this is a good start.

Double-Dip

I know for certain that many of you will either be attending parties or throwing parties this weekend.  So, I've decided to give some advice - not at all dissimilar to Ms. Manners - that is guaranteed to make your weekend more spectacular.

This is advice that flies in the face of conventional wisdom, so you may encounter just a teeny bit of resistance, but I wouldn't worry about that too much.  Look at what Christopher Columbus faced and now there is a Starbucks on every corner!  And yes, those two things are too related.

In any case, here is my life-changing, attitude improving advice for you this weekend:

Double-dip.

That's right.  No doubt, many of you will be heading (or holding) an event that involves various flavors of chip and dip.  Conventional wisdom tells us that double-dipping - the act of returning a chip for another round of dip once it has had a bite taken out of it - is so bad that it is the social equivalent of dating your cousin.

Hogwash.

Think about this: how many times at a party have you become confused over which cup was yours? A lot, right? Has grabbing the wrong cup killed you, yet?  Probably not, since you are reading this blog.  Of course, if you are currently reading this from a hospital bed being treated for shared drink syndrome, best of luck to you.  In any case, what does a shared drink have that double-dipped chip dip doesn't have?

Backwash. 

Ewwwww. (This is the second time this week I've used the word "Ewwwwww" on this blog. Literary genius, I tell you!)

Here's something else for you to consider: The five-second rule.   I'm fighting conventional wisdom with conventional wisdom, here.  How many times have you dropped that perfect potato chip with just the perfect amount of dip onto the floor.  You didn't want the perfect chip and dip combo to go to waste, so you grabbed the chip, stuffed it into your mouth, and declared (loud enough so everyone could hear), "5-SECOND RULE!"  Chances are no one in the room was the slightest bit grossed out by this.

Imagine, if you will, that the floor is a teaming cesspool of disease and germs.  Would you eat off the bottom of your shoe?  It's cleaner than the floor, most likely, yet you'll invoke the 5-second rule and feel good about it and probably not end up in the hospital.  Again, I'm sorry if you do happen to be in the hospital as a direct result of double-dipping.  But, do you think that the dip is cleaner or dirtier than the floor?  It's got to be WAY better!  If people can accept the 5-second rule for the cesspool floor, then we can also apply it to the dip.

Doesn't make sense? Applying the 5-second rule in reverse is helpful in this analysis.  Doing so would say that as long as your chip is not re-dipped for longer than 5-seconds, dippers who are following you should be safe, right? 

"5-SECOND RULE!"

We all know that if you have an exceptionally large chip, you can't get proper dip coverage with one dip, anyway.  What's the point of the chip? Dip carrier, largely.  The second half of the chip will be so disappointing without the dip coverage, right?  There are so many other disappointments in life, why let an un-dipped chip fragment be one of them?

Improve your life and double-dip! Be the Christopher Columbus of snack foods!  No one is looking anyway!

Double-dipping.  Life is good.

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Editor's note: practice double-dipping at your own risk. Strangely enough, not everyone believes all conventional wisdom.  For an alternate view on the 5-second rule, click here. Also, like Christopher Columbus when he began insisting the world was round and a path to the Indies could be found by sailing west, there is a good chance you will no longer be invited to the really good parties if you double-dip.  Of course, you may also end up impressing a rich queen and your life will never be the same again!  Think positively!

Visiting the Chicken

I recently returned from a trip to China.  In addition to visiting a number of historic (and ancient!) sites around the city of Xi'an, there is one activity that I engaged in above all others:

I ate.  I ate a LOT.

I believe that my hosts were determined to introduce me to every possible dish that was popular in the area.  At every single lunch and dinner there seemed to be a never ending supply of food being brought to our table.   In fact, one day, near the end of my trip, I was asked if I was getting full.  I replied, "I've been full since my second meal here!"

In short, the food was amazing.  I have no idea what it is that is served at the Chinese Buffets I've been to, but it certainly does not compare to the local food in Xi'an.  Everything is completely fresh, and full of flavor.  I was also surprised by the amount of red (cayenne) pepper that is used in their meals.  I consider this to be a very good thing!  They also used a lot of little green hot peppers.  Yum.

In at least one restaurant, when we ordered some fish, they first brought the fish to the table in a large black plastic bag for us to inspect and approve before it was cooked.  The fish was still alive.

That's fresh.

One evening, after I had been in China for a week or so, I went out to eat with a large group of people.   We had a nice private room which was wonderful.  Also, we were noisy, so we might have been assigned this room to keep the noise down.  Someone ordered some of the beginning courses and some beer, and after a discussion with some of the waitresses serving us (we had more than one!), they turned to me and asked me if "I'd like to visit the chicken."

By this time, I felt pretty comfortable with many Chinese customs - particularly those centered around eating, which, as I mentioned, I had done a LOT of already.  So, I knew what this was all about. I decided that I didn't really need to visit the chicken to see if it was fresh enough; my experience so far had been very good with the food, and this seemed to be quite a nice restaurant.  I was sure the chicken would be excellent.  It didn't need me to visit it.

So, I confidently stated that "no, I did not really need to visit the chicken, I'm sure that it is just fine!"

This reply seemed to cause just a little bit of a ripple of confusion to move through the group.  Apparently, they didn't understand exactly what I had just said.  This is understandable.  I speak English and they speak Chinese.  There are a lot of differences between these two languages, and while I thought they handled English very well (and I handled Chinese VERY poorly), it isn't too uncommon to have to say things in another way to be understood.

"I'm sure the chicken will be great.  I don't need to see the chicken running around before we eat."

More confusion ensued.  A number of Chinese-English dictionaries appeared.  Some of them were electronic. Pretty cool, really.  After a bit of typing, page turning, and people silently mouthing the words they saw, they repeated their question, with emphasis:

"No. Would you like to visit the chicken?"

There was no mistaking it. They wanted me to visit the chicken.  It seemed important.  I would give one last rebuttal.  I knew if this failed that I would probably be visiting the chicken whether I wanted to or not.  I was preparing mentally for a lot of feathers and a beheading.  Ewwww.

"No, really, I don't need to see the chicken. Please feel free to cut off it's little head without me present!"

Now, there was more than a ripple of confusion, there was a wave.  There was a hurried conversation with the servers and more consulting of the dictionaries.  They REALLY wanted me to visit the chicken, yet were confused by my responses at the same time.  I knew in my mind, that I was going to be visiting the chicken for sure.

"If it is really important that I visit the chicken before they cook it, I will go", I said.

I am ALL about international relations.  I didn't want to screw this up and mess up a trade agreement or something. I imagined getting my passport taken away when I returned to the United States.  How would I explain that?

Still, they again insisted that I visit the chicken, which I thought a bit odd since I had pretty much already agreed to visit the poor bird prior to its impending death.

"They would like you to visit the chicken to show you how clean it is!"

They bathe their chickens?  Impressive.

"The chickens are clean?"

"Chickens?"

"Yeah, you said they wanted to show me how clean the chickens were!"

"Not chickens. Chicken.  K. I. T. C. H. E. N.",  they spelled. "Chicken!"

OOOOOOOOOOHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

"You mean kitchen", I replied, thinking how funny my responses must have seemed, now that I knew what they were really saying.

"How do you say that?", they asked.

"Kitchen", I repeated.

"...Chicken...", they slowly repeated.

"No, kitchen", I replied, saying the word slowly and carefully.

"That's really hard to say."

I thought about it for a minute, and then agreed.  Kitchen really IS a hard word to say.

"OK. Let's go visit the CHICKEN", I told my hosts.

And we did.  It was very nice.  The chicken was good, too.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday - Angel in the Spotlight

Last summer, we "discovered" the Whittaker Music Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens when we saw Erin Bode perform there.   Every Wednesday night, there is a concert at the amphitheater near the Home Gardening Center and Children's Garden.   One of the concerts this year, my sister and her family joined us, and our kids played with a swarm of other kids they found back by one of the plazas that have the fountains.

My daughter, Rachel, and my niece, Emily, saw through the trees what looked like a tall, flat fountain that was lit up and they wanted to visit it.  I couldn't figure out what it was, so I grabbed the camera and set off with the two kids to investigate.

It turned out just to be the light from an angel fountain by Henry Shaw's home shining on the windowless wall of his home.  Naturally, I snapped a few pictures!

Taken with a Nikon D60, natural light, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 lens, handheld.  Click this picture for a much larger version with fewer "jaggies!"

For regular readers of the blog, I've been traveling (in China!) and have not had access to the blog, though I was occasionally able to send pictures (as you can tell), though I could not edit text once a picture was sent OR even see the blog, as it was blocked.  Regular posting will resume tomorrow!

Friday Photo - Chopsticks

Incense and the Namaste Dagoba

Note: comments on this site will be up to date on Saturday!

Wordless Wednesday - Pick Your Color

Shot with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 point and shoot.

Drums and Kites

You can't tell in this picture, but these kites extend HUNDREDS - MANY HUNDREDS of yards into the air.  It's very hard to get pictures of moving kites at night, even with brightly lit buildings, you know.  The building on the right has dozens of very large drums ringing the bottom balcony. Coincidentally, it's called "The Drum Tower."