June 21st, 2010 by Erin

Like many of you, I addressed, stamped, and mailed some Father’s Day cards last week.  One in particular struck me as a bit strange because the envelope was marked “Extra Postage Required” in the stamp area.  The card did not seem to me to be particularly heavy, so I broke out our kitchen scale and weighed the whole thing before I sent it.  Sure enough, the card and envelope together were less than an ounce, requiring zero extra postage.  It just made me wonder, what’s the deal?  I am sure a lot of people would have put that extra postage on as instructed without giving it an extra thought.  How many cards out there are like that?

Greeting cards are virtually the only thing I send through the U.S. Mail these days (and, much as I hate to admit it, I really don’t send many of those).  Bills are paid online, and I send email instead of letters.  I know the Postal Service is a real money loser at this point — could they be teamed up with greeting card companies to find a sneaky way to increase revenue?  I know it’s a stupid, paranoid conspiracy theory, but it doesn’t seem all that far-fetched when you think about the way greeting card companies essentially manufactured holidays to provide themselves with business.

On a lighter note, happy belated Father’s Day to all you dads out there, especially my dad!

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June 17th, 2010 by Erin

My mom busted out her sewing machine and made this clever new bib for my niece, Allison.  She bought a tea towel with a fun stripe on it, cut a hole towards one end of it, and edged the hole with ribbing to slip over the baby’s head.

Voila, it’s a bib that provides way more coverage than a typical bib for messy feedings.

Allison looks super-cute in it too.  Of course, she’s always cute.

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June 15th, 2010 by Erin

This weekend was a hot one in our neck of the woods. That didn’t stop us from getting outside and doing some work in our front yard, though. We’ve been unhappy with the look of it since we moved in, and our neighbors are not too thrilled with the white landscaping rock the prior owner was so fond of. Here’s a look at the area we’ve decided to tackle first just as we were starting on Saturday morning.

On Saturday, we pulled out all the “volunteer” rosemary. Rosemary bushes were planted around the edge of the yard area, but they self-seeded and created little mini-bushes — and some not so mini — all over the center of the yard. The weather was great and a strong breeze kept us cool while we worked.

Sunday, we cleared a bunch of the offensive white landscaping rock from the part of the yard we cleared of rosemary the previous day. This was a real chore. I don’t think we ever came up with a really efficient way to do it. We tried rolling up the weed barrier with the rocks in it, but they spilled out the edges. Further, the prior owner didn’t use conventional weed barrier for the entire yard; in some places, flattened out bags from mulch or potting soil were used, and we even found Home Depot shopping bags in some places. We also tried using the weed barrier to move the rocks into piles, which we then shoveled into buckets, but that seemed to take a long time as well.  And, we were left with this nifty pile to deal with when we were done.

So here’s what our neighbors have to look at now, until we get back to it next weekend. Probably won’t get any better, since we’ll just be pulling out the mature rosemary and removing still more rocks. But we’ve got plans, and it will eventually come together, slowly but surely.

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June 8th, 2010 by Erin

I finished the first semester of my interior design program.  I plan on posting a quick update with some of my final projects, but first, a few words on my summer class.

I’m taking computer aided drafting (AutoCAD).  I have been looking forward to this class for several reasons.  First, I like computers.  I’m pretty handy with Photoshop, designed our wedding invitations and save-the-dates on Illustrator, and spent hours in front of PageMaker during my yearbooking days.  So I’ve been interested to learn a new graphic program.  Second, I like the drawings generated by hand drafting, but that gets messy and frustrating, and hard to erase when you make mistakes.  Learning to do that neatly and cleanly on the computer sounds great.

Today was day two of my six week class.  Yesterday was a bit slow, but that’s not entirely unexpected.  First days are often spent going over the syllabus and other administrative matters.  I was a little disappointed that the pace didn’t pick up a bit today.  In fact, it slowed down.  For this 8:00 a.m. class, the instructor did not start lecturing until nine.  Because it’s a summer class and people — who voluntarily signed up for an 8:00 a.m. class — have trouble getting to school by eight.  I really didn’t need an hour of lab time at the beginning of our second day of class; I was hoping to learn something new.

But it’s only day two, so I will keep an open mind and hopefully things will pick up.  I still do think I will like working with AutoCAD.  A number of my friends are in the class as well, so we should have some fun.

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June 3rd, 2010 by Erin

We have a cherry tree in our backyard.  Last spring/summer, it did a whole lot of nothing.  My parents had a cherry tree in their back yard when I was growing up, and it also never produced fruit, allegedly because it was the only cherry tree around an you need a second one for pollinating.  I figured ours had the same problem and it would just stand there and look pretty.

Needless to say, we were a little surprised when we saw little green cherries sprouting out all over it several weeks ago.  I still wasn’t convinced that they would ripen.  I thought maybe they’d be like the cucumbers we tried to grow last year, which shriveled up after not being pollinated.  But the cherries actually ripened!

We picked a bunch yesterday and ate them for dessert.  We think they are probably Royal Anne cherries, because they still have some yellow on the outside, even though they are ripe, and the flesh on the inside is also still yellow.  Rainier has a similar look as well.

Steve tells me that Royal Anne are the variety most often used to make maraschino cherries (confirmed by Wikipedia). Further research confirms that sweet cherries do need a second pollinator tree, while sour cherries do not. This should also be a pretty easy tree to maintain, as sweet cherry trees only require pruning to remove diseased or injured branches. Score!

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May 1st, 2010 by Erin

You may have noticed that the foam core model in my last post was entirely white.  In Elements and Principles, that’s a requirement.  We’re learning about form and shape, not about color.  In my color theory class, on the other hand, color is, unsurprisingly, the main focus.  So my latest model for that class is much more interesting, color-wise.

The assignment was to

Create a model with a color scheme representing a color theory as discussed in class and in your reading assignments.  According to the color theory you select, how does your project influence behavior?  Use two planes, each 10” square and at least 3, 3-D objects.

We were permitted to use an artist, piece of art, or artistic movement as our color theory.  I have my own opinion as to why this was allowed, but I won’t get into that here.  I overheard some of my classmates discussing Rococo furniture between classes, and that reminded me of a particular painting I like from the Rococo period by Jean-Honore Fragonard called “The Swing.”

In addition to drawing from the colors in this painting (pink and green, a complementary color scheme), I also tried to use the curving forms common in Rococo art and design.  This is what I came up with:

While I was working on this during studio time, the instructor pointed out that the colors are colors that I wear often and asked if the color theory was based on the theories of Johannes Itten.  Itten was an artist and theorist associated with the Bauhaus school.   He was the first to associate four distinct color palettes with certain types of people, now known as seasonal color analysis.  His research indicated that people would tend to paint the colors that they are.  You may be familiar with more recent popular works on the subject such as Color Me a Seasonor Color Me Beautiful.

Back to the point, my instructor’s comments made me think that there really is something to Itten’s work, and that I was drawn to The Swing and chose to use those particular colors because they are my colors.  I thought it was interesting.

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April 20th, 2010 by Erin

Here is my latest project for my elements and principles of design class.  We recently learned about circulation, so the finished piece had to incorporate a minimum of two path configurations (linear, radial, spiral, grid, and/or network), one of each path-space relationship (path that passes by spaces, path that passes through spaces, and path that terminates in a space), and one of each form of circulation space (enclosed path, path open on one side, and path open on two sides).  In addition to demonstrating these elements of circulation, we were required to use at least one of each of the primary elements and forms, principles of repetition and rhythm, positive and negative spaces, additive and subtractive forms, regular and irregular forms, and articulation of form/surface articulation.  The piece also had to incorporate a base plane of limited size.

As if all those requirements were enough, the piece actually had to be based on a concept.  Imagine that!  And the concept was a group effort.  We actually got to choose our groups, so I ended up with three additional stellar people, and we chose the four seasons as our concept.  I ended up with spring.  Here is my design intent statement:

Our group project as a whole represents the four seasons and, more specifically, the changes in light during the different seasons.

In spring, the days grow longer and we experience more and more sunlight as summer approaches.  The two 10×10 inch planes on opposite sides of the piece illustrate this phenomenon.  Each contains thick lines that prevent light from entering into the center of the piece.  At one corner, these lines are very close together, letting in little light.  As they travel away from the corner, the negative space between the lines grows, letting more light into the center of the piece.   Similarly, the trapezoidal planes that connect the two 10×10 planes contain “windows” of negative space.  The windows are small near the enclosed corner, but become larger and more open farther away from the enclosed corner.

The season of spring also evokes thoughts of re-emergence and new life; species come out of hibernation (whether it be literal, as in the case of bears, or figurative, as in the case of humans bundled in bulky winter clothes, blankets, and heated buildings) and plants begin to bud and blossom.  This emergence is represented by the forms of the pyramid and cube, which are surrounded by layers of larger forms that appear to be peeling away.  The piece as a whole is a larger version of these smaller forms, as it contains three spherical forms in the interior enclosed corner and the four planes are opening up away from the spheres similar to the way the outer pyramid and cubes are opening away from the smaller central forms.

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April 14th, 2010 by Erin

School has kept me quite busy lately, so obviously I haven’t had much time to post anything.  Steve has also been extremely busy doing taxes, so we haven’t been doing much cooking or eating of interesting things.  But, I was thinking I had some pictures of an interesting soup I made a while back that I should write about.

I got a cookbook from Steve’s parents for Christmas called “Love Soup.”  It’s full of vegetarian soup recipes, organized more or less by time of year, so there is a section with hearty filling soups for cook weather and lighter refreshing soups for warmer weather.  My first attempt at one of these recipes was Black Bean and Kabocha Squash Soup.

I started with a classic mirepoix — onions, carrots, and celery.  Onions went in first, with a couple of bay leaves.  Then the carrots and celery.  The recipe also called for 1 or 2 jalapeño peppers.  These were not available at the grocery store, so I picked up a couple of Anaheim peppers instead, and chose to use 2 because they have a little less heat than jalapeños.

While I sauteed the onions, carrots, celery, and peppers, I had a kabocha squash — cut in half and seeded — roasting in the oven.  It was nice and tender after about 45 minutes.  At that point, I let it cool until I could handle it and scoop out the insides.

Back to the stove.  Once the onions, carrots, and celery were a bit softened, I removed the bay leaves and put the mixture in a big pot with two cans of vegetable broth.  Ok, so I used chicken broth because I already had it in the cupboard.  I’m not a vegetarian, so it doesn’t concern me.  Do what you want.  Once I brought that to a simmer, I added two cans of black beans, drained and rinsed.  And finally, the cooked squash.

Once that is simmered for a bit, the mixture gets blended into a smooth soup.  I blended it in batches in our counter top blender, since we don’t have an immersion blender.  Honestly, I do not recommend this method.  Messy would be an understatement.  I’m not doing it again until I get an immersion blender.

And that’s it!  We ate it with corn bread.  The soup does not look real appetizing to me.  I had a hard time taking the first bite.  But it sure was tasty!  Surprisingly rich, though.  A small bowl is really all I could handle.  I feel the same way about split pea soup.  I can only take so much of it.

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March 1st, 2010 by Erin

Steve and I have had our fair share of problems with weeds in our yard since we moved into our home last April.  Our neighbors were not too pleased with our brand of yard maintenance, and weren’t shy about letting us know (in an anonymous letter).  And while we tried to convince ourselves that it really wasn’t that bad, we did find some pretty hideous weeds. 

Last year, we finished the task of clearing the major weeds from the yard, and swore we would never let it get like that again.  The idea was we would nip the weeds in the bud, so to speak, and with some frequent low level maintenance, they would never get out of control.  With the recent rains, that hasn’t been too easy.  Our busy schedules limit the time we can spend in the yard, and there haven’t been any weekends recently that weren’t too wet, cold, and yucky to go out and work in the yard.  As a result, the weeds have grown like, well, weeds.  So we find ourselves right back where we started.

Enter the Weed Dragon weed torch. 

The best way to describe it is a mini-flamethrower.  Powered by a standard gas grill-type propane tank, it subjects the weeds to super-high temperatures, bursting the cell walls and killing the weed.  The Weed Dragon consists of the aforementioned propane tank, a handy dolly to transport the tank, and the hose and torch itself.  We also chose to purchase an optional trigger valve. 

The standard weed torch emits a constant flame which can only be controlled by adjusting the flow of propane into the torch.  With the trigger valve, you do still always have a small pilot flame in the torch, but it won’t be shooting out the big flames until you pull the trigger.  We thought this would give us more control and make using the torch safer overall. 

There is one additional essential piece of equipment:

In addition to having the fire extinguisher nearby, we decided that weed torching would always be a two person job, one manning the torch and one with a garden hose to wet down any dry looking areas before torching them and to spritz out anything that did catch fire or smolder after being torched.

Since Sunday was nice and sunny, we were finally able to take the Weed Dragon for a spin.  First, Steve tested it to make sure there were no propane leaks by pouring soapy water over all the connections and watching for bubbles for a few minutes.  When he was satisfied there were no bubbles, he rinsed it off and we lit it up. 

It didn’t take long for us to recognize that just a few seconds of heat from the torch was enough to kill most weeds.  When they wilted and turned bright green, like vegetables do when you cook them, we knew they were toast.  Our test area was a rock-covered area in the back yard.  This is what it looked like when we were done, and then a few hours later after the dead weeds became crispy. 

Notice all the still healthy weeds in the background along the fence.  We didn’t have a chance to get to those, but we did cover a lot of area in the front yard. 

The process was certainly a lot more fun than pulling each weed out by hand.  So far, it also appears preferable to Round Up.  You get more instant gratification because the weed wilts right before your eyes instead of a few days later.  It’s also nice to know we aren’t spritzing all kinds of chemicals into the soil.  Hopefully we will continue to be pleased with it as we get to use it on more areas of the yard. 

General Sherman would be proud.

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February 17th, 2010 by Erin

I had so many plans for this blog, but things have really slowed down, mostly because I went back to school.  I’m getting a certificate in interior design, which takes about two years of full-time study.  This semester, I’m taking:

1)  Elements and Principles of Design;
2)  Graphic Techniques;
3)  Interior Architectural Drafting;
4)  Construction and Building Systems; and
5)  Color Theory and Application.

I’m told this is a pretty ambitious course load.  Three of the classes are studio courses, which require a lot of time doing hands-on things (drafting, drawing, painting and the like).  Plus I’m still pretending to be a lawyer three days a week.  Doesn’t leave much time for blogging.  Or sleeping, for that matter.  But I’m really enjoying it so far, even if I don’t have a lot of down time. 

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