Doug’s Birthday Photos
Click on the above photo to see all my pictures from Doug’s party on Flickr.
House on 52nd and Winthrop
Stephanie and I looked at this house and considered buying it, but it didn’t meet the criteria on our needs and wants list. It’s a really interesting 1920’s bungalow, divided into two units. We considered buying it and knocking the halves together, but it was too much work.
Mini-Derby Cars
My dad made me three of these kick-ass cool cars when I was in elementary school, as part of the YMCA Indian Princesses Mini Derby race. They’re carved out of a block of wood and then painted. The idea was to race them down a track, and prizes would be awarded for the winners, and for best design. Of course we always won the second, and usually the first prize, too, because my dad would insert lead weights into the wood block at the center of the car. Other kids had generic blocks of wood on wheels, while I had these awesome real-looking cars. I need to take photos of the other two; one of them is a cool hot wheels crazy car, and the other is an early Indy race car.
Boing Boing recently had a post about some folks who put a webcam on their mini derby car. I’m sure if we had such a thing back when I was a kid, my Dad would have done it. And I still think my cars are cooler, btw.
Painting the Kitchen
We’ve spent our three-day weekend painting the kitchen, so I’ve been away from the internets. There’s still a lot of touch-up work to do, but the bulk of the work is finished. My kitchen was pretty fugly before, so the new paint is a serious improvement. The cabinets had been painted a dark green color, and the walls and ceiling and trim were a dingy off-white that always looked dirty even after everything was scrubbed and clean.
Now the cabinets and ceiling and trim work are bright white, and the walls are “spring squash” which is a bright yellow-orange color that looks really sunny and happy. I’m really pleased with how it’s come out; the room looks much bigger and cleaner. There are still some other improvements I’d like to do; I want to mount a light under the cabinets so I can see my food while I’m preparing it. (As Lisa did in her kitchen) and I want to replace the overhead light with the clean, simple, unobtrusive ceiling fan I bought ages ago. I also want to replace the backsplash behind the stove with a clean aluminum panel. The ones that want to get the best paint can have a peek here to get a great finish.
Also, my friend Kathy came over and cut out the extra pipes that ran up the wall in the corner to the now non-existent kitchen that used to be upstairs. I’ll still have to repair the drywall in the corner, but that’s a future project.
The kitchen really needs to be completely ripped out and done over. The floor is bad, there’s very little cabinet or counter space, and the sink is in a really poor spot. The drywall in the whole room needs a makeover. But none of that is realistic right now, so the simple improvements will at least make a grungy room tolerable and cheery.
Cool Stuff I Own
And a flickr photo album of my own… Cool Stuff I Own. Random fun knick-knacks from around my house.
2006 New Year’s Party
Dan and Doug throw a wonderful New Year’s party every year, and Stephanie and I attended again last evening. Check out my Flickr photo set of the party.
I didn’t take as many photos as I would have liked because I shot some video of Rachel telling Aunt Ruby stories and filled my my memory card.
I also discoved at the party that my friend Jonathan has a blog. Stop by and give him some comments. Also, I may or may not have mentioned a while back that Kris also has a blog.
