Locked in!

One of the many hazards of living in a shared community environment is turf in front of your front door being compromised. Our existence is of course on a hush-hush basis, but not so much to the point that we cannot enter and exit the premises!!

Our door, which is on the right, was blocked from opening!
This happened for a couple of reasons....our neighbor Beto, who had a massive marble shop, was forced to clean up and move out a lot of his outdoor work area into 1 of his 3 warehouse spaces. He had a ton of shit left to make a temp wall. It was exra windy on saturday night which caused one of those temp walls to fall....smashing one of our chairs into splinters, catapaulting one over a car....and otherwise causing stress and havoc. Feeeeeelings have been mended and things are ok now :)

Pet Care: Common Poisonous and Toxic Plants

If your canine and feline friends are at all like mine, they are mischevious and LOVE to get into everything...including plants. No matter what time of year it is, its always a good idea to know if the plants in and around your home are safe for your furry companions. With spring and summer planting going strong, now's a perfect opportunity to educate yourself, and keep every 4-legged member of your family safe.

The following video, which watches a little like a lecture, is a great visual resource for 17 common decorative plants and flowers, both indoor and out.


This is a comprehensive, searchable database for all toxic and poisonous plants, both indoor and out, food and decorative. Some may be surprising, like Tomato Plant and Aloe Vera!

Finally, a good list of "People Food" you definitely do not want to share with your little buddies. Their digestive systems are NOT the same as ours!

Thanks to the ASPCA for the links, all the great work they do!

Fun with plumbing and paint!

For a short while, we had this really fun problem of the kitchen flooding every time somebody took a shower. At first we couldn't figure out exactly where the water was coming from. It started as slow pooling, which happened to coincide with rain...so the first thought was "Oh my god, our foundation is melting beneath our feet!" Thankfully, the pools got bigger, and more consistent, leading us to believe it was an actual leak somewhere. Our landlord wanted nothing to do with it, so we used our available resources and called in a few plumber buddies to diagnose what was wrong.

The bathroom is right over the kitchen, so we knew it was coming from there. We had to do a couple experiments to pinpoint exactly where the water was coming from. We knew it was the shower/tub given then the timing of the pooling. Our first test, which was kind of fun, was to rule out the drain in the tub by filling it with water and food dye. The theory was that if it was a problem with the drain (which would have been disastrous) we'd see colored water seeping into the kitchen. We filled the tub, added the color, drained. No water at all! Yay!
This lead us to two other possibilities...either there was a leak in the handles, or one in the head. One of the handles had been getting progressively more stripped every time we used it, so naturally we thought this was where the excess was seeping through. I put in a call to my awesome friend Ray, who promised he'd be there in a couple days. The VERY next day, when trying to adjust the shower head, however, I pulled a bit too hard and ended up with a head in my hands and a GIANT answer to our questions. The damn shower head!!
Ray was over that same day and did some lickety-split demo on our wall, diagnosed and fixed what had been all-around shoddy plumbing, and set us up with brand new parts..minus the leak!

Having the hole there is actually better, since now that dampness can dry out before we patch up the wall. There is an active stream of air flowing through there, so we're pretty sure the job is getting done.

The retro pieces that made up the rest of the gig needed replacing as well, but to our disappointment, they've long been discontinued and would need to be special ordered. Hence, the makeshift broken-handle handle!


We've all learned a lot about shower plumbing as a result of this mess.

As a second result, the flooring we layed down in the kitchen was pretty destroyed! From the water damage to the heavy traffic of our friends, it couldn't stand up to its duty in our busy kitchen. SO, we decided to go back to the plan I had a year ago, when we moved in, and opted for concrete floor paint. My thinking was that its ultra durable, cheap, and will match the whole "industrial" look of living in a warehouse. Heck, I can find some area rugs in no time to pretty things up! Here's where we are so far. Barrett has taken on this task single-handedly, and he's doing an AWESOME job!



I have to say I'm super-thankful that we're close to people with actual skills. God knows paying a random plumber to fix this mess would have cost an arm and a leg! So now, instead of money passing hands, we owe Ray a favor, or dinner, or whatever...which will surely include his and his wonderful girlfriend Kristi's company, which can't be beat!!!

Super compost, and dog-cat love (or mutual tolerence)!

Found this giant sprout growing out of the middle of my worm compost bin. I am AMAZED, because not only did this grow from a tiny piece of leek root put into the bin just a few days ago, but it grew in the complete black darkness that is the inside of the worm bin! Needless to say my hopes are high for the potency of this batch of compost!!!


Pickle and Poe, my dog and cat, have made a GIANT step towards living with each other in a somewhat amicable tolerance. Poe was sleeping at the foot of the bed, when Pickle, antsy as always, decided he needed to lay down directly within my line of sight because my attention was not 100% devoted to him at that particular moment. That line of sight happened to be over the top of a book I was reading, and right next to Poe! This pose lasted for about a minute...which is approximately 58 seconds longer than any other time they've shared the same square foot of space. Amazing!


Obligatory HSSV cute stray puppy time...


On a side note...today I invented a new word.
Snoozapalooza (noun):
To spend every extra minute of your morning hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock, staying in bed, and not getting up until you absolutely must, drifting in and out of deep, blissful sleep.

What is art?

It always fascinates me to see what people decorate their homes with. One can immediately tell the difference between a home that is largely personalized by handmade, found, unique or sentimental treasures, and one that ascribes to whatever the big box tells you is fashionable for the moment. I think that's one of the main problems I have when on that very very rare occasion I MUST go to Target or some other large chain for something...I feel as if I'm immediately having the interior design inclined hand of Big Brother thrust down my throat until I choke out the words "uncle!! uncle!!" and opt for a vintage-inspired faux wood picture frame with a girl sitting in a martini staring at me in lushy bliss. I ask her where the socks are that I trudged in here for, and all I get is the dazed glare of a $14.99 "you should have known better" harlot.

Tsk tsk. This may not have actually happened to me...but you know you've seen that print in a girlfriend's kitchen...

I was walking around the warehouse the other day and got to thinking about the pieces that I've chosen to surround myself with. Even in this expansive space, certain 3x5 pieces bring me back to a comforting time. I'm sure everyone has a bit of that...or at least I would hope so...

Hence, an abbreviated guide of the oddities that comfort me.

A Murder City Devils tour poster, carved wood, two ceramic owls...


Framed Alice In Wonderland drawing, the White Rabbit gesturing towards the way Alice must go through the wasteland, found at a salv army...framed postcard of bird's nest...gifted pottery.


Dead Meadow show poster, hand drawn...cast iron eagle, meant for outdoors...old carved Buddha and sake set from the estate of my grandparents.


Four frames, painted black by me, of different pieces of gift tissue paper. I chose one rose from each to paint red, and framed them. These have been with me through at least 6 moves.


My kitchen must-have. Thin piece of wood covered by delightfully old-farmhouse style print found in an old roommates left belongings. Tacked the rusted meat cleaver to it, from the same grandparent's estate, as a reminder to me of its use....


In the end, there are 10,000 things that one might find daily comfort or inspiration in. Each of which I'm sure is entirely personal...the means to which allowing something mass-manufactured to become personal is what troubles me. My entire existence has been parallel to malls, chain stores, catalogs, MTV. When does one make the break from the feeding tube of this formulated "nostalgic" crap? When does one truly admire something for its workmanship, its artistry, or its sheer originality from the pack? Todd Oldham and China should not dictate your personal taste!

For now, I'll let my cat tell me what he prefers...that guy has never had a reason to lie in his life...