blinded by the light

One of the reasons we chose needed to live in this apartment was all the natural light. Every room has at least one window: the dining room and kitchen have extra-wide windows, and the master bedroom and living room even have two and three windows respectively, and south and west facing to boot. After two years in a north-east facing apartment surrounded by highrises, it is amazing to have light pour through our windows, even on dark and dreary days. Glorious.

The living room was outfitted with a rather redundant combination of roller and venetian blinds, as well as some sheers that hung to the sills. Within a couple of weeks the sheers were taken down (we wanted to let the light in, not keep any of it out!) as were the roller blinds. We put the curtains from the old place up on the rods that had originally held the sheers, but they started pulling out of the drywall, and the nature of the room prevents the rods from extending far enough past the window frames to allow the curtains to keep from obstructing the windows. Grr...

After much discussion, we opted to make roman shades. You know, the royal "we". One family trip to Fabricland, one truly fabulous post-Christmas sale, and we had acquired more than enough fabric to make 3 roman shades for the living room. Then began the procrastination. I wasn't terribly excited to start measuring and marking and checking and cutting and pressing and sewing more than 14 metres of straight, boring seams. The prospect was not attractive at all. But now that they are done, I am so, so happy with them.

The upholstery fabric was $3/m. $3!! I lined them with ticking, and mounted them using hook-and-loop tape stapled to 1x3s cut to length and screwed into the lintel of each window. I was fortunate to find this website that gives not only instructions on constructing roman blinds, but actually features a calculator to help with determining supplies and draw-ring placement. I made relaxed shades, which, despite needing to be dressed every time we raise them, I'm really happy about. The drape makes them both a little more and a little less formal than a standard, rigid roman shade.



Now that we have the blinds installed, and we have our new library happening, we can decide what painting needs to happen in the living room. I'd love to get to the point where I can sit down on the couch, look around and say, "Yup: we're done."

the most cost-effective, space-efficient washing machine ever

I've mentioned that the new apartment is awesome, right? You're sure? Ok, good: glad we've got that straight.

As awesome as it is, though, it does lack something that we haven't gone without for the past four homes, not since 2005: ensuite laundry. In 2005, popping downstairs to the coinwash in our little walk-up was no big deal. That was pre-baby, pre-cloth-diaper. And now here we are, two children, one still cloth diapered, and not only do we not have laundry in our unit we don't even have laundry in the building. What's a cloth diaper devotee to do?

Well, until we're in a position to get an apartment sized washer for the kitchen, we're going extremely low-tech. I mean really, really low. Cheap, too: the whole thing cost us $4.99.

Yes: $4.99.

What are we using? 

A 5 gallon bucket and a rubber plunger.

Sure, it isn't fancy, but it's very effective. I mean, shockingly effective. And did I mention it was cheap?


First, assemble your supplies. I was very fortunate in that The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe in Ottawa routinely has empty 5 gallon buckets sitting around looking for a good home, and had one right when I happened to contact the shop. Free bucket: score! Even if you buy the bucket, it will run you a little over $10, which is still pretty affordable for a washing machine. You will also need a simple rubber plunger. I opted for one with a clear plastic handle because it a) had a more rounded end than the wooden handle which seemed like it would be more comfortable and b) seemed less likely to absorb diaper-water. Ew.


Unscrew the handle from the rubber plunger. Take the lid of your bucket, the handle and a pen or marker (I ended up using a fine-tip Sharpie rather than the ballpoint pen pictured) and...


...trace around the handle for your plunger.


Now cut out the hole using a utility knife. You'll want to cut just outside the circle you drew so that there is sufficient space for the handle to move easily but not so much extra space that a great deal of water comes sloshing out the hole when you are washing laundry. Be sure to test the handle in the hole as you go, trimming a little extra if necessary. (You can see my make-shift cutting surface is just the underside of some unfinished wood utility shelves from Ikea. A little déclassé, perhaps, but I'm making a washing machine out of a bucket: if the shoe fits...).


You will also need to perforate your plunger to allow the water to circulate freely. Using a large drill bit (I used a 1/4" bit because it was handy: larger would work well, too, but I'd hesitate to go any smaller than this) drill holes in your plunger. I drilled at least two dozen holes through the plunger.


Be sure to drill through the inner layer as well. You may find it easier to fold out the inner lip of the plunger to drill through it. Err on the side of too many holes: you  really can't have too many here.


You're done! Put the handle of the plunger through the lid of the bucket, screw the rubber plunger back on and you're ready to wash. Add some laundry to the bucket (smaller loads wash more easily, though I'm surprised that I can get a full two days worth of diapers, liners, wipes, doublers and covers washed in one load), a tiny drizzle of detergent and fill the bucket half-way with water. Snap the lid on and get plunging!

I generally wash for 5-10 minutes before draining the water, refilling and plunging again for 3-5 minutes, draining the water again, refilling and plunging for another 3-5 minutes, draining the water, refilling and - if the last drain was nearly clear - adding about 1/4 cup of vinegar and letting it soak for at least 10 minutes before draining a final time. If the draining water hadn't already started to run clear, however, I'll keep refilling, plunging and draining until it does. Even the diaper loads don't take more than 5 rinses, though. Then it's just a matter of wringing out the laundry and hanging it up to dry. I also generally add some baking soda to the wash cycle: I figure if we're washing by hand we can use all the help we can get.

Huge thanks go to The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe for first posting about this washing machine idea, to Donna who got me the bucket, and to Peanut for amusing me at the hardware store where I bought the plunger. 

Our new bed: part I

Very early in the year - so, at most four weeks after we got back into our apartment following our little mold escapade - our bed died. I was in the living room, The Recruiter and Peanut were in the bedroom where she, Peanut was sitting on her toddler bed and he, The Recruiter, was putting away laundry, when I heard a very loud, very sharp "Bang!" Then silence. I called out "Is everything ok in there?" entirely expecting him to reply, "Oh yeah, fine, I just dropped a basket of clothes on the floor (we have parquet floor laid directly on concrete, so it does make very loud, sharp noises if ever we drop things). Instead, he paused and then called back in a perplexed voice, "No: the bed broke."



"The bed broke? Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

He came wandering out looking very surprised, and explained that he had been changing the sheets on the bed and rolled into the middle of the bed to reach the other side when putting on the fitted sheet when, "Bang!" and the middle of the bed simply collapsed.



After much examination (the hollow chipboard headboard had just worn out enough after only three years that the material holding the screws supporting the centre beam gave way) and deliberation, we opted to toss the bed (I'm sure that it didn't sit on outside for long and that someone scavenged it within minutes, a fact I find very comforting, thinking that someone may be benefiting from our decision not to make do with it) and put the mattress directly on the floor while we decided what solution would work best for us.



"After all," I said, "I'm not that pregnant, yet: I can still get up and down off the floor easily and this will insure that I stay really mobile!"



That was early January, at which point I was, certainly, not that pregnant, yet. But time passes and babies and the bellies they are inside get bigger and the mamas carrying them get less and less inclined to climb up and down off the floor, particularly multiple times a night for trips to the loo. So on The Recruiter's birthday - a day which he got off because his employer is fantastic - my mother gave me a ride to Home Depot and we bought sheets of mdf and lengths of 2x4 and trim and spent about an hour in the cutting area having everything cut to size for me. Boxes of screws and nails, a big bottle of wood glue and a $3 can of paint from the 'oops' cart and we headed home. And finally, at long last, I got it assembled yesterday night.



It isn't finished yet. Two of the benches still need trimming, and they'll all need puttying, further sanding and then painting before we can call this complete. But it's assembled and we slept on it last night.



It's higher than we expected, so I'm a little terrified that Peanut is going to fall and hurt herself. I suppose I'll just need to build a little stool or step for her to use to get in and out of the bed. And maybe lay down some small area rugs to cushion any falls. But we are all thrilled to be up off the floor.

The pics are all clickable and there are some others in the set and most have notes.