Emails to my alter ego

The emails to the Christian Casey Williams in Texas continue to come in. Has no one told the woman that she is not getting the emails she should be??? This email is by far the least offensive one I've gotten.

The email I received:

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 5:08 PM, Erin S-W <> wrote:

Dear Casey Williams,

I am writing to thank you for attending this year’s Educator Evening in the Cultural District and to inform you that you’ve won a free Modern membership from our raffle! I have the packet ready to send to you; or, you are free to pick it up if you plan to be at the Museum anytime soon. Just let me know which manner of delivery you prefer.

We’re happy to offer you this year-long membership and hope that you are able to take full advantage of all its benefits!

Best wishes,

Erin

Erin S-W
Assistant Curator of Education
Student and Educator Programs
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth

3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, TX 76107
817.738.9215

www.themodern.org

My Response:

Hi Erin,

I would be delighted to take advantage of this free membership. However, I live in Boston. Unfortunately, the Casey Williams in Texas does not know her correct email address and keeps submitting mine.

These are the things I know about her:
- Her name is the same as mine (Casey Williams)
- She attends multiple Christian Churches (I think she's trying a few out)
- She is very much against gay marriage
- She has offered to host a bible study group
- She attends the dentist regularly
- She likes cultural events (like yours!)

If you contact her via another method, please please please let her know that she needs to write her email address more clearly and/or correctly.

Thank you,

Casey Williams
Boston, MA

For past installments: The Christians in TX Love Me; Many Faith Groups Hate Love

Before & After: The Book Exchange

A few weeks ago, the girls and I had a book exchange. Basically you take any book you have read and don't want to keep, and trade it with someone else's book. We found ourselves unsure which books we wanted to read, so each person did a mini-synopsis of each book. Well, each book worth synopsis-izing. Some books just didn't need it - you know the ones, the trashy David Baldacci mysteries, the sappy romances, the beach reads - I knew I wanted to read them all. :-)

Because of the popularity of some of the books up for grabs, we put post-its on the inside with the original owner's name, and then the order of people who would be reading the book. We're all lovely loving friends who see each other often enough to be able to hand off the books.

For me, this is the PERFECT solution to my reading habit. I can't seem to return books to the library on time (I think I've donated more to the library last year in the form of fines than any other patron), or get there when it's open. And the bargain books at Brookline Booksmith aren't such a bargain when you're reading at least 2 books per week.

My books, before (well, after Danielle S had taken some of them):

And after!
Ok, between the book exchange and the time this photo was taken, I also bought a box o' books at my parents' church fair. My favorite book find from the fair was the very first Nancy Drew book I ever read: The Clue in the Crumbling Wall.

I think I shall have to re-read that. Maybe when I'm done the rest of the pile...
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Before & After: Desk Chair

As I write this, I'm sitting on the chair. It feels good. Real good.

Before:

There's a ban on floral upholstery fabric in this house now. It's gotta go!

After:

You can see the hoosier in use as my desk/sewing table! It doesn't just look good, the hoosier is useful.

The chair itself was refinished by my mom and grandpa about 10 years ago. They worked really, really hard to refinish the wood. Thanks for all your sweat, Mom and Grandpa! Made this job a lot easier.

The fabric choice is a little unusual, but I wanted something gray and red... and this is what Sew-Fisticated had to offer. It's not even upholstery fabric! And I put it on inside-out on purpose! The colors were brighter on this side, and I wasn't a fan of the shininess.

What you can't tell from the photos is that I replace the foam seat with some super high quality firm foam from Discount Foam and Rubber on Brighton Ave. I can no longer feel the screws under the foam, thank you thank you thank you!

What do you think of the re-do?
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Before & After: My Finger

The plan today was to post photos of my chair... but I didn't take them last night as I was too busy ferociously eating Ethiopian food with Ian, making a sock monkey, talking to T (who is in Bentonville), and watching trashy new TV shows.

Instead, I bring you my finger. Before, and then after, covering said chair. This is to prepare you to appreciate the chair's new look at an even higher level, since you will know what I sacrificed.

Before:
After:

I have soft lady hands not used to doing hard work like using industrial staples to recover chairs. I waited a few days to take a shot of this blister, but it was UGLY before.

Yes, I sacrificed some skin in the re-making of my chair.

Ok, ok, fine, I didn't actually take a "before" photo of my finger. If I were smart enough to know that I was going to be tearing the skin off my fingers, I would have put some protection in place beforehand. Instead what you're looking at in the before photo is what I affectionately call "lefty middle fingery."

You get the idea.

Stay tuned for the fruits of my labor.
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Welcome, Apartment Therapy Boston!

Thank you, Apartment Therapy Boston for posting my hoosier re-finishing project! The project itself was a lot of fun.... but a lot of work. I can see why my mother (the previous owner) only refinished it once - when she first got it!

For more photos, check out the Before: The Hoosier; During the Hoosier project; and Inside the Hoosier.

If you have an appetite for Before and Afters, peruse the Before-After section of the site.
I. Love. Before. &. Afters. Of all types.

Me, before AT-Boston posted about the hoosier:

Oh so sad. Despondent, even.

Me, After!!

So Happy I'm Grinning Like A Mad Woman!

Thanks again for visiting!

Before & After: The Great Hunger

Before:
After:
What!? Browsing at the Brimfield Fair made my mom and me very hungry.
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Before and After: Our Couch

I don't buy new furniture. Mostly because I'm always renting - why buy furniture that fits in one apartment that might not fit in another? Ok, I did buy a new Panang chair from Ikea a few years ago, but Ikea is like disposable furniture so it doesn't count.

Generally, this used furniture thing works out for me. The hoosier, for example, just required some elbow grease and now it's lovely. My bed - $100 from Craig's List 5 years ago - is comfy. The bedframe - $10 from Craig's list - is functional. Etc etc etc. I'm not going to catalogue the contents of our entire 455 sq foot apartment.

There is one glaring exception from the used furniture success: The Couch. The Floral Couch. $80 from Craig's List, small enough to fit into the apartment, but Ugly with a capital U. Not only was it ugly, but the fabric was rough. It was short. And narrow. And hard. T and I couldn't lay down on it at the same time without become one person (which we did every night because we wanted to lounge that badly).

The Couch, Before:
The top photo is T during the broken arm adventure. Instead of sleeping on the couch, he chose to sleep on the floor. That's right - the couch was so bad, he preferred the hard floor to the couch. The middle photo is Greg and Danielle trying to enjoy the couch. They can't. The bottom photo is of T sitting on the couch with some sock monkey gifts. Notice the floral ickinessm and how the monkeys are trying to escape the couch.

So when T moved in, the first (and only) thing we purchased was a brand new couch. Thank you, Building 19. Thank you U-Haul, for renting us a van. Thank you weather, for being sunny... oh wait it was pouring rain. But it was worth it. Worth it for the wonderful large soft yet firm couch in neutral tones we now have.

Our Couch, After:
That's right - all 5'9" of me plus my size 10 feet and long wavy arms can stretch out on the couch. And the back was low enough to be able to fit into the apartment.

T and I are in pure bliss. We come home from work and slouch on the couch, or lounge, or lie there spooning with plenty of room.. and ponder: Should we go do something cool, or enjoy the couch? Inevitably the couch wins. Give us time, we will learn that the couch will be there when we come home again, but right now it's pure bliss. Pure bliss, I tell you.

About tonight- I know I was supposed to go to book club, ladies, but I, um, have other plans..

Before and After: The Hoosier on the inside

I couldn't resist - one more photo, which I forgot to post yesterday:

It's the inside of the hoosier! The photo on the left is where pots and pans were previously stored, as well as a wire cooling rack shelf. The upper right is the utensil drawer, now home to my sewing scissors (and soon my thread), and the bottom right photo is of the upper left cabinet. The tin was my mothers, and holds the odds and ends of a desk, like tape and random cords and thumb drives and one postcard.

In other news, I've decided to keep the "red stuff" hanging, thanks to your input. I might adjust the height of the lanterns slightly... but this corner of the living room is good to go!

Related Posts: The Hoosier, Before; The Hoosier, During; The Hoosier, After!

Onions are a delight - Before & After

I have onions on the mind. And on the breath. Last night at floor hockey I was oozing onion odor. I think that's why the opposing team kept backing away when I would approach them.

The cause of the odor? Onions. (Duh.) My mom and I stopped by Red Fire Farm where Ian works to drop him off, and I went on a quick mini-tour of the place. I love seeing where food comes from --- someone has to grow it, and in the case of all my veggies this summer, it's my brother Ian.

Before:
The onions are "curing" (which means drying) in the greenhouse. This is how onions are sold in the supermarket - cured (not on the floor of a greenhouse on top of a tarp). Curing allows you to keep them all winter long. One of my favorite things was actually trying non-cured garlic. It was crispy and fresh and full of flavor and juice! If only it was available year round..

I digress. After collecting some onions from Ian, I consulted Betty (Crocker), and whipped up French Onion Soup. I love French Onion Soup.

After:
Ok that doesn't look so appetizing, but it's only because I didn't put on any croutons. Or cheese, which is the holy grail of French onion soup for many people. I left it off because guess what? Cheese isn't good for your heart!

So imagine the after photo of those onions looked like this:

What a transformation, eh? From field to table, a relative miracle.

Thanks to Kari Stianson for the photo. Her French Onion Soup is way better looking than mine was.. but mine sure tasted good and my heart says "thanks for getting your veggies but not a ton of fat."

Before & After: The Hoosier is a Brand New Antique!

I was hemming and hawing over the hoosier before & after photos for a few reasons:

1. There's not much natural light, so it's hard to get a good shot.
2. The paint job is not perfect, because the wood underneath is not perfect.
3. I haven't finished re-upholstering the chair I use as my desk chair (the hoosier is now my desk).
   

Then I said "screw it!" and decided to post. I have worked danged hard -- and with T's help, have done a dramatic 360 on the bright blue hoosier. One of the previously mentioned brothers saw the hoosier a few days ago and said "Wow! I don't even recognize it! F&7*$&8 I hated painting that thing."

Let's review the hoosier before (and during renovations if you're interested)

And now after!!!
**Swoon!** Is it ok to swoon over your own furniture re-makes? Either way, I'm swooning, though maybe now in secret.

The lovely wallpaper is hand printed from the Curiosity Shop. The glass pulls are from Home Depot, though now I've been to Brimfield, I may just replace them with authentic vintage glass ones next time I'm at the fair.

Perhaps the least immediately dramatic apparent change is the gray spray paint enamel on the countertop. It was previously a pale blue, but stained by years and years of use. The gray masks that wear and tear, and will dirty up less quickly than a white.

The shells on top are from my various beach jaunts about the world - everywhere from Cape Cod to Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Puerto Rico. I. Love. Shells.

The question that remains: Do I keep the stuff hanging above it?

The seat in front of it (yet to be re-upholstered, thus not shown in this photo) will have some red accents in the fabric, and the rest of the room has some pops of red color...

Let me know your thoughts - both on the redo and on the hanging 'stuff'!
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Before & After: Bathroom Storage Solutions!

Our bathroom, in addition to being right off the very small bedroom, is small. Oh so small. Not North End Restaurant small where you can't turn around without falling into the toilet, but small enough that no additional bathroom storage could be added.

The sink has no cupboard underneath it, so the only storage is the small shelf above the toilet, the small medicine cabinet, and the [small] space on top of the toilet tank, which is where T puts his toiletries of course.

But where to put the leftover cold medicine, the aloe for sunburns, the vitamins, extra band-aids, etc? I *almost* spent $35 on a particle board cupboard from Target to mount on the wall in an awkward manner. Instead I found this rusty, dirty metal sliding door shelf at Urban Renewals for $4:

It looks deceptively clean and nice here, but it had been at the thrift store for over a month, untouched and in the corner. Quick measurements showed it would in face fit in our small bathroom! All I had to do was slap on a few goats erm... Coats of white spray paint, and screw it into the wall:

Yes, it's in an unconventional place. I've never seen a medicine cabinet over a bathroom door. But it was perfect, unused space, and I don't need my anti-itch gel or antacids all the time, and when I do, I can stand on the toilet to get them.

Say "Yay!" for bathroom out of the way bathroom storage that cost just $7!
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Before & After: During the Hoosier Re-make

Until you have tried to 'lightly sand' something your younger brothers painted 10 years ago, you don't know the pain of furniture refinishing.

'Lightly sand' turns into 'removing the blue paint in long thin stripes while the blue paint underneath stays put since the previous painter (mom) properly prepared the surface,' which turns into 'painting the first coat then lightly sanding after drying but realizing all the loose paint wasn't removed so you have to re-sand and paint again.'

So yeah, a lot of work. In the basement.

The white paint was easy to sand and re-paint. So much cleaner! And all the imperfections are hidden, like the water damage on the top, and the uneven wood surfaces, and the paint strokes. Ok, so they're not all hidden, but they look all shiny and new, well newly painted.

Initial stages of sanding, before I realize how loosely the blue paint is attached to the surface.

After the first coat of color on the doors. Yep, it's subtle. Yup, the basement is way old school. Our building was built in 1925!

I have just a few final touches to put on the hoosier before taking the "after" photos... stay tuned!

Before & After: The Hoosier

Well, here are the "before" photos anyway... this was a BIG project. Real big.

I've had this piece of furniture for a few years now. It's called a hoosier:

Hoosiers come in many shapes and sizes, but they're all essentially move-able kitchen cabinets. This particular hoosier was the only piece of furniture my great grandparents had in their kitchen at Keuka Lake for many years... not that the kitchen is all that updated now!

The current kitchen in the Keuka cottage. We just got drinkable running water a few years ago.

The hoosier needed some help. My mom stripped it down 20 years ago, and re-painted it. About 10 years ago, my brothers painted it the dark blue, and did a terrible job of it. Just terrible. The blue paint has been chipping off since they painted it on:

See the blue paint. See the blue paint chip.

Apparently they were resentful of my mother, who had asked them to paint the dining room twice that summer, and now they had to paint the hoosier, which was also in the dining room. Lots of resentment. "Wah. You feed me, and clothe me, and make me do chores. Boo-hoo."

The only thing I had done to improve the hoosier is add those lovely floral knobs to replace the cheap plain white ones, and placed casters so I could roll it around. Nothing to address the chipping, the stickiness of the cabinet doors, the stained [but original] enamel sliding countertop.

With T moving in, we needed to move my large drawer-less desk out of the living room, but the hoosier was the perfect fit, and a much more functional desk. I wasn't going to have the cruddy blue painted hoosier in our living room!

The wheels started turning...
Colors: Yellow? gray? pink? blue?
What about wallpaper? There are some cool wallpapers out there...
So many choices...

Stay tuned for the during and after photos...
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Before & After: The Dresser

In a small apartment, hallways represent space too valuable to use just for walking through and hanging photos.

The back hallway leading to our bedroom has always had a shallow dresser that I used for my t-shirts, gym clothes, and random beauty products. However, this back hallway also has a back door that T and I use on a daily basis. We take off our shoes the minute we walk in the door, especially during the winter. The shoes -- even just the two pairs we wore that day -- clutter up the space quickly.

My solution? A "highboy" style dresser with space underneath it perfect for shoes. Thanks to Craig's List and Ikea, I was able to purchase a cheap dresser that not only had space underneath it, but the drawers had runners on them so they are much smoother and easier to use than the previous dresser.

Unfortunately, though, the dresser's cheap "wood" finish job was significantly marred by the moving tape I myself placed on there. The danged dresser was forcing me to upgrade it!


Dresser, I'd like you to say "hello" to two bottles of white spray paint, some new brass knobs (top ones are slightly different than the bottom three), a dresser cloth from my grandmother, and some contact paper!


Yeah... you like it. You're much better looking now, and my flip-flops love living underneath you.
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Before & After: Cafe Chairs

It's official --- the apartment T and I now share is just 455 sq feet, not including closets (of which there are many) or the butler's pantry storage. Or the basement storage. You get the point - we don't have a ton of space, but we do have a good amount of storage. Due to the desire to make this "our" home versus "my" home, and the sheer practicality of needing to organize everything to make room for him, we have undertaken quite a few home improvement projects. Yes, we rent, so most of our changes are superficial... but make a HUGE difference, especially in our small space.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting "before" and "after" photos of our projects. It's my favorite feature on Design*Sponge... to which I'll be submitting a few of these projects.

The first one up is a pair of wrought iron chairs I picked up at a local thrift store (Urban Renewals) for $6 each. Man, these things were UGLY. The white paint was chipping, the fabric covering the cushions was hideous and not centered, and the bottoms of the cushions were made of crumbling cardboard.

Nevertheless, I had a vision. A dream, if you will. A dream of a kitchen table with real chairs, not folding chairs from Costco with paint specks and sagging seats, thanks to a careless roommate. I plunked down my $12 and lugged the chairs home.

Off came the wretched plaid fabric. A nice blue striped fabric showed up. Nice... except for the mildew and dirt. Through the crumbling cardboard, a lime green speck caught my eye.

Magnificent!! Lime green, easy-to-clean vinyl that perfectly matches my yellow and white kitchen. No trip to the fabric store needed! I simply re-spray painted the chairs white, stapled on a floral fabric to cover the plywood, and my dream of real chairs became reality. Bonus: I can stand on these sturdy chairs to water my plants!

Podcast Review Monday: The Memory Palace

In this day and age, I think we all have a little ADD. "Check out this YouTube video while I channel surf and IM with Betsy, oh yes, and write a work email too." Multitasking is our lifestyle, except of course when we're meditating during yoga class (which I consider to be both spiritual and physical... check two things off my list).

The Memory Palace podcast by Nate Dimeo plays well to this ADD audience. Episodes are 3 to 10 minutes long, and are a deep dive into a very specific part of history. I'm not once of those history buffs who longs for more information about what went on the past. I took history classes just because they were required, and because I felt like I should, not because I actually was all that interested.

But the Memory Palace is changing that for me. Dimeo personifies the historical event by looking at the individuals involved - not just what they did, or what happened to them, but who they were, why they were in that situation, what they thought about the event. He speaks quickly and paints a clear picture.

Subjects range from this guy who jumped off of high objects to President Walker to Ben Franklin's death ray. Quite a variety. I only wish he published more often.

Title: The Memory Palace
Subject: Non-fiction historical events and individuals
Length: 5 - 10 minutes
Available: iTunes
Cost: Free
Quality: High
Interest: History
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Podcast Review Monday: Selected Shorts (PRI)

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend, little sister, and I were on the looonnngggg drive back from the Finger Lakes. It was raining. I was driving. They were sleeping. I was bored. Hello, radio! I tuned into the local public radio station, willing to listen to just about anything. And I got lucky -- it was a radio show about two of my favorite things combined -- reading and dogs!!!! WOW!

It was "Selected Shorts," a broadcast of a [previously] live taped reading of several related short stories.

I'm a voracious reader... but have a hard time getting into short stories, so this certainly isn't something I would have chosen. Boy am I glad it chose me! The individuals reading the stories made me laugh, made me cry, kept me interested. Some of the stories involved a little fantasy -- as in things that couldn't really happen, not unicorns and vampires, more like a talking dog -- which made them fun, and a little different than the non-fiction stories I had heard on The Moth or This American Life.

The collections of stories that are read are sometimes grouped around a common theme, like dogs, or similar genres, like two authors who have complementary styles. The podcast is an hour long, and several stories are read. It was great accompaniament on my drive, while I was repainting some furniture, when I was out on a walk... you get the idea.

Yes, I admit it - I have a thing for Public Radio. I'm even one of those people who donates to my local station! However, WBUR doesn't have all of the worthwhile public radio programming that is available, and/or I'm not always available to listen to it all. Thank you, Podcasts, for existing. And thank you "Selected Shorts," for making a select few of your live recordings available. They're so enticing, I may just buy a CD so I can get another fix.

Title: Selected Shorts
Subject: Short fictional stories, live performance
Length: 1 hour
Available: iTunes
Cost: Free (for a few select downloads)
Quality: High
Interest: Literature
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Warm Salad v2

Last night's dinner: Peanut udon noodles (a variation on this almond soba recipe from Heidi Swanson), marinated "grilled" eggplant, and fresh corn. I say "grilled" because the eggplant was actually baked. Our small charcoal hibachi wasn't going to efficiently grill all 3 eggplanties I had on hand.

The eggplant was marinated in a garlic-basil balsamic dressing --- let's hear it for "the Rocket," the generic "Bullet." It is hands down the best appliance for making salad dressings. WAY better than a blender.

The result? A delicious dinner, with few noodles but lots of eggplant leftover. Hmmm.... can you say, "Warm salad lunch?" I can! It might not look pretty, but with a little leftover dressing from the marination and a quick turnaround in the microwave, this baby was just as delicious as last night... only with fewer noodle carbs.


PS. Podcast Monday was interupted by moving... will be posting later today.