Master Bathroom Update #1

If anybody compares me and my husband, it is clear that he is more hard-working. (I don't say that I'm lazy). So when it comes to my ideas for a house project, he's usually down with it, as long as:

1. It adds values to the house

2. It's not too crazy

To say the least, my great idea of secret bookcase entrance was rejected. Not sure why. But several of my ideas, such as chevron pattern on foyer wall (this should have been a blog post), pot filler in the kitchen (we had to frame another wall before the drywall work could be done), the yellow side garage door, to have accent wall instead of backsplash in our master bathroom were accepted. Sometimes he even becomes more obsessed with it that I am. I guess somebody needs to do it (him) and not just to talk about it (me). 

The tiles that we picked out are the same styles as our floor tiles (Daltile San Michele - Dorato). We bought them when we bought the materials for finishing the first floor, which was in April. But, we didn't finish tiling the first floor until July, I'd say. Thus, we started with this project last month and we finished it in 3 days! That's a record!

He started by measuring up the wall and the tiles. Counting how many rows and columns we needed. We also knew that we wanted to have the cut piece at the bottom, not at the top, because eyes are usually drawn to the top. He then attached a piece of wood as our guide. The starting point as well as to make sure that they were level. He applied a thin set of mortar and started putting the tile. Since the tile size came in about 12 in x 12 in (1/8" spacing), we also taped the joint between the tiles.

It took us about three hours to complete the part above the wood. That also includes the cutting time. We then waited a day to make sure they were hardened until we unscrewed the wood and continued on with the bottom part.

The next step is to fill in the grout. We matched the grout color of this wall with our floor tiles. Grouting was not hard, but took time because he needed to step up and down the ladder. I then followed him with wrung out sponge to wipe the excess after 10-20 minutes.

 The last thing to do was to come back the next day and wipe out the haze caused by the grout sand. And here are before and after pictures:

I personally think it looks amazing (of course I have to stand by my ideas :p) But I do feel a spa like master bath. For bathrooms, we use Bianco Romano granite countertop and a dark maple cabinets.We obviously still need to find a vanity light and two small wall mirrors for each sink (and to put trims around the window!). But I am really happy with the way it turns out so far. 

Alright, I'm gonna go and think about his my next project!

DIY Friday: Nautical Glass Coaster

A while back, my mother-in-law passed this link along to me: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/good_day_wi/thrifty-thursday-rope-crafts. The project seems to be pretty easy and God knows I can only do easy DIY projects. Also, I really would like to add more nautical touches to the house. I pretend that our lake house is a beach house, minus the beach. 

It took me a week to get the materials I didn't have: the rope and the cork coasters. I went to Farm and Fleet and Hobby Lobby to get the materials, respectively. Then, it took me another week to start it. I'm blaming my baby, again. I become this really lazy person, which is weird because he is very active inside. So, as you may guess it, it took me another week to finish four of them. Ha! 

My mother-in-law also texted me that my father-in-law picked up a lamp that was thrown out that would be perfect for this project. Do I dare to imagine how long it will take me to do the lamp? 

At the beginning, I hot glued the rope before I placed it on the coaster. But it was a stupid idea. I realized that I could hot glue the coaster instead and wrap the rope on it. Much faster.

The nice thing about this coasters is that they are durable. I can use them outside, which hopefully will do fine under Wisconsin's summer season.

Go Badgers!

Throwback Thursday: Eight Years Later

Eight years later in 2013...Just me trying to be cuddly with Lucky who's not having it. 

Let's rewind.

"Pick you up at Memorial Union." - A. A. G.

I am skipping my story how I got here and the trips we took to Niagara Falls and Miami. I am leaving those to my memoir ;)

MY mother, aunt, uncle, grandfather, and I flew to Chicago from JFK and took the Val Galder bus to Memorial Union, Madison where my brother was supposed to pick us up. We arrived in Madison on August 15th, 2005. Moving day. Bad bad choice. My brother's uhaul had broke down earlier which delayed him a little bit.

 Fast forward later that day

We got to the 2-bedroom apartment I'd be sharing with him. He then went to return the uhaul truck with my uncle. My mom and my aunt started organizing stuffs and then about 5 pm they asked me to go buy food at this Korean place. By this time, my mom had been to Madison several times. But, noooo, they wanted me, the girl who just got here, didn't know anybody or anything, and who just figured out the money bills to go by HERSELF? Yes, just because I spoke English. Important note: At that time, I barely spoke English. Not to mention knowing the culture.

Off I went to point A to point B as shown in figure below. They gave direction: "Just walk straight until you find it. Here's what you need to order." It's 2 blocks away. Easy peasy. 

My Checklists:

1. Arrive safely at the restaurant ü

2. Order Beef Bokum ü

3. Pay correctly ü

4. Have a conversation with a Korean for the first time ü

5. Don't mess up no. 4 û

6. Get home quickly û

When I did no. 4. Basically it was me answering Yes/No to whatever the waiter asked. He was interested in asking me question because obviously I looked new in town. 

Well, he asked me if I was new, in which I said Yes. 

He asked if I was Korean, I said No. 

He asked me where I was from. "Indonesia." 

He asked me if I was studying in college, in which I said Yes. 

Now, he should have stopped. But he then asked me again if I was an undergraduate or a graduate student (I think, I was not sure what he asked). In which, I said, "Graduate." Too funny. Remember the Important note above?

I blamed the universe for not giving me the opportunities to dive into the American culture beforehand. At that time, I still didn't know I made a mistake by saying that. Getting to point no 6, on the way back I kept thinking if I answered something wrong. I kept on walking and for sure I missed the apartment building. I kept walking for 4 or 5 more blocks until I thought, "Hm...It was not that far...Where am I??!!" I walked my way back and guessed the building since there was this one with an open door.

Now.....The thing is.....I didn't bring any keys with me......Thankfully, it was moving day, where people tend to prop the main entrance door open to move stuffs easier. Otherwise...............I don't know. Sitting outside and crying? I didn't even know the door was locked automatically. 

Nevertheless, my brother laughed so hard when I told him about my "graduate" answer. It was his joke for quite some times.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures in 2005. I used Friendster instead of Facebook. So all pictures are gone now. Even the one from high school. This 2005 picture was taken in September. We were about to have a surprise birthday at Union South.

Another milestone in Madison was my 21st birthday. The picture was taken at Capitol Centre Market. My first legal alcohol. Not happy about winter birthday though.

Cheers to more and more exciting stories,

On Having A Yellow Door

To set the mood, I am also currently listening to Tie a yellow ribbon - Tony Orlando song on replay. Oh tie the yellow ribbon 'round the old oak tree. It's been three long years, do you still want me..

But, I think that I am actually someone who's afraid of colors. Of bright colors, specifically. I mean, I prefer cloudy/ partly cloudy, remember?

So when we are painting our side garage door (it's on the side, basically nobody will see it except for the neighbor next door), it was weird that I came up with the idea to paint it color! It was just white otherwise. I could see sparks on my husband's eyes when I mentioned it (meaning he liked the idea). But when I said royal/ navy blue color, the sparks were gone (remember how I prefer not so bright color?). I wanted the sparks back badly, also because it means I have a final say on something, so I quickly said, "YELLOW!" and the sparks were back!

He then tried to send me to go get this yellow paint color by myself (because we took the doors of the hinges, so no lock), I had a panic attack. I said I couldn't do it, because I was cursed with choosing a color. I pretended I was crying out loud (or maybe it's because of the baby? Can't tell), so we decided on a range of color, between a screwdriver and a box of marigold seed. The screwdriver was a brighter yellow, while the marigold seed box was a yellow with a hint of orange. We like the color of the box better. I believe this is the fastest time we ever reached a decision together.

So I was off to Home Depot to get the Behr paint. I tried to pick the closest yellow paint, but I couldn't find it! (Cursed) so I asked the guy to color match it with the marigold seed box. I knew that my husband will not agree with that decision. But in my head, I just didn't want to screw it up. Actually, if I put the box right next to the door, the color matches!!

So here it is, a yellow door. We call it the marigold color :)

Flashback: Like, had-no-morning-sickness-at-all good

Yes, yes, and yes! What's the point of having a blog if I don't write. But, to be honest, since April until June, my mother was here. It sucked all of my time creative juices and energy. I had ideas here and there what to write about, but then I got lazy.

So, to start things all over again, I'd like to just post this picture of what I had been doing all this time. I may or may not go through each picture one by one because to tell you the truth, I'd rather take a nap right now (for a reason that will be clear soon).

Starting from top center going CW

My brother's civil ceremony. We drove to Minneapolis (did not forget to stop by Norske Nook who had the best pie!) for a weekend. It was short and sweet. But the food was delicious! Now, if you think that that was it, you are certainly wrong. Next year, we are going to party it up celebrate it again. September 2014, my husband, my good friend, and I are planning to go back home (Indonesia, fyi) because they are going to have the church ceremony and reception in Jakarta as well as in Medan (Sophie's hometwon) a week before. Now, that's what I call wedding celebration.

I took -"Tootsie" the hyena- sign in Weyauwega (I still don' know how to pronounce it) Zoo. I visited my good friend (the same good friend from story above) annual camping trip in Fremont, WI (We stayed in a cabin. I would no more stay in a tent. The quick back story: Went to FL with an ex. Stayed in a tent on a beach camping ground. I had never camped before. I did not know what to bring. I brought none of the necessary sleeping-in-a-tent stuffs. Had a fight with the ex. Ended up sleeping on a blanket with a jacket all night long, he slept in a sleeping bag on a mattress. Call me high maintenance, whatever). 

The cake! Oh the cake from Craig's Cake Shop! It was our 1st wedding anniversary on June 16th. One year! It was the same day as Father's Day 2013, so we kind of stole a little moment during our family gathering. We then eat a slice from our top wedding cake that we froze from last year. (We wrapped the cake in aluminium foil, put it in a gallon-size ziploc bag, tried to make it as tight as possible, put it back in the box, then wrapped the box in a plastic bag). It was vanilla cake with raspberry mousse. Delicious! But not the optimum flavor or texture, obviously. I'd rather eat it last year. But not bad, it still tasted pretty good. Cheers to another year, babe!

Oh! Just a picture of my husband looking handsome, with Lucky, our dog, who looked somewhat irritated. It might have been a hot day and she would not have it when anyone tried to cuddle her. Attitude, attitude, attitude...

The next two photos are of Fourth of July weekend. Boating and s'morsing. And a little bit more s'morsing. We had fire going, trying to burn some of woods leftover from our house reno. Actually, my Fourth of July weekend was filled with working around the house, which leads me to the next picture.

Ta-da! We finished our railing job! We really did pour sweat and blood into this deck. We finished the framing job maybe a month before. We primed those babies and we primed some more. Then we finished it with semi-gloss white paint (probably he put 3 coats of it). We continued on by drilling 11 holes on each post and then put the cable railing in! It sounds easy, but noooo, it was not. (I guess maybe because we re somewhat perfectionist in doing this house). The bistro chair set is courtesy of my parents-in-law. A heart balloon was tied to the chair, a gift for our wedding anniversary......Sit outside all day and enjoy the lake?

Or maybe not yet. Because I tend to prefer sleeping than any other thing. The center photo is my our baby's ultrasound from the trimester screen in June. We found out we were pregnant in early May, I think. We were happy! (So yeah, it turned out to be I was pregnant when I went to my brother's commencement). I am currently almost 4.5 month along. But no baby bump yet (Argh!). This photo always makes me smile. Look at those cute legs. I will write another post about this pregnancy. Like a pregnancy diary without the 'dear diary' thing. But so far so good. Like, had-no-morning-sickness-at-all good. :)

Till then,

Dear Mrs. Housewife: Cleaning Tips

The following letter has been wildly interpreted and paraphrased from the original question. It was something about cleaning the pots/pans or electric stove coil or the bottom of the stove or maybe none of them. I don't remember exactly. But to tackle everything is too much work. 

Dear Mrs. Housewife,

How do I clean the burnt/grease pans?

Rose Garden*

Dear Rose Garden,

I don't currently own a stove, I use my slow cooker and mini oven toaster. I line aluminium foil on my baking pan to avoid the mess. So I am absolutely not qualified for this question. Except, if a Master's in engineering counts. But, I will give my engineering insight anyway. Sometimes I need to be practical as an engineer. For example, "Ah, I will assume that the wind field across the lake with a size of Lake Mendota is homogeneous. It will save my model compute time." If you're not sure where this is going, I will tell you my numero uno suggestion. You should buy new pots/pans. Very practical, it will save you some scrubbing time. I can give you myy 20% coupon for one item at Bed Bath and Beyond. Or, I can shop for you at Goodwill this coming weekend. Seriously, can I?

But, if you are like my mother, who will think that buying-new-stuff-while-the-old-stuff-works-just-fine is b.s., hold on! I have other suggestions.

I browsed around for some home remedies. I found the second suggestion from "Household Remedies" pins on Pinterest (Pictured below, marked "1"). Some people re-pinned this a lot. So, I thought it worked. It uses:

1/4 cup of baking soda

Enough hydrogen peroxide to make the mix paste-y. Then you can start to RUB it!

However, I found a link with a picture, which is marked "2" below, that says the recipe did not work as "magical" as advertised (It's not going to be the first time it happens. Right, Kaboom?)

You can try it anyway, though. 

Since I am trying to look creative, I found another method. Just for you, Rose Garden. 

I guess this third suggestion works nicer with pots since you will need to boil it on your stove. 

Apartment Therapy posted this recipe:

1 cup of vinegar

2 tablespoons of baking soda

About 1 cup of water

Directions:

1. Pour the water

2. Add the vinegar

3. Bring it to a boil

4. Remove pan from the heat.

5. Empty the pan.

6. Add the baking soda

7. Start scrubbing

8. Leave some baking soda with drops of water on tough spot for 10 mins. 

9. Step 7. 

Let me know if anything works. If all fails, contact me. I will give you my mother's phone number who will be happy to clean the pots/pans for you. She is not a clean freak, but a clean fairy. 

A long time ago, she made a comment about how my estranged aunt's pots/pans are black at the bottom. She prided herself on keeping hers clean. Little did she know, a few years later she would find my pots/pans of my college life in the same condition. She said, "I was quick to judge. Didn't know that my own daughter's pots look like this," while scrubbing away. I quickly gave her a shoulder rub and told her I loved her. 

My charm always works on her. ;)

Love,

Tired-housewife-who-just-finished-painting-the-ceiling.

* name has been modified for anonymity. 

On what I'm reading

1. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Maria Semple
I really enjoy reading this book. At first I thought it's going to be similar to Gone Girl, which I've read before, but it's not. I have to maybe say Gone Girl has a better how-to-be-a-missing-person plot better, but I actually like this book better. Maybe because I did not like how Gone Girl ended.

2. Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt
I just finished reading this book. I think this is a good book. A little excitement at the end, but the overall book was not boring. I don't know why I waited this long to read it. (I guess because the title was not clear to me....Am I judging a book by its title? Is this allowed?)

3. History of a Pleasure Seeker - Richard Mason
I read the summary of the book, but yet was not sure of what it was about. I enjoy a book in the shorter side. It gets to the point without going around and around. Also, it gave me a glimpse of being in Amsterdam back in the turn of the century. But, it may be too much sex scene. I like it better with more character building.

4. The Round House - Louise Erdrich
The book won an award. I like the story. I also like that it touched on the subject of Indian Reservation, because I am not familiar with that at all. But, I feel that this is one of the book that can be cut shorter. What I'm trying to say is that I really really love The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, and The Sense of an Ending.

5. Will Grayson Will Grayson - John Green + David Levithan
John Green is one of favorite writers. The stories are uniquely told. I don't know how real it is in life, because obviously I did not attend HS in the US.

6. The Paris Wife - Paula McLain
It's a novel which has the facts straight. So, I'm not sure why it can't be just a biography. I'm sure some are exaggerated, but then I found out about Hadley Richardson's life story while married to Ernest Hemingway faster in the internet. Still, I do love me some biography related materials.

7. The Light between Oceans - M. L. Stedman
An OK heartbreaking story for me, but I wouldn't mind reading another of her novels.

8. A discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
I did not finish reading this book. I did not pick up the meaning of the title when I started reading it. It's about witches, vampire, and daemon in love. I could not finish it. I can not reading a harlequin type of love story too much.

On to some non-fictions, please....