LaurenandLloyd.com

where our wasted time becomes your wasted time

Prototype

The money will just roll in…..

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A while ago when I was trying to fix my back knots, I took a couple of really hot baths. It’s funny, but I don’t really enjoy baths -there’s only so much soaking/reading/staring at the ceiling/pretending you’re a mermaid a person can take. (If there were a t.v. in the bathroom it would be a completely different story.) I also cringe at how much water a regular bath uses.

It would be cool, and more eco-friendly, to have a tiny, deep bathtub like a Japanese soaking tub, but I’m certainly not going to buy one. I was thinking of how to perhaps prototype one out of a Rubbermaid tub or something, then the ol’ meandering brain started to think that a really tall tub that conformed more to a person’s shape would be cool, and use even less water.

The solution? A spacesuit, filled with hot water! Genius, eh? I bet that would just use a gallon or two of water, and I could refill it from a tea kettle!

What’s the web address for the patent office?

Surprisingly, I don’t make a lot of gravy.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about composting lately. Sustainable Dave has worms doing his composting right in his basement, but that’s a little too creepy for me. I’ve thought about having a worm composter right outside our back door, because then I could just toss the scraps right after I’ve scooped them from the cutting board.

The whole reason for this worm pondering is that Lloyd doesn’t want me collecting scraps in a container on the counter until I get around to taking them on the long walk across the yard to the ‘compost pile‘. That’s a problem because I am NOT walking a single banana peel across the yard when it’s dark outside. There are jibblie things out there, like vampires. So, this morning I came up with a multi-tasker solution. I have a gravy separator that gets used once in a never, so now it lives in the trash can, like Oscar, and I can walk the scraps out to the pile at my leisure. In full, safe daylight.

I shall call them ‘sleeves’.

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Why, oh why, do I wait until the bitter end of the day to make a post?  My last shreds of consciousness long to go to couch bed, but there’s still this final task to complete.  Tonight is even worse because I forgot my camera at school, so I have to dig through old ‘possible post’ photos.  I’ll show you the socks.

I don’t mind walking in the cold, as long as nearly every part of my skin is enclosed in fabric.  I wear tank tops under my shirt to prevent windy-belly-syndrome, pulled-up socks so my ankles don’t get cold, a scarf & hat, and long sleeves sealed up by gloves.  When it was super-cold I wore the big ugly down coat and chopped the feet off some long socks so they could be used as quasi-legwarmers.  (Under my pants, not like a bad 80’s nightmare.)   One day it wasn’t freezing cold so I just wore my regular coat and a sweater with 1/2 sleeves.  My wrists! My wrists were going to feel the wind!  Nooooooo!!!!  Enter the chopped socks.

Please observe the blindingly white skin of my elbow.

I think the cat hairs really add something.

I drew plans and everything!

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As you know, my brother will be here on Wednesday, and his room isn’t clean*, so I built a shelf.

Melanie, who I work with, wanted a funky storage area under her loft for some of the fun doo-dads she has for the kiddos.  It struck me as a most magnificent idea, and said I’d help.  I even bought the ‘select’ lumber (on sale, of course) so it wouldn’t be completely warped when it was finished.  She sketched her idea for me, and I actually drew out some plans (with some modifications, of course).   (I plan to say ‘of course’ several more times.  Care to join me?)

Turns out I can’t make those tiny shelves - no room.

I’m nearly done attaching things, but I had to give up for the night.  I’m up way past my bedtime, and with my creaky old knees, I don’t think I can do carpentry on the floor much longer.  That stinks.  How am I going to find a workbench that’s as big as a whole floor?

Not much longer, my little smurfs.

* Mark, the sheets are clean, and if you can get to the closet without running into the treadmill, we’re good to go.  Of course.

Prototypin’ for Cats

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We’re leaving for a few days to attend my *sigh* twenty-year high school reunion.   The house is clean enough that we could die without shame, the stuff is almost packed up, and I’ve been working on attending to the cats’ needs.  Leaving cats when you go out of town is so easy –  just a pile of food and some clean litter.  Of course, being paranoid me, I’ve set up extra litter boxes to ensure they don’t devalue the floors.

Regarding water, I’ve got some of those plastic waterers for Pfennig, but Cricket always gets a nasty face infection when she drinks from those.  Tonight I rigged up an all-glass model for her.  I’m sure it will sell millions!

Trust me, it works.

That’s right – a board with a hole cut out of it. The mat is there to catch all the water I spilled when testing it out. I’ll be sure it’s full before we leave. (The bottle, not the mat.)

Everybody pray for us!  We’re going to try driving the whole way in one shot.  I haven’t done that since college.

I’ll grill that.

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It was a Sunday of experimental food. I’ll save the Thermos cooking for another day, but I’ll tell you about dinner. It was getting late, we were getting hungry, the house was getting HOT, and I thought, “I wonder if you can grill a page of meat?” Turns out you can.

Slap it (frozen) on the hot grill and sprinkle some grill seasoning on.

Yep, it’s frozen.

Close lid. Come back in about four minutes and wonder what on earth is going on with that meat.

What??

Flip. Worry about that corner that is getting pretty burnt. Jam the spatula underneath to protect it.

Save the corner! Save the corner!

Cut into pieces and assemble on revived frozen bread. (Mine was covered in melty cheese, so I didn’t get a good photo.)
Like an edible puzzle.

Next time, I will check it after three minutes. This was a little overdone. Verdict: Success! (Also, I have learned the importance of even page construction.)