An older Raptitude post here. Well worth a read.
I started this house project because I wanted to feel capable, accomplished, powerful over my environment. Buying a house is a terrible way to do those things, even absent any discussion of whether those things are not, in themselves, terrible.
Why do we want to feel capable? To pretend to be independent.
Why do we want to be (or look) accomplished? Pride.
Why to we want power over our environment? Because we are scared by our finitude.
In all cases, pride.
This house project has been one of the most humbling things I have ever undertaken, because, I suppose, God knew my bad motives going in and is working to eradicate them.
It is never of him who wills or him who runs, but of God who bring the increase.
All that to say, we press on with the house project, but hopefully with a clear understanding of what it is and is not, and why we are doing it. It will be a nice place for our family to live. That's the feeling to follow, nothing more.
Also, by way of update, ceilings are skim-coated and primed, working on painting them. Bathroom 2 should be tiled this Saturday. That will make a big difference. Again, I rely much on the help of friends from church, so I really should get over any idea that I am doing anything other than slowly building skills to be used to help others some day.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Saturday, February 22, 2014
DIY Toddler bed
Mr. built this for Jr.'s crib mattress. It is quite cozy, and significantly cheaper than an ikea toddler bed.
I have plans to paint it, but it looks nice natural, too!
EDIT (Mr.): Full credit should be given to K. Christopherson for the plans (which I modified as necessary - Jr.'s not quite ready to be up on legs, he still slithers out of bed now and then). Plans are here.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Peace, Love, and Oikoculture
I like to prepare food. I like to eat food. However, I'm doggone bad at even attempting to produce food.
This should change with the new house. Our intent is raised bed planters with appropriate vegetables, and the house offers a variety of shade-sun mixtures, so I think we can figure out good places for different plants. We're not set up for graywater, which is sad to me, but that doesn't mean I can't still use dishwater on the compost, etc. Stewardship of creation is important, and financially rewarding, too.
So I was excited to see these guys http://automicrofarm.com/ (whom I found from a MMM post comment thread - typically much better than most blog comment threads, which are often toxic sludge).
Their website seems to be drowning in hits right now, so I couldn't get to their blog, but the premise seems to be an automatically-manged hydroponically-fed permaculture station for your backyard.
Now, everybody out there who has read the Foundation trilogy knows that hydroponics aren't the answer when the galaxy's infrastructure is crumbling, but hey, it's morning in America, so let's see how we can swing this thing. I'm eager to see if they can pull it off, and if they ever need a thermal guy...
(Also, I just made up Oikoculture as a term of art for household cultivation - seems to be a well-suited term to this sort of thing. It exists on a Spanish-language website where I am not at all convinced they are talking about the same thing, and one English-language cultural-linguistic discussion. Just to make sure I properly attribute.)
This should change with the new house. Our intent is raised bed planters with appropriate vegetables, and the house offers a variety of shade-sun mixtures, so I think we can figure out good places for different plants. We're not set up for graywater, which is sad to me, but that doesn't mean I can't still use dishwater on the compost, etc. Stewardship of creation is important, and financially rewarding, too.
So I was excited to see these guys http://automicrofarm.com/ (whom I found from a MMM post comment thread - typically much better than most blog comment threads, which are often toxic sludge).
Their website seems to be drowning in hits right now, so I couldn't get to their blog, but the premise seems to be an automatically-manged hydroponically-fed permaculture station for your backyard.
Now, everybody out there who has read the Foundation trilogy knows that hydroponics aren't the answer when the galaxy's infrastructure is crumbling, but hey, it's morning in America, so let's see how we can swing this thing. I'm eager to see if they can pull it off, and if they ever need a thermal guy...
(Also, I just made up Oikoculture as a term of art for household cultivation - seems to be a well-suited term to this sort of thing. It exists on a Spanish-language website where I am not at all convinced they are talking about the same thing, and one English-language cultural-linguistic discussion. Just to make sure I properly attribute.)
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Truth, beauty, and stencils
Master bedroom; it's coming together.
That stencil pattern will be all over the blue wall.
I love the pattern!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Pulse Check
Yes, we're still alive, and still working on the house. This winter we spent an abnormally large fraction of my generously long Christmas break being sick. It was somewhat disheartening.
Now, thankfully, we are well again, and the work continues apace...at a pace... a pace less like a pace-car...more like a man with a pace-maker...
The 2nd bath vanity is all built and painted, ready for install and the countertop deck (we're tiling, so it will be 2 layers of ply with one layer of Hardibacker).
The paintable-waterproofing is up in both the bath areas, 2 coats.
The countertops have their final satin coats! They are gorgeous, and I'll try to get Mrs. down there with her better phone for pictures.
The ceiling is being skim-coated. This was a term I had to learn after I thought "texturing a ceiling is hard, painting the post-pocorn-scraped-ugly-thing is easy, let's try that first". Paint can BE ugly. But paint can't fix ugly. So I did more research and found the keyword "skim coat". That's the one where Mr. can just do it by walking around the house with a 12" knife and wearing out his shoulder. Ladders are for shrimps (but so are cars, doors, and off-the-rack suits, so we'll call it a tie).
Lots more paint is on walls, and the garage is much less crowded now that I've cleaned out a bunch of the old junk for scrap $$.
Slow and steady.
Now, thankfully, we are well again, and the work continues apace...at a pace... a pace less like a pace-car...more like a man with a pace-maker...
The 2nd bath vanity is all built and painted, ready for install and the countertop deck (we're tiling, so it will be 2 layers of ply with one layer of Hardibacker).
The paintable-waterproofing is up in both the bath areas, 2 coats.
The countertops have their final satin coats! They are gorgeous, and I'll try to get Mrs. down there with her better phone for pictures.
The ceiling is being skim-coated. This was a term I had to learn after I thought "texturing a ceiling is hard, painting the post-pocorn-scraped-ugly-thing is easy, let's try that first". Paint can BE ugly. But paint can't fix ugly. So I did more research and found the keyword "skim coat". That's the one where Mr. can just do it by walking around the house with a 12" knife and wearing out his shoulder. Ladders are for shrimps (but so are cars, doors, and off-the-rack suits, so we'll call it a tie).
Lots more paint is on walls, and the garage is much less crowded now that I've cleaned out a bunch of the old junk for scrap $$.
Slow and steady.
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