An Update on my Phone

I have good news, everyone!

MY PHONE IS WORKING AGAIN!!!!

IT'S ALIIIIIVE!! (sorry for the blurry pic. For some reason, whenever the flash is off on my camera, the resulting pix are blurry as hell, even when I'm holding the camera still)

As you may recall, the charging port in my Samsung Galaxy SIII phone is broken. I can plug in the micro USB cable, but the phone does not charge (the contacts in the port are either worn out or just plain broken). Unfortunately, I have not been able to procure a new phone with at least 8MP camera (which I need for the purpose of taking pix for blogging and personal use). While I have found cheap phones, their cameras are atrocious or they're severely underpowered (as has been the case with some Chinese phones I looked at online. They have 8 core CPUs, but only 0.5-1GB of RAM to power them. You need at least 2 GB of RAM to power a processor with that many cores). So, as is often the case with life in poverty: when you can't afford something, you go without it.

Since buying a new phone has been out of the question for some time, I consulted the oracle known as Google to see what would be involved in fixing the broken port. I found one video of a repair technician unsoldering the old port and then resoldering a new one in place, but my husband wasn't looking forward to the prospect of unsoldering my old port because he doesn't have the right tools for the job. And then, I came across a video of a guy who also had an SIII with a broken charging port, and he basically rigged an extra USB cord to act as a jumper cable to the wireless charging posts next to the phone's battery. It charged the phone by bypassing the charging port altogether. It was so simple, it blew my mind! Why hadn't I thought of this before? Then again, I hadn't realized my phone was capable of wireless charging in the first place...

The rig job. This video is responsible for resurrecting my phone

This morning, after waking up, my husband dutifully rigged up my USB jumper cable and upon securing it with some solder, he replaced the back of the phone most of the way and taped the excess length around the back. Yes, my phone looks cheap and strange with a wire tail hanging off the side and tape on the back, BUT IT WORKS!! Poverty has made me stop giving a flying fuck about the way something looks so long as it's functional, however crude it might be.

After going though and clearing out months of updates and alerts from Facebook, Instagram, etc, I've finally gotten my phone back to where it should be. No more going though clunky third-party platforms to use Instagram (though Instagram is stupid for making their service app-exclusive precisely BECAUSE there are some cases where people who don't have mobile phones but would like to use the platform and can't because some Silicon Valley asshole doesn't want to put forth the time and effort to make a desktop-friendly version of Instagram that's as good as the app!).

Everything is up to date now

It's good to have a working cellphone again.

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The Crib: The End

Hello again, dear readers!

After about a month of hard work, the crib is finally done! It's been sanded, painted, reinforced, mounted on caster wheels, and is finally ready to be put to use.

Head and foot boards assembled

Unfortunately, the stretcher bar at the bottom was missing a screw. No worries. My husband's hoarded hardware took care of that little problem

Ready to paint

In a significant deviation from the original plan, I assembled the crib first before painting it. This was my husband's bright idea because he wanted to see where reinforcements would be needed in the overall piece. Though this was primarily my project, I did let him do the planning and some of the reinforcements. Due to his engineer's brain and decades of carpentry experience, this was the only part of the assembly that I let him handle. But, for the purpose of gaining experience, I helped by measuring, cutting, and mounting an extra plank on the back bottom of the crib, borrowing my hubby's skill-saw and drills for the job. Despite gorilla-ing the bolts for security and sturdiness, the back bottom part of the crib felt a little too wobbly for my liking. Since it was going in the back of the crib where nobody would see it, I left the reinforcement unpainted. The other side felt fine, and I will be taking the front side of the crib down when the baby is big enough so she can have a toddler bed.

All painted! One coat was enough

The paint I used was a water-based latex paint. Everywhere I looked online and at Home Depot, for the purpose of painting a crib, latex paint was recommended. The first coat was pretty opaque and I debated on whether or not I should do a second coat. I still had some paint left over and the 150 grit sandpaper for this purpose, but after my husband looked it over, he told me it wasn't necessary. One coat was sufficient. He told me he thought it looked better now than it did in the online pictures or store models.

The reinforcement. This is on the back side of the crib, so nobody's gonna see it.

Before bringing the crib into the bedroom, there were three final tasks that needed completion: installing the caster wheels, attaching the springs, and one final cleaning. Though it took me a bit to figure out how to separate the caster's socket from the wheel, my hubby handled the drilling on the legs. I'd planned on doing it, but he insisted on doing the drilling because the bit was larger and he had better control of the drill.

Man at work

Wheels on!

The spring

The rest of the final assembly was tolerable, though annoying. After wiping down the springs with bleach and getting it ready to attach to the frame of the crib, I had two hiccups occur here. The first hiccup was because one of the holes for where the bolt was supposed to go and attach the spring to the frame had a messed up thread and no matter how careful I was, I just could not get the bolt to take. My husband solved that problem by drilling another hole right about at the same level and inserting a carriage bolt and nut into the arm of the spring, but not before cursing the manufacturer for making the bolt holes in such an inconvenient place. This was due to the second hiccup: having allen wrenches that were too long to fit in the narrow gap where the bolts attached the spring to the frame. If my hubby hadn't searched the tool drawers for the L-shaped allen wrenches and found one that fit, I honestly don't know how I would have finished the installation. Hubby or I would have had to drill extra holes for new screws, thus further delaying completion and being an overall pain in the ass to do.

The crib is complete. Now time to bring it in

I finally wiped down the whole crib before calling it done. Since the crib sat outside and was assembled outdoors, I wanted to be absolutely sure the crib was clean of any outside pathogens. I'm a huge stickler for cleanliness, especially since a baby will be sleeping in that crib. While she's never been a sickly child, I don't want to take that risk. She'll have plenty of opportunities to build up her immune system as she gets older and more active.

After my hubby helped me to put the crib in the bedroom, I was pleasantly surprised to find that a crib mattress we had been given by a family friend about a year ago fit perfectly in the crib! Though our church friends gave us a mattress to go with the crib, I planned to use the one our family friend gave because that mattress was already inside our home (we used to play with the baby on it), but I was concerned that it might be too large to fit in the frame. Imagine my delight when I saw how perfectly the mattress lay on the spring. However, thanks to my neurotic cat, Pest, I discovered that the bottom of the mattress was covered in cat pee (there's nothing physically wrong with him. He just feels the need to pee on everything because he's territorial. It's a never-ending job, cleaning up after him) after I took it out of the closet where I'd been storing it. Needless to say, after a cursing tirade directed at Pest while he roosted on top of the car, I took the mattress outside and bleached the hell out of it. Experience has taught me that there is no substance more pervasive than cat pee, but I was thankful that the mattress was made of plastic and was easily cleaned.

All done. A baby can sleep here now

After the mattress was cleaned, dried and eau-de-tomcat free, I finally dressed the crib. Mattress, waterproof barrier, cover sheet, and I was done. It sure looked pretty. I haven't decided if I'm going to add a pillow in there or not (I have a small, flat one that would give her some padding without sinking her head in). Guess that'll be something to bring up at our next pediatrician's appointment.

But the most important question remained unanswered: what did the baby think of her new bed?

At first, she was unsure about it and wanted me to pick her up

But then, after her bath and night feed, she went to sleep. I was especially thrilled to see that her diaper and blanket baskets still fit easily under the crib, thus saving us space. Her cradle was arranged in a similar way

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with the outcome of this project. I got to flex my DIY muscles and build something practical. This gives me a big confidence boost for future projects. That being said, if I was going to redo this project, I would first use the right tools for the job (sanding wheels save arms!) and paint the pieces separately before assembling. I'd planned on doing that, but my husband talked me into going a different route. I would also probably tape over the holes where all the hardware went, since I think my paint played a part in that one spring hole's thread being messed up.

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An Update on the Crib

Hello again, dear readers!

I thought I'd take some time to let you all know how the crib is coming along. A few weeks back, I wrote about how my daughter had outgrown her baby cradle and needed a bigger bed. Some friends gave us their daughter's old crib, but it was in need of a paint job after being exposed to the elements in what was once our poorly-roofed shed (that problem is now fixed, thankfully). I have the paint, the sandpaper, the caster wheels for mobility, and brushes to complete this project. Now, I present my progress.

At the beginning, this was the crib

For the past few weeks, usually in the evening when the sun is setting and there is more shade in the yard, I've been diligently sanding off the old paint using some 60 grit sandpaper. Due to the way the crib is designed, I've had to sand it down all by hand because a sanding wheel would have been too impractical (and costly). Let me just state that anyone who tells you that sanding is easy should be smacked BECAUSE MY HANDS AND ARMS ARE SORE!! I think I'm turning into an old woman and getting carpal tunnel syndrome in my hands from this project. Also, there's alot of dust that gets kicked up with sanding furniture. Thank goodness the paint is non toxic!

My sandpapers. 60 grit is for getting the old paint off, 150 grit is for roughing up the paint between coats

Well, today I finally finished sanding. I used up all five sheets that were in the little package and got about half the old paint off. My husband had to remind me not to go too hard on the sanding because the paint that wasn't easily coming off was just going to be painted over. The crib will still be white, but the surface paint will be roughed up enough to get the new coat of paint to stick.

Part-way through. Sanding furniture is alot harder than it looks...

Before I paint on the first coat, though, a bit of reinforcement is needed on the head and foot boards of the crib. Either the weather or rough handling caused it, but a side of the headboard is coming apart and the foot board has a side that is split near where the holes to insert the screws bolting the leg to the board go. I am NOT letting my kid sleep in something that could become a safety hazard down the road (hell, I'D be apprehensive about sleeping in a bed which featured these structural defects too), so I'm taking care of this now before I go any further. The rest of the frame is alright, though. Some strong glue and a few well-placed screws should take care of this problem.

All done! My arms hurt...

So this is where I'm at now. I'll keep you all updated as this project progresses. This is the first big DIY project that I've done, so I want the results to be a point of pride. Stay tuned!

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The Crib

Good evening, dear readers. I hope your Saturday went well.

The time has come. We need to upgrade the baby's bed.

Before she was born, some friends from church gave us a baby cradle so that she would have a place to sleep when she arrived. It was made of solid wood and had a pin that could come out so that the cradle could rock. It couldn't fit in our old shitty trailer, but when we moved into this one just before the baby was born, we had much larger living space and the cradle was actually the perfect size for this room.

The cradle. We wound up never using the bumpers because at the hospital, they told us it was a suffocation risk. This was taken shortly after we moved in, hence all the mess

For the first 9 months of her life, the cradle served the baby well. Though she prefers sleeping in the bed with us, something I don't mind letting her do because it makes breastfeeding and tending to her at night easier, the bed is getting mighty crowded now that hubby and I want to start making a sibling for our little girl. Also, the baby is quite large for being 10 months old. She has quite literally outgrown the cradle, and with her mobility improving day by day, I'm terrified of her waking up one early morning like she usually does and pitching herself over the edge of the cradle and onto the floor.

Here she was as a newborn, taking her nap in the cradle

A few months back, the son and daughter-in-law of a couple in my Catechism class were moving from Arizona to Kentucky because his job transferred him there. Before they left, they gave us their daughter's old crib and mattress. She's only a toddler, so the crib wasn't very old. We didn't have room in our bedroom for the new crib, so we kept it in parts in the shed, until now.

Unfortunately, the weather elements have chipped the paint on the crib, so it needs a paint job. I spent the evening pressure washing the different parts of the crib to get as much of the old paint off as I could before I proceed with the painting. I also want to put wheels on the legs so it can be moved easily in the room. Even after rearranging the furniture, the only place we have room for the crib would be directly across from the foot of the bed, right up against my husband's side of the closet. For there to be room for the closet door to open, the crib would have to block the back door, which we can't have because that's a safety hazard. Hence, the need for wheels because when its in use, the crib can be parked in front of my husband's closet door, and then moved when he needs to get into it to get his clothes.

The new crib actually looks like this. It's an Ashleigh-model crib by Graco. Pic found here 

While searching for assembly instructions to download (not that a crib is all that hard to assemble, but instructions have their uses, even for someone like me who hates reading them), I was pleased to discover that the crib is actually a 4-in-1 convertible, so it will change from crib to toddler bed to day bed to a regular bed. I'm pleased to read this because it means that we won't have to buy her a new bed for a while. At least until her and her siblings are old enough to sleep in bunk beds.

First thing on Monday morning, I will take down the cradle and have my husband pick up a small half-gallon of white latex enamel paint while he's out running errands. I will post pictures of this project as it unfolds. There's no time like the present to do it.

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Why You Should Keep Plastic Bottles

Good evening, dear readers! I hope your day is well and that you're looking forward to enjoying the upcoming Valentine's Day holiday with your loved ones.

I am thankfully almost done with this 21 day blog challenge! This is the second to last prompt at day 20. Like a number of prompts over the course of this challenge, it was a bit tough to think of something from my impoverished lifestyle that would fit with what the prompt was asking. As someone who is poor, there are lots of things I can think of which qualify as "should keep" such as clothes, shoes, tools and hardware, electronics, whatever money you can keep in the bank account so as to maintain a roof over one's head, etc. With so many items classified as "should keep", it's easy to become a hoarder if you're poor. It was challenging to narrow these various possessions down to one specific item. After some deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that plastic bottles are probably the most useful item you can keep and here's why.

Plastic, as we all know, is very common. Almost everything we use has plastic in it in one form or another, from clothes to cups and cars. But the kind of plastic I had in mind which should be kept is the ordinary 2L plastic pop (or soda, depending on your dialect preference) bottle. Smaller or other sizes are acceptable, but I specifically had 2L bottles in mind because they are so commonplace and cheap (depending on where you go, a 2L bottle of pop can sell for as little as $0.79 USD).

Isn't this a cute way to upcycle! Pic found here

2L plastic bottles can be put to use in a number of ways. They can be refilled with water or another desired beverage for drinking. They can also be filled with water and frozen to make ice packs to put in a cooler. Premixed plant food can be conveniently stored in 2L pop bottles for easy deployment when plants need a nutritional boost. Bottles can also be cut and utilized as planters, funnels, storage containers for kids crafts, and art projects. There are lots of things you can do with a 2L pop bottle!

When the bottle is no longer of use, you can recycle it. Plastic pop bottles are recyclable and if your trash removal company doesn't offer recycling as part of their services, have a look on Google and see if there are recycling centers in your area that accept plastic. The price per pound of plastics vary but it generally isn't very high, so reach out and see who is offering the most money for your plastic bottles. You might be lucky to get a few dollars worth out of your bags of plastic pop bottles and break even on gas money.

What do you do with plastic bottles? Let me know in the comments below.

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My Top Picks for Summer 2016: 4 Cheap Beauty Must-Haves

Happy Sunday, dear readers! I hope your favorite football teams have won their respective games (don't ask about my local Arizona Cardinals...)

For Day 14 of the 21 day blogging challenge, I'm prompted to bring out my forecasting skills. With my other vice being beauty, I figured I'd share some low budget must haves for beauties this upcoming summer!

Hot stuff for the summer. Pic found here

1. Coconut oil

I have previously written about this highly useful cosmetic (and culinary) item a number of times. Expect it to become more mainstream this summer, especially as a conditioner and moisturizer.

2. Toilet paper

This may come as a surprise, but toilet paper is actually a great makeup remover sheet. It's cheap, it's easily disposed of, and it's multipurpose (it's a great blotting paper and tissue, in addition to wiping your bottom). I use toilet paper and coconut oil to take my makeup off, and then just flush the used sheets down the toilet. Why bother spending money on expensive wipes or cotton pads when you have something just as good already in your bathroom!

3. DIY brushes

This was actually inspired by a video tutorial I stumbled across online somewhere (I can't remember if it was on Facebook or Buzzfeed). The products aren't expensive, and I think the results look better than the expensive MAC brushes.

4. Natural makeup

On a recent trip to Sephora, I came across bronzers from Too Faced being made with cocoa powder. As people, and millenials like myself, are becoming more and more aware of what products go in and on our bodies, expect more and more companies to start producing cosmetics with fewer chemical components and more natural ingredients.


What do you forsee becoming hot stuff this coming summer?

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The Oil Change

After yesterdays tire changing endeavor, I received another lesson in basic automotive maintenance today: how to change the oil.

Since it's getting colder, we needed a heavier motor oil. We got a 5-qt jug of 5W-30 to replace the summer blend of 10W-30 that my hubby put in just before I gave birth in the spring. I had watched him do that job, and now I wanted to do it myself under his supervision.

After getting the necessary items (oil, fuel filter, drain pan, wrenches, mat to lay down on, jacks) and opening the hood, I jacked the car up and put the safety jacks underneath the frame so that if for whatever reason the car slipped off the main jack, 4000+ lbs of steel death wouldn't come crashing down on me. Unfortunately, staring at and imagining 4000+ lbs of car crushing me was all I could think of as I lay down on the mat searching for the oil pan. My hubby offered to do it, but I told him no. I needed to face this fear or else I would be forever beholden to someone else for the purpose of changing the oil. My hubby got down with me and pointed out where the pan was, and where the bolt plug was too. He started the bolt and told me to unscrew it, but to be careful not to lose the bolt in the oily deluge that came pouring out into the drain pan. I carefully unscrewed the bolt, trying to keep my hand as far out of the way of the oil drip as I could. Though we had been home for about an hour by this point, I wasn't sure how hot the oil would be and I didn't want to find out by burning my hand. Fortunately, the oil was warm, but not hot and I triumphantly cheered as I pulled out the bolt and held it high for my husband to see. He was watching the baby as she played on a blanket in the grass, and told me the baby was imitating my victorious cheer.

Me, holding up the oily plug like a pro. Pic found here

After taking a few minutes break to let the oil finish draining, it was time to change the fuel filter. My hubby acquired a strap wrench for the purpose of loosening the filter. I had never used such a tool before, and my husband gave me a crash course in using it. However, when I tried to use it on the old filter, I could not get the wrench to grip the old filter! It didn't help that the filter is positioned at an odd angle, so it's kinda hard to get to. My hubby gave me a rag to try and loosen it, which I tried, but just could not unscrew the old filter. With daylight fading, my hubby told me to go tend the baby as she had begun to fuss and that he would finish the job. I was disappointed, but the baby was fussing for me. As for the gorilla-ed oil filter, he managed to unscrew the damn thing with his bare hands. Again, he has muscles, I don't.

I was not going to handle the baby with dirty oil-covered hands, so after washing them a few times with the laundry soap we use to launder diapers, I went back outside to tend to her. By this time, some of our neighbors were passing by and upon seeing me with the baby, they just had to come over and see her. Pretty soon, a small crowd of nanas (Mexican grandmothers) had gathered at the gate to see the baby and play with her. My husband ended up finishing the oil change by pouring in the new motor oil and topping up the fluids.

Despite my disappointment at not being able to complete the oil change, my hubby promised me the next time the oil needed changing, he would have me do it from start to finish under his supervision. As I told some of the neighbors who passed by and saw me under the car, I had to learn how to change the oil cuz like changing a tire, it's costly to be beholden to someone else to do it. Likewise, it will likely fall on me to instruct our children in basic auto maintenance when they're old enough. It's not "dirty work", it's empowerment by taking one more step towards self-sufficiency.

The Tire

Today was a big day for me.

Why?

I changed a tire for the first time in my life.

Earlier this week, my husband bought a spare tire for the car. Today, he wanted to change out the front passenger-side tire so that the new tire would go on there and the old tire would be relegated to spare duty. It was high time I learned some basic auto maintenance, so I offered to change the tire with my hubby's supervision.

First, I jacked the car up some, but loosening the lugnuts required some help because they had been bolted on by impact wrenches at the tire shop we purchased it from. Good thing my husband has muscles. I then maxed out the jack, took off the lugnuts, and popped off the tire.

Jacking up the car

That wood underneath the jack was to keep the jack from sinking into the mud

I'd planned on changing the oil, but it was too late for that

After replacing the tire, I oiled the bolts, tightened the lugnuts, and set the car down before cleaning up and calling it a day.

Almost there!

While they might not look it, tires are incredibly heavy. Holding the tires at 4 and 8 helped make positioning them easier on the spoke.

I felt pretty good about this little job. To know how to do something yourself (like basic car maintenance) is very empowering. That way, you're not beholden to someone or something expensive like roadside assistance or car mechanics.

Coconut Oil Conditioning

Greetings!

This morning while the baby had her morning nap, I decided to embark on an experiment-coconut oil conditioner.

Some months back, I stumbled across an article through one of my regularly frequented websites about Indian beauty treatments. Though I am not of Indian descent, I have a long standing love of India, its people, and its culture. Intrigued by the coconut oil treatment mentioned in the article, I decided to give it a try. A few weeks back, I bought a jar of coconut oil and have been using it as a facial moisturizer before bed. For the coconut oil I designated for hair care, I used an old leave-in conditioner tub which I filled about a 1/4 inch deep.

Now, I slathered the entire contents of the tub into my hair. I massaged the scalp and layered on the coconut oil on my dried out ends. I then gathered up my hair and tied it into a bun on top of my head.

I smell like a pina colada

Suffice to say, I'm pretty sure I put in too much coconut oil. I realized this when I began to feel the oil dripping down my neck and face. Note to self for future use: a little goes a long way when it comes to coconut oil. I guess my naturally-greasy face will be super moisturized from this conditioner.

Tomorrow morning, I will wash all this oil out of my hair and see how it feels. The woman in the article mentioned that her hair felt very soft after the conditioning treatment. I'd like to see how my experience compares.

Foundation Surprise

Greetings! I hope your day is going well.

While at the grocery store this evening, I was cruising through the makeup aisle with the baby while my hubby waited in the mile-long line to get our money order to pay the rent. As I looked at the limited selection on display, I decided to see which commercial-grade foundations were close to my skin tone. It was then that I made a rather surprising discovery. While I'd always thought my skin was fair, the fair shade foundations were too white against my wrist while medium was closer! Though I failed to find my exact shade, I saw that if this grocery store was my only source of makeup, I would have to mix the darkest medium and fair foundation shades to match my color.

My face when I saw that I'm not the shade I thought I was. Pic found here

After getting the money order, my hubby found me and I relayed my newfound discovery about my darkening skin tone. His response: "that shit happens when you live in the desert". I was surprised because I don't tan-I burn bright red when I'm out in the sun. But, it seems even the sun sensitive ones like me do tan eventually. Of course, common sense says the longer you live out in a hot, sunny and dry environment the more your skin adapts. Both my hubby and my uncle who have lived in Arizona for over 15 years got significantly more tan living out here than they were back home. I suppose I'm now on that track too.

It's a good thing I'm into making my own foundation. Commercial makeup is still an imprecise (and costly!) habit to sustain.

DIY Beauty

Greetings!

I am about to embark on an experiment: homemade makeup

During my family's recent visit here to Arizona, my grandmother implored me to start dressing better and putting on makeup whenever I leave the house. As a rule, unless there is an especially compelling reason for me not to do so, I wear whatever not-smelly/dingy clothes I can dig out of the wearables crate. However, I conceded that on Sundays in particular, I should at least make a half-ass attempt to look better than just pants and my favorite Lady Guadalupe tshirt (especially when it's our week to go to the Latin Mass church).

In addition to dressing better, I also realized that I need to step up my makeup game. I like wearing eyeshadows and do when I have the time and energy, but I almost never wear foundation, concealer, or blush. In fact, I can count on one hand how many times I've had those respective items on my face (three times, if anyone wants specifics). It's a combination of being lazy, having oily/sensitive skin, and poverty. Also, foundation tended to feel heavy on my face, though I suspect that was the result of wearing the wrong type of foundation (powders were not as heavy, but mineral-based foundations were the lightest). Whatever I wore, my skin did not appreciate it and would result in breakouts. My skin is also hard to classify (I think I'm technically "fair", but my face color is different from my wrist color which is different from my chest color, etc), which makes shopping for the right foundation color a pain in the ass.

In my quest to find something that worked, I cruised some cosmetic shopping sites I have bookmarked to see if there was anything remarkable. A few stood out, but again, the cost was higher than I'd like. I wondered if it was possible to make cosmetics, so I consulted the oracle known as Google to find out.

As it turned out, yes I can! And since most were made from food products, I was super pleased cuz food stamps can buy them (some of the more specialty items like spirulina or cocoa butter might not clear, but spices and starch bases (arrowroot and cornstarch were the two most common bases I found) will)! And if they suck as cosmetics, they can be utilized as food like they were intended to.

I cruised around some of these DIY cosmetic sites to find an easy recipe that would utilize what I had. While I have a poor opinion of the granola sorts who frequent and run these DIY health and beauty products sites, I was willing to give homemade makeup a try and see how it worked out. Maybe now my long-sought goal of finding the perfect foundation shade could be tackled! I'm all for customization and I'm trying to get away from putting unnecessary chemicals on my skin now that I have a baby to care for.

Today, I put my experiment to the test and made some homemade foundation. My ingredients and approximate amounts used were as follows:

My base. I used 1 Tbsp

About 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg

5/8 tsp of the curry powder (I probably wouldn't use this, but we didn't have plain tumeric) and 1 tsp of cocoa powder. That 1/8 tsp spoon was my measuring and mixing tool

 After mixing everything together, here are the results:

Finished product

Swatch test. Close enough!

Before

After

The verdict: not bad for a first time sample batch. As a powder itself, the coverage is pretty light. I wasn't looking for anything heavy since my skin is generally pretty clear, but I would probably use this as a setting powder. I can see it blowing away the second I step outside the door. But now that I have an approximate recipe, I can see about making it again and adding something to make it stick. I also didn't have any sort of moisturizer on my face (it was just my end-of-day face grease!), so maybe that might also play a role in helping my makeup stick. As an aside, it smells really good too! Even after I washed it off and put on some of my fresh-made aloe vera gel, I still smell the spices.

Putting my mason jars to use. Aloe vera gel on top, foundation on the bottom

Overall, I'd say I'm pretty pleased with the result. Mission accomplished!

The Stairs

Happy Monday!

My husband had a long and busy day today. What was he doing?

He was building stairs to the front door!

Work in progress

This project was something that needed doing, but hadn't been completed due to lack of funds for material and time. After my relatives visited us two weeks ago, the material issue was solved when my mom bought all sorts of lumber, hardware, and tools for my husband for the honey-dos around the home. My grandma's complaints about how "wobbly" the stairs were, plus a letter from the sleazy park management to all the tenants telling people to cover their trailer hitches and put handrails on steps with more than three risers or else the insurance company would refuse to renew coverage on the place, gave new urgency to this project.

Unlike the hack-job steps that were present when we first moved into this trailer, the previous stairs to our trailer were not poorly made. My husband takes pride in his work so that even temporary (re: mostly long-term) fixes are done well. Were they a bit loose? Kind of, as it was a small step-stool he made and then drilled into the soffet below the front door.

Starting at 10AM, my husband put his new tools and lumber to use. Thank goodness it's FINALLY starting to cool down a bit here in Arizona, so he wasn't toiling in the blazing heat and sun. The clouds helped, though there were a few quick splurts of showers that buzzed through which delayed progress a bit but not by much. As he worked, my husband had me walk up and down the stairs to check distances. He'd planned for two steps, but after I had to stretch to avoid falling into the gap between what was supposed to be the top step and the threshold of the door, he put in a top step. It meant now that a handrail would have to be added, but they were now much safer.

We can make a ramp out of this if needed

All done! Kitties must inspect the final result and approve of it!

By about 4PM, the stairs were finished. They looked beautiful as he'd carefully measured and cut the wood, and the steps themselves were flat enough for a board to be laid on top of them for a ramp if need be. The new stairs are much more sturdy and stable, all up to code for any nosy insurance agent who inspects it.

My husband being a meowl

I'm so proud of my husband. The fact that he can build/fix things is one big reason why I married him. That is a rare skill to find in someone nowadays.

Goodnight and sweet dreams, everyone!

DIY Art Table

Happy Sunday! Hope your respective favorite teams won their games today.

I found this picture while cruising through my Facebook feed this evening.

Ain't that cute! Pic found here

Though it'll still be a while before the baby is old enough to yield a marker and paper, this will be a handy DIY project to keep in mind when that time comes. We'll also be renovating and fixing up our trailer as needed, so cabinet doors won't be hard to acquire. We may also have one out in the shed somewhere too.

Picture of the Day

Man at work

Recently, our ancient and leaky bathtub faucet went to faucet heaven after corrosion finally destroyed the seals in the hot/cold handles. Since we live in a trailer, RV plumbing is both readily available where we live, and quite affordable too. The latter part is important because while we probably could have replaced the seals, that job would have been more costly and trouble than it was worth. So, we shopped carefully and ordered a new faucet for the bathroom. My hubby spent the evening installing the new faucet and making sure nothing leaked. No longer will we have to gorilla the handles when finished bathing.

As difficult as a financially impoverished existence is, it can be quite an instructive way to live. Since calling a repair person is not affordable, one has to learn how to fix things not only by themselves, but if parts are not readily available, what are acceptable substitutes.

I'm very grateful to have my husband in this regard. He's my handyman and my McGyver. It's a shame so much repair know-how is gone. Our disposable society has rendered us infantile.

Breaking Bad, Home Edition

Today, my wonderful hubby decided to surprise me with a treat: homemade root beer!

He bought the root beer extract (he'd tried to find Zatarain's, but the store didn't carry it) and dry ice. My husband then proceeded to make the root beer, mostly according to the package directions, but using water carbonated with the dry ice instead of soda water as the directions called for.

Dry ice in water

So far, so good

Just about ready to bottle up

But what happened next was both a spectacular display of physics, and something to make Walter White and Jesse Eisenberg jealous.

After he poured the finished root beer into my beer growler for storage (which also contained dry ice to maintain carbonation), the pressure from the carbon dioxide in the dry ice caused the root beer to explode, the force of which shattered a glass on the counter top. The only reason my growler hadn't turned into a root beer and carbon dioxide-filled bomb was cuz my husband, seeing how the root beer was rapidly bubbling up in the growler, quickly took the cap off just in time to see his creation blow.

Oops...

I actually had not witnessed the explosion. I was in the bedroom, playing with the baby, when I heard a loud BANG! My first thought was that my growler had exploded. My husband reassured me that it hadn't, but called me into the kitchen to survey the damage.

There was root beer EVERYWHERE. It was on the floor in the kitchen with the broken glass, the ceiling, the counter, and the root beer even made it all the way up into the living room! The work area and server were splashed with sugary brown root beer, as were our shoes and the front door. My husband spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the fallout and vacuuming up the broken glass.

The aftermath

Miraculously, the growler survived. Its cap went missing (if it hasn't been blown into another dimension, I suspect it's under the fridge or between the counter and the fridge), but the vessel remained intact. My husband, though, cut his hand. How it happened remains a mystery, but I suspect it was from flying bits of dry ice.

I refused to drink what was left of the root beer since the remaining glass was covered in blood from my husband's hand. After bandaging his hand, my hubby wiped down the glass, drank the remaining root beer, and said it was tasty.

The costliest glass of root beer in the world

As it turned out, the critical error was not letting the carbon dioxide vent before sealing the bottle. My husband resolves to try again, but hopefully with less explosive results next time.

No matter what, "science MUST be served!"

And I'm still searching for my growler cap...

*Update 8/28-I found the cap! It was somewhere clean on the other side of the living room. The Doctor was kind enough to drop it off as the TARDIS buzzed by during the night. Hope it helped defeat whatever villain he had to deal with next.