How To

68 posts

Is There a DIY Thing Out There Worth Making?

So, you find yourself surrounded by mason jars, corks, and I dunno, pipe cleaners and coat hangers, and you’ve decided to embark on a DIY project. If you’re like me, this will probably not happen, because 1) Where do you get all this stuff? 2) How does one ever really decide to make a reindeer lawn ornament out of mason jars, corks, pipe cleaners and coat hangers? No matter! This is what you’ve planned to do since all the Thanksgiving hullaballoo has died down and it’s right before the Christmas shopping craze gets into full swing. So, what’s a good DIY project? Continue reading →

Furniture Shopping on a Budget

Damn that's one hell of a sale

So you’ve moved into a new place. You may have shelled out more than you expected for movers, renovation projects, broker’s fees and other expenses. After perusing a design blog or two – where a $250 desk is considered “budget” – you may believe that it’s impossible to both eat and have a furnished living room without first selling your first-born child. But fear not. Though it will take time, patience and luck, it is possible to furnish a place cheaply. Continue reading →

One Woman’s Quest to Become a Sexy Motorcyclist

I became bored riding on the back of my husband’s motorcycle. I decided the next logical step for me of course, was to get my own motorcycle. I envisioned myself as a sexy, feminine rider. I would master the twisties and finally get a tattoo. Something pretty, maybe a sugar skull. And I could even join an all-female biker club. My husband, excited at the prospect of having a live in riding buddy, bought me lessons with an former state trooper, Smitty, for my birthday and a 2008 Honda 750 Shadow for Christmas. I was all set. All I needed was a license and the open road. Continue reading →

How To Add 70 Pounds of Cargo Capacity to Your Bicycle

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After three years working overseas with no opportunity for biking or other healthier forms of commuting, I was looking forward to breaking out my old Trek bicycle and using it to get around town this summer. The Trek was originally purchased in the mid-nineties following my move into condo-style housing built by my college several miles off main campus. Winters can be brutal in rural upstate New York – walking back and forth was clearly not an option, and public transportation was non-existent in a town without so much as a stop light. I asked for a car, but got a bike. Continue reading →

Preparing for the End of the World In Just One Bag

Ever wonder just what the hell you would do if the Apocalypse came? And we’re not talking about some little natural disaster, oh, no, we’re talking about seas boiling, clouds of tear gas, dogs and cats plotting their revenge, and all other manner of indescribable horror, or just your run of the mill zombie outbreak. What would you need to survive? Or better yet, what would you need to survive that could all fit into one pack? Continue reading →

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by Drinking Irish Wine

I don’t like beer. I haven’t liked it since 1985 when I was drinking Budweiser products at the basement of the Sigma Chi house at UW:Madison. It isn’t snobbery, I’m just not a fan of the taste. I’ve struggled over the years to properly celebrate St. Patrick’s Day without drinking Guinness, Harp or the gawdawful green beer. Then I met my husband and everything changed.

My husband’s ancestors are known as ‘Wine Geese.”  What are Wine Geese? Well it comes from Wild Geese, which refers to exodus of Irish soldiers to France at the end of the 1600’s following the Willamite-Jacobite war. The damn Catholics and Protestants always fighting. Catholics were forced to skip town. Wine Geese refers to Irish emigrants who became involved in the wine trade in other countries. Continue reading →

The Proper Way to Make A Bed

I am very serious about my bedding. I will leave the house in ill-fitting jeans and in one of the fifteen identical black t-shirts I own every day, but the bed? The bed is my masterpiece.

When I first moved in with Mr. Bunny, I was appalled by his bedding. The man owned nothing but t-shirt sheets. These are unacceptable. If you own these, you must throw them away immediately or at the very least tear them into rags. To make matters worse, they were in the loudest patterns possible. He bedded me on my first visit to New York on terrible t-shirt sheets in a horrifically bright psychedelic pattern. I closed my eyes and thought of gingers. I vanquished those sheets the day I moved to New York. Continue reading →

A Beginner’s Guide to Food Photography

Food photography is a pretty insidious hobby. It starts off innocently enough – you’ve just made a beautiful fruit salad with ingredients you received from friends, and you want to send them a photo of the finished product. Or you’ve just purchased a bounty of fresh vegetables at the farmer’s market and you want a photograph to remind you what gorgeous vegetables look like when everything in the winter produce aisle is dull and limp. Or maybe you are thinking about starting to take pictures of food. Where do you start? Continue reading →