How are you not dead yet?

[norsegirl]

Every once in a while someone says something so stupid that first, you make sure you heard them right, then you check to see if they are for real and not pulling your leg, and finally, you want to check for a pulse because there's no way someone could do something that stupid and still be alive, at least if they make a habit of such decisions. My birthing class instructor said just such a thing before class yesterday. I can't remember what we were talking about, but she actually said something to the effect of:

"When you're patching holes in walls it's good to be aware that different toothpastes have different drying times. I had one hole that was sticky for two weeks."

Toothpaste as plaster?!?!?!? WTF? I shudder to think of what other home "improvements" this woman has made in her house and I'm suddenly very thankful to have purchased a new home. The builders may be sloppy in places and everything may not be exactly to my standards, but at least nothing is built with toiletries.

Before the class yesterday I also picked up some barely used diapers on Craigslist. I got the Bummis stage one kit (3 doz diapers, 6 small covers and a roll of liners) for $80 and they're all in great shape. They smell a bit of detergent though, which the instructions say is a bad thing, so I might try to strip them and wash them in something more natural to ensure maximum absorbancy.

To the moms out there... what is your favourite baby product? What is the one item that makes yours or your child's life so much easier that you can't dream of living without it? Or if you had access to infinite cash (for this one purpose only), what is the one item you'd buy for your best friend at a shower? (kits of things meant to be used together counts as one item)

Speaking of gifts... there's a wedding this weekend that I am obviously not attending as I can't travel right now. No, not for the reason you think, I actually let my passport expire, so until I get the new one applied for and receive it I can't really go anywhere, yeah, I know, I'm an idiot. However, it's my cousin, and I'd like to send him a gift. Here's the problem, their registry is really limited. It includes such inspiring items as a silicon oven mitt, a bathroom soap pump and various kitchen utensils. When it comes to wedding gifts, I'm a believer that you should get someone something they will use and enjoy for years to come, not a spatula that's going to get melted in the next year and tossed. It's also a chance to buy someone something really nice that they might not be able to justify buying for themselves, but that they will enjoy. Other than there not being anything on the list that I really want to buy, the other problem with their list is that it's all little things that hide in drawers or aren't really noticeable in the first place, and are certainly a matter of function being more important than form. There's nothing decorative or distinctive, or purely for beautifying the home. I've never been to their home (they moved out shortly after I moved to Edmonton and I never made the time to visit their apartment on my brief visits home because they were usually home visiting the family for the holidays in Windsor anyway so I could catch them there) and there's nothing in their registry that gives me any idea what their style is. They also live in a super-tiny place (I think it's 500 sq ft with only 1 bedroom) so I'm wary of buying them clutter they have no room to store. Anyone have any ideas?

Today is a home improvement kind of day. Yesterday I looked into how difficult it would be to swap out the cylinders in the locks in our house. I couldn't get one of them out of a deadbolt and eventually just gave up and stuck it back in the hole. I must have done something right in the removal, but not in the reassembly because when I went to leave the house my key got stuck and I ended up pulling the whole cylinder out and having all the pins and springs fall out all over the floor. Lovely. Last night I learned how to reassemble a lock from component parts and have it still function with the key I have. On the bright side, it was behaving strangely and was tricky to unlock before it all fell apart and it seems to be working much better now. On the downside I still need to actually CHANGE the lock, so I'll be doing that later this week I think. Maybe I'll go call the lock supply place now and see how much the cylinders cost...

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medb_/]

How old is the instructor? She sounds like she's still in college, yeesh. (I've heard that students often use toothpaste to patch holes from hanging posters)

As for the wedding, the advice I can give is to stick with the registry ideas; you could always get really good versions of the items they're asking for, especially the items that are mechanical in nature, or go for items that are meant for small spaces. As someone who's lived in an extremely small space (250 sq ft), I often felt a) guilty for not being able to enjoy items that people had purchased for me, and b) annoyed because I was constantly having to tell people that I had no space but people often didn't listen to me (usually my mother, sigh). I still have a hard time accepting knick-knacks unless they are very specific in nature, which is directly due to living in such a small space.
The best thing to do is think about what your cousin's personality is like and draw from there- i.e., while I do like decorative things, I also am extremely practicable and would rather get something I'll use every day; you should have seen how excited I was to get a vaccuum cleaner a few years ago. ;) (my other one was too large for the space I was using due to it being a hand-me-down- my parents bought me an apartment-sized one)

[eve-the-just.livejournal.com]

My cousin's a dude. He likes Wrestling (shudder), sports, going to concerts and getting pictures of famous people (he loves living in downtown Toronto because he gets lots of celeb sightings in with Much and the film festival and various conventions and stuff). Not exactly giving me ideas for appropriate wedding gifts.

And I'm not exactly looking at the appliance or fancy electronics price-range, so that's not really working for me either.

Gah, this sucks.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medb_/]

Hmmm, what about passes to TIFF?

[eve-the-just.livejournal.com]

(I've heard that students often use toothpaste to patch holes from hanging posters)

Yeah, because it's not THEIRS. You do that kind of crap in dorms and rentals where you don't give a fig and just want to pass an inspection, though if you're me you don't do it even then. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. You certainly don't do it to your own property.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_medb_/]

Exactly. I learned that the hard way in the fall with the incredible non-stick walls (as in, the plaster was coming OFF the concrete walls). We eventually found the proper patching material after a few days of wrestling with it (same brand, different product), so if it ever happens again, I can fix things properly. That's also why I ponied up $3k for a new shower from Bathfitters rather than do a crappy $500 fix. I hated spending that amount of money, but it was VERY worth it.

[haworth-attard.livejournal.com]

At least her house will smell pepperminty fresh. :-)
Get that passport renewed. You never know when you'll need it!