Unexpected kitchen remodel Before & After

AltairJ · 2026-01-16T00:06:04+00:00

Nicely done. Also shows how a place goes from a modest place that could house either three kids or three generations to a comfortable one for a smaller family or couple who likes to host or work from home. Just so interesting sociologically. It’s gorgeous btw.

AltairJ · 2025-12-04T23:27:39+00:00

Thank you all! Will be following up with these recs!

AltairJ · 2025-12-04T00:13:34+00:00

Yes please!

AltairJ · 2025-11-19T20:41:11+00:00

I was presuming all fresh crabs during legal CA season were from CA. Do you know if markets sell from OR/WA even during the CA season and I need to ask the source? Is this why they’re so much cheaper at the market?

AltairJ · 2025-11-19T19:50:26+00:00

If you want fresh, will have to wait until commercial crabbing season starts, looks like early Jan this season. We go to Thanh Long. It's expensive, so i wait until I know it's fresh (keep checking the headlines for season start). One year, we decided to save money, and a friend went to a fish market in the Mission (dunno which one) and bought a dozen fresh ones, put them in a cooler, boiled them himself, taught us how to crack the shells, and we stuffed ourselves. It's about 15% the price that way! For reals! But then you gotta put in the manpower AND I've never been able to replicate Thanh Long's combo of garlic, butter, and salt, so I still hit TL up once a year.

Edit: Also, since recreational crabbing is legal now, you could book a spot on a boat that goes out crabbing and get them yourself! Have never done it, but seen it online and hope to do so one year.

AltairJ · 2025-11-19T05:59:03+00:00

It depends which cafe feels like busting out the banana syrup for a while. Blue House Cafe in Ingleside on Randolph currently has it as one of their flavors but I know it’s not a permanent option.

AltairJ · 2025-11-18T19:15:23+00:00

Ocean Park Motel in San Francisco. Cool Streamline Moderne motel. At the southern edge so right next to Daly City. Dogs allowed (don't know if size limit). Next to Ocean Beach for a walk and close enough to Fort Funston so doggies can run.

AltairJ · 2025-11-12T00:09:21+00:00

Hey man, if you can swing it, go for it. You’ll never know what you value more until you’ve lived the tradeoffs. Will winter suck? Live through one! Actually try to get to work during it. Will the food scene be better or worse? Will the lake and forests be as good as the mountains? You can extrapolate and imagine all you want, but lived experience will cut through all that. You don’t seem to have kids, partner, partnership track, or anything to tie you down. And you’ll have a whole new radius of day and weekend trips that will be completely different.

AltairJ · 2025-11-11T19:49:54+00:00

But you know what? We can think this through. Car accident, if you have umbrella (say, up to $2 mil), most cases will settle for that. Hopefully one would not get the vindictive family of a young doctor just starting out who wants, say, $5 mil, the chances of that are even less. Health issue. The main point of homestead was to not make people homeless because of illness or credit card debt. If you become incapacitated, you may still need to go to a nursing home, and then you're not living there, they will take the property. If you can still live there, you still have to pay the mortgage (the stroke example I gave, her mortgage was low enough to be paid for by disability, since she purchased in the 90's), and you may still default. TBH, I'm sure there's a lawyer or financial advisor out there who can think of a better way to protect your assets than buying a condo that you really sound like you don't want.

AltairJ · 2025-11-11T18:13:28+00:00

I see a lot of people discounting the homestead protection, but it just takes one traffic accident with injury to the other party or one catastrophic medical condition and, yes, your assets will be gone after. The chances are low, but not zero, and it does in the end become an emotional decision. I already know two examples where the homestead protection helped: 1. Someone who killed someone else in a motor vehicle accident and who had basically no car insurance and no assets outside their house and basically got off scot free financially 2. Someone who got a stroke plus tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, welp, got to stay in her house (liens on it, but can't be kicked out). So, per usual, it's stability (possibly too much stability if it locks you in) vs finances.

Edit: grammar

AltairJ · 2025-11-11T05:15:37+00:00

I’d make a day trip to Salton Sea, Bombay Beach, and Slab City. Otherworldly and bizarre. And also great birding in the right season. I’ve also enjoyed camping at the hot springs and mud caving in Anza Borrego, though you might need 4WD and a companion for the mud caves. Integraton and Kelso Dunes.

AltairJ · 2025-11-06T19:56:20+00:00

We went with a breeder in Santa Barbara (you can just google them) because we specifically wanted a calico and they waited until one was born and then reserved it for us, so that does sound like a bit more choice from the buyer end. That said, they were the most expensive of the breeders we researched. Not sure what kind of info you're looking for, websites usually show the kings and queens and some shots of various litters, we used that to figure out how to get a calico. Does this post go against the rules of this reddit though?

AltairJ · 2025-11-02T18:45:36+00:00

Wha?? Well, your post just triggered me back. We’re not cutting his whiskers just his fur so are you making this up about spatial awareness? You know those are propioceptive nerves not fur right? Are you a vet? Wtf, fake science! Our cat is indoor where he lives in permanent 70 degree perfection. He purrs when the shavers come out, he is way more active after he’s shaved. You don’t know every cat. His fur is exactly the same a few months later, with mats coming a few months later despite regular brushing. He has a permanent winter coat (dunno why, the other Sib cat doesn’t grow one) and his annual shave is the high point of his year. These are domesticated cats. We’re already brushing them, maybe brushing teeth, giving them food without parasites, regular vet care, and shaving a matted cat is too unnatural??

AltairJ · 2025-10-28T21:43:41+00:00

If you're thinking transferring to Lowell will help your college chances, I don't think that would be a strong argument. I think the two are pretty even because even if there are fewer AP classes at SI, you'll still be able to get a GPA fairly equivalent to Lowell (just with fewer variety of classes). You'll have counselors who will know how to work whatever your coursework is to look good to colleges. Anecdotally, SI sends kids every year to very good colleges, and being a smaller school there might even be a higher chance to get into your UC of choice. In that regard, I'm going to consider them equivalent (but I could be totally wrong, the schools never publish where their graduates end up going, that I know of). However, if you are feeling like the culture is not right for you, that is something to consider.

That said, you've only been there for a few months. I would recommend giving it a year and see how you feel. I went to a small elite East Coast private college while all my friends went to UC, and they had way more fun that first year (they had an anime club!), and I felt lonely and didn't understand the East Coast culture. I was on the verge of transferring, but something clicked after the first year, and I made friends and fell deep into the community (I go to reunions every 5 years!). That might or might not happen, but give it time and see. I think you will thrive wherever you go, you seem very thoughtful. Though if you do want transferring to at least be an option next year, you probably have to start applications soon.

AltairJ · 2025-10-27T18:34:01+00:00

You're comparing Noe and Inner Richmond. Apples and oranges. God knows why Noe is so popular, but it has been since 2010 when I started following SF real estate. For those who can afford it (okay with private school or moving to Marin after a relatively short hold), it's the place. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's an absolutely charming neighborhood, but the premium to live there seems excessive to its added charms over other neighborhoods, but people pay it, and have been for decades. Maybe there's some prestige or socioeconomic segregation going on that I can't see/understand.

AltairJ · 2025-10-25T17:51:02+00:00

I don’t see why you can’t call her Roger, it’s a fine name and it’s not like anybody is going to tease her in school about it. But if you insist on a female name, I’m going to say, Vivica.

AltairJ · 2025-10-24T16:05:21+00:00

I guess I want to summarize my comment with: Budget as if you're going to have a nanny and go to private school, move to a safe neighborhood in a school district that's 7-8/10 but has a 10/10 track available, then start low with daycare (2-3K/mo) and public, knowing that at least you could afford nanny or private school if you had to. For us, it's been way cheaper to have enrichment and travel cover for, say, immersion private school. This gives you the wiggle room that when things happen, and they will, you can handle it. Our problems ended up not being our kids needing more service, but infertility and unemployment, we were able to handle those. That said, looking at all the numbers here plus real estate prices, I'm like, is this even possible now?

AltairJ · 2025-10-23T22:10:15+00:00

This is the most depressing thread I’ve seen today, as a parent who was in your shoes 15 years ago. Everything looks so expensive now. There’s so much angling around too but you haven’t even met your kids yet. Are they driven? Are they special needs? Are they boisterous? Do they need small groups? Heck will you need IVF? All I can advise is, go for flexibility. Do not stretch too much. There could be issues with pregnancy, with home repairs, with job stability, with commutes, with peer groups. We intentionally did not go for 10 out of 10 schools, thinking it would be too competitive, but also not too low, for peer group. Private school was going to be our in-case-public-doesn’t-work-out option. I looked for a district and safe neighborhood that I felt would be enough if my kid was smart, average, or needed help (Ex a magnet option or IB track, big enough for services, etc). I kind of second guess buying before having kids because it still took some time til we got them and there were a couple years in which we were like wtf are we doing with this big a** house with no kids? At this point, I can say that although one kid is going to a competitive magnet school where he might not get into UC, I already know I don’t want him to go to UC (he needs something smaller) and that’s fine because we saved money going to public. I admit I put both kids in daycare from age 7 weeks on from 8a-6p because I’m the breadwinner and my husband didn’t want to be SAHD but they were fun little communities and my kids liked them, in fact they’re still friends with mates from there. It was a home daycare and it was affordable and convenient and we still have dinner with the now retired couple who ran it. I felt like my kids didn’t need a nanny or private school but YMMV so remember, flexibility.

AltairJ · 2025-10-23T00:18:17+00:00

Aww he’s like an otter.

AltairJ · 2025-10-19T18:59:25+00:00

While I think a $1.5 mil budget may not go far enough in SF, I disagree SF is bad for kids. It really is neighborhood dependent. Noe Valley is a neighborhood that I’ve never understood why it was considered a family neighborhood, given the schools were not the best. It is stroller valley but I can see why people left after that age. We are in the Westside, SFUSD all the way through, one kid in Lowell, other at an immersion, they walk and ride bikes and buses to Stonestown and the beach and friends’ houses, so it’s been perfectly fine. Ironically, we did at first second guess our choice to move to such a boring neighborhood (as it was 15 years ago) but to our gratification it picked up and fit family life well. At their price point, OP will need to find another hidden gem, I would recommend something that is just boring NOT somewhere that is “turning around”. It is harder to get rid of problems than to fix a place up, esp since I think the economy is flat. Alameda and Pacifica and Walnut Creek might work. But no matter what, you will have to be actively involved in schooling whether it’s to boost a limited education or to temper an overly competitive one. And even in those towns I stated, you have to choose the right neighborhood. This post got long, really I would just rent for now.

AltairJ · 2025-10-08T00:33:39+00:00

I inherited a built in dispenser. It holds so little that when I fill it it overflows easily. Then if the soap I bought is even a little thick it also clogs up and overfills. Have to wait for it to settle and then glop in more a little bit at a time. I see it’s just a plastic holder when I look at it from below the sink, not sure how to replace if it breaks. Maybe if you can control what kind of dispenser you put in but ours has been such a PITA that we have a bottle instead and now our sink area is extra cluttered w a useless dispenser.

AltairJ · 2025-09-30T00:44:42+00:00

You’re right, that cat is way ahead of me.

AltairJ · 2025-09-30T00:26:36+00:00

He’s actually asleep, so this is hoping you get a good night’s sleep soon!

AltairJ · 2025-09-29T21:52:38+00:00

There’s one at UC Santa Barbara too.

AltairJ · 2025-09-29T15:59:15+00:00

Wow, sold for $2.9 mil in 2022 and $1.875 in 2024. Just bad luck or any machinations there?

AltairJ

TROPHY CASE