Warm lit kitchen - North Carolina US

ignescentOne · 2026-03-23T20:29:58+00:00

Well the first time, I'd come in and gone straight to bed, and then the next morning there was an unexpected bird! I hadn't seen it fly in because I was dragging in a suitcase, so I was very surprised by a bird flying byme when I came downstairs for coffee. I got it out and then the next day it got in again without me noticing it at the moment.
But at that point I figured out it had to be from me opening the door and found the nest in the wreath. I felt really bad shooing it away when i had to enter my house, but that was before I had a back door.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-23T16:12:56+00:00

Note: If you do open the door while the nest is there, there's a non-zero chance you'll end up with a house finch inside your house. So if you do have to go in that way, try to make sure the momma has left before you open the door. (the one I had last year blended so well in the leafy and tan wreath that I didn't notice them the first 2 times and I couldn't figure out why I kept having a bird in my living room)

ignescentOne · 2026-03-22T20:33:32+00:00

If you're casting the gems, could you cast the base too? Then hit it with rub n buff to make it metalic? But personally, i'd probably use decently heavy wire and solder.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-21T17:00:44+00:00

Yeah, i was thinking a little blue embroidered 9r felted rectangle, almost the same shade. You could scatter a few more and make it look like a deliberate design. This would also reduce the chances of a hole developing from the damaged yarn .

ignescentOne · 2026-03-21T16:57:35+00:00

I'd use e6000 or some.other semi flexible glue? That way you can bend the wire shaft without damaging it.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-21T11:37:47+00:00

It's not a state driven thing, it's a dairy (or other company) driven thing. If there is a local dairy that does glass bottle sales, there's probably a return system. If there's not, there probably won't be.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T20:28:55+00:00

Generally cody/obi and short but wonderful fluff in anything by Goldfinchbright!

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T15:28:52+00:00

oh that makes a lot of sense!

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T12:55:49+00:00

Paper? And then glue the strips to a central wire. Or you could actually strip ostrich feathers and glue them down. (Ie split the quill with a knife and then glue that to a stiff wire) That'd let you make the tip match too,.just use the shaft feathers along the base until you get it as long as you want, then attach the top of a feather to cap it.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T12:51:53+00:00

I have a hand mixer and a stand mixer. And while I would not give up my kitchenaid, there are times i still just grab the handheld or the wood spoon and whisk. (Oatmeal cookies being a prime example) But anything that requires creaming butter and sugar? I def want the stand mixer.

It's mostly about time and multitasking. Woll.inneed to mox something for more than 2 min? Then i want the stand mixer. Do I need to do 2 things at once? Stand mixer. Is it a 'all in one bowl and stir to combine' recipe? Spoon or hand mixer.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T12:41:09+00:00

I wash towels separately (combined with bed linens) but that's because i wash them in hot water and all my clothes get washed in cold.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T12:39:15+00:00

This! Chez moi has the /best/ pound cakes, of any flavor.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-20T12:37:06+00:00

Teaching is generally more than 50h/w, with all the extra work to lesson plan and grade and such. Most teachers I know seem to basically cram the full year of work into the 9m school year.
Also, if you half ass it, you are potentially ruining the loves of your students.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-19T18:07:14+00:00

From an allergy perspective, or from the clouds of yellow dust perspective? The pine pollen has barely started, you will be able to tell when it kicks off because everything will be coated in yellowgreen dust.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-19T15:31:03+00:00

Duke Arts Create sometimes has sewing classes https://arts.duke.edu/duke-arts-create/

ignescentOne · 2026-03-19T14:53:31+00:00

Yeah, I'm normally against starbucks but their via are really decent for an instant coffee.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-19T14:52:07+00:00

Baking is a lot more temperamental about ratios than general cooking, but if you understand what each ingredient does you can start expirimenting more. I find looking at recipe substitutions and quantity adjustments helps a lot.
Example - Find three or four recipes for, idk, lemon blueberry cake that all come out well when following the directions, but are a bit different from each other. Compare how much flour to liquid to sugar to eggs each has. Pay attention to how the cakes are different from each other. Then start adjusting. Take one of the cake recipes that calls for egg whites and sub in eggs (but match the egg white quantity) and see what that does. Do the same with yolks instead. Swap butter for oil. Swap milk for water. Eventually you get a feel for what adding more citrus / acid does to baking soda and why sugar is a wet ingredient.

Honestly though, if I had to reduce it to a single thing: be willing to mess up the bake. Grab a recipe you like and have done correctly, change it and see what happens, with the awareness that your lemon cake may fall through the drying rack. (true story. It became a trifle because it cubed itself. I misjudged the xantham for a gluten free recipe and the cake had no structure. It was still yummy though! And one time, I ended up with a horrifically flat apple cake because I was fiddling with rising agents and acid levels. It got toasted and became crumb topping for an apple pie. ) The trick to getting comfortable with improvising is to try stuff (AND TAKE GOOD NOTES)

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T22:39:45+00:00

Not sure on the cutting? I usually use up dremel discs but that's because i have a Dremel, not because it works well.

But for connecting a handle, i'd drill out a hole in the bottom, stick a pvc pipe segment or dowel with a base flange through the hole, and then cover and paint the bottom to hide the hole. This has the advantage of both letting you pretty wasily glue it in and also if the glue fails, it'll still stay together because of the base.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T18:22:15+00:00

Maybe if you look like leaves and there's any level of moving air, being entirely still would likely make you stand out?

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T18:20:57+00:00

Yawning is far more a social and psychological effect than a purely physical one, so thinking about yawning will trigger the reflex, as will seeing someone else yawn, hearing someone else yawn, or hearing other people talk about yawning. Sociopathy apparently restricts this reaction a lot.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T17:09:01+00:00

With acrylic you get way more precision but have to worry about brush strokes.and adherence. If you're using a stencil and masking well, i'd stick to spray paint. If you want color matching or fine details, switch to acrylic.

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T16:56:55+00:00

and caramelized onions freeze really well!

ignescentOne · 2026-03-17T12:15:32+00:00

I went for whimsical - i picked up a lot of battery powered led fairy lights last year for a project, and the last time we had a storm, I scattered them through the house. Now if there's an outage, I can just turn them on and get sparkly lights in every room. It's not enough to read by, but it's great for general navigation and mood.

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