Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
do-it-yourself

library revival

I have taken it upon myself to finish the long-abandoned library project in the upstairs of my house. I figured it would make a good winter project.

The status it was left in was this: a number of additional bookcases were to be built, along with a window seat, all of the cases needed face frames, and the room needed to be trimmed.

Where’s it at:

I removed the footprint for some of the additional bookcases and installed leftover flooring in its place. This is done.

For the remaining bookcases, I’m doing an extended window seat (the window seat was supposed to be flanked by bookcases, instead it will extend the length of the wall). The window seat is currently framed, but still needs some work. I’m using these excellent instructions as a guide.

I do not have the equipment or knowledge to make face frames, so I purchased and installed maple banding to cover the plywood edges of the bookcases. It actually doesn’t look half bad. I still need to put a finish on it.

One of the big things is going to be the trim. I don’t have all of that figured out yet, but I have a game plan for most of it.

I had to go to Home Depot to get some trim as it was holding up the project. I will need more supplies after this, but I have enough stuff to keep me busy for a while. As it turns out, I can put 8′ long lumber in my car if I put the back seat down. Way to go, Kona!

relationships

i tried, i gave up

After trying virtually every dating app out there, I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe dating apps are not for me. Now’s not a terribly good time to be dating anyway, so maybe I’ll try again after the plague is over(-ish). Will there be more and better quality matches available at that point? I hope so, but probably not (50s are not a great age range to be dating). In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy doing whatever I want without having to answer to anyone. I could get used to this.

me, pandemic, relationships

divorce tattoo

I had a tattoo appointment a couple of weeks ago. I know it wasn’t an ideal time to get one, but I had the appointment for a few months and didn’t want to have to wait until this is all over to reschedule (I had originally planned on getting it last spring and we all know how that went). The appointment was before the COVID stuff started getting really bad otherwise I would have canceled.

Over 10 years ago, I had Brian’s initial tattooed on my chest. It was a design that combined the letter B with the number 13. My first unlucky 13–haha. After getting divorced, I decided to have it covered up with a heart and dagger design. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Devin from Lemon Bomb, who has done my last few tattoos, also did this one.

I’m thinking this might be my last, but I guess you never know.

live entertainment, pandemic

virtual concert

Last night, the Foo Fighters had a live, streaming concert from The Roxy in LA. Since I haven’t done anything fun in ages, I decided to attend. And, I’m glad I did–it was a great show. There was one problem, though. The agency in charge sent out invalid access codes so I was unable to get in and missed the very beginning of the show. But, I guess you’ll have these things.

The reason for the show was to celebrate the release of their new single, Shame Shame (with the album to follow in February). Not only that, but it’s their 25th anniversary this year and they had a huge tour planned. Better luck next year!

gardening & landscaping

hydroponics

I can’t believe I didn’t post about this earlier, but I’m trying out hydroponics this winter. I have two areas set up in my basement–one for smaller plants and another for larger ones. I planted two tomatoes, one cuke, one pepper, some lettuce, basil, and parsley. I have the smaller plants under my fluorescent grow lights and I bought an LED grow light for the larger plants.

I lined the grow room with mylar blankets. Between that and the red LEDs, it looks all crazy in there. I ended up having to drape mylar over the fluorescent lights, too, as the plants under them were getting pretty leggy. It’s too soon to tell if that strategy worked or not.

I harvested some lettuce over the weekend and made a Cobb salad for supper! The basil is looking pretty good, and I’ve used some of that already, too. The larger plants are coming along but it’ll be a while until I get a harvest from them.

Anyway, this was a nice way to extend my gardening season. Best of all, no weeding!