Home Improvement

Tape

I have my own place now but it’s still quite empty. I spent 20k on an initial renovation but that’s mostly air conditioning, fans, concealed piping and wiring, and kitchen cabinets. The apartment was completely empty when I bought it. Even now, the only fully furnished area is the kitchen. I’m actually okay with that coz I spend most of the time in the bedroom and I never felt the need to clutter my surroundings with stuff.

DIY

However, I have recently got into slowly upgrading things around the house. My minimalist goals were slowly eroded by practicality and the fact that I live above a mall so I tend to pop into this cheap DIY shop to look around. I have accumulated stuff, necessary stuff, but stuff nonetheless. It was a rail for my bath towel at first. Then came the small hook for a face towel beside the bathroom sink coz I thought it’ll look nice. Then a holder for my shaver, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, floss. You know how it is.

Bidet

It’s gotten to the point where I’m actively looking for new things to add to my place. I won’t say it’s a bad thing, doing this gradually over a year has actually become quite pleasant and I must admit I feel a mild consumerist rush when I install something new in my condo. It’s quite fun. Today I bought small wooden hooks for my car keys and house keys as well as a bidet. I don’t have a bidet but I have a tap beside my toilet.

This one only cost RM 16 or so. I was told I can just install it without any tools but the guy told me to buy these adhesive thing so the bidet won’t leak. I put everything together as per instructions and it works fine but the top part is leaking. Not where the tape is, it’s the bit where the connecting hose comes out so I suspect it’s defective. I’ll go and change it tomorrow.

Hook

I’m pretty happy with the hooks though. I’ve always put my keys on top of my fridge, but I thought it’ll be nice to hang it beside the main door instead. I know these are simple and basic things but doing a small project like this every few days makes me happy.

DIY – Home Improvement

hi kit

I have been taking pains to furnish our new condo recently and the DIY bug has bitten my girlfriend big time, no thanks to her colleague. Her colleague is doing direct sales part-time and I’m told she does every -way there is out there. Amway, Cosway, Tupperware etc.

She brought home this rickety and capricious clothes hanger last night and practically forced me to fix it at 11 pm at night after dinner. It took me about 30 minutes to get it done – I’m more Tim than Al in the home improvement department, but in the end I managed to assemble the contraption and anchor it to one of the ceiling beams in our master bedroom.

hi diy

It took a long time before we realized that the RM 30 device wouldn’t reach the actual ceiling of the condo, so I settled for the beam while my girlfriend muttered something about it looking out of place. Hmph…

I would have preferred to save the hassle and get ready fixed furniture delivered straight in.

Nevertheless, the truism of beggars can’t be choosers applies and it had already cost us a significant chunk of our savings to get the condo up to reasonable living standards – air conditioning, fridge, washing machine, wardrobes, broadband, breakfast bar, and a king sized bed with Aussino fittings and pillows (as well as other creature comforts).

I felt a semblance of satisfaction in assembling the rickety clothes hanger – it was meant for my work shirts and my coats and ties and I’m grateful to my girlfriend for purchasing it.

It’s not a Kodak Moment, but definitely an arrghh arrggghh arrrggghh moment. 😉

More power!

Pavlova Magic

pav1.jpg

I made a Pavlova
[users.bigpond.net.au] today from one of those egg shaped instant mixes
called Pavlova Magic. A Pavlova is a dessert popular in Australia and
New Zealand. I got it from Melbourne before I came back and finally got
around to baking it with my girlfriend today. It was pretty easy and
fool proof to make, there was a packet with the Pavlova mix in the egg
and an instruction sheet. Basically, I just filled the bottom part of
the shell with luke warm water and the top part of the shell with
caster suger and mixed it all together. The instruction sheet has a lot
of strange instructions in BOLD like “turn the cake mixer to full speed
for ONE MINUTE ONLY” and “put the resulting mix into the oven and TURN
THE HEAT DOWN TO 110 c IMMEDIETLY”. Whatever.

pav2.jpg

We didn’t have a cake tray so we just dumped the mix into a baking
tray and shoved it into the oven. The Pavlova turned out pretty good
though. It was crispy-ly sweet at the bottom and nicely aerated in the
middle and wonderfully sweet and creamy at the top. However, there was
a lot of sugar syrup at the bottom of the Pavlova. I wonder if that’s
meant to be?

pav3.jpg

Wow, am I domesticated or what? 😉

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...