Read from the Beginning

Past Project Reflection: My Thrifted Dresser

Erica, Free

I’ve always loved my little white dresser. I bought it second-hand during my senior year of college to store my ever-expanding wardrobe and to help my bedroom looks less spartan. The paint job wasn’t great. It had been quickly painted with a single coat of white paint that left splotches of the wood showing through. There was a giant splinter coming off the corner of one of the drawers. And a few of the knobs were stripped to the point that they cannot be tightened. But I liked that it was solid wood and the perfect size to provide a decent amount of storage without being obtrusive.

When I moved to my current apartment, white actually went quite well with the color scheme. The paint job was still splotchy and the knobs were still janky, but it actually looked all right. And then I redid my birdcage stand. After months and months of idly scrolling through DIY blogs, dreaming of one day doing a project like that myself, finally did and it was pretty easy. I figured I might as well do it again.

I decided to try something a little more interesting, and settled on a two-color design. I also would use this opportunity to change out the stripped plastic knobs for new metal ones. I picked a shade of blue that I thought went well with the leftover green paint, and dragged the dresser down all three flights of stairs to my parking spot in the basement. After sanding the whole thing down and priming it (a very important step), I painted on all of the green. This included the raised front face of the drawers and a rectangular border along the top. I painted the rest of the dresser blue, including the borders of the drawers, and use painters tape to block off that green rectangle so that it can stay green. This is not turn out perfectly but I deemed it good enough.

The blue did not turn out as deep as maybe I would have liked, and some of the pencil outline of the green rectangle still shows through. It’s definitely not perfect, but it has a little more personality than just a plain white dresser, and now at least all the knobs are fully functional. After my Marie Kondo spree a couple years ago, it graduated from being a clothes dresser to being my substitute linen cabinet, a job which suits it very well.

-Erica

(There are going to be a lot of generic cover images for two reasons. One, I’m playing catch-up and taking actual photos just falls by the wayside. Two, I don’t have any “before” pics because I painted the dresser long before I started this blog)

Making Jam Is Easy, Canning is the Hard Part

Ella, Free

Oh, summer, with its oppressive heat and humidity also brings an abundance of fresh fruit. Stone fruits and berries are all in season and relatively cheap. Unfortunately, the temptation to buy large quantities is in conflict with these fragile fruits’ limited shelf life. One way to preserve these tasty fruits for later in the year is to make jam.

I know it might seem daunting, but making jam is actually quite easy. Canning is the hard part, and if you have enough room in your freezer for a few containers of jam in choice flavors, it is completely unnecessary. Homemade jam is perfect on toast, ice cream, or oatmeal. All it requires is fruit, a little lemon juice, a pot, and maybe some sugar or spices if you’re up for it.

Just take that extra fruit that you bought, but forgot to eat, cut it up, and throw it in a pot. I recommend starting with at least a pint of fruit. This can be all the same fruit, like those peaches you were going to eat with lunch every day and then didn’t or the hodgepodge of berries you impulse-bought on your last grocery trip. Rinse the fruit and cut it into bite-sized chunks if necessary. Add a little lemon juice to help break down the fruit and cut some of the sweetness. This quantity will vary depending on your tastes, but I usually use a tablespoon per pint of fruit. Bring the fruit slowly to a simmer, stirring constantly. The fruit will begin to break down and thicken as the water boils off.

Taste as you go and add sugar, ginger, cinnamon, or whatever you feel is necessary. When the jam has reached its desired thickness, remove from the heat and allow to cool. Transfer the cooled jam to a freezer-safe container and store until ready to use. Depending on the amount of fruit you use, the amount of jam you get could be very small. It’ll still be enough jam to use on a few pieces of toast or on some vanilla ice cream.

Now to the big questions:

  1. Why would I stand over a boiling pot of fruit for an hour in the middle of summer? Well, it might make you feel cooler when you step away from the stove. And sometimes we have to put in a little effort in order to waste less. If it’s ungodly hot out, you can always freeze the fruit before it turns and make jam later.
  2. Why would I spend all this time making jam when it’s so easy to buy? Like I said, I’m talking about solutions for fruit that’s about to go bad. You can’t get that at the grocery store. And sometimes it’s a nice break from the troubles of reality to stir a boiling pot of fruit and not think of the rest of the world for a while.

 -Ella

Why Vampires Make The Best Depression Buddies

Free, Jane

I waffled back-and-forth over whether or not I should write this, but with Erica prioritizing herself through this mild depression, as she should, I felt I us sad folks were rather underrepresented. Ella does her best to try to understand Erica, and it is helpful to have someone who is willing to give you the space you need and can demonstrate what it will be like on the other side. But sometimes, you also need someone who knows exactly what you’re going through, from the anxiety to the depression and the exhaustion. Someone who understands without hesitation. So I am here to explain my role as Erica’s emotional support vampire.

I’ve known Erica for a while, and Ella for just a bit longer. I was drawn to the building independently about a year before Ella and Erica moved in. I was delighted to have some supernatural company and became fast friends with both of them. Which is how I ended up as Erica’s emotional support monster during this latest wave of depression.

It was only fitting that I be there for her as she helped me through my last particularly rough bout with depression. I had endured a rather tragic event and came to a traumatic realization that nearly paralyzed me and Erica was with me every step of the way. Although you wouldn’t know because both she and Ella have done wonders to protect my privacy until this time. And no, this particular tragedy was not my transformation into a vampire. While tragic, I was transformed nearly 200 years ago and for the most part have accepted my fate as a vampire.

One overlooked benefit of vampirism is that it makes it easy to be there for the people you care about when they need you. We are largely inactive during the day so we make great binge watching buddies. When we do venture out, we must stay out of the sun which makes us great companions for the trip to IKEA or Home Depot that has been weighing on you but right now seems to overwhelming.

Some reasons might be more specific to me, but are still heavily influenced by my vampirism. I love listening to people, and hearing what human life is like, even the bad stuff. Just to know what I missed out on. And I know exactly what it feels like wake up wonder why on earth you were dealt this lot, and that there are certain problems that you have to deal with no matter how difficult and exhausting and complicated they are. And I know the feeling of hopelessness when you cannot immediately change your circumstances. And I know the feeling of waking up one morning and, even though your circumstances have not changed, something has clicked in your brain and you have found the world once again full of joy and wonder. And I will never stand in your way when that morning comes when that morning comes arrives. I know so intimately what it is like to be robbed of the joys of human life that I would never, in my own indulgence, drag someone back into a depression keep myself company.

So get yourself an emotional support vampire. Unless you are not magical. Then we might try to eat you.

-Jane