#adding links sometimes does weird things to post visibility. so it is in notes.

[hypokeimena]

In recent years, there has been a rush on the internet to supply image descriptions and to call out those who don’t. This may be an example of community accountability at work, but it’s striking to observe that those doing the most fierce calling out or correcting are sighted people. Such efforts are largely self-defeating. I cannot count the times I’ve stopped reading a video transcript because it started with a dense word picture. Even if a description is short and well done, I often wish there were no description at all. Get to the point, already! How ironic that striving after access can actually create a barrier. When I pointed this out during one of my seminars, a participant made us all laugh by doing a parody: “Mary is wearing a green, blue, and red striped shirt; every fourth stripe also has a purple dot the size of a pea in it, and there are forty-seven stripes—”

“You’re killing me,” I said. “I can’t take any more of that!”

Now serious, she said it was clear to her that none of that stuff about Mary’s clothes mattered, at least if her clothes weren’t the point. What mattered most about the image was that Mary was holding her diploma and smiling. “But,” she wondered, “do I say, Mary has a huge smile on her face as she shows her diploma or Mary has an exuberant smile or showing her teeth in a smile and her eyes are crinkled at the edges?”

It’s simple. Mary has a huge smile on her face is the best one. It’s the don’t-second-guess-yourself option. My thinking around this issue is enriched by the philosopher Brian Massumi’s concept of “esqueness.” He exemplifies it by discussing a kid who plays a tiger:

One look at a tiger, however fleeting and incomplete, whether it be in the zoo or in a book or in a film or video, and presto! the child is tigerized… The perception itself is a vital gesture. The child immediately sets about, not imitating the tiger’s substantial form as he saw it, but rather giving it life—giving it more life. The child plays the tiger in situations in which the child has never seen a tiger. More than that, it plays the tiger in situations no tiger has ever seen, in which no earthly tiger has ever set paw.

Just as the child and an actual tiger are not one bit alike, the words Mary has a huge smile on her face have nothing in common with the picture of Mary holding her diploma. Yet the tiger announces something to the world, its essence, and a kid can become tiger-ized and be tiger-esque, their every act shouting, I am a tiger. The picture of Mary at her graduation is shouting something, and the words Mary has a huge smile on her face are also shouting something. It is at the level beyond each actuality, in the swirl that each stirs up, that the two meet.

(from Against Access, by John Lee Clark - link in notes)

[coldwind-shiningstars]

I have been thinking a lot about how disability is viewed within the cultivation world lately. Because on the one hand you have neurodivergent cultivators like lwj, wwx or wn, thriving and respected or at least being loved in their respective positions in society. On the other hand, the stigma around visible disability seems to be so bad that jgy had cause to believe that his son being disabled would be enough to question his lineage and ruin jgy's reputation. I was wondering what you think.

First off I am super flattered you asked me this question! Please take these answers with the knowledge that I am working from my Western perspective and the bits of research I've done on disability in ancient China are, I'm certain, not enough. If you have JSTOR access I read "MARKED OUT FOR GREATNESS? PERCEPTIONS OF DEFORMITY AND PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENT IN ANCIENT CHINA" by Olivia Milburn and it was really interesting! Warning for frequent use of the word "crippled" but… yes.

As for your questions!

First, I would disagree with you that Wen Ning is treated well! Wen Qing loves him very much, but pretty much until he becomes a fierce corpse she's overly protective and doesn't really allow him to make his own decisions. The other Wens dislike and mock him -- in the book, when WWX compliments his archery, the other Wens are quite cruel and do not allow him to compete. There was a post I saw recently about how wwx was the first person to really respect him, and I think that's true. Wen Ning is treated like a child, despite how often he makes story-altering decisions! He's considered someone to be protected and kept safe up until he becomes an Actual Undead Zombie. CQL tries to give us an "explanation," while MDZS kind of goes "it's just how he is," but he's still... yeah he's loved but he's not respected.

As for Lan Wangji, I don't think anyone realizes he's got the same kind of Brainproblems as Wen Ning. I've mentioned before how perfect Cloud Recesses seems to be for Lan Wangji and his autisticness. I think he's seen as strange and elitist and very reticent, but it's treated as a quirk of his personality, to be Tolerated because he's so virtuous and skilled. No cultivator (except probably themselves, if they managed to talk to each other for long) is going to make a link between them because they don't have a concept of "autism." I've been poking at Qin Su being autistic too -- she's considered childish, naive, unusual for being the instigating party in the jgy/qs romance, but nobody connects HER strangeness to lwj or wn. So… yeah, I don't think anyone really considers lwj disabled? So he's less affected by that particular stigma. There's a line in the paper about how "people were marked as handicapped… only when their [disabilities] prevented them from engaging in society" and lwj certainly is active in the cultivation world.

Wei Wuxian is... I'll talk about him tomorrow. His neurodivergence is SO wrapped up in the ways he navigates his roles in society? He's got, as Alpha said, Bad Syndrome, a horrible mix of (imo) ADHD, bipolar, and PTSD, and sometimes he can manage it and end up the class clown, and sometimes he's having a breakdown in front of a few thousand people with swords. You know how it goes!

On a DIFFERENT note, physical disabilities and cultivators are also weird. I love the CQL canon that Yanli has some sort of chronic illness, and I'm pretty sure Wei Wuxian has one post-Burial Mounds. But the thing is… Cultivators have superhuman healing. They don't really get sick. I think there's a perception that physical disability doesn't exist among cultivators, and if it DOES it's the fault of that person for having a weak golden core. Yanli's always gossiped about for her poor cultivation, while I'm pretty sure most of her golden core goes towards keeping her functional/alive! Similarly, wwx's (dysautonomia…) symptoms like fainting a lot and getting tired more easily are blamed on his demonic cultivation. I'm sure physical disabilities and cultivation interact in really interesting ways! But people definitely are still able to BE physically disabled and I don't think cultivators as a whole want to talk about that.

They're elitist! The discipline whip used on LWJ is mentioned to leave scars even on cultivators. This… implies to me that most wounds are expected to NOT leave scars. I think cultivators are really shitty to physically disabled people because they don't want to have disabled people cultivating.

So it's (and this is also informed by that same paper) "either ignore your disability and cultivate like an abled person, or don't engage."

As for Jin Rusong… I think it's possible that he was intellectually disabled! Not nescessarily because of the incest -- I don't think half sibling incest, without incest in either of their lines, is going to make significant birth defects. But Jin Guangyao is so scared of everything. And people are so willing to throw all sorts of ad hominem attacks at him? So I think it's less that he was worried his son would be intellectually disabled, and more that he was afraid that his son being intellectually disabled would a) make people talk and b) possibly lead someone to investigate Why, and they would either end up blaming jgy's mother (a STRONG trigger for him) or find out the Incest Situation. So the disability was not the problem? It was more what lead to the disability.

Sorry for how INCREDIBLY long this is, and I might add more thoughts tomorrow when it is not three AM.

[shinwonsaysomething]

A Rough Patch - Jung Wooseok

Request by Anon: hi love! can you please do a scenario with wooseok? I’d like the plot to be very angsty if you could, for example him cheating (even though it’ll break my tiny heart). thank youuuuuuu, i love your work btw A/N: Heey love! Thank you so much for requesting! Sorry that I already posted your request. I have added a link to this story in that post as well hehe. I hope you will enjoy it. My heart is crying after making this so thank you for that as well hehe 🌱🌸 Genre: Angst, with a bit of a fluff ending I guess (hehe I couldn’t help myself) Words: 2.2K

"Are you for real, Wooseok?" you mumble to yourself. You look at the note wooseok left for you: 

I am at the bar with some friends. Will be home late. See you tomorrow after work.

You drop the note back on the table. This is getting to familiar. You come home after work and he will be gone. He has to work late or he is at the bar with friends. He knows you have to get up early every morning and wake up before he does. You only see him when he comes home. You walk into the kitchen and sigh. A mess as usual. Some dirty shot glasses still on the kitchen counter. You open the fridge. At least he got the groceries you asked for. You pour yourself a glass of whine before you start on dinner. When you are half way on your second glass you decide it is better to just order something. Why cook when there is no one to really cook for. Besides, it is already 9 pm. You had to work over again and totally forgot the time. 

You place your order online and make your way to the bedroom. You stop by the table again. The note from Wooseok. It is different than usual. With the note in your hand you drop yourself on the bed. Wooseok usually rips a paper out whatever notebook is nearby, but you can't remember a notebook with paper that is decorated with pink and purple flowers. You shake of the feeling that creeps up on you. "No.. He wouldn't..." you think. on your face is a frown visible. As you lay the paper on your nightstand you see the two frame picture of Wooseok and you. You smile softly and your face turns a bit brighter. "No. He really won't". 

You remember the trip you two made. Wooseok was hired at the company he dreamed of and they offered him a great deal of money. After only one year of work there he got a promotion. You couldn't have been prouder. Wooseok surprised you with a trip to France. On the first picture you see Wooseok's bright smile as he hugs you tightly in front of the Eiffel tower. Your smile grows wider as you remember how he struggled to ask a French man to take a picture of you two. You remember whispering "I love you" before the first photo was taken. That is why his cheeks were more red than usual. You giggle to yourself. You look at the second picture. After the first picture was made he kissed you and said "I love you" back. The French man made a picture of that as well. You were so about the pictures you decided to frame them. 

A happy feeling gets overshadowed by the feeling of being alone. The feeling gets interrupted by the doorbell. "Shit! The delivery..." you say and ran to the door. You give the delivery guy a timid smile and he apologizes for being so late. You didn't even notice it was already 11pm. He offers the pizza for free and he apologizes again. Alone you eat the pizza in quiet. You are not even that hungry, but it keeps your mind of things and helps you to finally relax after work. You used to rant to Wooseok after work to relax and so did he. But since you both got a different work schedule you really don't see each other. Especially since Wooseok picked up the whole "going out all night" habit. You didn't even have the time to ask him how work has been the past month... You start to think you should just go to bed and talk to him in the morning.

"No. Fuck that" you mumble and reach for your phone. No messages from him. But two from your friend Yuto. Well, "your friend", it is Wooseok's best friend you got to know very well throughout the years you and Wooseok are together. 

Heey Y/N, sad you couldn't join us again...

I hope you really can make it next time.

The messages of Yuto confuses you, because Wooseok never asked you if you wanted to join. He used to though, but you never could because of your job. Your feeling is getting worse and decide to call Yuto. It takes a while before he finally picks up. In the background you hear loud music. "Yuto?" you say. "Heeyyyyy Y/N!!! Are you finally done with work?" he says. You don't have to see him to know that he had some drinks. "Yeah. Where are you guys?" you ask. "In The Circle as usual, duh? Where else silly? Are you going to get your boring ass over here or what?" Yuto blurts out. His words are bit hurtful, but you can't help but laugh at drunk Yuto. He is a total sweetheart so you can take a hit when it comes to Yuto. All of a sudden you hear a female voice scream over the music to Yuto. "Hey Yuto. Wooseok and I are going to do some more shots. Do you want to join us?". Your heart sinks. Why do you know that voice? You can't really place it, but it sounds very familiar. You are quiet for awhile until Yuto gets you back to reality. "Y/N? HELLO? I have to go. Are you coming or not?" he says. You stare right in front of you. "Just text me if you are coming okay? I got to go" Yuto says and hangs up. It is quiet for a while. Your own voice fills the room. "Ow I will be there alright". 

It is 12:30 am and you are standing in front of The Circle. It has been way too long since you went out on a weekday. You already called in sick for tomorrow, something you did when you were a student. It felt weird after so long. You walk inside the club and you are greeted by very loud music. You dressed up and texted Yuto you were on your way. A lot of men and women look your way. You have the feeling you are judged, but that feeling disappears as you see a familiar face. "Heey Y/N! You made it!" Yuto yells. He is standing next to an unknown girl and two boys you have met through Wooseok's parties before. Yuto hugs you tightly. "Heey Yuto. Yeah... Wooseok never asked me to come along though..." you say. Yuto looks confused. "But Wooseok said that you are working over again with that dude... what was his name again?" Yuto says like he is expecting you to know who he is talking about. "What dude?" you say. "That Hongseok dude from your work. Wooseok says you only talk about about" Yuto says. He takes a big sip from his vodka redbull and continues. "He was done with you talking about him and your work all the time so he decide he wanted to have some more fun" Yuto blurts out again. Drunken Yuto always says the things he isn't supposed to. You are confused. You did mention Hongseok sometimes, but only because he was very funny and had very lame jokes. Yuto offers you a drink and you immediately drink the whole thing. "Wow party animal Y/N is back folks" he says and laughs. "Where is Wooseok?" you ask with a serious face that makes Yuto quiet. "He is at the bar with..." . You don't even hear the name of who he is with and you walk to the bar. The drink contained a bit more alcohol than you thought. At home you had finished the whole wine bottle out of frustration so this really didn't fall well. You walk to the bar. On your way some guys want to dance with you, but you move them out of the way.

There he is. At the bar. You stop dead in your tracks as you see him laugh with a girl that you vaguely remember from something. You can't see her face, but you can see she has a beautiful figure and her hair is black and pink at the ends. She hugs Wooseok and he hugs her back. Mid hug Wooseok notices you. He doesn't let go of the hug yet. You can't move. The alcohol hits faster and you start to get dizzy. Wooseok says something to the girl and walks your way. "Hey what are you doing here?" he says. He keeps a distance. "What am I doing her?" you snap and talk so loud more people could hear it over the music. Wooseok looks irritated. "Did you come here to yell at me? Because I am not here for that" he says. You are getting angry at him, but your voice can't get over the music again. You walk way. You don't care if he follows you. You don't know why you even came here. What did you really hope for. Maybe that he was happy that you were here or that he would be happy to see your face. Maybe you wanted to see if he really would never cheat on you. You doubt everything. Yuto's drunken words make everything more confusing. Does Wooseok thing you are cheating on him? Is that why he is away all the time. Did he get so distant because he couldn't tell you that something was bothering him or is he really done with you. Why couldn't he just say that. 

You storm out of The Circle. The bodyguards look confused as you are already leaving after entering the club just a few minutes ago. You walk near a taxi stop in the hope you can get a ride. Behind you you hear fast footsteps. A warm hand grabs your arm roughly and spins you around. "What the hell are you doing, Y/N? You come here and just yell at me and leave? What the actual fuck!" Wooseok yells. You snap again. "You are always here. You are never home. I really had to hear from your best friend that you never invited me to these things because you think I am "working over with Hongseok from work" instead of asking me what is going on. You run away from confrontation so I thought I would do the same back" you yell. Wooseok is quiet. You aren't even done. "Hongseok is a friend from work. I never did something with him, because I had a great boyfriend that was everything I could wish for" you say. Wooseok just looks at you as you continue. "And you are just out all night avoiding to talk to me about stuff that bothers you. Drinking problems away with some random girl instead of talking to me". 

Wooseok interrupts you "That girls name is.." "I don't even want to fucking her name Wooseok. I never thought you would cheat on me and I can't believe you thought I would ever cheat on you". "That girl is my sister...". You stop talking and look at Wooseok. "Yes, I just bumped into her tonight. She was there with her boyfriend... I would never cheat, did you really think that I would do that?" he says slightly angry. You get annoyed. "I don't fucking know what to think anymore, Wooseok. For god sakes we haven't talked in months. I don't even know how you are doing and why you decide to avoid me" you yell. Wooseok turns strangely quiet. "Please tell me what I need to think of this situation, because I don't wanna fucking lose you, Wooseok" you say and start crying. You rest your head on Wooseok's chest and pulls on his shirt. You can't help but cry your eyes out. Wooseok doesn't say anything and doesn't do anything. After awhile he hugs you tightly and holds you very close him. 

"I lost my job..." Wooseok said. You look up. "What?" you say confused. Wooseok looks very embarrassed. "They hired someone else for my function. I am still aloud to work there, but under a different function with a lower pay raid" he continues softly. "Hearing you talk about your work made me feel so bad. You work so hard for us and I really don't know how to say that I lost my job... I was afraid you would go to Hongseok because he is just as a hard working person as you..." You start to laugh. Maybe it was the alcohol, the nerves, Wooseok's comment or just all together. You look at Wooseok. "You think I would leave you because you don't have a job? You really think I care about money?" you say. Wooseok looks down. "Wooseok..." you say and put your hands on his cheeks to lift up his head. "I love you, remember... just you... for who you are... I don't care about anything else... We are going to work through this, but we need to stand by each other and start talking about stuff that bothers us" you say. Wooseok smiles softly. You can see tears in his eyes too. Before he can say anything else you kiss him. "We will get through this". 

[aj-the-psycho]

The Hour: A Sanders Sides Story - Chapter 15

FROM FLORIDA TO SAINT PETERSBURG

TW: None

Summary:  Patton dragged Damien to the park; Damien is missing someone.

Note: So, I headcannoned that Deceit would make a real great lawyer, and I was right (Selfishness vs. Selflessness episode). I didn’t steal the idea, I swear and this chapter has been up on AO3 for almost seven to eight months, so yeah. Just saying. Enjoy!

AO3 Link

It’s weekend again. That means no classes and he would be free of stress. Not that he ever gets too stressed. That day, his body decided that waking up in an unusually early hour is a good idea. He tried to put himself back to sleep, but he couldn’t seem to fall into slumber once again. He chose to get up instead. He went out of his room and opened the door next to his room. His brother was still asleep, which was a normal thing since it was only 06:30.

Patton didn’t actually know what he wanted to do. He could maybe try to cook, but that was usually Damien’s thing and he wasn’t in the mood either. He went to the kitchen and had a glass of water. Retreating back to his room, his mind drifted to random things. ‘What would happen in the future? Will Damien and I still stay together and share everything like we are right now? Will he be a successful lawyer like he wants to be? How about Logan?’ His mind halted at the thought.

Logan. The stiff, somewhat robotic soulmate of his. He remembered how he had offered reassurance that time in the coffee shop a few days ago. Having Logan there to just hold his hand made a big difference. It was as if his presence and their little contact drowned out all the tension that was hovering above them. His mind started to wander again, thinking of what life would bring him in the future. Once again, his thought drifted to those icy blue eyes, cool and mysterious.

Patton hadn’t actually known Logan for long. Only a month and a few weeks. There’s still a lot they don’t know about each other. And Patton was eager to find out more about his soulmate.

---------

“Hey, Dee,” Patton broke the comforting silence that settled in the kitchen. Breakfast that morning was simple, but good. Two waffles for each of them—with strawberries—and bacon. The twins didn’t have any plans for the day, so they were going to stay in.

“Ya?”

“Why did you want to be a lawyer?”

“Well… ‘cause I’m a good liar, good at bullshitting,” Damien said, then he added, “and I sound convincing, so yeah.”

Patton only nodded in response. Damien had always have a habit of lying, especially in high-stress situations. Sometimes, it wasn’t even lies. Instead, he would just speak in reverse. Though, Patton got used to it. His brother was bullied for his odd speech when they were younger, but now Damien have learned to control it better. Patton had been furious the first time someone called his brother a ‘slimy snake,’ but Damien just went with it. He just started hissing at people when they called him snake. ‘Living up to my name to the fullest, I guess,’ Damien had thought. Now, he doesn’t do that anymore, but he still feel the urge to hiss at people he doesn’t like.

After breakfast, Damien was about to turn the TV on. He wasn’t in the mood for too much social interaction. Everyone knew that Damien wasn’t a people person, but he wasn’t all that bad with people. Some people find his cool demeanor charming and mysterious. Damien himself didn’t understand how or why people find him charming or even remotely attractive and he didn’t how to react to that information. He once thought that maybe people see him that way, because he’s basically an identical copy of his brother, who most people find cute. Well, almost identical, anyway. When you’ve seen your face and your twin’s face side-by-side for who knows how many times, it’s going to start looking very different.

Patton, though, had other ideas. He really wanted to do something today. He wanted to go out and just enjoy the warmth of the still-rising sun or the still-cool, fresh breeze of the morning. His thoughts of soulmates from that morning came back to him. Remy and Damien had gone on a date—was it a date?—when they were in the coffee shop a few days ago. He doesn’t know a lot about Remy yet, but his brother seemed to like that boy. And Patton knew that Damien didn’t usually like people all that much. So, that must have said something about Remy—right?

“Dee, let’s go out. To the park! So we can see the little doggies!” Patton said with excitement, already pulling his brother out of the living room. “I swear, it’ll be fun!”

Damien didn’t like that. Not one bit. He really didn’t want to go out. However, he didn’t really have an excuse not to go either, so he obliged. “Kay, kay, yeah. Whatever, Pat.”

---------

The coffee was getting cold. He had bought the coffee at the stall near the entrance of the park earlier. Patton was playing with the little dogs that were running around the park and Damien was left to sit alone on the bench, sipping his coffee. Honestly, Damien didn’t really mind to be left alone in the park, as long as he can see his brother in his field of vision. However, alone also meant that he was left with his thoughts.

His mind would drift to random topics. ‘Do tiger cubs meow? What would happen to my brain if I isolate myself? It’s weird that we cook bacon and we bake cookies… What’s in the fridge in the apartment right now? How do I not know that? I literally cooked this morning.’  After a while, his mind started to run through his memories. One by one, moment through moment. Then, he stumbled on the memory of his hour.

‘Oh yeah… that was wild.’

---------

Damien was out alone again. It’s the middle of summer and he had too much free time in his hands. So, he chose to spend his time in his favorite coffee shop, Jacked Up Coffee. The atmosphere there was always so relaxing to him. The smell of coffee, the reddish hue of the sunset sweeping across the interior of the cafe and the sound of smooth jazz in the background.

While waiting for his order to come, he took out his phone and browsed through it. His social life wasn’t the most exciting thing on the planet, so his social media feeds weren’t that interesting either. It’s mostly just memes. Bad ones. A few boring minutes later, he put his phone down on the table—oh and look, the coffee is here. Finally!

All of a sudden, he felt a throbbing pain at the back of his head. It wasn’t intense, but it wasn’t a welcomed sensation either. He held his head in his hands, resting his elbows on the table for support. When the pain went away, he looked up again. And then the pain was back. ‘Am I getting sick or something? It’s annoying.’ He closed his eyes, hoping the pesky headache would go away soon.

When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted with darkness. Literally, darkness. He was sitting in a dark room with the lower half of his body covered with thick fabric. ‘Blanket,’ He vaguely noted. He quickly realized he was sitting on a bed in a darkened bedroom. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see the outline of the room properly. He went to turn the lights on.

The bed he was sitting on wasn’t that small. It could fit two people, though it would be a tight fit. It was covered in soft, black and brown sheets with white accents. To the left of the bed was a small desk with minimal decoration. Next to the desk, tucked in the corner against the wall was a stack of canvases. The smallest one was visible. It was a painting of a small bird. On the other side of the bed was a wooden bedside table with an alarm clock on it and a lamp. Next to the bedside table was the door, next to which he was standing. There were posters on the wall and two of those were of a band he didn’t recognize. ‘Leningrad?’

Damien was wondering how he got there. Was he dreaming? ‘I thought I was in the coffee shop a second ago?’ When he drew the blinds open, it was dark outside. ‘The fuck…’ What is happening?

He looked around the room to see if something else was wrong. His eyes found the alarm clock. 00:00. ‘How is it midnight?  I thought it was five p.m.! Where the hell am I? What is happening?’ Then, he noticed a phone on the desk, still charging. He unlocked the phone using fingerprint—and he vaguely realized that it wasn’t his phone, even though he could unlock it with his fingerprint, but he was too confused and slightly panicked to care—and checked the date and location.

“Okay, okay,” Damien thought out loud to help himself think. “So, I’m in Russia. In motherfucking Russia! And it’s seven hours ahead of Florida here.” He walked in circles in the room, trying to make sense of what is happening. “Alright, Dee, you got this! How did you end up here?”

His eyes darted around the room again. Then, he saw it. It was a small card with words written on it.

С днем рождения!

What is that? What does that mean? He unlocked the phone again and typed in the phrase on the browser to find what the phrase said. He had to draw out the characters one by one, which read ‘S dnem rozhdeniya!’ Then he typed that out for a translation. ‘Happy birthday!’  was the translation result. Birthday? Who’s birthday? Oh… Oh…

“I’m in the fuckin’ hour! Holy shit, my soulmate is Russian?!” He was starting to freak out again. What was he supposed to do? One minute he was in Florida, enjoying a nice evening alone and then a second later he was in a dark bedroom in Saint Petersburg. Who wouldn’t freak out? He was literally in a different continent!

Alright, so, note first! He walked to the desk, hoping to find something that he could use to write. He found a bundle of post-it notes and a pen. He needed to sort his head out first. What to write first and all that. He can freak out—and maybe rant on the note—later.

Damien Harvey (21)

Florida, United States

Sanders University - economics and pol. Science

(I want to be a lawyer)

I have a twin brother (I’m older)

Well, I’m sorry if you don’t speak English,

but it’s the only language I speak.

It was annoying that each post-it only fit eight broken lines. He added the last two lines, because… well, he didn’t know why. If his soulmate did speak English, those two lines would be redundant. If they don’t speak English, those two lines would mean nothing to his soulmate. However, he continued his rant anyway. He added another post-it note and wrote again.

I was planning to write a small little thing,

but it looks like I’m not doing that right now.

So, I’m in Russia. It’s insane.

What if someone came in and decided to

talk to me? How am I gonna answer?

I don’t know why I’m ranting here, you might

not even understand what I’m talking about.

Feeling like he’d had enough with the note, he checked the time again. He still had forty minutes. Which was a lot of time to do nothing else. So, he decided to go outside. The house wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t small either. The living room was big, with an equally gigantic fireplace on the opposite wall of the entrance. He kept walking through the house. When he reached the kitchen, he was quite amazed. It was big with marble counter tops and a big kitchen island in the middle. Upon closer look, on the side of the island was two small fridges built into the structure.‘That’s pretty hecking cool.’

Suddenly, there was a voice behind him. “Remus, pochemú ty ne spish'?”

Damien whipped his head back, finding a middle aged man looking at him with sleepy eyes. ‘Oh fuck, what do I do?’ He tried to find his words, to say something, but his mind advised him to stay silent. ‘It’s not like I know any Russian…’   He remembered writing a possible scenario of someone finding him while he was having his hour on the note. Well, his fear came true. At the end, he just nodded nervously and head back to the room in a rush. He could feel the man stare at his back, but he didn’t dare look back again.

Once he got the door closed, he leaned against it and sagged in relief. Out of the corner of his eyes, he spotted another door opposite the window. Next to the door was a light switch, indicating that it was a bathroom. Damien decided to go into the bathroom to see his soulmate for the first time. It’s not like he cared if his soulmate was actually good looking or not, he was just curious.

The mirror in the bathroom wasn’t too big, but it was big enough for him to be able to see half of his body. When he saw the reflection in the mirror, his mind went blank. ‘Geez, what is it with Russia and gorgeous people?’

The first thing he noticed from his soulmate was those eyes. It was such a weird color. The green color of the eyes is so pale, but it was definitely green. Like a pair of beautiful jade beads. The deep auburn hair complimented the color of those pale eyes so well, it made the subtle color pop. The jawlines were so ungodly defined, Damien had to trail his finger over it. Pink lips adorned the face, which curl into a sweet smile. Looking down, he could see the white shirt he was wearing fit very well, though a bit loose at the waist. He dared to put one hand under the shirt, feeling bumps of muscle. He felt one strong, straight line down the middle of the abs. Going a little bit up, he could feel his chest, flat and a little hard.

He was getting more curious, so he lifted his shirt up to see underneath. ‘Oh man…’ Damien couldn’t help himself but trace over the subtle lines of muscle on the waist. The forearms also had visible cuts, though not extreme. ‘This guys is probably the hottest person I’ve ever seen...’

Going back into the bedroom, he sat on the bed. He didn’t know what else he was supposed to do. He still had twenty five minutes to kill. So, he turned the lights back off and wrapped himself in the soft, thick blanket. He supposed it made sense to have thick blankets here, since Russia gets really cold in winters.

Damien never thought he would ever have a soulmate. Having a soulmate was always a weird thought to him. He thought, he didn’t have a soulmate and for a while he was fine with that. Now, though, he was having his hour and he had been stuck in his soulmate’s body for about forty to forty five minutes. Thinking about the idea of him living his life alone was getting a little sad and depressing.

Damien had never liked being alone. He wanted to have many friends, but he knew it wasn’t his scene. He was always awkward and he constantly lie when he’s in a bad mood or in a high-stress situation. Sitting on that bed, Damien was starting to think that maybe a life alone would not be very interesting. Maybe, it wasn’t so bad to have a person in your life that you could depend on and you could… love.

He kept thinking about soulmates and his life in the future. He was getting deeper into his mind, so he wasn’t aware that his times was almost up. When he felt a headache coming, he thought nothing of it. Then, he remembered that the headache meant he had to go back. It was time. As another wave of headache came, he thought, ‘There’s so much distance between us, when will we ever meet each other?’

A minute later, he was back at Jacked Up Coffee. Nothing seemed to change and no one around him seemed to even notice what just happened. The girl a few tables away was still reading her book and that guy sitting across the room was still on his phone. When he looked down, he saw that his coffee was already halfway done and he could taste the slightly bitter taste of coffee in his mouth. ‘That’s interesting.’ Another thing that he found on the table was a small note.

Remus Galanicheff (19)

Yes I’m Russian. And yes, I speak English.

See you whenever I’ll see you.

The note was short, but it stirred something inside Damien. He folded the note carefully and put it in his pocket.

---------

Damien was pulled out of his memory when a small dog approached him, butting its head softly on his leg. He put his now-cold half-cup of coffee on the bench and reached down to pet the dog. Patton came running and flopped himself next to his brother on the bench.

“Oh my goodness, it’s so cute!” Patton reached his hand down to pet the dog.

“Skittles! Skittles, don’t annoy people. I told you to stay with me.” A young boy came and squatted next to the dog. Then, the boy looked up at Damien and said, “Sorry, mister. Skittles was having too much fun, I thought I lost him again.”

“That’s alright kid. Your dog’s pretty cute.” The boy only nodded in reply and smiled. The boy looked to Damien’s side—at Patton—and back at Damien again.

“Are you guys twins?” The boy asked timidly.

“Yep!” Patton answered enthusiastically. He always liked it when people asked about their twin-ship—Patton wasn’t sure if that’s a word, but that’s what he call his relationship with his brother. “He’s eight minutes older,” Patton said, pointing at Damien with his thumb.

The boy nodded again. “That’s cool. I’ve never seen adult twins before. All the pair of twins I know are my age.” The boy said with a hint of fascination. “Alright, I have to go now. Bye.” Without waiting for a reply, the kid ran off with his dog.

Once the boy was out of sight, Damien spoke up. “It’s weird that people still ask if we’re twins. You think being asked that question for twenty one years would make you get used to it.”

“Well, I’m fine with it.” After that, it was silence. The good kind of silence. The one that you enjoy, where you just absorb your surroundings. The birds singing in the trees, the warm sun hitting their skin and the sound of children playing in the park.

“Hey Pat, what did it feel like the first time you met Logan?” Damien asked after a long moment of silence.

Patton still remembered that morning in the coffee shop when he met Logan for the first time. It felt so long ago when it was only been about a month and two or three weeks. The first time he recognized Logan it felt relieving. There was no other way to describe it. It felt like he had just found something he thought he lost. Like that satisfying feel when you finish a herculean task.

“Well, I…” Patton tried to piece his thoughts together. “At first it was weird. Like, ‘oh wait, I know you even though I’ve never met you.’ It just felt…right?  As if there was some kind of magic.”

“Yeah, magic kinda makes sense Pat. I mean, no one on Earth has ever explained this phenomenon of people having their souls transferred into their soulmate’s body for an hour and all that. It’s literally magic.”

“I guess so… Why’d ya ask?”

“Oh, nothing. Just curious.”

Patton looked unconvinced by Damien’s answer, but he nodded anyway. He still, however, threw his brother a skeptical look. Little did he know, Damien was thinking about his soulmate again. What is he doing right now? Is he alright after that whole fighting thing a few days ago? Damien didn’t realize this at that moment, but he was actually missing his soulmate. It was a very peculiar thought, given that they’ve only known each other for a week. But, Damien missed Remy. He just didn’t realize that.

*********

And once again, you've reached the end of the chapter. As I said earlier, the next chapter would—hopefully—be more exciting. Thank you so much for reading!! Please leave some feedback in the comment section, let me know what I should add or take out. --- Russian stuff (tell me of an mistakes!):

С днем рождения S dnem rozhdeniya [Happy birthday]

почему ты не спишь? pochemú ty ne spish'? [why aren't you sleeping?]

[truemedian]

OZZY OSBOURNE Cancels 2020 North American 'No More Tours 2' Dates

February 17, 2020

Ozzy Osbourne's 2020 North American "No More Tours 2" has, unfortunately, been canceled to allow the legendary heavy metal singer to continue to recover from various health issues he has faced over the past year. This decision was made to accommodate fans who have been holding tickets for rescheduled shows and have been asked to change plans multiple times. Following promotional obligations for his new "Ordinary Man" album (out February 21), Osbourne will head to Europe for additional treatments. "I'm so thankful that everyone has been patient because I've had a shit year," Osbourne said. "Unfortunately, I won't be able to get to Switzerland for treatment until April and the treatment takes six eight weeks. "I don't want to start a tour and then cancel shows at the last minute, as it's just not fair to the fans. I'd rather they get a refund now, and when I do the North American tour down the road, everyone who bought a ticket for these shows will be the first ones in line to purchase tickets at that time." Refunds are available at the original point of purchase. All refunds, including fees, will be returned directly to the credit card used. Additionally, ticketholders who purchased "No More Tours 2" tickets will have first access to tickets when the next tour is announced. Earlier this month, Ozzy revealed to the Los Angeles Times that his Parkinson's disease, with which he first went public in January, was actually first diagnosed back in 2003. "I'm not dying from Parkinson's. I've been working with it most of my life," he said. "I've cheated death so many times. If tomorrow you read 'Ozzy Osbourne never woke up this morning,' you wouldn't go, 'Oh, my God!' You'd go, 'Well, it finally caught up with him.'" Ozzy, who noted the medication he takes for tremors can cause short-term memory loss, had neck surgery to correct an old injury that he aggravated early last year, forcing him to stay off the road for all of 2019. "It's been a pretty incredible, interesting career," he told the Los Angeles Times. "People have written me off time and time again, but I kept coming back and I'm going to come back from this. "When? I don't know," he said. About returning to the live stage, he added: "I don't want to go back out there until I'm ready." The BLACK SABBATH frontman's wife Sharon explained in an interview on "Good Morning America" that Ozzy has "PRKN 2, which is a form of Parkinson's. There's so many different types of Parkinson's. It's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body. It's like you have a good day, a good day and then a really bad day." Ozzy will head to Switzerland to see a specialist about his condition. He added he has been experiencing other symptoms that may or may not stem from Parkinson's, saying, "I got a numbness down this arm for the surgery; my legs keep going cold. I don't know if that's the Parkinson's or what, you know, but that's — see, that's the problem. Because they cut nerves when they did the surgery. I'd never heard of nerve pain, and it's a weird feeling." Last month, Ozzy told U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine that he thinks about death a lot, but he doesn't worry about it. "I won't be here in another 15 years or whatever, not that much longer, but I don't dwell on it," he explained. "It's gonna happen to us all. "Am I happy now? No. I haven't got my health," he continued. "That thing knocked the shit out of me, man, but I'm still here. In fact, I worried about more when I was younger than I do now. I just try to enjoy things as much as possible, even though that's so fucking hard sometimes."

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[hydrus]

Version 397

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.gz

source

tar.gz

I had an ok week. I mostly did small fixes and improvements.

highlights

I added 'system:has/has no note with name xxx' to search for files with specific note names. This is bundled into the same dialog as last week's 'number of notes', for the new generic 'system:notes' entry in the normal system predicates list.

When you have many page tabs in a row, they will now middle...elide their name text to try to fit better. You can turn this off if you like under options->gui pages.

When files in the duplicate filter are pixel duplicates, the file size and import time comparison statements now have no 'score' and colour blue. Pixel duplicates are often a different judgment call, so until I can get more flexible scoring options here, I am hardcoding it to be less visually green/red.

If you need to run a gallery download with a search term that includes '#', this should now work.

I updated the IPFS code to work with the new IPFS 5.0 daemon. I think I have things mostly correct, but the new daemon has some new CORS restrictions that may need configuration on the IPFS side, depending on your situation, to give hydrus permission to talk to it.

The left page panel's position should set itself more reliably for users who start the program minimised to system tray. If you have had trouble here, please let me know how you get on. I believe the changes here will also reduce some UI lag for many other page adding and moving operations, particularly for large sessions.

full list

regular changelog:

added 'system:has/has no note with name xxx' to search for specific note names

in the normal system predicate list, the notes pred is now the generic 'system:notes' to launch a combined dialog for both num notes and named notes

favourite tag suggestions are now sorted in manage tags dialog according to the default tag sort

page names will now middle...elide when there are too many to fit into a row (and normally left/right buttons would be added). if the elided tabs still do not fit, the buttons will pop up as before. added a checkbox to options->gui pages to turn this text eliding off

pulled the 'page name' options on that panel into their own box and added some text regarding the 'my big row of import page tabs keeps scrolling weird' issue

when files are pixel duplicates, the filesize and age comparison statements will now have 0 score and thus be coloured neutral blue

the standard text entry dialog now always selects any default text it starts with, so you can now type to immediately overwrite. see how you like it and if there are some places where you think an exception should be made

updated the IPFS interface to work with the new IPFS 5.0. all api requests are now POST so it doesn't 405, and the User-Agent is overridden to one that IPFS will not 403 at, and I fixed a typo the new api is more strict about

a hack to get page splitters to lay out correctly on session load is rewritten from a hammer to a scalpel. pages now set their splitter positions on their first individual visible selection. this both reduces some minor ui lag on session/page load and improves splitter positions for clients that open minimised to the system tray

a long-time odd issue where loaded sessions would initially select the top-left-most non-page of pages is fixed. now the bottom-left-most page of any kind is selected

fixed tag autocomplete selecting the bottom-most pre-loading result. it now correctly selects at the top

fixed an issue setting certain values (typically loading a default) to a tag import options panel

the client is now more aggressive about clearing subscriptions from memory when they are finished running

in windows, the main method that copies files now checks for modified time of the source file. if it is before 1980-01-01 UTC, it does not copy the file metadata, as some Windows has trouble with this lmaoooo

cleaned up how some thumbnail 'current focus' media determination code works. should have fixed some weird errors when hitting certain shortcuts on collections

cleaned up basic list/sort code across the program

the 'queue' and add/edit/delete listboxes now emit change signals when new items are added or imported

pyparsing, a helper for cloudscraper, is now correctly bundled in the built releases. a new line in help->about displays this

help->about now lists cloudscraper version

updated the discord link to the new https://discord.gg/wPHPCUZ

.

upcoming string processing changes for advanced users:

I extended string parsing code this week, but I am not yet ready to turn it on. when it does come on, it will change all formulae from the fixed string match/converter pair a combined general string processing 'script' of n steps

wrote a new 'string splitter' object that takes one strings and splits it into up to n strings based on a separator phrase (such as ' ,')

wrote an edit panel for string splitters

wrote a new 'string processor' object that holds n ordered string match/converter/splitter objects and filters/converts/splits x strings into y strings based on those steps

wrote an edit panel for string processors. it has a notebook that live updates with test results for each step on every update

wrote unit tests for string match

wrote unit tests for string converter

wrote unit tests for string splitter

wrote unit tests for string processor

refactored string conversion edit panels to their own file

refactored string conversion controls to their own file

misc string processing cleanup and labelling improvements

.

technical url parsing stuff:

urls are now stripped of leading and trailing whitespace during normalisation, just in case a paste contains some extra whitespace. previously, it would sometimes throw a 'doesn't start with http' error

the hydrus url normalisation process now normalises the hostname according to the NKFC unicode format, meaning unusual characters like ？and e◌́ are now replaced with their normalised visual equivalent ? and é, and hence these urls will no longer throw errors when they are added

if '?' or '#' end up in a hostname (which are invalid characters), it is now converted to _, just to stop complete parse mangling when weird urls are submitted. this character replacement may become more sophisticated in future

the hydrus downloader should now support search terms that include '#'

download query parameters that contain '%23' ('#', encoded) are now not unquoted in url normalisation

next week

Next week is a cleanup week. I will push on more wx->Qt code cleanup. I would also like to try to turn on some of the background text/notes work I have been doing for the past couple of weeks.

I will be taking my week vacation in two weeks, in the 399->400 gap from the 27th to the 3rd.

[truereviewpage]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[endlessarchite]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[billydmacklin]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://carpetgurus.tumblr.com/

[additionallysad]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room https://ift.tt/2P01A3h

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

[lowmaticnews]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://landscapingmates.blogspot.com

[truereviewpage]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[truereviewpage]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

And here’s the post full of the other woo-woo skin stuff Sherry swears by (including not washing her face, and using things you usually find in the kitchen).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[truereviewpage]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://aireloomreview.tumblr.com/

[endlessarchite]

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room

Our week of living Furniture Free is over and it went… wellllll… differently than we expected. So today we’re talking about what we liked, what we didn’t, what we screwed up, and what lasting impacts it may have on how we use our home. We also confess an annoying side effect of a feature in our home that’s pretty, but less than ideal. Plus, Sherry takes her love of all things woo-woo to another level and John breaks down an issue he has with a certain smart home technology.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Yup, that’s me rocking my bootleg standing desk (thanks random box!) as part of the Furniture Free Living experiment we talked about in last week’s episode.

I’m still undecided about if I’ll embrace the standing desk thing long term, but if I did I’d probably upgrade to this all-white, convertible standing desk.

I also asked Sherry if she’d like an under-desk walking treadmill, but it wouldn’t fit under her current desk and she said she prefers to walk around outside and work on her phone (she has ordered things we need for the duplex, returned emails, and even taken work calls while walking around the neighborhood).

We mentioned watching a few YouTube videos to better understand the Furniture Free movement, and this house tour by Katy Bowman is probably the most comprehensive. She was the one featured in the Good Housekeeping article we linked to last week and a lot of you have suggested her as a good resource for Furniture Free / Natural Movement enthusiasts.

Also for reference, this is the bonus room we talked about introducing some more active elements into. For instance, we have an area behind the couches that would fit a treadmill just fine if we relocated a few baskets full of dress up clothes.

Also, be sure to tell us on social media if you’re joining us for Aquatober or Walktober!

Updates

Thanks to your suggestions (interventions?) I’m happily loyalty card free on my keychain now. I’m relying entirely on entering my phone number, using Apple Wallet, or scanning things that I’ve loaded into the Key Ring app. I’m also trying an app called Pass2u to import some of my loyalty cards in cases where the retailer’s app doesn’t appear to support it.

And I want to add – since people are more invested in this mission than I expected – that the solo key that’s not wrangled in my leather key organizer above is over on that ring by our car fob because it’s for the beach house – so when we get there I can easily detach the whole leather thing and walk around with only my car key and that one key.

I’ve also ordered this “slim wallet” to see if it’ll help me pare down my wallet too. Thanks for the suggestion, Chris!

Can We Just Talk About Smart Locks?

The door shown above is the main place we’ve considered adding a smart lock since it’s the door we use most often (it leads into the garage). We love how the existing lockset coordinates so nicely with the rest of the polished nickel hardware throughout the kitchen, which is why we picked it out. And you can below that it’s even visible from waaaay back in our living room.

Now, imagine that door had one of these big, black chunks of smart lock technology slapped on it? Not to mention that we haven’t found one in polished nickel (they’re mostly satin nickel – occasionally polished chrome). Here are the links to the ones below: 1 / 2 / 3

They also all come in black or bronze, which helps the black plastic cover blend in – and they look best on a dark door that further hides that big black box. Meanwhile our door (and our whole kitchen, for that matter) is so light that we fear it would really stand out.

But here is the August brand smart lock that I’ve been researching. It does require that you purchase a hub with it that plugs in somewhere else (that’s how it gets away with being less of a giant box on the door) and you can buy a keypad too if you don’t want to rely on peope having their phone with them. And the “silver” color probably isn’t a perfect match to polished nickel, but again – at least it’s not very big. Well, it still kind of looks like a Nest thermostat stuck to the door, so I wouldn’t call it tiny…

And lastly, these are the Kwikset locksets we have on our front and back doors which have the SmartKey system where you can rekey your own locks so you don’t have to hire a locksmith to get all of your locks to match. We’ve had them for five years and would highly recommend them.

Listener Question

This is the covered porch area that Ang was asking about (ignore the deck – this photo is from before we tore it off). Those windows behind the outdoor sofa lead into our living room.

You’re probably used to seeing our kitchen and living room look something like this…

But last week I snapped this photo (without a long exposure to help brighten up dark shots) and it really demonstrates how much darker this side of our house can feel in the afternoon when the sun is on the front/western side of our house. Just note how bright the dining room is there on the right side! There’s not a light on in there, it’s just the sun shining in. And you can see how the kitchen isn’t super bright, but the living room is even darker thanks to that overhang.

The funny thing is that splash of light that you see hitting the fireplace is sunlight bouncing off of the bright white doors to our shed (see, aren’t sheds the best!?). But long story short, the lighting can get very weird in our house around this hour.

You can also see in this photo how that covered porch really does become a dark spot in the afternoon since it blocks so much sun. Again, we like having the porch, but it definitely impacts how the inside of the house feels sometimes.

We’re Digging

That’s us playing the kids’ favorite new game: Tenzi (and yes, we’re using coasters to stack our dice)

Our favorite variation is some combination of Tenzi Tower (where you have to stack your dice as your go) and Stealzi (where you can swipe your opponents dice).

We also bought this “77 Ways to Play Tenzi” that suggests dozens of other variations. They also sell a Party Pack version with 6 sets of dice.

This is the jade face roller that Sherry bought (it’s currently sold out, but this one is extremely similar and also highly rated). And here’s an article from Elle about its benefits.

And to see Sherry’s jade face roller in action (and my response video at the end) just click play below (or on YouTube or in our Instagram Highlights).

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.

And lastly, a big thank you to Revel Woods for sponsoring this episode. Visit RevelWoods.com/YHL to find the right hardwood floor for your home, and don’t forget to enter the code YHL10 at checkout to get $10 off your first sample box!

  Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post #113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room appeared first on Young House Love.

#113: What You Don’t See In Photos Of Our Living Room published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/