Morning Glory Fine Craft Fair August 13-14, 2011

Visiting Milwaukee? Wondering what to do in Milwaukee in August?

Morning Glory Fine Craft fair is a must to see. About 140 fine craft artist will be showing in Down Town Milwaukee in Marcus Center of Performing Arts ground from August 13-14, 2011

Morning Glory Fine Craft Fair go back 37 years, when Margaret Rahill, the former Curator of the Charles Allis Art Museum, and Leslie Brockel, a former board member of the Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council, came up with an idea for an art fair on the grounds of the museum.

Best of all... free admissions...

Hope to see you all there...

Open Art Fest Boulder

Visiting Boulder this weekend? Don't forget to stop at Open Art Fest on Pearl Street Mall.
Local and visiting artists providing demo and showcasing their pieces.

My experience moving with United Van Lines

We are moving out of state... we need a mover. How to choose one?
We decided to search on the internet and found abundant information about how to choose a mover, say like the one in eHow.
We decide to interview 3 candidates, Graebel, Allied and United Van Lines. They all accredited by BBB.

I called each companies and all of them have a very fast respond to send their sales person in. They walked around the house and gave estimate. Amazingly, they all came with similar quote, similar service including wrapping the sofa, putting carpet and door protector. One thing that I think differentiate Graebel and United, all Graebel crew employed by Graebel while United (Barrett Moving) is contracted out.

Since we asked the quote more than 2 month from our moving date, United will re do the quotation again, but the other two didn't offer that service. They would do it if you ask.

We went through each estimate and talked to each of the sales person with questions and narrowed down to two movers and decided on one. We chose United because the sales person is very easy to communicate both by email or phone. Tony M is very professional, can explain questions in detail and very structured.

We requested "not to exceed" quote instead of "straight talk" to cap our moving expense.
Then, we're connected with the coordinator, Muge. She is very easy to communicate, explains our questions in very detail and clear.

About 2 days before the loading day, the packers crew came. Three ladies came and put all of our stuff in the boxes within 6 hours. They left few open boxes for our blankets and our last minute items. They numbered every box.

On the loading day, a huge truck parked in front of our drive way. They arrived within the time estimated. Two very strong men and a driver came, put door protection and started taking box by box out in the staging area before they put all in the truck. The last items to go in are bigger items like bike, lawn mower, shelf, .. those that can't go in a box. It took them about 8 hours to load everything up. I'm glad that all of our stuff can fit into one truck.

Three days later, about 1035 miles away from our home, the truck arrived, on time. The only familiar face is the driver. They have two other strong men to unload the boxes and assembly the beds. It took them about 5 hrs to unload everything.

I have a good experience with them. They are very professional and reliable. Yes, if I move out of state again, I'd choose them... But I think it's going to be a long time before we need a mover again...

Martha's journey

I'm Martha... a fan tail gold fish. I'm sharing my story about a long trip I made.

My owner wasn't sure about how to bring me along for the long 16 hrs trip they are going to take. So they went to a pet store and ask for information.

Here are the tips they got.
1. Take all the decorations out from the aquarium
2. Take half of the water out. Please keep my water clean by not putting too much food in it.
3. Cover my aquarium so the water won't splash.
4. Put me on the floor of the car, not in the trunk.
5. During the trip, if you need too make an overnight stop, don't leave me alone in the car. It can get too cold or too hot.
6. When you stop, take this opportunity to open my cover for fresh oxygen.

It may be a good idea to put layers on the bottom of the floor. I still splash...

Once you get to the new place, you can add the decorations back, add some water and make yourself home.

Just a tip to transport fish for a long trip...

Moving to Wisconsin

You just got an job offer from GE Medical Systems in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Should you move to Wisconsin? What is it in Wisconsin other than cheese, beer and sausage?
How about school, life and other activities?

If you like me, you may have all those questions in mind before making a decision. I thought I want to share our experience moving to Wisconsin.
We moved to Wisconsin because of a job at General Electric. The headquarter is located in Waukesha. Naturally, we're looking for a place in Waukesha area.

There some neighboring area near Waukesha that is worth checking including New Berlin, Brookfield, Hartland, Delafield, Pewaukee. Since we have school age children, we were looking for a place in about 10-15 min radius driving with affordable housing and good school. Fortunately, City of Waukesha met all the criteria.

About 1 exit down from exit T (where GE head quarters is), there is an area called Rolling Ridge. It has easy access to highway 94, close to grocery stores and strip malls and excellent elementary school. Meadowbrook Elementary is part of Waukesha school district that has a smaller classes and great teachers. Schools usually starts after Labor day and ends about 1-2 week after Memorial day.

Within 5 miles radius, you'll find Montessori school, parks, church, bike trails, Waukesha County Technical College, UW Waukesha and Pewaukee lake. If you are looking for temporary place, there's apartments for rent or even houses for rent. Zillow.com is a good place to start to look for rentals or houses for sale. There is an apartment in Pebble Valley area that may worth checking. This great house caught my eyes. http://jim.firstweber.com/1202590

Drive further to downtown Waukesha, you'll find shops, Waukesha Library, YMCA, restaurants and more. What I like the best is their farmer's market and art fairs.

The weather in Waukesha, Wisconsin tends to be a little bit humid during Summer, nice during Spring and Fall and cold and dark during Winter. The lowest temperature I've experienced was -15F, not including windchill. It only happens during mid of January. The deepest snow I've experienced was about 12" on the ground.

If you are into recycling, a composting bin truck load sale is on June 25, 2011. http://eeinwisconsin.org/net/calendar/details.aspx?s=96590.0.0.2209&c=3532867
A $100 composting bin will be on sale for only $38.

If you are into boating, water skiing or even kite surfing, Michigan lake is just within 30 minutes from Waukesha.

There are so many interesting things going on in Waukesha area. It's a great community, good neighbor, great schools and great place to live.

How to clean gunk from steel shot tumbler.

If you are using steel shot tumbler to polish or clean sterling silver, after a few tumbling, the stell shot will eventually turned "gunky".

There is a solution you can get at a jewelry store to clean it or you can choose a simpler, more affordable option, classic coke.

Just pour the coke till it all cover the steel shot and let it run for at least 20 minutes and then rinse it. You will be surprise to see the result. Your steel shot is as clean as new.

What do you think?

How to fix a jewelry bench part 2

The table top is off. I went to local hardware store and found MDF boards 3/4" and 1/2" thick.
After talking to the person at the store, I learned I have 2 options. Glue two 1/2" MDF boards, clamp it, screw it and make it a 1" thick like the original table thickness or use single sheet 3/4" MDF board.

I choose the later one as I thought it's simpler.



How to protect MDF board? I use polyurethane. MDF board is very porous and it absorbs a lot of polyurethane. My mistake was applying it in a cold weather (I can't help it, ... it's 6 months winter in WI and I was too excited to finish the project). It creates lines of brush strokes on my table. It's not the end of the world. I could scrape it off using sand paper and re apply the polyurethane.

The table size is about 19x38". Then semi circle is about 7" deep and 20" wide. It's not quite a perfect semi circle shape. Table height is about 37".



I keep all the wood pieces that connects the table top. After the table top is ready, with my hubby helps, we screw the table top back.
Then I add the sides that helps beads or any round items from rolling away.

After cleaning up all the drawers and other parts, the table is ready to use. I bought a jewelry bench and anvil that can be fitted on the table top.



If I were to do it again and if I am willing to invest $100 on the table, I'd go to a local cabinet maker and order 1" natural wood table top. They would use pieces of wood, glue them together and mill it to a table top instead of one big slab wood.

I'm glad I tried this project. It makes me a better person. Best, I can share this with you.
What do you think?