The mother load of stencils! The Stencil Library claims to be the world’s largest stencil mail order collection. You know what? They ain’t kidding!

Not only does their catalogue list over 3500 designs, but they also sell accessories and give DIY tips on the site. There are even more how-to’s and room photos on their Design Inspiration blog.

Oh but wait! There’s more! For those of you who just want to write something on your damn wall but can’t align individual letters, there’s an easy way out. Design your own words or phrase in a font of your choice. I do have to point out how lame you are if you can’t figure out how to take a level and draw a straight line, but….I’ll admit….I’d probably choose to take the shortcut too. The measuring between letters? Yeah, it’s a pain in the arse.

The Stencil Library is a Brit company, so shipping will be pricier for those of us on this side of the pond.

Happy Stenciling!

Hello! This object is a refrigerator!

Cat goes up a tree. Firemen can’t rescue her. Neighbors can’t rescue. Finally, a heroic tree guy comes and in bam! Just grabs her and sticks her in a bag. Done.

Since I’ve been so bad about posting my own DIY tips lately, here are some great sites with easy to navigate home improvement posts.

Bob Vila. The King of Home Improvement! Needs no introduction, but if you’re novice, perhaps you don’t realize the awesomeness of Bobby V. His site has step by step videos of each project, so if you’re too lazy to look at instructions, just watch.

Fine Homebuilding. This is a site for pros. You do have to become a member to access much of the site, but it’s worth it. Before The Internets were created I subscribed to the magazine (remember those things made of paper?). I ripped out the more useful articles and still keep them in a binder to this day, even though I never look at them because it’s easier to go online. Not only do they have DIY instruction, but they go over materials as well.

Family Handyman. Ok well, my biggest problem with this site is the name. I typed in “FamilyHandywoman.com” and guess what? They own that too! But it just forwards you to the MAN site. Grrr. One more thing….check out the photo above. That’s from this site. Why is the guy doing all the work while his bitch is just sitting there? Oh, they have photos of females working…on easy garden projects. (As if any of the other sites are better.) Anyway, regardless of their sexism, it’s a good site. Each project is broken up into a summary, tool list and step by step guide. So easy, even a man can do it!

House Renovation Tips. There’s so much information here that I’m not sure if it’s actually someone’s blog or one of those blogs that grabs content from elsewhere. In any case, I’m including it because da bomb. (Yeah, I said that.)

DIY Network. Categories are listed near the header and there’s a search bar waaay up top. The nice thing about this site is that they give you time, cost and difficulty estimates on each project.

Yup, it’s true. It took nine years for someone to say “Hey, you know what? The September 11th tragedy would make a great musical!”

The film,”Clear Blue Tuesday” opens this Friday at the Quad. I tried to remain open minded while reading the City Room article. The blog comments were mostly negative and even a bit childish. “I was there and you weren’t” kind of thing. Some folks mentioned that art is supposed to deal with uncomfortable subjects…and I get that.

But a musical? I’m sorry, but that’s just bad taste. I refused to see Rent because I didn’t want to hear anyone singing about AIDS. (Ok, that’s not true. I was an East Village chick in the 80’s so my take on it was “Been there, done that. Don’t have to see a performance of it.”)

Anyway, back to my bashing this film without even seeing a clip. Oh wait, I HAVE seen a clip! And it su-ucks! So, not only is it in bad taste. It’s just bad.

Economics is not my bag, man. But…tell me if I’m wrong. This is a great time to get a mortgage, right?

I’m looking at the rates and it’s in the mid 4%’s for a 30 year fixed and in the 3’s for a 15 year! I want to know why everybody isn’t running out and buying or refinancing. Is it because the banks aren’t loaning money?

I did the math on my own house. I wouldn’t be saving enough to refinance at 30 years, but if I paid the mortgage down and did a 15 year, I’d be rich, bitch! Too bad the only way to get the bucks to pay it down is to sell the other house.

So, I’m watching the rates and hoping that they stay low until someone realizes it’s a great time to buy my house. And then I can refinance!

So, the Beacon house has been on the market for nearly four months now and we are freaking out, man! We’ve decided to give it one more month (maybe two) since the summer was sort of a dead zone and then we’ll have to think about renting it out until the market picks up again. That being said, just when we’re about to give up, it looks as if we may have a few interested parties. Fingers crossed!

The plan over the weekend was to go up to Beacon and ready the exterior for winter, should we end up keeping it or should the new owner take over during the cold months. The front of the house was painted when the new porch was put in, but the rest of the house is screaming for a paint job. (BTW, what ever happened to people who think it’s romantic to work on an old home? Are we the only ones left?) No, the two of us didn’t repaint our entire house over the weekend. We did scrape and touch up the worst bits. Now it just looks patchy but maintained, instead of neglected. At least this way, if it doesn’t get painted until next Spring, the clapboard isn’t rotting away.

The garage face lift was just that. Like an aged has-been getting her face pulled tight when her neck remains wrinkled and saggy, the garage now looks better at first glance. We’re not trying to fool anyone. The structure needs complete rehabilitation at best or needs to be torn down and rebuilt. The waste of half a day and the leftover paint was decided upon when we realized that this is the first thing people see when they pull into the driveway. So, now at least it looks like a charming dilapidated shed instead of a total eyesore. Smoke and mirrors. Curb appeal. Whatev.

August 28th marks the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. I’m sure you’ve heard about Glenn Beck’s (aka Howard Beale) rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I won’t even dignify that by going on a rant, but I do have a couple of side notes. 1. Money is being collected “for the troops”, but the fine print states that it’s only the money left over AFTER the event has been paid for. 2. Um, I think God told him to do this and may make an appearance. Something along those lines. Let us all pray for The Rapture this Saturday.

A couple of anti-hate rallies:

Al Sharpton’s National Action Network is holding their own rally tomorrow to commemorate the King speech. No need to drive to D.C. Bus service is available and listed on their site.

Celebrate the Dream is holding a ceremony on the National Mall to dedicate a 4 story high people’s memorial to Dr. King.

If you can’t make it to Washington this weekend, please feel free to share the video of the speech on Facebook, Twitter and anywhere you can think of. Spread the love. Not the hate.

I’ve been catching up on Bravo’s Flipping Out with interior designer/house flipper Jeff Lewis. Ok, so I’m kind of hooked on the guy’s bitchiness. He’s awful to his employees, like really mean, but I think I love him anyway.

The realty series had me at hello. A gal like me who restores her own shacks? What’s not to love about a renovation show? I get off on watching the contractor ordeals and how they meet their deadlines in spite of it all.

And the pets! I wish I had a staff to take care of my own brood. Lewis’ dog pees on his assistant’s head and he thinks it’s funny. It IS f*in’ funny! It’s hilarious!

So, love him or hate him? I vote that I love him, but I could never in a million years work for that a-hole

Last Sunday we got to visit the Ben and Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, VT since we totally got rained out from doing any outdoor activities.

The first place I hit was the restroom. There I noticed a poem on the wall of the stall that had something to do with the “blue loo”. If I understood correctly, the waste water in the toilet was being composted and recycled. Sorry, I should have taken a snappy with my iphone, but I was in there to do my business if ya know what I mean. There’s something on their website about waste, but it’s not the kind that I’m talking about.

Next, whilst sampling the latest flavor (something with vanilla ice cream and dark chocolate cows) I spotted the “cleaner greener freezer” over in the corner. The new hydrocarbon technology supposedly has zero impact on ozone depletion.

Yes, it’s true that Ben and Jerry’s was acquired by Unilever, so they’re not the same 2 guys from Long Island we’ve grown to love. But they ain’t Walmart either. Check out some of their other  environmental causes.

Consider this sort of a linkorama with a sprinkling of snarky comments from the editor. Lots going on lately and I’m sharing my opinion whether you like it or not.

The Empire State Building sharing the skyline? Hmm, I can see both sides. Surely, this building IS the NYC skyline. Of course we want it to remain #1, especially since we lost #2 a few years back. The other point of view is that the skyline is constantly changing, so deal. Well, this is true too! Here’s my thinking….The ESB is an historic landmark. There are many landmarked districts in Manhattan. Why shouldn’t this building fit in with this historic neighborhood? So, build a tower that compliments the Empire State Building. No, that piece of shit in the photo doesn’t cut it. Back to work.

So, the Ground Zero mosque. 1. It is not located AT Ground Zero. The site was a Burlington Coat Factory a few blocks away. 2. It is not a big fat mosque but rather a community center with a prayer room. 3. There are already mosques in the neighborhood, at least one that predates the towers. 4. Would you prefer a Victoria’s Secret? Really? 5. If you answered yes to #4, let’s just agree to disagree because you probably have some racist tendencies.

Habana Outpost is sooo green. Oh, really? Just your buildings but not your food? Too bad there’s not much on your menu for a vegetarian to eat. Never been, because the menu is so meaty. That’s fine, but I don’t really equate dead animals with environmentalism. I’ll assume the meat is organic free range, but I don’t see where it says that. You’re doing a good thing for the community, so thumbs up on that.

Ok, I vented. Feeling better now.

We’re off to Stowe, Vermont for a (hopefully) relaxing weekend. Staying at this place, which looks quite nice. If you know of any summer festivities in that area, let us know! Flea markets? Thrift shops? Wonderful veg-friendly restaurants? Good dog hikes?

Happy Monday….MY BIRTHDAY!!!

This Hello Kitty house was making the blog rounds a year ago, but I just discovered it when someone posted a link on a Brownstoner convo.

I. AM. IN. LOVE.

 Apocalyptic Art. Web Urbanist

What To Do With A Bad Cat. Huffington Post

Affordable Housing For The Affluent. WSJ

Recycled Floating Dining Room. Re-Nest