design family home product packaging products

Mid-Century Aluminum Christmas Tree

Hubby and I have been busy beavers today after visiting family for Thanksgiving the past two days. This morning, I finished sewing a new jumpsuit pattern. In the early afternoon, we replaced our smoke detectors, which were well over 10 years old and in need of swapping out. In late afternoon, we put up our Christmas tree. This may be one of the earliest times we’ve ever set up a tree. It’s a special tree.…

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design observations

Aggravating Design

This Labor Day weekend (2023), Minnesota is experiencing some record-breaking heat. Yesterday, it got up to 97 degrees F. Today, it’s expected to reach 96. In the interest of avoiding the hottest part of the day, Hubby and I headed out in mid-morning to run errands. While on the drive to the storage unit we are renting, we were listening to 1A on Minnesota Public Radio. The conversation was with Mark Ellison, a carpenter who…

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design home product packaging products

Can Opener #642

I have a gripe. My husband shares it with me. Might you have the same gripe? Why can’t a can opener last more than a few months? Over our 3-decades plus marriage, we have gone through countless can openers. We’ve tried cheap ones. We’ve tried expensive ones. All seem to fail by not properly cutting the top off a can or by falling apart. Our latest can opener was from Ikea. Compared to the previous…

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