DIY Life

I'll be the first to admit it: I don't spend a lot of time in the kitchen part of my trailer. It has too many windows, too many drawers, and the smell of vinyl wainscoting gives me a headache something fierce! When the wives go out of town, however, I'm oftentimes forced to enter their unholy realm of sausage and flour; and it's during these rare forays into the forsaken principality of pizza rolls that I sometimes stumble upon a fantastic, culinary DIY project.

For instance, did you know you can make lasagna in your dishwasher? It's true. Apparently all you have to do is throw a bunch of ingredients into a foil-wrapped pod and toss it in with your dirty beer koozies. Set that sucker for two hours of steamy, soapy action, and you'll have a festering pile of delicious Italian goodness that will rival anything you've ever tasted from the Olive Garden... or even Fazoli's, for that matter!

Now, if you're like me, dishwasher lasagna might not come to you as quite a surprise. Hell, I've been eating dishwasher medley on a bed of crispy ramen noodles since I was knee high to a grasshopper! And that was back in the days before we even had dishwashers! Back then, mother would just slop all the leftovers together, add a mouth-watering burst of Easy Cheese, stir to a mashed-potato-esque consistency, and we'd be set for the next couple weeks. But I digress.

In case you missed our announcement on Monday, DIY Life is currently looking for new writers. If you or someone you know is interested in writing for our little website (and getting paid for it), feel free to drop us a line.

In other news, we're less than a week away from T-Day... can you believe that?! It seemed like Halloween was only last week! Before you know it, it'll be Christmas, then 2008 will roll around, then Valentine's Day will be here, then it will time to gear up for the 2009 holiday season, then the US will celebrate 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and then I'll be dead.

Sheesh. Maybe we should slow down a bit and take some time to stop and smell the roses. To that end, here are some of our favorite posts from the last week... in case you missed them on the first go-round:

• Gary demonstrated how to stop potential cold air leaks by insulating your home's electrical outlets.
• Francesca treated herself to a DIY body scrub, then turned around and showed us how to deep fry a turkey!
• Diane illustrated how to turn a curved (overly phallic) banana squash into the Mayflower.
• Farrah pointed out ten great resources for homemade holiday ornaments.
• M.E. provided us with an amazingly detailed list of the best free crochet and knitting patterns.

Here are DIY Life's top three most viewed stories for the past week (I think the secret is to start the title with a number):

1. 20 cool ways to reuse old pantyhose
2. 10 Handmade holiday ornaments to deck your halls
3. 10 handy uses for coffee filters

And a final reminder: since winter-like weather has been slow in coming to most parts of the US, there's still time to winterize your roses. M.E. shows you how.

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership, will tell.

Today on Unclutterer, they featured a fantastic conceptual design from Boiler that transforms your floorboard into a miniature picket fence, creating a perfect place to store all those ugly, hanging wires.

From the site: The Picket Fence adapts to older homes and cleanly manages the electrical necessities of the occupants. The baseboards have a certain thickness to them, typically much thicker than an electrical cord. By sticking these pickets onto the baseboard, a space is created between the wall and the picket points. This space serves as a track for routing all of the wires cleanly around the room. They can go wherever they like and double back as much as they need to, all concealed behind a picket fence. Because of the gaps between the individual pickets, a plug can jump out wherever it is needed.

What a clean and interesting way to hide wire clutter! This could easily be turned into a DIY weekend project with little more than an Exacto knife, durable foamcore, and some double-sided taped. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!

Attention all DIYers! Your favorite DIY blog (that would be us, I hope) is currently looking for fresh-faced, talented writers to help us expand our dominance in the do-it-yourself universe. We've only been around for a little over three months, but our readership has grown so quickly that it's time to start exploring new and interesting DIY topics to help us sustain our growth.

We've tried to cover nearly every corner of the DIY world at one time or another, but haven't been able to give full-time focus to certain niche topics, such as:

• Woodworking
• Home repair / remodeling
• Automotive repair / restoration
• Landscaping
• Electronics / gadgets / hacks and mods

If you have a special knowledge in one or more of these areas, and would like to earn a few extra bucks by writing about them, we'd love to hear from you. Continue reading to find out more.

Now that Halloween is over, we've focused our DIY holiday spirit on the next big celebration of the year: Thanksgiving! In my book, the more a holiday focuses on food, the better. I can't wait to read all the turkey-related articles over the next few weeks.

Mmmm. Turkey-related articles.

Now, in case you missed them, here's a quick look at some of our favorite posts from the last week:

• Speaking of turkey -- Mmmm, garbage can turkey.
• Have lots of candy corn left over from Halloween? Turn it into cookies!
• M.E. published the longest DIY article EVER!
• Does your vacuum cleaner suck? If not, read this.
• Dude, where's my drawstring?!
• Mmmm, make your own candy bars.
• Does your bathroom vanity suck? If so, install a new one!
• What time is it? Time to build a new clock!

And in case you were wondering, this week's most popular stories were "How to clean vinyl siding" and "Disney's Haunted Mansion: 999 Crafty Haunts."

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership, will tell.

This post was supposed to go live on Friday, but I've been having internet problems all weekend, so here it is... finally... on a Monday. For those of you who had continual internet connectivity over the last week, here's a list of some of the best posts you might've missed on the first go-around:

• Did the stink from "How to de-stinkify your shoes" get used in "Making the ultimate stink bomb?"
• You can't go wrong with DIY car shampoo on a shoestring
• Rasterbator: It might sound dirty, but it's not.
• Let's hear it for my favorite all-around tool: the vise-grip!
• Make a banjo. Devilishly simple... just like the banjo player from DELIVERANCE!
• Cardboard furniture? Awesome!
• Return of Punk-man... despite what you might think, this post isn't about Iggy Pop.
• Jawa jive: build your own Star Wars Jawa. Wootinee!
• 16 basic products (and tools) you need to clean everything in your house

Most commented posts:

1. How to de-stinkify your shoes
2. 16 basic products (and tools) you need to clean everything in your house
3. Head in a jar

Most viewed posts:

1. Make your own fairy wings
2. How to figure out a combination lock in 12 seconds
3. How to make a charred corpse

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership, will tell.

The beginning of this week saw the first annual Blog Action Day, which DIY Life proudly participated in with a slew of our own green DIY posts. Along with staying green, we've been continuing our barrage of Halloween-themed DIY projects to help you get the most out of the spookiest day of the year -- we even went so far as to create a special Halloween page to collect all of our sweet DIY tricks and treats! AWESOME!

And in case you missed them, here's a quick rundown of some of our favorite posts from the last week:

• Toilet repair: get a royal flush the DIY-way
• Pet mishap marinade: using vinegar to remove stubborn odors
• Give your office chair a makeover
• DIY spa teatment - Face mask
• Remember to re-register for the do not call list
• Glowing resin Green Lantern ring

This week's top three most viewed articles were:

1. Pet mishap marinade: using vinegar to remove stubborn odors
2. DIY Definitions: Furoshiki - multi-use wrapping cloths
3. Multiplying the value of high efficiency light bulbs

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership, will tell.

Today, October 15, 2007, thousands of blogs across the blogosphere will join together under the banner of environmental-friendliness for the inaugural Blog Action Day. Keeping with the idea of green-centric posting, DIY Life will be publishing several articles devoted to helping you help the environment in a do-it-yourself kind of way, which, in our opinion, is the best "kind of way" around.

In case you've missed them in the past, here are 25 previous DIY Life articles that fit the bill for today's posting pattern:

Halloween is swinging into high gear, and DIY Life has been busy pumping out posts that will help you make the most out of All Hallows' Eve. In case you missed them, here are some of the best Halloween posts from the last week:

• Gary's videos illustrate how to speed-carve a pumpkin, and make one puke too!
  
• Heather shows us how to transform a baby bump into a pumpkin... or should I say, BUMPkin (lame, I know).
• M.E. has a cool pattern for making a hat that transforms into Jack Skellington.
• Francesca loses her head over this cool DIY Marie Antoinette costume.
• For those looking to save a bit of money this Halloween, Maureen has lots of resources for easy-to-make kids' costumes.

And rounding off our week, here are DIY Life's most visited posts for the week of October 6th through 12th.

• Hillbilly How-to: Practical uses for your old computer pieces
• Five things that aren't worth repairing
• Planner Hack

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership will tell.

Computers are good for many things -- I use mine mostly for listening to compact discs, playing that awesome pinball game, and checking the finishing times at NASCAR.com -- but did you know they can be just as useful when they're broken? In all, I think I've burned through eight computers over the last three years -- one got crushed when my prized moose head fell off the wall, and I spilled various liquids on the other seven. Typically when I bust up one of my PCs, I just toss it on the burn pile with everything else, but then I got to thinking, "I bet I could tear this sucker apart and use the various pieces in all sorts of different ways."

For instance, discarded keyboards make great dog toys, and you can use those little gray mouse balls to build a sweet miniature billiard set. Now, I bet you're thinking to yourself, "surely you can't do much else with a broken computer!" Au contraire, mon amie. Check out these other ingenious uses for discarded computer pieces:

We post so many great projects here at DIY Life, that sometimes it's hard to keep track of them all (psst, if you're having trouble, try our RSS feed). In hopes of alleviating your DIY overload, we've compiled a brief list of some of the best posts from the last week, just in case you missed them the first time around.

• One bag travel is the way to go!
• Stinky clothes, Pigpen? Roll your own laundry detergent!
• Nothing spells coolness quite like homemade play dough.
• Man I'm tired... I need an ENERGY BOOST!!!
• Destroy disgusting dust demons.

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership will tell.

Summer is slowly drawing to an end here in the Northern hemisphere, which means this post is geared primarily to our hillbilly brethren South of the equator. However, it's never too early to get a jump on next Summer's oppressive heat, so I guess us Northenders can glean something from it as well.

Okay, here's the problem: it's hotter outside than two muskrats making love in a wool sock in the middle of the Sahara, and your pathetic ride doesn't have air conditioning. What's a sweat-hating hillbilly to do? You could always roll down the windows, allowing your sweaty pits to air out through your functional sleaveless flannel, but then you'll run the risk of making the back of your mullet all frizzy! Their must be some other way to stay cool!

Enter the ultra-portable hillbilly car/truck air conditioner!

We post so many great projects here at DIY Life, that sometimes it's hard to keep track of them all (psst, if you're having trouble, try our RSS feed). In hopes of alleviating your DIY overload, we've compiled a brief list of some of the best posts from the last week, just in case you missed them the first time around.

• Heather helped us answer the age old question, "is my bra too big?"
• Maureen pointed us to a tutorial showing how to turn a coffee filter into a bra rose.
• Brian shows us how to turn plotter printer cores into quick and dirty lightsabers.
• "Instead of buying bubble mailers, why not make your own?" Anna posts.
• It seems I can never find a safety pin when I need one, but now, thanks to the video Francesca found, I can roll my own from one of the hundreds of paper clips I keep hidden in my left pocket.
• Looking for some sweet inside tips on low-cost/high-yield stocks? Aren't we all. Gary suggests several resources to help you research the next hot commodity... or you could just do what I do, and check your spam folder for H0t $t0c|< T1P$!!!
• M.E. suggests you knit your own Katamari Damacy ear muffs (read: giant, white, Princess Leia ear poofs), but you might need to refer back to Heather's bra post if they feel too tight.
  

What new and exciting things will we learn next week? Only time, and your continued readership will tell.

There's been a lot of talk recently about the decline of handiness among the greater American populace (including a great article by our own Francesca Clarke), and to that end Popular Science has compiled a list of 25 skills that everyone should know. As is to be expected, many of the skills reflect our society's increasing reliance on technology (especially dealing with personal computers and networks). Let's take a look at these skills, and see how we (and by we, I mean ME) measure up:

1. Patch a radiator hose - Radiator hose? No. Pantyhose? Yes. Although, I'm sure if you gave me a new one I could replace it without any problems. (0.5 points)

2. Protect your computer - Yes. I never let my computer go to parties without a box of condoms... too many viruses out there. (1 point)

3. Rescue a boater who has capsized - I certified for my lifeguard badge in Boy Scouts, and I swam the English Channel when I was nine, so "yes." (1 point)

4. Frame a wall - It might be a little wavy in places, but I've framed enough walls with my dad that I think I could pull this off. (1 point)

5. Retouch digital photos - Did you see my console TV embedded into the wall picture?! Come on! I should give myself two points, but I don't want to be greedy. (1 point)

Sure, this has been going around for a few days now, but it fits so well into the "Hillbilly How-to" way of thinking, that I couldn't let it pass. Few things stifle the hillbilly mindset like boring, monotonous office work -- there are no trucks to tinker with, no donkeys to feed, and rarely any NASCAR to watch on TV. Modern office environments are enough to drive most people (hillbillies or not) to the bottle, which is why I thought these two projects were so practical.

Can you spot the hidden booze in this picture?


How about this one?


If it's not immediately noticeable, then you can consider both of these "booze concealing" projects a success. Continue reading if you're interested in seeing the BIG REVEAL!