Amalthia's recs and fan works

It looks like the new vanities we purchased from Home Depot may not last longer than 3 years. When my husband and I purchased the vanities we didn't know they were particle board, so that's on us for not double checking. I now have questions as to how is it legal for a store to sell furniture that's going into a bathroom that can't withstand any water exposure?

In any case, the base of the vanity is already starting to warp in some spots and I figured I have about a year to find a replacement vanity.

The question is where do people buy vanities that aren't crap?

I considered maybe just buying a more expensive vanity from Home Depot, one made out of plywood, however based off the reviews that's also a bad idea. Or do people just replace bathroom vanities every few years now, like replacing a couch?

I think what's most frustrating is even knowing we had to be careful with this vanity water still somehow made it to the base, and there is water damage in a spot that makes no sense, but it's there.

In my future dream house, there is going to be TONS of space between sink/vanity, toilet, and shower, and all the walls will have tile going to the ceiling!

For the past few years I've been using WWDOLL KN95 Face Mask 50 PCs, Multiple Colour 5 Layers KN95 Masks (amazon link).

The 25 set boxes are no longer sold, so I purchased the 50 piece set and I think the quality may have gone down. The masks don't feel as thick as the ones I purchased last year, I did cut a few open and counted that they do have the 5 layers. I'll still use these for going around town grocery shopping, but I'm not sure I'd trust these to keep me well on long haul flights and hours in airports.

I believe it may be time to find a new face mask. I like the KN95 masks because they are easy to wear with the loops behind my ears.

Is anyone else on my friends list still wearing face masks in public and if yes, what type are you using? Are they comfortable for wearing at least 5 to 6 hours without taking it off?

I'd appreciate any and all advice on finding a new face mask.

This year my sister and traveled by airplane to my mom's house to have Christmas together with the family. Now that part went okay. The Christmas fail happened with Elfster, my sister's husband ordered some golf training club thing that is too big to fit in a suitcase. My sister is pissed. My mom is like "how am I supposed to know the item would be too big to fit in a suitcase??? Also, that was the only item he had on his Elfster list." My sister is thinking my mom should have known to have the item shipped to Denver instead of her house for Christmas.

My mom is thinking her son-in-law would want to see the gift on Christmas Day. I personally think my sister and husband should leave the gift at my mom's house until the next time they visit by car, and take the item home then. Or my sister's husband should take the item to Fedex and have it shipped home himself before they fly home.

I'm not sure why my sister is so upset, it's not her gift that she can't take home with her. But nonetheless she's disappointed and unhappy and I have no advice to help her feel better. Sigh....

Hello everyone,

I'm seeing mixed messages online about how to clean your paint brushes. Some people say use buckets and other articles say if it's water based paint and on city water line you can rinse in sinks. I'm also finding a lot of youtube videos of painters washing their paint brushes in sinks. Even home depot instructions show someone rinsing the brush in a sink under running water.

I sadly didn't look at this topic until after I'd already washed my 2 inch paint brush in kitchen sink. Otherwise, I would have just tossed the brush in the trash and moved on with my life already.

I think my plumbing should be okay because the paint I used was water based, I used warm water and dish liquid soap, and I don't think I had that much paint on the brush. I also only ended up rinsing this brush one time.

It seems weird that rinsing brushes in sinks would clog drains. If that was the case how are artists cleaning their brushes? I have a hard time imagining them be rinsing all of their brushes off with buckets of water and waiting for the water to evaporate before they throw away the paint pieces that fell to the bottom.

Also, how are professional painters handling their brushes? Based off youtube videos they are rinsing the water based paint off into sinks. Not sure if that's a good idea or not, but I think they'd lose a lot of money if they had to throw away their brushes every day instead of cleaning them for use.

Home renovations are hard. With every step I'm discovering more things I don't know, worse I don't even know I need to know something before it's too late. I'm just glad I had used paper towels to clean the worst off my tools when I fixed the grout holes in my shower. Basically, you do not want to rinse grout down sinks either, or caulk. I did end up rinsing some of this stuff down the sink because it was on my hands but I tried my best.

I'm venturing into the realm of DIY home renovations. I am going to install of the backsplash and side-splash that finally arrived at Home Depot.

Unfortunately, Home Depot did not have the matching side-splash for the vanity I purchased. I purchased side-splashes longer than needed and I found a place that'll trim the piece of cultured marble for me since I don't have any of the equipment.

Word of wisdom, if you ever replace your bathroom vanity, make sure what you're buying comes with the matching backsplash AND side-splash. You do not want to know how many hours of my life I spent searching the Home Depot website for backsplashes to match my vanity top, in the right lengths.

However, if you do go the route of buying a vanity, and you buy the side-splash and backsplash separately. Make sure you have all the parts in the house before any contractors arrive to install the vanity. Then everything will be taken care of at one time. Our bathroom, has been in this weird half finished stage for over a month now.

I've also spent an untold amount of time going through youtube tutorial videos on how to install these in my bathroom. I'm really nervous doing this myself and I have to remind myself this can't be harder than building my own computer way back in 2002 and gluing the processor to the motherboard....

I think the part that has me the most nervous is I need to scrap off all the caulk on the vanity top first so my backsplashes fit properly, then re-caulk everything.

Wish me luck, I plan to work on this project over the weekend.

Big sigh... my Microsoft ergonomic keyboard stopped working today. This wouldn't be a big deal except it appears Microsoft stopped making keyboards, let alone ergonomic keyboards. If I want a replacement of what broke it costs over 300 dollars and based off the amazon reviews the keyboards in stock are not new.

I've started my hunt for a new ergonomic keyboard and it hasn't been easy. All the top rated ergonomic keyboards are wireless and I prefer wired. You only need one experience with batteries running out in the middle of a game to put you off battery keyboards forever.

If anyone has recommendations on keyboards I'm all ears...At this point I'm even willing to consider a keyboard I can charge like my phone vs batteries.

Microsoft made a great keyboard, I'd really like to know why the stopped...

Well I tested positive for Covid yesterday. This is my 4th time with Covid but this is the first time it really feels like Covid. Yesterday, didn't work because I slept so poorly I was in state to do my job. Today is better, I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow. I'll take incremental improvements at this point! Watching lots of Fallout and drinking plenty of warm water.

I'm doing a decent job of keeping my distance from the husband because he has this climb planned in two weeks and can't afford to come down with this (though I'm not completely convinced he didn't already have covid and passed it along to me...) In any case, to be safe we're keeping our distance.

I'm glad I got all the vaccinations I could but I'm still frustrated that the vaccines don't prevent you from catching this virus. I thought the vaccine would be like the polio vaccine...

Anyways, friendly reminder to wear your n95 mask in public as much as you can. Covid is still out in the community and it's mutating.

If you or anyone you know is looking for a job as a librarian here is a job posting. Though the downside is it's in Anchorage Alaska but it's a great opportunity for anyone coming out of school, or wants more experience in cataloging.

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ARLIS is seeking a professional catalog librarian (this is a re-posting). Recruitment is through the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The candidate will be hired as Term Instructor, 9-month base contract with a 3-month extension (this means full-time for 12 months in a non-tenure track position). Duties include copy-cataloging and original cataloging of print and electronic media (monographs and serials) using RDA, LCSH, LC classification; organizing digital resources; and participating in name authority work among other responsibilities. ARLIS is a multi-agency library that houses a large collection of scientific and technical resources as well as some commercial publications on Alaska and northern areas with an emphasis on natural resources management and development, subsistence, land and wildlife conservation, cultural resources, and associated social and economic impacts. Much of the collection comprises of gray literature, consultant reports, government publications, and unique items. Work is on-site (no remote work).

See the full job description at:
https://careers.alaska.edu/en-us/job/527739/arlis-catalog-librarian