My Roofin' Roots

I know that your breath is bated while you open this post, hoping that this is another edition of Extreme Home Makeover: Katie's House. Currently room #2 (this time it's RED!) is in such mid-painting chaos, I think you'll have to wait for next week! But here's a fun story.

Last month I got to spend some time with Karen friends, and in the process learn some useful skills; like how to make a roof! It reminded me warmly of several delightful summers spent working for Chase Roofing, although the skill set is pretty different.

Step 1: Gather these long, tough, covered-in-slivers jungle leaves.

Step 2: Break off a piece of the tough, central vain of the leaf. Using that, sew the leaf on to a long stick.

* Step 2 is best performed with an old, smiley, brightly attired Karen woman.

End result? This!

And this. 

If you can't tell, there are hundreds of tiny black slivers in my fingers. Some are easy to get out, some you have to dig out with a safety pin, and the rest will fall out after a few weeks. You can always tell who has been working on the roof by their hands.

Actually getting the new roof on to the roof is a task for another day, and a job that girls are not allowed to participate in, no matter how deep their roofing roots.

A place to hang up my umbrella

3 months since my last post? For shame! Unfortunately all of my most harrowing and blog-worthy adventures go on the work related blog. That leaves little time to talk about the mundane areas of my life, like the banana flower curry I made for dinner or the eating contest that I cheered at last month. If you'd like me to hook you up with that much more awesome blog, you can e-mail me! (Not like I really have to sell it, but sometimes I give life-saving breath or bench press boulders on that blog. Well, at least I'm going to bench press a boulder. Soon. It's on the schedule)

But I have News! From The Other Side Of The Pond 

For the last 7 months I have been bumping around a lot. I left the dorm, stayed with friends, have traveled to several different countries, and have not fully unpacked my bags. Until two weeks ago.

My darling Australian flatmate (who fights international injustice as a job then moonlights slaying dragons and saving babies for fun) and I moved in to our new apartment, and we're settling in nicely.

I've hardly scratched the surface on Design Sponging the entire house, but the front room is done, sans stuff on the wall (waiting for a drill that can tackle the concrete walls).

My decorating budget is nearly non-existent (notice the use of my ladder and broken toaster in the decorating scheme), but I did invest in paint and this amazing traditional Thai chair/bench/couch.

More pictures to come (like a Do-It-Yourself Folded Book Bookshelf that I invented!), and I'll keep you updated as I move across the house. This might turn into a home decorating/cooking blog (banana flower curry anyone? And black garlic simmering in the rice maker).

Yes, I think I'm home!