DIY Wine Cellar

Just before the new year I may have purchased half a dozen red wines, with Brandon’s blessing. There was no way we’d finish 6 bottles of wine is one go, thus a storage solution was required! We couldn’t afford a wine storage cabinet seeing as they were $200+ so we planned to repurpose the mini fridge we were using when we first moved in. Excuse the mess, as you can see I tried unsuccessfully to blur it out hehe.

PC Mini Fridge (soon to be wine storage)

Fast forward to last week the Digital Refrigerator Thermostat finally arrived after a month of waitng, only for us to find out that it was the wrong one. The one we received only controls heat, we needed a cooling one =(. So now we have to refund it. On a happy note the seller is happy for us to refund it, so we’ll sort all that out first before we buy the correct one. So close, yet so far =(. Will update on our progress when we finally have it up and running. I was super sad last night lying on the floor feeling sorry for myself haha, but now my resolve has returned! This wine storge cabinet will work!

This is the highest temp we could get the fridge to without the thermostat, it’s the one that says outdoor temp. We’ve also got to make sure the humidity is in the right levels too, but first things first, temperature control!

Current Mini Fridge Temperature 7.1°C

We need to get the temperature down to 14°C, which isn’t possible in our current state =(. I hope the wine can survive a few more weeks of heat.

Oh I should probably explain how the thermostat is supposed to work, basically you put the sensor attached the the thermostat into the fridge, plug the thermostat into the powerpoint and then the fridge into the thermostat. You then set the ideal temperature for you environment and when the temperature is in a range +/-1°C outside your set range it will either turn the fridge on or off. The one we got would only turn the appliance on if the temperature dropped below the set temperature, which for us would have made things colder.

Till next time,
Helen ♥

P.S. We’re using the Aqua Systems Wireless Weather Station to gauge the temperature of the fridge in the above picture, there’s two pieces to the unit, the above digital read out and a smaller transmitter that also has the temperature and humidity displayed, so far it’s pretty good and you can apparently connect more units (up to 3) and display their temperatures in the main unit, we haven’t tried that yet, with our budget and all, but I’ve found a few on ebay that look similar and cheap. So we’ll maybe give it a whirl next year, it would’ve be nice to display the real outdoor temperature and humidity once in a while =P.

P.P.S. I’m updating this whilst in bed and Brandon just sleep stole my sheet =.=”””.

Eat me

Delicious, yummy food in me.
Eat me, eat me, please oh please.
Hurrah! Down I go!

A little haiku I wrote as part of the handwritten lunch notes I made for a friend’s birthday =). The last line was the hardest.

Hungrily,
Helen ♥

Happy Birthday Holly!

Holly turned 16 yesterday, that means it’s time for her L’s! This will be a scary period haha. She still hasn’t studied for it yet, not that I did. I just did the practice test online over and over again. I studied for my P’s though.

Holly's Birthday Cake

I’ve also been playing with Pixlr Express on my phone (as you can see in my photos). It’s actually pretty good and fun. Big thumbs up from me. I may have also just downloaded some of their (Autodesk Inc.) other apps to play with. Didn’t know they made Sketchbook Mobile (here’s the free version, Sketchbook Mobile Express) and the sketchbook apps series too. My phone can use Sketchbook Pro now. I really wanted to get it when google had their 10c and 50c sales but it wasn’t compatible with my phone at the time =(.

Blue Shoes from Novo

Breaking in new shoes, that I got last year today. I already have blisters which is the main reason as to why I originally put off breaking them in last year ><.

But it's ok! I got band-aids from the first aid cupboard! Pretty sure they've passed their best before date. Also found finger cots =P.

Band-aids to the rescue!

YAY dumplings tonight ;D.

Work, work, work all day,
Helen ♥

Oil Pulling Day #1

So my front gum’s been itching a little. This happens on and off every couple of years. So this time I decided to try googling what I could do instead of waiting it out.

It seems that these might be the some of the causes:
– Teeth Movement
– Gum Diseases
– Overall Health
– Overactive Nerves
and the list continues… so basically that means, no one really knows.

In one of the forums I was looking at someone suggested oil pulling. Which got me curious, so I looked it up, and here I am trying it out =P. Worse comes to worse I’ll just have a mouth full of oil.

I also have amalgam fillings (I think, they’re metal and I got them as a kid, which seems to be one of the typical scenarios) which some people say oil pulling might cause a problem with, but the hell with it. We’ll see how it goes. If I die of early mercury poisoning, we’ll know why.

Ok so down to nitty gritty.

Oil Pulling Day #1:
Oil Type:
Corn Oil
Time:
19 minutes
Process:
– Oil Pull 1 Tbsp
– Rinse with saline water
– Brush teeth with toothpaste
Result:
– Teeth feel glossy/smooth
– Front lower gums still itchy, but slightly not as bad as yesterday
– Left lower back gum (wisdom teeth is pushing out) not as sore
Comments:
I need to get some coconut oil, because that’s the most suggested oil to use. Also the results supposedly take 10 to 14 days to be noticeable.

I like the below blog the best including the comments
Oil Pulling With Coconut Oil to Transform Your Dental Health

A few things to remember:
– Don’t swallow the oil
– Don’t spit it down the drain
and others that can be found in the blog

Happy Pulling,
Helen ♥