We have a wall in our bedroom that is not centered. There is probably 48.5" on one side of the window and 29" on the other side. I believe the window itself is 53". If we center our cal king bed under the window, do you think it would look funny? I am afraid the room would look funny with the bed predominatly on one side of the room. Can you even visualize it?

Do you have curtains over this non-centered window? If so, perhaps you could hang the curtains in such a way to make the window look centered...by hanging curtains over some of the wall on the 48" side of the window and covering up a portion of the window on the 29" side. Make sense?
Then you could center your bed under the newly "centered" window.
I sort of did this in my bedroom, but the window was quite a bit more centered than yours.

I think if you make use of the larger side, say, with a chair or chest of drawers, etc, then it will look intentional and not funny at all.

I also like tracydanielle's idea above.

The suggestion with curtains might work. We currently have some cheapy blinds installed. I'll play around with it. Really, where do some of these condo designers/developers get their ideas from....

They're placing windows to look good on the outside. Virtually all of our windows are placed randomly in relation to walls and any possible furniture arrangement.

If you don't think your window treatment fades into the wall enough and tracydanielle's excellent idea doesn't fit your wall, there's always the possibility of hanging an elegant textile of the same size and shape in a position that balances the window.

OK, I wanted to post this in The Kitchen section but didn't see any open threads there... anyhow, I was checking out another site Tastespotting.com where there was a link to this blog:
http://jenniferjeffrey.typepad.com/writer/2007/06/one-day-during-.html

and, was wondering what people think about this notion that the Slow Food movement is anti-feminist.

I think it is an interesting subject and wanted share it...
cheers
C

I think the notion of it being anti-feminist relies on the assumption that women have to do all the cooking, and honestly, what standard of living/well, cooking you have. Her post seems like she's pressured to handmake every ingredient or buy it from the organic farmer's market. While I would like to buy organic and locally grown all the time, I know that's not realistic whether I'm busy or not, and I don't feel guilty about buying my produce at the produce shop in my neighborhood and getting my groceries at Trader Joe's (TJ's makes excellent heat and eat meals, BTW).

She, like so many women I know of our generation (paging my older sister) sounds like she has fallen prey to that Alpha Mom standard. The one where you have to be the best raising your kids, doing your job, and running your household. There's nothing wrong with wanting all that, but you have to find what's realistic for you. Heating up frozen vegetables does not make you a failure in the eyes of the world or your fanily.

Actually, I think her assumption that it's a woman's responsibility to do the cooking and/or cleaning is fairly anti-feminist, or at least a bit archaic.

The bottom line is, if you want something to work, you make it work. There are thousands of "quick recipes" out there that seem like they could adhere to the "slow food" movement--so fine, just adapt and modify, use local ingredients when you can. It just seems like she's making a mountain out of a molehill. This really doesn't seem that hard.

Mixed feelings, here.

If I were still in SF, working the equivalent of my current job, I'd have access to a ton of organic fruit. Here in Phoenix -- not so easy, not so convenient.

In general, I'm uncomfortable with all efforts to turn housework into something morally improving. Women do tend to get stuck with the bulk of it.

I figure if the nice people whipping up my Singapore Chow Fun don't trespass on my territory of analyzing stocks, who am I to presume to their expertise in cooking? When I pay someone to do a good job at tasks I loathe, I'm contributing to their well-being as well as my own.

Please help! Last wekend my boyfriend and I bought two solid wood chairs for $2.50 each. we love the chairs, they are comfortable, but we don't know what to do them. I asked my friends; one said to paint them, the other said don't paint them, because it will ruin the wood. The darker chair has a crack on the seat and the lighter one is in desparate need of a good cleaning.

Here'sa a picture
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/deedie415/chair3.jpg

Thanks so much!

Re the chairs: It all depends on you! Do you love the patina of the wood? Then clean them and maybe give them a light sanding and finish with tung oil. The lines of the chairs are cool enough that they will be really cute painted, if that's your preference. Can't really see the crack you mean - is it a split in the seam or what?

oh one other thing -- you could strip them to get them back to the same shade and then use tung oil to bring out the grain.

I like lizinsac's idea; it's a nice color wood and they're a great shape, so I would strip them and re-oil them.