the mellow tigger's musings

List of protests and safety suggestions: https://www.reddit.com/r/Minneapolis/comments/1q7labj/locations_of_protest_safety_how_to_help_if_you/

I'm trying to think what to do about the government thugs in Minneapolis and the threat from our Republican Vice President for them "going door to door to find undocumented migrants" (NPR.org) in my neighborhood.

I have very little furniture, nothing that would accommodate anyone besides me. I dislike strangers in my house, and I've avoided them for a decade. Now, however, seems like an appropriate time/use for the added stress of such social involvements.

Q1: Do you have any recommendations for some furniture that above all else is easy to disassemble? I've never bought furniture unless I could pick it up and move it myself. That means I have very little. I don't even own a bedframe, preferring my mattress directly on the floor. Easy to disassemble is a requirement, but non-polluting-or-destroying materials is also important to me. I'm considering the Thuma brand. Thuma's webpage says they use sustainably sourced wood, but they don't really explain details, so it might just be greenwashing advertising.

I intend to buy two TwinXL sized frames. They could both go in the spare bedroom, separately or pushed together, or I could try one of them myself if they remain unused there.

Q2: Do you have any recommendations for TwinXL mattress? Keep in mind that my little house upstairs goes from extreme cold to extreme heat because there's not much proper in-house ventilation. I'm considering either Purple or Nectar brands, but I'm very open to suggestions. Purple markets their Restore Plus version as better for side sleepers like me, with improved airflow, which is important when bundled under layers of blankets during Minnesota winters. That's the TwinXL model that I'm leaning toward buying for myself and the new bedframes.

Q3: Do you have any recommendations for a heated recliner? My old recliner (hauled here a decade ago after someone's relative died and they needed to clear the house) is literally falling apart now, so I need a replacement. If it was heated, then I wouldn't have to repeatedly buy a new electric blanket every 2 years or so. Most brands I see online come with far too many amenities if they include heating. I just want a recliner with heating, that's all.

Do you have any good places to shop online for ethically purchasing some organic bedsheets? I would normally just go to the Target website, but they're on my naughty list at the moment. It is surprisingly hard to find places that offer Twin size sheets.

I badly need replacements. My current sheets have worn thin and are actually tearing apart. My throw blanket (which my mother bought me when I went to college the first time back in 1986) is literally see-through because the fibers have worn away and washed away for so many decades.

I ended up ordering tonight these sheets and blanket. (These blankets looked fun but pricey for the moment.)

These days, I'm a big fan of having replacements on-hand, so that I don't have to make any last-minute scrambles for solutions when something goes wrong. I'm open to ideas for other products/sites to shop, so I can keep a second set in storage.

It's 7pm on Friday, the end of my "weekend". I'm showered and ready to relax for the evening in front of the tv, before getting up early for work tomorrow. I took a few days off work earlier this week too, but I still can't say that I completed my house painting for the year. So close. It would've gone faster if I could labor more than an hour or two without needing to stop and sleep for 2-3 hours after the exertion. It was a reliable reaction and very inconvenient.

I got every ground floor window (and some of my skin) painted with white primer after scraping off paint as well as I could. I painted only the patio windows (which are large) with the same turquoise paint as last year's doors. I planned to do the other two small windows in turquoise after work soon, except the forecast is for rain during that time frame for many more days to come. I'm not sure when I'll finally be "done" with the manual painting. I'll take a photo when it's complete.

I'm not doing the eaves. I'm not doing anything on the second story. I'll hire somebody for all of that. I didn't injure myself climbing ladders during the last week (well, not more than minor cuts that I can't really explain, or the many mosquito bites that I expected), but I know better than to try painting at awkward angles at the top of a ladder or on a very steep roof. Too much of a klutz, too dangerous especially since I live alone. I will not attempt it. I'll pay someone to do it. I could check around for someone to do it this summer, but I already have window replacements planned and dislike the idea of multiple simultaneous deviations from daily life.