u/Kythreetl

Of course, I need to migrate incomplete tasks from last week, but right now just reveling in the refreshing feeling of opening to a clean spread for the week!

For the curious, brain dumps or brainstorming go on the left page. Weekly task on the top left column of the right page, notes and things to remember on the bottom half of the right page, and miscellaneous scratch pad on right column. Been using this system for three years now, so I no longer label my sections.

I got these guys as a clean up crew. So how come I am so thoroughly delighted to spot one? Literally will stop whatever I'm working on, get up from my chair, come around my desk and usually fail to get a good photo of how awesome my little guys are. I love them so much!

20 gallon long, planted, but still new tank. Maybe I added my shrimp too soon. I added 5 amano shrimp a month or so ago. They were doing good...I think?? I fed them by dropping in a couple shrimp pellets every other day, there was biofilm, then I got a lot of diatoms. That's mostly cleared up and I have done partial water changes once or twice a week to get the diatoms under control.. But I can hardly ever find a shrimp to check on them. Here's one... Are the other four ok? How do I know if they are ok?

I seared a bunch of pork in my cast iron before I put it in the instant pot to make pulled pork. The meat looks amazing! And my kitchen smells so good! But, it left a bubbly thick syrup behind in my cast iron. Do I wait for this to cool completely before cleaning? I'm afraid it's going to cool and harden and stick in the cast iron. Right now it's still hot and sizzling.

I decreased my light levels and it got worse. New tank, new plants, 5 amano shrimp.

Edit to add: plants have been in 19 days, tank has been running longer. I haven't tested the water parameters yet (I know, I know). I was adding liquid plant fertilizer twice a week. I think this happened after I added the amano shrimp. I dropped three shrimp pellets in 3x a week because there wasn't any algae I could see and I didn't want them to starve. There was a little brown on the glass and a few long strands on the filter on Thursday, so I decreased light levels. I was out of the office Friday and Monday, and came back to the office to this Tuesday morning. (Tank is in my office at work).

Yes I know I'm living out of a basket and a cardboard box right now. I would love to change that. I am looking to order a shoe cabinet to go under the window. I am also looking for a nightstand because I borrowed that little side table from my work office. I'm ordering cheap off Amazon because there's so much that needs replaced. We've already burnt through the money the insurance gave us.

My question is, what faux finish do I want on these pieces. Do I want white? The walls are like a bit off-white? Bisque maybe I don't know. Really outside of my element here. The other options I'm looking at have kind of a farm rustic wood?

I was leaning towards white for the shoe cabinet because I thought visually it would take up less space and help the side of the bed look less crowded.

The headboard of the bed is a very dark brown wood. Do I want a nightstand that matches my shoe cabinet? Or do I want a nightstand that's a darker color? It won't match the headboard at all. But at this point I just need to take some baby steps forward. In theory I have a dresser that's coming back from the disaster recovery people. And that'll take care of the laundry basket and the cardboard box. That goes in a separate room. So don't even worry about it. Only including that info in case people are wondering what my solution is for the cardboard box and basket.

Thank you for your help!

I'm both excited and terrified.