Fire Emblem: Awakening Demo

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This is life. This is death. This is Fire Emblem.
Fire Emblem looks and plays greater than ever in the new demo on the 3DS e-shop. All game elements are neatly incorporated and grounded into the game play experience. You will be able to customize your character in the full version, but in the demo you can only change their name. You also have to be male in the demo. You can set his birthday, asset and flaw. You pick from the qualities of strength, speed, skill, luck, resistance, magic, defense, and health points for your asset and flaw. Of course, once you pick one as an asset, it cannot be selected as a flaw and vice versa. As the game begins you are suffering from (surprise!) amnesia that allows you to be rather clueless as you engage in your first battle. Your party finds you, a stranger, lying unconscious in a field. Somehow you know their leader’s name, but not your own.
You are helping a band of fighters called “Shepards”. You can pick from three difficulty levels at the start of the demo. You are not allowed to pick classic mode, where your units that perish in battle are permanently lost. Feeling overconfident, I tried on lunatic difficulty and died many times. I eventually went to beginner so that I could just see the demo to its end. The basic game play is the same, with the addition of enhanced support roles. Fighting next to other units, or even teaming up with them gives you bonuses as you fight.
 Don’t let the familiarity confuse you: this is an all new game, built for the 3DS. I rarely play my 3DS in 3D, but I was stunned at how gorgeous this game looked when I pushed that slider. Smoke and embers flicker in the foreground. The tilted top down view is accented by the surrounding buildings stretching towards you in perspective. To be clear, the game still looks great in 2d, but the depth in 3d is staggering.
The maps are smoothly integrated into the surrounding environments. The characters aren’t completely isolated as they fight, but instead blended into realistic streets and surroundings. I’m not crazy about the random words and noises the characters make during the cut scenes, especially when they just repeat the same grunts. While I’m listing minor grievances, they also have very tiny feet. This has no bearing on the game whatsoever, but I find it a strange design choice.
After the prologue the first chapter beings, in which your party camps for the evening. Chrom awakes to a strange feeling, and as he explores the surrounding woods with his sister, the earth splits, fire falls from the sky, and a blue orb poops out some enemies. A mysterious stranger appears and saves Chrom’s sister, and the others come to helps fight as your second battle begins. Though the stranger disappears, Sully and Virion come to help. The former is a gruff warrior, the latter is a skeevy archer.
When you are choosing an enemy to attack, you are offered a wonderfully simplified preview of the battle that summarizes the result of the encounter. You can choose the full view instead, which gives classic battle info. As the video of the fight happens, you have a variety of viewing options. You can change the view of the fight from an auto camera to first person as your fighter, or as a fixed battle clash (classic mode). You can fast forward the action or skip it altogether.
After learning that the mysterious character goes by Marth, and that the world is teetering on destruction, the demo concludes. It’s just enough game play to make you annoyed. You get a good feel for the game, and certainly become interested in what will happen next. I would have liked one more level to try. I planned on renting this game, but I think that is foolish. I cant imagine ever wanting to return it.
Fire Emblem is a great game to play on the go. Since the game play is turn based, you can abruptly put it down without even needing to pause or close it. However, I suggest you clear your schedule, plug in your 3DS, sit down at your desk with the 3D slider up as far as you can handle and give this game your full attention. If the demo is an accurate indication, this game will be challenging, engaging, and beautiful.

Fire Emblem

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As a 3DS Ambassador (someone who paid $250 when it came out) I have a lot of old games that I downloaded for free. Though I appreciate having them, I mostly ignore them. A few months ago my ll year old cousin began incessantly beginning conversations about Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones. I understood little of what he said, as this was among the first turn-based RPGs he had ever played. Quite frankly, he didn’t know what he was talking about either. Last month I started playing Fire Emblem just so we could both know what he was talking about.


Turns out, Fire Emblem is addicting and amazing. I’m on my second play through of Sacred Stones and also somewhat playing Shadow Dragon. Of course, in my first play through I clumsily fought my way through the story, often killed people that would have fought for me, endlessly restarted chapters as units fell, and spent not enough time in the tower. In my second play-through, I just let Seth kill everyone (more or less) until I got to the tower. I went with Erika this time instead of Ephraim, but since I’m still in my first battle, I can’t comment on the difference. 

Becoming obsessed with Fire Emblem couldn’t have come at a better time, as Fire Emblem Awakening is due out next month. I’m resisting the urge to buy this beautifully branded 3DS
There will be 40 character classes

You can team up for attacks 
It’s very pretty
And I am excited.

Dryer Vent Disaster

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Our dryer stopped working late last year. It took us about a week to fix it, because every time we thought we fixed it, we found out later that we were wrong. We thought the lint traps were clogged, so we vacuumed them out. Then, we pulled out the dryer and cleaned it out from the back, and pulled out a clog in the wall. Next, we went outside (after quite a snowstorm) to see if the vents were open. They were iced shut. We de-iced them by banging them with a broom handle. We went into the attic space above the garage and saw the vent hose sagging in between the joists. The next day, we prepared ourselves to drain them, only to discover that it was solid ice. We tried to shake the ice down, but the flimsy hose fell apart. The day after that, we went to get a new dryer hose and installed it, finally restoring order to our dryer. We also added 2x4s to keep it from sagging again.

What does icy lint look like? Absolutely disgusting.

Cabinets Part One

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I must admit upfront, this is a story with no ending. I stated refinishing the cabinets, which is something I did in the last house. This time, I picked a light cabinet kit instead of dark. My first dilemma was the brilliantly white base coat. The honey oak cabinets did not take kindly to being covered, as it took four coats to get a nice solid base.

 

Secondly, the grain in these cabinets is a bit deeper, so they look a little different painted than I expected.

Third, I didn’t shake the glaze before opening it, so it was a strange peachy orange when I applied it. The picture below shows how different they are shaken and unshaken.

Fourth, once I did shake it an apply it, it was much darker than I expected and hard to apply evenly, given how unforgiving the white base was to inconsistency. Fifth, I didn’t like the white with glaze as much as I thought I would. It looks pretty normal in this picture, but in person it looks sorta dirty.

After having it all go differently than expected, i felt that my objectivity was highly impaired. It looked horrible to me. So, I just stopped. I stopped while I debated about what to do. That was two weeks ago.

Part two will be coming sometime soon, that is, as soon as I decide what color to paint and how to go about it. I started only in the bathrooms this time, so I will finish those first before moving onto the kitchen. I haven’t completely decided what color to paint the kitchen. I think I might also paint one kitchen cabinet at a time, just to make things a bit easier and work on other stuff in the meantime. This will make the process much longer… which is sad but I think it’s the best idea for quality control.

Three Month Review

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Just three months ago, we were getting ready to move in. We were still at my old bedroom in my parents house, all of our necessary stuff crammed in there with us; all of our less necessary stuff was crammed in a storage unit. Because I’ve been here every day, it seems like progress has been slow. Looking back at the pictures helps me realize that this has all happened pretty fast, especially considering I’ve done a lot of the work myself. I’m not bothered by working alone, as this has become my full time job. I have had help from family and friends, but only at their insistence. They usually appreciate being able to try out some home improvement project at our house before attempting it at theirs.

Again, I most often work without help because I see this as my job, and I will get paid for the work I do when we sell it. However, those renovating to improve the comfort of their home should never be without one thing: help. Sure, it can be done alone, but it sucks. The help of one person is great, three people is probably ideal. Even if there’s just someone there to get tools and watch for unexpected issues, that’s a great help. If you’re not a bit manic (and even if you are) the extra effort required to lift, hold, assemble, and just plain do everything alone can quickly become exhausting. I will work feverishly to get something done, spending 14 hours a day for a few days, then upon completion realize that I am broken. I take a couple days off before the next project, but if I had a job to go back to the next day, it would be disastrous. At our last house, I remember trying to do projects while also working. I tried to paint the kitchen cabinets in two days, and naturally I barely finished and did a horrible job. They stayed like that as long as I was employed, because there was barely time to do them, let alone re-do them.

Anyways, here are some three month pictures from the house, along with a done/to do list. I’ll take more official pictures after I clean up the house this week. No room is completely done, which is sort of depressing… but they are all getting close!


Kitchen/Family Room

Done: new appliances, new flooring, new light fixtures, renovated fireplace, new paint, new blinds and curtains, new vent covers
To Do: new countertops, wall art behind couch, paint cabinets, add new hardware, molding around island, caulk moulding, trim around fireplace, clean or replace fireplace spotlights, hang something over fireplace, add molding at door thresholds

Dining Room

Done: New flooring, new lighting, new paint, new blinds and curtains
To Do: reattach door molding, caulk molding

Living Room

Done: New flooring, new paint, new blinds and curtains, new thermostat
To Do: decorate bookshelf, add light switch, caulk molding

Stairs and Hallway

Done: new flooring, new paint, removed carpet, painted stairs, installed cabinets over laundry, new water heater, new lighting
To Do: Caulk molding, add design to stair risers, sand front lip of stairs, replace bathroom mirror, paint new light and mirror area, add quarter-round by front door

Upstairs Hall Bath

Done: new flooring, new lighting, new towel bars and toilet paper holders
To Do: paint ceiling and walls, fix shower, paint vanity, change vanity top (maybe), floor molding


Game Room

Done: new flooring, new paint, track shelving, new vent cover, mounted TV, new blinds and black-out curtain, new sconces
To Do: add regular curtains, possibly move in mini-fridge, add lights to closet

Guest Room/ Office

Done: new flooring, new paint, new vent cover, additional closet shelf, new blinds and curtains
To Do: organize closet and desk, hang wall art behind sofa

Master Bedroom

Done: new paint, new lighting, new flooring, new vent covers, blinds and curtains, headboard wall art
To Do: outlet covers, re-patch wall, hang art

Master Bathroom

Done: new lighting, new flooring, new vent cover, new blinds, new towel bars and toilet paper holder
To Do: molding, paint ceiling and walls, install storage above toilet, paint cabinets, new vanity top, add tile above sink, investigate possible sewer smell :(

The Slippery Slope

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We intend to remodel this house for profit, but it is still our home in the meantime. Sometimes it’s hard to separate what we want from what we should get, because we’ll have to live with it until we sell. There are some bigger projects, fueled by Pinterest inspiration, that would be too much of an investment of time and money considering we will move soon. Even if we were staying, its hard to draw the line at what is jsut right and what is excessive. Even stranger, once we have gone over budget on something, there a feeling that we may as well just destroy the budget, because it’s already broken. Of course, this is a slippery slope.

I’ve begun looking at everything as percentages instead of dollars. Though a light fixture may be only $20 over budget, if the original budget was $40, that’s a 50% increase. Items as cheap as a couple bucks are still subject to this rule. By ignoring whether or not I think we have the extra money for it and sticking to how much the percentage increases, it’s easier to stay on track and not justify unnecessary spending.

 I also have to make some sacrifices on what I think it perfect versus what will work. I’m not crazy about our bathroom floors, but they were way under budget and objectively look great. I may not have gotten them if we intended to stay, but they were perfect for updating. Though some of those touches or fancier finishes would be nice and might help sell the house, they are unlikely to increase its value. The common saying “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” has become our motto as we continue to finish renovations. As much as I would like built-ins next to the fireplace, a glass mosaic and steel tile backsplash in the kitchen and a completely new master bath, none of these things are necessary.

Time Out

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Christmas is coming, so most of our renovation funds have gone to gifts lately. Being completely sick of cleaning and organizing, I’ve turned to completing some unfinished crafts.
I started this t-shirt blanket for my sister ages ago. It’s much bigger than I thought it would be. I added bias tape to the edges, but don’t like how it tuned out. I’m not sure if I’ll buy different tape or just hem it.
I’m also making a T-shirt blanket for myself from all my GameStop T-shirts. I want to make one big enough to cover the Lovesac, but I don’t think I have the space to properly construct something of that proportion. I took pictures of every shirt today so I could assemble the design on my computer. I’d prefer to lay it out by hand but I don’t have a flat surface that big. Well, not without moving a lot of furniture. I laid a few out on the floor today just to see what they would look like as a blanket.
I made some pillow cases from fabric I had laying around. Aaron received a coffee gift basket that had a folded burlap sack as packaging, and I sewed that into pillows as well. The burlap was a bit unwieldy to sew. I just stuffed in a pillow that no longer matched our decor. The pillow on the left is identical to the one I stuffed into the burlap on the right. They tuned out better than I expected!
 

I’ve made quite a few duct tape wallets as well. I’ve made lots for friends, family, and for myself. I just make them for fun, but I get complements on them often. The typical style I make is pictured below. There’s a slot for cash and a hidden pocket behind the three interior pockets on each side. I intend to sell some online sometime soon, probably on Etsy. I need to do a little more research and set up accounts to make that possible, so that may be a while. 

Bathroom Flooring Part Two

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I moved on to installing flooring in the master bath today. I started by cleaning the existing vinyl, which was disgusting. I cleaned the other bathroom’s floor, but it wasn’t nearly as dirty. Just like anything else, the floor looked a lot better once it was clean. The cleaner I used worked great, but it was toxic. Despite being late November in Indiana, I opened the window for air. 
Laying the floor was even quicker than yesterday. I was done in a couple of hours. All that’s left is quarter round and doorway transitions.
Even though knew the toilet in the master bath would be hard to move, I uninstalled it by myself. I figured that not needing to lift it into a tub would make the task manageable. I would have been correct if the bolt wasn’t rusted on. 
After a big mess in the shower and a lot of WD40, the bolt was freed. Harder than that was reinstalling the toilet. I made another mess but got it back on. It flushes fine, but Aaron and I will probably keep an eye on it. The hall bath toilet is still in the tub waiting for Aaron’s next day off.

Bathroom Flooring Part One

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We bought vinyl plank flooring the for the upstairs bathrooms at Home Depot on Black Friday. I’m not crazy about the color or wood grain, but it was half off and we aren’t picky. I installed it in the hallway bathroom today. I made a bit of a mess in the process, but got it done pretty quick.
I moved the toilet by myself, which was ill-advised and very difficult. I’m not confident I can it back out of the tub on my own. We installed a stick-down vinyl plank for my grandmother a few weeks ago. It was easy, but the glue got an over our hands and the seams did not get as tight as I would have liked. That floor was only 99¢/sq ft, so it’s a great option for cheap and fast update. However, that is also what we paid for these floors on Friday.
The box says “easiest floor ever” and I just might agree. Overlapping flaps stick to adjacent planks, making it a floating floor. It was a lot easier to put down than click-together flooring, especially around the door frame. My fingers often hurt after installing tongue-and-groove or click-together floors from trying to pull the seams tight. The planks could be repositioned after placement as long as I didn’t push down too hard. To cut the floors, you score the front with a utility knife & snap it. This works for curves too, making the cut around the toilet drain a cinch.
Even though I don’t love the pattern on the floor, it looks good finished. I’m now more motivated to get the vanity painted; its basically the same color as the new floors.