Quiet on the home front.
Walls and floor of the kitchen are finished and pleasing to the eye and heart. Feels good to have done the work myself - with Dean's help using the nail gun. I still need to touch up the splotches of blue that somehow got on the ceiling - those seem to be my "signature" in all the rooms I paint!
Now the process of putting everything back in place...editing what stays, what goes. I'm trying to keep the all the surface - horizontal and vertical - clear. I've always loved "things" but the older I get the more aggitated I get with clutter and piles.
Here're my latest observations on messes:
Clutter and Piles = Anxiety/Paranoia
but:
Clear Surfaces = Clear Mind
and:
Orderly Surroundings = Orderly Mind
Clutter and piles are often in overwhelming evidence in the homes and psyches of the aging, but I've noticed, happily, that those older people who make a concerted effort to have their homes orderly (my parents!) don't seem to suffer from the anxiety or paranoia experienced by their messy peers.
I'd better go put more stuff away!
31.7.08
23.7.08
I'm sore!
But I live! I mooove! And now I dance because:
I am DONE!!!!
This evening I will patch nail holes in the wall, and tomorrow clean the walls and then get started with the painting. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I do a test paint spot, I'll realize I don't have to prime first...
May the paint gods be with me!
22.7.08
Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, OOOOOOOOOOOOUCH!!!!!!!
Have been on the floor laying tiles (and up again for every #%$ing tile) since 6:25 this morning. It's now 9:45 p.m. and I'm moving like Tim Conway playing the ten thousand year old man.
I wonder if I'll be able to get up in the morning...still have under the fridge and the entry way to finish up. The entry is just about 9 tiles tho' and about the same for the fridge.
I really think it's okay if I whine quietly, don't you?
Tonight I'll be able to sleep; last night I lay awake fretting about sticking that first tile down - on the diagonal - yikes!
Up to bed with me then...
(ohgodthestairs!!!)
20.7.08
In my fantasy world, this is where I would write. By stone mason extraordinaire, Lew French:
18.7.08
I love designer Isaac Mizrahi.
Love him!
If I were Jewish, male and gay, I would so be him. Seriously. We think alike. And he love bright pink and orange together, too, which makes him especially wonderful!
I love his website and get a kick out of his video blogs and webisodes. And the Studio Blog. It's all somehow reminiscent of Seinfeld...
Anyhoo, for a good time, bookmark this and make it part of your day.
Everyday!
17.7.08
Wow.
There is prayer, and then there is Prayer - so wonderfully rich and powerful that it makes your soul sing:
Novena natus: Nine hymns for the souls of women by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
It starts, "What do women truly want? To be truly seen. To stand in the blessings of those who love the God of Love, and not the Sadducean God of Crabbed Views.
Let us pray ...."
Read it to the very end, feel it to the depth of your being.
Wow.
16.7.08
I'm both ecstatic and filled with dread.
On Monday, 21 July, the contractor that did our kitchen 6 years ago is coming back to take out the floor (and the tile on top of it), put new underlayment down the correct way (glue and screw) and then leave with the debris. Forever.
The reason he's taking it out is that when he put it in he merely nailed the underlayment down. Since then, the nails have all worked their way up and broken the linoleum tiles - I have breaks and little holes all over the place. Soooooooo irritating and I just want the whole damned thing GONE. He came back last year to replace the formica counter because it was all prying up. Again: sooooooo irritating. Will we use him again? Hmmm... He's really a nice guy. Really. But when we had him give an estimate for a screened porch, it was clear from the bid he'd rather not work for us any more. So, okay.
Dean and I will turn to and put the new tiles down (18" self stick tiles in two shades of beige - like the tile I laid in my studio that still looks brand new! - we'll lay on the diagonal) as soon as he leaves. Jakie will stay overnight at Animal Inn so we'll have the balance of Monday and then until 5:30 on Tuesday to get the floor done. Should work. Just a hassle working around the appliances and moving them in and out. But IT WILL GET DONE!!!! Yipppeee!!!
And then I get to wash the walls, prime and paint: Sea Breeze. Aaaaaah. A nice turquoise just like it's name. A calming, cooling change from the red. (I am so done with the red. I'm gettin' it outta the hallway too! Changing that to a corally orange. Yesireebob!)
Everyone on HGTV seems to be doing the reds and yellows I've had for the past decade. And they call it Tuscan which makes me C-R-A-Z-Y. If I hear "I want it to be Tuscan" on one more show or read it in one more magazine I'll go postal. Seriously.
So...in a week I will be over my Red Kitchen with the Black and White Checked Floor (laid on the diagonal, of course) Moment. (And I am, henceforth, also over using "Moment"!)
Praise the Lord! Change is good!
Damned good.
13.7.08
Sunday Morning had a piece on a little dog (but big artist!) named Tillie - short for Tillamook Cheddar.
Her website is now one of my favorites; very clever. Check it out by clicking here.
I sooo want to go to her Mid-Career Retrospective!
(Jake says ARF! - I think he wants to go, too!)
12.7.08
Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's the fact that I've broken my right heel, my left ankle (twice) and have a steel plate and 13 screws imbedded in said ankle. Maybe it's that I've broken my tailbone and a vertebrae in my neck. Maybe it's that I've had brain surgery. Maybe it's that my coordination and balance have never been stellar (but are vastly improved since the surgery!) and I'd have a hard time walking and chewing gum at the same time if I ever wanted to give that a try (but I really try hard these days just to concentrate on where my feet are and don't need the distraction of gum for heaven's sake!)
Or maybe it's that I'm just smart...
But whatever the reason, when I saw this advertised at my podiatrist's office as a Really Great Alternative to Crutches, well, I just wasn't convinced!
I have visions of me on this thing that give me nightmares...
You can, indeed, keep the crutches, but I'll take the walker and a wheelchair over this anyday!
7.7.08
You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty. - Cecil Baxter
This quotation used to frustrate the hell out of me, but now it makes me smile.
Everthing is eternal. All those little atoms and molecules that make up the world; swirling and twirling, morphing, rebirthing, never dying...
Maybe once upon a time I was dust that irritated some housefrau with my perseverance, huh? It wouldn't surprise me in the least. Especially since I've always embraced the biblical sentiment ...for dust you are, and to dust shall you return. Keeps me humble.
So I'm not going to clean today; I'm going to rearrange! (And I'll bless all the little dustbunnies I stir up - just in case.)
