Another SNAFU

Well, another small can’o worms on the way to perfect old house heaven….hahahah (what a joke that is)! I pulled off the shabby chic woodwork in the nook in anticipation of a complete scrub off of the shabbiness. Got all the woodwork off and the bottom sashes out and then discovered that the parting strip between the sashes is routed into the frame, which means I can’t get the top sash out. Now I will have to offer my perfect contractor, Bob, a million dollars to cut the parting strips with his handy sawz-all for removal. In disgust, I took all the removed stuff to the strippers yesterday without the top sashes.

I’ve absolutely resisted replacing the windows because new ones scream replacement from blocks away! Original windows are the soul of the house and need to stay. I’ve spent a fortune on handmade screen/storms in order to keep the them intact with their wavy glass, and attempt to insulate the place.

Yes, that is half a chocolate bunny and coffee: sustenance needed for all old house work.

 

Chairs I Love

I’m a sucker for the design of these chairs, 6 of one kind, 2 of another and 2 more after that, all of which need reupholstering.

 

Paris PBN: eBay!

Having been an eBay member since 1997 and a buyer and seller soon after that, I’m pretty skilled at winning an eBay auction if I want to. Last week I decided that I needed a Paint-by-number of Paris which came up for grabs. Paris PBN’s are pretty rare on the ground as there are way more cute doggies and kitties and mountain landscapes than Paris street scenes. This one, unfortunately, was included in a bulk buy of 3 at a time up for auction. I only wanted one, but had to buy all 3. I’ll get rid of the tall 2 eventually.

Here is the set which I paid too much for

and I’m not admitting the final price although you can scope if out if you are also good at eBay. The bottom picture was the one I needed because I saw it used in a really way cool manner in an apartment on the Apartment Therapy blog, not that I would ever get around to a wall mural, but still love the painting. I was bidding against a newbie who had 89 as a feedback number so it was like shooting fish in a barrel to win the auction. I am a big fan of eBay despite their gorilla presence/reputation. They have revolutionized a lot of modern life. My feedback is a low 960 because I stopped selling much in about 2002!

 

iPod plus commute

For the first time, I carried my new iPod with me today to play and help screen out cell phone conversations while commuting on MAX our light rail line. My usual subconscious thought is “those people are so rude using headphones to cut everyone else off” so I’ve been slow to use them myself. But having been assaulted by so many inane, loud, stupid, uninteresting one-sided phone conversations the headphones won. The 25-minute trip each way is my most precious reading time and I need to MAXimize it.

But in a doofus moment I could not get music out of this really cool toy! My kid says I “turn stupid when I pick up a remote” and that was my iPod experience this afternoon! Luckily, my fellow commuters were a pretty well-behaved bunch so I flipped through a decorating book without too much interference.  Reading instructions upon arrival created a real “duh” moment as well.

 

Look at these floors!

I seem to be writing about way too many house projects and can’t seem to come up for air. The floor people poured in here last Monday and took three days to change the floors from this to this:

But see the really ugly woodwork around the windows? Well that shabby chic look is the result of putting my unemployed daughter to work stripping paint while she was lounging around my 2nd bedroom waiting for her job to “start”. As usual, the chemical paint stripper, even environmentally correct stripper, or maybe because it was so correct, did not work. She was woozy from the fumes and not really motivated, so we got a half-baked result (3 years ago).

Anyway, the point being, that now because I’m so not motivated to finish that job either, I’m pulling the woodwork off and taking it to the environmentally correct chemical stripper guys. Now already, the gorgeous floor is covered with cardboard and plaster dust while I dismantle these windows. I want my perfect contractor guy to nail them back up because he’ll do it better and faster, but I have to rush the job before he runs out of reasons to be here. We’re almost to the point of final inspection!

 

Sunday Morning

My quilter friends sent notice that CBS’ Sunday Morning would be featuring the Quilt Festival in Houston which I attended last fall, so I got my cake, coffee and turned on the TV. The article was mostly interviewing Ricky Timms, a famous man quilter (men quilters get lots of attention), and a 2-line interview with Karey Bresnehan, one of the founders of the 31-year old show. There were a few shots of winning quilts and a brief glimpse of the vendor mall, so it was just a tease.

 

Extrication from a hospital

After 2 nights in the hospital, my Dad was allowed to go home (this was yesterday). I called the nursing station at 8AM and arranged to pick him up right after lunch. I used up a whole day’s worth of FMLA sick time to get him home because usually I commute by light rail to work, it’s a hassle to drive the car downtown and park, to work the morning and leave from there to retrieve him. So 8 hours sick time gone.

When I arrive at 12:30, after running a bunch of errands, he’s dressed and eating lunch; the doctor is just beginning to enter notes for the discharge and I’m already aggravated. The doctor, then spent 15 minutes discussing with us Dad’s condition and impressing on us that we should have the assisted living home administer his meds because he’s very forgetful. Not taking his meds at the appointed times gives him the dizzy spells he’s in the hospital for but Dad doesn’t want to do this because it costs an extra $324/month for the service. Admittedly the quality time the doc spends with us is very good and useful, but I’m aggravated because I’ve been through this before and I know we are gonna be sitting around a long time waiting for the paperwork to get processed. I’m so antsy that I run down to the front to get a wheelchair to “move” this along.

After the doc finishes entering his notes into the computer in a glacial manner, the nurse than has to go over them again to Dad and me. Dad keeps asking me “what are we waiting for?”. By being obviously hyper-Type-A, without being too rude (I brought them some candy) I managed to herd them around and extract him about 2:15pm! What is it about discharge??? It drives me crazy.

 

How about a quilt?

A quilt retreat! I attended a 4-day, 3-night retreat this month (another interference to blogging) where I was extremely productive, finishing three (3) quilt tops. The brown/pink number was a “kit” I cut out last year and finished the first day.

The blue-bordered top has been in the works for at least ten years. The 30’s repro blocks were a BOM from the The Calico Cat. I discovered that all 30’s tiny motif fabrics are a little boring without some large print spice. It took until last year to find the border/setting squares fabric larger.  Actually, I hate putting borders on so much that it takes real gumption on my part to pull it together which is another reason for the long delay.  The blocks were finished maybe 6 years ago!

Alarmingly, I had only enough of that blue tulip print for 3 borders, but one of my fellow retreaters had 6 yards of it in her stash! See that’s what your stash is for: saving a distressed friend.

Here’s a panorama shot of my new alpine fir floor waiting to be refinished. I’m fascinated by the empty space and apologize for the tacky phone cord in the shot. Those are new built-in bookcases next to the windows and the clothespins on the “temporary” 2-year old cheapo paper shades hold them down in the breeze when the door stands open.      The third finished top is waiting for a photo shot.

 

I have run out of champagne

I have not blogged for almost a month; I do apologize. I love to read blogs and I love the idea of writing a blog. If anyone wants to read this, I’m very grateful and flattered. Thanks so much. Lack of blogging time is due to life in general and old parent in particular —

Speaking of this aging parent: This morning my Dad took himself to the hospital in an ambulance because of his dizzy spells which are probably little mini-strokes. He’s 85 1/2 and falling apart. He had the same dizzy spell with drooping left side of face symptoms this past Saturday where we called 911 and had an ambulance trip there too. So 2 trips in 3 days is just enough for an old man who forgets to take his meds. By the way, when you call 911, you get the regulation ambulance and in our case, a hook and ladder truck with 4 gorgeous firemen! It was a nice day, so the hook and ladder drew a crowd.

Tonight I am babysitting the above mentioned parental-unit’s cat, Bill, who is totally wigged out by all this space: “WOW, Disneyland!!!” and I have a parent in the hospital: my only sibling is about 6,000 miles away in Germany; I’m listening to my favorite presidential candidate struggle for votes; my beloved child’s 20-year old, now a classic, Subaru Loyale station wagon has run out of life and now, I have run out of champagne which I love and will not wait for weddings to drink.

On the other hand, I had a delightful birthday dinner with said enchanting daughter (her 27th) last night–

 

Self portrait at the cottage

Manzanita is very low profile and a pretty boring beach. It’s best to read books or sew in the cabin and let the kids think they’re big stuff and ride bikes to town for treats. I prefer to never get my feet sandy which saves on vacuuming.