Tuesday, June 10, 2008
We've been in this condo for almost a year. Hard to believe. There was only one bit of major work that needed to be done, and that was to refinish the upstairs flooring. All three bedrooms were covered in this hideously dirty, white, wall-to-wall carpeting. Whoever invented white carpeting needs to die. Whoever took the white carpeting to hide the pumpkin pine flooring from the 1890's also needs to die.
Had the schedule allowed, we would have gotten the floors done before moving in. Alas. But it had to be done. So last month we bit the bullet, moved all our stuff upstairs down to the living room and kitchen and lived like packrats for a couple of weeks while the floors were sanded and finished piecemeal. The really really heavy pieces - bureaus, office desk, elliptical machine - we left in the rooms, sort of dismantled if possible and pushed to a corner. Once one area of a room was completely done, we'd move the furniture to that side, and then the sanders would finish the other. The process took 100 times longer than normal. Humans and felines alike were getting cranky. Two floors of furniture crammed into two rooms, living out of suitcases, dust everywhere despite best effors to keep it contained, cats crawling around everything despite best effors to keep them contained, not being able to find anything, and hey I think I just realized why I stopped knitting for a bit there. There was no ZEN. You cannot knit without the ZEN.
The results were totally worth it though. The original pine flooring has been returned to their former glory.
This is the office. Where all the blogging magic happens.
Before, as furnished by the previous owner:
After:
Our office desk is significantly larger
In Between the Before and After:
Floors sanded to a warm blonde, stained to a warm amber, then varnished to a glow.
We also knocked down the wall that covered the chimney. Obviously at some point this was a working fireplace, but no more. Unless we want to burn the entire rowhouse to the ground. We almost exposed the whole wall over there but decided we needed the wall space, and long column of brick was more accenty than an entire wall of brick.
The wall color was inspired by this outfit from the now-defunct Blueprint Magazine, March/April 2007 issue.
I love that crisp pear-green skirt accompanied by the pale gray/blue shirt. I almost went with that gray/blue for the office, but will do it for the adjacent bedroom instead.
Next I throw some things on the walls and some nice rugs on the floors (just around the desk for the chairs, not going to cover up those floors too much!) and then it'll be 1 room down, 2 more to go...
Filed Under: Life
Monday, June 09, 2008
I had a goal this weekend. Come hell or high water, I was getting started on the Roofdeck Garden of 2008. Yes, the 95+ degree temps did make the process a bit uncomfortable, but last week the heat turned on for a few minutes each day in the house, so what I would say to 100 degree temps at this point is, SABOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP. In fact I relished working in the heat, like a self-imposed rite of passage towards summer. One has not properly enjoyed summer until one's sweat glands have turned inside out. So sunscreen-stained sweat drained happily into my eyes, underpants laminated themselves to the cheeks, dirt hitched a ride on the skin, and it felt great. I got a ton of exercise, a decent tan, enjoyed the view...have I mentioned how much I really love living here?
This is before. There are about 10 containers up there and all of them are filled with a dead trunk sticking out of the dirt.
This is after, if you can tell the difference. It's not terribly dramatic through photos but I assure you. The difference is there. There are more green things now. And the occasional yellow and orange and red things. At the garden center I bought a plethora of heat-loving, sun-loving all-around hardy plants - geraniums, lantanas, potato vines, petunias, hens and chicks, some other tropical dohickeys of various heights - and arranged them randomly in various containers.
Also moved the grill and deck table from the back to the front, just to spice things up even more. Eventually there will be a big umbrella for the table. It would be nice to be up here with the option of not scorching to death.
Here is the back of the deck, with views south. I was going to go for evergreen hedges but went for grass at the last minute. They are mundane and yet strangely elegant because of it. So swishy. In fact I think I would like to get a couple more. I planted strawberries and catnip too. Here's hoping they will remain unviolated by the neighborhood squirrels and Phillip, the cat next door who roams the upper decks.
Still a work in progress, but very much improved
There will eventually be a couple of lounge chairs to fill the space. Tonight I walk to Pottery Barn to investigate their deck chair selection. I will be very excited once those are in. And very tan. I'd also like to see if there are any outdoor "rugs" available that I could throw up there, to add more color and texture.
It's coming along though, it's coming along.
Here is the deck at sunset. Everything's in rosy, post-apocalyptic glow.
The next goal this summer is to enjoy this deck as much as possible with friends. There must be parties. There must be.
Filed Under: Life
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Needless to say I've come down with a raging case of knitting standstillitis. I believe the cure for this evil will be time. Time and perhaps more sangria (I really have been drinking a boatload of that stuff lately, so much that the acidity from the wine and fruit and whatnot has burned a little bit of skin off the roof of my mouth, aren't you glad you asked, but all that vitamin C surely is good for you). I mean the other day I actually did only one other activity while watching TV, and that was to sit on the couch. Hands idle, except when they were required to convey more sangria to the lips, needles nowhere to be seen. It was so wrong yet so right. For our week at the Cape, it was only after everything else was packed away did I think to bring some knitting along, and even then I couldn't decide what, because I didn't know what I wanted to knit, so in desperation I stuffed 6 random cakes of leftover sock yarn into a bag and decided I would make a Chevron Scarf out of them. It's going to look interesting, that scarf. If I ever finish it.
Is this the beginning of the end?
And I have so much inspiration that ought to keep me going too...
1. Two gift certificates to Purl Soho from Kitty, burning a hole on the refrigerator door since September!
2. A whole rainbow of Sundara Sock Yarns, burning a humongous but pretty hole in the drawer since the winter!
3. And of course, Rambling Rose, on the brink of world domination...yet burning a sad, lonely hole in this bag since March.
I did bring it down to Atlanta in April hoping my mother would finish it for me, but with the move and whatnot there was no time. Now it's June and it's supposed to hit 90 degrees this weekend (heaven!). 90 degree weather does not bode well for our little sweatery friend here. Nor for the bottles of rum I will destroy while making more sangria and/or mojitos.
Filed Under: Rambling Rose
Monday, June 02, 2008
Hello. We are back from Provincetown, back to a regular schedule and a regular diet that does not include daily doses of vodka, bacon, and lobster. We spent a week there and ate out only twice for lunch and twice for dinner; the rest of the time we cooked our little tails off. In total we polished off:
- 4 packages of bacon
- 4 dozen eggs
- 5 links of salami
- 4 large blocks of cheese
- 2 boxes of sugar
There was a lot fruit and orange juice too but most of it was put into the five or so batches of sangria we made.
Both Kitty and I brought our knitting. I knit about 5 rows total and she knit 0. We are awesome.
We spotted a filmmaker at a kitchen supply store in P-town. Check him out on his wicker-basketed bike.
It's J0hn Waters! He's so OFFBEAT!
We made eye contact over a pile of cookbooks. My first thought was that it was someone dressed up as JW, since people are always playing dress up here, and because that mustache of his looked like it was crudely drawn in with a Sharpie low on ink. I guess that is on purpose.
I must put some of his movies on netflix now.
And guess who has finally resurfaced from winter hibernation?
Filed Under: Postcards from Dottie | Travel
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Duck and I have been in Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod for the past week with our friends. It's our 3rd annual Memorial Day Week getaway to our 3rd seaside town.
We've been mostly drinking and playing Mario Kart and eating bacon. It pretty much doesn't get much better than this. Still not knitting much though. :(
Filed Under: Life | Travel
Friday, May 09, 2008
Putting ribbons to good use however has not.
Filed Under: Cats
Friday, May 02, 2008
This is Bunny and Veeb's favorite Aunt Mouse. My dad got her one weekend when my mother wasn't home to say no, he called me up to tell me about it, described how skinny and wiry she is, so I told him he should name her Mouse.
Ten years later Mouse has gained a couple of gray hairs and more than a couple of pounds. She's got cow udder for a gut. From other angles it looks like a peach. Or a baboon's behind. Or a giant hooha.
Despite the advanced age and weight, Mouse is still the greatest nemesis to mice, gophers, and the two frogs that live in the little koi pond out front. She's being sent to her cousins in DC when my mom moves to China next month - they have a huge yard filled with other playmates so I hope she'll be happy there and not try to walk all the way back home. Although she could use the exercise.
We're definitely a little more worried about this one.
This is Mocha. She's a poodle and she's eleven years old. I call her the World's Saddest Puppy because she spends about 80% of her little dog life waiting for my mother to come home. When she goes out for errands I try to distract Mocha from the window with a rousing game of cards or a belly rub or a dog treat. But she was never a playful dog - tennis balls bounced acrossed the yard unchased - a belly rub from me is about as welcome as a bath, and a dog treat doesn't last 5 seconds long enough for her to forget that there's a window with a view that she has to get back to. I even try talking to her, interjecting her name every three words so she'd look at me. But her focus is 100% on mom.
So now the question is, do they bring the dog with them to China and risk her not making the long and scary travel plus the long and scary month-long quarantine? Or do they leave her with friends and risk her dying of a broken heart?
If I could take you Mocha I would.
Three years is a long time to wait by the window.
I'm doing some research online, but if anyone has some first-hand experience traveling with pets overseas, I'd love to hear it!
Filed Under: Cats
Monday, April 28, 2008
Duck left last week. I'm still in Atlanta, still helping my Mom clean out the house. It's like a giant spider lived here, what with all the cobwebs and detritus of dried bug corpses littered in every unswept corner. Can't wait to go back to mine so I can start my life anew as a minimalist slash obsessive-compulsive neatfreak. I will be a caveman meets MarthaStewart, possessing only a sharp rock, and a couple of votive candles.
I was taking a break at friends' house for dinner last night. We were gossiping about old high school acquaintances - who has kids and how many, who are balding, who are married and who are already divorced - all that juicy stuff, which led to a discussion as to the appropriate age for marriage. Apparently age is pretty much the only deciding factor used to determine wedded longevity, and according to my high school buddy, I married too young. You're just feeling dumb that it took you 10 years to propose to your girlfriend, but look now you've already spawned! I countered. I'm still gettin' it AND sleeping eight hours a night haha! I like how old friends can be relied upon with all the non-sugarcoating. That led to some reminiscing about our wedding in Puerto Rico, and it was only after a full 10 minutes' discussion that I suddenly bolted upright and screamed, WAIT WHAT'S TODAY'S DATE?!?!
Today's Date (as in yesterday) would be our 6th anniversary. I would have mentioned it to Duck during the two phone calls we had earlier in the day. Had I remembered. Had either of us remembered. Heh.
April 27, 2002
Here's to 60 more years of forgetting!
Filed Under: Life
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