Birthday Afterglow

Yesterday this bouquet was delivered to me at work from Mr. B.

I had always wanted to be one of those women who have flowers delivered to them at work.

Especially with an unusual arrangement almost three feet high!

When I got home, a bouquet from Laura was awaiting me, a lively mix of colors and shapes.

She know me well!

The three pink roses?

Totally unexpected.

They were sent by the much maligned contractor, along with a very flattering note, which also thanked me for being such a joy to work with.

I appreciate the flattery...and the flowers..but I still want my house finished, like yesterday!

Bernie had ordered a sponge cake with the lightest of strawberry whip cream icing and white chocolate flowers blooming atop the cake.

It was absolutely delicious!

Rachel had mentioned a modern furniture shop that has these great orange pillows, almost a felted wool and in a rectangular shape. I immediately drooled, and meant to head over to buy some this weekend, but she beat me to it.

We haven't had a chance to get new furniture yet, but the two orange pillows really brighten up the otherwise rather subdue old couches.

I suppose Tiggie will approve as well....being a fan of all things orange like himself.
It was a lovely rainy evening in front of the fire, with the four of us chatting over the upcoming wedding (16 days away!) and Rachel and I examining my collection of vintage 1920's-30's peach silk lingerie. A little girl bonding time while the boys talked business...

This morning it was still raining...then sleeting...then big fat snowflakes began to fall.

The green blushed hillsides are again snuggled in downy white, and the seasonal stream at the bottom of our property is roaringly flowing with icy water.

It would be a great day to linger in front of the fire, read a good book, bake some bread or visit with a friend.

Cozy stuff like that.

Instead I am spending the day in my "cozy" library at work, still blowing and coughing and trying to get well.

Oh well.

It is not such a bad place to be on a day like this either.

The Seasons Change and Life Goes On

Two weeks ago our deck looked like this.
The overnight snowfall had filled the chair seat to the arm levels, and the snow continued to fall.

Now the trees in the city look like this one outside the front door of my work.
The plum trees are blooming all over the city, and every day more flowering trees are exploding with color.
Jeff gave us some insight into seasonal life here: Autumn comes down from the mountains, Spring comes up from the valley.
We are living in the mountains so the floral displays are not exuberant in our neighborhood, so driving to work is like going from winter to spring in less than 20 minutes.

Today we have gloomy rain. Four white tulips had bloomed outside in the lower part of our garden; I took a moment to rescue them from the muddy back splashes of the springtime downpours. The daisies were lingering from a bouquet from a friend that was sent weeks ago.
If you enlarge this picture you can see the quartz counter top that is now in our kitchen. The cabinets are filled with our kitchen supplies, but we are still awaiting our cabinet doors.

I had told our contractor a month ago that by April 14th I wanted everything done, and have the only reason for him to be in my kitchen be to enjoy some birthday cake with me.
And wasn't that the least he could do...to try to have all the remodeling finished up for my 55th birthday?
After all...that was a full month and a half past his original promised completion date.

Well, you don't always get everything you want for your birthday.
I'm off to work, and this evening Bernie, Jeff and Rachel will be celebrating with me, with (I am promised) a white cake with strawberry filling.
I'm expecting it to be a pleasant time.
I won't however be expecting the contractor to drop by for a slice of cake too.
No cake for him until the kitchen and bathroom and baseboards are all done!

Easter Bonnet Time

This sweet little lacy straw bonnet was on display in the window of the antique store I pass every day on the way to work. It took a couple of days to find the time to go inside the store AND to find it open all at the same time. The store has a sign out front: "Open whenever I am here-The Management." Her schedule and mine rarely match!

The tiny braids of straw were in perfect condition, and the flowers would revive nicely with a touch of steam. Sadly it was a 21 inch crown, and my noggin is a 22 3/4 inch size. It was tempting to buy it just for display, but really it deserves to be worn to a lovely garden tea party, with gloves and a frilly frock.

I took this picture a few weeks back, thinking it might help inspire some hat wearing this Easter and Springtime.
At the very least it has now served to get my mind off the news for a moment.
I might just start wearing frilly hats with a pin that says "I'm not going to worry my pretty little head about anything-I'm going to use it to wear a hat instead!"

Wouldn't that at least be more attractive than sticking my head in the sand during these trying times?
Of course it would!

Ugh-y bug-y Monday

As the skies are blue after a week of snow, and the trees are spritzed with green bits and a dab of pink flowers, I'm delighted to report that I managed to get the moving box level down in our house considerably, at least in the living room area. No more boxes to the ceiling!

I believe almost all the kitchen boxes have been unpacked, and it is quite apparent that putting my kitchen goods into a kitchen one third smaller than what I had before will require some thinking. Like what do I use regularly, occasionally, and basically never. I'm still perplexed over two regular cupcake pans, one mini pan, and one jumbo pan. Do I need all three of these options? I'm thinking the jumbo pan can go. The hot air pop corn popper? Gone.

We were astonished to find that we owned two entire shelves worth of teas. Now that we have an insta-hot water dispenser, where boiling hot water is always instantly available, we expect to greatly increase our tea sipping. But even if we were to brew up two cups a day, we would still be bogged down in tea boxes.

Solution: take duplicate boxes to work for the break room.

Friday I worked like a dog and got through about 20 boxes. Saturday it was rainy and snowy, so of course we had to run errands. We spent a couple of hours unpacking some more, then headed out around 11 am.

First stop was to an alterations shop, where my MOG dress suit will be shortened and a bit let out in the bust and tummy. I had bought the periwinkle crepe floor length skirted suit about eight years ago, joking that it would be my "emergency" mother of the bride or groom outfit.

I had worried about finding suitable floor length attire for an evening event, as most floor length items actually hit above the ankle on me. This one fit right in all the "length" areas, including the sleeves and jacket length. It was on clearance at Ross or Marshalls, I forget which one, and so I snapped it up and hung it away, knowing that I was "covered" for either an evening wedding or other formal event that required a non-ball gown option.

The long sleeved suit has a scalloped jacket hem, bound in matching periwinkle satin, and has a periwinkle/navy iridescent bead work design just below the fitted waist, just above the jacket hem.

I love how the scallop hem on the jacket looks from the back...and the fitted waistline gives the suit a curvy feminine flair. Periwinkle is a great color, and in this case, a perfect solution to the issue of finding something in a shade of blue. The wedding colors are fuchsia and navy, the MOB is wearing a mauve suit, so that left me trying to find a pastel version of navy.

The alterations lady assures me that she will make the suit fit me just right (a few pounds and post surgery tummy issues acquired since the suit was purchase had made the suit just a tiny bit tight...) The suit was in storage until just a week ago, so I couldn't count on it until I unpacked it.

So whew...I think I'll be OK for the wedding. Now to find some cute and comfy shoes...

We also shopped for glasses (they are now ordered, two pairs, one for computer work, one for regular, and hurrah, the regular pair will do the color change trick so I won't be squinting as I drive in bright sunlight anymore.) We got a light fixture for the bedroom...grocery shopped....and bang...Saturday was mostly done.

Sunday Bernie, Jeff and Rachel hit the powder, skiing in the sunshine, while I unpacked some more. By three I felt I was walking around in circles, and had a sore throat. The kitchen was already oveflowing with stuff, and more stuff was piled on tables, awaiting triage. Thank goodness the skiers returned and piled into the hot tub. I joined in too, then took a nap. Yup...I definitely am not feeling good...the sore throat was glowing away after I got up from the nap.

Five large boxes are now loaded into my car awaiting a donation trip to the thrift store. I'm at work, tired, and faced with two easy assignments, yet all I want to do is crawl back into bed.

Ugh, Monday and a cold coming on.

I guess I was long over due.

PS: North Korea's rocket launch and subsequent total lack of censure by NATO bodes poorly for all of us. The western region of North America is now being armed (I read) to the upsized threat of attack. Sadly, discussions are also occurring of a pre-emptive strike, one that I could almost agree with, except that it really sounds like the hounds of war are being primed as they so often are in time of economic crisis as a quick solution to the financial problem.

Obama's reference to the world's leadership as America as being "proud and arrogant" sounds vaguely familiar. Isn't that what the Islamic fanatics always say about us? If he really felt that way (and his wife has already referred to us as "mean") then why didn't he voice that during his campaign?

And why on earth was the man BOWING to an Arab leader????? In case you missed it, catch it on Youtube here. Just being polite you say? Um...he didn't bow to the Queen of England. Nor did the Saudi King bow in return. Well, at least we now know which world leader Obama feels he must honor, even above his own office as President.
And in MHO: That bow was pretty darn deep for just a polite greeting.

Friends and Family are Free of course....

OK...I admit it. I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that North Korean expects to launch a missile launch tomorrow, a missile carrying a "communications satellite."

It really doesn't make much sense that they are doing that, especially when you view the country from space at night. During the night North Korea is completely dark, while its neighbor South Korea is all lit up. That's because of North Korea's low technology. Low as in candles and lanterns are still in use at night.

But such a romantic form of lighting couldn't possibly the choice of people ALL the time, right?

Which is why I thought this quote was so interesting:

For a country that can barely light a city up with antique light bulbs, why do they need satellites? Does anyone think this is a legitimate attempt at taking North Korea into the communications age or 21st century that the rest of the world enjoys? Has Verizon, ATT or Sprint suddenly enjoyed tremendous cell phone sales in that country? Given it is a totalitarian regime, is it really likely Pyongyang is creating a capacity for people within the country to communicate with the outside world?

View entire article here.

So...regardless of this improbably scenario, our President is nevertheless promising not to shoot down this "satellite" missile. This while he is chatting up everyone over in the UK.

Iran shot a similar missile off last month, and actually did perform an electromagnetic pulse test run. North Korea is also interested in this form of warfare.

And Russia? The Russians have made certain some of their military aircraft were designed to withstand the electrodisruption associated with Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP.) They reverted to using older technology to backstop the high tech equipment which is more vulnerable to EMP. Russia is being most helpful in making a lot of the technology available at a substantial price. It is one way to subsidize a flagging economy.

Shoot. I should have been more prepared for this, and made sure I had a couple of people in North Korea added to my "friends and family" are free cell phone plan. It would be so great to at last really have someone to talk with over there.

Maybe they could tell us what is really going on.

And maybe suggest a great place to get Korean bar-be-que to eat by candle light in the future if things don't go as innocently as we hope.

What's up with Iran?

Pictured above: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-Current President of Iran

The "Summation-In-a-Minute" of what is up with Iran:

The President of Iran believes the Muslim Messiah (AKA the 12th Imam) is returning to the world in the next year, from a well (really!) in one of the Mosques in Iran, and that it is the Iranian President's duty/destiny to prepare the world for this.

Mr. Iran President went from a 1% recognition to winning his election, and has poured tons of money into fixing up the Mosque with the well.

But...the big gut grabber is that for the 12th Imam to come back and make paradise for all nice Muslim folk, Israel must be gone. In Iran's point of view, USA is the Great Satan that provides the $ that makes Israel's existence possible, so first the USA needs to get knocked out, and then, without USA protection, Israel/Jerusalem can be wiped clean of Jewish folks.

Mr. Iran President is "full speed ahead" with this project.

Christians speak of the "end times" but they don't have a game plan to MAKE the times come ASAP. This 12th Imam guy will only show up IF the world is knocked into shape (Israel and USA gone.)

So Mr. Iran President is, in his mind, divinely appointed to do any and everything necessary to set the stage. And he has no reason to worry that there *might* be consequences to his actions. After all, paradise awaits. Let's get this show on the road!

And Mr. President is not shy about the fact that a nuclear devise would make that all possible, really quick. It really, really doesn't matter if the bomb messes up stuff, because all that matters is the #12 gets here, and thereby ushers in paradise.

Above is a copy of a post that I posted in 2006. This link from the UK newspaper Telegraph ducuments my concerns. And this article review what Israeli leaders are saying.

Jeepers. I was hoping my 2006 post, which gave a time line of 2-4 years for these events was about to time out as an unfounded concern.

I'm still hoping that a year from now, the 12th Imam will still be missing, and all will still be well with the world. See the post previous to this one to see why I am keeping an eye on the news this week about missile launches that involve North Korea and Iran.

Monday, Monday...

The house is slowly taking shape. We find ourselves rethinking furniture placement, and room usage.
Perhaps the book cases could fit in the Marley room (newly de-Marley'd) if we tear open the ceiling to allow the bookcases to be tilted into place.

Perhaps the large mahogany office furniture would work downstairs. (And it does...we feared it would make the room look heavy and dark, instead it defined area and added a rich feel. Wish we had realized this when the movers were here to schlep the heavy pieces down the stairs. Laura and Bernie made it happen with the use of a dolly and determination.)

With the office now downstairs, the room upstairs that was to be the office is now to be ?????

Perhaps the Marley room could work as a hat/sewing room, what with the tile floor being so much more sewing friendly and all?

Decisions, decisions.

Sunday it snowed about 8 inches. The three of us enjoyed sitting at the kitchen table watching birds visit the newly installed bird feeder. Laura got some great pictures and promises that she will post them on her blog soon.

She is flying back to San Diego this afternoon. Always hard to see her go, and she wished that she could have stayed longer as she was simply brimming with great ideas (such as using our single oak nightstand for extra storage inside my closet) and loves making a house a home anyway. Talented girl that she is...we hope she will have her own place very soon.

During the night more snow fell, and we received an additional foot of snow. Bernie got up and shoveled out our cars which now need to stay in the driveway until we can sell/give/place the garaged items that we won't be needing.

How funny that the heaviest of all the snowfalls happened as soon as the garage was full, and that snow is predicted to fall daily for the rest of the week.

Well, such is life, and it is a good life too. I read the news, and realize how quickly days such as these could become only a fond memory. I kept seeing reports of the missile launches from Iran and North Korea that seemed to be cause for great concern.

Was it really so threatening for Iran to launch a communications satellite?
Was a similar missile from North Korea such a big deal?

Surely they weren't really planning on blowing America away. Wouldn't that sort of attack mess them up too?

I found the following article (copied below from this link) that explained what was really at stake in simple language. The old "duck and cover" drills of my elementary school years never sought or knew to address what a modern "explosion" could create.

For me to say that blogging would be a thing of the past and the least of our worries would be simply to jest.

To say life as we know it would end would be far more accurate.

The article's reference to Hurricane Katrina is chilling. New Orlean's levy systems were known to be at risk, yet no funding was allocated for their improvement. Today's missile threat is preventable, if we take proper precautions now.

If we mis-judge this threat, there may not be any resources "later" with which to rectify the error in judgement.
And no one would likely be arriving from anywhere to help us either.

Newt Gingrich: A Single Nuke Could Destroy America
Sunday, March 29, 2009 4:23 PMBy: Newt Gingrich and William Forstchen

There is a sword of Damocles over our heads. It is a threat that is real but has been all but ignored.
On February 3rd, Iran launched a “communications satellite” into orbit. At this very moment, North Korea is threatening to do the same. The ability to launch an alleged communications satellite belies a far more frightening truth. A rocket that can carry a satellite into orbit can also drop a nuclear warhead over any location on the planet in less than forty-five minutes.
Far too many timid or uninformed sources maintain that a single launch of a missile poses no true threat to the United States given our retaliatory power. A reality check is in order and must be discussed in response to such an absurd claim:
One small nuclear weapon, delivered by an ICBM can, in fact, destroy the United States by maximizing the effect of the resultant electromagnetic pulse upon detonation.
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a by-product of detonating an atomic bomb above the Earth’s atmosphere. When a nuclear weapon is detonated in space, the gamma rays emitted trigger a massive electrical disturbance in the upper atmosphere. Moving at the speed of light, this overload will short out all electrical equipment, power grids and delicate electronics on the earth’s surface. In fact, it would take only one to three weapons exploding above the continental United States to wipe out our entire grid and transportation network. It might take years to recover from, if ever.
This is not science fiction. If you doubt this, spend a short amount of time skimming the Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack from April 2008. You will come away sobered.
Even as the new Administration plans to spend trillions on economic bail outs, it has announced plans to reduce funding and downgrade efforts for missile defense. Furthermore, the reluctance by the United States to invest in a modern and credible traditional nuclear deterrent is a serious concern. What good will a bailout be if there is no longer a nation to bail out?
Fifty years ago it was not Sputnik itself that sent a dire chill of warning around the world; it was the capability of the rocket that launched Sputnik. The rocket that lofted Sputnik into orbit could also serve as an ICBM.
Yet for all its rhetoric, the Soviet Union was essentially a rational power that recognized the threat of mutual destruction and thus never stepped to the edge.
The world is different today. Intercontinental range missiles tipped with nuclear weapons in the hands of leaders driven by fanaticism, leaders that support global terrorism, leaders that have made repeated threats that they will seek our annihilation. . .can now at last achieve their dream of our annihilation in a matter of minutes.
Those who claim that there is little to fear from Iran or North Korea because “at best” they will only have one or two nuclear weapons, ignore the catastrophic level of threat we now face from just “a couple” of nuclear weapons.
Again: One to three missiles tipped with nuclear weapons and armed to detonate at a high altitude—to achieve the strongest EMP over the greatest area of the United States—would create an EMP “overlay” that triggers a continental-wide collapse of our entire electrical, transportation and communications infrastructure.
Within weeks after such an attack, tens of millions of Americans would perish. The impact has been likened to a nationwide Hurricane Katrina. Some studies estimate that 90% of all Americans might very well die in the year after such an attack as our transportation, food distribution, communications, public safety, law enforcement and medical infrastructures collapse.
It is a blow we most likely would never recover from.
Two things need to be done now and without delay.
1. Make clear in the strongest of terms that if a rocket is launched by either Iran or North Korea on a trajectory headed towards the territory of the United States, we will shoot it down. The risk of not doing so is beyond acceptable. And if they construe this as an act of war, so be it, for they fired the first shot. The risk of sitting back for thirty minutes and praying it is not an EMP strike is beyond acceptable, beyond rational on our part.
2. Funding for EMP defense must be a top national priority. To downgrade or halt our missile defense program, which after twenty five years of research is at last becoming viable, would be an action of criminal negligence.
Surely, with such a threat confronting us, a fair and open debate, with full public access and the setting aside of partisan politics, is in order. In the meantime, a policy must be stated today that we will indeed shoot down any missile aimed towards the United States that is fired by Iran or North Korea. America’s survival, your survival, and your family’s survival might very well depend on it.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. William Forstchen is the author of "One Second After," an account of a town struggling to survive after an EMP weapon is used against the United States.

You can read an earlier government hearing about this here.

Before and After

Before Laura came...

Looking better! ( this blog was hijacked by Laura...guest blogger of the day)

We have survived....

The team of five movers showed up yesterday at shortly before 9 am in the BIGGEST moving van I had ever seen in my life. Every inch of the van was FULL.

EEEKKKKK!!!!!

I had labeled each room in the house, and had created a "cheat sheet" list of where I wanted our household items to go. I knew where I wanted holiday items to go, and what couch where and so forth.

The tricky part was this: The Houston movers had boxed everything with labels like "attic", without noting if it was the attic in the house or over the garage and "Hall Closet" without noting which hall...you get the picture...I often had no idea what could possibly be in the box!

Thankfully the "Marley" room is a big room that would hold a lot of boxes out of sight, so I just had all the mystery boxes loaded in there.

The movers agreed that Bernie and I were a very efficient team. B. checked off box numbers as the mover rapidly unloaded the van and I stood at the doorway to steer the movers with the boxes and furniture into the right locations.

Tiggie did his part by "snoopervising" all the activity from inside. He is such a good and faithful orange cat. The movers all just loved him! Hart bailed out early...and was stuck outside unnoticed in the snow for hours. We felt kind of bad about that, but he got lots of love later to make up for it.

And with a half hour lunch break and two fifteen minute breaks...the whole van was unloaded, non-stop, in only TEN HOURS.

{thud}

That was me falling over in that last line above. Yes, ten hours of five guys wheeling boxes and furniture. At one point two of them were folding packing blankets for about an hour, and another hour was spent re-assembling beds and tables.

Two hundred and twenty two friggin' boxes.

B. had to take the door casing off one door to get our over stuffed chair into the house.
All the cabinets and glass front book cases that used to be in my hat room are too tall for this house. I'm pretty dismayed about the bookcases....

The green flecks in the downstairs carpet matchs the green overstuffed couch and chair perfectly. The beige we painted the walls looks horrible with the furniture however.
Paint is cheap though...and repainting can be done after the house is settled in.

The green tea color in the living room might have to go too....we'll see how it feels after a little bit more time with the furniture.

The long triple bedroom dresser and the high black headboard actually made the turn to get into the master bedroom.

Jeff showed up about six o'clock with a bag full of delicious Mexican food. That was a lifesaver as we had been racing around on a bowl of cereal and a sandwich for food the whole day. He helped me unpack some lamps, and was horrified to discover how much paper is used to cushion the contents inside of packing boxes. The ecology of it bother him until we told him that the company picks up the boxes and paper...and that in fact all those boxes were NOT just filled with our stuff...but likely 30-40% of the bulk is just paper.

Still...it is an awful lot of stuff. The garage is full of things that we will try to sell on Craigslist, or a garage sale or just donate. Things like our mahogany office desk, the hat room cabinets, the red couch. The cars will be in the driveway until all that can be arranged, and this morning that meant that I had to brush snow from my car before I could drive to work.

At least it wasn't icy...just a wet spring time snow that barely even stuck to the driveway. I can manage as long as there is no ice!

And let me also share the best news of all...the plumber showed up while the movers were working. We had a working upstairs bathroom for the first night that we spent upstairs!

More good news: Today we are to get our kitchen counter top. And Laura arrives at 7.

There maybe a ton of work to do at home, and I may have to show up at work instead of staying home and unpacking, but at least I know that little by little eventually the house will be put together and will start to really feel like a home.

High Anxiety

Almost every morning there is someone doing something on the house, yet it is still not where it should be at T- minus two days from furniture arriving.
The kitchen appliances are on the deck, the toilet and sink is in the garage.
Having them in those locations is NOT useful!

More angst:

I spent almost five hours on Friday looking for a dress to wear to our son's wedding on May 2nd. It needs to be street length for a morning wedding, in some shade of light blue, as the bridesmaids will be in navy and the flowers will be fuchsia.

AND I spent three more hours at another mall today.

So far I've gone to Nordstroms, Macy's, Dillards, Penneys, Sears, Ross, TJ Maxx, J. Jill, Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, David's Bridal, Nordstrom's Rack, a consignment shop, looked at Chadwicks, and Draper and Damons on line, the Bridal webpages MOB/MOG dress pages....

I do have a back up dress from Dress Barn in a sea green with short sleeves. It will be fine for a morning wedding, I just was thinking more a suit with 3/4 length sleeves.

Honest to Pete, last year there were TONS of such dressy suits that were just perfect for a morning wedding. But then again, last year I was in the South, where ladies regularly dress for such occasions and the stores have a plentiful supply to choose from.

All I could find here in Salt Lake City were overly dressy dresses in browns, black, navy's and a few dusty rose beige's.
Don't they do Easter dresses and suits around here????
What is up with that???

This is stressing me out because not only do I need a dress, I'll need to find shoes too. I wear a weird sized shoe, 9 1/2 narrow, and I know it likely will be challenging to find something that A. Fits, and B. is comfortable.

I'm still going to order one outfit on line and Laura is going to try shopping in San Diego for me, and will try to bring me some choices from there.

She will arrive the day after the dreaded 220 boxes arrive and will stay six days to help me organize. Boy oh boy do I every need all the help I can get.

The one fun moment this weekend was a bridal shower for my future daughter in law Rachel. The brunch was elegant, and the girls all looked like springtime had arrived in pretty skirts. I switched purses for the event, and forgot my camera so I have no pictures of that event to post.
I know...I am totally losing it.

It got up to 70 degrees on Saturday, and B. and I spent time loafing on the lawn and watching the cats explore the yard. B. constructed a plant table for his Japanese maples; they will need to be taken in later today however...as I write this it is beginning to snow outside.

We were warned not to trust warm March days.

Aside from planting peas, carrots and lettuce, we should hold off adding flowers to the garden until Mother's Day weekend.
That gives me something to look forward to. If the 220 boxes haven't be settled by then, I plan to just move outside for the summer.

I'll admit that both Bernie and I are apprehensive about the stuff arriving. We gave the contractor an extra three weeks to complete the work...and tried both "kiss" and "kick" motivation to get things moving along. Neither had much effect.

The biggest issue is that we will need to return all the stuff we borrowed from our son last September for the apartment and the house in order to make room for OUR stuff to be moved in. The movers will need to muscle our bedroom set into the master bedroom upstairs, and Jeff's loaner bed needs to be muscled out of the downstairs area by the movers.

That leaves us with sleeping UPSTAIRS, with the only potty DOWNSTAIRS.
I don't know about the rest of the world, but I for one am not viewing walking downstairs in the middle of the night to use the bathroom as a "good thing".

Actually, another reason I am not crazy about having only one bathroom is that the construction guys have to use my bathroom too. They are nice guys, and I am not squeamish about them, it is just that I always have to remember to check to make sure all my stuff is put away.

I am not crazy about the fact that the guys usually show up while I am getting ready to leave for work...like getting out of the shower and such. Even though I enjoy greeting them as I leave, I just don't like having folks roaming around the house at work while I am here alone.

(It is hard to decide what to complain about most. I am really hacked that SLC has such a lousy selection of dressy wear. What the heck do the Mormon Mother of the Bride/ Mother of the Groom wear after they finish their temple ceremony anyway? Don't they have a reception and dress up a bit??? )

Back to moving angst....

I wish I knew if our furniture will actually fit through the hallways and doors here. Seriously...the 1954 style house was not designed to hold the over sized furniture from 2001.

While I was out shopping, Bob Marley got painted over. Well, Marley was dead to begin with...so RIP behind the paint Bob. The room looks a lot brighter with him gone. That room will soon be stuffed with boxes that contain who knows what. The movers in Houston just packed and labeled the boxes with the rooms that they packed them in. And they didn't always call the rooms what we would call the room. It will be "pot luck" finding anything for awhile.

There are still holes in the walls where the electricians put in new panels, baseboards missing (on order), walls needing to be hot patched, laundry room boxes built to put the washer and drier on (and won't it be GREAT to just toss in a load when needed again?)

Seriously....I would never undertake such a major renovation ever again. I just hope in the end this one will all be worth it.

I'm feeling flushed...

(Kohler's Wellworth model toilet)

The upstairs bathroom is coming right along. I was so looking forward to coming home from work some day and finding a toilet installed in there. It was the subject of many daydreams at work. (Renovation does funny things to one's mind....)

Early on we had discussed with the contractor that what we wanted in a toilet was a white "tall" toilet, nothing fancy...and gave him a few price points and figured it was a done deal.

Yesterday we were informed that "we" actually had to make the selection ourselves. That sounded easy enough. I was game to trot over to the local Lowes or Home Depot or plumbing fixture supply store in town, but as it turned out, the need was more urgent than that, the stores were closed, and so off to cybershopping we went.

First stop: Retro Renovations

50's Pam has researched all the best options for 50's era house fixtures. She recommended Kohler's Wentworth's model toilet, noting that the 40's and 50's houses always had toilets with rounded bowls. The elongated bowls came in during the 60's and 70's.

I thought about that for a few seconds, and realized that the 50's style bathroom is quite narrow, and that an elongated bowl would stick out past the vanity. Easy-peasy...one decision down!

We would get the model in white, of course, because the tub and sink have already been bought in white. Otherwise I would be sorely tempted to go the full pink bathroom trip and order a lovely pink john.

The next step was to determine if the Kohler fixture could be ordered in tall. Since we are tall folks with aging knees, we had determined to get what is known as a "chair height" toilet, one that is anywhere from 1 1/2 to two inches taller than standard. It isn't much, but believe me, it does make a difference.

Well wouldn't you know it...Wentworth doesn't come in a tall version.

We began perusing various plumbing websites and quickly learned that tall models usually comes with an elongated bowl. Drat. We discussed the pros and cons of extra inches in width verse extra inches in height. I decided I would rather have the rounded bowl still, just to leave more room in the bathroom.

A bit more research and hurray! there actually is a tall toilet with a round bowl, Cimmaron by Kohler.

Hot Dog!

Then Mr. B. shifted into Engineering mode and began to read the specifications on the "traps" on various toilets. The trap is the size of the opening that the waste passes through.

Some had 1 3/4 inch traps.
Some had 2 inch traps
Some had 2 1/4 inch traps.

Picture us sitting before the computer, making circles with our thumbs and forefingers, trying to decide if an opening about that size would allow the output of a fiber rich diet to pass, or if we would need to forgo bran if we went with some of these design specifications.

Next we looked at flush options: some toilets are now have two "speeds" you know.
And then there were the waterless toilet options...

It was getting late at that point, and I was all pooped out. We really hadn't eliminated much, but now had a pile of information. Wiped out, I headed to bed, hoping that I could digest some of the options in my sleep.

Today we still feel like we have a full load to manage. The tile setters are done, and would like to seat a toilet ASAP. The inspectors will be checking to be sure that what we chose meets water conservation requirements. If it wasn't for the government sticking their nose in our business we would just re-use the perfectly good toilet that we just tore out. It will instead be heading to a land fill.

Ecology: it is a system of odd checks and balances.

So as I write this the race is on. We've got to find a suitable toilet somewhere in town, and fast! I'm going to be whizzing over to the various hardware and plumbing stores on my lunch break.
Wish me a pot full of luck, I think I am going to need it!

I'm walking on the new floors...

The yet to be installed kitchen flooring, leaning against the living room that is in dire need of a hot patch!

Our kitchen floor was originally an oatmeal color tile.

We decided to make it match the hardwood in the rest of the upstairs.

This is what the kitchen floor looked like for a couple of days. The wood has to acclimate to the household temperature.

Then a flooring team arrived and set up shop in the living room...

The original flooring in the guest room. It was later lightly sanded and custom stained to make it match all the other rooms.

The living room sanded...

The Master Bedroom had a second closet "borrowed" from the bedroom on the other side of the wall. The flooring that ended where the original back of the closet was needed to be woven in. The unfinished diagonal area is the sub-flooring.

The floor guys did a great job, you can't even tell where they wove in the new pieces.

Each bedroom had been stained a different tone over the years. You can see the hallway stain and finish was completely gone.

The floor now sanded, stained and sealed a rich oak shade. Three colors were blended to create this not too yellow, not too black and not too red tone.

The flooring contractor pointed out the planks that have patterns consistent with old growth wood. Apparently those patterns are no longer available as conservation now dictates that forests be planted and harvested in a faster timeline.

I guess I should feel a bit guilty about having "old forest" wood, but on the other hand, this was wood harvested 55 years ago; had the wood not been milled and used in my house, I imagine it could simply be compost by now.

Instead the beauty of the wood grain patterns will be appreciated by me!

The chevron pattern was one of the grain patterns that supposedly is no longer milled as it requires older growth. The kitchen floor, laid out with newly milled oak does not have nearly as interesting grain patterns.

There is a plus to the kitchen floor however: The planks are an engineered wood design that has a construction style that make for a sturdier floor. No creaks and cricks and pops when you walk on the kitchen floor; the rest of the upstairs has auditory response to movement.

Now to get used to shucking off shoes when entering the house...and crossing my fingers that the movers will be able to adequately cover the floors when they bring in all our stuff next Tuesday.

If you have read all the way to the end of this post, you either have had wood flooring done in your house, or are just really, really bored.

Or maybe you just appreciate wood grain and the conservation/restoration of older houses.

Like I said yesterday...we are getting there.

I think we're getting there...

(Please note: The new header does not actually display the colors of the rooms accurately, at least it is not accurately displayed on my computer!)

Busy days around the ranch house. All this activity gives me hope!

The tile is being set in the upstairs bathroom for one thing. Don't you love the contractor's message system? Just shove a note in the bathroom window!

Here's a close up of the wall tile. It is pretty basic, plain white four inch squares like typical 1950 style bathrooms, but we have jazzed it up a bit with two courses of the floor tile, a pattern called Pinwheel. The floor will be heated...hurray! The downstairs bath doesn't have that luxury, and I have found cold tootsies on the bathroom floor to be no fun at all.

On Friday and Saturday the original oak floors were being sanded, stained and sealed. Bernie nailed a temporary door at the top of the basement stairs to prevents the cat from bolting upstairs and tracking across the newly finished floors.

Talk about an odd feeling...being closed up in the basement....with a door nail shut...creepy....

We decided to get away from the sanding noises and go check out a few things around SLC.

The Cactus and Tropicals garden center was open, and it was gorgeous sunny day. Lots of folks had a touch of spring fever and were buying a pretty or two for their gardens.

I was interested in this flower, with the Seuss-like red and blue fanciful design.

And did I remember to get the name of the flower?

Noooo....

I think the construction must really be getting to me if I forget something like that.

We've made countless trips to various shops to select new fitting for our sinks. I was waiting for the sales rep to print out the particulars on an insta-hot faucet, and decided to snap a picture of this model bathroom.

Guess which item is the toilet?

(No we are not getting that set. I am keeping my downstairs "flushes an ocean" style toilet with an August 1954 tank lid date stamp, and getting a new "tall" toilet for upstairs. The extra height is easier on aging knees I've heard, and seeing as how my knees seem to be aging along with the rest of me, that seemed like a pretty good option.)

I find myself zooming through contemporary furniture stores, dumbfounded that I am actually interested in the only style of furniture that I have always disdained.

Well, the sink that we ordered for the kitchen came in totally different, and the next time the manufacturer can ship that style will be months from now. We picked a different style and color.

(Darn it...I really liked Kohlers' Cane Sugar finish single sink!)

Now the faucet that we selected for the first sink might not work...

We still have to see a sample of the kitchen cabinet doors to see if they will be as we expect them to be.

After running around all day, we returned home only to find that the odor of the floor stain just about rendered us unconscious within minutes of entering the house.

The cats look even more deranged than usual. We opened all the windows downstairs and the cats glued themselves to the screens, sucking in air like crazy.

What the heck...they have nine lives...they will be fine.

We turned up the electric blanket for them, filled their food bowls, and told them we'd be back in the morning. Then we split to the local Marriott hotel for the night.

The lobby chandelier was a blown glass creation in green and dusty lavender, created by a cohort of Dale Chihuly.

The delicate creation was enormous!

Our heads had cleared from the fumes, but a drink was just the thing to take the edge off arriving at a nice hotel wearing Saturday junky clothes and carrying basically our pajamas and a toothbrush.

I've been bumped from enough planes and spent the night with the just the clothes on my back, so this wasn't really a first time trauma. We selected the in room movie "Marley and Me" (my review: people should train their dogs. Period. And how on earth did they afford to replace THAT many couches anyway?) and zonked out at 10 pm.

At least we got a nice breakfast the next morning instead of our usual cold cereal and juice routine that we have fallen into "back at the ranch"

Yes, life is still pretty challenging as we go about the renovation, but occasionally I see something, like shelf liners, and I think some day this will all be over, and my home will be a homey haven again.

These are the (cat) people in our neighborhood...

So far Bernie and I have met the two cats next door: there is a grey striped tall cat and a black and white cat.
The cats saunter through the yard, down the side of the house and along the fence. Snow doesn't even phase them.
There is a brown mackerel tabby too that muscles his way through the snow out back.

When we see him and call, he splits immediately. I think he thought no one lives here.

The grey and the black ones are our neighbor Bob's cats.
Bob's cats seem very interested in us.

Hart thinks they are interesting too.

We can always tell when Bob's cats are passing by just by watching our cats react.

I think eventually they all might become very good friends.

Baptisms, Snow and Rock and Roll

The days had gotten warmer the last few weeks and all the snow was melted in the neighborhood.
Yesterday you could see all the grass in the front yard for the first time since November.

This morning...

A wintery view again.
I LOVE waking up to a view of winter wonderlands first thing in the morning.
And views with cats too, of course.

Such a new experience for me.

I wonder if I will eventually take it for granted.

I've never been one to not make a picture in my heart and mind of wonderful things every chance I get.

Snow is a wonder for today.

Another wonder is seeing family on Youtube.

Our son's baptism for one.

It is a pretty long video, but you can see and hear Jeff talk about his faith (at the 1 min. 26 second mark) see Rachel and him arriving (at 9 min 13 sec.) and see him go under the water and come up again (at 11 mins.) , along with others who partook of that sacrament on that Sunday afternoon.

The other is revisiting a happy memory from long ago...from a time when MTV was a brand new channel on television.

It was 1983.

The kids were 3 and 5, and I did NOT want them to be watching bands like Alice Cooper and Kiss rocking out.

But...

suddenly...

their Uncle Mark was playing drums on a video that was on rotation on the channel.

It was a pretty darn cute video too.

We let the kids watch their Uncle's band, of course.

And turned channels immediately afterwards.

The video is now on Youtube, and seeing it again brought back SO many funny memories.

You see, lil' bro Mark was a serious professional drummer for years before becoming a Radiology Therapist. He played with several bands and was cited in Rolling Stone magazine as one very hot drummer.

Drummer praise doesn't come from a source higher than that!

During the years that the incredibly talented and handsome Mark was on percussion, his big bro Bernie was juggling being an electrician, going to school at night, and being a daddy to two little kids.

Once, during that season of life, when we were over at Mark and Bernie's parents house, my MIL turned to Bernie and asked him if he had had a chance to go see Mark performing in some local venue.

I can still remember how hard it was not to laugh when Bernie dryly replied:

"When Mark comes to watch me at my work, then I'll be going to see Mark at his work."

(I'm pretty sure Mark never did make it out to watch Bernie at his construction site...)

By way of updating those who wonder how Mark is doing...he is home now, and struggling to recover from the massive abdominal surgery he had two weeks ago. Several organs were removed, but they were not able to get all the cancer...he will begin intense radiation and chemo as soon as they can identify exactly the kind of cancer he has.

We think about Mark all the time...sometimes with worry, sometimes with fear, and sometimes...well, you know some 50 plus years of being a big brother is hard to let go.

As soon as Mark came out of surgery and we knew that he was OK, I mentioned that he must have a massive abdominal scar, similar to the one that I sport on my low belly.

Recalling the inquires I faced after my surgery, I voiced a similar concern to Bernie:

"Do you think Mark will still be able to wear a bikini style swim suit?"

(like he EVER did...)

To which B. replied without missing a beat:

"No, he doesn't have the guts for it anymore."

Somethings in life, like capping on your little brother, just never change.

Color My World...

My husband and son both pointed out to me that having a dirty car in snow country is not the same as having a dusty car in tornado country. There are chemicals on the roads here that melt the ice and the resulting filth needs to be washed off regularly.

Where I grew up and raised my kids in San Diego I found it refreshing to wash my own car in the driveway; the weather there is always perfect 365 days a year.

No kidding.

But here in SLC it has been too cold outside to do that; my car could be a block of ice if I gave that a shot. Knowing that fact meant I had to go and try to find a car wash some where in my area.

Part of being new in town is that you can't remember where you have seen a car wash...and when you do see one, it is inevitably on the wrong side of the road or the wrong kind of carwash.

The wrong kind of car wash for me is one where you put change in a machine and wrangle a sprayer all by yourself. The "right" kind for me is the kind that has all kinds of whirling brushes and flapping strips.

I do know some people blanch at the thought of going through one of those kinds of car washes.(Hi Terry! Happy Anniversary!) They insist (correctly) that such car wash treatments leaves swirl marks in the car's gloss coat.

For awhile I worried about that too...and used the "touchless" car wash systems, only to discover that touchless systems are designed to wash the dirt and leave it neatly in place.

Well, to appease my menfolk, I made a reckless U turn when I saw an available car wash the other day. As I steered my car into the wash bay, fond memories came flooding back to me of another place and time.

Back to when I was a mother of two rambunctious and often quarrelsome children, and friends with women who were likewise deep in the process of child rearing.

Across town (a ten minute drive in little La Mesa suburb) there was a place where you could fill up with gas, and for about a dollar more, you could go through the brush and flap kind of car wash.

Sometimes when the kids were just about to drive me wild, I would simply ask: "Who wants to go through the car wash?" and it was just like I had announced a trip to Disneyland.

The kids would pile into the car, and as the water sprayed on the windows and the brushes whirled closer and closer, the sounds of the car wash would blend perfectly with the screams and squeals of the kids.

Sometimes, when I was really, REAALLY needing a break, I would pay for us to go through twice. And sometimes...I just remembered this...I would get out of the car and let them go through the wash without me!

Salt Lake City is one kid friendly kind of town.

Proof: At the car wash here, the sprayed on soapy lather slopped on in rainbow colors.

It was lovely.

And if it hadn't cost so very much more than a car wash used to, I think I would have gone through it again.

Not screaming...just smiling a bit before heading back to my busy day.

Seriously...

A 1950's GE pink oven going on Ebay for $200 right now.
Shipping is also $200.
If they would throw in the range top over to the side...and those cool retro tiles, I think I could go right over the edge and buy into 1950's the pink kitchen thing.

I'm thinking if America's financial picture is going to be as awful as I'm thinking it is going to be, then I think we all are going to need a big dose of 50's style (including maybe pink kitchens and baths!) to survive.

Let's look at what it would mean to head back to the 1950's.

(Pictured above: the 50's light diffuser that won on ebay and that is now installed up in our blue guest room's ceiling, just for fun. Loving that little girl with a blue hair clip jumping rope and scattered ball and jacks on the bottom. It takes me right back to the 50's just looking at it up there!)

Back to when Ike was in charge. Under President Dwight Eisenhower the gross national product grew by over 25 percent and inflation averaged 1.4 percent.

Not bad statistics...not bad at all.

The idea of retreating to the 50's has been fully embraced by one blogging woman.

She has decided to go live in the year 1955, and to post about her experiences on her blog called My 1955 Year

She reads publications from the time, wears the clothes, cooks, cleans, the whole nine yards, each day of her life as if it was 1955.

And get this: she is discovering how WONDERFUL it was to live back then. She even makes me long for Pinesol cleaner again!

She posted two days ago about "household drudgery" and was astonished to report that housekeeping in 1955 was ecologically sound and not nearly as time consuming as our modern efforts are, with better results! And yes, she does go about her housewifely life in a girdle when she isn't scrubbing up things in jeans and loafers.

I've added her to my sidebar if you wish to following her life this year. She doesn't have a pink kitchen, but as far as using the '50s as an escape from our current trauma, I think overall she will do.

Bowled Over

Quote of the Day:

How much will each American family pay, on average, to bail out the beleagured insurance giant American International Group (AIG)?

Answer:

Try more than $1,400.

Source: ABC news

Picture above taken at the bowling alley two block from my house.