Magical pictures

When I started working with my construction person D, he told me upfront that they wouldn't be able to start until June, and I said that was fine (because he came so highly recommended). We've traded a few emails back and forth during that time, but I hadn't heard anything from him since the beginning of April, so I emailed a couple of days ago to ask if we were still on schedule.

He said we are and that I should call the cabinet people and set up a time to go in to the showroom (!) and pick out cabinets. He says I should pick they style I like at this point and we can play with materials and finishes, but my mind is saying, "inexpensive, inexpensive - choose the cheapest ones!" I do like the clean lines of Mission/Craftsman style, so I'll probably go that way.

Here is a dreadfully dark picture of my cluttered kitchen. The counter extends to the left of the sink, over to the wall, but I have very little counter space. When the dishes are done (as they are here), they and the coffee pot take up all of the space to the right. I suspect the cabinets are original, as they are shallow and low. I might need to clean off the fridge surface one of these days, too. Maybe.

I post this slightly embarrassing picture of my kitchen as it is this morning to show you how the magic of technology can make a person think, "wow, that is really going to look great!!". Here is a drawing of the same view for the new kitchen.

Like magic, no? The picture really exaggerates the depth of the room, but I still like seeing this very much. I'm hoping to carve a little desk space on one side by not putting a cabinet under the counter, so we'll see what they think of that. This picture is a top view and you can see where the fridge will be.

Yep, it's not a big space, but this is a good layout and I'll double the counter space. Yea!

Post and run

I was in Las Vegas over the long weekend, celebrating my sister in law's 50th birthday. There were about 20 of us there - how cool is that? We tried to make the most of it. We gambled some, did a good bit of walking, ate fabulous food, drank champagne (!) and generally had a fabulous time. 

The above is a picture of the the Dale Chihuly installation on the ceiling of the lobby at the Bellagio. The lighting was funky, and it looked dark in person, too. Each "plate" is about a foot or two across. His work is really fantastic if you haven't checked it out, the link above shows more. 

I've got a ton of stuff to do to catch up, but we had a great time and it's been a while since I posted, so I though I'd check in.   

Want to play a game?

We had a good day yesterday. The Denver science museum has an ice age exhibit that I wanted to see. I thought it was well done. They had a mix of fossils and these resin/carved/plastic beast recreation like the scary bear shown below. I love it when Mr W plays along.

Later, we went to a party to celebrate a couple (who are a couple) of dog park friends who had a few life events to celebrate. It was fun, and there was a mix of people there. On my way out the door, I grabbed a game called Timeline and brought it with us. It's a card game where each person (flexible numbers can play) gets 4-6 cards. Each card has an event on it and you try to place the event in the proper place on the timeline that begins with the top card from the deck. 

I played once, and then there were people playing it the ENTIRE time we were there. How cool is that? I'm going to invest in a couple more games like that and bring them to events like this from now on. I talked to people I would probably not have talked to, and people had fun. By golly, it was even educational. Win-win!

Almost finished brooches

The nice lady who ordered a bunch of brooches has given me good info as to what color combinations she likes, and we're just about done with her order. Here are the almost-finished (need to glue on the back) ones. I love making these. I've come to the conclusion that one of the appealing things is being able to assemble something new by selecting unique combinations of parts.

I think Mr W and I will take a ride in the new car today. Happy Saturday!

We pause in this week's news to bring you this

Good gravy, it's been a week full of challenges and tragedies.

I could use a cute dog picture about now.

Stealth Doodle.

I don't want to seem ungrateful

But I am tired of shoveling!! My back hurts. My arms hurt. I think we've gotten close to two feet of snow since Monday night. We got sent home early Monday, had a late start yesterday, and got sent home early today. That's all good stuff, but the shoveling has been a drag.

Here's my recycle bin sometime Monday (I think. It's all running together).

For those of you who asked for a picture of my new car, it's there in the front of the picture. I guess I'll wait a bit to take a better photo of it. 

I'm always paranoid about not being able to get out of the alley, so I shovel out the apron where the alley meets the street because when the plows go by, they push a little wall of snow across it. Today I also shoveled out part of the alley where I would have to back up to get out. The snow is heavy! 

But we really need the precipitation, so I'll try to remember that this is a good thing. Now I'm going to swallow some Advil.

Juxtaposition

It will be another out of sorts day. The bombings at the Boston Marathon yesterday coupled with a bunch of snow make me a little anxious. This quote from Fred Rogers has been making the rounds on Facebook:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster," I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”

It helps me some to think that this is the way that we really are. That if something bad happens our instinct is to help. We as a society think this is the right thing to do. We probably don't even think, we just do it. 

One thing I'm trying to do, with limited success, is to NOT tune in for the continuous coverage. The speculation, the hypotheses, the leads. I think this is good for my mental health in that it keeps me from re-experiencing the shock and disbelief over and over again. 

And we finally got a big dump of snow. About a foot or so. Yesterday it was very heavy, but overnight it was fluffier, so it won't be as much work to shovel. Schools are on a two-hour delay, and work takes its cue from the schools, so we are also on a delay. This seems petty in comparison, but I have an irrational fear that someone is going to hit my new car. It handles well in the snow, but there are plenty of people who drive like they think their all-wheel drive car makes them invincible and able to stop on a dime. 

While I'm at it, I think the tree in my yard is pushing the garage into my house. Again. I have a large fir tree in the corner of my property, behind the garage, and its trunk is very close to the roof of the garage. I had to get the roof of the garage trimmed away from the trunk a few years ago because the trunk of the tree was pushing the garage into the house. There is a tiny bit of room (an inch or two) there because of roof overhangs and Mr W's room expansion. There is a solution, and I will find it.

So the juxtaposition of another national tragedy and weather anxiety makes me feel a little goofy today. It was hard to concentrate yesterday, and I'm glad I've got a bunch of data processing stuff to do today that is pretty mindless.

Tomorrow will be better.

Auto Emeritus

Well, after 18 years of loyal service, I have retired my 1995 Civic and purchased a new car. Meet C:

I don't have the heart to get rid of the Civic yet, and it is relegated to the dog's car at the moment. It's not worth anything, but might make a good beater car for Mr W. That phase is only four years away. We'll see. There's plenty of parking on the street outside my house, and it is cheap to keep the Civic. I'm designating the Civic "auto emeritus", like a retired college professor who still hangs around. 

C is a Prius C. The baby Prius. It's subcompact, so about the size of a Honda Fit, which was my other choice, except the Fit just didn't deliver in the gas mileage department. I mean, a small car should get 35-40 miles per gallon, in my opinion, and the fit gets a yawning 30 mpg combined. 

They had two of the trim line (there's four levels) I wanted. I chose this blue color, "Summer Rain Metallic". Cars have come a long way in 18 years in terms of technology. My Civic has airbags, and the SRS light on the dashboard always comes on when I start the car, but after 18 years, who knows if they work or now. C has a bunch of airbags, and that makes me feel safer. 

Here's part of the sticker:

I like that the fuel savings over five years really eats into the price difference between a hybrid and a gasoline engine only car (which was about $3K for what I was looking at). On the down side, it is a little smaller than my Civic. It is a small car. But it has enough room for our stuff if I want to take Mr W and the dog on a road trip. 

I also like how there's all these readouts and calculations that the car's computer does, and one can scroll through the different screens to see information about gas mileage in real time. It also provides feedback as one drives, which I think really does train the driver to get the best gas mileage possible. The key is to drive like a person who is not in any kind of hurry. Avoiding punching the accelerator and then leaving plenty of time to stop (which charges the battery) look to be the way to go. 

We're getting snow right now. Fingers crossed that I don't get in an accident! 

A funny thing happened

I believe I have crossed some kind of threshold in the dating department. After talking with two friends in the last couple of weeks that signed up for online dating, I went ahead and bought a month's subscription for myself. A month is about all I can stand at a time.

It's been a year and a half since I have been on a date (!) and in that time I have done a lot of stuff. Made/making new friends, I really feel like I have good solid social connections that are from a variety of my interests. But no sparks with anyone I've met.

I've felt the desire to get this part of my life settled (that's the term I use in my head) for a while now. Almost to the point where it's become this thing that I'm almost convinced will never happen, so I've gone ahead (as I should) and went on with my life. By golly, I like my life.

Anyway, so the threshold is that I got an email from someone who I had considered emailing back, but in the end had a funny feeling about him, so I didn't. I had this sense of "geez, I might actually have to go and meet some of these people". And that was followed by a feeling of "well, I don't have to, things are pretty good right now as they are". It's hard to describe. I'm less desperate, I guess. Still, I wish I'd cross paths with the guy already.

Sad face

We were supposed to get yet another big storm coming through last night and we got...a dusting. The roads are dry. There's supposed to be 3-5" possible today, but we'll see how that goes. It won't be a problem to get to where we need to go this morning. Grumble, grumble.

I was hoping for a snow day. Not for my own selfish purposes, of course. We're in drought conditions here and it would have helped to get a big dump of snow. And I feel bad for my kid too, who was looking forward to a day off. Now we both *sniff* have to carry on.

Seriously, though, this is the third 'major' storm that has come around in the last month that we've gotten storm warnings about and has subsequently fizzled. Not sure if we are now in the Colorado banana belt or what, but it's a little weird.

I had visions of shoveling snow from the alley and walks onto my garden for the free water. Too bad.

The Muskie Tank

I don't know if it's a sign of anything in particular, but a few times lately when I've been concentrating on something, usually at work, I get a little random memory pulse. Usually associated with good memories, and if not good then neutral.

I should write them down, as they seem to go as quickly as they come. It seems like a new kind of thing, and it's happened maybe a half-dozen times in the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday, it was the muskie tank at the fish hatchery in western PA. Let me back up a bit. As a kid, my parents had a small cottage that we shared with my aunt and uncle. We'd go there during the summer, and the adults would do a lot of fishing and we kids would roam the fields and forests and swim and it was fun. time. I remember spending time in the little streams flipping rocks to find crayfish, and trying to tag along with my sister, who was too cool for that kind of thing.

We'd go on occasional field trips, including to one of the state's fish hatcheries. They had (have) an educational center with the aforementioned tank, and also a spot outside where the vast numbers of carp gather and people feed them with stale bread. I have no idea if they still sell bread onsite anymore (it can't be good for them), but in the 1970's they did.

We have a family memory where my dad was bending over the fence to retrieve a piece of bread that landed far enough away that even the most ambitious carp would not get it, and in doing so a pair of dice fell out of his pocket. We watched in fascinated horror/delight as they tumbled down the incline and were promptly swallowed by the carp.

The tank has windows for viewing, so one can go downstairs and look up and see the fish. One of the fish there are/were Muskellunge (Esox masquinogy). They are big, and in the pike family. I remember thinking that if these fish were in the water where I was swimming, I might think twice about that activity, but I was assured that they preferred the deeper water and I was unlikely to encounter one.

So the memory flash was me looking through one of the windows and into the green water to see the fish. Funny how that has now cascaded into the dice story, and I do believe I'll give my dad a call today to see how he's doing. As I recalled the dice story in bed this morning, I smiled.




Image from here.

The anticipation

I've been pretty good about going to my spinning class. It's twice a week, and unless I have a meeting for something I volunteer for, I get there. My reward for going to spin class is that the next morning, I don't have to do the reasonable amount (IMO) of sit ups, push ups and planking I do other days.

Have you done planks? There's a picture of one below.

It's good for your core and it's got this funny mental thing about it for me that if I can distract myself, I can go for longer periods of time. I've worked up to 90 seconds at home, and we've been recently increasing the amount of time that we do it in class.

I'm pretty sure that if I didn't do planks regularly at home, there'd be no way I could keep up in class. Well, someone thought we should try a two-minute plank, so we did and it was hard. The next class, we did two minutes, 15 seconds and it was really hard, but some of us (me included) did it. We had a substitute teacher (who is one of the long time students in the class) so our regular instructor wasn't there.

Fast forward to yesterday's class, where our regular instructor is there, and we're not sure if the sub has told her that we did the crazy long plank. I admit I was a little anxious, because our instructor is pretty competitive, and I thought she'd have us try for an extra 15 seconds. So we get done with the spinning part of the class, and then do our floor work with weights and mats, and there's no plank. I think, "She's being especially crafty and saving it for last when our muscles are tired from hoisting these hand weights". Nope. She gets to the end, and says, "That's all I got."

It was funny how I was sort of dreading having to do the long plank, and then disappointed that we didn't get to try. Perhaps next time.


Image from here.

Something springlike

I don't think it's going to get us out of our drought conditions, but we've had some precipitation lately and it's been very welcome. I even went outside the last two days and the world smelled like wet earth, which is a sensation we get precious little of here in Colorado. 

The picture is from over the weekend, where it had rained that night, and then temps dipped below freezing. You can see how temporary the situation is. The bottom of the picture shows the feathery frost patterns already melting where it's warming up. So pretty.

Things are good. There's plenty to do (as always). The woman who wants me to make a bunch of polymer clay brooches for her likes what I've done so far on the new order. That's a good thing, because it was sort of what I was doing naturally and I liked the outcomes, so it's a win-win.

I bought a bunch of carpet samples from Home Depot and am going to try to tape together a pattern to make a rug for my basement. They had a stack of them marketed ostensibly as "anywhere mats" for cars and stuff. I would not put carpeted mats in my car, but that's just me. Anyway, I'll take pictures of the process, but need to wash the floor down there before I begin, so it might not happen until this weekend. 

Reasonable Saturday reasonably interrupted

My otherwise solid plan of "getting things done" on Saturday was interrupted by a request to go to the zoo, so that's what we did. I am ambivalent about zoos in the truest sense of that word, but we did see some cool stuff. The weather was perfect for it, too. Mostly overcast, a bit breezy, and temps in the 60's. 

There will be time this weekend to pull up carpet and install the vinyl tile. Looks like it's going to be warm, so I might be able to update my irrigation this week, too. 

Saturday's reasonable to-do list

It's actually never reasonable, the stuff I want to accomplish on a Saturday, but here's the stuff I'd like to have happen. Oh, but first, here's a totally unrelated picture from a couple of weeks ago. We were getting some weather coming in, and I snapped this on my way to work. That's the building across the street from us.

It was super swirly. 

OK, for today:

1. Start some seeds! I just read something from a gardening blog I follow (A Way to Garden) and while I'm sure she's not the only one saying this, she had a nice little interview with an expert about how to keep seeds from getting leggy. After reading it, I won't be putting my seedlings in the basement and think the grow light is enough. I'll put them in my bedroom, in front of the west-facing window, with the light and the heat mat. We'll see if that does it this year. 

2. Pull up carpet in back hallway. I was at Home Depot yesterday to get something to pull up the wooden ruler-like carpet strip under the carpet, and found a smallish curved tool that is supposedly made to do the job. I will report back.

3. (maybe) Paint trim in back hallway. I need to retouch a few areas, and also go over the white trim back there. I thought the kid might like to help.

4. Hike. It's going to be a beautiful day, so Mr W and I will get out some time this afternoon and go for a hike. May or may not bring the dog, as only some trails allow them off-leash. 

I think that's enough. I need to work on making a bunch of new clay tiles for the brooch order I received, and that will be a few hours of work there. 

Happy Saturday!

Blast from my past

I ran into an old friend at the grocery store yesterday. I marvel at coincidence, how I can decide to make  a run by a store I usually only go to for small things, take my time getting my items (Easter basket goodies), stroll to the check out and see someone I know. 

We chatted briefly about what our lives are like at the moment. This was off the cuff, I wasn't expecting to account for the five years or so since I had last seen him. I said something like, "I'm good! I'm still at the CDC, still in the same house. Life is good. I started playing the banjo." 

I've been mulling the content and intent of my words, and thought as I got into the car that I sounded like nothing happens in my life, which isn't true. When you see someone at the grocery store and you've got about 2 minutes to catch up, I guess you try to hit the high points and convey that yes, things are good and that you are OK. He was a friend from the time I was married, and was around during my divorce. I feel compelled to show people from then (maybe now, too?) that I've done OK. 

It's Friday! This has been a very busy week. I need to start some seeds, and would also like to finish pulling up carpet in my back hallway and getting the peel and stick tile installed. 

I've had a nice experience on Etsy lately. A couple of weeks ago, a woman who owns a yarn shop (!) bought a few buttons and brooches from my shop. Then I listed more brooches, and she bought those. then I listed a few more and, you guessed it, she bought those too. She emailed asking about the possibility of buying 20 more, in colors that go with certain yarns. How cool is that?? I've been sort of blah about mixing new clay colors and making tiles, but this has revved me up and I'm looking forward to making a bunch of tiles this weekend. 

This is an example of one of the styles she liked:

Me too. I like all the textures doing their thing, yet there is a rhythm to it. Yea!!

Choices choices choices

I've received the bids for the home renovation work and will go with a company I'll refer to as DJ. It's a bit more than I have refinanced, but he said that he was aiming a little high and that there will be lots of choices to make that can bring costs down.

Here is the drawing of the new layout that we will start from. The current layout has the fridge and stove switched. I'll take a bunch of pictures as it progresses. I'm excited to have a dishwasher (besides myself, I mean). 

The only thing I've seen so far that I really like and think might be worth the extra cost (and this of course will change once I meet with the designer again) is recycled glass countertops. They supposedly cost about the same as granite, and I think they look really cool. Here's a picture (from here):

You can choose from six or eight different edges on these things. These are the kinds of choices that will need to be made. I just hope I can tell the difference between the ones that matter and those that really don't. 

Project in progress photos

I wanted to post a couple of before and after photos from painting my back hallway this past weekend. I really like it, it's so much lighter back there.

Here's before:

Yeah, the purple was not a good idea, and the original orange WAS pretty orangey, wasn't it? I also have too much stuff back there, but that's a project for another day. Here's a couple of "after" shots:

I did take a stab at pulling up the carpet, but need to get a smaller crowbar/wedge thingy to get the carpet strip up. It was as I suspected underneath, a layer of no-pile indoor/outdoor carpet that I'll lay the peel-and-stick vinyl tiles over. There was a sense of satisfaction involved in hooking my big crowbar under the carpet and pulling. It'll be nice to get the gross carpet out of there in favor of something that can actually get clean.

I took three coats of paint to cover that purple! I bought the "primer and paint in one" kind of paint and it covered for all the world like regular old paint. Oh well, it looks nice. 

Next up: the back hallway in Torchlight

Well, we're expecting more snow, so in what feels like a repeat of a couple of weeks ago (when we were supposed to get a big storm, although it totally fizzled) I went to Home Depot today to pick up some paint. I figured I might as well do a project if I was potentially going to be snowed in. I bought paint to repaint my back hallway. The color I chose is Behr's "Torchlight".

I wanted something colorful, but that also felt light. When I bought the house, the back hallway was part of the space where a porch had been added after the house was constructed. The kind of porch they build so the entrance to the cellar is enclosed. It was a very orangey orange. Glossy. The sellers said something about it being stimulating for the new baby. 

For reasons that escape me at the moment, when the wall was put up to make Mr W's room out of the porch, only half of the area got repainted. I chose a medium-dark purple, and the guy was absolutely right. The dark color makes the space feel like a cave. But it's only half dark purple, because the other half is still the orangey orange color. Why I never finished the job is what I can't quite recall. 

No matter. Tomorrow I make it all better. Yes, I'll take pictures. I should say that what precipitated this particular project is that I've had it up to here with the nasty carpet in said back hallway. I figured I should paint before a new floor is installed. Why, oh why do people put tan shag carpeting in one of the highest traffic spots in the house? It's permanently dirty. I went over it a lot with the rug cleaner before my family came out last August and I don't think it made much difference.

Here's where I feel I have made progress in some grown up, self-reliant kind of way. Whereas before my thought process logically went something like, "I need to hire someone to rip up that carpet and put some vinyl flooring down," now (for whatever reason) it occurs to me that I can rip up 40 square feet of carpet myself and buy tiles of peel and stick vinyl flooring and install them myself. So I bought a box of it when I got the paint.

It's in 12" x 12" squares and has some orange tones that will go with the paint. I don't have much on the schedule this weekend, and we are supposed to get a bunch of snow, so I'll see how much I can get done. My goal is to at least have get the walls painted and the carpet ripped up. Yea!!

Image from here.

My Ignite talk

They posted the videos from the Ignite talk I gave on our microbiomes. Here it is!




I was crazy nervous, but I think I did pretty good. I'm glad they shot the videos so I could see it!