Frog and Goat

Yesterday we installed the bathroom cabinet and the new counter top.

I painted the old cabinet a dark chocolate color and we installed new hardware. We also installed new drawer glide brackets because the old ones were shot. No one will notice that fix but at least we’re confident the drawers won’t fall in.

The mirror that was in the room was the kind that was glued directly to the wall. When we ripped that out we had to replace the piece of sheet rock because of the severity of the glue damage. It turned out pretty well. It’s obvious that a professional didn’t do it, but it’s better than many home improvement projects I’ve seen. It’s also better than most of the fixes this house received in between when the original owners moved out and we moved in.

The counter top, back and side splash pieces went in relatively easily. We were nervous about breaking the pieces but with a little teamwork the process was actually pretty easy.

You can tell from this picture what didn’t fit. We’re working on that issue (and by we, I mean the better-half is ordering another part).

In addition to the work done in the bathroom we had new flooring installed. We originally thought we could do that work ourselves, but when we chose the flooring (duraceramic) we were told the grout was tricky. When we found out the install price, we signed them up. It would have taken us a lot longer to get anything close to these results. We did spend most of a day stripping out the old flooring and then nailing or pulling out a gazillion staples.

Here’s the floor in the back hallway as it runs into the bathroom. The kitchen is to the right, the laundry closet (with new doors that need to be painted) to the left. The garage is off to the left. Behind me is the door to the outside and a back stairwell.

It looks pretty close to ceramic but it is vinyl.

The remaining items are to paint the walls and the laundry room doors, rip the nasty carpet off the stairwell and then upgrade the stair treads, install new lights and replace the outside door and the door to the garage. We hope that most of those items will be done by the end of the year.

2006 has been the year of home improvements. I’d like 2007 to be the year to enjoy all the hard work.

From the Seattle Times:

Cheney indicated the Bush administration doesn’t regard waterboarding as torture and allows the CIA to use it. “It’s a no-brainer for me,” Cheney said.

Yesterday I went to an off-site meeting that was attended by about 40 people. To say it was tedious is an understatement. During one of the breaks, a woman I worked with in a very limited capacity years ago came up to me (she’s one of those people you hope to see first so you can take evasive maneuvers) and bumped my leg with hers to get my attention (her first mistake—I believe in the personal space bubble and believe others should respect it). I was nice because I’m a professional. After the how are yous were over the conversation tanked. It was clear this woman is still as smarmy as I remember.

She asked me what I do for my organization and I told her. She said something about having worked there many years ago. And then she said I was picking up where she left off-which kindled my loathing into a nice warm feeling in my chest. From what I can tell her legacy at my organization is that she left no legacy. I’m definitely not picking up where she left off.

She works for another university which also happens to have a contract with the same state agency that my project has a contract with. There been some contract negotiation sticky points with the mutual state entity and, naturally, there are some feelings of anxiety. This smarmy woman wanted me to spill the beans on what’s going on at my organization. I figure if you aren’t waterboarding me you don’t get info willy-nilly. I was non-committal.

She told me she believes we should all get out while we can and she has submitted 40 applications. My first thought was “LOSER” (seriously, who puts out 40 applications and then brags about it) but what I said was “I’m sure you’ll get quite a response from that.” 40 applications, jeez.

A woman I worked with said she spent the whole weekend cleaning her house. She has two children. One is a teen and one is about nine. She shrugged and said she still hasn’t gotten around to hiring a cleaning woman.

I work with another woman who has a cleaning woman come in either every week or once every two weeks. She has three children. The oldest attends college out of state but the other two kids are in high school.

When I was a teen we walked to school every day uphill in the snow and part of our chores were to clean the house and do laundry. Our monthly allowance waxed and waned depending on how well we performed. We usually did a bang up job because the housekeeping gig was our only real source of cash until the summer.

My question is were my parents running a sweatshop of sorts or have some of the boomers lost their damn minds? I don’t care how busy your kids are (and, please, you have some control over that—really), it doesn’t take much to run a dust rag around once a week and vacuum. Cleaning the bathroom? Suck it up, even that doesn’t take a whole lot of time if you do it regularly.

Years ago, I worked with a woman who had a house rule. The rule? The house was clean and picked up by Friday night or no one was allowed to go out on the weekend until the house was clean. Her kids were highly motivated.

The benefits of getting up early:

Silly, yes.
Drinkable, quite.

Since there’s been a musical theme to the week (sort of), I must share a radio stream that you may enjoy. The better-half found it earlier this week and I’ve been listening to it while at work since his discovery. The website has a set list and this afternoon has played:

• PJ Harvey
• The Styrenes
• Benny Goodman
• Antonio Carlos Jobim
• The Pixies
• David Bowie
• Pavement
• Tom Waits
• Cat Power

You get the point—all over the musical map. And, the thing is if you think you hate something wait a few minutes because the chances are high that you’ll get something you like.

Some other streams that I enjoy:
The Tide radio station located in Williamsburg, VA(look for the listen live link). I used to be able to listen to the station at home but they switched frequencies and now I have to be content with the streamed version. They are a commercial radio station so you get ads for local businesses. I may never buy a Yankee Candle because of their ads on this station.

The Bopst Show is a local AM show on during the week from 1-4pm. He’s all over the musical map too and is obviously crazy about music. He does get a yelling rant going on during breaks in music which you may not love, but the music will make you come back for more.

I’m sure I’ll look back on this entry years from now and sheepishly grin, but I’m totally digging Scissor Sisters newest release, “Ta-Dah”. It’s like Abba had a love child with early Elton John. The disc is playing downstairs and my chair upstairs is vibrating. Freaks like beats.

Last night Etta James described herself as a funky b*tch. And, based on her backing band The Roots Band she sho’nuff is. Man, that band blew the roof off the theater. Etta was funny, bawdy and her voice was just amazing. She didn’t make us wait for the encore to hear At Last which surprised me. I figured we’d be left hanging but she let that song loose about mid-set.

The other surprise was the skinny, hyper, bleached blonde, clothes-a-little-too-tight woman who sat next to me and knew every single song Etta James song, ever, I think. She was seriously excited to be there. I don’t think her companion could get a word in because of how hyped up fan-girl was.

The guy who opened was really great and I’d love to tell you his name but all I can remember is David. Every time he said his name the crowd was clapping too loud for me to hear it. He played guitar and some steel guitar which is a sure way to get to me. He sang the blues with a deep rumbly voice and had great stories in between songs.

Late yesterday afternoon we were sitting at the top of the hill waiting for Chuck Brown! to come on stage when a man carrying a small child walked by. The man’s t-shirt read:

“Patriots don’t need privacy. Support the Patriot Act.”

I was completely revolted by the t-shirt and even if I wanted to be a hipster who wears trucker hats and old 70s style t-shirts to be cool (please tell me that fashion is over), I could find no irony in his t-shirt. And, considering how embedded Republican values are in this area (although, hopefully the tide is changing the more times Allen opens his mouth), I think the guy was wearing the t-shirt because he thinks the Patriot Act is a good thing.

Yep, I, too, want an erosion of my freedoms.