properly prepare the surface

i have sketched my design, selected my materials, got code safety approved changes for the gas line of the firebox. i was good to go until jorge arrived.   i thought of everything, except that my surface is not properly prepared.  i need to float the uneven base and insert metal bolts into the concrete/brick to support the weight of a granite mantle.     ohhhhhh, okayyyyyy!  now i'm left to find just the right person to legally, safely, aesthetically do this.  yet another setback.  it is now setbacks permeated with moments of progress.  do i hear an ohm?

to further illustrate the direction of the day: please crank your neck sideways to see "before" photo of deconstructed pre-properly prepared surface of fireplace area.

random acts of ignorance

when encountering random acts of ignorance ---as in bold statements from others about what they "know" to be right and true dirt and negativity about how "it" should be and who is the right "one", the right "way" blah, blah, ohshutup---- duck and cover (your heart). be grateful that you have the wisdom to seek and live truth in your own peaceful place.  we know that intelligence is more in the questions than the answers.  est il pas? 

obama rama

this is an historical election.  i voted for hope. 

some states are voting on an expanded definition of marriage.  this is for state property and family  privilege.  this is also for public proclamation of commitment.  we all know it is impossible to try to reconcile the procreation part.  just like we can't legislate love.  but it is with love and caring that such legitimatizing is sought.

 i'm voting for the values of my family.  so family, i hope you are hearing this.  i do believe in marriage as a joining of two people with equal rights within a commitment under god and this country.  yes, even gay people want this---- to do right by each other as human beings under law and under god.  it is the right, respectful and honorable thing to do.  it bespeaks love and protection and responsibility and value and belief in each other.   this is for each to decide their beliefs and values about commitment, not the state or those who think they should play god. 

if you can figure out what i'm talking about, good for you.

  

NABLOG MO

Yes, it has come to the attention of yomama that it is national blog month and she is already two days behind.  so let's catch up, shall we?

on friday night (oct 31) yomama sported a "spider witch" costume and went out on a date with dracula.  we double dated with the gypsy and surfer dude/hippie next door.  said sd/hipster carried around his mini acordian all night... just in case there might be an opportunity to make music in our evening's journey.  before we went out for the evening he played a free concert on his front porch to emphasize the fact that there was free candy and entertainment.  such is the notoriety of s. clark st.   

thanks to a timely phone call to good neighor, L, who was at the grocery buying candy at the time of the call, i got free home delivery of a bag- o -kit/kats for the goblins and cute little ones.  (tip: buy halloween candy that you DON'T like, therefore you would have to be in complete desperation for a goodie to be tempted to eat any). our house looked appropriately spooky with no inside lights,  no curtains, no furniture, a ladder in the window.  the construction project that never ends drags on.

it was a sad yomama moment when she remembered that last year at this time she was walking away from her beloved home, family, friends and life in fort worth.  it was halloween when she shut the door to an empty house and drove away.  now yomama doesn't feel like writing any more and needs to go do something else.  no, i don't mean that i am going to tear the place up until i find a left over kit/kat.  there is coffee to drink, laundry to be done, music to be studied and art projects that need creativity poured upon them.

i'm sending out the yomama yummy goodness/happiness vibes to the loves of my life... you know who you are.

remodeling your home and other nightmares

it started with a vision to tear down some walls to open up some space. this is a guarantee for a journey that will expand before you say the words.  it will require considerably more time, energy, money and creative resources than you originally thought you were capable of.

case in point:  a 1930's tiny tudor with a new extension/expansion that ignored the original "tiny" part when it slapped on the more open new part. what mark & i have come to refer to as "timmisms": the at times scary and/or almost laughable choices made by the former owner/remodeler of this house.    

  let's start our story with the kitchen. note the "before" pics. and.... back to "tearing down some walls"... this kitchen part has nothing to do with the walls.  this is like one of those ballot issues that has "add ons" that are part of the package.  in this case, if we are going to do the kitchen, the two-walls-to-go program in the other part of the house will be attached to the budget.  NOW you get it.

the progress report on the kitchen is: countertops(from concrete to granite)-done. saw off part of cabinet to expose island-done, backsplash(from busy multicolored dizzying pattern to serene natural-hued tumbled marble)-done.  paint, island lighting and window treatments-pending.

let's save the rest for another post.  

p.s. hurray for me! because today is the day i learned to connect two different cameras to my awesome new mac notebook to send an email to the HVAC contractor (yet another post to come) and to post photos on this blog.  while we're at it, i also created a Picasa photo site this week. .. all this productivity while sitting on my ass is astounding!

latest great book/site/blog

notsobiglife.com

go yomama go!

yo mama has had a long recovery period from the france trip.  apparently yo mama's back has had an almost two month hissy over prolonged transatlantic flight positioning in business class. 

 been to the doctor, been to the massage therapist, been to the chiropractor, been to my personal trainer,  been in pain and discomfort that is messing with my sleep.  now this is getting serious when we're talking about messing with yo mama's sleep.  it took the chiropractor---- and his twisting me into positions i could only dream of in my yoga class---- to inform me that i was making a bad matter worse by lifting weights and going for deep muscle massages.  so i've had to quit my trainer (only temporarily) and pass on the deep tissue massages for a while.  yo mama is feeling so much better.  

meanwhile, yo mama has joined a new yoga studio (with chiropractor approval). now, yo mama has taken yoga classes before, but this is not just an exercise class.   yo mama is journeying deeper into the mind, body, spirit rehlm via her yoga mat.

yo mama is also playing well with others in painting and drawing classes at the "art students league of denver."  just the best little art school outside of florence and nyc.   see the awesomeness of it at asld.org    yo mama is currently struggling with perspective and appreciating color and repetition of pattern.  and.....  how cosmic is this:::: my weekly painting class began right after labor day, and yesterday during the fourth class meeting, i walk into class and head toward the one empty chair that awaits me for the art history lecture that is about to begin.  i look over to the person on my right who has not been in the previous classes and recognize her.  she says "hello, you look familiar."  i say "hello shari, i was in a writing class of yours last spring."   eventually our conversation leads to her asking me the question: so, are you still writing.  yo mama is rather lost for words, but concedes that there is no good excuse for saying no.  she tried several and all were so lame that she could do nothing else except get a tension knot in the part of her psyche that needs its ass kicked to get a move on.   

besides the bizzareness of this appearance of the writing teacher in art class... (which reminds me of the presence of the voice teacher in my writing class last spring/ not shari's  literary non- fiction class but andrea's "writing short")... i realize that these things happen to yo mama..... a..... lot!   we will see if shari shows up next week after the brutal perspective  cramming that the art teacher gave her in an effort to catch her up.   the class went outside to draw buildings and shari stayed in to face the horrors of vanishing points, horizons and fighting what your brain tells you you see vs what exists before your eyes.....  it's a losing battle that's worth fighting if you are brave enough.  if she doesn't return next week i will be left to wonder if she fled from the battlescene or if she was an apparition.

yo mama has gotten way too involved in her home remodelling project and one day decided to take hands on action.  but that will be for another post....