Liberation Friday
Friday, January 27th, 2023 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI was up around 10AM today, and down to walk Yvette by 10:30. Another half inch of fresh snow had fallen overnight, and after our walk began, it started to snow again, with a stiff wind, that was at my back, thankfully...
Until Yvette heard a dog bark up the street and decided to turn around.
On the way back toward the house, little sleet grains were pelting me in the face, as my hood kept blowing off my head.
She decided to veer into the back yard, and hang around back there for a while. And while we were back there, I saw a big SUV pull up in the driveway.
At length, the SUV turned around and backed over the front lawn, to get close to the side porch door.
I watched Tim help the lady from the SUV get Mom's china cabinet into her cargo hold, as the sleety snow continued to fall sideways in the stiff wind.
--<>--
When I got back in, a minute later, Tim said he'd told the woman that the snow was Mom's revenge for us getting rid of her china cabinet.
The day of Mom's funeral, there had been sidways snow, blowing in a cold wind outside, both at the burial ceremony, and the little reception afterward... so... yeah!.. Tim's theory checked out!
But Mom had found that china cabinet at a thrift store in the early 2000s, and it had never had glass in the doors, which meant everything on display inside it got hopelessly dusty and tarnished.
Also, it's footprint was just too huge in the small kitchen and it made it difficult to get around the table for the past twenty years.
The woman who bought it today, intends to sand it down, re-stain it, and put new glass in the doors so... it's not like we threw it away, Mom!
--<>--
Seeing the china cabinet go, and also having Dad's ashes back home, made me decide it was time to take down the huge American flag outside, which had been hanging low since the day of his death, Tuesday before last.
In the kitchen, Tim and I folded Dad's flag into a proper triangle, and then put it with his urn in the living room.
--<>--
He, and his father before him, have flown a full size American flag off the front or side of this house for the past, almost 90 years continuously!
When I first moved back here in 2014, his flag was faded and the end was in tatters, so I bought him a new one. And then, when that flag got faded and tattered, I replaced it again with a new one, just last summer.
But Dad and his father were both ardent Republicans, and lived in times when flag flying was a bit more mainstream.
These days, flying a giant American flag on your house looks pretty facist... especially since the Trump administration, so... now that the old man's gone... his flag's been retired.
And there won't be any more flags outside, or inside, on my watch, for the next twenty or thirty years.
------------{=0=}------------
Tim was busy working on a way to liquidate Dad's car this morning... filling out forms online, and taking photos of the title and soforth.
It was agreed by all six of us kids that Dad's car is Tim's inheritance. Tim helped Dad swing the car deal to get that 2013 Dodge Dart, back in 2015, right after Mom died, and their car at the time, a white Sebring, was on it's last legs.
Dad's blue Dart became a character in it's own right, over this recent crisis!
Being left behind at the DMV when he broke his hip... then I drove it home and a tire immediately went flat.
Then Tim, Kevin, and I had to jump through hoops to get the tire repaired.
Then it was Kevin's car for a week.
After that, it was Sheila and Colleen's car for several days.
Then it was Veda's car for a weekend.
And this week, it's finally been Tim's car.
But he thinks he can get six grand for it, and he needs the money, so he's got an appointment tomorrow to sell it to a dealership.
------------{=0=}------------
I left Tim to his dealings, around 12:10PM, and drove out to Home Depot to get paint for the kitchen.
Looking over color swatches in the store, I picked out two shades of... a fairly neutral tan color. One shade, for the trim, was very close to white... and the other shade, for the walls, was a bit darker, and more saturated.
I had the guy mix me a gallon of each, with the trim color being semi-gloss, and the wall color being satin.
While he did that, I went through the shelves, throwing things into my cart... a couple new brushes, some roller pads, drop cloths, three rolls of masking tape, couple tubes of caulk, tub of spackle, and... a can of black spray paint... in case I felt like spraying the ceiling fan hardware.
All that stuff, plus the two gallons of good, single-coat paint, came to $210.00!
Not what I was planning to spend, but... I do want this job done right, even if it is just a freshening up.
--<>--
Like the rest of the house, the kitchen needs to be gutted down to the studs. The electric has to be redone, and the plaster and lath have to be replaced with drywall.
But the kitchen will be one of the LAST rooms I renovate, because... kitchens are just so involved!... with all the cabinetry, plumbing, and so forth.
So... this new paint job is likely to be THE paint job, for the next 6-8 years in the kitchen.
And the kitchen is also just so symbolic of the house itself. So I want this job to be done correctly... to reflect that this is a new era for the house... and one that is a lot more sane, and a bit more stylish, than the previous era.
--<>--
Mom & Dad always just painted everything white! Walls and trim alike... white! Paint over the outlet and switch covers. Don't remove the hooks and wall hardware... paint over them too.
Don't move the fridge out of the way... just leave the wall behind it the old color.
And Mom doubled down on this with white curtains, and white valences.
It's just been... SO DULL!.. for SO LONG!
--<>--
My two shades of tan may not seem very bold, but... believe me... just having two tones, and two finishes to distinguish the walls from the trim is gonna be REVOLUTIONARY!
I understand this house on a very deep level... having grown up here... and having absorbed it's entire history from the day it was built... and being a professional handyman with an eye for decor.
I understand that this house can NEVER be... a modern house. It wasn't built like that. It can't be retro-engineered into that now.
But the walls CAN be flat again!
The electrical CAN be updated for modern needs.
The windows can be updated, and it can be more energy efficient.
But when it comes to the fixtures, and the decor... THAT stuff has to remain old school.
It began as a victorian era home, without indoor plumbing or electricity... but was retrofitted with that stuff in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was still under fifty years old.
So, when I say old school, I mean... victorian through depression era type stuff. That's what it's always had. That's what suits this house. And to try and give it any kind of "modern" makeover, would be criminal!
Okay!.. that's enough of that for one entry. You get the idea.
------------{=0=}------------
So, after work tonight, I came home to a Pizza Hut pizza that Tim had ordered. He was inspired by the valences I'd ordered, which had been delivered earlier in the afternoon... red and white stripes criss-crossing over a white background.
They do look like classic Pizza Hut decor, but... in my defense, I was looking for gingham, which you can't find on Amazon these days, and... hey!.. it's a kitchen! It SHOULD feel like a restaurant, and make you hungry!
--<>--
Also delivered by Amazon, was a new pull switch, for the kitchen ceiling fan.
The ceiling fan has two pull chains; one for the fan, and one for the lights. But the one for the lights was no longer working.
There are sconce lamps on two walls (which I installed back in 2002) that make for some very nice indirect lighting, when you turn off the ceiling fan lights, but...
Over the past few weeks that we've all finally been able to ENJOY that kind of lighting in the kitchen (because Mom & Dad considered indirect lighting to be sinful) we've had to unscrew the three light bulbs!
Because if you just hit the wall switch, it also kills the fan, which we've needed... because we're smoking in there!
So, at any rate, I installed the new pull switch to the ceiling fan and now, at long last, we can leave the fan run, and simply pull a chain to kill the overhead lights!
YAY!
------------{=0=}------------
The last bit of news for this Friday night, is that I cut a wedge out of a hunk of scrap wood in the basement shop, to prop open the interior door to the basement... which is in Dad's room... so that Snoop & Prowly could finally be free to get down there and explore!
Man!.. were they excited to discover that this house not only has a main floor, but also a BASEMENT!
They've been running up and down the basement steps... and up and down the stairs to the second floor here, all evening!
Yvette still likes to retire in Dad's room to snooze overnight, but... such has been their enthusiasm to get down in the basement... that they've taken to jumping clear over her to get past her!
So, I'm very happy that the cats now have the FULL run of the house on three floors, and that the dog is tolerating them quite well!.. to the point of almost not noticing them anymore!
--<>--
This is the long awaited breath of fresh air this house has needed!
Everythings open... everything's getting cleaned! Junk's getting thrown out by the ton! Mice are on the run!
Trump stickers, and facist symbols have been taken down!..
Color is coming back!..
This is the moment I've been waiting for... kind of since those weed smoking days of the early 1990s!
------------{=0=}------------
On the very last note... here's the Three and Four of Spades, which I've managed to finish over the past couple weeks, in stolen moments of quiet, during the chaos.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Until Yvette heard a dog bark up the street and decided to turn around.
On the way back toward the house, little sleet grains were pelting me in the face, as my hood kept blowing off my head.
She decided to veer into the back yard, and hang around back there for a while. And while we were back there, I saw a big SUV pull up in the driveway.
At length, the SUV turned around and backed over the front lawn, to get close to the side porch door.
I watched Tim help the lady from the SUV get Mom's china cabinet into her cargo hold, as the sleety snow continued to fall sideways in the stiff wind.
When I got back in, a minute later, Tim said he'd told the woman that the snow was Mom's revenge for us getting rid of her china cabinet.
The day of Mom's funeral, there had been sidways snow, blowing in a cold wind outside, both at the burial ceremony, and the little reception afterward... so... yeah!.. Tim's theory checked out!
But Mom had found that china cabinet at a thrift store in the early 2000s, and it had never had glass in the doors, which meant everything on display inside it got hopelessly dusty and tarnished.
Also, it's footprint was just too huge in the small kitchen and it made it difficult to get around the table for the past twenty years.
The woman who bought it today, intends to sand it down, re-stain it, and put new glass in the doors so... it's not like we threw it away, Mom!
Seeing the china cabinet go, and also having Dad's ashes back home, made me decide it was time to take down the huge American flag outside, which had been hanging low since the day of his death, Tuesday before last.
In the kitchen, Tim and I folded Dad's flag into a proper triangle, and then put it with his urn in the living room.
He, and his father before him, have flown a full size American flag off the front or side of this house for the past, almost 90 years continuously!
When I first moved back here in 2014, his flag was faded and the end was in tatters, so I bought him a new one. And then, when that flag got faded and tattered, I replaced it again with a new one, just last summer.
But Dad and his father were both ardent Republicans, and lived in times when flag flying was a bit more mainstream.
These days, flying a giant American flag on your house looks pretty facist... especially since the Trump administration, so... now that the old man's gone... his flag's been retired.
And there won't be any more flags outside, or inside, on my watch, for the next twenty or thirty years.
Tim was busy working on a way to liquidate Dad's car this morning... filling out forms online, and taking photos of the title and soforth.
It was agreed by all six of us kids that Dad's car is Tim's inheritance. Tim helped Dad swing the car deal to get that 2013 Dodge Dart, back in 2015, right after Mom died, and their car at the time, a white Sebring, was on it's last legs.
Dad's blue Dart became a character in it's own right, over this recent crisis!
Being left behind at the DMV when he broke his hip... then I drove it home and a tire immediately went flat.
Then Tim, Kevin, and I had to jump through hoops to get the tire repaired.
Then it was Kevin's car for a week.
After that, it was Sheila and Colleen's car for several days.
Then it was Veda's car for a weekend.
And this week, it's finally been Tim's car.
But he thinks he can get six grand for it, and he needs the money, so he's got an appointment tomorrow to sell it to a dealership.
I left Tim to his dealings, around 12:10PM, and drove out to Home Depot to get paint for the kitchen.
Looking over color swatches in the store, I picked out two shades of... a fairly neutral tan color. One shade, for the trim, was very close to white... and the other shade, for the walls, was a bit darker, and more saturated.
I had the guy mix me a gallon of each, with the trim color being semi-gloss, and the wall color being satin.
While he did that, I went through the shelves, throwing things into my cart... a couple new brushes, some roller pads, drop cloths, three rolls of masking tape, couple tubes of caulk, tub of spackle, and... a can of black spray paint... in case I felt like spraying the ceiling fan hardware.
All that stuff, plus the two gallons of good, single-coat paint, came to $210.00!
Not what I was planning to spend, but... I do want this job done right, even if it is just a freshening up.
Like the rest of the house, the kitchen needs to be gutted down to the studs. The electric has to be redone, and the plaster and lath have to be replaced with drywall.
But the kitchen will be one of the LAST rooms I renovate, because... kitchens are just so involved!... with all the cabinetry, plumbing, and so forth.
So... this new paint job is likely to be THE paint job, for the next 6-8 years in the kitchen.
And the kitchen is also just so symbolic of the house itself. So I want this job to be done correctly... to reflect that this is a new era for the house... and one that is a lot more sane, and a bit more stylish, than the previous era.
Mom & Dad always just painted everything white! Walls and trim alike... white! Paint over the outlet and switch covers. Don't remove the hooks and wall hardware... paint over them too.
Don't move the fridge out of the way... just leave the wall behind it the old color.
And Mom doubled down on this with white curtains, and white valences.
It's just been... SO DULL!.. for SO LONG!
My two shades of tan may not seem very bold, but... believe me... just having two tones, and two finishes to distinguish the walls from the trim is gonna be REVOLUTIONARY!
I understand this house on a very deep level... having grown up here... and having absorbed it's entire history from the day it was built... and being a professional handyman with an eye for decor.
I understand that this house can NEVER be... a modern house. It wasn't built like that. It can't be retro-engineered into that now.
But the walls CAN be flat again!
The electrical CAN be updated for modern needs.
The windows can be updated, and it can be more energy efficient.
But when it comes to the fixtures, and the decor... THAT stuff has to remain old school.
It began as a victorian era home, without indoor plumbing or electricity... but was retrofitted with that stuff in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was still under fifty years old.
So, when I say old school, I mean... victorian through depression era type stuff. That's what it's always had. That's what suits this house. And to try and give it any kind of "modern" makeover, would be criminal!
Okay!.. that's enough of that for one entry. You get the idea.
So, after work tonight, I came home to a Pizza Hut pizza that Tim had ordered. He was inspired by the valences I'd ordered, which had been delivered earlier in the afternoon... red and white stripes criss-crossing over a white background.
They do look like classic Pizza Hut decor, but... in my defense, I was looking for gingham, which you can't find on Amazon these days, and... hey!.. it's a kitchen! It SHOULD feel like a restaurant, and make you hungry!
Also delivered by Amazon, was a new pull switch, for the kitchen ceiling fan.
The ceiling fan has two pull chains; one for the fan, and one for the lights. But the one for the lights was no longer working.
There are sconce lamps on two walls (which I installed back in 2002) that make for some very nice indirect lighting, when you turn off the ceiling fan lights, but...
Over the past few weeks that we've all finally been able to ENJOY that kind of lighting in the kitchen (because Mom & Dad considered indirect lighting to be sinful) we've had to unscrew the three light bulbs!
Because if you just hit the wall switch, it also kills the fan, which we've needed... because we're smoking in there!
So, at any rate, I installed the new pull switch to the ceiling fan and now, at long last, we can leave the fan run, and simply pull a chain to kill the overhead lights!
YAY!
The last bit of news for this Friday night, is that I cut a wedge out of a hunk of scrap wood in the basement shop, to prop open the interior door to the basement... which is in Dad's room... so that Snoop & Prowly could finally be free to get down there and explore!
Man!.. were they excited to discover that this house not only has a main floor, but also a BASEMENT!
They've been running up and down the basement steps... and up and down the stairs to the second floor here, all evening!
Yvette still likes to retire in Dad's room to snooze overnight, but... such has been their enthusiasm to get down in the basement... that they've taken to jumping clear over her to get past her!
So, I'm very happy that the cats now have the FULL run of the house on three floors, and that the dog is tolerating them quite well!.. to the point of almost not noticing them anymore!
This is the long awaited breath of fresh air this house has needed!
Everythings open... everything's getting cleaned! Junk's getting thrown out by the ton! Mice are on the run!
Trump stickers, and facist symbols have been taken down!..
Color is coming back!..
This is the moment I've been waiting for... kind of since those weed smoking days of the early 1990s!
On the very last note... here's the Three and Four of Spades, which I've managed to finish over the past couple weeks, in stolen moments of quiet, during the chaos.
°¦}
