The day before yesterday, we had our contractor come back over here so that we could have a little chat about the state of our brand-new maple floor. Otto and I have become effortlessly adept at playing Good Cop, Bad Cop together. Although, more accurately, I suppose in our case it's more like Nice Guy, Crazy Melodramatic Woman. (It's a real stretch for me, of course, but I didn't get that degree in theater for nothing!) Mind you, I'm calm, I'm cordial, I don't raise my voice, I don't make accusations. I just say things like, "You've done a lot of work for us and you've always been extremely...
(Dear Google, You're welcome! Next time I'll try to work THREE obscene words into the title!) Okay, so, the contractor came over last night and we three stood around discussing The Issues With The Floor. He's a good guy, our contractor. Within the first ten minutes he was able to quell my fear that he'd just plain installed the floor with a crowbar in one hand and a fifth of bourbon in the other, so that was an excellent start. I guess---and wow, does living here give me an education OVER AND OVER or what?---that when you live in a really humid climate it's incredibly difficult to lay in a...
We're hooooooome! There's so much to tell you, from the trip itself to the airport hijinks (insert card here! just kidding! this machine is out of order! thanks for the card!) to the state of the house upon our return (wood floors! echoriffic!), but there is just one quick tale I have to tell you before I forget because it is STILL making me laugh. The wedding we went to was held at a swanky country club, and I'm not certain if the wedding coordinator was an employee of said establishment (I think she was) or an independent, but I CAN tell you that she took her job REALLY VERY SERIOUSLY....
Thanks to all who weighed in on how I should do my hair for the wedding. We all know it's especially important for the wife of the groom's big brother to look hot, right? All eyes were on me! Oh, wait. No one noticed me at all (thank God). Also? You know you're at the wedding of twenty-somethings when there are girls there in full-length ball gowns with their hair in ponytails. SERIOUSLY. (How... interesting... yes?) Anyway, the wedding was simply lovely; the bride was gorgeous and the groom radiant and I had to physically restrain myself from pinching them both, they were so adorable. Also...
So we're here in the frozen north, er, in the temperate north, attending to family and wedding festivities. We are staying with Otto's brother and sister-in-law, who live in a gorgeous house and are always gracious hosts. Usually when we stay here we camp out in their spare room, which is a smallish L-shaped space that has two twin beds catty-corner to each other. I enjoy sleeping in there because I never tire of saying "Good night, John Boy!" when we turn the lights out, but this time they opted to put my younger nephew in his brother's room and put us in his room on an air mattress. This...
Otto and I are departing for Boston this morning, to begin the wild extravaganza known as A Family Wedding. (Having recently married, myself, in the most low-key of arrangements, I must say that watching my brother-in-law and his future wife navigate these treacherous waters has prompted a sympathetic "HAHA!" from me several times, already.) Anyway, it's the usual flurry of arrangements happening here, and I just have a few brief notes I believe need to be shared before we go. After this, I have to go finish packing and strategically place something like my expensive hair serum somewhere so...
I have been pretty good, I think, about sitting on my hands when it comes to how our new summer schedule is working out for everyone. I have been trying to take that old expression about not saying anything if I don't have anything nice to say to heart, a bit more, you see. Also, I've been trying some of that positive thinking thing I always hear people talking about, where I don't dwell on things that are unpleasant, but rather focus on the GOOD and therefore, in this case, the IMAGINARY. This summer sucks donkey balls, quite frankly. Now you know. The stress level 'round here is palpable,...
One of the first things we did after moving down here, last year, was to start the kids in piano lessons. It was something we'd talked about for a long time, and logistics just never seemed to work out when we lived up north, but we have a highly-recommended teacher nearby, here, and so we were finally able to get them started. Now, when we first went to the studio, one of the first things the teacher asked me was if the children have "a decent instrument" at home on which to practice. "Sure!" I said. "We have an electric keyboard!" (I did not mention that the kids love to set it to piccolo...
Technically, I think I may be on the fifth or sixth or EIGHTY GAZILLIONTH verse, when it comes to the never-ending process of painting the dining room, but I do rather feel like a hamster on a wheel, at this point. Get up. Check email. Do some work. Paint. Do some more work. Do other stuff around the house. Paint. And so on. I feel like a tremendous wimp. I mean, yes, applying plaster is extremely time-consuming, but it's not particularly DIFFICULT, and painting with regular paint is simple enough, and also, it's not a very big room, and why in the world does this seem to be the project that...
