A project!
I found a project I can really sink my teeth into: painting the deck. It isn't huge, and it's on the ground floor, so it doesn't involve climbing a ladder. That's my kind of painting job.
The condo association purchased the paint, and we agreed we'd do our own work. I think the hardest part of any painting job is the preparation! I had to take all the "stuff" off the deck: picnic table, bench, plants, thermometer, plant holders, chairs, and various rocks I'd picked up along the way because they were "cool."
Then I had to try and clean a couple years' worth of bird doo-doo off. (I told HighGuy our patio was the Poop Deck. Birds just naturally did their thing while sitting on the bird feeder. What can ya do?)
I hosed, swept, scraped, and ultimately vacuumed. I still didn't get it all, but I got enough of the detritus to get me going with the paint roller. I've come to the horrible conclusion that I'm getting old. I just don't have the energy I once did. I suppose none of us do who live sedentary lives.
My one hand wore out, so I switched to my left hand. Not a big deal. I've always been pretty flexible about left vs. right hand. Mom came over with her little sponge brush and helped with the touch-up, getting all those little spots that the roller can't reach.
My sister provided supper, since she was working on Mom's deck, and HighGuy was out mowing. We were an industrious bunch! (And of course, we had to pick one of the hottest days of the week!)
That deck absolutely slurped up the paint -- especially the side that gets the most sunlight. I used the entire gallon. I even had enough paint left over that I could give the picnic table and bench a quick swipe.
Tomorrow morning I'll have to go out and check my work -- check for thin spots and gaps in my roller work. And if I don't see anything, I can put all the stuff back on the deck and admire it from our deck door in the kitchen. I might even try and rearrange the furniture. It might be like rearranging sardines in a can, but I can try!
Posted by: HOMD on 7/2/2009 at 9:47 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: home improvement, memoir
A little bit of everything
It's time for me to catch up on blogging, so I'll write on a potpourri of topics.
Reading: I just finished two of Catherine Coulter's books featuring two FBI agents who happened to be married to each other. They were quick, entertaining novels -- I couldn't tell you the names of them, because I've handed them back to my mom. I thought I'd start a couple of Sandra Brown novels, but it turns out I've read them both.
Employment: I finally got an interview with a local company and I thought the interview went well. I would have been working with developmentally disabled adults. I enjoyed working with kids this spring, so I was pleased that I had an interview. I've already received a nice e-mail from them saying I wasn't chosen. That was fast. At least I'm not losing sleep about the possibilities.
Enjoyment: High Guy's cousin and his wife are here visiting from Texas. They took the bus. I can't believe how physically strenuous that must have been. They're probably still recuperating, and they've been here since Friday. They came out to the lake with us for the weekend, and thought they'd go fishing. They didn't get skunked. High Guy caught a bass, and someone else caught a couple of panfish.
Hobbies: I've cut out a bunch of squares for quilting that polyester double knit quilt, and I'm starting to sew them together. I still haven't decided if I'm going to attach the quilt top to a sheet, to a blanket and a sheet or to just a blanket. I want it lightweight, and yet, I don't want to feel all those seams. I'll have to "try it on" when I get the top put together.
Cooking: My mother-in-law and I discovered a mutual taste for potato salad. I tried making some one weekend, but alas, my eggs turned out soft-boiled instead of hard-boiled. This time, I had hard-boiled eggs, so it was much "eggier." I think the sauce turned out much better, too. I used Miracle Whip, mustard, sweet pickle relish, sugar and sea salt. And no potato salad is complete without a little chopped sweet onion.
I've also been given a recipe for cheesy hash browns that I love. It calls for two cups of sour cream, cream of chicken soup, a half-stick of melted margarine, two cups of shredded cheese, and a two-pound package of frozen hash brown potatoes. I put french-fried onions on the top -- that was my mom's alteration to the recipe. And they are yummy!
More enjoyment: Even though I'm unemployed, High Guy decided to plan our vacation this summer. We have time-share points to use wherever and whenever we want, so he decided on August. Going south in August might be a "hot time," but with the cool wet summer we've had so far, I could do with some heat. (I maybe won't say that in August!)
High Guy found a resort in Tennessee that's only a few hours from my sister and her husband. We'll drive down there and invite them up. I hope my brother-in-law can get the time off. High Guy just did some Internet surfing and found this resort that has several golf courses attached. They had the time available, so he booked it. If I find employment between now and then, we can cancel (with some notice) and get our points back.
And that's the news from Highlight Town!
Posted by: HOMD on 6/29/2009 at 11:26 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink
Tags: employment, memoir, reading
Testimony
Author Anita Shreve has a way of writing that makes me think that her editor makes her pay for every word he has to take out. Her novels are so spare and yet so expressive.
"Testimony" is about the fall-out after a sex tape surfaces at a private school. Actors in the tape are three older boys and a 14-year-old girl. That's statuatory rape in Vermont.
The story is told from 360 degrees -- the boys in the tape, the girl in the tape, the headmaster of the school, parents of the students, the cops who arrest the boys, the nurse who examines the girl, and friends of the students.
Shreve is a master at voices -- each person who gives their testimony in the incident has a very clear speaking style. The girl is typical of her age group -- her monologue rambles on and on, interrupted by her various thoughts and punctuated with "like."
At first it would seem that the boys are strictly to blame. Alcohol is involved, of course, which clouds everyone's judgment. But as the story unfolds, there's enough blame to go around for everyone.
The headmaster is carrying on an affair with one boy's mother, and he discovers them. Another boy has had everything and anything his heart could want -- except the love and attention he seeks from his parents. And the girl is just clueless about the meaning of intimacy.
What really hits home is how so many lives are changed by this one single incident. The headmaster counts up the tally of folks who suffer -- it's not just the boys and girl. With each person's viewpoint comes their guilt, their role, their failing.
School politics and the media also play a role -- one of the teachers at the school is resentful because he wasn't hired as headmaster. The local reporter comments on how the national media debates the ethics of showing clips from the tape, heavily edited, but then shows it anyway for ratings.
The headmaster is blasted for trying to cover up the incident -- his intention is to deal with the students internally and avoid any embarrassment or bad publicity for the school. One of the cops is the uncle of one boy, who is normally a quiet, hard-working student.
Most of the students are boarded at the academy, while this boy is one of the locals. That makes a big difference, too, in attendance at the basketball games where he is on the starting line-up. And that's a big asset to the academy in terms of local support and fund-raising.
I think this book would make excellent reading for parents and students alike. The only problem is that when kids read a book like this, they think it couldn't happen to them. Kids think they're invulnerable. We adults know better.
Although I was actually only kept up 'til midnight, I give this book a 2 a.m. rating. That's how good it is, and how hard it is to put down.
Posted by: HOMD on 6/18/2009 at 3:30 PM | Comments (5) | Permalink
Tags: book review
And another book...
With more time on my hands, I find I'm able to read more -- it's almost like being a kid again!
I've always liked John Sandford's books. The Prey series is a good one, so I was surprised to find "Dead Watch" in paperback. Copyrighted in 2006, it's one I hadn't read before.
"Dead Watch" is a nice turn of the corner for Sandford. He doesn't dwell on the murder or the crime scene investigation. If we want that we can read Patricia Cornwell or watch CSI on TV. This novel is more like Vince Flynn's political thrillers. And I like that.
Sandford does a good job of introducing the characters slowly enough that we have a mental image. They're not stereotypes either. He gives us backgrounds on the characters so we can form ideas on each person's motivations. And if the reader is careful, he can decide early on who to suspect and what the motivation is.
In "Dead Watch," Jake Winter is a "fixer," a consultant/insider who can investigate both sides of the political aisle and find out what's going on. It makes me wonder if people like this really exist.
A former senator goes missing and then is found dead and decapitated in the woods; his widow lives a separate life and is a perfect love interest for Jake Winter. Meanwhile another senator is angling to replace the current vice president in the next election. What will he do to force the vice president's resignation?
"Dead Watch" moves quickly enough and the political finagling is explained simply for those of us who don't follow a particular party. And Sandford includes just enough humor and sarcasm to keep it light and realistic. I recommend it.
I've decided to rate books based on what hour of night it keeps me up to -- 10 p.m. would be a snoozer. Wee hours of the morning means I couldn't put it down. "Dead Watch" kept me up 'til midnight.
Posted by: HOMD on 6/16/2009 at 9:56 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Tags: book review
Book club 14
Can you imagine Katie Couric muttering under her breath as she waits for the cameras to switch, calling the person she's interviewing an effing asshole? Neither could I, but that's the premise of the novel, "Rise and Shine."
And the book isn't about Katie Couric, who is too much a professional to let her personal opinion come through on an interview.
Author-columnist Anna Quindlen takes a talking head on television and breathes life into the character, giving her a husband, son, and sister, along with a compelling back-story. Meghan is the TV anchor, who lives in the rarified air of New York, breezing from one dinner party to the next, picked up and dropped off by drivers in black cars. Her feet hardly touch the ground.
Her younger sister, Bridget, lives in the other part of New York -- grounded fully by people at the agency where she works. She's the social worker at a women's shelter and deals with the reality of people who don't have cars or drivers or many times, a home. Bridget's Rolodex contains the names of friendly business people who might have empty apartments or simple jobs to fill.
Life for Bridget is meeting crisis after crisis. Life for Meghan is talking about crisis after crisis. Quindlen crafts their stories so skillfully that only after a reader is done do you realize the parallels and contrasts. When she writes about the dynamics between the sisters, I am convinced she must have a sister of her own.
But then I thought that she must have lived through some personal crisis of her own when she wrote "Black and Blue," about an abused woman. Quindlen also wrote about a woman dying of cancer and the family dynamics of that situation in "One True Thing," and the family that is formed around a foundling in "Blessings."
She is not a one-note writer. If her formula is "family," she has this genre sewn up. The thing I enjoy about Quindlen's families is that they are not people without humor. More than once I caught myself laughing out loud as I pictured the delivery of a line or a look from one character to another.
Brava, Anna Quindlen. I'll keep looking for your books to add to my library.
Posted by: HOMD on 6/15/2009 at 8:08 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Tags: book review
