We're getting close - pics soon!

We are getting close to having all the decisions made. I need to choose the stain for the woodwork and pick out a chair-rail for the bead-board in the bathroom, and make the final decision on paint. I have ordered little paint pouches from Devine Paint out of Lake Oswego, Oregon. They have the most luscious paint! When we moved to Portland a couple of years ago, our bedroom had been freshly painted the day we moved in and it did not smell! It is thick and "green". It is actually safe for pregnant women to use. So I had them send me their color pallet, and the painter and I chose some colors which they will send me in little pouches, so I can actually try them out on the walls before buying. The website also helps you to figure out how to do color, and the blog answers tons of questions you might have. Altogether a real find. After that, choosing the bathroom mirror is going to be a piece of cake. The only unfortunate thing is that the closest place to buy Devine Paint is Auburn, CA, about two hours from here. They do ship for free, but you need at least two days. Restoration Hardware, where I think I want to buy the mirror is in Roseville, CA, which is about 30 minutes from Auburn. We may need to take a quick ride to CA to pick up these items at week end, just in case I can get the painters this weekend. Evidently, painting comes after electrician and sheet rocking. Electrician is tomorrow or Wednesday and the new gas (low emissions) fireplace also on Wednesday. Ordered the shower curtain and shade for bathroom (odd size - 50X84). We may actually be done by the time the family arrives for Christmas!

Decisions, decisions

It is truly amazing how many very small and large decisions are made during a remodel. I have spent hours and hours trying to "picture" how I want this thing to turn out. It includes decisions on flooring and how it will go with the walls and that means paint. Paint! It is the hardest decision of all. Do you paint all one color? Or do you paint with multiple colors? And, if so, how do you know they all "blend" into a cohesive whole and not look silly? Today we are heading out to pick out tile for the bathroom. Since I couldn't live without a certain sink, and the bathroom is small, I will have to have a shower curtain instead of shower doors. Now this will save some money, but, since most shower curtains are made for bath tubs, mine will have to be custom-made so it is longer and not as wide. If I had a sewing machine, I could make it. But I don't, so it will have to be custom. And tile ... that is a whole other HUGE decision-making process. Do you do all white (my choice at this point), so you can change your colors easily with paint and linens - or do color - maybe even glass tile (which I love.) It goes on and on. And all these decisions need to be made "pronto" because you do NOT want to slow the workers progress. Not for a minute! Plus, you need to stay somewhere in a budget, as it can easily get away from you. We have already determined the bid from the contractor was low on most things. Anyway, it could be worse - I could be still living with the choices someone made in 1979...

Let the healing begin...

I cannot express how deeply I feel about this win for Barack Obama. It really goes beyond words. This has been the most divisive election in my lifetime. I have felt strongly in the past at presidential elections, but never like this. I truly would have wanted to leave our great country if we, as a nation, continued in the Bush legacy. If we had voted to have a man who ran one of the dirtiest campaigns ever, despite the promise not to, with a running mate clearly not up to the challenge of being a vice president in unprecedented times, would have won, I would have wanted to look elsewhere for my remaining years. Me! Someone who have always said we need to fix what is wrong, not run, would have wanted to leave. Me! Someone who has voted in every election since I was allowed to vote. That is how disenfranchised I felt over the last eight years. How dispirited. How sad. How disgusted, as I watched our country gutted like the moose Sarah Palin shot from a helicopter, or plane, or whatever. That one act probably epitomized my feelings - a metaphor for what was happening in our country and world. A woman, no less, killing a great animal, not for food in all probability, but for the sport of it. And with the advantage of running it down, not on foot, but in a plane. Man, that says it all. 

I have fought, and been very disappointed in my friends, my family. I could not imagine how they could have been the people I love, and still not see what I saw. Another four years of inadequacy, blinded by ambition, of people who would elevate the unintellectual, divisive, angry Republican neo-conservatism to epic proportions. How could they not see that? These people that I knew so well, and agreed with, on most other things. The booing at McCain's very nice concession speech in Arizona showcased a lack of grace by many in the crowd. Even he seemed embarrassed for them.

But it was clear by the unbelievable numbers of voters that I was not alone. The majority of voters felt exactly as I did. And, for that, I am so very grateful.

Now it is time to heal. It is time to move forward, and come together, as a nation, as a family, and as friends. We need everyone working together, to face the incredible obstacles in our path. I know President Obama has that intention. And intention is the first step. But we all need to have the same intention. We need to focus on each other, our communities, and our great nation. We need to make sacrifices. Yes, sacrifices. History has taught us that rebuilding our country takes sacrifice. We will need to give up our consumer-based mentality to focus our energy on clean fuel and energy sources, which I believe will be the thing that will bring us out of the economic hole we are in. Our country is deeply in debt. Not just economically, but spiritually. It is time to pay. But it is also a time to start valuing what is really important. And that is ourselves and each other. Let the healing begin.

THE PEOPLE SPEAK!!!!!!!!!!

Hip Hip Hooray!!! We have come out of the dark and into the light. Now the heavy lifting begins.

Week Two

OMG this remodeling stuff is really getting old. We are trapped in our bedroom with our dog, Lucy, and starting to notice a few things.... Like my husband has this weird chewing sound that could be a jaw or teeth, but is LOUD. My dog is licking way too much down on the other end. My bedspread is starting to look like a dirty table cloth. My husband always leaves his dirty dishes in the bathroom. It has snowed here in the mountains, and my contractor's guy, that is demolishing my house, does not have snow tires, and lives in Reno. The highway patrol wouldn't let him through this morning and wondered, out loud, how he had made it that far. Luckily the sun came out and they let him through. We could go somewhere, but we have a dog, and she is not always welcome. We could take a trip to the coast, or wine country, but we need to be here to make sure things are moving along, making sure our contractor, tile guy, electrician, etc. have everything they need right here, when they need it. Go(b) forbid they are DELAYED.

Us in a Nutshell

It is the night before the election, and I came across this from economist, Thomas Friedman, that pretty much puts our current financial position in a nutshell. A must read before heading for the polls.

Hopes for the future...

We are heading into the home stretch for this election. It is Sunday, and I have already watched Meet the Press, and read the New York Times, Huffington Post, and Politico. I, like millions of my fellow citizens, are hoping and praying for my man to win. I pray that he wins in a landslide. I pray that when he enters the White House, our country will come out of the dark place it has resided for the last eight years, and enter a time of enlightenment. All my spiritual reading, done over many years, have alluded to just such a time. A time when our politicians will be aligned with the wishes and hopes of it's citizens. A time when we will put all our efforts toward clean energy, jobs that pay more than service-industry wages, health care for all, an improved infrastructure, and a re-vamped educational system that will actually keep up in this new century. It is time for our country to embrace intellectualism, as well as, spirituality. Spirituality that embraces new ideas, and allows for differences. A time when we know we are only limited by our thinking of ourselves as limited. 

I pray that our president will reach "across the aisle" and embrace the best our country has to offer to help us out of the mess we are in. May he recognize the best and brightest of all colors, of both genders, and of all affiliations. I think it is Barack Obama. I think he was sent at this time in history, as it has happened in other times, with other presidents, to unite our country and our people. But he can't do it alone. Each and every one of us is going to have to give something up. We are going to have to pay more taxes, and/or do more community service, drive smaller, more gas-efficient cars, use fluorescent light bulbs, recycle, and the list goes on. This is about all of us. 

Now, I will keep my fingers crossed for the next two days...