What I Do In My Spare Time

Okay, so my son proposes to the most delightful, wonderful girl in the universe. We re all head over heels about her. They give me a year's notice on the wedding date. So what do I do? Run out and help with wedding things? Get a subscription to Brides Magazine? Noooo, I'm the mother of the groom. I remodel the house, of course!

Let me digress just a tad. I had some surgery in January that, um, wasn't quite as successful as we had hoped it would be. So I spent about two and a half months in bed...watching HGTV. I guess you can see where I'm going with this.

I am a 'blue' person but after (I'm embarrassed to say) 13 years of blue walls with white trim and doors, I was sick of it. So I called “the man” a fellow who has done other remodeling for me, and we were off to the races!

The truck showed up with 400 feet of trim and baseboards, 10 doors and 13 door jambs (Don’t try to figure out the numbers, they work.) The main thing is none of it has been stained.

I don’t want to say that I'm a fusspot…but I'm a fusspot. I know that no one can stain all this stuff better than me. (Okay, you need proof – Last year when I remodeled another couple of rooms “the man” was incredibly skeptical about letting me do the staining, When he saw the finished product, he offered me a job. (Thanks, but I only put myself through this hell for myself .)

I started on June 19th I’ve finished all the trim, all the door jambs and three doors. My house looks like a cross between a lumber yard and a warehouse. I have three sets of saw horses so that limits me on how many pieces I can do a day. (All this is going on in our great room and family room so you can imagine what fun everyone is having dancing around this mess.)
And the biggest pain is waiting for everything to dry before you can do the next coat. Isn’t that more than you ever wanted to know about staining!

While I'm waiting for things to dry, what better opportunity to empty out the closets that are destined for new doors. I'm finding clothes I haven’t worn since the Reagan Administration! (Oh how I wish I could still fit into them!) Obviously, closet cleaning is long overdue in this household.

My son decided to get married so why all the frenzy over remodeling? My relatives who haven’t visited in years will be coming!!!!

OMG, I need to re-model the front bathroom!!!

Do you have a ‘Bucket List’?

I’m asking this because I found mine while cleaning out the garage. It was written somewhere around my senior year in high school. I have no idea when I last saw it. A lot of things were checked off but I haven’t seen it for a long, long time.

What I found interesting was not what I had or had not accomplished (although I was able to update it with several things I’d done since I’d last seen it) The thing I really found interesting was what I considered noteworthy to spend my time and energy on in my future.

Yes, I did go to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (Boy, talk about a crowd of people!)

Yes, I have been to the Grand Canyon. (Indescribable)

No, I haven’t made it to Mardi Gras yet.

Yes, I have read War and Peace. (Loooong)

No, I’ve never made it to the Olympic Games

No, I’ve never been in Times Square on New Year’s Eve (And that’s probably a good thing)

Some of the items were a bit surprising. “To go camping in Canada.” Now, I’ve been to Canada several times and loved every minute of it, but camping??? Like in a tent and sleeping on the ground??? I don’t think so. I love nature but at night I need a hotel with cable and a hot shower.

I’m thinking that it’s probably time to revise my list. Update it with things that mean more to me now, but ya know…I still want to see the Hoover Dam.

So, do you have a ‘Bucket List’? Did you write it recently or years ago? Do you still want to accomplish what you listed? Let me know what’s important to you.

On the Road Again

Day 19 of my journey up the East Coast. Today I thought I’d share some pictures of one of my favorite places in the world: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City - The Met. I’ve been here dozens of times but I still get a thrill climbing the front stairs in anticipation. (And there are lots of stairs!)

And then, the minute I step through to the first gallery, I’m lost…literally. I can’t follow a map for anything. No matter how many times I ask directions, I don’t really listen. I hear part of what the guards are saying then think “Yeah, I know where that is” and I just don’t listen anymore. And so, of course I’m lost again after I make the first turn. But it really doesn’t matter. There’s always something wonderful and fascinating no matter where I am.

And so I spend the day aimlessly wandering and discovering until my feet need a beer and it’s time to leave. But before I do, I always head to my favorite gallery on the second floor to visit my three favorite paintings, which oddly enough are side by side by side. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Somehow, someway, they're going to land in a future story.

Springtime by Pierre-Auguste Cot

The Storm also by Pierre-Auguste Cot

Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage

I will spend close to an hour staring and studying these marvelous works. There is just something in each of them that calls to me and I can’t look away.

That is, until my feet really become insistent about needing that beer. Last week, we headed to a great place on First and 86th called East End Bar and Grill. It took a few beers but my feet finally stopped shouting at me.

Have a great day!