I’ve owned my place for 10 years and when I moved in I wanted to paint my bedroom and replace the floors. Time went by and I painted every other room in the house more than once but never got around to the bedroom. Last year around this time, I decided that I was really ready to get moving with the bedroom fix up. I didn’t want to do it on the cheap and have it end up looking like it but I also didn’t want to go into debt doing it. After months of daydreaming, saving, and being lazy about getting the process started, a friend of mine had some work done by a reputable contractor. When I got my tax return this year, I contacted the contractor and after a few phone calls, emails, and in house visit I got a quote that I was happy with and put down a deposit.
We completely emptied the bedroom and moved the mattress to the floor of the office. It was so exciting to come home from work at night to see what had been accomplished that day. It was finished in 12 days. We moved back in which required constant trips to Target. That first night we sat on the floor of the closet area for about an hour just taking it in. I am aware that it is not some great revelation to have a room in your house remodeled. Our finished product is probably a pretty average bedroom but compared to what we had it is quite thrilling for us.
I originally thought I would do a before and after picture post but I can’t bring myself to show the before pictures. The state of the room was just terrible.
I highly recommend the work of the contractor, Jeff Doan - My South Florida Handyman.
Work done by contractor:
Replaced the bathroom vanity/sink with a new counter that would make the sink wheelchair accessible
Replaced the mirror, medicine cabinet, vanity light fixture, hall light fixture, door knobs, and all outlet and lightswitch plates
Replaced the carpet with bamboo hardwood flooring
Repaired and painted the walls and baseboards
Repaired and painted the doors
Refurbish the closet doors/tracks on the smaller closet (edges were ugly gold, now dark espresso brown)
Removed the closet doors/tracks from the larger closet
Installed closet system in the open space of the larger closet
We replaced almost everything in the room.
No debt was incurred in this process. I am extremely happy about that.
On to the photos!
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Today about 10 minutes after I got to work my sister called to tell me that our Grandpa (mother’s father) died in his sleep. He was 6 days away from his 84th birthday. I broke down outside, went back in to the bathroom to clean myself up and stopped by my boss’ office but he had a few people in there. I went back to my desk and chatted with Sara until he was free. I had to tell my boss why I was leaving. As soon as I said the words I started crying again. My co-worker was in the office so she hugged me and gave me a tissue and offered to walk me to my car but I declined. I just needed out of there.
In the car, Fiona Apple’s Across the Universe played and I sobbed but not too much because I was driving and I was trying to be careful. I got home and was comforted by my boyfriend and pets and just wallowed. I checked airline prices to California even though I don’t know what the arrangements are. The prices are astronomical, even more so if I wanted to only have one connection. I am heartbroken that it seems that I will not be able to go to the funeral. More heartbroken and regretful that I hadn’t gone when he was well.
After my mom died, we didn’t have her as our connector and I didn’t do enough to keep in touch. He called me every year on my birthday and encouraged me to call any time I liked but I rarely did. It wasn’t because didn’t want to it’s just that I don’t really keep in touch with anyone well outside the realm of the internet. I only saw him a couple of times after my mom died for brief visits that brought us together. One for my Grandma’s funeral (they’d been divorced for decades) and once when I was in California for work and he drove up to see me.
I miss him and I’m devastated that I won’t hear his hearty voice again and his distinctive laugh. I always associated him with Old Spice which he wore when I was little and to this day when I smell it I think of him and his big hugs.
I’ve spent the day on the couch watching movies and browsing around ancestry.com trying to, I don’t know, connect to something that isn’t there anymore.
Rest in Peace, Grandpa. I love you.
Orland James Patrick
1926-2010
I am endlessly fascinated by people’s gaits. They are so varied and different but they all accomplish the same task. I haven’t walked without crutches or wheelchair since I was 12 so I’ve all but forgotten the feeling of walking. It is a completely foreign skill to me other than I see people do it all the time. I can’t stand because I can’t support weight and I have terrible balance. The idea of your body being completely vertical and then managing to propel yourself forward without constantly falling astounds me. How do you do it? How are you not surprised at how easily it comes to you?
A few years ago at some physical therapy sessions I stood in a standing frame which basically sandwiches you in until you’re standing. It’s a whole different point of view seeing the world from a standing position. Someday when I win the lottery, which is the only way it’s ever going to happen, I will get one of those things for myself. Anyway, my world view is low which means I have the vantage point to notice and compare people’s gaits. When I am behind a group of people all I see it butts and how their legs move. It’s sort of an ironic fate to be forced to notice how other people walk when you can’t.
Walks vary but there are a several standards. There’s the shake-it-but-don’t-break-it hip swinging walk, the bounce-on-the-balls-of-the-feet so it looks you’re in a hurry, the slow-and-steady trying not to be noticed, the heavy heal-toe stomp, the head-forward-running-without-running, and the limp. Limps come in different forms including the hip limp, the knee limp, the foot/ankle limp. Limps intrigue me because I know that when people limp they are probably more conscious of how lucky they are to be able to walk. The hip swingers don’t think about how lucky they are but I do.
I’m not envious all the time. It’s not a constant thought in my head but there are some days when I see someone skipping or running with ease I think about how I used to run and try to feel it again and I can’t. Like I said, I’m endlessly fascinated by people’s gaits.
As you know, the position of Candy President is the single most powerful office in the world of Sweets. Through its leadership can come a more delicious life for all people. In it, are centered the hopes of sugar-lovers worldwide and anyone who longs to be treated to a tastier life.
Your next Candy President will be charged with making the most important and yummy decisions of the next four years. How to provide the mouthwatering gift of candy to all people, even in a weakened economy that already threatens our very ability to procure sweets. How to maintain important chocolate and licorice production levels at home and abroad. How to rebuild and maintain a viable infrastructure of sugar development through more candy funding and research. How to prevent the collapse of our local sweet shops and the decay of our teeth. How to achieve, without further sickness, expanded candy consumption benefiting all people. And how, in a time of booming social change, to awaken every man, woman and child to the fact that a piece of comfort, a piece of candy, can lift us up to the new delectable heights.
These are among some the very real, very sweet issues facing us in the coming Candy Election. And it is on the basis of these issues that candy-lovers and candy-voters must make the most tasteful choice for their future.
It is with a knowledge and understanding of all these matters firmly in hand, that I am announcing today my official candidacy for President of the United States of Candy.
I invite you to join me in this improbable quest, if you, like me, see the future of delicious possibility stretching before us. Together, starting today, let us delight in the tasty work that needs be done, and usher in a new dawn of sweet revival for this nation.
Yes We Candy!
When I pulled into my parking spot at home today I looked to my left and made eye contact with a guy sitting in a car talking on the phone. I opened the backdoor and got my chair out. I looked up and he was still staring at me. I got my seat back and cushion in place and looked up. He was still staring. Apparently, he didn’t mind being caught staring. Then when I got out of the car he let me know that he thought I did a good job by giving me a thumbs up with accompanying head bob.
This experience encompassed two of my pet peeves:
1) Being stared at - especially when I’m getting in and out of the car. I find it intrusive even though people are well within their rights to look wherever they want. It’s not a graceful process and I’d rather not have an audience.
2) Being congratulated for completing basic tasks. I know it might seem amazing to people that I can get in and out of the car or grocery shop but I find it patronizing to get a thumbs up or to be told, “You get around good in that thing!” I work a taxing job and manage everything else in my life and to have strangers try to cheerlead me over getting out of the car makes it clear that their base assumption is that I’m helpless. It’s frustrating.
I know, I know… people don’t know, they mean well. The pet peeves remain.
Well, for starters, I'm a QA Software Engineer from South Florida.
