Pandora's Return

Holy shit - I didn't realize it had been so long since I burped up stories on my blog. What a slacker. Lots going on, but not very quickly as I am down with another mono relapse. If you don't know, mono S-U-U-U-C-K-S - it totally saps you of all your energy while making you feel like you've been run down by a Mack Truck. Yoga - even some of the easiest postures - are a no-go and just doing laundry is a bee-atch. OH YEAH - and it gives you brain-fry so don't expect much on this first blog out (no comments from the peanut gallery regarding my natural brain-fry, please).

Anyway, I figured since I'm stuck behind the computer doing tax crap, I'd see if I could access blogger and voila! So - without further ado - I present to you

Larry - Moe and Curly





They actually survived (better than me as it turns out) from the Vermont trip or as it had been known, "The Joe and Lia Show". This was a very fine week in the Northeast and if the news agencies haven't already showered everyone with stories, I probably will over the next few days - that's if Ms. Brain-Fry can remember the password to the blogger site.

It has been as crazy a three days back as it was the entire eight days gone. Things in HotLanta are really not that hot. Why do you ask? Where do we start?

Work - How in the hell did I wind up with a job that pays me a good bit of money to do nothing while working for one of the nicest guys ever placed on earth? This little mantra of mine was repeated more times than folks really wanted to hear at the wedding, but it struck me particularly hard when I struggled back to work yesterday. According to my boss, the City of Atlanta has had no communication with our office in two weeks - this from a time where we were getting DAILY utility cut-off notices, credit notices (although I'm not sure how you report Georgia Tech to a credit agency) and sometimes - on those good days - someone would get served a subpoena. To not have any calls, letters, notes, whatnot??? So I'm told it's because I've bombarded the City with issues that fall on their watch and they have called back the dogs. OK - this may sound somewhat sophist, but that's the equivalent to the US Air Force dropping nukes on a school of elderly alzheimer's patients (and not to say I'm like the US Air Force, but you get the relevance.) But, I'm bored. This job is not fun and everyone should have a fun job. Everyone says, "Why are you bitching? You have it made." Actually, the grass might actually have been greener on the other side than I thought. At least I could have had fun making Fran's life hell on earth. Oh - and to add pain (or kudos depending on your perception), my former collegues told me that one of the best Construction Managers in the business asked for me on this job they just bid! Of course, I'm NOT in construction anymore. But what a pretty feather that was for moi.

Spanky and The City - Boy howdie, did I come close to asking Baby Bro to sell Spanky. There is simply too much to do and - dare I say it - I'm feeling really old. There is also so much bullshit involved in establishing a regentrified area ESPECIALLY when you're trying to do it in Neo-Con Country. For example, as we blog, there are these mini-wars between the municipalities that want to incorporate, the City of Atlanta, and Fulton County. My boss is one of those ITP(inside the Perimeter)- burbanites. He makes his case to me sometimes if there's a real hot-button issue in the media, but I just don't get the whole thing. Now, as an Urban Pioneer, we have a chance to have light rail come right by our neighbourhood and there are these brutal battles occurring where - well, let's just say, some folks don't want to pay their portion of the tax because they aren't ready to support some of the places where the rail will run. OH SHIT - you mean, Bubba-the-Crack-Dealer can't get to Buckhead on the new Beltline? PLEASE. If someone - besides die-hard Capitalists - could explain this to me. I must have been smoking a joint during that Civics class.

Back to Spanky - hmmmm, where do we start? How about a (very bad) picture:





That's MY yard, not Fred Sanford's. Those of you that have been here know that normally you can see down to the garden. However, those long, wooden sticks covered with leaves are pecan branches that have fallen over the Summer. Yes, I'm thankful they did not fall on Spanky, but please. We already cut a nearly a cord with the limbs that came down in the Spring. Here's something ironic - One of the main reasons I loved Spanky was for the duel fireplaces. So, after four years, I had someone come out this Spring to give me a price on securing them for burning wood. At the time, I was actually concerned about paying for the wood I'd need over the winter. Well, Guido's price came in way too high so I blew him off. Now I've got enough wood to heat the entire Alaskan tundra, but no place to burn it.

The focus of renovation has majorly shifted to the dining room (after all, you can't do construction in a basement where you're raising squirrels). Anyway, this should be the coolest room in the house to do. LOTS of plaster work, which will be interesting. I was even thinking - during bouts of admitted delirium - about ripping out the wall between the dining room and kitchen and opening it up. But there is this killer brick oven stack that I really don't want to mess with. There's also the issue of T-I-M-E. Apparently, Spanky will be hosting guests at Thanksgiving. More on that in another rant.

With regard to the dining room, I will need some suggestions. I think I will forgo the "period" norm of wainscotting, chair, elaborate crown, half ventian plaster/half wallpaper (Sadly, I've never hung wall paper and I could only imagine my practice rounds). That being said, I have a friend who can hang crown mold (Mom, that's the wood trim around the ceiling), and I can do the chair rail (Mom, that's the wood strip around the middle of the wall) and the wainscotting (those panels below). OR would it look better just paint? Period has the bottom of the chair in wallpaper, but let me tell you - NOBODY today wants the wallpaper from this period. Reminds me of the bluebells on the wall in the bedroom where we stayed last week .

Looking around, you never know how much stuff you have until you have to move it. Looking at the clock, I've been reguritating for over an hour. So glad I was productive and didn't do the tax stuff - or the laundry - or the packing.

Now that I've figured out how to get back on my blog and the new software makes it easier to upload pictures, keep posted! Life is only getting better.