Saturday night

Jeff made it so we have speakers out on the porch that you can send music to. Right now he is down in his office, sending strange animal sounds out into the night. Earlier it was elephants appearing to trumpet through the woods, and a monkey of some kind, too. Hilarious, cutter.


I have come to the conclusion that, if you want something, you must strive towards it. You must break it down into manageable steps and take one bite of the whale at a time. The latest whale? Home Improvement.

This week we set in motion two or three different projects. Seeking estimates, taking bids. The two items I am taking the lead on are reupholstering the couch and getting a quote on tearing up the carpet/lino on our main floor and putting in a slate like vinyl tile (kitchen and entry way) and wood floors (ash, stained in 'Butterscotch") for the remainder. You just can't know if you want to do something until you know what's involved, and so we are seeing what's involved.

The place we are dealing with for the floors, the owner of the business, came by the house on Friday to take measurements. We have no idea really what to expect for a price, except that it will be in the several thousands of dollars. Sure would be beautiful though, and talk about worthwhile!

Trouble is, when you get a price for one thing, you can't help but be curious to know what else is there that could be done to one's home for the same amount of money? And nevermind that, what else ought to be done before tackling something that could be described as cosmetic? Our upstairs bathroom, for example.

But then, when you think about fixing our bathroom, you can't help but be curious to know what else that could be done to that space, if you only wanted to do it once? For example, for the price of new flooring on the main floor, could one remodel the bathroom upstairs to incorporate additional features?

• a walk-in shower?

• bringing a stackable, front load washer/dryer that can live upstairs?
• moving walls and whatnot to create a large scale storage solution for clothes and linens and things?
  
• what about a bigger window or even a sunlight?
• for that matter, while you're up there, how about one of those light tubes for the upstairs hallway?
• and on and on and on.

You get the idea?

As for recovering the sofa, that's another matter. For my couch, I'd need 20 yards of fabric, and the quote I got was $950 for labor! The fabric swatches I've been looking at range from 24.95 per yard to 34.95 per yard. And then, when you you think about recovering the sofa, you can't help but be curious to know what else that could be done with that money, if you were going to spend it on a place to sit in the living room anyway?

As for me, I kind of hate the idea of spending at least as much on recovering as I did for the couch in the first place. Maybe if I got a price on buying the same sofa today vs. 12 years ago, that might make the cost of recovering this one more palatable. Because I do love that sofa, I just hate how tattered and nasty it's become. I am pretty sure I wouldn't want any other sofa, as far as size/shape/comfort level goes. Although it is quite large and deep and so unless you are a giant with very long legs (Jeff) you are having to get up on it and settle in to it like it's a giant birds nest. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Grr! Jeff is still at it with the sounds! I get that it's a clever thing to do and that it's maybe even sort of fun. But my deal is, I'm out on my porch, trying to enjoy the quiet night sounds of a late summer evening. I don't really care to listen to wet farts and neighing horses and people shitting near a microphone. I really don't!

Now he's got bees buzzing. Boy, this guy is really thinking he's got something clever going on down there. At least Maggie has discovered him and hanging out with him (as opposed to me).

Okedoke blog, I guess I'm over and out. Talk to you later.

p.s. OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!!! I wonder if they'll march in this years Labor Day parade?