For the past couple of months, Travis and I have watched "The Seven Ages of Rock", a BBC music documentary in seven parts (oddly enough), every Monday night. It finished up this week with a look at Britain's indie scene and the Brit Pop explosion of the late 90's. While I'm not sure that a scene that boasts Oasis and Blur as its best moments merits a whole episode, I came over all nostalgic at the footage of The Smiths (the godfathers of indie cool) performing This Charming Man on Top of the Pops some time in the early 80's. The quiffs, the droopy unbuttoned shirt, the waving gladioli (Morrisey's protest about having to lipsynch - he held flowers instead of a microphone), Morrisey's voice, Marr's guitar, the seedy sexy lyrics, and the general air of dissipation, - fabulous stuff.
As a teenager, I loved The Smiths for their campy over-the-top angst. Morrisey might be the gloomy king of adolescent loneliness and awkwardness, but he's also knowing and witty and wordy, which is just my thing.
I'd post a video but I can't get at Youtube. Vox is having trouble with its connections it would seem.
I thought that babies changed a lot in their first year, but I think now that the difference from 1 to 2 is even more dramatic. A 1-year-old is still a baby, while a 2-year-old is a little girl. Petra's baby fat has given way to a much more upright and sleek child build. She's beginning to look the way she will for the next few years, until the ravages of puberty hit.
Here she is then - November 2008.
Nothing too exciting going on, but definitely some updates.
A Petra update because I haven't posted one for a while.
She'll be two on Sunday. Already. This time last year, she was a fat baby who'd just taken her first teetering steps. Now she runs, jumps, balances on one foot, climbs stairs without holding on, climbs up onto everything she can, and yesterday rode her bike down the hill at Nanny's (much to Nanny's consternation). Petra's very poised physically and very confident about her abilities - she's only to happy to give things a go. She might just have some of her father's daredevilry in her.
She's also a big talker. We have long conversations about things like the helicopters that fly over and the house truck that occasionally parks outside our house (she's having a toddler vehicle enthusiasm at the moment). She tosses out her words and phrases - truck, copter, noise, look, etc, etc - and I translate them into whole sentences for her. We then repeat and repeat until we've thoroughly canvassed the subject. She has a few whole sentences at her disposal as well. The things she's figured out how to say give a nice insight into the egocentric workings of the toddler mind - "I will do it." "I don't want it." "I will get it." "Pick up, pick up," said with upraised arms and urgent hand gestures. "Come here" and "in here," used as she leads us round the house.
Because I think I bought the wrong size. Or it doesn't match the rest of my decor.
This is me after a day spent in the attic. Yes, I'm wearing a bandanna, goggles, dust mask, and a head lamp. It's fricking dark up there. And eerily quiet. And full of moon dust-like insulation. And pixies. But I wasn't supposed to tell anybody about the pixies.
Oh, right, what was I doing up there? Installing ceiling fan braces. There are few home features I hate more than wobbly or rattly ceiling fans, so I believe in attaching them to serious braces fastened to the studs with heavy deck screws. Also, I love ceiling fans. I'm installing them in the bedroom, the office, the living room, and the kitchen. I'd install one in the dining room, but that just seems like overkill.
To prepare for this adventure, I loaded up my backpack with all the tools I thought I might possibly need for the adventure, including my newly purchased cordless drill. I don't own 200 feet of extension cord, so I figured that would come in handy. I should have taken snacks.
The kitchen was easy. I had to enlarge the hole in the ceiling a bit to accommodate a 4-inch electrical box, which is standard for ceiling fan braces, but the brace went in easily. From there, I crawled to the pantry, where I installed a new electrical box, and ran the wiring to the light switch. Then I schlepped over to the office, dragging all my supplies and my plywood platform with me. (Because squatting on joists for hours at a time is unpleasant, it's better to have somewhere to sit.) Once again, the hole in the ceiling had to be enlarged via drill and hand saw. Then I had to shim one end of the brace to make it level, but it went in easily enough.
After that I slithered over to the bathroom to repair a hole in the ceiling and install a new electrical box. Seeing a trend? Yes, most of the light fixtures in the house had been attached directly to the ceiling without the benefit of a box. While doing that, I realized I'd forgotten a box to install in the hallway. And it was getting dark. And the dining room light fixture opening was in the wrong place. I wasn't going to be able to get it all done in a day.
Still, I was dead-set on getting all the ceiling fan braces installed, so I persevered. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I crept toward the bedroom, but as I felt about with my foot, digging through layers of blown insulation looking for the next ceiling joist, I found ... nothing. No joist. Not where it should have been anyway. In most modern houses, joists and studs are installed at 18-inch intervals, or sometimes 24-inch intervals. Things are slightly less predictable in old houses. I once lived in a house with 21-inch center studs and joists. How I discovered that, it's a long story.
This house, though, this house ... it mostly has 24-inch centers, except where it doesn't, namely in the bedroom and living room. There, the ceiling joists are 36 inches apart. Too far to install a ceiling fan brace. So I get to plan another day in the attic and this one will be a doozy. I'll have to drag a bunch of lumber up there and sister in some more joists, close enough together to support ceiling fans, and to provide a bit more stability in those ceilings.
Am I starting to regret buying this project house? Oddly enough, no. I'm kind of looking forward to the project. As sick as that is.
Totally Terrible Things on Tuesday:
- Trying to be nice and getting yelled at instead of a 'thank you'.
- Wet dog
- Two full work weeks and two partial work weeks---then I'm unemployed
- Filling out on-line resume's and job applications sucks!
Totally Terrific Things on Tuesday
- I'm currently in first place on our Fantasy Football League.
- Soon...I can pull out my Christmas decorations and decorate my house all up really nice for the Holidays.
- LIfe is halfway decent....you know, if you don't count the impending unemployment.
Are you prepared in case of a natural disaster? What do your plan and preparations include?
I have a battery operated radio with batteries. I can lay my hands on both in less than a minute.
I have a weather radio that I can't program the new county in. However, should the old county have any bad weather I know about it.
We decided last night that the safest place to go if there were a tornado is the short hallway in our bedroom. That was decided upon after I shared that I have taken refuge in our 'commode closet' with Darcy and Baron at least three times in the past 11 months.
I have had experience with earthquakes, floods, fires and blizzards. None of them actually harmed me, my family, or any of our 'stuff' but they have all happened within walking distance of the home I was living in or visiting.
Are you prepared in case of a natural disaster? What do your plan and preparations include?
oh crap no...
yes, i live in Florida, it's the Lightening capitol of the US. We also regularly have hurricanes.
I don't even have one working flashlight. No extra food....nothing...
But lucky for me hurricane season is pretty much almost over, some rain from Ida and then the dry season will come on full force.
- the only problem with having my closet now clean and organized is that i find myself wanting to sit in it. for not particular reason. i want to just go in and plop myself in the middle of the floor. just to marvel at the beauty of how being clean and organized really revitalizes me. of course, there is still that half of a shelf and my cd collection that needs to be done. maybe i'll get some of it down tonight.
- we went to cathy's little M's 5yr birthday party yesterday. it was fun! the kids had such a blast. cath had hired a clown. and when the invitation first mentioned about a clown, i was a bit concerned. i have an irrational fear of clowns. not a phobia, per se. but they have always given me the creeps. i was happy with this clown, though. she was whimsical and cute and really knew how to create good chemistry with the kids. and the children did love her! not only did they get a ballon twisted into something they loved, she put on a great magic show that starred a cute rabit in the end. the kids got to sit on a chair have hold the rabbit on their lap for about 30 seconds each. and then, after lunch, each of them got to have their face painted of their choice. chaeli was so crazy about the clown that she said, before going to bed, that she hopes she will meet the clown again someday.
- i'm hungry. it's a weird kind of hunger. i feel like i can eat a lot today. which isn't good, really. because i know that if i allow myself to go nuts, i'll feel like complete crap at the end of the day. but, i have brought some healthy snacks so hopefully, i can stay good.
This morning, I noticed that someone from Riyadh had looked at my latest blog post. This is what the blog looks like for them.
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