All My Bags are Packed

Clearly I am not quite right -- clearly. As evidenced in what I do just before a longish trip. Most people trouble themselves to stop the mail, run a load of wash, leave a key with a neighbor -- typical pedestrian acts. What I do, however, is tile the backsplash.


In my defense it badly needed doing. I do wicked wanton things to my counter and backsplash area. (I'm not sure what you might be thinking, but lets come back to reality and clear up a few things -- what I am talking about is dying fabric, which splatters badly and makes a mess on the wall behind the sink.)

I just couldn't stand the notion of coming home to that splattered backsplash wall one more time, so something had to be done. And as I always say, there's no job worth doing that can't benefit from the use of power tools. Like this wet saw -- rented from Home Depot. Hooray!


It turned out nicely, I think. That whole area now feels like a real home, finished and ready for living. This is what I want to come home to.


Ahhhhh, and it goes so nicely with my pots.


All righty -- NOW I'm ready to go to the airport.

Au Revoir

Another Ordinary Nana Day

Oh, am I the luckiest Nana, or what? Look who spent the day with me? My Baby Kai is the dearest, easiest, most enchanting grandchild... if I do say so myself. And I do.

He really is quite easy. This was a last-minute babysit, as his parents suddenly took notice of their anniversary and all. So I was going to quick like a bunny clean the leaves and little berries out of the sandbox (it has a slatted lid, yet little things sneak in) but Kai seemed happy as all get out with a bucket and pea gravel. And who can blame him. He sat there in the gravel and filled the whole bucket. It's a painstaking task when, with great concentration, one drops in the rocks only a dozen of so at a time.



Once the bucket was full there was artwork to attend to... I think he's in his blue phase, with an assymetrical overtone.



After so much concetrated effort the artful little rock-n-roller was famished. He seems to enjoys Nana's signature brand of grilled cheese on those tiny little party breads.



And what about that "high chair"? In this position it's more of a low chair. It comes in two pieces -- the other piece being a table. It configures into a regular high chair, a junior chair, a low height as seen here and by removing the tray it can be drawn up to it's table for some surface work, like coloring or doing long division. this was Adrian's high chair, refurbished by me.

We had a real good time -- I hope you enjoyed visiting with us too.

The Happy Nana

I Love Paris When It Sizzles...

Never in my adult life have I taken a vacation for no reason other than "I wanna GO!" Till now. The Boyfriend and I are going to Paris!!!! See, I have my planner all tricked out. Hiding under that orderly cover is just another ugly composition book. Making the cover made my planner that much extra special. It would make a nice journal, though I am not the journaling sort. My composition book, all spiffed up, is being used for planning our trip to London, Paris and Germany.



We have our Eurail pass and our museum pass. We've reserved our hotels and we've sketched out an itinerary.



I'm so excited I could scream. My idea of a swell time is to be neither scheduled down to the last milisecond of the day, but to not fly entirely by the seat of my pants. Toward this end I have studied up on our destinations to the best of my patience anfd focus level, so we get to see and do what for us is the most important things to see and do... Then, worked into these plans, is a little wiggle room. I'm a big fan of wiggle room.



The grand plan is to fly into London, stay one night, have quick peek about, take the chunnel from London to Paris. We'll be in Paris for five days. For me the big drawing card are the flea markets. Every European city has art and fabulous food... but they don't all have flea markets. I can't wait.

After Paris we are taking the train to Germany. The Boyfriend has been to Germany a number of times and I lived there for three years when I was in the Air Force. We're taking a Rhine River cruise, we're staying in castles. There will be wine and festivals and... and shopping for baby clothes. Oh, and eating. There will be loads and loads of eating.

Our Departure Date is 23 September -- two weeks!!!! Every couple of days till I leave I'll bring about various aspects of our plans. For now, au revoir!

A New Attitude

More than you can know, I HATED this counter... which is funny because upon first viewing this house it is the counter that called to me. I spied it through a window before ever setting foot into the house when and the first thought that popped into my head was, "It's blue -- they knew I was coming.

And like a bad boyfriend, ever after it was hard to work with. It never looked clean and certainly never looked stylish. Never once did I walk past or set something upon it and heave that satisfied sigh. Instead I grumbled, rolled my eyes and grimmaced. Till finaly... finally... I'd had enough. "Begone ugly counter--I'm done."

The sink was the worst: shallow, clumsy, not even a little bit sexy.

And so I ripped that man -- I mean counter right outta my house.

It was a mess for a while -- the heart of my home spilled out, tossed around...

But really soon there was a new counter. (The counter installer is Steve who is brilliant for not only showing up on time with the correct product, but he laughs at my jokes.I've promised to fix up Steve with my best single girlfriends. He didn't laugh at that... wonder why?)

But now the old cat dish looks a little dowdy, though doesn't my new counter look dazzling. It isn't granite -- in this 100-year-old house, in this down-at-the-heels neighborhood granite would be like tying a silk ribbon on a junkyard dog. Which isn't to say the old dog couldn't delight in some sprucing up a bit. I just love this new counter -- it makes me heave that certain sigh.

I'm thinking this shimmery cat dish is just the jewelry required.

And check out the sink! Even Bailey approves. Let me tell you, this is the sink to end all sinks. From this angle you can't tell, but it's huge HUGE. I could bathe my grandson AND the Little White Dog in here simultaneously. It's wide and it's deep and it is NOT stainless steel. Hoo-HAW.

However, as with many projects I have learned, there is a glitch to the finishing. The backsplash can't go up just yet(it's waiting in the wings) because of a freak of plumbing. There's a plumber coming soon. Then there will be walls to paint and all those curtains to rethink.

There may be no rest for the wicked -- but she gets a pretty slick counter and sink for her digs all the same!