The wood paneling removal project is going well. Javers finished painting the dining room Monday night. There might be a few more touch-ups to do and the light, outlet and vent covers need to be replaced. Besides that, it looks great. So much better than before. I will take pictures this weekend and post some for everyone to see.
I definitely appreciate the improvements, but it took a lot of work and time. I am realizing I'm not really a DIY person. I like to use my weekends to relax.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Eisenhower Book Talk
The Eisenhower Center in Abilene has a book discussion program. The local library gets copies of the books and then once a month or so during the winter the Eisenhower Center hosts a book discussion. All of the books are associated Eisenhower or events during his administration. For the most part, I am not really interested in spending a lot of time reading about Eisenhower, but I thought I would pick a couple that sounded the most interesting to attend.
The first one I went to was last week. The book was about Mamie Doud Eisenhower (Ike's wife) and written by a local historian, Marilyn Holt, so the author actually led the discussion. I realized that I knew practically nothing about Mamie and the book was a shorty (approx. 140 pgs.) so a few days before the event, I signed up to be in the audience and read the book ... well most of it. Before I go on, I should really stress those two things here - I singed up to be in the AUDIENCE (not discussion group) and I did NOT finish reading the book.
On the night of the book discussion, I had a pilates class at the fitness center that ended at 6:30. After it was over I quickly changed then hightailed it to Subway to get some supper. I got to the Eisenhower Center at 6:52, snarfed down my sandwhich and chips in the parking lot and raced into the auditorium. At 7:02, I made it into the auditorium as the event is being introduced by a librarian from the local Abilene library. I was trying to sneak in and sit with this lady from my pilates class near the back when all of a sudden the librarian intorducing the event stopped what she was saying and shouted out "AMBER!!!" I couldn't believe it. I froze. She went on and suggested I come sit up front at the discussion tables becuase I had read the book. Oh no. How could I refuse? She stopped the introduction to ask me to come up to the front of the room. How did this lady remember my name, much less my face!? It must have been my neon yellow Columbia coat. Damn that coat! However she remembered me I was impressed and horrified at the same time. Remember when I said I didn't quit finish the book? Now I was sitting up in the front of the room, right next to the author and I had to try saying something intelligent about the book at some point during the hour and a half discussion. It looked like it was going to be a nightmare.
Well, it ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be ... like usual. The author was really interesting and she ended up talking most of the time. I made two comments about Mamie Eisenhower and the book that didn't sound too stupid. However, when I read the rest of the book later last week I realized that I asked a question that I probably could have figured out had I read the last chapter before the discussion. At any rate, the whole thing went pretty well, except for right before I left. The librarian who remembered my name came over to chat. I had the book in my hand and she said she could just take it back to the library for me. I paused for a second and then tried to act like it was no big deal and told her I had 10 or so pages left. "10 or so pages" might have been a little too vague or just plain false - I really had about 30 pages left. I think my feigned confidence kept it from being too akward. But I finally finished the book and I learned all about Mamie Eisenhower.
The first one I went to was last week. The book was about Mamie Doud Eisenhower (Ike's wife) and written by a local historian, Marilyn Holt, so the author actually led the discussion. I realized that I knew practically nothing about Mamie and the book was a shorty (approx. 140 pgs.) so a few days before the event, I signed up to be in the audience and read the book ... well most of it. Before I go on, I should really stress those two things here - I singed up to be in the AUDIENCE (not discussion group) and I did NOT finish reading the book.
On the night of the book discussion, I had a pilates class at the fitness center that ended at 6:30. After it was over I quickly changed then hightailed it to Subway to get some supper. I got to the Eisenhower Center at 6:52, snarfed down my sandwhich and chips in the parking lot and raced into the auditorium. At 7:02, I made it into the auditorium as the event is being introduced by a librarian from the local Abilene library. I was trying to sneak in and sit with this lady from my pilates class near the back when all of a sudden the librarian intorducing the event stopped what she was saying and shouted out "AMBER!!!" I couldn't believe it. I froze. She went on and suggested I come sit up front at the discussion tables becuase I had read the book. Oh no. How could I refuse? She stopped the introduction to ask me to come up to the front of the room. How did this lady remember my name, much less my face!? It must have been my neon yellow Columbia coat. Damn that coat! However she remembered me I was impressed and horrified at the same time. Remember when I said I didn't quit finish the book? Now I was sitting up in the front of the room, right next to the author and I had to try saying something intelligent about the book at some point during the hour and a half discussion. It looked like it was going to be a nightmare.
Well, it ended up not being as bad as I thought it would be ... like usual. The author was really interesting and she ended up talking most of the time. I made two comments about Mamie Eisenhower and the book that didn't sound too stupid. However, when I read the rest of the book later last week I realized that I asked a question that I probably could have figured out had I read the last chapter before the discussion. At any rate, the whole thing went pretty well, except for right before I left. The librarian who remembered my name came over to chat. I had the book in my hand and she said she could just take it back to the library for me. I paused for a second and then tried to act like it was no big deal and told her I had 10 or so pages left. "10 or so pages" might have been a little too vague or just plain false - I really had about 30 pages left. I think my feigned confidence kept it from being too akward. But I finally finished the book and I learned all about Mamie Eisenhower.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Home Improvement Project
Jeremy and I officially started our first home improvement project. Can you guess what we are doing? We are removing the wood paneling!!! Neither of us is experienced in this so we are testing out the process in the hallway first. So far we have the wood paneling off, the gashes in the sheet rock filled and part of the wall textured.
We just started texturing the walls to cover up the unevenness caused by the stubborn glue bubbles that I could not scrape off with my trusty trowel (as an archaeologist I love the varying uses of the trowel - what an amazing tool). So far we have only had one potential mishap. I don't think we were using the texture brush correctly. I know, it sounds like something that is so common sense you'd have to be really dense to not catch on. We even called Javers' sister twice for directions. Oh well. We can sand off the part we already did if it looks too bad.
Probably the best part of the whole process is this video download Javers bought that instructs on how to paint over wood paneling (an option we might use in the living room). It just so happens the video was made in Aberdeen, SD so the guy's accent iss marvelous. The way he talks about what he is doing is extremely entertaining. I wish I could just link to it, but you would have to pay to watch it. The best part is when he is talking about filling in the wood paneling cracks with spackle he gets really excited and lets us know this is where we are really going to get 20 times our money's worth because he is going to impart this marvelous secret. It's a good secret, I won't spoil it for you.
We did just start this weekend, but all is well so far. Javers and I are working together really well on this project. Stuff like this does have the potential to drive a wedge between couples. I think one thing we really have going for us is that we are both a little clueless. Instead of fighting over what each other is doing wrong, we are both desparately hoping the other person has some insight on how to proceed.
We just started texturing the walls to cover up the unevenness caused by the stubborn glue bubbles that I could not scrape off with my trusty trowel (as an archaeologist I love the varying uses of the trowel - what an amazing tool). So far we have only had one potential mishap. I don't think we were using the texture brush correctly. I know, it sounds like something that is so common sense you'd have to be really dense to not catch on. We even called Javers' sister twice for directions. Oh well. We can sand off the part we already did if it looks too bad.
Probably the best part of the whole process is this video download Javers bought that instructs on how to paint over wood paneling (an option we might use in the living room). It just so happens the video was made in Aberdeen, SD so the guy's accent iss marvelous. The way he talks about what he is doing is extremely entertaining. I wish I could just link to it, but you would have to pay to watch it. The best part is when he is talking about filling in the wood paneling cracks with spackle he gets really excited and lets us know this is where we are really going to get 20 times our money's worth because he is going to impart this marvelous secret. It's a good secret, I won't spoil it for you.
We did just start this weekend, but all is well so far. Javers and I are working together really well on this project. Stuff like this does have the potential to drive a wedge between couples. I think one thing we really have going for us is that we are both a little clueless. Instead of fighting over what each other is doing wrong, we are both desparately hoping the other person has some insight on how to proceed.
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