That's what I have! More and more I try to remember the right word to use and simply cannot. For instance, in my last post, I was trying to remember the correct word for dicking around with that 50-ft hose, and then again at work, same word for something else I was doing, and then again today while helping my daughter...same frippin' word I was trying to find. Finally on the way home, when I was talking about what L&J still had to do at their old apartment...packing up the last stuff, this, that, and cat WRANGLING!
WRANGLING!! GAH!
Some theories include antidepressants could be part of the cause of dysnomia. Whatever...I hate it.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Sore hands and wrists...
...must mean I've made new promises to be active, productive, move ahead, garden, walk the dogs...some sort of activity that my joints object to.
I did walk the dogs, and do a bit of watering...it was marshaling wrangling 50 feet or so of garden hose that more than likely did it. I walked both dogs, although I really only intended to walk one. I went a good ways up the hill with the old, chubby, sweet Golden Retriever and on the way back down the other side, there was this old man, looked harmless enough, older than I, wearing a Longhorns cap, and smoking...I was my usual way friendly self and smiled and said hi. And he muttered something and I said, "Excuse me.." Took him several tries and he kept looking back in his door...and that should have been the clue right there, because when he finally got himself heard, what he was asking was, "Can I see your ass?"
"Can you see my ass? No. You can see it as I walk away." And I left, pulling out my cell phone as I did. So I walked home, and got the other dog...young, huge, needs a Gentle Leader which looks to the uninitiated like a muzzle of some kind (it isn't), and my husband. All 6'4" 300 pounds of him, and walked back up the street, just sauntering along.
I did not know an elderly gentleman could move that fast......
I did walk the dogs, and do a bit of watering...it was marshaling wrangling 50 feet or so of garden hose that more than likely did it. I walked both dogs, although I really only intended to walk one. I went a good ways up the hill with the old, chubby, sweet Golden Retriever and on the way back down the other side, there was this old man, looked harmless enough, older than I, wearing a Longhorns cap, and smoking...I was my usual way friendly self and smiled and said hi. And he muttered something and I said, "Excuse me.." Took him several tries and he kept looking back in his door...and that should have been the clue right there, because when he finally got himself heard, what he was asking was, "Can I see your ass?"
"Can you see my ass? No. You can see it as I walk away." And I left, pulling out my cell phone as I did. So I walked home, and got the other dog...young, huge, needs a Gentle Leader which looks to the uninitiated like a muzzle of some kind (it isn't), and my husband. All 6'4" 300 pounds of him, and walked back up the street, just sauntering along.
I did not know an elderly gentleman could move that fast......
15 June
Your unrelenting determination is useful today as you manage a complex family situation that has created its share of stress. Fortunately, your key planet Venus forms an easy trine to lucky Jupiter, enabling you to find a solution to a problem that has been nagging at you for a while. Nevertheless, it could take a minor crisis to motivate you to investigate further. Remember that temporary patches and quick fixes are not a smart idea at this time.
This one was sooo apropos, it wasn't even funny. But, because it has to do with certain aspects of my family, I can't elaborate. If you know me, you probably know. If you know me and you don't know...it probably doesn't concern you.
This one was sooo apropos, it wasn't even funny. But, because it has to do with certain aspects of my family, I can't elaborate. If you know me, you probably know. If you know me and you don't know...it probably doesn't concern you.
June 14
It's quite unsettling when you are not in control of your feelings, but try not to worry if you aren't satisfied with what you currently have. Trust your instincts, for your ruling planet Venus enters your 4th House of Security, ensuring your common sense in love even if you consider shaking everything up for the sake of change. But be careful of overreacting or your inflexibility can create unnecessary problems. Be open to meeting others halfway or you might miss the love that's already in your life.
I know there was a very good reason for saving this one...but you know, a week later, if I don't make any notes, it's hard to say what was running through my head. I do remember the night before, as I tried to go to sleep, feeling utterly and completely out of control of my life...to the point where I actually, seriously thought about rope and the rafters of the back porch. Two main things stopped me...the first being my children. I would never, ever do that to them. What a horrible, selfish thing to do to one's children...let alone spouse, parents, siblings, co-workers, etc. The other is the thing that's always stopped me...if you give in to the long term solution to a short-term problem, you never know what the next chapter is, do you?
I've been getting steadily better since then, even though in some ways, some things are worse than they were then. But yesterday I vowed to press on, take control and stop waiting for someone to save me. Only one someone can save me....me.
I know there was a very good reason for saving this one...but you know, a week later, if I don't make any notes, it's hard to say what was running through my head. I do remember the night before, as I tried to go to sleep, feeling utterly and completely out of control of my life...to the point where I actually, seriously thought about rope and the rafters of the back porch. Two main things stopped me...the first being my children. I would never, ever do that to them. What a horrible, selfish thing to do to one's children...let alone spouse, parents, siblings, co-workers, etc. The other is the thing that's always stopped me...if you give in to the long term solution to a short-term problem, you never know what the next chapter is, do you?
I've been getting steadily better since then, even though in some ways, some things are worse than they were then. But yesterday I vowed to press on, take control and stop waiting for someone to save me. Only one someone can save me....me.
Monday, June 14, 2010
To Kid or Not to Kid.
Somehow or other I ended up reading this blog post about the Duggars.
Leaving aside my opinions on their religious views, because in the end, unless you’re sacrificing children or animals, using children in sex rituals, or marrying teenaged girls (or boys) and having sex with them, I don’t really care what you believe. To a point. The problem with the Duggars and others who think it’s okay to litter the earth with their spawn is that they are hurting others.
It should be fairly obvious why, but not one person who commented on that blog post got it, not one mentioned the reason having so many kids is bad. Sure, if Michelle Duggar (who reminds me eerily of Karen Allen) wants to be a broodmare just to let Jim-Bob prove his masculinity, fine. Personally, I think it’s warped, but it’s her choice. And I have no problem with the older kids helping to raise the younger ones. Folks, that’s the way it’s always been done in larger families, and the way it should be. The older kids learn, then teach, and by teaching and taking care of their younger siblings, they learn to take care of their future kids (or decide, hell no, I don’t want any). My opinion always used to be, if you can afford ‘em, have ‘em—nothing worse than poor people popping out one kid after another when they can’t afford to clothe and feed them. It’s rumored the only reason they can afford all those spuds is because of the deal they made with TLC, but if that is true, then I suppose they get kudos for figuring out how to fund their tiny army.
I don’t criticize Michelle and Jim-Bob for Josie’s premature birth. That could happen with a first child or any one of them. I don’t even condemn them for giving every last munchkin a name starting with J. But really, what the heck is up with that? And why all Js? Why not every other one an M for Michelle? All Js is proof positive of Jim-Bob’s infatuation with his own genitals, but, as they say, I digress.
Anyone out there remember the basic cycle of life, the one that allows us to live on this rock? Very simply put, it’s respiration. We breathe in oxygen (and a few other gases) and breathe out carbon dioxide. We cannot breathe that air back in until it’s “cleaned.” It’s why you suffocate if you put a plastic bag over your head. We always say, they ran out of air. That’s not strictly true. There’s air, alright, but we’ve poisoned it by using it. There’s a rather complicated process in which our lungs convert oxygen (O2)-rich air into CO2-rich air. We can’t use CO2. Enter plants. Plants, very simply put once again, turn CO2-rich air (which is toxic to us) into O2-rich air. It’s a deal made in heaven…or wherever you’d like.
Plants, and in particular, trees, are the Earth’s lungs. Whether you believe in the six-day, Bada-Bing theory in which God pulls a rabbit out of his hat (along with a boatload or two of other creatures), lights all the stars in the sky and then ruins it all by making Man from a lump of clay (that should have told God right there what dirty bastards we’d be); or you believe in a godless universe that lit itself on fire; or somewhere in between, the symbiosis between living beings, mammals, rodents, birds, etc., and plant life is brilliant. And crucial.
We are killing trees and other green things as fast as we possibly can. And in return, their absence is killing us.
The average American, regardless of income, puts out about 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year (as compared with a world average of about 4 metric tons per person, per year.¹ Twenty.Metric.Tons. And yet we’re cutting down the forests and plowing up the fields faster than they can be replaced.
So, let’s do some wildly off-the-cuff math and say the Duggars finally figure out after the birth of wee Josie, that if Michelle pops one more puppy out, she’ll have to have a zipper installed, so they stop spawning (I have this sneaky suspicion that Jim-Bob would have to be made a eunuch first, but I digress again). That still leaves 21 people in the household (let’s just say for a moment that the one daughter who’s already married and starting a tiny army of her own is still at home and not yet had any babies). 21 x 20. That’s 420 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air, every year, as opposed to the “average” family of, for the sake of simplicity, four, or 16 metric tons.
Let’s take Michelle and ol’ JB out of the picture, because they’ve been around for awhile. That leaves 19. And we’ll be generous and take the 2 kids that the “average” family has from the equation, too. That leaves 17.
That’s 340 metric tons of extra CO2 in an already burdened atmosphere. Add to it the space taken by let’s say, to be conservative, 1/3 of them, 5.67, to build new homes. Another third moves into new apartment buildings, and the last third, bless them, move into existing homes (either apartments, semi-detached, or detached housing).
The average new home size in the U.S. in 2009 was 2,135 square feet.² Fortunately it was showing a down trend from a high in 2007 of 2,277 square feet. Let’s give those 5.67 Little Duggars the benefit of the doubt and say their yearly income, combined with a down-trend in new home size puts them at roughly 1800 square feet per Duggar. That’s 10,206 square feet, not counting concrete patios and driveways, that are not producing O2 anymore (not to mention the reflected heat sending the temperature of the atmosphere even higher). Combined with whatever square footage the apartments the second third is living in. Let’s be generous and place the area at half what the first third is taking up, so 5,030 square feet. Total 15, 090 square feet, or roughly .42 suburban acre.
That certainly doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? However, by the time you figure in the square footage of new places to shop, work, worship, and learn, plus the parking lots, the square footage of greenspace—The Earth’s lungs, remember—lost is daunting. Add water used, run-off, sewage and trash produced, lawn chemicals used, not to mention landscapes irrevocably lost or changed, and suddenly those extra Duggars, and the extra kids of any family that doesn’t seem to know what the words birth control mean, add up to a bigger threat than just the demise of Michelle Duggar's beleaguered uterus.
The right-wing Christian contingent (notice I do not say all Christians, because I know many who are horrified at what we are doing to our planet) seems to think that caring about the Earth is somehow or other evil, anti-God, and a liberal plot. That somehow, Jesus says it’s okay to piss on Mother Earth, to plunder her riches, to tear up her green mantle until there’s nothing left. That it’s okay to have one kid after another, without regard to where they will live and work, and what they will eat once we’ve paved over all the farms to make room for sloburbia.
Wow. Those are not the lessons I learned in Sunday School.
I don’t know about you, but I learned God created the Earth, making it sacred. We are stewards of the Earth. Good stewards do not rape or plunder that which has been placed in their care. Even if you don’t place any authority in the Bible, it’s just plain, practical sense to not destroy that which gives you life and that which will support your progeny. In effect, people like the Duggars (i.e. Quiverfull) are not only selfish, but are also cutting off their noses to spite their faces. The more children they have, the harder it will be for those kids to survive, and even harder still for their kids to survive.
Things like verses 3-5 of Psalm 127 were written in a time when very few people, relatively speaking, inhabited the Earth, and the Jews in particular, needed more people to fight the growing number of enemies they were amassing. Of course they’re going to tell you to have a bunch of kids, especially when over half of them would probably not reach adolescence, let alone adulthood. This is the problem with fundamentalism, it fails to place the Bible within its historical context. It’s nigh onto impossible to take something written for the illiterate who lived over two thousand years ago, before humankind advanced enough to delve into our past and into the very nature of life itself, and apply it to modern-day life. Of course, if you ignore all we know about the authors of the Bible and insist it was written by the Divine Hand, then all bets are off.
So, yes, your uncontrolled reproduction is hurting me, and worse, it’s hurting my children. I have a right to be angry about that and to let you know about it. Not that I think for a moment you care about anyone’s opinion but your own.
Related sites:
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/smartgrowth/rpave.asp
Leaving aside my opinions on their religious views, because in the end, unless you’re sacrificing children or animals, using children in sex rituals, or marrying teenaged girls (or boys) and having sex with them, I don’t really care what you believe. To a point. The problem with the Duggars and others who think it’s okay to litter the earth with their spawn is that they are hurting others.
It should be fairly obvious why, but not one person who commented on that blog post got it, not one mentioned the reason having so many kids is bad. Sure, if Michelle Duggar (who reminds me eerily of Karen Allen) wants to be a broodmare just to let Jim-Bob prove his masculinity, fine. Personally, I think it’s warped, but it’s her choice. And I have no problem with the older kids helping to raise the younger ones. Folks, that’s the way it’s always been done in larger families, and the way it should be. The older kids learn, then teach, and by teaching and taking care of their younger siblings, they learn to take care of their future kids (or decide, hell no, I don’t want any). My opinion always used to be, if you can afford ‘em, have ‘em—nothing worse than poor people popping out one kid after another when they can’t afford to clothe and feed them. It’s rumored the only reason they can afford all those spuds is because of the deal they made with TLC, but if that is true, then I suppose they get kudos for figuring out how to fund their tiny army.
I don’t criticize Michelle and Jim-Bob for Josie’s premature birth. That could happen with a first child or any one of them. I don’t even condemn them for giving every last munchkin a name starting with J. But really, what the heck is up with that? And why all Js? Why not every other one an M for Michelle? All Js is proof positive of Jim-Bob’s infatuation with his own genitals, but, as they say, I digress.
Anyone out there remember the basic cycle of life, the one that allows us to live on this rock? Very simply put, it’s respiration. We breathe in oxygen (and a few other gases) and breathe out carbon dioxide. We cannot breathe that air back in until it’s “cleaned.” It’s why you suffocate if you put a plastic bag over your head. We always say, they ran out of air. That’s not strictly true. There’s air, alright, but we’ve poisoned it by using it. There’s a rather complicated process in which our lungs convert oxygen (O2)-rich air into CO2-rich air. We can’t use CO2. Enter plants. Plants, very simply put once again, turn CO2-rich air (which is toxic to us) into O2-rich air. It’s a deal made in heaven…or wherever you’d like.
Plants, and in particular, trees, are the Earth’s lungs. Whether you believe in the six-day, Bada-Bing theory in which God pulls a rabbit out of his hat (along with a boatload or two of other creatures), lights all the stars in the sky and then ruins it all by making Man from a lump of clay (that should have told God right there what dirty bastards we’d be); or you believe in a godless universe that lit itself on fire; or somewhere in between, the symbiosis between living beings, mammals, rodents, birds, etc., and plant life is brilliant. And crucial.
We are killing trees and other green things as fast as we possibly can. And in return, their absence is killing us.
The average American, regardless of income, puts out about 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year (as compared with a world average of about 4 metric tons per person, per year.¹ Twenty.Metric.Tons. And yet we’re cutting down the forests and plowing up the fields faster than they can be replaced.
So, let’s do some wildly off-the-cuff math and say the Duggars finally figure out after the birth of wee Josie, that if Michelle pops one more puppy out, she’ll have to have a zipper installed, so they stop spawning (I have this sneaky suspicion that Jim-Bob would have to be made a eunuch first, but I digress again). That still leaves 21 people in the household (let’s just say for a moment that the one daughter who’s already married and starting a tiny army of her own is still at home and not yet had any babies). 21 x 20. That’s 420 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air, every year, as opposed to the “average” family of, for the sake of simplicity, four, or 16 metric tons.
Let’s take Michelle and ol’ JB out of the picture, because they’ve been around for awhile. That leaves 19. And we’ll be generous and take the 2 kids that the “average” family has from the equation, too. That leaves 17.
That’s 340 metric tons of extra CO2 in an already burdened atmosphere. Add to it the space taken by let’s say, to be conservative, 1/3 of them, 5.67, to build new homes. Another third moves into new apartment buildings, and the last third, bless them, move into existing homes (either apartments, semi-detached, or detached housing).
The average new home size in the U.S. in 2009 was 2,135 square feet.² Fortunately it was showing a down trend from a high in 2007 of 2,277 square feet. Let’s give those 5.67 Little Duggars the benefit of the doubt and say their yearly income, combined with a down-trend in new home size puts them at roughly 1800 square feet per Duggar. That’s 10,206 square feet, not counting concrete patios and driveways, that are not producing O2 anymore (not to mention the reflected heat sending the temperature of the atmosphere even higher). Combined with whatever square footage the apartments the second third is living in. Let’s be generous and place the area at half what the first third is taking up, so 5,030 square feet. Total 15, 090 square feet, or roughly .42 suburban acre.
That certainly doesn’t seem like a lot, does it? However, by the time you figure in the square footage of new places to shop, work, worship, and learn, plus the parking lots, the square footage of greenspace—The Earth’s lungs, remember—lost is daunting. Add water used, run-off, sewage and trash produced, lawn chemicals used, not to mention landscapes irrevocably lost or changed, and suddenly those extra Duggars, and the extra kids of any family that doesn’t seem to know what the words birth control mean, add up to a bigger threat than just the demise of Michelle Duggar's beleaguered uterus.
The right-wing Christian contingent (notice I do not say all Christians, because I know many who are horrified at what we are doing to our planet) seems to think that caring about the Earth is somehow or other evil, anti-God, and a liberal plot. That somehow, Jesus says it’s okay to piss on Mother Earth, to plunder her riches, to tear up her green mantle until there’s nothing left. That it’s okay to have one kid after another, without regard to where they will live and work, and what they will eat once we’ve paved over all the farms to make room for sloburbia.
Wow. Those are not the lessons I learned in Sunday School.
I don’t know about you, but I learned God created the Earth, making it sacred. We are stewards of the Earth. Good stewards do not rape or plunder that which has been placed in their care. Even if you don’t place any authority in the Bible, it’s just plain, practical sense to not destroy that which gives you life and that which will support your progeny. In effect, people like the Duggars (i.e. Quiverfull) are not only selfish, but are also cutting off their noses to spite their faces. The more children they have, the harder it will be for those kids to survive, and even harder still for their kids to survive.
Things like verses 3-5 of Psalm 127 were written in a time when very few people, relatively speaking, inhabited the Earth, and the Jews in particular, needed more people to fight the growing number of enemies they were amassing. Of course they’re going to tell you to have a bunch of kids, especially when over half of them would probably not reach adolescence, let alone adulthood. This is the problem with fundamentalism, it fails to place the Bible within its historical context. It’s nigh onto impossible to take something written for the illiterate who lived over two thousand years ago, before humankind advanced enough to delve into our past and into the very nature of life itself, and apply it to modern-day life. Of course, if you ignore all we know about the authors of the Bible and insist it was written by the Divine Hand, then all bets are off.
So, yes, your uncontrolled reproduction is hurting me, and worse, it’s hurting my children. I have a right to be angry about that and to let you know about it. Not that I think for a moment you care about anyone’s opinion but your own.
Related sites:
http://www.nrdc.org/cities/smartgrowth/rpave.asp
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Food tricks
Butter is low-carb, but no matter how much you add to bread, corn, or potatoes...they still won't be low-carb.
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Sunday, June 06, 2010
What a marvelous thing.
A clean fridge is a marvelous thing.
A clean refrigerator. Aaaah. My hands are raw and I've dripped soapy water from one end of the kitchen to the other, and most of my groceries (except dairy) sat out all day. But the fridge is all washed and the crap cleaned out. I took out every shelf and door pocket, took them apart and scrubbed 'em with Method Purple Spray (which, by the way, works better than anything I've ever found on that tough, sticky kitchen grease), and also with soapy water, rinsed and dried, and reassembled them. Also took a bunch of stuff out to the compost. The person who messes it up will not be a happy camper.
The freezer side is next. Then to conquer the rest of the kitchen. Ennui be damned!
Oh, and the spousal unit laughed his ass off at me taking this picture.
Everything but the kitchen sink.
Taking apart my fridge and washing all the various trays, drawers, and parts has sharply reminded me why I want one of these:
I currently have the original, cheap-ass, shallow, stainless steel double sink that came in the house. If you look at a dish the wrong way, water floods your counters. I would dearly love to have a sink like this one. Image from Southern Living.
Frankly, my dear...
I think there's a special place in HELL for apostrophe abusers!
I will never, ever get the environmentalists thing. So, according to Jesus, it's okay to rape, plunder, overpopulate, and generally destroy the beautiful world that was created for us? Not what I got out of Sunday School. Personally, I think--if Hell exists--there's a very, very special place for haters.
Apostrophe Abusers Repent!!
I will never, ever get the environmentalists thing. So, according to Jesus, it's okay to rape, plunder, overpopulate, and generally destroy the beautiful world that was created for us? Not what I got out of Sunday School. Personally, I think--if Hell exists--there's a very, very special place for haters.
Daily Horoscope
For my main home page, I have iGoogle. You can pick all sorts of fun widgets to clutter up your iGoogle page and one of them is a daily horoscope from Tarot.com. For the most part, it's like any other generic, one-size-fits-none daily horoscope. But lately, they've been hitting it eerily spot-on. Today's is a prime example:
Over the last couple of days, I've been determined to turn things around in my life, to end the cycle of downward spiral, clean things up, clear things out, lose weight, finish projects, etc. But my mind can't settle on one thing to begin with. Today I decided to take control of my kitchen. I've washed a ton of dishes, and am cleaning the fridge out (most of what was in there was nascent compost), wash it out and clean the floors and start the plan to paint and refurbish the kitchen. Also, I want to work my way through the laundry monster that's taken over the laundry/cat area in my studio, and move ahead on getting my shelves back up in my bedroom.
Why the heck am I sitting here typing??
You may feel as if you are at a turning point in your life, but everything may seem bigger than it actually is. It will take months before your long-term goals clarify, yet the choices you make now will be instrumental in your new direction. Don't worry if you cannot put all your ideas into one practical package. For now, let your imagination flow without restraint; you can make sense of your thoughts later on.
Over the last couple of days, I've been determined to turn things around in my life, to end the cycle of downward spiral, clean things up, clear things out, lose weight, finish projects, etc. But my mind can't settle on one thing to begin with. Today I decided to take control of my kitchen. I've washed a ton of dishes, and am cleaning the fridge out (most of what was in there was nascent compost), wash it out and clean the floors and start the plan to paint and refurbish the kitchen. Also, I want to work my way through the laundry monster that's taken over the laundry/cat area in my studio, and move ahead on getting my shelves back up in my bedroom.
Why the heck am I sitting here typing??
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Tip for the day: Rude Awakening
Want to kick yourself out of denial about something? Pictures are worth a thousand therapists. Think that room isn't so bad? Or that slinky outfit you're about to go out the door in? Take a digipic real quick and have a gander.
The House, so far...or confessions of the organizationally challenged.
We've lived in this house for exactly 20 years and 1 month (not counting the 4-5 months I lived in an apartment by myself, but that's a whole other story). It was built by a less-than-reputable builder, Nash Phillips/Copus Homes or NPC. Back while this subdivision was being built but before I'd heard of it, I was dating a guy whose mom lived in a fairly nice neighborhood in the south part of the city...why am I being coy? If you know who or what NPC Homes was, you'll know where I am, so what the hell. In South Austin, off of William Cannon. This boyfriend was the first person to tell me the other names for NPC: "Nails, Paper, and Cardboard" and "Not Properly Constructed." The year after we moved in here, a tax adjuster for Travis County said he had been one of the original owners in the little exclusive condo neighborhood attached to the bigger development of single-family homes. They had a HOA and tons of issues with NPC...he added the epithet "Never Pays Contractors."
After 20 years of living here, I've added my own: "Nothing Per Code." The sheet rock is cheap, too thin, and barely taped; none of the plumbing was installed correctly--we're still waiting to find the money to have the hall bathtub drain fixed (as in new stuff, properly installed), so we can replace the flooring in the greatroom--on long walls, there's only 1 duplex, instead of the 2-3 there should be; everywhere we've torn up flooring, there's been some cryptic message scrawled in black marker by an inspector "not plumb" with an arrow pointing to the wall, is my favorite. But the single biggest code whanger I've found was brought to my attention by the guy who bought the house next door. He's since sold and moved, but I remember one day, not long after he moved in. He was furious. He'd bought the small footprint, 2-BR house with the intention of adding on a second story, only to find out that the studs were 22 inches on center. If you're not the constructionly type...studs are supposed to be 16 inches on center. The builder saved about a third of the framing costs right there. My studs run 22-24 inches on center (and no rude jokes, please).
Since NPC went under, Nash Phillips came back and started Wilshire Homes here in the Austin area. As far as I know, they are very nice, well-built houses, in fact, we had looked at some up in Round Rock. Either he learned his lesson...or another thought occurred to me. Perhaps the people working for NPC were robbing the company blind, some sort of concerted effort by a superintendent, etc. to skim as much as they could. Imagine, if you will, NPC buys enough wood to properly frame out the entire subdivision. But the contractor, because he knows he's not going to get his money anytime soon...skims 1/3 of the 2x4s. That's a fair chunk of change, and in these cheap little houses, purchased mostly by first-time, low-income buyers, who's going to notice? Makes you wonder.
None of this really has much to do with my dilemma, except that the house is built of cheap materials which are now falling apart. Not horribly...yet. But enough that the house really needs work. Add to it my proclivity for STUFF and we have a problem. Add to it my total lack of energy when I get home and we have an even bigger problem. Add to that my ADD and ...well... Anyone who knows an ADD person knows that we tend to start a whole lot of things, but never finish them, which of course adds even more crap and inability to decide even where to start. My doctor, who's a sleep specialist (never, ever tell a sleep specialist you snore...), says he's not sure he believes in adult ADD. eh...doc? So I guess we grow out of it? Doc, that's like saying someone will grow out of their eye color. Supposedly, all my symptoms can be explained by sleep deprivation. That's fine, but I'm not sleep deprived, as long as I actually go to bed on time. I also find it hard to believe that certain behaviors specific to ADD are caused by sleep deprivation. Like starting a project or taking on a position in a group, and then losing interest, but meanwhile, you've gone gung-ho into it, and have all the tools, books, materials, etc. only to leave them behind...usually in a pile somewhere and start another project. Or, be working on a project and think about something else you could do with an item in your hand and go dig out all kinds of fabric, etc, to look at and then leave that out. Then later, you want to clean up, but literally do not know where or how to start. Inability to concentrate? Sure, I could give that one over to sleep deprivation...except that it's been going on all my life, and I've only been snoring since I got really overweight....
Any who...back to the house. In some regards, you could say I'm a type of hoarder. But I can throw things out, I can organize them, I can give them away...having the energy to do that and enough time to think about it, that's something else. Depression...did I mention that part, too? Crap. Well...and you can see just how easily I get distracted by reading this, yes?
This started out about my house and all that needs to be done...stayed tuned for part the second.
After 20 years of living here, I've added my own: "Nothing Per Code." The sheet rock is cheap, too thin, and barely taped; none of the plumbing was installed correctly--we're still waiting to find the money to have the hall bathtub drain fixed (as in new stuff, properly installed), so we can replace the flooring in the greatroom--on long walls, there's only 1 duplex, instead of the 2-3 there should be; everywhere we've torn up flooring, there's been some cryptic message scrawled in black marker by an inspector "not plumb" with an arrow pointing to the wall, is my favorite. But the single biggest code whanger I've found was brought to my attention by the guy who bought the house next door. He's since sold and moved, but I remember one day, not long after he moved in. He was furious. He'd bought the small footprint, 2-BR house with the intention of adding on a second story, only to find out that the studs were 22 inches on center. If you're not the constructionly type...studs are supposed to be 16 inches on center. The builder saved about a third of the framing costs right there. My studs run 22-24 inches on center (and no rude jokes, please).
Since NPC went under, Nash Phillips came back and started Wilshire Homes here in the Austin area. As far as I know, they are very nice, well-built houses, in fact, we had looked at some up in Round Rock. Either he learned his lesson...or another thought occurred to me. Perhaps the people working for NPC were robbing the company blind, some sort of concerted effort by a superintendent, etc. to skim as much as they could. Imagine, if you will, NPC buys enough wood to properly frame out the entire subdivision. But the contractor, because he knows he's not going to get his money anytime soon...skims 1/3 of the 2x4s. That's a fair chunk of change, and in these cheap little houses, purchased mostly by first-time, low-income buyers, who's going to notice? Makes you wonder.
None of this really has much to do with my dilemma, except that the house is built of cheap materials which are now falling apart. Not horribly...yet. But enough that the house really needs work. Add to it my proclivity for STUFF and we have a problem. Add to it my total lack of energy when I get home and we have an even bigger problem. Add to that my ADD and ...well... Anyone who knows an ADD person knows that we tend to start a whole lot of things, but never finish them, which of course adds even more crap and inability to decide even where to start. My doctor, who's a sleep specialist (never, ever tell a sleep specialist you snore...), says he's not sure he believes in adult ADD. eh...doc? So I guess we grow out of it? Doc, that's like saying someone will grow out of their eye color. Supposedly, all my symptoms can be explained by sleep deprivation. That's fine, but I'm not sleep deprived, as long as I actually go to bed on time. I also find it hard to believe that certain behaviors specific to ADD are caused by sleep deprivation. Like starting a project or taking on a position in a group, and then losing interest, but meanwhile, you've gone gung-ho into it, and have all the tools, books, materials, etc. only to leave them behind...usually in a pile somewhere and start another project. Or, be working on a project and think about something else you could do with an item in your hand and go dig out all kinds of fabric, etc, to look at and then leave that out. Then later, you want to clean up, but literally do not know where or how to start. Inability to concentrate? Sure, I could give that one over to sleep deprivation...except that it's been going on all my life, and I've only been snoring since I got really overweight....
Any who...back to the house. In some regards, you could say I'm a type of hoarder. But I can throw things out, I can organize them, I can give them away...having the energy to do that and enough time to think about it, that's something else. Depression...did I mention that part, too? Crap. Well...and you can see just how easily I get distracted by reading this, yes?
This started out about my house and all that needs to be done...stayed tuned for part the second.
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