Radio Playlists for July 2013



The name of the show: Blackbeard's Delight
Your host: Prof. Kitty
The station: WVEW 107.7 Brattleboro, VT

July 11, 2013—Special birthday show for my guy

  • Must've Been High: Supersuckers
  • Here Comes the Rain Again: Eurythmics
  • Dead Red Eyes: Archers of Loaf
  • Thirty-Nine & Holding: Jerry Lee Lewis (long distance dedication)
  • Reelin' in the Years: Steely Dan
  • The Greatest: Cat Power
  • Zimbabwe: Bob Marley
  • Lightbulb: Mezzanine Owls
  • Broken English: Marianne Faithful
  • Which of Us Is the Fool: Robert Palmer
  • I'm Changing My Name to Chrysler: Arlo Guthrie & Pete Seeger
  • Goodnight Vienna: Ringo Starr
  • True to Life: Roxy Music
  • Here's Where the Story Ends: The Sundays

July 18, 2013

  • Loxtep: The Annuals
  • Think I'm in Love: Beck
  • Safe & Sound: Capital Cities
  • We Are the People: Empire of the Sun
  • Compacto: Curumin
  • Honey Trap: We Have Band
  • Hold on When You Get Love...: Stars
  • Secret Separation: The Fixx
  • Get Lucky: Daft Punk
  • Out of My League: Fitz & the Tantrums
  • Boy with a Coin: Iron & Wine
  • Les Yper-Sound: Stereolab
  • Shuriken: Madeon


July 25, 2013

  • Axel F: Harold Faltermeyer (Beverly Hills Cop s/t)
  • Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad: Derek & the Dominoes
  • Tell Mary: Leo Kottke
  • Here I Go Again: Whitesnake
  • We Don't Grow Tobacco: Old Crow Medicine Show
  • You're the One that I Want: John Travolta & Olivia Newton John (Grease s/t)
  • Valerie: Steve Winwood
  • Way Down the Old Plank Road: The Mammals
  • Bring it On Home: Led Zeppelin
  • Only Time Will Tell: Asia
  • Africa: Toto
  • Hey Babe: Neil Young
  • Magic of Love: Janis Joplin

Cute things on Etsy

Do you like Etsy? Now and then I stop by the shops to browse and dream. Here are some of the things I've "hearted."

Io Jupiter's Moon Catnip Cat Toy - Needle Felted Wool by Mycrobe So cute! They have Saturn and vegetables too.





Coffee tea cup cozy mug cozy  by socksandmittens  Yarn bombing a MUG, yo!




Dots Linen Tea Towel by leahduncan  Beautiful, muted southwestern tones.





Silver Pinecone Necklace by GoddessOfJewelry  Sweet! Polished yet rustic.




Ottoman Tray with salvaged wood, recycled leather and brass hardware by BlisscraftandBrazen  I am kind of desperate for a low, upholstered ottoman in the middle of our as-yet-to-be-finished living room. This would be perfect on top of that.





Retro Owl Playing Guitar with Hedgehog 5x7 Print by leearthaus  Awww! And mushrooms.

STERLING Silver Unique Ocean Waves Silk Ribbon Bracelet by HappyGoLicky  This shop has many variations on this pretty wrap bracelet, even custom embossing. Also angel wing rings.





Honey Bear - wool felt miniature bear by MountRoyalMint  CUTIE.




Felted Pebble Set in Purples by delica  Pleasing little vignette





Vintage Night Owl Art Nouveau pendant by sarahannelily  I love owls, esp snuggly heart-faced barn owls.




Peacock FEATHERS Deep V-Neck american apparel T Shirt  by ZenThreads Cool.




Snail Wax Seal Charm Necklace - Always at Home by ShannonWestmeyer   Something about the 1/4 profile of the snail is very satisfying. Not your average SIDEWAYS snail.




CATHRINEHOLM Mid Century Modern Danish Kitchen Poster Print by visualphilosophy  I found this while searching for actual Cathrine Holm bowls. Almost as good?




Hand Printed 'Mountain' Leggings in White on Black by thiefandbandit  I wish I could pull these off




Personalized Men's Leather Valet Tray by RumorsGifts    Seems this would be a great man gift!





Flour Sack Towel Rabbit  by AppleWhite   I love rabbits and I love flour sack towels.





Custom "Ribbon" Return Address Stamp by ChristineMarieB  I've been looking for something like this stamp! I don't want to keep ordering stickers. Stamping seems super simple and classy.





Black leggings with multicolor roe print by ZIBtextile These leggings are soooo cool, the design has a Princess Mononoke look that rocks.





Fold Over Clutch - Dark Blue with White Dots by eveden  Simple. Elegant. Trendy.

Blooming Summer

Remember my May post about compost that included this photo?


Since then things have kind of exploded.

Catnip in bloom

The pokeweed on the left is almost as tall as the fence. Some kind of squash is growing directly out of the compost bin. A riot of catnip makes the bees go crazy.



Oregano in bloom

On Facebook today someone posted that summer is like the Saturday of the year, so just try to enjoy it! My problem is that I don't really like Saturdays. I expect way too much out of them. That I'll get to relax, that I'll get a bunch of chores done, that I'll have some kind of meaningful memorable experience with my family. It's a lot to ask.

Lavender in bloom

I know somebody who is getting stuff done during summer though, and that's the flowers and the bees.

Thyme in bloom


Go bitty tomato plants! They were a foot high on Memorial Day. Now they're my height.

Tomato plants in bloom

Maybe when it comes to summer, it's helpful for me to remember that we reap what we sow. If I'm a grump because it's hot and sticky and everybody is annoying, my summer will not be that great.

Tiger lilies in bloom

If I try to find the little things that make me happy or that are special about this beautiful season, maybe I'll have a better time. Look at these lovely double tiger lilies.

How is your summer going? 

9 Reasons Being a Grownup is Sometimes OK (Stridebox Review)

Coffee.

Booze. Beer and wine. Scotch as a distant second.

Gadgets. Like my smartphone, the bug-zapper, or the ipad I'm writing this on.

Staying up late.

Being nicotine-free. Like, not even thinking about it anymore.

Chocolate. Particularly dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt.

Shoes.

Nostalgia. Bringing out old memories like a precious secret stone to turn over and consider and smile. Then quietly put them away again.

Subscriptions. I love service, including having magazines sent to me for regular reading, dialing up Pandora radio stations according to my every whim, and lately getting interesting mail-order boxes. Speaking of which, my July Stridebox came today and I am so excited! It's a $15 per month subscription for "stuff runners like."



Patriotic RUN sticker for a July shipment! They included a fresh one just for me.



Investigating the box, there's a bottle full of something, and some other items too. They manage to squeeze a lot into a small space.



A branded Stridebox bottle filled with stuff. They call it "a small selection of six hydration options for your summer runs."



The stuff in the bottle turns out to be drink mixes, which is perfect. This is just what I need! Even though I have several sport water bottles, I refuse to put anything in them except water, cuz I don't want them to taste funny or get sugary in hard-to-clean places. Now I have not only a lovely mixing bottle, but 6 new mixes to try--including Grape Nuun, a Gu Brew tab in Tri-Berry, a delicious lookin' HDX Hydration Mix, and Acai Energy Boost from Healthy to Go!





There were also a few other treats in the box--2 power bars (one with very few ingredients that are all pronounceable--Bearded Brothers Natural Energy Bar, and the other with a long list of chemicals), a Surge® gel from Body Glove, and some SpiderTech kinesiology tape, which sounds very mysterious but is supposed to help "where it hurts."

Are you a runner? Do you like to get presents in the mail? I highly recommend a Stridebox subscription. Once a month seems to come up so often, it's been ages since I blogged my first box but I've really been enjoying all of the treats.

Bonus thing about being a grownup: Winning your age group in a race... mainly because the majority of women in the race are NOT in your age group but 2-30 years younger.

Summer renovation project

I wrote about starting to rip up our living room back on April 28. A lot has happened since then! We hired a pro to help us with some of the major pieces, and we've made a lot of progress. There is still a lot to do though. My goal was to be moved back into the living room by June 28, and that did not work out at all.

Before

 


Dining nook after we half-heartedly pulled off some wallpaper



The east side of the room, aka the "inside wall"



The west side of the room, aka "3 windows"

Furniture removed



Dining nook is on the right, and to the left by the front door is the "hall" closet, a major target of this renovation



Slightly different angle of the nook, that's the kitchen through the right-hand door. Note the omnipresent piano in many of these pictures.


Here's the far corner by the 3 windows, mostly showing the wallpaper that is about to be removed... By removing the walls

With old walls removed

 


The disgusting moldy closet has now been ripped out, along with all of the rest of the Sheetrock stuff in the room.



Dining nook


The "bookcase wall," down to the studs

Insulating

 


The closet is now gone! The doorway was removed and it's being integrated into just a longer front hall.


Pinkboard and foam added

Sheetrock installed

 



We hired someone to put up the Sheetrock for us. Also he hung up a new front door.


Dining nook



Book wall

Primer added

 


Here's where I volunteered to help. For three separate evenings I sanded Sheetrock compound until I was satisfied the paint would go on perfectly smooth. We even got our pro to come back and fix the compound in some places. Then I rolled primer onto walls. I also painted the ceiling.


Dining nook



Far wall

Paint and Trim

 



Walls are painted (by me) and trim is up (by our handyman guy). Check out the closet area now, there's a bench and coatrack for a "mini mud-room" area.



The paint color is Sherwin Williams "Faint Coral," a very light pinky peach. We've also been trying to refinish the floor, with not much success. You can see the ridges from the poor finishing job done before our time, and now we have to sand everything down to even it out. It's been at least 3 long attempts and it's still not ready for stain/polyurethane/etc.




More about that Closet!

 


This was inspired by something I saw on Apartment Therapy and then added to my Pinterest for safekeeping.




The coatrack was made from scratch, with hooks reclaimed from our old Target coatrack since they seemed perfectly good.



A nice deep bench that we can store things in and also sit on while pulling on winter boots. My plan is to paint it the same color as the walls, though I'm not completely sure about that.

NEXT!


There are a million billion things left to do, including:
  • finish buffing the floor
  • Stain the floor
  • Seal the floor
  • Prime trim as needed
  • Prime the bench
  • Putty nail holes
  • Sand and wipe down
  • Caulk cracks
  • Paint all trim, including crown moldings
  • Paint coat rack and bench
  • Replace switch plates and outlet covers
  • Install new window shades
  • Put back light fixtures
Also we're mulling some questions, such as: Should we get help for the floor and trim stuff that we're dreading, or power through and chip away at it all summer? Where is the piano going to live while we finish the floor? When we're done, how are we going to arrange the room? Are we really going to also put in custom bookshelves and an entertainment center (flat screen tv, new shelving for stereo components) on the far wall?

We are doing our best to stay calm, focused, and not get too frustrated or run down. I feel that I am not a great do-it-yourselfer because I only have energy to make dinner, put the kids to bed, and maybe read one magazine article before bed. Trying to squeeze in something extra is hard!

One plus: Having the doors sealed off to this room means we can easily shut one more door and air-condition both bedrooms. So now our house has 3 areas--the under-construction part, the hot July part, and the lovely cool part.

How are your projects going? Have you broken out the AC? We just set ours up on Monday evening. It is delightful.