Who's Afraid of Crawl Spaces?

Years ago, we placed speakers all throughout the house. We ran wires under the floor to the various spots for music. (And when I say we, I mean me.) I crawled under the house to fish the wire through. Charles wouldn’t go near the crawl space.

The last time we added some speakers, I crawled all the way from the back of the house where the access door is to the front of the house, where the living room is and the stereo. There’s only one access door to the crawl space, so it’s a long trip.

I’d always been worried about seeing snakes or spiders when I’m crawling through this tight space. There’s really no getting around down there quickly.

On that particular day, I just happened to look over my shoulder toward the access door at the back of the house when I saw two eyes shining back at me from some kind of animal! I almost jumped through the living room floor! (If there been enough room to get some lift, I would have made it through.) Luckily, it was just a cat who was more scared of me than I was of it and the cat ran away.

We haven’t put in any more speakers since that day. But now that we’re getting the receiver fixed, I saw these mini speakers from Sony. And they’re wireless. No more crawling under the house for me.

Sony HT-IS100 (The size of strawberries. Nice! I totally need them.)
Rock Speakers (For outdoors, although these aren't wireless)
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook (You don't know - that cat could have had rabies or something. Of course, the dogs were lounging in the living room at the time.)
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Lightning Strike

Lightning strikes are a common thing here in Florida. We have surge protectors for most of our electronics to prevent serious damage. We have battery backups for the most important pieces, like the computer (so you don’t lose any work if the power goes out) and Tivo (seriously, I couldn’t possibly miss one minute of Project Runway!).

We had a major storm the other night. A day later, I decided to do some work around the house (Yeah, I know. What got into me?) and I turned on the stereo to listen to some music.

Wait a minute. I didn’t know Annie Lennox was in the movie "Lord of the Rings"! I could hear Annie singing and the hobbits yelling at each other. (Mr. Frodo wasn’t singing, but I totally bet he could rap.)

After a few moments, I realized that our stereo receiver had been hit by lightning again and an electronic component had burned out inside (even with a surge protector). This happened once before, where the receiver played all inputs at the same time – the TV signal, the iPod, the CD player, XM.

While I like to multi-task, I can’t pay attention to all of that at the same time. Just ask Charles – he'll tell you I barely listen as it is. (Did he just say something?)

So I'll be looking for a new upgraded surge protector with a battery back up. And sending the receiver off to get fixed.

Surge Protectors with Battery Backups
Project Runway (now on Lifetime)
Models of the Runway (Thanks Pat – I’m now hooked on another TV program!)
Annie Lennox (more on Annie later this week)

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Beef - It's What Might Be For Dinner

OK, so I completely threw Charles under the bus while his parents were here. Now, Charles has not eaten any beef or pork since the beginning of the year (and I can totally respect his beliefs). Since we are trying to cook more often instead of eating out, that means no beef or pork for me either. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I casually mentioned the topic in front of his parents. Now his dad is retired military and been retired for many years. In other words, he has zero tolerance for your hippie-loving, tree-hugging, no meat eating ways, no matter how good those reasons might be.

A little family pressure might bring back bacon and corned beef and steaks. (Oh, I’m getting hungry.) Or it could simply steel Charles' resolve even more. Keep your fingers crossed.

In the mean time, I'm thinking about framing all of those beefscapes print ads and hanging them throughout the house. You know the ads, where the steak looks like a mountain and the greens look like a forest? I love those, sort of subliminal landscapes. Think it will work?

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Print Ads (Not only are the ads very creative, but each one has a recipe connected with the photo.)
Aaron Copland’s Rodeo IV. Hoedown (The great music from those beef commercials - available on iTunes. Makes you want to put on some cowboy boots or something.)
Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse (Thank goodness for friend’s birthdays)
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Secret Flask

The in-laws came to visit over Labor Day. They arrived on Friday and stayed through Monday morning. They have been married for more than forty years and have been retired for at least 25 years or more. Charles’ dad retired in his 40s from the Air Force.

The in-laws kind of liked the new renovations to our bathrooms, but thought we should have installed higher toilets for older people and bars in the shower so that it would be easier to get in and out. They brought their own suction cupped bars which they tried to install on the beveled tile. (They didn’t much like the tile after the suction cups wouldn’t stick.)

By the way, I started reading a lot more this weekend. I found a whole series of books (notice the picture) on etsy that really brightened my spirits (so to speak). I have found that I can read them over and over again and never grow tired of the story. Boy, the weekend just flew by! It’s all kind of a blur to me now.

Books on etsy are at PommeFrites
My favorite bookmark
Portable Suction Cup Grab Bars (Sorry, but there's no way I'm buying these for at least another 30 years. If you need them when visiting my house, better bring your own.)
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Glee Returns

Glee returns on Wednesday at 9:00 on FOX.

I've been singing "Don't Stop Believing" all summer since watching the pilot episode this past spring. It's been on my iPod and I listen to it at work. Unfortunately, every time the music begins to crescendo, someone stops by my desk to ask me a question. So, I start it over again - you know - to feel the moment in its entirety. Yeah, I can totally recite the first verse by heart. Don't have a clue what's in the second verse though. Some day maybe.

If you go to iTunes, you can download some new songs from the cast. I hear they are even working on an album. Get in line behind me. I'm a total Gleek.

Glee
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Interior Spaces blog

Friends of ours recently moved their office space into a new studio in their backyard. They had their old garage rebuilt into a new office. Now these designers can look out the window at their beautiful garden. (Once all the construction is finished!)

They’ve also started a blog that allows you to see their various projects in process. It’s kind of like one of those HGTV shows, but in a more realistic time frame. (C’mon, how can you completely renovate a whole house in one week?)

Visit their new blog to get a peek into other people's homes and pick up some new design ideas.

Interior Spaces Inc.

Desperate Classic Housewives

This past Friday, we invited the neighbors on our block over for happy hour. There’s one couple on the corner who have been retired for some time. The “mayor”, as we call him, celebrated his 80th birthday a few years ago. In his early 20’s, the mayor played drums professionally, even for Gypsie Rose Lee (Wow!).

It’s fascinating to me hearing about the past of someone older – learning what they were like before they were the person that I know today. I enjoy trying to imagine what they were like at my age. (Although, I never, ever, ever needed to see the photo of a previous boss when she was a professional bodybuilder - and it was printed on a birthday cake no less!!!!)

StoryCorps is a series on NPR that strives “to honor and celebrate one another's lives through listening.” I also love our local paper’s weekly photo column titled “My First Car” typically old pictures of people posing in front of their autos.

Maybe it started all started from watching The Golden Girls. (Picture it, Sicily…) Either way, I’m a sucker for a good classic story.

StoryCorps
My First Car
The Golden Girls
TV Land's parody of Sex and the City - with Bea Arthur (you've got to see this)
TV Land's parody of Desperate Housewives - with Charo