A stay at home weekend

We did nothing this weekend even though we had plans -- a literary festival, a play, a meditation class, dinner with friends.  All went by the wayside because Mark and I were both under the weather.  Colds, and feeling crappy.  So we exchanged our theater tickets and dropped out of everything else.  And did nothing.

Almost.

We did watch the debate Friday evening and we both thought Obama did us proud.

We did watch a movie Saturday evening, Lars and the Real Girl, which was sweet and strange, and enjoyable.

And we did get the fifth new door installed and most of the new hardware too.  There's the new front door handle.  It's really my third choice as the first two I selected seemed to be completely unavailable in any way.  But this is fine.

All the doors and the new frames need staining and painting but we'll hold off on that until after the driveway/retaining wall/front entrace step project is done.  If things go well that will be  a week from now.

We'll see.

But in the meantime, Dexter and Californication start new seasons tonight so, while my head still feels like it's in a vise, I'm kind of happy for a Sunday night.

The Driveway

This is why the driveway is being replaced.  The job supposedly starts late next week.

The retaining wall is in even worse shape.

And the front entranceway is just plain ugly.

Stay tuned.

There are many Sarahs in my life

There is, of course, the scary Sarah Palin, hilariously moronic when she actually does speak without a script.

There is the beautiful and brilliant Sarah Schindler (who shared the video I'm about to pass along).

There is the sweet Sarah (the dog) Nichter, a frequent, and current, houseguest of ours.

And there is the creative, clever, crude comic Sarah Silverman.  

Here she is at her best in The Great Schlep.

The Mother of All Search Functions

David Pogue (Pogue's Posts) writes a user friendly techie blog, and weekly column in the NY Times called Circuits. It's always interesting, and so are the clever videos he makes. But today's column gave me an "aha!" moment.
So simple yet so smart.
And I do love my Google!

The Doors

I'm off today, because I worked Saturday at a literacy symposium, part of next weekend's literary festival, Deep Carnivale.

But also because we are having another door installed today. 

We are doing a few home upgrades, we had a couple of windows replaced, and now we are replacing all of our exterior doors.  So a few weeks ago the one from the garage into the house was installed, then this one on the right from the kitchen out to the pool.  It's got a nice glass insert but Mark and I both keep thinking the door was left open; I  guess we will get used to it eventually.

Today the front door is being installed.  I'm really loving the Frank Lloyd Wrightish glass.  It lets in the light but doesn't let you really see in, so no worries about walking by the front door without clothes on.

Later this afternoon the door from the garage to the side yard will be installed.  Then we have to order the fifth external door, the pool bath, because we totally forgot about that one, so it will be a few more weeks. 

None of the hardware we picked out has arrived (the guys are installing the old hardware or loaner hardware if need be) and nothing's been stained yet.   But still, isn't it  so pretty?

Next project -- the cracked concrete driveway gets replaced with gray pavers and the disintegrating wood retaining wall in the front gets replaced with matching gray "stone".  

The front is going to look so nice but this is all so expensive, and yet....how long will I be able to go without repainting the house and replacing the garage door so it all matches?

Oprah Picked My Book!

I am ridiculously excited that Oprah picked my favorite book of the last good while!  

Here's my post on GoodReads.

Listen to Barak's Plan

Barak Obama's plan is clear, intelligent, and feasible.  And absolutely necessary.

And you can read more of his plan on his website.