girl at large

I like to write about life when you have a job, some kids, a fixer upper and a fatal disease.

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  • Adventures Great and Small (and a little smelly)

    I miss Miss Ruby. She was my buddy for road trips, grand adventures and grocery runs for more than twelve years. Savannah, France, Portland and Milwaukee. Sunny sidewalk cafes, huge coastal cliffs, drizzly west coast streets, vast Midwest cornfields, woody campgrounds… Ruby was always with me. This past year she was fading and uncomfortable; I'm glad we opted for perhaps a little sooner rather than later. But there are days when I really wish she was still here in her stinky chair. Or as Viv said "I can still smell Ruby over here".

     

  • Holiday Hangover

    It has been two solid weeks of parties, presents and baked goods. The Christmas tree is on the curb, we've binge-watched another tv series, and I'm sick of cooking. I can't wait to get back in to work tomorrow!

     

  • Snow Day

    Miss Ruby was a good dog.

    02/14/99 – 11/22/15

     

  • Three

    IMG_7055

    Viv is a world. She is a toddler. She has dollies and friends and likes and dislikes. She has opinions. She sings to herself. She sings to us. (We call it Toddler Opera). She is curious, she is cautious. She is simultaneously infuriating and fascinating. She is three years old.

    Me, at the end of a long day: "I'm pooped".

    Viv, from the back seat: "Oh Mama, in your pants?"

     

  • Alone Time

    Believe it or not, I’m glad to have this goofball back home.


    Alone Time

  • Dreams Suck

    The trailer sold today. The new owners tow it away this weekend. It's going to a good home, just across the peninsula of Door County to folks who have a place to work on it and finish what we started. It's so close to being done, and yet so far—it still lacked hot water, a working shower and stove. Wait, am I talking about my trailer or my house? Oh, yes, that's why I decided to sell it.
    A few months back, Paulie and I decided to reduce our renovation projects to just one. I voted to sell the house, but got vetoed. (Ha ha)
    It's a happy coincidence that the bathroom work is really under way the same week. Well, not really a coincidence since the trailer proceeds are funding it. As I looked at the beautiful beadboard walls finished today, I noticed that the bathroom is long and narrow and nearly the same length as the trailer. THIS little space of my own better have hot water soon!

     

  • Progress!

    After at last convincing Paulie that hiring another man to work on the house is not the same as having another man sleep with me, we have bathroom progress!

    The crew got the shower walls framed in, the new subfloor completed medicine cabinet roughed in, and the walls prepped for tile…in one day.

    We started the bathroom one year ago next week, planning at the time to complete it in only one week. I said “we will not be defeated”. We were totally defeated. We surrender.

    Old house, we give up on doing it ourselves. We promise from now on just to throw wads of cash at you dear Kenmore Place. Please return the favor some day.

     

     

     

  • Windows

    Before on the left (ugly brown and tan aluminum, triple track storms that didn't work).
    After on the right (beautiful wood windows, wavy glass and years of more work to do!)
    There is still lots to do before they really shine—scraping, filling, sanding and painting; but the dramatic difference in the look of the windows when we ripped off the ugly triple track storms and aluminum trim is amazing. The architecture of the windows is visible once again: the depth of the frames, the detail of the wood trim, the reflective quality of the wavy glass.

    I can hardly wait to do the windows in front and uncover this house's face.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Mother of the Year

    "I'll be a grown up when I drink beer and then I'll get hair on my butt". "And wine too, both of them!" – Viv, age 2 1/2

     

  • A Little Green Goes…Not Far Enough

    Before/After
    Another domino project completed! Now that the huge wooden flower box and vintage park bench are painted, the trim on the house looks terrible by comparison. Here we go again…