From the Observation Deck

Normally when things break in my house they stay that way for awhile. Or it just gets replaced because I hate fixing things. We all have our quirks—those things about us that seem contradictory. Like why do I clip coupons and save quarters and dollars here and there on certain things and yet easily spend extra cash when it comes to say…saving a few minutes of time in a check-out line or not having to return something?

For example, I crazy glue my shoes when they start falling apart, reuse lunch bags and tin foil, and buy generic brands of ice cream and medicine. But when it comes to fixing a hole in my ceiling, I put off fixing it myself because I hate doing maintenance. I will, eventually, but I hate it. Why am I discussing any of this? Because for the past nine months I have been updating my house. I don’t know why, since it’s an enormous amount of work. I’ve remodeled my kitchen, painted almost every wall and ceiling and piece of trim, updated light fixtures, reorganized my basement, cleaned up my yard, and bought a ginormous TV. But that dang hole just keeps getting bigger and I keep ignoring it.

Let me share with you what I’ve learned from all of this in case you get the remodeling bug.

 1.    Painting cabinets is a huge pain in the butt. Get someone to come and install new ones for you. Or paint them for you. If you’re going to do it on your own, definitely sand them really well and figure out a good painting system so you don’t get loads of drip marks all over them. Doing this during a snowpocalypse is a good idea. Lots of time to paint between shoveling.

2.    Don’t go through Home Depot for any project. See previous post. After you read previous post, just know that after they finally delivered my floors, they charged me again for them (and charged me for a whole box I didn’t need). And still it goes on…

3.    If you install nice countertops, get a new under-counter sink to go with it. Totally worth it.

4.    Check on your installers often—before and during the project. Many will most likely not speak English, won’t read the order or the directions before they start, and won’t make decisions on their own. They also (most, not all) don’t give a hoot if they damage your house, lawn, furniture, etc.

5.    Put a bunch of extra money in your remodeling budget. It will end up costing you more than you estimated and you’ll start seeing a lot of things that need to be done that you didn’t see before.

6.    Put a bunch of extra money into your budget for the repairs that will come up unexpectedly. It’s been really fun to spend all this money (that I planned and budgeted for) but not so fun when the A/C blew up, the dog needed an operation, the car hit 60K miles and needed everything fixed, a pipe burst, and the small hole in the ceiling became a big hole.

7.    Don’t put upturned paint can tops on the floor where you will be walking. Just saying.

8.    Don’t let the cats near upturned paint can tops.

9.    Have an extra bottle of wine ready for when your neighbors come over at 8 a.m. on Saturday to give you the “I’m going to kill you look” because the installers woke them up.

10. Call your parents and ask them to come down to help you fix the big hole and paint the final rooms.

Good.



Not good.

My niece Zenia inspired this post. The other day she quoted one of history’s greatest story tellers and writers on her Facebook status. Shakespeare is great, but I’m talking about the doctor. Seuss that is (and Ted to his friends). The man can weave a tale like no other. And so now I want to segue into what this post is about.

 Words. They help us communicate, tell stories, pass on knowledge, and express ourselves. They can inspire, tear down, comfort, deceive, uncover, and hurt. They can bring tears of joy and sorrow, and elicit emotional responses of all kinds. Some words are spoken, some written, some sung. Words are important, there’s no doubt about that.  

I like the written word. Reading takes me to places I can only go in my mind and my heart. God shared with us his truth through the written word. But here’s the thing. You can read the Bible from end to end, study it, discuss it, and analyze it. But faith is the only way you will be able to lift the veil to see the truth in the word.

Sometimes words aren’t adequate. Sometimes silence is golden. I’m one of those people that often speak their mind because we just can’t help it. I might cringe as soon as the words leave my mouth, but said they were and sorry can only come as a follow up. That’s another reason the written word is sometimes better. You can delete, white out, and start over before you hit that send/publish button. Just those few moments of time to stop yourself before uttering a mistake.  

But I digress. Sometimes words just can’t describe the beauty (or unfortunately the horror) that we see.

Revelation 8:1 says that, “When the Lamb broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” I’ve been silenced by the beauty of the earth and its people before, but I can’t imagine what could be so beautiful as to stun everyone for 30 minutes. I’m looking forward to that. But until then, whenever I find myself suffering or hurting, I’ll try to remember what Paul told us in Romans. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” It’s so comforting to know that God doesn’t need for us to speak or write to know how we feel.  

To pay homage to the literary geniuses that fill our lives with emotions, here are some beautiful words by poets on our side of heaven.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
Dr. Seuss 

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
Dr. Seuss

“In my world, everyone’s a pony and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies!”
Dr. Seuss

“Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.”
William Shakespeare

“My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
William Shakespeare

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”
Mark Twain

“The difference between the almost right word & the right word is really a large matter–it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
Mark Twain

“She’s mean and she mocks me. I’m pretty sure she has a mild crush on me.”
Tyler Crowe

“Everyone who loves me, raise your hand.”
Harmon Crowe

 With that being said (or written), I bid you adieu. Word Up.