Pretty Pretty Bang Bang

The fun continues (note dripping sarcasm). We’re on day 6 of no electricity and we’re still living in Paul’s empty house, although it’s not really empty right now. The temp dropped to 29˚ in our house and the cats had to be moved. They are in our “bedroom” and have adapted well. Paul, if you’re reading this, I can assure you they are not causing any harm to your house. I reached my breaking point on Tuesday night while we were moving the cats. I burst into tears and Steve shooed me out of the house with Tidbit in a duffle bag while he attempted to corral Littles. I cried all the way back to Paul’s and continued for several minutes until I calmed down a bit. That night, we got no sleep as the cats were freaked out by the move and kept jumping on us and crying. Last night was better, except for Littles who wanted constant attention. Today is another day. I don’t hold out much hope for electricity, but who knows. I am extremely grateful for a warm house, safe cats and a daily shower. I have so much more than many people around me.

Observations on life without electricity:

* Sometimes all you really need is love. The support of family and friends has been amazing. The calmness of Steve has kept me sane.

* A warm house and an comfortable bed can cure some degree of depression.

* While I adore an extensive wardrobe, I really can live with only 2 pair of jeans. However, I don’t think I’ll be purging my closet too soon.

* I miss TV and the Internet.

* A shoulder to cry on is invaluable to my sanity.

* Emergency situations bring out my creativity.

* Living without real furniture is a drag.

* The best money I ever spent was $40 on a really good inflatable bed and $40 on a battery-powered radio that also gets TV reception.

Still no power at our house, but we’re so fortunate to have access to neighbor Paul Boulifard’s empty home. Little did he know last week, when he packed up his moving truck and left an extra key with us, that he’d end up being our saviour. We’ve spent three nights here and are figuring we’ll have to stay the week. Mick and Carrie, another neighbor couple, are our roomies through the whole thing. Luckily, we all seem to get along.

Yesterday, Steve, Carrie and I drove to Branson so Steve could visit his company’s home office. Carrie and I indulged in some retail therapy at the outlet mall where I scored a new inflatable bed at the Coleman outlet. It was the best $40 I’ve ever spent. Steve said it was much better and his neck didn’t hurt this morning. I figure it’s cheaper than a hotel and we can always use it for our nieces when they visit.

Today, Steve and Eric (another neighbor) are going to attempt to cut down the branches that are blocking our driveway. Eric called an electrician friend who is going to look at our houses to make sure nothing was damaged on the outside. City Utilities is recommending that so, when power is restored, all will reconnect smoothly. Everyone is working together and helping each other. It’s comforting to have friends and neighbors coming together to help. This is how things should be. Hope all is well with everyone reading this post. I’ll write more when I have a chance.

Oh, as of last night at 7 p.m., our house temperature was 41 degrees. The cats are not happy.

Well, things here have taken a turn for the weird. Friday, as you may recall, we were in the midst of ripping out the bathroom floor to tile it. Plans were to get it mostly done this weekend. Well, Mother Nature had other ideas. See [Steve’s weblog](http://www.houseofwarwick.com) for a detailed summary of the ice storm of 2007. Now we have no electricity, no bathroom and no way to finish the project any time soon. Luckily, our neighbor Paul has electricity and we have access to his house. Right now we’ve set up camp here and are likely to remain until power is restored to our house which could be up to a week. I just hope we don’t lose power here. Forecasters are calling for another inch of ice today and tonight and temps won’t get out of the 20s until later in the week. I’m just glad I have a place to stay, a bathroom to use, and a sane husband who understands me when I start crying.

Last night we removed the trim and the door frame on the closet in the bathroom (look for pics later). What a mess. I did discover that using a crowbar is fun! What power! Things actually went pretty fast and the decorative painting on the walls was kept mostly intact. Now I just have to decide what in the world I’m going to do with the closet. The plaster walls are a mess. Now I remember why we shoved a dresser unit in there rather than dealing with the walls. I think we’ll have to install new drywall to the sides before we can put in shelves.

This is like the Energizer bunny. It just keeps going and going and going. Tonight we’ll hopefully install the new subflooring piece so the backerboard can be done tomorrow. With any luck, we can have this tile laid late on Saturday.

This weekend Steve and I are tackling our biggest home improvement project ever. We’re tiling the bathroom floor. I should say not only tiling, but ripping up the old subfloor, installing new subfloor, taking off all the old trim (and possibly replacing it), improving the closet space so it has new shelving, and then tiling the floor. What brought this on is a leak last fall that resulted in a soft floor and the crappy linoleum being damaged. Thanks to our almost-former neighbor Paul we have a bathroom just four houses away we can use while ours is torn up. Thanks Paul!

Stay tuned for all the drama. Tonight we’re removing the trim pieces. I’ll have pictures posted later. Anyone know a good marriage mediator? We just might need one on retainer for the next week!

I’m having a very Flashdance kind of day today. I registered for a welding class at [OTC](http://www.otc.edu/continuinged/documents/CESP07.pdf) which begins in a couple of weeks. I’ve been wanting to learn to weld for a couple of years now and the opportunity arose recently. My friend Sarah is taking it with me.

Now I just have to find some scissors to cut up my sweatshirts…

It’s now the 4th day of January and I’m noticing that many of my neighbors still have their outside Christmas lights up. Ok, so maybe they haven’t had time to take them down over the last holiday weekend, but do they still have to be on? If you haven’t had the chance to take down your lights, do everyone the favor of at least turning them off. Christmas is over.

My [mom](http://keckeley.wordpress.com/) now has a blog so I thought I’d take this opportunity to welcome her to the Internet. Stop by her place and see what she has to say!

I think most of us tend to reflect on the old year as soon as the new one starts. It’s human nature to want to correct past mistakes even if it means making them again in the process. My biggest mistake of 2006? Letting myself get lax with my eating habits. I fell off the wagon and now comes the painfully slow journey of getting back on. Now, dieting is probably the biggest New Year’s resolution made and broken, but this isn’t really a diet for me. It’s about getting some food structure back into my life and not eating everything that isn’t nailed down. As fate would have it, today I received an email asking me to return to Weight Watchers online with no set-up fee. It was a sign so I took that road. Steve and I are working on an 8 week schedule that will lead up to our anniversary. The plan is to buy new outfits for ourselves (in new sizes) in Kansas City and wear them to our anniversary dinner.

I started my morning with a weigh-in. I’m at my highest in almost three years. Yup, time to face the music before I have to increase my entire wardrobe by a size, or (gasp!) two. Wish me luck!

I hope your New Year’s Eve celebration was fun and memorable. Since Steve had been sick, we hung out at Kevin and Valerie’s house watching movies and eating pizza. Not bad, but not exciting. As we enter 2007, I thought I’d take a moment to look back at the highlights of 2006. Here they are, in no particular order:

* Attended class at [Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts](http://www.arrowmont.org/) in March. Steve drove me to Gatlinburg, TN, spent the night, drove home and did the same thing a week later to pick me up. Now that’s love, people. My experience at Arrowmont was amazing. I spent a week doing nothing but working with metal all day. It was creative, fun and inspirational. I hope to return again this year for another class.

* I turned 40! Thanks to Steve and my sister, I had a great party with all my friends. Turning 40 was a bit scary (it sounds so old) but I’m over it. Besides, everyone says I look much younger and I feel younger so that’s what really counts.

* I became an aunt again. My sister and her husband create the cutest kids! Lydia is such a sweetheart. She’s really coming into her personality now that she’s almost 1.

* I lost my job. On July 31, I had my last day of employment at AdBuilders. About 6 weeks later, the business closed for good. It was a sad situation, but I needed to get kicked out of there and spend more time creating jewelry. While I hated to see the business fail, I’m really glad I was let go.

* I became a juried member of [Best of Missouri Hands](http://www.bestofmissourihands.org/redbeedesigns.htm). This made me feel like a legitimate artist and introduced me to a whole new group of artists around the state.

* Steve got a new job – hooray! He’d been wanting to leave Nuvox for some time and an opportunity arose at Dazzee, a local Cisco engineering company. He’s now received several certifications in the industry. I guess the best way to sum up his job is that he’s a professional geek!

* I went back to school – again. After leaving AdBuilders, my friend Sarah suggested I take her fall class at MSU. I learned raising and casting. While taking a fall class was stressful during my busy holiday season, I loved every minute of being in the classroom. I’ll be taking another class this spring.

* As the saying goes, “Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.” A “silver” friend of mine turned out to be silver-plate and her true color came through at the beginning of last year. The experience made me appreciate my “gold” friends even more. I also welcomed new friends into my life with Mick, Carrie and Paul.

* We took a trip to Chicago. For the last couple of years we’d been talking to our friends Duane and Prudy about traveling together. In November, we all drove to Chicago to see the King Tut exhibit at the Field Museum. While the exhibit was a bit underwhelming, the trip was a blast. We all got along so well and discovered we’re very compatible travelers. That’s a rarity.

* My business expanded. At the beginning of the year, I was in three galleries. Now, I’m represented by six in three states. I have three here in Springfield, one in Parkville, MO, one in [Des Moines, IA](http://www.from-our-hands.com/) and one in [Memphis, TN](http://www.metalmuseum.org/). Woohoo! Looks like I need to hire some studio help.

* Steve and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. And they said we’d never make it…

Happy New Year everyone. May your 2007 be wonderful.