Home Improvement in Earnest

First level of demo
Originally uploaded by suzipaw

Nothing like home improvement to demonstrate just how much crap you really own. The last couple of days I've been emptying the kitchen cabinets in preparation for painting and for the new countertops, which arrive tomorrow. Where did I get all this stuff? I recently read a quote from William Morris on the Martha Stewart Crafts Department blog: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." I'm trying to keep that as my mantra as I clear things out, and I'll have another opportunity to put my belonging through that filter when I reassemble the kitchen again. However, while I may have a lot of crap, I do have a lot of beautiful crap, that's for sure.

Because of all my cabinet-emptying, my work table in the craft room is completely covered with my more fragile items--wine glasses, Corningware dishes from Grandma, the like. That table is also Veronica's afternoon snooze spot, since it's a little cooler than her usual bed. As I was piling up the coffee mugs and Eva Zeisel teapot, a past incident popped into my head: Years ago, M's grandma had brought up some of her good crystal to bestow on us. We opened it late in the evening, admiring it. I knew I'd have some reshuffling of my cabinet to do, so against my better judgment, I left it sitting out on the dining room table. Sure enough, I awoke to a crashing sound in the middle of the night--Veronica had jumped up on the table to get a better look at what we had be oohing at (she can be very jealous), and had knocked off and broken two pieces of the stemware. So of course, yesterday afternoon, as we're wiping down the kitchen walls with TSP, we hear a crashing noise from the craft room. I have no idea how she did it, but Veronica had somehow made her way to her normal nap spot, which of course was had been usurped by juice glasses and the little turquoise and gold glasses from the '50s that a friend gave me upon my departure from New York, knocking down and breaking a full set of Eva Zeisel mugs from our wedding set in the process. Sigh. She meowed angrily at me at the time, but asked forgiveness by sitting on my lap and letting me pet her while we watched Chuck later that night. (I recommend "Chuck" btw.) Well, a good excuse to buy more Eva Zeisel stuff. It may not be cheap, but thank goodness it's still available. And I've been thinking about getting the cups and saucers anyway in addition to the mugs, just to have the whole entire set…

M has arisen, time to get a-spacklin'.

BTW, I've finally taken up "The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and I'm so glad I'm reading it. Babel fish, I get it now! I'm sure there will be other references I've been missing all these years that will finally make sense.


We're waiting for our delish pupusas.