Aftermath

I just paid the final bill for the repairs to the flooded rent house. I haven't totaled up all the receipts yet, but I'm guessing that final figure is well north of $5,000.00 for the project. For this nominal sum, I was able to replace about 500 square feet of sub-floors, carpet, and vinyl. It also covered a new bathtub-shower, three interior doors, some drywall, new trim, and a dumpster to haul all the trash away. Oh, and all the plumbing (including all the faucets) were replaced too. It turns out the freeze was much worse than we originally thought. And, the final figure includes labor too; aside from some demo, I didn't do jack. I'm okay with that.

That being said, I think that once I finish up finals in couple of weeks, this house is going to go up for sale. I think I've overdosed on home improvement for the foreseeable future.

Fiddle While Rome Burns

As part of our on-going Fiddle While Rome Burns divertimentos, Scarlet and I abandoned the Devil Queen to its fate (which is saying something since most of the state has been experiencing 100 year floods with six months of rain in six weeks) and took a decadent three day excursion which included a seven course tasting menu with wine pairings at Ashley's at the Capitol Hotel, horse races, a spa, ducks, raw oysters, Guinness, scotch, a college reunion, shopping, and more.

And, if that weren't enough, we sandwiched all of this in between plant hauling, ditch digging, landscaping, gravel hauling, and house cleaning.

Work hard and play hard because life is short.

Rejuvenation, Suck This!

Okay, I don't really have a grudge against Rejuvenation lighting. They make and sell magnificent period and replica lighting, and I have the highest respect for them since I read this blog post by the owner of the company.

And, while I really like how most of our "Made in China" lighting from Lowe's looks, I can't help think of how glorious the heft and weight of solid brass would be compared to the thin, mystery alloy-metal of our lighting. Sure, with the exception of some of the ceiling fans, we really consider most of this lighting temporary. When we sell the book and movie rights to our home improvement nightmare, we're planning to buy some mighty fine antique chandeliers at the very least.

My longing for the fabulous lighting of days long passed has been fed one tasty bit though. With all the major interior work finished, the last light fixture I installed was this one.

We bought this nearly a year ago at an antique shop in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It is a 1920's light fixture with period, blown-glass shades. If I remember correctly, they were made by a guy or company named Fry or Frey. I'll have to dig the tag that came with it out of the box and have a second look to know for sure.

As usual, the pictures just don't do it justice. My wife and I stood utterly transfixed when this baby came on for the first time. So, until we can afford more, we can stand in the foyer and get our high-dollar lighting fix.