new floors

Pictures of the new floors. They are absolutely beautiful and still feel a little unreal to me. Completely changed the way the house looks.


Living Room

Bedroom

Kitchen too!

(See below for "before" pics)

i (heart) words

I confess to having a secret love affairs with words. Etymology, nuance & subtext, history and music are all contained in a simple combination of syllables and sounds. Even in everyday conversations, the words selected reveal so much more than a literal reading of them would suggest. I think that this is why I love to study new languages for often the history of a people is embedded in the development of the vocabulary.

Not only do people use language to communicate with one another, thereby creating community but also to exclude outsiders. One of the first things that seems to happen within a group of people living/working closely is that they begin to use code words and shortcuts, seemingly to make communication more efficient. Subconsciously it is to create an exclusivity, to define the parameters of their world so that new entrants must take the time to learn their language before gaining admittance.

All of this has been sparked by my discovery of a website/email call World Wide Words. The author, Michael Quinion, writes each week about topical words, weird words, words becoming obsolescent and, my favorite, a section titled sic in which subscribers contribute examples of words used incorrectly or in a way that communicates things the author did not intend. (E.g., "An Associated Press news item dated 3 October surprised Norman C Berns: "Sampson said fossils of duck-billed dinosaurs once lived throughout the northwestern part of North America." Mr Berns now feels there's more to evolution than he ever imagined.")

Through language you shall know your culture.

I'm getting new floors!!

When I first was looking at my house with the realtor back in 2004, I remember commenting to her that one of the first things I would do, were I to buy this house, would be to replace the floors. However, upon moving in, the myriad of new homeowner expenses that inevitably overwhelm one did just that and I put off the floors until later. (Besides, there were more pressing decorating challenges to overcome, such as the mirrors on the LOWER half of the dining area wall and the horrendous wallpaper everywhere...not to mention swinging saloon-style doors separating the kitchen from the dining room!)

Over the years I've been trying different methods of "living with" my current floors. My most brilliant idea was to *paint* the horrid vinyl tiles in the bathrooms & kitchen with garage floor paint. Worked great the first time but didn't stand up to mopping very well. So I re-painted. BAD idea. Either there was more than one coat of paint now or maybe it was just too humid the day that I re-painted but in any case, the floors are now sticky and the thing that sticks most is dirt. Ugh. And no matter what I've tried, that dirt is embedded into the paint permanently. I realized that things had gone too far when I stopped inviting people over because I was so embarrassed for them to see my floors! (Shallow I know).

So now I have bitten the bullet. The house has been measured, the new flooring has been ordered and it just remains to get it installed. (Logistics on this look like they will be challenging to say the least). I am getting porcelain tile for the 2 bathrooms and pecan hardwood everywhere else. Originally intended to go for bamboo because it seemed so much more environmentally-friendly but after further research, decided that pecan would be a better choice. Unlike the bamboo, it is domestically produced and is certified (whereas bamboo is typically imported with questionable labor practices so say the least). Also, from what I've read, it scratches more easily and having a German Shepherd, it just didn't seem practical.

So now I'm trying to get all the painting finished up (re-painting the living room and painting my bedroom for the first time) before they come to install. Hopefully that will be first of November although they have promised me that it would be done by Thanksgiving.