John Irving, Road Trips, Painting, and MORE PROTEIN

It's been a busy few days and instead of blogging about events as they happen, I let them slide and now my brain is a mish-mash of "meant to blog about it" entries that--due to writer exhaustion--will be shortened to soundbite blurbs:

• John  Irving. Went to the hear Mr. Irving, one of the most talented writers of our time, speak at UNCG Thursday night. He asked for questions and in about 30 minutes managed to answer only 4, because every answer turned into a story. No one minded. Listening to him speak was a treat. I left feeling inspired, both about writing and life. Yet another reminder that there are books, ideas, and thoughts right in front of us just waiting to be discovered, if only we'd turn off the TV, ignore the e-mails, and participate more fully in life. 
• Road Trips. Blair and I ventured to Lynchburg this weekend, for the official book launch for our friend Edmund Schubert's book, Dreaming Creek. Ed's parents hosted us in their stunning home in the VA mountains, and this morning we went for a brisk walk with Dora the adorable German Sherpard to tour the fields, streams, and rocks. Came back inside for homemade waffles and hot coffee. Color me happy.
• Painting. However, we did not linger in Lynchburg because household chores called to us. We came home and raked the front yard, then tackled the front bedroom, which once it's painted will be known as my writer's room. Took both of us working together for almost 4 hours to get the room primed. I love our 100+ year old home, but there is an ungodly amount of window, floor, ceiling, and door trim. Blair and I are showered, but still picking primer paint off our hands.
• MORE PROTEIN. Did my last long run on Saturday. Felt sluggish, as I had when I ran 5 miles on Thursday. The last time this happened I added protein to my diet and instantly felt better. With the marathon on Saturday, every precaution must be taken to ensure perfect health. Starting to freak out. 

I have a lot of work to do this week, but am going to get plenty of rest, hydrate, and freebase protein every chance I get.

A New Decorating Diaries

That's right loyal blog readers... it's time for a new DECORATING DIARIES installment! DECORATING DIARIES are a long-held tradition here at Dena's blog, as I catalog the attempts of Blair and myself to decorate, upgrade, or fix... anything.

This time it's the downstairs guest bedroom. I've decided to make it my writing room. Note the term "writing room." A friend convinced me of the importance of differing my office space from writing space. It's hard to be creative in the same space you do your income taxes. (Okay, Blair does our taxes, but you get the idea.) So we're gutting the room and starting over.

Plans involve scraping and painting the ceiling (sour apple green) and painting the walls (turquoise) and the massive amount of trim (off white). The trim is always the killer.

For your entertainment purposes, we'e decided to up the ante on this room. Blair has decided he will build me a bookcase and add ceiling trim to what's already there. I'm more worried about the trim. Our home is 101 years old and most experienced contractors leave our home cursing after a job because nothing is straight, level, or straightforward. But it's a project Blair wants to tackle and here, at the beginning, he has my full support. (Compared to three weeks down the road when we both suspect I'll be screaming at him to just hire someone who know's what he/she is doing so we can finish it... finish it!)

At the moment there is talk of cat trees and built in windowseats. And of course, I want to get the fireplace operational. Six fireplaces and not one of them works. We're still trying to lcoate someone who sells the coal-burning size gas fireplace inserts and can add a liner to the chimneys. Harder than you might think.

So expect lots of fun in the next month as we follow the progress of this room. I expect the first clash tonight. This weekend was going to be spent scraping the popcorn texture off the ceiling, but Blair wants to have a bit of the ceiling checked for asbestos first. That's a good idea, but since we're not doing the ceiling, I say let's rip into the room and start doing other stuff. I suspect Blair will want to wait and follow the shedule (ceiling, walls, trim, carpet) we had planned. Luckily, I am a world champion pouter.

Have a great weekend!

Decorating Diaries: Pictures of (Almost) Completed Exercise Room

Ta-da! We still need to hang pictures and curtains, but here is the 95% completed exercise room. I did a 4-mile jog in there this morning on the treadmill and loved it. No more damn ducks staring at me while I sweat. Note the green towels stuffed in the corner window. That's the one that broke when we attempted to move the bookcase. We're going into Greensboro today to buy replacement glass.

Merry Christmas!!!

  

Painter's Claw

I am mentally willing my right hand to unclench. It's locked in "painter's claw" as I have spent the better part of the week in the exercise room, painting trim. The original trim was this deep, dark orange (Don't ask. We're not the ones who did it). But it took primer and 3 coats of paint to cover it.  Some panels on the door actually took four coats. At that point I was just a madwoman, flinging white paint at anything that stood still.

Still...it's beautiful. Tonight we move the furniture back in and the room is ready for use.

It's been a good week. Wednesday night, Blair and I went to hear the Trans-Siberian orchestra with our good friends Pam and Michael. The concert started at 8 and we snuck out about 10:30, while they were still playing.

"You know you're getting old when you leave the concert early to beat the traffic," joked Blair.

"Hey, high-five on being first ones out of the parking lot! Whoo-hoo!" we chimed in.

The music was great but very LOUD. There's another sign of aging. The wish that they could tone it down, just a bit. That, and is it really necessary for us to be on our feet? Can't we all just sit down and enjoy the music? (You can see why I've never been much of a concert goer...)

It's a small world. Of the 1100 people at the concert, I bumped into my writer friend Maggie while standing in line in the ladies room. Of all the gin joints in all the world...

Today is a special day. We don't buy fish today but we ARE going into Greensboro and purchasing the tank, stand, gravel, and accruements in anticipation of setting up a happy little fish home. But shhh...it's a surprise. Don't tell the cats.