I must be on a Jim Croce kick today. For those of you, too young to know, Jim Croce was a soft rock singer popular in the early 70's who died tragically in an airplane crash after recording only a couple of record albums. But he had a few top 10 songs and developed almost a cult following as his music spoke to many of us. Some of his shortest songs, were his sweetest. "Photographs and Memories" are one that has stayed with me through the years.
My nephew Jeremy's wife, Kerry and I are Facebook friends. Since they live in the southern part of the state, I don't often get to see them and love following my two grandniece's and grandnephew through the pictures and anecdotes, Kerry puts up on Facebook. She recently put a picture of her eldest daughter and son riding on a "penny horse" at a store. Taylor and Trevor are about the same age apart as my brother Kim and I, and I was reminded of that and told Kerry as much in the comment section. She asked if I had any old pictures of Kim and I as kids I could put up as many have told her Trevor looks just like his grandpa. That prompted a visit over to Mom's for the "red" album which contained my baby pictures and Kim's. The album was worn and frayed from much perusing over the years. Pages had come loose and the cover was about to fall off. But oh, such good memories are contained in those pages and pictures.
Before I came home with the albums, Mom and I had a memory catchup and left behind the dreary early April day in Michigan to remember a childhood that I describe now, as wonderful. If I could just reach back and capture some of those times again....
We talked growing up rural and the country neighborhood, where all but Mom are gone now and only a handfull of their children remain. But while we were desparate as kids growing up, my closest friends, two sisters, no longer live close, those that remained have formed a bond of shared childhoods in this setting. We have stayed to look after our parents, though that was not originally the plan and to be the keepers of the country flame. It is what it is, and the generations have thinned out. What once was 3 and 4 generations farming the shared land is no longer. Those that have remained look to children removed from that, and we know we are probably the last of our families to stay. It is sad in many ways, but it is also the way it is...I can linger in that sadness or be grateful for what I have and have had and look to whatever future remains for me.
The afternoon proved a good one, one in which Mom and I connected, in a shared way of mother and daughter, remembering the bonds that hold us close. And that evening amid dreary rain, I opened the albums and was transported back to a joyous time, I mostly only remember through the pictures snapped, forever capturing me in my all my baby glory, black and white and exquisite to me. I smiled at the pictures of my two favorite girl cousins and the times we went up to my grandparents cottage, our moms taking just the kids up and we being kids, eating dry cereal out of individual serving boxes, called variety packs and something we got only when on vacation. Glimpses of my grandparents cottage which I knew so intimately growing up as it was a part of every one of my summers. Even now, I can close my eyes and smell the smells that made it unique. The piney smell of evergreen trees that surrounded it. The smells of water and wet sand. The chatter of squirrels that woke us every morning, and the rich smells of coffee brewing and in August, Grandpa's "fried apples" on the stove for breakfast. Even thought black and white picutes, I remember vividly, the colors of that place...
I remember the elm trees that surrounded my house and were gone so soon after we moved to the "farm", victims of Dutch Elm disease. They are a faded memory, but the pictures bring back how lush the farm was with them and how denuded it seemed at first when they were gone. But that was another good memory. In order to replace all the trees we lost, my dad would dig up maple saplings from the creek area and brought them up to the house and planted them where Mom directed. We each got a tree and it was our job to water that tree until it took hold. It became our tree and I remember every tree we planted and nutured.
We were country kids and did things like sled and ice skate in the winter, and wade in the creek in the summer and try to avoid "bloodsuckers" which visiting city cousins always seemed to find and a quick foot and leg check after wading was always in order. We ate fresh picked sweet corn and strawberries. We had homemade canned pickles, not realizing the work it took to can all those jars of cucumbers every August and why the smell of dill will always evoke the summer kitchen and pickle making. We rode the tractors with our dad as often as we could and when we got our first two wheeled bikes, we lived on them during the summer months visiting our country "best friends"....
I often think, my kids could not possibly have had as good a life as I did growing up, but I have a suspicion, my mom would say the same thing about her childhood, and I hope my kids consider it a wonderful time of memories.
So I looked through the albums and took a step back in time and thought how young my mom and dad were, how hopeful that all would go right in their young married life, just as I am sure I looked in my later albums. It is the cycle of life we have been given. My prayer is that I live up to all that has been bestowed with a willing and cheerful heart even in my later years.
Thanks for the memories....
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Dates and Time
Today is the birthday of Kurt's late brother, Kim. He would have been sixty years old today. I couldn't imagine him at sixty as he lived by the phrase, "Live hard, die young and leave a good looking corpse". He did all of those things. Still, I wonder if he would have been different staring pending retirement, and grandfatherhood squarely in the face.....Kim lived in California when I met Kurt and our wedding week was the first time I ever met him. I heard all the stories and knew the background. He was charming and spoke with a California drawl. He was unlike both of his brothers, but very much a combination of both. The night of Kurt's bachelor party at a township hall down from my house, he played cards and got so drunk he fell asleep with his head on a stove burner in the kitchen. When I went over to Kurt's parent's house the next day, (they were both up North at their cottage), Kim was secreted away in one of the bedrooms with someone he had met after the party. That was pretty much Kim, at least to me. He remarried a few years later, had a second son almost 20 years younger than his first, and tragically died riding a motorcycle into a path of a car on a California highway at night. So, I never knew this brother in law, Kim, who shared a name with my brother, Kim, (what a coincidence, one of many about my and Kurt's life intersecting), and always thought of him as the charming brother who never wanted to live to grow old, and he didn't....
For years I would confuse his birthday with my freshmen college roommate's, who's birthday is the 6th of April. Why when I have forgotten so many other things, far more important do I remember the birthday of a person who I have not talked to in almost 30 years is beyond me, but I do remember it and seldom does the date pass by that I don't remember, Debbi, and what a riotous good time we had that first half of our freshmen year at Alma College.
Going away to college was a huge deal to me in 1972. I was the first in my family to go to college and even though Alma College was a scant hour drive away, I would be living in the dorms and staying there, I, a person who didn't even like to overnight at my cousin's house when a child. I never intended to live anywhere else than close to where I had grown up, and thought college was just something I would do in the meantime, as I needed a career at that point, and was "too smart" to just take an office job. I am sure Mom and Dad were proud to send me off to college, proud that I had earned enough in scholarship money to pay all but the room and board fee. Proud that their child was moving away from the expected life of many at that time, but apprehensive, because it was after all, me, who got homesick very easily, and had only a failed aunt's one semester attempt at Michigan State University to relate to.
I don't remember any of that, just that this was a new adventure with no certain outcome and I was by turns, terrified and excited. The roommate situation was probably upper most on my mind. I had no friends going to Alma so I specified no roommate preference. I was sent Debbi's name about mid summer and her Saginaw address. We corresponded once back and forth just to kind of acquaint ourselves with each other and sent a senior picture.
Mom was the one who took me to college that first week when freshmen were on campus before the rest of upper level students arrived. I had packed and repacked and had rather a car full of "stuff" as I remember. I even remember what I wore that first day moving in, how weird is that? Debbi was all ready there with her grandma with whom she lived and had unpacked a great deal already. I can't say what her reaction of me was but I remember thinking, "she was nice enough". Her sister who was a senior at Alma popped in and she had a friend from high school who lived at the other end of our dorm, so she was well acquainted with people already and seemed at ease on campus. I was just the opposite. I and Mom unloaded the car and after an hour, Mom said goodbye and left me to my new life. My exciting new life seemed kind of hollow right then but I unpacked and Debbi and I chatted. By evening though she was off with her friends to walk uptown to a small bar that catered to the college kids. She invited me along, but I didn't really know anyone, and being me, I said I was tired and stayed in. I won't lie that first night was rough and I was terribly homesick, but it got better everyday after that, until I was more comfortable at school than back at home where my old friends had scattered and we were all doing different things.
Debbi and I slowly started a friendship that by the Christmas break was strong. She had me over to her home during the break and invited me to parties with her then boyfriend. Some of my best college memories are the wacky things we did, she and I that first semester of college. I'd like to say, it went on that way all through but in the second semester things changed. Not for the worst as I look back on it now, but at the time it seemed my new world had a large crack in it. After Christmas into the second of a 3 semester year at Alma, Debbi broke up with her boyfriend, who went to Western Michigan. I only knew Mike through Debbi and he was distraught and turned to me for answers, of which I could give him none. It boiled down to Mike was a rebound guy for Debbi who had dated another guy through much of high school, and that break up before I knew her had devestated her. Oh the drama...
Debbi immediately began dating someone else and going around with the girl next door to us as both of their boyfriends were friends. Patty had no roommate then as a girl from high school she knew, and had planned on rooming with was involved in a bad motorcycle accident and couldn't start until the third semester. When Dianne did start school, and she and Patty lived together, it didn't take any of us long to realize that pairing wasn't going to work. They fought every time they were together and finally our R.A. suggested a room switch with Debbi moving in with Patty, and Dianne coming to live with me. I was devestated, as this was set up without my knowledge and I remember crying long and hard about it, which now seems so stupid, but young girls are young girls complete with all the emotions.
The switch settled in and Dianne and I got along very well, though it was never the fun, Debbi and I had, had that first semester and what made so many special memories for us. After that first year things changed, Dianne and I roomed together a second year but then I switched dorms and roommates, Debbi left Alma for a year to go to a junior college before returning our senior year. We moved on. We kept in touch right up to her getting married after she finished college to that first love she had had in high school. I was married and already a mom then. After she married and moved away we lost touch, and have never found each other again, but I still remember her birthday on April 6th, and still occassionally get out the book she made me for my birthday our first year, rooming together, a book of handwritten poems and other sayings she treasured...
"Time it was, and what a time it was...it was... a time of innocence, a time of confidences...
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph. preserve your memories. They're all that's left me..."
For years I would confuse his birthday with my freshmen college roommate's, who's birthday is the 6th of April. Why when I have forgotten so many other things, far more important do I remember the birthday of a person who I have not talked to in almost 30 years is beyond me, but I do remember it and seldom does the date pass by that I don't remember, Debbi, and what a riotous good time we had that first half of our freshmen year at Alma College.
Going away to college was a huge deal to me in 1972. I was the first in my family to go to college and even though Alma College was a scant hour drive away, I would be living in the dorms and staying there, I, a person who didn't even like to overnight at my cousin's house when a child. I never intended to live anywhere else than close to where I had grown up, and thought college was just something I would do in the meantime, as I needed a career at that point, and was "too smart" to just take an office job. I am sure Mom and Dad were proud to send me off to college, proud that I had earned enough in scholarship money to pay all but the room and board fee. Proud that their child was moving away from the expected life of many at that time, but apprehensive, because it was after all, me, who got homesick very easily, and had only a failed aunt's one semester attempt at Michigan State University to relate to.
I don't remember any of that, just that this was a new adventure with no certain outcome and I was by turns, terrified and excited. The roommate situation was probably upper most on my mind. I had no friends going to Alma so I specified no roommate preference. I was sent Debbi's name about mid summer and her Saginaw address. We corresponded once back and forth just to kind of acquaint ourselves with each other and sent a senior picture.
Mom was the one who took me to college that first week when freshmen were on campus before the rest of upper level students arrived. I had packed and repacked and had rather a car full of "stuff" as I remember. I even remember what I wore that first day moving in, how weird is that? Debbi was all ready there with her grandma with whom she lived and had unpacked a great deal already. I can't say what her reaction of me was but I remember thinking, "she was nice enough". Her sister who was a senior at Alma popped in and she had a friend from high school who lived at the other end of our dorm, so she was well acquainted with people already and seemed at ease on campus. I was just the opposite. I and Mom unloaded the car and after an hour, Mom said goodbye and left me to my new life. My exciting new life seemed kind of hollow right then but I unpacked and Debbi and I chatted. By evening though she was off with her friends to walk uptown to a small bar that catered to the college kids. She invited me along, but I didn't really know anyone, and being me, I said I was tired and stayed in. I won't lie that first night was rough and I was terribly homesick, but it got better everyday after that, until I was more comfortable at school than back at home where my old friends had scattered and we were all doing different things.
Debbi and I slowly started a friendship that by the Christmas break was strong. She had me over to her home during the break and invited me to parties with her then boyfriend. Some of my best college memories are the wacky things we did, she and I that first semester of college. I'd like to say, it went on that way all through but in the second semester things changed. Not for the worst as I look back on it now, but at the time it seemed my new world had a large crack in it. After Christmas into the second of a 3 semester year at Alma, Debbi broke up with her boyfriend, who went to Western Michigan. I only knew Mike through Debbi and he was distraught and turned to me for answers, of which I could give him none. It boiled down to Mike was a rebound guy for Debbi who had dated another guy through much of high school, and that break up before I knew her had devestated her. Oh the drama...
Debbi immediately began dating someone else and going around with the girl next door to us as both of their boyfriends were friends. Patty had no roommate then as a girl from high school she knew, and had planned on rooming with was involved in a bad motorcycle accident and couldn't start until the third semester. When Dianne did start school, and she and Patty lived together, it didn't take any of us long to realize that pairing wasn't going to work. They fought every time they were together and finally our R.A. suggested a room switch with Debbi moving in with Patty, and Dianne coming to live with me. I was devestated, as this was set up without my knowledge and I remember crying long and hard about it, which now seems so stupid, but young girls are young girls complete with all the emotions.
The switch settled in and Dianne and I got along very well, though it was never the fun, Debbi and I had, had that first semester and what made so many special memories for us. After that first year things changed, Dianne and I roomed together a second year but then I switched dorms and roommates, Debbi left Alma for a year to go to a junior college before returning our senior year. We moved on. We kept in touch right up to her getting married after she finished college to that first love she had had in high school. I was married and already a mom then. After she married and moved away we lost touch, and have never found each other again, but I still remember her birthday on April 6th, and still occassionally get out the book she made me for my birthday our first year, rooming together, a book of handwritten poems and other sayings she treasured...
"Time it was, and what a time it was...it was... a time of innocence, a time of confidences...
Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph. preserve your memories. They're all that's left me..."
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
The Sump Pump and other Headaches
Its fairly early yet by many standards and while most mornings I would have been up by at least an hour, this particular morning I have been up since 4 a.m. You see last night about 9:00 p.m., in the middle of a "Dancing with the Stars" episode, (yes, I know its my one of my maybe, two dozen vices), during a commercial break I decided to go into the basement and water the several plants I winter over down there under a grow light. I hadn't watered them for a few days, and all day had been meaning to, and all day forgetting. It always lifts my spirits to see the lemon verbena in full green grow mode and one or two geraniums blooming, especially in this early spring, we in Michigan know, will break your heart, often as not.
Upon flicking on the light to the "lower" basement rooms that contain the plants, I immediately, discovered we had water in those two rooms, effectively flooding them with at least 9 inches of water. I immediately shook the sump pump line which is supposed to drain tile water and keep the basement dry. It obviously had quit running. No luck there. Kurt, upon my yelling up the stairs came down, not at all happy and in the way of men, complaining about what else could go wrong. After more lifting of the sump pump, and bumping it on the bottom bed it suddenly started and began draining water. It seemed disaster averted aside from water in the basement and that cleanup which would have to take place again. Though most of the furniture stored down there was up on some wood blocks, in a couple of cases the water was higher than the blocks. It had also splashed up on the carpet that the stairs down from the living room are covered in and I was afraid it would wick higher up. We took numerous pictures for insurance purposes and hoped this was the worst thing that would happen to us.
After an hour I went back down to check and most of the water had drained out of the two rooms. I got the broom out to start sweeping low spots in the flooring to the sump pump. When I didn't hear it clicking on, I checked the hole in which it sits and its full again, a foot only from the top of the hole. We pulled the sump pump, but no amount of jiggling or light bumping would restart it. We called two plumbers we know and as it was after 10 in the evening, neither answered. We began bailing water out of the hole and dumping it outside away from the house. Ten to 15 trips later we were both exhausted and the water was still filling up the hole pretty quickly. I suggested we put the pump back in and try it. Eureka, it worked. We watched it for a half hour and then Kurt went to bed and I stayed up until almost midnight. I watched the NCAA basketball championship game, and my hopes fizzled there too, as Cinderella team Butler was overwhelmed by a strong and tasting victory, UConn team. Before I went to bed, I checked the sump pump and it was still working.
At 4 a.m. I woke up and went down and checked and the pump had stopped again and there was about a foot of space to the top of the hole. No shaking or bumping helped so I knew Kurt would be driving to Home Depot when they opened at 6 a.m. I went back to bed, but knew sleep would elude me, so kind of tossed and turned until Kurt got up at 5 and I told him the pump had stopped again. We tried to get it to run but no luck. At 5:40 a.m., Kurt headed over for the 20 minute drive to HD. He called from there and I had to measure the piece of pvc that came up from the pump. He thought he would have to possibly buy a new piece and cut it down. I began bailing water while he was gone as I didn't want the water to top the hole.
Someone was watching over us as he got the old piece of pvc to work on the new sump pump. Hooked up and ready to go I heard the blessed sound of water being evacuated by the pump. A couple of clamps will have to be replaced but as I told Kurt, "If this is the worst thing to happen"......
Of course we still have the mess of a wet basement and some cardboard storage boxes that will have to be dumped but again, the sun is now out on a chilly April morning and if this the worst that happens.....we be very blessed indeed....
And both plumbers returned last night's calls and for that I am grateful, even if we didn't end up needing them.
Upon flicking on the light to the "lower" basement rooms that contain the plants, I immediately, discovered we had water in those two rooms, effectively flooding them with at least 9 inches of water. I immediately shook the sump pump line which is supposed to drain tile water and keep the basement dry. It obviously had quit running. No luck there. Kurt, upon my yelling up the stairs came down, not at all happy and in the way of men, complaining about what else could go wrong. After more lifting of the sump pump, and bumping it on the bottom bed it suddenly started and began draining water. It seemed disaster averted aside from water in the basement and that cleanup which would have to take place again. Though most of the furniture stored down there was up on some wood blocks, in a couple of cases the water was higher than the blocks. It had also splashed up on the carpet that the stairs down from the living room are covered in and I was afraid it would wick higher up. We took numerous pictures for insurance purposes and hoped this was the worst thing that would happen to us.
After an hour I went back down to check and most of the water had drained out of the two rooms. I got the broom out to start sweeping low spots in the flooring to the sump pump. When I didn't hear it clicking on, I checked the hole in which it sits and its full again, a foot only from the top of the hole. We pulled the sump pump, but no amount of jiggling or light bumping would restart it. We called two plumbers we know and as it was after 10 in the evening, neither answered. We began bailing water out of the hole and dumping it outside away from the house. Ten to 15 trips later we were both exhausted and the water was still filling up the hole pretty quickly. I suggested we put the pump back in and try it. Eureka, it worked. We watched it for a half hour and then Kurt went to bed and I stayed up until almost midnight. I watched the NCAA basketball championship game, and my hopes fizzled there too, as Cinderella team Butler was overwhelmed by a strong and tasting victory, UConn team. Before I went to bed, I checked the sump pump and it was still working.
At 4 a.m. I woke up and went down and checked and the pump had stopped again and there was about a foot of space to the top of the hole. No shaking or bumping helped so I knew Kurt would be driving to Home Depot when they opened at 6 a.m. I went back to bed, but knew sleep would elude me, so kind of tossed and turned until Kurt got up at 5 and I told him the pump had stopped again. We tried to get it to run but no luck. At 5:40 a.m., Kurt headed over for the 20 minute drive to HD. He called from there and I had to measure the piece of pvc that came up from the pump. He thought he would have to possibly buy a new piece and cut it down. I began bailing water while he was gone as I didn't want the water to top the hole.
Someone was watching over us as he got the old piece of pvc to work on the new sump pump. Hooked up and ready to go I heard the blessed sound of water being evacuated by the pump. A couple of clamps will have to be replaced but as I told Kurt, "If this is the worst thing to happen"......
Of course we still have the mess of a wet basement and some cardboard storage boxes that will have to be dumped but again, the sun is now out on a chilly April morning and if this the worst that happens.....we be very blessed indeed....
And both plumbers returned last night's calls and for that I am grateful, even if we didn't end up needing them.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Years of Birthdays
Today is "Baby Girl's" birthday. She will always be my baby girl, but the nickname was given to her by an aunt. It now always reminds me of the book, "Welcome to the World, Baby Girl", but she appeared before the book and somehow I think I said those very words when I knew I had a daughter after two sons.
A mother loves her children. Doesn't matter what the sex, she only asks that they be healthy, and from there it doesn't really matter. With two boys already I was pretty sure I carried another near my heart. I remember little being different with this pregnancy, though subtle things happened towards the end that I just put to being the way this miracle happened and was scripted to end. She was 3 days over the due date, the closest any of mine had been to getting here near when they were supposed to. The last visit to the doctor, a day before the due date, he told me the baby was dropping, which is usually a good sign. I had gone to bed the night before uncomfortable, but then when you're nine months pregnant, you're in perpetual "uncomfortable". I woke up somewhere after midnight noticing that I had "leaked" a bit and that every time I rolled over, more seemed to leak out. I wasn't sure it was my amniotic fluid or water responsible as when I had Ryan it broke in the hospital in labor and came out in one large whoosh, and with my other son, the water was broken during the last stages of labor. I hadn't noticed any contractions but towards early morning contractions started, and I got up to start walking, as I had no intention of heading to the hospital before the contractions were strong and fairly close together. Korey had been 5 hours start to finish and only two of those hours were in the hospital, so I had motivation to stay home as long as possible.
I don't rememeber the weather that day as I did so well with Korey. It had been August and warm as I had walked outside when labor started with him. I have to believe it was probably a day much like today is dawning to be, partly sunny with clouds, the snow had disappeared but temperatures only in the 40's. I kept Kurt home from work, pretty sure this was it. The contractions seemed to be coming pretty regularly and the amniotic fluid continued to leak but there never was any great flow. After calling Mom to tell her my suspicions, my dear Dad came right over, sure this was it and took the boys home with him. This was about 10 in the morning and after that I just sat down and waited. In hindsight, probably not what I should have done as it slowed down the contractions and they became irregular. We went all afternoon and they never seemed to attain the strong contractions I remembered from the other two in the end. At 3:00 p.m. we called the hospital and they urged us to come in, in the advent my water really was breaking as I risked infection if I let it go too long. So, we headed for the hospital, a half hour away.
Upon examination at the hospital, it actually was amniotic fluid and I was set up in a room and a bed. Unfortunately, the birthing room which was a new addition to the labor wing, and which meant I wouldn't have to be transferred to delivery wasn't available. I had it for Korey and it was wonderful to stay in the same room, labor, and deliver and recover. Now, from what I understand it is the norm, but back then, just like knowing the sex of the baby, for most of us its time had just not arrived. I sat in a rocking chair unwilling to be strapped and monitored in bed until it became completely necessary. By the early evening, the doctor on call decided it was necessary to "augment" the labor which meant taking an IV drug to essentially induce heavy labor. I had always managed to avoid being induced but no such luck this time. Luckily, I was far enough along that it didn't take but a few hours to get to the point of transition and heading to the delivery room. In their haste to get everything set up in the delivery room, the overhead mirror that had allowed me, literally, to see Ryan being born was not adjusted. By that time I didn't much care as getting this baby into the world was all that was on my mind.
At 9:31 p.m., Ann-Marie was born. When the doctor told me it was a girl, I didn't believe him as I had just talked myself into a boy and thought the lovely name we had picked out, named for both of her grandma's would never be used. She was healthy and already then had a pretty good set of lungs on her. When laid on my stomach to cut the cord, she immediately wet on me. That's my Baby Girl.
We waited in recovery until they brought her to us before we called both sets of grandparents. She was the first granddaughter for my family and as I called Mom and Dad, she was crying loudly and I told Mom laughing, "Here is the girl, you wanted". That year my daughter happened to be born on Good Friday, the saddest day in the World's history, but also the day of hope for what had been promised, had come and been fulfilled.
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl. For twenty eight years, you have filled my life with joy and all the emotions in between and around. You have made me a keeper of the flame of life, and you are truly God's greatest gift to me. Happy Birthday....
A mother loves her children. Doesn't matter what the sex, she only asks that they be healthy, and from there it doesn't really matter. With two boys already I was pretty sure I carried another near my heart. I remember little being different with this pregnancy, though subtle things happened towards the end that I just put to being the way this miracle happened and was scripted to end. She was 3 days over the due date, the closest any of mine had been to getting here near when they were supposed to. The last visit to the doctor, a day before the due date, he told me the baby was dropping, which is usually a good sign. I had gone to bed the night before uncomfortable, but then when you're nine months pregnant, you're in perpetual "uncomfortable". I woke up somewhere after midnight noticing that I had "leaked" a bit and that every time I rolled over, more seemed to leak out. I wasn't sure it was my amniotic fluid or water responsible as when I had Ryan it broke in the hospital in labor and came out in one large whoosh, and with my other son, the water was broken during the last stages of labor. I hadn't noticed any contractions but towards early morning contractions started, and I got up to start walking, as I had no intention of heading to the hospital before the contractions were strong and fairly close together. Korey had been 5 hours start to finish and only two of those hours were in the hospital, so I had motivation to stay home as long as possible.
I don't rememeber the weather that day as I did so well with Korey. It had been August and warm as I had walked outside when labor started with him. I have to believe it was probably a day much like today is dawning to be, partly sunny with clouds, the snow had disappeared but temperatures only in the 40's. I kept Kurt home from work, pretty sure this was it. The contractions seemed to be coming pretty regularly and the amniotic fluid continued to leak but there never was any great flow. After calling Mom to tell her my suspicions, my dear Dad came right over, sure this was it and took the boys home with him. This was about 10 in the morning and after that I just sat down and waited. In hindsight, probably not what I should have done as it slowed down the contractions and they became irregular. We went all afternoon and they never seemed to attain the strong contractions I remembered from the other two in the end. At 3:00 p.m. we called the hospital and they urged us to come in, in the advent my water really was breaking as I risked infection if I let it go too long. So, we headed for the hospital, a half hour away.
Upon examination at the hospital, it actually was amniotic fluid and I was set up in a room and a bed. Unfortunately, the birthing room which was a new addition to the labor wing, and which meant I wouldn't have to be transferred to delivery wasn't available. I had it for Korey and it was wonderful to stay in the same room, labor, and deliver and recover. Now, from what I understand it is the norm, but back then, just like knowing the sex of the baby, for most of us its time had just not arrived. I sat in a rocking chair unwilling to be strapped and monitored in bed until it became completely necessary. By the early evening, the doctor on call decided it was necessary to "augment" the labor which meant taking an IV drug to essentially induce heavy labor. I had always managed to avoid being induced but no such luck this time. Luckily, I was far enough along that it didn't take but a few hours to get to the point of transition and heading to the delivery room. In their haste to get everything set up in the delivery room, the overhead mirror that had allowed me, literally, to see Ryan being born was not adjusted. By that time I didn't much care as getting this baby into the world was all that was on my mind.
At 9:31 p.m., Ann-Marie was born. When the doctor told me it was a girl, I didn't believe him as I had just talked myself into a boy and thought the lovely name we had picked out, named for both of her grandma's would never be used. She was healthy and already then had a pretty good set of lungs on her. When laid on my stomach to cut the cord, she immediately wet on me. That's my Baby Girl.
We waited in recovery until they brought her to us before we called both sets of grandparents. She was the first granddaughter for my family and as I called Mom and Dad, she was crying loudly and I told Mom laughing, "Here is the girl, you wanted". That year my daughter happened to be born on Good Friday, the saddest day in the World's history, but also the day of hope for what had been promised, had come and been fulfilled.
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl. For twenty eight years, you have filled my life with joy and all the emotions in between and around. You have made me a keeper of the flame of life, and you are truly God's greatest gift to me. Happy Birthday....
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Let me Tell you about my dogs
Its been one of those days. One of those days when worries have piled up in the back of my mind and been my companion for a few weeks now. They never quite go away, but I have pushed them to the back somewhere so at least now I can function and do what needs doing.
Another blizzard for us here, the third in 6 weeks time, and I don't just qualify these as snow storms as we have had those. These were bona fide Nor'easters, with bone chilling winds right out of the Northeast, rolling over the Saginaw Bay and right at us. It started out as slushy snow yesterday and piled up quickly. Somewhere over night it turned to freezing rain which landed on the trees, and by mid morning the branches hung low and threatened us with breaking and power outtages. Snow showers all day and it was hard to concentrate. A trip out to the satellite dish to dump hot water on ice covered receivers, so at least my televisions worked. I painted in the bathroom because it kept me busy and I have a deadline. As I painted I became disheartened that I would not finish all I undertook before the baby shower on Sunday. Its a feeling I've had many times lately, as if I'm spinning my wheels and no one really cares. But I painted on and breathed a sigh when that first coat was on. I turned my eyes to my dog hair infested living room. I vacuumed and the carpet again was without its black coating of fur. Then I decided to do a long overdue load of towels. Upstairs and I noticed a pair of shoes I had worn the other day looked like someone had dropped water on the toe. Upon closer inspection I found my Gauge had urinated on the toe of my shoe and all around the chair they sat next to. As I went to grab a towel to soak it up before I got the mini steam cleaner I now use regularly, I noticed more "spots" around the base of the gun cabinet. A huge sigh of enormous self pity, as I went to grab the hand held cleaner and start cleaning the mess as best I could and wondering what in the world I was going to do about a dog who seemed to have a sudden penchant for marking all kinds of spots. And feeling even worse as I was at a loss to figure out how to stop it. After unloading the cleaners container of cleaning fluid and sunctioning it up I found more spots next to the bed. They were dried so I had no idea when he had gone on his little pee spree. I realized how little time I had spent in the bedroom, besides sleeping as it was all I could do not to eat and sleep in the bathroom remodel. Right about then it was all I could do not to sit in the middle of the floor and bawl like an abandoned child.
I had put the dogs outside in the back yard while I cleaned up the mess. When I went to call them in, only Gauge was in the back yard. Tell tale tracks showed a hole dug under the fence and no Tally. Calling brought no dog and no dog in sight to my south. I thanked the thankless weather that at least kept any vehicles from being on the road, but knew I had to get boots and outdoor gear on quickly and find her as she was likely to be anywhere. I took Gauge with me on a lead hoping she would see him and come running. I didn't have to go far....At the end of the driveway I looked down the road and she was about a quarter mile down in the middle of the road. For once she came running when she saw me and Gauge standing there. I got her and Gauge in the house and then set down on the bench and cried for the crummy day and life I was having. I sobbed as I hadn't for awhile and just wanted someone to talk to and bawl on their shoulder. But Annie would panic if I called her and sounded like that. One friend is going through a cancer crisis of her own and another just buried her mother. In the midst of a good wail, I suddenly realized how silly it seemed. No, I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of depression and after the wail and through the tears I actually smiled. There are far worse things in this world and all I was having was a bad day.
I'm still not sure what to do about Gauge and his urinating habits all of a sudden or how to keep my escape artist, Tally in the yard but both are lying next to me on the sofa, sleeping so the good Lord willing I will survive another Michigan storm and live to cry again and hopefully, another good laugh.....
Another blizzard for us here, the third in 6 weeks time, and I don't just qualify these as snow storms as we have had those. These were bona fide Nor'easters, with bone chilling winds right out of the Northeast, rolling over the Saginaw Bay and right at us. It started out as slushy snow yesterday and piled up quickly. Somewhere over night it turned to freezing rain which landed on the trees, and by mid morning the branches hung low and threatened us with breaking and power outtages. Snow showers all day and it was hard to concentrate. A trip out to the satellite dish to dump hot water on ice covered receivers, so at least my televisions worked. I painted in the bathroom because it kept me busy and I have a deadline. As I painted I became disheartened that I would not finish all I undertook before the baby shower on Sunday. Its a feeling I've had many times lately, as if I'm spinning my wheels and no one really cares. But I painted on and breathed a sigh when that first coat was on. I turned my eyes to my dog hair infested living room. I vacuumed and the carpet again was without its black coating of fur. Then I decided to do a long overdue load of towels. Upstairs and I noticed a pair of shoes I had worn the other day looked like someone had dropped water on the toe. Upon closer inspection I found my Gauge had urinated on the toe of my shoe and all around the chair they sat next to. As I went to grab a towel to soak it up before I got the mini steam cleaner I now use regularly, I noticed more "spots" around the base of the gun cabinet. A huge sigh of enormous self pity, as I went to grab the hand held cleaner and start cleaning the mess as best I could and wondering what in the world I was going to do about a dog who seemed to have a sudden penchant for marking all kinds of spots. And feeling even worse as I was at a loss to figure out how to stop it. After unloading the cleaners container of cleaning fluid and sunctioning it up I found more spots next to the bed. They were dried so I had no idea when he had gone on his little pee spree. I realized how little time I had spent in the bedroom, besides sleeping as it was all I could do not to eat and sleep in the bathroom remodel. Right about then it was all I could do not to sit in the middle of the floor and bawl like an abandoned child.
I had put the dogs outside in the back yard while I cleaned up the mess. When I went to call them in, only Gauge was in the back yard. Tell tale tracks showed a hole dug under the fence and no Tally. Calling brought no dog and no dog in sight to my south. I thanked the thankless weather that at least kept any vehicles from being on the road, but knew I had to get boots and outdoor gear on quickly and find her as she was likely to be anywhere. I took Gauge with me on a lead hoping she would see him and come running. I didn't have to go far....At the end of the driveway I looked down the road and she was about a quarter mile down in the middle of the road. For once she came running when she saw me and Gauge standing there. I got her and Gauge in the house and then set down on the bench and cried for the crummy day and life I was having. I sobbed as I hadn't for awhile and just wanted someone to talk to and bawl on their shoulder. But Annie would panic if I called her and sounded like that. One friend is going through a cancer crisis of her own and another just buried her mother. In the midst of a good wail, I suddenly realized how silly it seemed. No, I wasn't going down the rabbit hole of depression and after the wail and through the tears I actually smiled. There are far worse things in this world and all I was having was a bad day.
I'm still not sure what to do about Gauge and his urinating habits all of a sudden or how to keep my escape artist, Tally in the yard but both are lying next to me on the sofa, sleeping so the good Lord willing I will survive another Michigan storm and live to cry again and hopefully, another good laugh.....
Lessons Learned
Another snowstorm howls outside my window. My house is fairly shaking in the strong winds. However, the predicted 7 inches plus of snow seems to have not quite materialized, and even though it is dark, and schools are closed, I can't see mounds of drifting snow that with this wind, I know are out there. I have been up since 5, concerned about the weather is doing and listening to the local news, it is a mixed bag. Rain, ice, snow and blowing, depending on where you are in this state, as my life seems to be right now a mixed bag.
I have a bathroom still torn up, but on the finish line to being finished, at least I hope so. Two steps forward, as little things erupt just when you think you can make a major swing at getting the steps done to finish this. Then a step or two back as was the case last night when I peeled some painter's tape only to have it take off the primer coat I had put down and the drywall spackle I had filled in with underneath. So, re-spackle and let dry, sand and hope its done before I want to paint the walls this afternoon. Two steps forward and a step back.
I have a dentist appointment today for an abscessed tooth, I found 10 days ago. No pain with it when I found it, but the telltale bump was there on a tooth that has had a root canal for over 10 years now. I called the dentist immediately knowing full well he isn't in on Fridays and finding out from the hygenist that he would be out for the following week also, on vacation. She prescribed an antibiotic to get me through to today, and I dutifully filled the prescription and took the penicillin until it ran out, yesterday. While the abscess never did give me pain the lump was still there and after doing some reading, I am not very optimistic that more medication will rid me of it. The timing of this latest storm has not improved my mood. Right now I think I can make it out to the dentist's office, but daylight will have to let me know more.
Two steps forward and one back. Of late it has seemed three or four steps back and only one forward. Winter has seemed longer than most years. Is it my age, or the fact that we have had winter this year basically from December through now, officially spring, but hardly springlike here. Its not unusual Michigan weather as late March storms often bring snow and more of the stuff we have just seemed to get rid of. We have a day of utter joy with sunshine, moderate temps and we rejoice, hoping that spring has finally had its way with winter, but we know better. We see a robin and know hope and find the Canada geese have returned to the pond in the back. We have tulips sprouting gently in the softened ground, just peeking their purple-green leaves above the ground, but we still know better.
We are faced to look at things we didn't think we would face, and while we knew better, we chose not to stare back, as that was not our perception of what our lives would be. We let depression take us over as ice and snow envelope us just like our moods. We know spring is coming, the calendar shows it and with it hope and a renewal, but right now its just not here and we endure longer.
I have been embracing Lent this year, as too often we pass over this season because it is uncomfortable for us in waiting for the joyous time of Easter. This year I have looked more deeply at the unfathomable suffering of Jesus that Lent is to prepare us for, and I cannot begin to understand the agony of what he suffered for us. But at times when my personal problems seem to overwhelm me, it is a door to open that many suffer much, much more and in times of eternal winter we become insulated in our misery.
It is hard to crawl out of those holes. To think what your life had always been and was inevitably headed for, won't be quite that, and may be something unrecognizable. Its hard to see the joy of those perfect moments, because they are so fleeting and depression is so omnipresent, but it is what must be done. We are asked to live no different.
Two steps forward and maybe more back. I believed I had a certain place in the world, and in that place I could control what happened. I knew better, but until something snowballs and threatens to overwhelm us do we realize we ultimately have no control but do have the capacity to view our situations in ways that can add depth and meaning to our lives or succumb to the paralyzing fear that our lives will never be what we once thought they would be.
Two steps forward and maybe none back today. Maybe I can drive carefully and make it to the dentist and maybe there will be something that gives me back optimism after this latest snowstorm has knocked me down. I now know I can never judge even in my heart, others, and feel even unconsciously superior. I have learned some kind of empathy and that right now I just must endure until winter's true end here. That's what I have learned for today, and that is the "lesson learned"....
I have a bathroom still torn up, but on the finish line to being finished, at least I hope so. Two steps forward, as little things erupt just when you think you can make a major swing at getting the steps done to finish this. Then a step or two back as was the case last night when I peeled some painter's tape only to have it take off the primer coat I had put down and the drywall spackle I had filled in with underneath. So, re-spackle and let dry, sand and hope its done before I want to paint the walls this afternoon. Two steps forward and a step back.
I have a dentist appointment today for an abscessed tooth, I found 10 days ago. No pain with it when I found it, but the telltale bump was there on a tooth that has had a root canal for over 10 years now. I called the dentist immediately knowing full well he isn't in on Fridays and finding out from the hygenist that he would be out for the following week also, on vacation. She prescribed an antibiotic to get me through to today, and I dutifully filled the prescription and took the penicillin until it ran out, yesterday. While the abscess never did give me pain the lump was still there and after doing some reading, I am not very optimistic that more medication will rid me of it. The timing of this latest storm has not improved my mood. Right now I think I can make it out to the dentist's office, but daylight will have to let me know more.
Two steps forward and one back. Of late it has seemed three or four steps back and only one forward. Winter has seemed longer than most years. Is it my age, or the fact that we have had winter this year basically from December through now, officially spring, but hardly springlike here. Its not unusual Michigan weather as late March storms often bring snow and more of the stuff we have just seemed to get rid of. We have a day of utter joy with sunshine, moderate temps and we rejoice, hoping that spring has finally had its way with winter, but we know better. We see a robin and know hope and find the Canada geese have returned to the pond in the back. We have tulips sprouting gently in the softened ground, just peeking their purple-green leaves above the ground, but we still know better.
We are faced to look at things we didn't think we would face, and while we knew better, we chose not to stare back, as that was not our perception of what our lives would be. We let depression take us over as ice and snow envelope us just like our moods. We know spring is coming, the calendar shows it and with it hope and a renewal, but right now its just not here and we endure longer.
I have been embracing Lent this year, as too often we pass over this season because it is uncomfortable for us in waiting for the joyous time of Easter. This year I have looked more deeply at the unfathomable suffering of Jesus that Lent is to prepare us for, and I cannot begin to understand the agony of what he suffered for us. But at times when my personal problems seem to overwhelm me, it is a door to open that many suffer much, much more and in times of eternal winter we become insulated in our misery.
It is hard to crawl out of those holes. To think what your life had always been and was inevitably headed for, won't be quite that, and may be something unrecognizable. Its hard to see the joy of those perfect moments, because they are so fleeting and depression is so omnipresent, but it is what must be done. We are asked to live no different.
Two steps forward and maybe more back. I believed I had a certain place in the world, and in that place I could control what happened. I knew better, but until something snowballs and threatens to overwhelm us do we realize we ultimately have no control but do have the capacity to view our situations in ways that can add depth and meaning to our lives or succumb to the paralyzing fear that our lives will never be what we once thought they would be.
Two steps forward and maybe none back today. Maybe I can drive carefully and make it to the dentist and maybe there will be something that gives me back optimism after this latest snowstorm has knocked me down. I now know I can never judge even in my heart, others, and feel even unconsciously superior. I have learned some kind of empathy and that right now I just must endure until winter's true end here. That's what I have learned for today, and that is the "lesson learned"....
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wallpapering and other tricks I have mastered
I went on a home improvement binge this last month. Things I had put off needed to be done. One was the dining room wallpaper. While still in good shape, it didn't really match the newly painted kitchen. Pulling it off would be easy, it was scraping off what was underneath, scrubbing, re scrubbing and then sanding was what would be hard, and not a job I looked forward to in any way, shape or form. For some reason, known only to me anymore, and that danged if I can remember why, when we did the almost complete remodel of the house over 20 years ago now, I wallpapered nearly every new room. I have since then slowly been removing that wallpaper every time a room is in serious need of a redo, or at least a refreshing. And every time I have pulled down wallpaper, I have cursed and then sworn, NEVER AGAIN....
Just like painting, wallpapering is all in the prep work, and if you don't get the wallpaper gook or residue off, your paint job will have spots of what I like to call cottage cheese, so do it right, and that's what takes days on end of washing, sanding, spackling, and re sanding and having drywall spackle dust up your nose, in your hair and a fine coat of it on whatever is within a hundred miles, I swear, even if you have tried to close off the room.
Therefore when I pulled this most reacent wallpaper down, I decided to re wallpaper this particular room. There were a couple of reasons and the main one is that this room is open on two ends to two other rooms both of which were painted different colors and a third room could be seen from it and it was a different color. I am physically incapable of painting rooms the same color. Once I have done them, they are done. I thought a wallpaper while more expensive than a can of paint, would tie the rooms together using similar colors.
In the old days when I was a wallpaper expert, you would go to a home decorating store and bring home four or five wallpaper books. You spent a few days going through them and deciding on the one you wanted. You measured your walls and measured generously, adding in windows and doors even though those would not be wallpapered. Most papers had a repeat pattern of some kind so you had to allow for that to match each long piece you hung at the top of the wall. There was a code on the back of each paper you picked and I copied it down. The wallpaper books were returned to the decorating store and then I would call my favorite wholesale wallpaper distributor, which were advertized in every home magazine I subscribed to. They offered 35 to 40% off what the stores were selling it for which was never peanuts. I always ordered my wallpaper that way and always had at least a single roll of paper left.
Well welcome, to the 21 century and the knowledge that I had not wallpapered in 20 years, so of course I went to the home decorating store brought home several books and spent the night looking at papers. Found one I liked but the paper companies and the home decorating stores have gotten trickier by leaving the paper codes off many of the papers. I had gone online and of course, there were several discount wallpaper sites. I had to do some "going through the back door" to find the code for the paper I wanted, mainly going to the site of the main distributor of the my paper and getting the code from that. I chose an online site that gave the best discount for the paper I wanted and free shipping. It was listed as a secure site and had a consumer ratings check.
Now for those of you who have never ordered wallpaper, let alone put it up, the price quoted is for a single roll of wallpaper, measured in how many square feet are on that roll. But it is sold only in double rolls. You might as well double the price right off the bat when figuring. My measurements showed I needed just over 4 double rolls. Another single roll would have been plenty, but another double roll is what I would have to buy. I had chosen a stripe paper, which meant no waste in matching, and in the past I had always been over generous in my measurements so I decided to go with just the four double rolls. While shipping was free, its the "handling" charges with so many online sites that gets you. A $15 handling fee but I saved over 40% on the paper prices so I was pleased that the room wallpapering job would be under $150.
The printout for the order said that my paper would be delivered in 7 to 10 business days. That was fine as I was prepping the walls, though that just meant I was sanding down some of the very high spots and spackling over nail holes and such. Halfway through the second week and still no wallpaper put up a red flag. Added to that my VISA account had been compromised. I ordered the paper on a second bank card I seldom use, and I was alerted that an online purchase had been tried with my account number from another state. The bank alerted me that they had denied the purchase until verification from me. I had made no such purchse and the only place that I had used that card was in ordering the wallpaper. My credit card was issued a new number and card and the bank was very oblinging about handling it quickly. Note to myself, use my paypal account when ordering from sites like that again if ever.
After the bank card snafu I contacted the customer helpline and found that my wallpaper had not been shipped. It went out that day and I received it, tracking it via UPS, 3 days later. Lesson learned...
Now began the fun stuff of wallpapering. I figured to knock it off in one day. I thought, surely, its like riding a bike and I will remember it immediately. Kurt and I did a plumb line the night before and with that I was ready to start. Well, the next morning kind of got away from me, as most mornings do, and it was afternoon before I embarked on filling the dip tray, getting towels and rags for wiping up, and assembling my needed supplies, scissors, an exacto knife, smoothing bush, seam sealer, and rulers.
The idea is to find the length of one long wall, add an inch extra for walls that aren't straight, and none of them are, and cut several sheets all at once. I had a cutting board set up in the living room and found that my quilt cutting matt and an old blade in my rotary cutter was very slick for measuring each piece quickly and cutting it with a sharp edge.
That done it was dip the first piece, rolled paper side in, to the dipping tray and pulling it out again using the rod as a guide. Easy enough. My first hung piece took me probably 10 minutes of sliding , pulling off in parts, smoothing, sliding again, which required more pulling back and then having to smooth out several large bubbles. You want to get all of the bubbles out and good wallpaper won't retain bubbles if they are smoothed out. That means that wallpaper paste oozes out the sides, but them's the breaks. Once it is smoothed out to your satisfaction, the rotary seam sealer seals the seams edges and that is a must. High five myself I had the first piece on. The second piece took even longer because now I had to align it next to the piece already up. You don't want overlap, but it must butt up right next to the first piece or when it dries you will have a noticeable gap, as wet paper stretches a bit and when it dries it shrinks. I became aware early on that my walls really weren't very "plumb" as the second pieces' cut off top and bottom went at an angle. It also took longer as you have to make sure the seams get all the oozing paste off. After 3 long sheets and a good hour, I congratulated myself that I was getting the hang of this once again.
By the time Kurt got home that evening, I had one solid wall hung and was heading over to a portion of the only other long wall I had. By the time 9:00 p.m. rolled around that evening , I was a pooped wallpaper hanger and had about a third of the room done, maybe a bit more. The room looked awful that night as bubbles showed up and many of the seams didn't looked sealed. I went to bed hoping it would look better in the morning and it did.
The next day I determined to get after it earlier. And I did. It was mid morning when I went back at it. Now came cutting pieces to fit around and under windows and under the shelf that ran near the ceiling on two walls. I worked at my pace which was nice, and managed to get much of it done before dinner that evening.
After dinner I finished up the rest of the walls under the shelving, but towards the end of the night a realization swept over me that I would not have enough paper to finish the area above the shelves even using every partial piece I had left and fitting it together. I knew that the .2 in the 4.2 double rolls I had figured would come back and bite me. There was no sense crying over it, I knew I had to order more paper. So on a Friday morning I got back on online and ordered it. Of course, I had to repay a handling charge and the papers price wasn't quite as reduced as it had been, but "them's" the decorating breaks. This time I checked right away to be sure the paper was shipped, and it wasn't until the following Monday, but I had it in my possession on Wednesday. In one respect it was nice, as I could cut from the new roll and not have to worry about "piecing" leftover hunks that weren't the width of the actual paper and it not matching exactly. It was above a shelf where collectibles normally set so if I was going to piece anywhere that would be it, but this made it go much faster and look much better finished. I ended up with about a single roll left of paper, just what I had originally figured.
I let the paper all dry overnight and the next day I washed off the seams and applied seam glue to wherever the paper had not sealed on the edges, which is a common thing with wallpaper so you might as well have seam glue on hand. The day after that I started putting things back in the room. I liked the wallpaper and liked the effect, and I also think I hope I don't have to pull this down for another 20 years...
And the next room to be de-wallpapered won't be receiving new. The old bathroom is receiving a re vamp of sorts and I think I'll try "painting" stripes on it. Who knows maybe I'll find a new vocation..
Just like painting, wallpapering is all in the prep work, and if you don't get the wallpaper gook or residue off, your paint job will have spots of what I like to call cottage cheese, so do it right, and that's what takes days on end of washing, sanding, spackling, and re sanding and having drywall spackle dust up your nose, in your hair and a fine coat of it on whatever is within a hundred miles, I swear, even if you have tried to close off the room.
Therefore when I pulled this most reacent wallpaper down, I decided to re wallpaper this particular room. There were a couple of reasons and the main one is that this room is open on two ends to two other rooms both of which were painted different colors and a third room could be seen from it and it was a different color. I am physically incapable of painting rooms the same color. Once I have done them, they are done. I thought a wallpaper while more expensive than a can of paint, would tie the rooms together using similar colors.
In the old days when I was a wallpaper expert, you would go to a home decorating store and bring home four or five wallpaper books. You spent a few days going through them and deciding on the one you wanted. You measured your walls and measured generously, adding in windows and doors even though those would not be wallpapered. Most papers had a repeat pattern of some kind so you had to allow for that to match each long piece you hung at the top of the wall. There was a code on the back of each paper you picked and I copied it down. The wallpaper books were returned to the decorating store and then I would call my favorite wholesale wallpaper distributor, which were advertized in every home magazine I subscribed to. They offered 35 to 40% off what the stores were selling it for which was never peanuts. I always ordered my wallpaper that way and always had at least a single roll of paper left.
Well welcome, to the 21 century and the knowledge that I had not wallpapered in 20 years, so of course I went to the home decorating store brought home several books and spent the night looking at papers. Found one I liked but the paper companies and the home decorating stores have gotten trickier by leaving the paper codes off many of the papers. I had gone online and of course, there were several discount wallpaper sites. I had to do some "going through the back door" to find the code for the paper I wanted, mainly going to the site of the main distributor of the my paper and getting the code from that. I chose an online site that gave the best discount for the paper I wanted and free shipping. It was listed as a secure site and had a consumer ratings check.
Now for those of you who have never ordered wallpaper, let alone put it up, the price quoted is for a single roll of wallpaper, measured in how many square feet are on that roll. But it is sold only in double rolls. You might as well double the price right off the bat when figuring. My measurements showed I needed just over 4 double rolls. Another single roll would have been plenty, but another double roll is what I would have to buy. I had chosen a stripe paper, which meant no waste in matching, and in the past I had always been over generous in my measurements so I decided to go with just the four double rolls. While shipping was free, its the "handling" charges with so many online sites that gets you. A $15 handling fee but I saved over 40% on the paper prices so I was pleased that the room wallpapering job would be under $150.
The printout for the order said that my paper would be delivered in 7 to 10 business days. That was fine as I was prepping the walls, though that just meant I was sanding down some of the very high spots and spackling over nail holes and such. Halfway through the second week and still no wallpaper put up a red flag. Added to that my VISA account had been compromised. I ordered the paper on a second bank card I seldom use, and I was alerted that an online purchase had been tried with my account number from another state. The bank alerted me that they had denied the purchase until verification from me. I had made no such purchse and the only place that I had used that card was in ordering the wallpaper. My credit card was issued a new number and card and the bank was very oblinging about handling it quickly. Note to myself, use my paypal account when ordering from sites like that again if ever.
After the bank card snafu I contacted the customer helpline and found that my wallpaper had not been shipped. It went out that day and I received it, tracking it via UPS, 3 days later. Lesson learned...
Now began the fun stuff of wallpapering. I figured to knock it off in one day. I thought, surely, its like riding a bike and I will remember it immediately. Kurt and I did a plumb line the night before and with that I was ready to start. Well, the next morning kind of got away from me, as most mornings do, and it was afternoon before I embarked on filling the dip tray, getting towels and rags for wiping up, and assembling my needed supplies, scissors, an exacto knife, smoothing bush, seam sealer, and rulers.
The idea is to find the length of one long wall, add an inch extra for walls that aren't straight, and none of them are, and cut several sheets all at once. I had a cutting board set up in the living room and found that my quilt cutting matt and an old blade in my rotary cutter was very slick for measuring each piece quickly and cutting it with a sharp edge.
That done it was dip the first piece, rolled paper side in, to the dipping tray and pulling it out again using the rod as a guide. Easy enough. My first hung piece took me probably 10 minutes of sliding , pulling off in parts, smoothing, sliding again, which required more pulling back and then having to smooth out several large bubbles. You want to get all of the bubbles out and good wallpaper won't retain bubbles if they are smoothed out. That means that wallpaper paste oozes out the sides, but them's the breaks. Once it is smoothed out to your satisfaction, the rotary seam sealer seals the seams edges and that is a must. High five myself I had the first piece on. The second piece took even longer because now I had to align it next to the piece already up. You don't want overlap, but it must butt up right next to the first piece or when it dries you will have a noticeable gap, as wet paper stretches a bit and when it dries it shrinks. I became aware early on that my walls really weren't very "plumb" as the second pieces' cut off top and bottom went at an angle. It also took longer as you have to make sure the seams get all the oozing paste off. After 3 long sheets and a good hour, I congratulated myself that I was getting the hang of this once again.
By the time Kurt got home that evening, I had one solid wall hung and was heading over to a portion of the only other long wall I had. By the time 9:00 p.m. rolled around that evening , I was a pooped wallpaper hanger and had about a third of the room done, maybe a bit more. The room looked awful that night as bubbles showed up and many of the seams didn't looked sealed. I went to bed hoping it would look better in the morning and it did.
The next day I determined to get after it earlier. And I did. It was mid morning when I went back at it. Now came cutting pieces to fit around and under windows and under the shelf that ran near the ceiling on two walls. I worked at my pace which was nice, and managed to get much of it done before dinner that evening.
After dinner I finished up the rest of the walls under the shelving, but towards the end of the night a realization swept over me that I would not have enough paper to finish the area above the shelves even using every partial piece I had left and fitting it together. I knew that the .2 in the 4.2 double rolls I had figured would come back and bite me. There was no sense crying over it, I knew I had to order more paper. So on a Friday morning I got back on online and ordered it. Of course, I had to repay a handling charge and the papers price wasn't quite as reduced as it had been, but "them's" the decorating breaks. This time I checked right away to be sure the paper was shipped, and it wasn't until the following Monday, but I had it in my possession on Wednesday. In one respect it was nice, as I could cut from the new roll and not have to worry about "piecing" leftover hunks that weren't the width of the actual paper and it not matching exactly. It was above a shelf where collectibles normally set so if I was going to piece anywhere that would be it, but this made it go much faster and look much better finished. I ended up with about a single roll left of paper, just what I had originally figured.
I let the paper all dry overnight and the next day I washed off the seams and applied seam glue to wherever the paper had not sealed on the edges, which is a common thing with wallpaper so you might as well have seam glue on hand. The day after that I started putting things back in the room. I liked the wallpaper and liked the effect, and I also think I hope I don't have to pull this down for another 20 years...
And the next room to be de-wallpapered won't be receiving new. The old bathroom is receiving a re vamp of sorts and I think I'll try "painting" stripes on it. Who knows maybe I'll find a new vocation..
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