Category Archives: Life at Home

Murphy’s Luck

17 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Home Restoration, Life at Home

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It took time to settle into the land of dreams last night, with my mind spinning with remodeling ideas for my sister’s house.

Accompanied by our aunt and my daughter, my sister and I sashayed through the aisles and departments of a local big box hardware store, gathering up potential pairings — paint samples and stain samples, tile samples against carpet and counter top coverings; the choices were perfect for Christi as everything grew out of her choosing rather than what the three of us might have each selected for our own homes.

And while my mind was spinning with colors and textures as I laid my head upon my pillow last night, it was the heaping portion of concern sprinkled over all the remodeling possibilities  — for I long to help my sister get exactly what she wants for her ‘new’ old home — that kept me from falling asleep.

Budgets are always tight in a remodel.  We who remodel want what we want and it’s hard to settle for less.  We know we’re going to have to live with the results for a long time — and while we say we can do ‘this’ or ‘that’ later, we know we won’t.  And we know that there will be a budget surprise or two — something that costs much more than anticipated — or something that breaks unexpectedly, a Murphy’s Law sort of day when “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”   Inevitably, most of us are forced to settle on our dreams, forced into taking care of needs first and prioritizing wants with whatever money is left over.

Every bit of work I can help my sister do is a dollar saved, a dollar that can be devoted to getting something done that must be subcontracted.   Will I climb a ladder to heaven to paint that high gable?  You bet I will.  Will I scrape popcorn texture off the ceilings and sport unusual looking dandruff on my heads and shoulders?   No problem.   Will I ask my husband to install all of my sister’s new light fixtures?   Will I scavenge around to see what skills my two son-in-laws can contribute to the remodeling effort?  Absolutely — this sister isn’t too proud to beg for a sister in need.

Amidst that waist-size budget that’s too tight, perhaps we’ll run into some bargains.  My sister has always had good luck — whether it’s the luck of the Irish or not, Christi always seems to receive exactly what she needs when she needs it.  When Christi decided it was time to get a job, she had two job offers.  When she was desperate to sell her building, she had two interested parties, with one buyer offering her a cash deal.

I think my sister’s good luck stems from having good family, one that actually descends from great-grandparents whose last name was Murphy.  For the sake of my sister’s house remodel, I’m hoping our Murphy ancestors are a zillion times removed from those who birthed Murphy’s Law.   With high hopes and tight budget, here’s wishing for a bit of Murphy’s luck.  We need it.

The House That Jack Built

14 Sunday Mar 2010

Posted by in Home Restoration, Life at Home, Soul Care, Writing

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What would I do if I won the lottery tomorrow?

It was a question I was asked several weeks ago by my spiritual director.  I had been talking about feeling stuck.  Maybe I was whining, because God knows, I have been struggling a little of late.  All the activities that once brought me great joy no longer do.  Whether its writing, spiritual direction training, even gardening – all has lost its luster.

That question has proved life-giving.  So maybe it’s not so bad to be stalled, since I’ve taken the last two weeks to take stock of where I am and where I want to be, five years down the road.  I’ve asked myself questions like, would I travel around the world?  Would my husband and I retire to some little lake house a little further south?  Would I continue to garden and to write?  Can I see myself sitting as spiritual director for fellow seekers?  Oddly enough, I can respond ‘yes’ to all of these questions.

But strangely, the thing I would most like to do in the world, if money were no object, is to buy old unloved houses and restore them.  And would you believe I said this to Curt, with no thought whatsoever, on the very night he first posed his ‘litmus’ test question.  And the answer is really no different now, after two weeks of pondering.

So imagine my surprise, when a week ago, my sister told me that she wanted to try to keep rather than sell my parent’s former home.  The house that my father Jack built twenty-five years ago is going to get rebuilt from top to bottom; my sister plans to  replace the roof, windows, kitchen appliances and redecorate surfaces, like walls, flooring, ceilings.

This property that my sister inherited has been in my mother’s family since the late forties — my sister and I ran across the warranty deed when we were clearing out the house last week.  I believe my grandparents bought the house from one of my great uncles — though, originally, I understand the house belonged to the parents of two great-aunts.

The original home purchased by my grandparents was demolished over ten years ago, though the front porch of that original home still stands.  My mother began a garden around that old porch and a new grape arbor I had built nearby.  And my sister, being the gardener that she is, will likely refurbish and add to the small garden our mother left behind.

My sister will be a wonderful caretaker of the property.  Christi knows exactly what color she wants to paint the exterior — and she has so many ideas for the inside.  And yesterday, while Christi and I were painting the front sitting room a lovely shade that can only be described as the color of homemade vanilla ice cream, Christi asked me to help her.

All I can say it that even though the house is my sister’s and not mine, I feel as if I’ve just won the lottery.

German Potato Salad

12 Friday Mar 2010

Posted by in In the Kitchen, Life at Home, Writing

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I like to try new recipes, though at best, most of my trials are one-hit wonders.

But occasionally, one runs across a recipe like this dish that has been in our family for almost forty years.  It became part of our lives, and part of Mom’s permanent supper rotation, when she brought the recipe home as a souvenir from one of the many trips my parents made to Houston to visit my Uncle Melvin and Aunt Wanda.

Mom and Wanda were the female response to The Odd Couple, who like Walter Matthau and Tony Randall, enjoyed a proverbial love-hate relationship; they enjoyed each other when they were on good terms and they thrived on dissension when they weren’t.  The quality of my mother and aunt’s relationship actually seemed to improve with physical distance — when separated by 500 miles, they were the best of friends — when separated by a fence, these next door neighbors often carried on a cold war — the fence might as well have been the Berlin Wall.

When a relationship like Mom’s and Wanda’s is encountered in fiction, it makes for hilarious reading.   The fictional situations that ensue inspire tears to roll down my face and the sides of my chest to hurt from overdosing on laughter.  But I can assure you it’s no laughing matter when these colorful and highly combustible relationships invade real life.  Life grows surreal, taking on the quality of a daytime drama.

When ‘things’ between Mom and Wanda were good, life was sugary sweet, to the point of making most everyone else sick from too much artificial sweetener.  When things grew ugly, tempers flared, they drew a line in the sand and both rallied support for their cause of ‘being right.’  Each would call the other the worse names they could think of — and the words whispered behind one another’s  backs would come home to roost, by the time the gossip mill churned it around and around.

One thing I learned from watching Mom and Wanda’s revolving door relationship over fifty years is this:  No matter how good a writer becomes, there’s no way any author can ever dream up the sort of outrageous situations that naturally transpire in real life, especially between two women that love and hate one another so well.  And when you throw into the mix that both women professed themselves to be God-fearing Christians — well, the irony of it all is just so delicious, it becomes hard to resist  —  just like this potato salad — sort of sweet… sort of tart.

Try it and see how easy sweet and sour can come together so nicely.

German Potato Salad

Serves 4    Preparation Time – 15 minutes   Cooking Time — 2 hours

Ingredients:

2 strips of bacon
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cans sliced new potatoes, drained

Dressing:

1/3 cup sugar (original recipe call for 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup white vinegar
2 cups water
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 to 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
 

In a cast iron skillet over medium heat, fry bacon crisp.  Drain on a paper towel.  Drain oil from pan and add olive oil.  (Original recipe does not call for the substitution).  Over low heat, saute onion until soft and translucent.  Add potatoes and cook for a few minutes, crumbling bacon on top.  Mix all skillet ingredients and add dressing until just covered.  There will be enough dressing for two applications.  Let the potatoes cook down, uncovered, over low heat, stirring occasionally.  Then add second round of dressing.  Once liquid has cooked into potatoes and thickened, remove potato salad from heat.  Cover with foil.  The salad can be reheated prior to serving.