The Greatest Gift

Nope, I’m not talking birthday presents in the literal sense. The greatest gift is something that reaches far beyond the material; the greatest gift is getting to be here, to live and love.

I am a sober person today thanks to the support of my amazing family, my friends who believed I could get clean, and through the love of the God of my understanding.  There was a time all too recently, that I did not appreciate the precious gift I have been given.  All of the misery and selfishness was necessary to reach a point of desperation; a desperation to change no matter what. 

I am grateful to be alive, to have people in my life who are loving and supportive, to have a bond with a Power greater than myself who wants the best for me, and to have the ability to grow.

Though I can see the changes materially right now, spiritually,  I think I am getting better.  And that is the goal after all; to be better.

So on this day, the day I was born, I want to thank my parents for letting that happen and always being there through the thickness and the thin.  Thank you, little brother, for being an inspiration. Your voice has always brought me joy.  Thank you, friends, for being awesome and understanding people.  You are the mirrors that help me see more clearly.  Thank you, God, for letting me stay here to learn more and be a better person.

Now, I bet you thought this was going to be a post about dining room chairs and a new kitchen, didntcha?  :)  

Love, Easty

The Demolition Report: Part 3 of 3 Finale

Oh, it is so ON right now!

My kitchen is beyond crazy:

Usually I like to clean up after each wall comes down, but today I tackled the fourth and final wall: the outer wall, now known as Hell Wall.  The handyman and I just found another active nest, and we all know there was screaming.  Mostly from him.  Just kidding :) Ya’ll know it was me!

But the insulation and moisture barrier are now up, and this is officially a roach-free zone.

Here is my new best friend, R2 (as in D2), who cleans up ze poops and ze crevices:

And here is the inaugural piece of beaded board:

We are officially out of the demo phase and into construction!  I’m peeing I’m so excited :)

Field of Little Nightmares

If I were married right now I would be headed for divorce. The kitchen is in a state of chaos that only I could handle and fortunately does not need to be made conducive to another person.  It works for me, for a little while longer anyway.  If I build it, he will show up…(no, I am not about to suggestively quote The Field of Dreams.)

It just barely works, but hey, there's coffee!

The handyguy is coming over first thing on Friday to install the insulation, bead board panels, counter tops, sink and faucet, and to teach me about electrical wiring. I am officially his apprentice for the day! My parents could not have thought of a better birthday present for me :)

I’ve been working on the railroad cabinets, cleaning the roach poops and degreasing (more later): seriously nasty stuff that has me questioning God’s reasoning for building the cockroach in the first place. What purpose do they serve? Really? The way I see it, it’s either us or them and maybe that’s the point. Maybe God is just trying to keep us on our toes. “See guys? If you build the nuclear warheads you will kill everything but these f***ers and the Twinkies they snack upon.  Is that how you want it? Roaches and Twinkies and Cher??” No Sir/Ma’am. No I do not.  And God didn’t really cuss. That’s my character defect interjected into how I think God sounds. Please take no offense as I am the first to admit that I am perfectly imperfect in every way.

I am waiting to remove this one panel that is directly to the left of my bedroom door. Behind it lie such horrors that I would like to hold off on opening Pandora’s box until the very last minute.  There is a very large amount of American cockroach poop back there and a too recently-active nest.  That story goes a little something like this:

The house came with a termite bond because back in 1995 the owners had to gut the back porch due to an infestation, and built the master bedroom suite in it’s place.  The termite bond has been renewed every year since as a way of insuring that if it ever happens again, it will be a far less expensive endeavor.  Well, my renewal came up and the house needed to be inspected.  The guy shows up, does the crawl space shimmy and then starts admiring my demo work in the kitchen. I pipe up about this one panel that I am afraid of, he pulls it back and reveals three honkin’ buggers just chilling out as if they owned the place.  Spray, spray here; spray, spray there…then all over. 

They come pouring out.

It’s at this point that I am screaming and in tears, and Petey is all up in the mayhem and foolishness.  The guy just stands there chuckling, “Boy, I’m sure glad I was here for this!”

Yeah, me too.  God looks out for me and does for me what I cannot (and should not) do for myself.  Even when it comes to killing other creations, or whatever.  I just lost about three years off of my life I think.