A couple of tidbits...

I began seeing a chiropractor on Monday for the knotted muscles and headaches that have plagued me for a decade, and I'm already feeling the difference. The knots are loosening (I've gone three days in a row), and I thought that would never happen. Having a professional crack your back is the only way to go.

Yesterday, I booked a photo exhibit for the camera club at a local college's art gallery. I'm pretty excited about this, as it will be the first showing I've participated in. I just hope it's not a big let-down. We'll have a reception on opening night, which sounds kind of swanky, but somehow I doubt it will be anything like I imagine. I'd like to have something where people who are actually interested in what you do come and glow over your work, dressed in elegant evening wear. It will probably be more like the flannel and denim jeans yokels looking for some free food. Don't get me wrong, I'm a denim jeans kind of girl, but that's not what I what my first photography showing to be like. I'm also hoping to send out invitations, mostly because I really get into making my own holiday cards and party invites. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll get a personalized invitation to the show of the year! Well, it's the show of the year for me anyway...

The kitchen update that won't die...

Hubby and I have been trying to update our kitchen for 7 of the 9 years we've lived here, but you'd never know by the amount of progress we've made. One day I went on an wild, ripping-out, crazy fit and tore down half the ceiling tile, half the soffits, and half the fake dark-wood paneling. Half of all these because I'm a wuss and the other parts were too hard. Eventually, Hubby helped with the rest of the demo.

Since my crazy fit, we've replaced the ceiling tile with what looks like painted wood boards. Most of the walls are now covered with bead-board, which was the easy fix after discovering that the walls in the original kitchen (the previous owners added on a sun room) were covered in glued-on plastic tile. Let me give you a tip: if ever you find this crap during a remodel, just rip down the old plaster or drywall and put up new, because while popping the tiles off is easy, the glue does not cooperate. Hubby chiseled the stuff off in our bathroom and it left them in horrible condition, so I had to do a texture paint treatment as a fix. And the smell! It stunk so bad you didn't want to breathe in there. Needless to say when, we realized the kitchen was covered in the stuff, we decided to cover them back up. What sucks is that part of the tile had been covered by bead-board that we ripped down (This was not the same as the fake wood paneling. This kitchen was a decorator's nightmare).

Anyway, I'm now in the process of painting the cabinets, then we'll replace the counters, paint the walls, and last of all replace the flooring, which is currently the ugliest linoleum ever made.

The cabinets are going great. If you ever decide to paint cabinets, you MUST use Cabinet Coat. This stuff ROCKS! It's the best paint for this job, as it gives you a smooth, durable finish that truly does look like it came from the factory that way, assuming you do it right.

This picture is to show the before and after:
Notice how dark the before look is? And hubby even stripped them a few years ago. They were hideously dark. He stripped them because several people had a cow when I said I was going to paint them. "That's gorgeous wood!" they said. Maybe so, but the cabinet style is outdated and it's freaking dark in there, even with four huge windows and the back door window. And I don't even have window treatments on three of the windows! So paint I did, criticizers be darned!

This photo is just to show how smooth it is, although you probably can't really tell anything.

Now I just have to do the lower cabinets, which hopefully I'll get to quicker than the upper ones.

By the way, if any of my sentences are hard to interpret, I apologize. I'm on day 4 of a tension headache/migraine and am currently all doped up. Loopy is great for making it through a workday, but terrible for writing.

Politics, shmalitics...

Warning: If you've sent me an email on why one politician is bad, you may be offended by the following. I'm sorry if it happens, but I feel the need to have my say as much as you felt the need to campaign to me.

I'm so sick of politics, politicians, and political ads. No wonder: I saw on the news this morning that Obama started campaigning over one year and eight months ago, and McCain started over one year and six months ago. We should pass a law that says that no one can campaign until, say, three months before the primaries. Even then we'll all be sick of it by May.

I'm also sick of friends who send me their "the other guy will destroy our nation" propaganda. Some of the stuff said about both presidential candidates gives the office way more credit than it deserves. Obama won't single-handedly shut down the coal industry. McCain won't single-handedly drive our nation into debt. Besides, that's been done anyway. We don't have a dictatorship. We have a system of checks and balances in place for a reason...this very reason, so that one person can't come in and go nuts with power. I just want to throw a Civics book at some people.

And of course, it won't end tomorrow, or next week, just because the election is over (God forbid we have another fiasco like in Florida in 2000). We'll have to hear about how Obama didn't have the experience McCain said he should have had, or how McCain really is just another Bush.
Can you tell I'm ready to strangle every politician I see?

At least I voted. I didn't want to, because I don't like McCain or Obama particularly. I like some things about both, and dislike some things about both. Unfortunately, this isn't a "build your perfect candidate" race. You have to go with what you were given. My candidate didn't get very far, and I think it's a shame. He had charisma (like Obama) and the background (like McCain) to get the job done. I would have written him in, but it would have been a wasted vote, and in this election, I can't afford to do that.