NACA mention on NPR...

Bruce Marks, CEO of NACA, was on NPR's "Morning Edition" this a.m., discussing the mortgage meltdown and Countrywide's loan adjustment program.

Go NACA!

Faded

Look at how much the paint in my office has faded since March:

It's kind of unbelievable, right? I don't remember the color ever being that bright but apparently it was. I didn't spend much time in the office until recently because it was full of junk and boxes and crap.

Actually, it's still full of junk, boxes, and crap but I've shoved most of it into the closet! Hurrah!

Anyway, we used high-quality (read: expensive) paint but I guess the morning sunshine is too bright. The only thing that annoys me really is that I can't take rearrange the photos on the wall without it looking weird. Oh well, I'll take weird walls over a dark room anyday.

Now, if only the sun could tone down our electric-blue living room...

Sky plus wires

It may be obvious that I'm obsessed with the view from our kitchen window, in part because it looks over the neighbor's garden but also because makes one of my favorite combinations: sky plus wires.

Here are some recent shots from the kitchen:

Scenes from our neighbor's garden...

The neighbor's garden continues to flourish. The squash plant is so far up the telephone pole that I can now reach out the 2nd-floor kitchen window and touch it. I'm hoping that at some point I can harvest dinner without having to leave my table. Just reach on out and grab squash.

They're growing pumpkins too. The tomatoes have mostly been claimed.

Hard to close drawers

I spent the more time inside my house this weekend than I have in months. A lot of it in my lovely kitchen with its bright light and old, hard-to-close drawers.

The hole

Since we moved in, the toilet in the upstairs bathroom was wobbly. Lately, it had gotten to the point where sitting down was dangerous if one wasn't exceedingly gentle and delicate. Not too long ago, Steve called to tell me that finally, the wobble had gotten the best of us: the toilet leaked and the seal around the bottom needed to be replaced.

Here's Steve with the gross, expired wax seal that protects all toilets from leaking.

Now, I've had many moments during which I've been happy to have a friend along for the roller coaster ride of home ownership. The toilet breaking was one such moment, mostly because the sight--but surprisingly, not so much the smell--of the hole above made me want to retch (in case you're wondering, that brown stuff is not poo).

Steve apparently LOVED the challenge of a broken toilet though as well as tormenting me with the grime from the hole:

Anyway, my involvement ended after the above photo was taken but I think that Steve solved the problem by going to Home Depot and buying a toilet fixing kit. Now when I sit on it to do my business, it's nothing but stable and strong. Not unlike a throne.

Instead of blogging this summer...

I worked 50-70 hours a week helping to elect these wonderful people to office:



My lovely friend, boss, and 6th District County Legislator Maria! She came in with 65% of the vote.



Mike LoCurto, Delaware District Council member, and film buff extraordinnaere.



And the real big winner, David Rivera for Niagara District Common Council!

Read about our races here and here. We worked our asses off and I'm so ready for some quiet time. And blogging!

Cool tool

Made with Spell with Flickr!

Plants make everything better

Boarded up

This is the house next door to us. Earlier in the summer, the back window was removed and left wide open. We were nervous about it, especially walking back there at night, so Steve boarded it up himself.