Burning Down the House

It’s been an interesting week. Last Saturday night Ken almost burned the house down. All just so he could move the switches for the family room over a foot, because of the wall extention. Granted when the electrician came Tuesday and got a look at everything he thinks whatever Ken did was just the last straw. He did say Ken’s work was good. The damage was done when he packed everything back into the box after he tested it the first time. A couple of wires must have touched when they weren’t supposed to. It caused the breaker to blow and the wire insulation to melt. So the breaker was replaced as well as the whole circuit rewired. The electrician was shaking his head the entire time mostly about the slipshod job the original builder did with the wiring. Stuff that definitely wouldn’t pass inspection now. He’s guessing back in ’86 the inspection checked a few things make sure they were done right then okayed the whole house. That was all compounded by the original owner who added a bunch of light fixtures to the house and did his own wiring. This guy did a lot of changes to the original floor plan of the house and he knew what he was doing structurally but electrically he didn’t. Ken now doesn’t feel safe in this house. And wants to go through and bring everything to code. This one little mistake cost us $2000, basically there went our tax refund.

Quin must be getting in his second year molars. The kid has been trying to stuff his entire hand into his mouth the past couple days. In other news I have an appointment with a hearing specialist for him. At almost 18 months he basically still only has two words. I know he has some hearing because he loves music and laughs at Alex when he’s goofing off, but he doesn’t react to his own name. I hope I’m wrong and he’s just a late starter. He’s my little cuddle bug. Comes up to me all the time to give and get hugs. If were sitting on the floor together he’ll lean against me. Alex on the other hand only wants hugs when he sees Quin getting them or when I drop him off an school and at bed time. And when I give him a kiss he turns his cheek towards me like “alright get this over with mom” Though he does ask for 5 kisses when I do this.

Alex lost all his trains and cars Friday. All day I had to referee between the two boys. Every time Quin was playing quietly Alex would horn in and take things away from him. And the constant. “mommmmeeeee Quinnnsss at the traaaaaiin table” was driving me nuts. The thing is he likes playing with Quin other times, loves to make him laugh. But when it comes to cars and trains, even the ones that are actually Quin’s he won’t share or he’ll take them from his brother. So in order to earn everything back he has to do some real work on sharing.

I mentioned I was competing in a creative team contest. The designers at DSP, every six months hold a competition for a team of eight to create pages using their products. Well this time around I made it as far as round three. It’s farther than I’ve gotten before. It would have been a nice birthday present, for myself, if I had made it. Ah well the competition was really tough, some amazing creativity out there. And yes it’s coming up, this time next week I’ll be 40. I’ll get to spend the day before on a day trip to Brooklyn. We’re going to pick up Ken’s parents and bring them back to MD. His brother will then take them back to VA. While we’re up there we’ll take part in the Hong San so we can introduce Quin to the ancestors.

Ken is taking me out to dinner the following Wednesday. Then I really have to get onto making the invitations for our combined birthday bash over Memorial day weekend. I would love to invite all my online friends. I might even send them out anyway, it would be great to have you here even if it’s only in spirit.

We just spent Saturday evening watching 300, twice. It reminded me all over again of my love of ancient Greece and Rome. As a kid I had a fascination with Greek and Roman mythology, this in turn an interest in the history itself, mostly the Hellenic period of the Odyssey and the Illiad. It even started my interest in Architecture. At U of MD I took a few classes on ancient architecture because of it. Actually I see all along my fictional interests have guided my non-fiction ones. When I was reading a lot of fantasy I learned a lot about medieval Europe, science fiction lead to actual science, and even now the romance novels I read are all in the Regency/Victorian era, so I’ve picked up a lot of info on the Napoleanic Wars. Not sure how much of this will be useful in the long run, anyway back to 300, which took place in Doric Greece. Later than my earlier interest. I think now if I was to be back in ancient Greece I’d like to be a Spartan woman from that time period. They had many more rights than most other women, including the right to own and inherit property. They were educated right along with the men, I guess with it being a military based society the women needed to run the farms and businesses when the men were off fighting.

I was talking to Ken the other night about how some people become better judges of character over time and how some don’t. He mentioned that his sister, who is ten years older, doesn’t have good judgement about people. She puts her trust in people who disappoint her again and again. Ken said his life got a whole lot better when his stopped listening to his family’s advice and went his own way. He said it still bothers him that they never give him credit for knowing anything. He can’t even shove it in their faces when he’s right because his brother always restates what he says and get the credit. Ahh, the trials of being the youngest.

This got me thinking about how I would have reacted to some of the people I work with if I had met them 15-20 years ago. There are a couple of guys in particular who are in their early mid-twenties. Both have graduated under grad, one is in grad school the other is kind of trying to figure things out. Travis, I met about a year ago when I came back from mat leave. When you first meet him he seems very serious but he has a very dry sense of humor. He teases me all the time, calling me a cool mom. He’s done this since he found out I was actually around for the tail end of the punk era. Travis is into classics; literature, poetry, music, even classic rock. I know if I had met him when I was younger the only time I would have talked to him was if we happened to have friends in common. He would have seemed too serious and even a bit snobbish to me then. Now we rib and joke and tease each other, and even talk a little literature. He really started teasing me after Ken wrecked my car and I had to drive the minivan full time. Heh, he comes to me when he has a head ache because moms have the good drugs.
His buddy Dave, I met this past holiday season when he was hired through Travis’s recommendation. He’s one of those good looking guys, who is really casual and doesn’t even know he’s good looking, and is just a little bit goofy and earnest. I know I would have had a super big crush on him when I was younger. I wouldn’t have done a thing about. I would have just hung out, thinking there was no way he’d go out with someone like me. I get Dave, I’ll talk to him about anything from graphic novels to philosophy. It’s fun to flirt a little but he’s at the searching stage. I remember that stage, seaching for what you want, who you are, what you believe in, your spirituality. Makes me realize how young he is to me. I guess as I get closer to my 40th birthday, I’m starting to really realize how lucky I am to have found where I need to be and who will travel that road with me.

Wednesday we had the granite installed. Ken was so happy that afternoon he was singing “you’re beautiful” to it, (the James Blunt song). It does look really good. And yes I have pictures. As of tonight we have a working gas stovetop. We were actually able to cook a full dinner tonight with out the help of a microwave. YAY!!!!! The plumber is suppose to be by tomorrow so the sink and dishwasher will be working and anything after that is cosmetic. I spent Quin’s naptime yesterday laying out the tiles patterns for our backsplash. I wanted to be able to figure out how many of each tile type we’d need and add 10% for errors. Then Ken and I started talking about pulls and knobs. I’ve found a set we like but I’m gonna check a bit more see if there is a better price out there. I do have to say that it’s a good thing our taste is very similar, there is usually not too much arguing over the little choices.