A sink accompli!

It's in! The sink was installed, ironically on the 10th anniversary of our moving into our ( 1st) house. I've never been so happy washing dishes which is good cause every dish we own now needs washing. The floor is being installed on Friday and Jerry returns on Sat for touch-ups which will be a lovely birthday present. I go now to put a bagel in the the new toaster oven I bought yesterday( I discovered that a micro-waved bagel is inedible) then I go to my newly-installed old washer to do laundry for the first time since May so I can procrastinate before I tackle the daunting task of putting everything away in the new cabinets. More decisions! But I found the pots and tonight I believe I will boil some pasta. Oh joy, rapture! At my age, it's truly the little things that bring the most pleasure.
As for falling off the news-reading wagon, I am a repeat offender. I am pleased and astonished by Lieberman's defeat in the Conn senate race and by the fact that a lot of the Dem party supports an anti-war stance. This is a very good sign and could be a the building blocks for a credible and viable Dem threat to the Bushies, or Shrubies as some of my pals like to say.
And since our visit to Israel last year I have become increasingly involved in their politics and now I can't stop. I have come to understand that it's not a matter of right or left, hawk or dove- in Israel it's about survival. No one wants war, but everyone is always prepared for it. Their geography, religion and politics don't jibe with the rest of the region but they have never imposed their values on others, coveted land or declared that others have no right to exist.
They just want to continue to do the improbable task of turning a desert into a viable and successful entity. To think of what might have been accomplished if the Israelis and a Palestian state were able to work together.
Maybe diplomacy is not the answer, maybe they just need a good contractor?

"We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them for forcing us to lkill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us" Golda Meir

The plumber strikes back

The plumber complained to Jerry that I hurt his feelings by calling him an asshole on his answering machine. He's lucky it I didn't call him worse.This is the same arrogant coarse man who has not shown one iota of respect for me or his crew and yells and screams at his Stooges - in my house. Even Jerry admits that they are pigs! He argues with me about things we already discussed as feasible.He took upholstered chairs from my dining room and put a filthy, grimy sink on it and his filth, grimy ass as well. He initially refused to put in my 1/2 bath cause he said there was not enough room for it. (or him). So for spite apparently, he installed the toilet 6" from the wall with barely room between it and the sink. The other toilet downstairs is not centered so one's shoulder grazes the wall when seating oneself. It's not like there wasn't enough room to place it properly.And, the sweet tile guy had to tighten every connection that the plumbers made. Jerry called and said they might come today to put in that blasted, bloody sink but I am not to speak to Mike as he is mad at me. Jerry, I responded, that Mofo better not speak to me. Ah, Jerry just called again to say that the floor installer was here on Sat and waited outside fron 8:30 to 9:30 and called repeatedly. This is an interesting lie, cause the carpenter got here at 9 and we were all up before 8 no one else was here. And my caller ID shows no calls. Am I going crazy or is there no honesty involved? All the pleasure and joy I expected from this kitchen has turned to apprehension, disappointment, impatience and constant cleaning, but no cooked food. And the other day, our beloved 12 year old toaster oven died. It's toast! It's been hard to replace and I feel lost without it. I had to toast a bagel in a frying pan yesterday, how gauche!
Last night, our psycho across-the-back-fence neighbor whose evilness has been lately lying dormant (antagonizing others, no doubt) rang my bell yesterday to tell me to stop putting screws on her fence. I explained that we have been under construction ( as she can very well see from any of her windows) and the crew moved all the planters around the backyard and I am unable to use the yard nor I have not been able to reach the fence since May. And why would I put screws in her fence? In response to the time they trespassed on our property and stole our stepping stones, perhaps? I can be much more creative than that! She was uncharacteristically polite, probably cause Carrie came to the door with me. I tell you, this doggie has more uses than I could've guessed! I found out that Psycho's next-door neighbor, J has also had run-ins with her and is keeping a file on them, the Psycho couple. They made J and the other side neighbor, W. both move their common property lines- illegally.They tried to do that with us but we called their bluff. They didn't pursue it. W, who is a lovely woman, caught Psycho pouring grass seed on her mulched property, more than once. J said that the psycho wife beat her Milquetoast husband one night. I believe it, she shrieks at him constantly. They were harassing J until finally she sent her brother over to speak to them. He is a Hell's Angel. They promised no more problems, you can be sure. Oh ho! You can't make this up!
Well, Mike finally arrived and Caramelita growled at him, even tho she knows him, and went for him, nipping his pant leg. He is unhurt, but I had to go upstairs to laugh. She is so sensitive to bad vibes!
Morning which was always my favorite time of day is not these days. I have pain and I read the papers first thing, then get my dose of depression for the day. I am overcome with trepidation, fear, anger and despair. When will this stop? When will those involved in the Middle East and Africa realize that there will never be a political solution when one combatant's sole purpose is to totally destroy the other? Why can't people just live their lives, enjoy their blessings, accept their differences and ignore those views that they can't accept. I am a godless heathen, but I'm praying that perhaps a miracle will occur and the UN or NATO can get there shit together and the killing will stop, in the Middle East, in Africa, and everywhere our troops are dying. I don't get how the deaths of thousands of America troops in Afganistan and Iraq since 9/11, make up for the 2700 killed that day. And this crap about civil war in Iraq being imminent- it is going on right now and we are in the middle. Power, money, oil and fanaticism, they are not worth all this death. These are very dangerous times for sure.
There is nothing as valuable as peace, nothing healthy can survive without it.
Love, health, prosperity and tolerance, live and let live. And drink plenty of fluids, dammit!
Happy Birthday B, you Nordic goddess, and love and kisses!

Suffering contractions:No more Mr. Nice guy

I believe in letting people do their job. Unless I'm teaching, I avoid hanging over them with constant critisism. Jerry even commented on the fact that I don't like to complain.But Steve had to go pick up the sink base himself on Friday night, cause Jerry is in Vegas till tonight. Luckily Joe came on Sat to install it before he leaves for Palermo. Bless him and his near unintelligible accent.Two of the Three Stooges plumbers were here Friday and said they would be back on Monday after we get the sink. Done Deal right? No. Today they say they can't come till Wed, they have another job-even tho this one started in MAY.Even tho it's only abouit an hours work. I have tried to call them and no one picks up; I left a rude message.The job is only to connect the existing water pipe to the sink faucet! These guys are a joke. D&D Plumbing(their real name)= Dumb and Dumber.They forgot to install an incoming water pipe for the toilet. Not one fixture is centered or in the right place. Every faucet drips, every stopper doesn't stop. And they are really keeping my life on hold cause I can't unpack anything till it's washed as the boxes of dishes and kitchen stuff long ago succumbed to the galaxies of dust whose levels rival that of an archealogical dig. I am seriously and premeditatedly considering plumbercide, with extreme predjudice. Check the newspaper soon for a story of a woman who goes berserk and beats (to a bloody pulpy mass) a plumber with his own wrench, then allows wild animals to rip him limb from limb and vultures to peck at his eyes and flesh and finally, puts on display in her backyard his head on a pike as a warning and deterrent for other plumbers and sub-contractors.
Maybe that's too extreme. Perhaps I shall just beat him about the head and shoulders using his assistants, Curly and Larry as bludgeons. Head butts and finger pokes are too good for these guys.
In other news, we had our (final) farewell dinner with Joe and Marion last night before they leave for their new life in North Carolina. Best of luck and lots of love to you both. Don't change your accents!
I have used the lyrics from "Hot time summer in the city" as titles to recent posts. Well imagine my surprise, cousins, when on the front page of the Sunday Times, there was an article about that very same song by the the Lovin' Spoonfu.l It reached #1 on the charts August 13, 1966, the day after I turned 17. John Sebastian commented in the article that back them, the summer heatwave was only 2 weeks in August that you could count on like clockwork. These days in NY at least, a heatwave or a snow can occur ( and has )anytime from April to November. But for now:
All around people looking half-dead,
walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a matchhead

Stupid, mean or apathetic?

I'm angry and I'm hot. MY birthday is coming and I am old. We have no floor tiles, no sink cabinet. I'm crossing my fingers for Friday cause the carpenter is leaving for Italy on the 10th. I'd be incredulous but at this point I believe anything. It seems like many members of our culture are reaching for new levels of mediocrity, few have pride in a job, any job well done, or any act for that matter. The contractor makes mistakes but at least he cares about correcting them. Do many care about much?
I have a dinner date tonight with 2 friends, one who lives 5 minutes from me. Since she is off for the summer, I asked her to come over an hour earlier. She just left a message saying that she doesn't have any plans today but she's bored and looking for something to do so she'll probably just come at 7, as planned. She knows very well that I am slightly disabled, have no car and have been chained to the house all summer due to of contractor-sitting. We have ties going back 30 years, but I am questioning why I feel the need to stay tied to someone so self-involved.
I also ask myself why I read the papers when it upsets me so:
Newly disclosed tapes reveal mass confusion in the military on 9/11 undermining Pentagon claims of readiness. I don't even want to think about that. Or the situation in Israel and Lebanon which is getting worse everyday. Hezbollah seems more than willing to sacrifice all of Lebanon ( which will benefit Syria) while the UN grows more distant and ineffectual.
Today a German newspaper reported that one of the Bin Laden sons has been released from house arrest in Iran for the purpose of recruiting jihadists from Syria in support of Hezbollah.
D. Rumsfeld told the Senate that he had no time for public testimony. Maybe he should have avoided the lying and corruption that brought the investigaton.
Which will be interminable, you can bet.
The Senate approved a $453.5 billion Pentagon bill which includes $1.8 billion for a border fence. Most immigrants pay some taxes and all pay sales tax, yet the rich have hedge funds, trusts and deductions. Screw Al Queda and their ilk-we gotta protect ourselves from those dangerous Mexicans!
A bill in Cogress to raise the national minium wage to a livable level can only be accomplished if the very richest Americans don't have to pay estate taxes.
In addition to military spending in defense of a foreign civil war, billions are being wasted in gov't service contracts in Iraq every month.Crony, Bribe and Graft Inc, USA. And now, the Pentagon has ordered 11,00 troops to Afganistan, the 82nd Airborne. When I was a kid, I had a friend in the 82nd. He was sent to Vietnam then somehow ended up in Cambodia- where we did not officially have any troops. I've experienced many, many years of being lied to by the gov't but never as badly as now.
Bush's new plan for terror-tribunals allows hearsay and coerced testimony while denying classified evidence to defendants.
Can you hear the screams of the Constitution as it's being ripped apart?
Somalia, Congo, Sri Lanka; why are Africans less important?
Katherine Harris, unbelievably running for the Senate in Fla, had all her aides quit on her when she didn't tell them she got a subpoena in a defense-lobbying investigation.
The CDC says a 2005 measles outbreak in Indiana was due to home-schooled kids whose parents were wary of the vaccination.Really, you can't make this stuff up.
The Kansas Board of Ed ousted conservatives and decided that evolution theory and sex ed may be possibly more credible and relevant than intelligent design. How 21st century!
And of course, Fidel Castro, dead or not dead?
But here is my very favorite story, A Hong Kong banker two years ago agreed to pay $15.4 million for 8 years of private ballroom dance instruction ( that's about $5000 a day). She paid 1/2 than reneged on the deal suing for her payment of $7.4 mil. The instructors say breach of contract and are counter-suing for the balance. Gotta Dance!
The weatherpeople say that today is the last day of the 100 degree heat wave.
Three NY TV stations said that a "cold front" is arriving on Friday. Temperatures will be around 87 for the weekend. Brrrrr.

Everything but the kitchen sink

August.We started construction in May, I really thought we would be done by the Fourth of July. Ha. Jerry put down a 1/4" sub-floor instead of 1/2". The tiles we waited 2 weeks for were installed over this, by a sub-contractor. The result was a wavy floor. The tiles are named "Caribbean" but really, waves are superfluous at this point. When Jerry arrived to view the damage, I'm afraid I burst into tears, a delayed reaction to too much dust and take-out food. Alarmed, he promised to fix it and put 1/2" plywood over it and reodered new tiles- but at the cost of another 2 weeks. Ironically, this works out because the order for the cabinet that holds the damn sink was lost and will take... another 2 weeks. These have passed in a hot and sticky way but everything is set for delivery tomorrow, a day that promises to break all heat records as well as my patience. At least the electricians are finally done, those stupid-heads. We waited a month for "special" bulbs for the bathroom lights (" they were in the box, did you throw them out?") 3 times they came and none of them worked. You know how some people (men) never read the instructions or test the equipment first? Well, it wasn't the bulbs but the improperly wired light fixtures that didn't work. Mon Dieu. Now that we have lights, I can see that the paint job has to be re-done.
The debris in the backyard has been removed but the garden is covered with volunteer morning glories, strangling all the perenniels. So it shall remain, it's too hot too garden. Caramel thinks so too. We met a another basenji today, Jasmine, and she was too hot to be bothered to bark at her! One needs to stay indoors between 10AM and 8PM when the sun and air are really toxic. I am presently sitting 8" from the fan but will quit this position for a bath and some AC presently.
Poor Steve works in Queens where the electricity demand is huge and they are cutting power, so the AC in his office is set high. He's luckier than his sister who lives in Queens and was without power for a week! What, they didn't know it was going to be hot this summer? They really put the con in Con Edison.
On 7/15 we celebrated my Aunt Sarah's 96th birthday at a party at my cousin Janie's. It was great to see everyone and it was so wonderful to be with my Aunt, who looks incredible. She reminds me so much of my Mom, who was her little sister. Both of us still have the urge to call her, so we call each other instead. It's a good plan.
We saw an Israeli movie, "Ushpitzin" It was OK, sort of an updated Sholem Aleichem story.The best thing was, a character used the phrase Oivavoi. It was the first time I heard it spoken, having read it in a book. Turns out, the accent is on the first syllable. I've been saying it wrong! Dios Mio!

The deity of the day is Iris, goddess of rainbows!