By popular demand...

The living room with some of the furniture.



The living room with no furniture.



The hall



Although it has been a couple of weeks since the floors has been finished, I haven't really put the place back together yet. I'm now interviewing painters, and when they come, I'll have to move everything again anyway.

The walls have needed paint since I moved in - oh four years ago - but I haven't been able to figure out what colors I want. Now I have no choice. The floors are so beautiful now that the walls look ridiculous. So I'm looking for painters who also do color consulting.

Ah, the joys of home ownership!

Culture!

If You Forget Me

I want you to know one thing. You know how this is: if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window, if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash or the wrinkled body of the log, everything carries me to you, as if everything that exists, aromas, light, metals, were little boats that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me. Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me I shall stop loving you little by little. If suddenly you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you. If you think it long and mad, the wind of banners that passes through my life, and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots, remember that on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land. But if each day, each hour, you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness, if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me, ah my love, ah my own, in me all that fire is repeated, in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten, my love feeds on your love, beloved, and as long as you live it will be in your arms without leaving mine. Pablo Neruda

Floors!!

My on-line presence might be pretty sketchy for the next week, as I'll be living in a very posh hotel as my NEW FLOORS are being installed.

I've been moving stuff out of the rooms with the warped hardwood floors to the kitchen and guest room, and I should have everything completed by the time the crew comes on Friday morning. I imagine I'll come home to all kinds of dust and nastiness, but beneath it all will be beautiful, shiny, freshly stained oak.

In other news, I'd like to thank the House, the Senate, and Drinky McDumbass for finally passing the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008!

Sure, there are some annoying provisions in there, but on the whole, I really believe this thing will create a more organized regulatory structure. It will force banks to assist homeowners in need, which will in turn bolster the work of banks, thrifts, and the bond market.

Oh, and it sort of saves my job for the time being.

"Bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure..."

Nancy, I knew you'd make me love you. Thank you for being a Democrat. Thank you for calling a spade "a spade." Now will you please use your considerable wisdom and wit to pass a reasonable GSE bill? Fannie and Freddie, who control half of the residential mortgage market, are flailing and our two largest private housing finance institutions (Countrywide and IndyMac) are hemorrhaging money right and left.

And you know what this means, Nancy my dear? It means that ordinary taxpayers with ordinary mortgages, and ordinary salaries are going to pay for the speculation, the shady deals, and the absence of credit checks and counseling for people who should have never been given an unsubsidized home loan in the first place. And you know what? We simply can't afford that.

Because certainly you've noticed that a gallon of milk is over $5? Have you noticed that gasoline is $4.50 a gallon? Inflation is a dirty word, and it is only going to get worse if our incomes are further stressed by foreclosure, continued money printing, and loans from foreign governments to the tune of $3 trillion a pop.

Remember the S&L Crisis Nancy. Don't let Henry forget it either.

But I digress. You made me smile, and for that I thank you. But how's about getting some real work done?

PS. When you see Barack around, if you do see him, will you kick him in the pants for me and remind him that he has a job in Illinois?

Akin to getting food poisoning from your mother

From the Chicago Tribune today:

Mice, supermarkets and food safety

Posted by Renee Enna at 10:00 a.m. CDT

The discovery of mouse droppings that closed Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park offers a sage reminder to cityfolk that we're not the only ones who like food-centered businesses.

The store, at 1000 W. North Ave, was closed Wednesday by the Chicago Department of Public Health after inspectors found mouse feces throughout the premises, including more than 100 droppings in one walk-in cooler alone, according to the department. Also found was a dead mouse on a glueboard trap.

Wednesday's visit was a follow-up to an inspection on June 27, when inspectors ordered management to eliminate the infestation and warned that there would be a re-inspection, according to Tim Hadac, the department's spokesman.

On Wednesday, inspectors found "no compliance," which automatically raises the violation from “serious” to “critical,” which prompted the closing, Hadac said.

___________

This is the second time I've heard of Whole Foods stores in the area being shut down by public health inspectors. While I prefer independent stores and the farmer's market, I don't often have the time to do all that running around, and find myself wandering into Whole Foods on a semi-regular basis. And now I just feel ill.