Sunday, January 25, 2009

"Without a Big Story to make sense out of life and death, we are left with only desperate, individualistic autobiographies of struggles for love and purpose." | Richard Dunn from Shaping the Spiritual Lives of Students

Our Little Morning Person

Mommy: "Meka, do you know what today is?
Meka: "I just want butter."

(Correct answer is Mr. Matt's birthday)

Friday, January 23, 2009

DIY | Floating Books Shelves

After reading about some floating book shelves over at www.skyejethani.com I decided on a little DIY.  After visiting eHow.com and nicking their instructions I took a little trip to the hardware store with a gift card I had from Christmas.  

The only supplies I needed to purchase were the L brackets, drywall mounts & some fender washers.  The brackets were under $4 a piece & the other stuff less than that.  Other supplies that I had on hand were 2 good sized (9" +) books I didn't intend to read/use anymore (yes, one of them is the DaVinci Code; it was worthy of being torn up & not read again...probably shouldn't have read it the first time), some Gorilla Glue & wood screws.

I drew a line in the middle of the book where the bracket would go, used the bracket to mark the holes where I would put the screws and then did the same thing on the inside of the book where the back pages began.  I didn't really get how eHow was suggesting it be done so I made it up.  I took my utility knife and notched out the pages until the bracket was flush with the back cover and fit well in the slices I had notched out.  

I glued the pages together that I had scored for the bracket to fit in, then I put in the screws through the back cover on the marks (it worked so I must have measured correctly or gotten lucky).  I had to put quite a bit of pressure on the book so the pages didn't wrinkle from the screws.  I also put a bunch of Gorilla glue on the bracket and back cover.  

I put the drywall mounts in the wall so that the book would be 44" off the ground, 7" to either side of the bed and then screwed the bracket into the drywall mounts using the fender washers since the screw head was too small for the bracket.  That's funny...screw head.  Too small.

Anyway...add a few books and voila...there's a stack of books magically floating on our wall.  

I'm somewhat pleased with the result.  They actually look much smaller than I envisioned but I really couldn't have gone bigger without larger brackets and significantly larger books.  Maybe on the next try.  Fun little project!







"This is good music dad!"
Meka, commenting on Bob Marley's One Love

my darling clementine



so, if you are like me, you really want to like western movies but just can't force it most of the time.

the other night i watched what is probably the best western i have ever seen. it helped that it starred henry fonda. my darling clementine, filmed in 1946. it is the classic story of wyatt earp and his brothers with doc holliday at the ok corral. it beats the pantsers off of tombstone or wyatt earp or any of the newer films. i watched it due to the recommendation of a fictional character - it was colonel potter's (from MASH) favorite movie. anyway, so good.

it is too bad they don't make pictures like this anymore. they are lost and gone forever. dreadful sorry.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

sabrina? the cure ate her. -damn that robert smith!

this is the gallery at the cultural center in hartford where sabrina is now the curator. she painted the whole damn thing before hanging this show of four local women's work. not bad for an old lady - she's turning 30 tomorra!




The Valley of Vision Bit

"Let me never forget that the heinousness of sin lies not so much in the nature of the sin committed, as in the greatness of the Person sinned against."

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Oh. My. Pre.

I'm going to start selling stuff on ebay/craigslist and saving now.

The new Palm Pre running on webOS.

CLICK HERE for stuff from Engadget.


Monday, January 5, 2009

breaker-breaker

i just saw what is probably the greatest movie -and sequel - of all times.

smokey and the bandit.

so damn good.

and sally field is just ferocious...now she is osteoferocious.


Friday, January 2, 2009

Mommy: "What would you like to eat for dinner?"
Meka' "A casserole!"