Cafe Hitch-hike

2022-08-18

Under renovation

Cousins. I’ve described some of mine over the years. I have them on both sides of my family, even with the more distant paternal side. I always thought of them as a sibling I liked more!! We’ve had cousins Kenna and Drew, and their young adult children I consider more nephews and nieces than second cousin. I have their older half-brother Art.

In the past few years, my immediate family and cousins had been reaching back and forth to a distant branch in south Texas. They’re pretty cool and it’s kind of nice hearing from them and seeing how they’re doing. Heck, even a very distant cousin is pecking in; she knows some of the family is a bit crazy and I don’t blame her for stepping gingerly.

One time I sent a live stream of a local concert featuring 70s bands, and my older cousins really digged it! While I was recording, a couple 20 feet in front of me hopped up and danced on the lawn. The woman wore long sleeves that flared when she danced. I streamed it live for just over a minute, and it got a lot of responses and views from my cousins!

They responded by citing lines from that song, almost liking singing. One sang, “what a foooooool belieeeeeeeeves…” and a lot of people liked or laughed. Then another posted another line of lyric, and then someone referred to a related song. They also liked the couple dancing, one said it looked like a butterfly. I guess we manage to have a spontaneous online singalong!

The funny thing was the cousins in the online chorus were ones close to me in age and we lived in the same region. We grew up hearing the same music, and there we were, singing it. Yeah, the music was another example of shared artifacts that form between people!

Renovs continue.. I had an interesting interaction with a drywall contractor. It’s tipped me off to ask friends about recommended ways to interact with a contractor. The price was on the high-end for the area and then it occurred to me this guy wasn’t licensed.

But, I can’t complain that I didn’t have to wait excessively long for a response (labor tends to be bi-polar in these parts in terms of reliability). I then had a the installers not make appointments for parts of the work. If my boss was less forgiving, they would had dinged me badly for leaving work to meet the contractors, but thankfully I had the time off anyway and did work from home to not fall behind. And, I didn’t have to wait for an unknown time for them to get back (which is another problem here).

The whole project was for my galley kitchen and included removing a bar on a countertop along with its old (gross and dated) backsplash and counter; get some plumbing done which included removing and installing a new sink and faucet and a few other things; then install a new quartz backdrop and countertop. It took 9 days and is probably a new Florida record.

Next, I am getting some service provided by Drew and my brother Deebo who offered to help me paint my cabinets! I was sooo happy they accepted my offer! I will have them over for Labor Day weekend, and we’ll chill and paint! I was surprised at the crazy prices people wanted for that. I could had done it myself, but it was a lot of labor but now I have help, and my bro and cousin have all the proper tools. They even will give some leftover paint from their jobs so we don’t have to buy any. Drew sent me pictures of a recent job he had done with the same color, and it looked great.

Renovs… I like to think of myself as handy and capable of light construction and repair, but I am not grandiose about my abilities. I lose patience quickly and have to learn how to use the tools and rig things properly. I watched a chico* do my drywall (what they call young, Latin and often immigrant men who do labor) , and I could had done most of it myself. Except, I acknowledged it would take me twice as long, I spend $100 on supplies I only use once and they take up space, and I likely gouged myself during that time. In short, it’s safer to go with an expert at certain points.

The next day. The quartz countertop and backdrop look greeeeeat along with the new sink and faucet! In lieu of cosmetic surgery on my body, I did it to my kitchen. The cost to do it was just about the same as what Carlo left me, so yes, it really is Carlo’s Kitchen.

I smoked a spliff last night after cleaning up and enjoying an evening with a friend, and I found myself dancing in my kitchen because I was so happy. The whole room looks so much brighter, literally. I now have to clean up the dust and drywall for the fifth time or so, but I’m so glad it’s mostly done!

downwind | upstream