Omigosh July is gone

and I haven't blogged much at all.

If you're wondering what I've been doing - I have been nesting.

It's not what you think - those days are long gone - I just get a

hankering to nest every now and again and apparently July

was the month to begin.

I have been on a refreshing/repairing/repainting initiative

around the house. What a mess 11 years of double strollers,

double bikes, double trouble can do to a home.

So, first the 1925 guest bathroom - all of the fixtures are

original and very odd sizes - basically this room is about

2 feet too narrow. What's a gal to do?

Resurface! I had the tub and cool old sink resurfaced

(it is not in place yet in this photo). I spent DAYS patching,

sanding, patching, sanding, patching, sanding the old plaster

walls to get them flat. And then papered them with some cool

reproduction William Morris-esque wallpaper I found on eBay.

Dang if that room doesn't look like the day after the room

was finished in 1925 - I LOVE it! We built a frame around the

inset mirror and I painted the ceiling I had previously papered

a lovely plum color. New light and Bam! Bob's your uncle!

(or at least my bathroom looks pretty cool...)

Now I am on a roll (wallpaper that is) I loved the results

sooo much I decided to do the same to the dining room.

When we first attacked that dining room 10 years ago I

was so sick of the project when we finished I didn't think

I could eat in there much less work on it again. We put

up all that wood work. Yup - all of it. I went around that

room so many times I was dizzy!

Again with the patching, sanding, patching, sanding, patching,

sanding the old plaster walls to get them flat.

'Honey, eventually you just have to stop.'

That Gapetto - sometimes he is a veritable sage.

It is not finished yet but I put the paper up and it looks divine!

It is the same pattern as the bathroom but different palette.

I let you know if I ever finish.

In the meantime, the cleaning lady is on hold and the house is

in an insane state of disarray.

Sounds like life to me!

Julia I ain't

My cooking mojo appears to have left me forever once

those twins came back from the hospital with me.

Last night as I wandered the kitchen aimlessly I casually

mentioned to the Bunny,

'you kids are going to have to start cooking for yourselves'

'seriously?'

'yep! I'm done - all out of ideas'

'I got two words for you Mommy. Cereal and milk!'

Letters dated July 30, 1999

Hope you are well...

Dear Merrily,

Please let us know that you were not near the tragedy.

I guess no city is immune these days.

Bryan and Melanie are off on their wonderful trip.

I heard from them on Wednesday from Seattle.

I will write this weekend, as I am dashing out the door to work.

Love,

MOB

PS Do you have email at home? or just at work? is it okay to use?

Re: Hope you are well...

Dear MOB,

Gapetto and I are both safe, the shootings took place in Buckhead

which is about 4 miles from where we both work in midtown.

These kinds of horrible things seem to be happening all too

frequently these days.

I'm glad to hear Bryan and Melanie are enjoying themselves. I didn't

hear back from him about his allergies. I could easily make this a

cat-free environment while they are here - and is he allergic to

dogs? Any tips on how to stock the fridge?

Life sure has a way of working things out. Russ and I are trying to

get pregnant - it is the first time in my life I felt that I was ready

to and now I have a partner who is equally excited about it. I had

so many issues to resolve about being pregnant and about feeling

that I was ready to be a good parent. I have never been happier in

my life than I am right now and that's when I heard from you and

Bryan. It seems so much more than circumstantial. I am excited,

nervous, anxious, apprehensive, happy - all kinds of emotions are

surfacing in light of this meeting. I imagine that you have some

conflicting emotions too. You seem so wonderful with Bryan.

Checking to make sure that it will go okay but then stepping back

and giving him room to fly. You seem like a very good mother and

I really feel blessed by that. I always loved Dr. O.B. and it seems

he was very intuitive in picking you.

I am expecting a couple books from amazon.com in the mail

today on this kind of reunion. The ones I chose deal with all sides'

emotions - the birth mother, the adoptive mother and the child's.

This is such a unique kind of thing I don't know anyone who has been

through it. I have a friend who found his birth mother and she doesn't

want to have any sort of relationship with him and I know that hurts

him. If the books are good I will pass them on to you.

In the meantime, we wait for their arrival...

Hope to hear from you soon

Love,

Merrily

PS I can access my email from home and work. I have my own

graphic design studio now so it's just me and the occasional freelances

who don't use my internet.