books / lazy Saturday / a question

[kcobweb]

Searching for Mercy Street: My Journey Back to my Mother, Anne Sexton, by Linda Gray Sexton. I've always liked Anne Sexton's poetry, but didn't know much about her life except that she killed herself. This book leaves no holds barred, and was one of the most disturbing books I've read in a long time, I think (I don't disturb easily). Anne was depressed, of course, but she also had absolutely *no boundaries* and had to be the center of everyone's attention - fine for her, but she obviously was incapable of thinking about the effect that had on her children. It's amazing they turned out as well as they did. Linda Sexton talks a lot about how her mother was one of the confessional poets and believed in 100% honesty in all things. As her mother's literary executor (and in this memoir), she felt she had to honor that honesty and openness, even when she didn't want to, when it was painful, or when it hurt other family members. So you get a fairly complete picture here - drawing not only on Linda's memories, but also on the papers and records Anne left behind (including records from her therapists). Really powerful and moving, to be sure.

The Boy Next Door, by Meggin Cabot. This was journeywoman's suggestion when I said I liked chicklit. And it was pretty good: light and fluffy. It's all epistolary - but via email, because this is the 21st century, right? - but better done than most books that employ the told-through-email trope. There is a somewhat silly/contrived set-up situation, but with clever likeable characters, and a really good revenge scenario.

In other news - what a lovely day! We went to the playground this morning to play with Elena's friends - she went on the big-kid swings, and then wouldn't get off because swinging was so fun. (And we got to see a 10-day-old baby that belongs to a friend of a friend. So *tiny* - it's just amazing! Even when you've had one of your own, you can't believe later they were ever that small.) This afternoon, I finally got to visit the local quilt store, which was very nice, with many many temptations. I'm going to be doing a quilt block swap soon, so this was sort of a scouting mission.

We've also had the news that our house does not need to be re-sided after all - someone came and looked and said that our siding is cedar and would be insanely expensive now and is some of the best we could have, so it just needs scraping and painting. Woohoo!!! (We got a good chunk of money knocked off the purchase price of this house based on the condition of the outside of it and the assumption - at the time - that it would need complete re-siding.) So now I have to call some painters instead. Because we'd be crazy to try to do it ourselves, right? Or not? Anyone have much experience with house-painting? I only know from watching my father paint our house growing up, and he always bitched about it, and took several years to actually get it finished.

Comments

[allthatjazmyne.livejournal.com]

When we had our house painted last summer, they masked the windows, and then sprayed the whole thing. It took one day. Then it took a day or two to do the trim by hand. It was pretty quick, and I don't think a paint sprayer is that hard to operate, so you could possibly rent one, and do it yourselves.

The worst part is the scraping- after the house is scraped, it looks awful. It looks like the ugliest house on the planet, and you'll be embarrassed that you live there. But when it's freshly painted, you'll feel much much better.

On the chick lit front, I just started reading Me and Mr. Darcy, by Alexandra Potter. It seems a little bit formulaic, but it's not horrible so far.

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

Here's a good article (http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/06/27/jane_austen/) on the recent spate of Austen-related knockoffs and movies and whatnot - about what attracts some people to her work. (Note: I'm one of the people who is there for the sarcasm, not the fluffy romance stories.) Two of the blogs I regularly read (one Austen, one political) linked here this week.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's buff enough for the whole outside of a house, but if you decide to go this route, we own a paint sprayer you can borrow, instead of renting...

cedar siding

[dooneling.livejournal.com]

I have some unsubstantiated hearsay and speculation to contribute.

- The owner of a house with cedar siding once told me that cedar causes paint to peel much more quickly than other types of wood, so he had his house painted every 3 years to keep it looking nice.
- The brand new owner of a bright orange house proudly told me that the former owner was a very sensible and eco-concious do-it-himselfer, and that the orange was an opaque stain which could be expected to last 20 years, thus showing itself vastly superior to paint.

Speculation: maybe the cedar and the much vaunted stain could be profitably combined.

[pseudosilence.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I don't know anything about cedar siding, but I did work with my mother painting houses one summer, and I can say that it is a tremendous amount of pretty nasty work. The actual painting isn't bad, but doing proper prep is hard work. If someone can recommend a good local painter, I'd honestly consider just having it done (although someone really good may be booked for the rest of the summer at this point). If you want to do it yourself, let me know, and I'll put you in touch with my Mom, who is an expert on the process.