Sunday 6+1 (6 Things I Love + 1 Thing I Don’t) – 2.11.17

Since I missed my usual Friday deadline, I’m throwing in an extra thing that I like for the week. I wrapped up a kitchen this week and am excited to share it once all of the other finishes are complete – floors, counters, backsplash, the whole nine yards.  And it’s not a white kitchen, which makes it even more fun since I like to change things up every now and then. 🙂

Sanding Gloves

I spotted these sanding gloves and thought they were a stroke of genius!  Sometimes you just can’t sand every little nook and cranny on furniture items that you may be working on.  Specifically, I’m thinking about chairs – with their legs and spindle backs.  Or even stair spindles.  These sanding gloves will allow you to sand them lickety split!

Sanding Glove

40 Autumns

I listened to 40 Autumns on the recommendation of my parents, as well as one of my cousins.  It’s a book about families that were separated by the Berlin Wall during the Cold War.  I found it particularly interesting because when I was a kid (I think I was going into 7th grade), we went to Europe to visit my cousins – my uncle was stationed in Germany at the time.  During that trip, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and we traveled through Checkpoint Charlie, and into East Germany.  Even though I was young, I still remember the night and day difference it was in East Germany vs. West Germany.  I’ve told my kids, it’s like in The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy goes from the black and white world of Kansas, into the world of color in Oz.  That’s exactly how it felt.

40 Autumns

This book details the story of a family who lived through this experience – some were stuck in the East, living under communism and how that government control impacted their lives, over the years.  And then there is the story of one of them managed to escape and get to the West.  It really makes you stop and think about our freedoms here in the US, and how easy it is to take them for granted.  It’s impossible to even comprehend being held prisoner in your own country.  And yet, it also makes me think about the people of North Korea, and how this is how they’re living their lives.  Complete government control, indoctrination, and harsh consequences for those (and their families) who don’t follow the rules.

40 Autumns is a great read, and again, it definitely makes you think and feel grateful to live in this country, even if there is a lot of division at the moment.  We are all permitted to speak freely, come and go, and pursue our dreams.

Oreck Orbiter Floor Machine

I think mentioned awhile back that I bought the Oreck Orbiter, but I hadn’t used it until now.  I’m going to devote an entire post to this machine, but I have to tell you that my mind is BLOWN.  

Oreck Orbiter Floor Machine

It’s magical.  It’s grossly gratifying seeing all of the gunk and grime that came out of my floor, let me tell you.  I mean, just look.  (And yes, after I started I did tape off the cabinets).

Oreck Orbiter Floor Machine

I’m a bit mortified to show you all of the gunk that I mopped up with my towels.  Don’t judge me.  I have super-porous travertine tile in my house – in a large portion of my house no less.  You can see all of the nooks and crannies where dirt just loves to settle in and make itself at home.  It’s not what I would have chosen, but it’s what I have, so I have to make the best of it.  The Oreck Floor Orbiter gives me hope, and if you have dirty grout, it should give you hope too!

Oreck Orbiter Cleaning Tile Floors

Battery Powered Heated Jackets

When I was watching some of the coverage of the Olympics, they were talking about how cold it was in South Korea, and how the athletes had heated jackets.  Mind blown.  But at the same time, I’m thinking, duh, of course they have heated jackets.  They’re Olympians for crying out loud.  Then I thought, I wonder if I could find a heated jacket?  And of course, Amazon has them.  So there you go, you don’t have to be an Olympic athlete to have a heated jacket.Battery Powered Heated Jacket

My New Graco Airless Paint Sprayer 

Don’t get me wrong, I still love my Titan Capspray HVLP paint sprayer, and will continue to use it regularly.  The Graco airless will give me a little more power, and in speaking to my friend Kayla who has one, she said the power it gives seems to help push the shellac primer into the oak grain on cabinets a little bit more.  So I’m super excited to try it (even though I’m a bit intimidated by it at the moment, to be honest).  I’ll be sure to share my experience with it once I put it to work.

Graco Airless Paint Sprayer

Calling Me Home

Calling Me Home is another book that I finished recently, and was sad to see it end.  Here is the Amazon summary of the story, since I’m having a hard time articulating it well for some reason.

In Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler, eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister has a favor to ask her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis. It’s a big one. Isabelle wants Dorrie, a black single mom in her thirties, to drop everything to drive Isabelle from her home in Arlington, Texas, to a funeral in Cincinnati. With no clear explanation why. Tomorrow.

Curious whether she can unlock the secrets of Isabelle’s guarded past, she agrees, not knowing it will be a journey that changes both their lives.

Over the years, Dorrie and Isabelle have developed more than just a business relationship. They are friends. But Dorrie, fretting over the new man in her life and her teenage son’s irresponsible choices, still wonders why Isabelle chose her.

Isabelle confesses that, as a willful teen in 1930s Kentucky, she fell deeply in love with Robert Prewitt, a would-be doctor and the black son of her family’s housekeeper―in a town where blacks weren’t allowed after dark. The tale of their forbidden relationship and its tragic consequences makes it clear Dorrie and Isabelle are headed for a gathering of the utmost importance and that the history of Isabelle’s first and greatest love just might help Dorrie find her own way.

Calling Me Home

I really loved it, and the story keeps you guessing as you read/listen.  It’s another one of those books that makes you appreciate how things have changed over the years, while also wondering how things were the way they were at that point in our history.

My +1 this week – Olympic Spoilers

In a world where we have social media and instant news, it seems like it’s almost impossible to keep my head buried in the sand to avoid hearing who won an event that I haven’t even been able to watch yet.  I’m one of those weirdos who likes to be surprised.  I don’t like to know the gifts that I’m getting for Christmas, I don’t read the last chapter of a book to find out how it ends.  I don’t want to know who wins Olympic events before I get to watch them.  So, I’ve turned off notifications on my phone, and I’m going to have to stay off of social media altogether if there is any chance of staying in the dark.

Any other tips on staying ignorant on these things in our instant-gratification world?  Hide under the covers in my room?  I can do that. 😉

Jenny

 

6 Comments

  • Reply
    Lauren@SimplyLKJ
    February 11, 2018 at 10:21 am

    The books sound great. I’ll have to look for those. And I just might NEED that Oreck orbiter. We have the same type of tile in our bathrooms and I can never get them fully clean!

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 11, 2018 at 3:50 pm

      The Oreck is AMAZING!! I am excited to try it on my hardwoods and carpets now that I’ve seen what it can do for my tile!!

  • Reply
    Calypso in the Country
    February 11, 2018 at 10:43 am

    I like to be surprised too! It’s not as much fun to watch when you know the outcome! I am definitely going to get that book. After you mentioned it on my IG comment, I read the recap on Amazon. Not only does the story sound very intriguing but everyone seemed to love it as much as you did! Always looking for a great book! Enjoy your week, Jenny!
    Shelley

  • Reply
    Francine Valderrama
    February 11, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    Have you read (or listened to) In Order to Live:A North Korean Girl’s Journey to Freedom by Yeon Mi Park? It’s hard to think of the suffering of the North Korean people, especially in this day and age. I visited Seoul, South Korea a few years ago when my daughter lived there and couldn’t help but wonder about the stark (to say the least) contrast of what was not more than 35 miles away. After reading this, I found out how truly horrifying it is.

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 11, 2018 at 8:35 pm

      I haven’t read it Francine – I will add it to my list. My sister-in-law is from South Korea, and I’ve always been interested in that aspect of things. It’s really hard to imagine, and I suspect that North Korea is probably far worse than East Germany was. Thanks for the recommendation.

  • Reply
    Ivory
    February 11, 2018 at 9:17 pm

    Wow, what a great post. I love these things, especially the heated coat, as well as the book,calling me home. Can’t wait to start reading it. Thank you. As for, being kept in the dark about anything, until you see or read it for yourself, I am just the opposite. I love being told how something ended, then see or read it. Just as great for me.

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