Dear Laura Walker and the rest of WNYC

I will not be contributing any more money to your generally worthy cause until The Takeaway is taken away. The Takeaway is painfully awful to the point of being downright insulting to any intelligent human who strives to be informed and up on the news of the day (i.e. the typical public radio listener and supporter). John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji may be fine people (in fact, I've enjoyed John's work in the past), but they are terrible hosts and abysmal interviewers. Their inane banter in the morning serves no purpose other than to get me out of bed sooner. I used to enjoy my slow starts... easing into the morning with the radio on for 15-20 minutes, the news of the day seeping into my brain by osmosis. But now, as soon as the radio-alarm goes off, I hit the OFF button and jump out of bed so that I don't risk hearing even a minute of the drivel that is The Takeaway. Sometimes I forget to switch from 820 AM to 93.9 FM on the shower radio and the same show I shot out of bed to avoid just an hour earlier is back, torturing me with its annoying sound effects and pointless chatter.

The entire show is confusing and unfocused, It's an aural assault of sound-effects and nonsensical noise. If I wanted this kind of radio in the morning, I'd already be listening to the Morning Zoo or some other commercial garbage. I listen to WNYC - and contribute not-insignificant amounts of money to WNYC - to avoid the trash that's elsewhere on the dial. WNYC, to me, is about Morning Edition, Brian Lehrer, To The Point (which you foolishly displaced), On the Media, All Things Considered, Leonard Lopate, and the rest of the best. The Takeaway is the antithesis of everything WNYC, and public radio in general, stands for!

The last time I was this furious with WNYC's programming was back when The Satellite Sisters ruined my weekends. As much as I hated them, I'd gladly take them back if you would please take away The Takeaway.

Behold, the freshly painted bathroom

A local celebrity is painting my bathroom

Hey Look! Our painter, Scott Moran, is on TV! He's the guy wearing glasses. He helped rescue this woman from a moldy bathroom. Our bathroom was much easier (and a much better color)

Brooklyn bathroom mini-reno almost complete

A few weeks ago our shower became a lethal weapon and took a shot at me. Fortunately I don't move too fast in the morning, so the bullet, in the form of a diverter valve button, missed me by a few inches as I was stepping into the shower.

And so began a chain of events that is finally drawing to a close. What started as a simple (albeit expensive) shower body replacement turned into a mini renovation. Once you open one wall, you must patch the huge hole in that wall and replace the corresponding tile on that wall. Once you replace tile on one wall, it doesn't match the other walls, so you have to re-tile the other walls. But you can't just re-tile when the walls are in bad shape from water damage stemming from a bunch of tiny cracks in the grout lines that have been letting water seep through between the tiles and the walls for 10 years, so you have to strip the walls down to the bare studs and put up new shower walls before you can install new tile. Now if you're going to rip down all that old wall tile, you might as well rip out and replace the baseboard tile so that it matches the new walls. Don't forget about new rugs and a new shower curtain to round things out!

Once you've gotten the shower and baseboard all shiny and new you realize that the bathroom sink hardware looks ratty and dated next to the shiny, new shower hardware so you buy the matching hardware for the sink and call the plumber back to replace that too. But then you realize that the new sink handles are much taller than the old ones... in fact, so high that they interfere with your use of the electrical outlet that sits just above and next to the sink so you have to call an electrician move that outlet. Moving the outlet, of course, leaves a gaping hole in the wall, but since you already have several other gaping holes in all the walls from where you impulsively ripped out the soap dish, toothbrush holder, toilet paper holder and towel rack, which looked hideous next to all the new tile and new hardware, it's no big deal. So you call in a handyman to patch it all up.

Once the handyman is done, you figure you might as well paint all the un-tiled walls, but what color? Gray. Gray would look nice since the floor tile is gray (oh yeah, we re-grouted the floors tile when the wall tile went up) and two accent rows of the wall tile are gray. What shade of gray? There are so many shades of gray! Off to Janovic I go to load up on Benjamin Moore sample jars, in my quest to find the perfect gray. 12 sample jars later the walls look like Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollack collaborated on an art installation for our bathroom. The good news is, Benjamin Moore's Sidewalk Gray is the perfect gray for the bathroom. Ugh... but who is going to paint? Not me. I picked the color. Let someone else to the dirty work. Scott Moran comes to our rescue tomorrow morning at 9am sharp to put the final touches on our "new" bathroom. Sidewalk Gray, here we come!

And now I'm pretty satisfied with myself, having gotten most of the benefits of a full bathroom renovation, without the headache of doing an actual full-on renovation. Then again... the old medicine cabinet, with it's 3-panel mirrored doors and dressing-room vanity style lighting is really starting to bother me...

...to be continued?

Dylan is learning to walk

Dylan Joshua, 8 months old...


Dylan on the move from Lisa on Vimeo.

So long, Bouncy Castle, we hardly knew ya

Last Christmas we bought my niece and nephews an Inflatable Bouncy Castle to enjoy in the comfort and safety of their own back yard.

It was instantly a huge hit. Jacksonville, FL weather is moderate year-round (although very hot in the summer), so it seemed like a good investment at less than $200 - one that they'd get plenty of use out of before it broke. Well today I was informed that it was broken. Apparently a very large hole developed near the seam and it has been deemed unrepairable.

My sister emailed me to break the bad news, but she was terrified to do so as she thought I'd be furious. I harp on her and her boyfriend about appreciating the value of things and about taking care of things that have value - not just monetary value, but sentimental value as well. Unfortunately, my sister still struggles with this concept so anything I contribute to her house, be it kids toys or anything else, is destined to be destroyed before it should be.

Here's the thing... I'm not mad that the castle got damaged. It happens. Between kids and dogs and bad weather and carelessness due to chaos, these things happen. I don't feel like that $200 was wasted as I know the kids got some enjoyment from it in the 7 months they've had it and that's worth more than anything I can attach a dollar amount to.

See for yourself!


Stef & Toby breaking in the Bouncy Castle from auntlaur on Vimeo.

I want, more than anything in the world, for my sister and niece and nephews to be happy. Those kids don't have the best day-to-day life, but they are great kids and I love them with all my heart and do whatever I can to bring smiles to their faces whenever possible. It's hard to justify spending anything more than nominal amounts on things that make them smile, though, when I know in my heart those things won't last long.

I can't blame the kids because, well, they're kids! Stefanie is a few months shy of 7, Toby turns 2 next month and Dylan is only 8 months old! I hate to blame my sister because I know she means well and she has a pretty tough life herself... she's a single mom who works full time for not enough money, while raising 3 kids and trying to complete her bachelors degree via her college's online program. I can understand why house keeping, bouncy castle protecting and yard tending take a lower priority than getting through the day in with everyone in one piece. Her boyfriend (father of Toby & Dylan) contributes to the household financially, although his income isn't great either, and although there are many things I dislike about him, and we've had a very rocky relationship in the past due to reasons I won't go into here, I will give him credit for working hard now to keep things from falling apart. If he keeps up the hard work and continues to bust his ass to help support his family, I'll continue to cut him some slack.

Meanwhile, the Bouncy Castle is off to landfill and I will just have to think of something fun and perhaps non-inflatable to replace it with. Stay tuned!

They grow up so fast

Toby learning to drive...


Toby and the camaro from Lisa on Vimeo.

The Karate Kid

Stefanie shows off her Karate moves in the garage before bedtime. C'mon, kiddo... put some feeling into it!


Stefanie doing karate from Lisa on Vimeo.