The Price Of Beauty - S01E07
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bitter Truth - Live
I promised a while back that I'd let you see me vlog a new song I wrote. In all honesty, I never practiced much, but here it is: (Also, I apologize for the sound quality, but hopefully, you'll get the picture.)
If you don't see all of me (full screen) here, feel free to click on the YouTube video link.
Here are the lyrics:
BITTER TRUTH
When I first saw you, I knew it was true
My heart would always be calling for you
"Sleep with me, darling, I'll always be true...
All our tomorrows, we'll see through"
We were happy, blissful, and free
Our souls were blended just you and me
But then a mystery called in the night
A blackness followed and took flight
I once upon hurt you so badly, it's true
Hard to imagine what I put you through
I never thought that the plans that we drew
Would lead to something... bitter truth, bitter truth
And time keeps flowing, thoughts ever new
Moving us forward wounded and bruised
But time heals over the pain that we knew
Leaving an open view
Once upon darkness came in the night
It tried to harm us, make us take flight
Yesterday's calling, tainted and wise
Reminding us always... love never dies
Reminds us always of bitter truths
Debra L. Schubert aka Jamie C. Keys
3.18.10
For those of you who know what's been going on in my life lately, I imagine you'll "get it." For the rest of you, I hope you'll love it for your own reasons and relate the song to your own personal stories.
If you don't see all of me (full screen) here, feel free to click on the YouTube video link.
Here are the lyrics:
BITTER TRUTH
When I first saw you, I knew it was true
My heart would always be calling for you
"Sleep with me, darling, I'll always be true...
All our tomorrows, we'll see through"
We were happy, blissful, and free
Our souls were blended just you and me
But then a mystery called in the night
A blackness followed and took flight
I once upon hurt you so badly, it's true
Hard to imagine what I put you through
I never thought that the plans that we drew
Would lead to something... bitter truth, bitter truth
And time keeps flowing, thoughts ever new
Moving us forward wounded and bruised
But time heals over the pain that we knew
Leaving an open view
Once upon darkness came in the night
It tried to harm us, make us take flight
Yesterday's calling, tainted and wise
Reminding us always... love never dies
Reminds us always of bitter truths
Debra L. Schubert aka Jamie C. Keys
3.18.10
For those of you who know what's been going on in my life lately, I imagine you'll "get it." For the rest of you, I hope you'll love it for your own reasons and relate the song to your own personal stories.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
I am a hostage in my own home
The house renovations are in FULL swing. And by renovations, I mean ripping everything out, disrupting my life, never listening to the person who actually lives in this house and making things far worse before they can get near better. And they call that "renovations".
This is forcing heat under the house and up inside the walls to dry out the studs and drywall. The drywall is "not so dry". It will be ripped out later.
On Friday at the end of the day, the electrician that came to install the "spider box" for extra power to warm and dehumidify the water damaged back bedroom. Lyle pointed out exactly which fuses were empty and available, so the electrician used one NOT pointed out and disconnected the garage, fish pond and dishwasher. For the entire weekend. He came back on Monday and fixed that.
A spider box in my house! This is in the bathroom.
The flooring tiles are all gone. So is the toilet.
These floor sucking dryers were taken away on Sunday (I think). The heater/dehumidifier has remained.
The large 2'x3' plastic mats are water suckers.
The big aluminum box is the dehumidifier.
The roofing people came on Saturday (four hours later than they said) tore off all the tar and paper and said instead of being three days to complete the job, they'd be back on Sunday and it would be finished. Of course that meant they didn't come back until Tuesday. And probably only because it was supposed to rain THAT NIGHT (It did but only a little).
The electrician came back on Monday and reconnected the fuse that works the dishwasher and garage and pond pump. On Tuesday, the roofers unplugged the pond pump to plug in their equipment.
While fixing the roof, they managed to shatter the skylight in the hallway.
Skylight on the ground.
Shouldn't that be up in the sky?
Glass went EVERYWHERE. Up and down the hallway more than 6 feet in each direction, and to the sides, into the office where the dogs and I were sitting and into the guest room where we are living during all the renovations. I did not ask them to come in and clean this up. I didn't want anyone dumb enough to break a skylight inside my house to clean it, so I cleaned all that up. The wooden box the glass hit hardest will need to be refinished. I shudder to think what would have happened to me or a dog if we'd been in the hallway.
They had to put a board over the broken skylight overnight. It was so dark in my hallway this morning! I can't believe they did not take out the glass remnants until today. Lyle placed carpets under the danger zone and no one was allowed to polka in the hallway over night. They are back today to fix all that.
Today's interior destruction: we have the workers tearing out the hardwood floor of the bedroom and closet.
Now, instead of working I am keeping the dogs calm and working on a massive headache each day, while the hammers pound all over the roof at the back of the house. The joyful sound of sawing and nail pulling ripping out the floor boards in the room next to me. I can't go into the hallway for fear of falling glass remnants. I worry that pictures may fall off the walls. I’m not sleeping well because there is a constant humming of dryers that can be heard (and felt) throughout the house. When I do start to fall asleep, in the back of my mind I wonder, who is paying this electricity bill?
I just want to shout, “I’M A RENTER! I AM NOT IN CHARGE OF THIS!!!” but then, we’d probably still not have a roof over the back of the house.
I am keeping my eyes on the prize: no more fountains of Versailles.
This is forcing heat under the house and up inside the walls to dry out the studs and drywall. The drywall is "not so dry". It will be ripped out later.On Friday at the end of the day, the electrician that came to install the "spider box" for extra power to warm and dehumidify the water damaged back bedroom. Lyle pointed out exactly which fuses were empty and available, so the electrician used one NOT pointed out and disconnected the garage, fish pond and dishwasher. For the entire weekend. He came back on Monday and fixed that.
A spider box in my house! This is in the bathroom.The flooring tiles are all gone. So is the toilet.
These floor sucking dryers were taken away on Sunday (I think). The heater/dehumidifier has remained.
The large 2'x3' plastic mats are water suckers. The big aluminum box is the dehumidifier.
The roofing people came on Saturday (four hours later than they said) tore off all the tar and paper and said instead of being three days to complete the job, they'd be back on Sunday and it would be finished. Of course that meant they didn't come back until Tuesday. And probably only because it was supposed to rain THAT NIGHT (It did but only a little).The electrician came back on Monday and reconnected the fuse that works the dishwasher and garage and pond pump. On Tuesday, the roofers unplugged the pond pump to plug in their equipment.
While fixing the roof, they managed to shatter the skylight in the hallway.
Skylight on the ground. Shouldn't that be up in the sky?
Glass went EVERYWHERE. Up and down the hallway more than 6 feet in each direction, and to the sides, into the office where the dogs and I were sitting and into the guest room where we are living during all the renovations. I did not ask them to come in and clean this up. I didn't want anyone dumb enough to break a skylight inside my house to clean it, so I cleaned all that up. The wooden box the glass hit hardest will need to be refinished. I shudder to think what would have happened to me or a dog if we'd been in the hallway.
They had to put a board over the broken skylight overnight. It was so dark in my hallway this morning! I can't believe they did not take out the glass remnants until today. Lyle placed carpets under the danger zone and no one was allowed to polka in the hallway over night. They are back today to fix all that.
Today's interior destruction: we have the workers tearing out the hardwood floor of the bedroom and closet.
Now, instead of working I am keeping the dogs calm and working on a massive headache each day, while the hammers pound all over the roof at the back of the house. The joyful sound of sawing and nail pulling ripping out the floor boards in the room next to me. I can't go into the hallway for fear of falling glass remnants. I worry that pictures may fall off the walls. I’m not sleeping well because there is a constant humming of dryers that can be heard (and felt) throughout the house. When I do start to fall asleep, in the back of my mind I wonder, who is paying this electricity bill?
I just want to shout, “I’M A RENTER! I AM NOT IN CHARGE OF THIS!!!” but then, we’d probably still not have a roof over the back of the house.
I am keeping my eyes on the prize: no more fountains of Versailles.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
SUBLIMINAL MONDAY: SCHMOOZING WITH THE STARS
Thursday night I went to the Rock Bottom Remainder show at the Electric Factory in Philly. First, let me say, I was mildly devastated that my only idol besides Stevie Nicks, the effervescently brilliant, Stephen King, was not there. According to Mitch Albom's wife, he's not been touring much since his terrible accident a few years ago. That said, it was a fun evening. [When life hands you Stephen King-less lemons, you make Amy Tan lemonade.]Here I am in t
he car on the way to the show. Can you tell how nervous I was? No? Okay, well never mind. [I was a nervous wreck. At that point, I still thought Stephen King was in my immediate future.]My sister, Sharon, who had flown in from Denver at the last minute to help me through a very difficult time [can you say, "understatement?"], along with my awesome son, Adam, joined me in this adventure. Adam's a punk-rock drummer sporting a brand new killer tattoo, so he fit in perfectly with all the geeky writers in attendance.
The pre-party included an open bar, passed hors d'oeuvres [don't ask me how long it took to google the correct spelling on that], as well as a nice spread of food including chips, salsa, guacamole, and an assortment of chocolate goodness. To give you an idea of how crappy my week's been, I didn't eat any chocolate. Not one bite. Crazy, right? I did, however, have my first cocktail in nearly a year. I sipped it slowly over three hours, so no buzz occurred, but it was more of a declaration of independence than an attempt at getting drunk.
I'd hoped to meet
Jen Weiner, but she arrived a bit late and went straight up on stage. (Sorry this picture of her is so dark - my camera takes horrible far-away-in-the-dark pictures.) She rocked it big time, and has a terrific sense of humor. Also on stage were Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry, Roy Blount, Jr, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, and Amy Tan. They are a funny, talented, group of writers masquerading as musicians. Actually, a few are pretty damn good musicians, like Mitch Albom, for example, who in his early years played in numerous bands and attended the Berklee College of Music.
There best songs were the few originals they threw in. One was called, "I'm In Love with a Proofreader" she's got a big dictionary, real good grammar, and never says between you and I and a song where the chorus was, all you reviewers can kiss my ass!
Amy Tan and Scott Turow get the award for most outrageous. Amy came out in a big, blonde, Debbie Harry wig and performed "One Way or Another" (you can see her in the pic above on the left). She also did a hysterical dominatrix version
of "These Boots are Made for Walking." Scott Turow did a few songs in a clown wig and Cubs baseball shirt that hung past his knees (next to Amy in above pic). The guy is certifiably hilarious. Mitch Al
bom did an Elvis impersonation good enough to score him a job in a chapel in Vegas.Here are a few pics of me and Amy Tan (above) and me and Mitch Albom and his lovely wife, Janine, who also has a terrific voice.
Speaking of Stevie Nicks, when I met Mitch we kind of got into a friendly tiff over the talent of the lovely Ms. Nicks. I said (and Mitch's astute wife agreed) that no musician is more talented. He disagreed but, in the interest of not being pummeled by two devout Stevie fans, let the subject go. I turned to my sister and said, "I can't believe I'm arguing with Mitch Albom about Stevie Nicks." [Life is full of unexpected strangeness these days.]
I told AA that, besides
selling my book for enough money for me to cohabitate with Rick Branson on his private island, I also want to be a part of this band in a couple of years. When I told Mitch's wife I was a singer/songwriter for over 30 years, she told me I couldn't be in the band because, "only people who suck" can join. I told her I'd work on that.All in all, given the week from hell I've had, it was a great night. And the best part was that the proceeds went to the Philadelphia Free Library. Music and writing together; it doesn't get any better than that.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Cathy Barriga
Cathy Barriga - Au!
HQ/VBR
1. Me Voy A Bailar (2:44)
2. Pensando En Ti (3:23)
3. Amor Amor (3:10)
4. Fuiste (3:03)
5. Como Te Quiero (3:06)
6. Paisaje (3:08)
7. Angel (3:46)
8. Esperandote (4:20)
9. Dicen (3:09)
Friday, April 23, 2010
Never a dull moment
I am very angry with whoever started the rumor that my life was boring or dull and that I needed constant excitement.
Our roof has been leaking. Lyle thought he could fix it by going up on the roof and applying tar. It helped, but didn't hold. A few storms back, the ceiling in the bedroom became the fountains at Versailles and we placed large Tupperware containers all over the floor to collect the deluge.
The water was tricky and moved about eventually finding even a closet location to drop water in, and I mean inside the actual closet, not just a secret place. Although to be fair, weeks later, I did discover a secret place that was leaking (ironically also inside the closet) and because we weren't aware of it, we found some slight mold.
The landlord was notified and within days we had the insurance adjuster in to see what kind of damage there was. That was Monday. On Wednesday the "water damage" specialists were here. Today is Friday. We have officially moved to the guest room.
They are sealing off the master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet and the hallway that leads to all things masterful. Tomorrow they will tear open all the walls of the master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet and hallway leading to all things masterful to begin the drying process. That will take approximately 5 days.
After the inside of the walls are dry, they will sand the floor for water damage and take out all the bathroom tile (which cracked due to water damage). Then those items will be repaired, then the walls will be put back in place.
The actual roof that leaks will be replaced this weekend from the outside. Why fix all that inside if the roof still leaked, right?
So the upshot is, the closet is emptied. All our folded clothes are stuffed into the bookshelves in the guestroom. All Lyle's hanging clothes are hanging in the laundry area and all of my hanging clothes are on a rolling rack in the dining room.
Furniture has been shifted from room to room, every secret crack and crevice in the rest of the house is now hiding stashes of artwork, bedding and anything else that once lived in the master bedroom or guest room. In short, DON'T OPEN THAT CLOSET!
And this is how we will be living for.... A MONTH.
All I keep repeating to the workers is this: "Memorize this closet. Put this closet back the way you found it."
Our roof has been leaking. Lyle thought he could fix it by going up on the roof and applying tar. It helped, but didn't hold. A few storms back, the ceiling in the bedroom became the fountains at Versailles and we placed large Tupperware containers all over the floor to collect the deluge.
The water was tricky and moved about eventually finding even a closet location to drop water in, and I mean inside the actual closet, not just a secret place. Although to be fair, weeks later, I did discover a secret place that was leaking (ironically also inside the closet) and because we weren't aware of it, we found some slight mold.
The landlord was notified and within days we had the insurance adjuster in to see what kind of damage there was. That was Monday. On Wednesday the "water damage" specialists were here. Today is Friday. We have officially moved to the guest room.
They are sealing off the master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet and the hallway that leads to all things masterful. Tomorrow they will tear open all the walls of the master bedroom, master bathroom, master closet and hallway leading to all things masterful to begin the drying process. That will take approximately 5 days.
After the inside of the walls are dry, they will sand the floor for water damage and take out all the bathroom tile (which cracked due to water damage). Then those items will be repaired, then the walls will be put back in place.
The actual roof that leaks will be replaced this weekend from the outside. Why fix all that inside if the roof still leaked, right?
So the upshot is, the closet is emptied. All our folded clothes are stuffed into the bookshelves in the guestroom. All Lyle's hanging clothes are hanging in the laundry area and all of my hanging clothes are on a rolling rack in the dining room.
Furniture has been shifted from room to room, every secret crack and crevice in the rest of the house is now hiding stashes of artwork, bedding and anything else that once lived in the master bedroom or guest room. In short, DON'T OPEN THAT CLOSET!
And this is how we will be living for.... A MONTH.
All I keep repeating to the workers is this: "Memorize this closet. Put this closet back the way you found it."
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
I am in excellent company
About five years ago, Lyle and I discovered Fran's Sea Salt Caramels at Christmastime at Sur La Table in Los Angeles. Blissfully for my waistline, they were only available during the holiday frenzy. TO be completely honest, we bought two boxes, ate them, and went back for more before Christmas had even arrived. Believe me when I say, I was glad I couldn't get them more often.
The next year, we went back for more holiday deliciousness and we were horrified to find out they were not carrying them that year. But in a evil twist of genius, they told me where to find them... Seattle.
Fran's Chocolates is located in Seattle. There is a location in University Village that is quite accessible when I am in Seattle visiting family and friends. On my next visit North, I went in and was delighted to find my holy grail of chocolates, and so much more!
Lately, I seem to be flying over Seattle to get to my parents in Bellingham. At first I considered stopping in Seattle, renting a car and driving the hour and half to Bellingham so I would be able to stop at Fran's and get my fix. Schedules and timing and exiting off the freeway just to get chocolates wouldn't always permit this plan and seriously, I hate that drive due to worse traffic than we have in Los Angeles.
I will now reveal all that is perfect in the world. There is a shop in the SeaTac airport called Made In Washington and they carry both grey salt and smoked salt caramels. I pick up one box of each kind and bring them home.
Now i am thrilled to let you in on another tidbit about my favorite chocolate, someone else is a fan.
Fran's Smoked Salt Caramels are President Obama's Favorite CandyGreat. Now they're going to be harder to come by!
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