The Tao of Weeding

I was pulling weeds in the backyard yesterday when a phone call from a friend rescued me from the chore. I mentioned that I was finding that when I tried to pull the weeds with force or speed, they snapped off at the stem, but when I gently and slowly pulled them, I could get the whole root to slide out from deep underground. We joked about how this seemed a lesson of the Tao, an ancient Chinese philosophy or religion, which is still practiced today. Tai Chi, with its peaceful meditative motions, embodies the principles of Taoism.

Tao literally means "the way;" the way to do things, the way to think about life, and the way that energy flows in the natural world. One of the many principles of Tao is Wu Wei, which means effortless effort. My friend told me that one of the exercises of Tai Chi that exemplifies this principle is "reeling the silk," a slow, graceful motion. He suggested that my weeding could be approached in this slow, gentle way as a kind of meditation. Effortless effort. To achieve this, I would have to detach from my outcome, which is to free my entire yard and patio of these pesky weeds, and concentrate instead on each weed, pulling gently, gracefully to help it leave the ground. I'll let you know how it goes!

Standing on Solid Ground

The floors in my house are made of terrazzo. Even if you don't know the word, you have seen a terrazzo floor -- in your elementary school, at a museum, at the supermarket. The U.K. company, Marble Masters, has a wonderful description of it on their website:

Terrazzo, in various styles, has been used as a flooring product since Roman times. Today, it enjoys an enviable reputation as an attractive hard flooring that delivers an appealing combination of durability, ease of maintenance, beauty and performance.

Terrazzo is a manufactured composite of natural marble chippings and/or other durable aggregates set in a cement matrix with added colour pigment. The marble chippings can be selected from a wide range of colours and sizes and set in practically any colour of cement matrix to create an unlimited range of shades and effects. The terrazzo aggregate colour and composition is exposed by grinding and polishing the surface after the matrix has set.

The thing is, while my terrazzo floor are the same white/grey mixture you see in the picture, they don't have nearly the shine. They've been covered for years with carpet and tile. I believe they can be beautiful and shiny again. And I am in search of a craftsman to grind and polish them back into their former glory. Stay tuned...

You've seen my Harvest Gold countertops, right? A company named Giani says that they can turn them into granite! You heard me! For $50 a kit! I don't know if I believe it, but I definitely will try it... on that piece in the garage! I will let you know how it turns out, of course. Check out the pictures from their website.

If I can turn my countertops into anything resembling this, I'm all for it. And if after turning them into faux granite, they can withstand the rigors of cooking and cleaning, I'll become a spokeswoman. Just look at those photos! They have the "wow" factor I've been searching for. This, combined with melamine paint for the cabinets might be all the kitchen remodeling I need.

And the Color of the Year goes to...

This is Pantone's color of 2011. I wish I had the creativity needed to include it in my home color scheme. Heck I wish I knew how to include it in my wardrobe. It is a bold color. Here's what Pantone says about it:

A Color for All Seasons
Courageous. Confident. Vital. A brave new color, for a brave new world. Let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you and carry you through the year. It’s a color for every day – with nothing “everyday” about it.

Guess I'm not courageous enough...

It's called Harvest Gold

This isn't my kitchen, it just looks like it. That lovely yellow color is called harvest gold, and it was all the rage in the 60s, which explains why all of my countertops and the kitchen bar is this color. My cabinets are that same shade of brown as in the photo, too. Thankfully, the appliances are more modern. They are in an off-white color called bisque.

This confirms my suspicions that the cabinets are 50 years old.





Here are some pictures of my kitchen before I moved in:





Notice how the vinyl flooring on the footrest of the bar matches the vinyl flooring in the picture above? Definitely a 60s kitchen. It's held up well, but I think it's time for a change, don't you?

So much to do...

I moved into a handyman special a little over a year ago. What was I thinking? Well, the slump in the housing market made it a great time to buy, and I was looking. This house has a nice history as the gem of the neighborhood and "great bones." It has sturdy CBS construction and a cement barrel tile roof. The fact that it has withstood 50 years of hurricanes in South Florida makes me feel safe and secure, come what may.

However... because home sales were down, this house sat empty for at least a year, while windows were broken, the lawn was neglected, and the utilities were shut off. The bank was about to foreclose on the property and at some point, painted all the walls beige and removed all the carpeting, leaving behind a terrazzo floor full of nails sticking out around the baseboards.

It's taken me a year (a lot longer than it should have) to remove nails, fill holes, smooth walls, repair doors, and create a list of projects that need to be done in order to return this house to its former glory.

And so we begin.