My very technical aspect of prepping for a Photo Shoot

Biceps is very useful.
He can open jars.
He carries heavy things.
He eats my leftovers.
He intimidates bad people.

And he stands in for me when I am prepping for a photo shoot.
Although, he gives me lots of sass while he is helping me.

Underneath this seemingly quite demeanor, an insubordinate man lives.
I had to request a little less spice in my monitor. (Spinal Tap reference.)

Even amidst his disruptive behavior, Biceps was able to help me prepare for this photo shoot which ran with my article in This Land Press.
I guess I need to add ‘Standing In’ to Bicep’s list of helpful attributes. But, I should make a notation of possible sass overload while he is doing so-just to be prepared.

Johnny (Cash) Knows What I Mean

This year has been a whirlwind of tours. We’ve crossed deserts, seen snowy mountains and experienced gorgeous sunrises. We’ve also seen some freaks, but met some nice peeps and overall-had a lovely 2010. Here are snippets of my top ten places we’ve visited from this last year.
I’ve been everywhere, man.

Number 1:
I love to play practical jokes on unsuspecting musicians. It helps them not take themselves too seriously. Plus, it makes me laugh.
Sort of a win-win.

Number 2:
Marfa, Tx is smack dab in the middle of nowhere. It’s filled with a unique art community that made us all feel right at home.

(photo courtesy of Malcolm Schuyl at http://www.wildvisions.co.uk)
Number 3:
I had a bit of a run-in with a snow goose while driving David Copperfield through the frozen tundra of Canada.

Number 4:
Visiting Sturgis, SD was quite the eye opener-complete with halter tops, leather chaps and helmets adorned with horns. Weird.

Number 5:
There are many things to love about Austin, Tx-and the  St. Cecilia Hotel tops the list.

Number 6:
Slapped in the face with a little dose of Mexican reality snapped me out of a pity party.

Number 7:
Biceps is a passionate man-especially when it comes to stage performance. So passionate, in fact, that he got scolded during a show for doing very naughty things.

Number 8:
My mother-in-law has a knack for searching out some of the coolest stores. She introduced us to a store called ‘Victory’, and it changed our lives.

Number 9:
I like to focus on the beauty found in each town we visit. But, there is a seedy underbelly that from time to time humors me.

Number 10:
There is much more Woodstock, NY than hippies. Much more.
I have enjoyed sharing our year of touring with all of you, my dear readers. I hope that you have seen some places you are inspired to visit, and perhaps some that you will avoid…
Happy 2011 to all of you!

The Denver House Remodel-Past, Present & Blown Up

Built in 1915, this beauty had been vacant for two years.
It desperately needed someone to love it. And we were those ‘someones’.
(Sorry about the quality of the photos. Many were taken with a disposable camera that we kept on the job site. Not very professional, I know. Please forgive me.)

We worked for about a year on this house and had everyone; including friends and family, on the volunteer call list. I owe them all at least a pie.
Here are a few weird things about this house:
1.There was a scary room in the basement with a shoebox full of condoms. Gross.
2.I found porn from thirty years ago tucked behind cabinets. Double Gross.
3.The man who had owned this had installed a 30 foot antenna into the driveway for his HAM radio.
4.Wallpaper covered every square inch in the house-even in the ceilings and the closets.
5.It stunk horribly.
6.Our realtor called this house ‘a turd’, just like the present house we live in.

Le Grande Living Room.
The house had HUGE windows. I loved scraping lead paint from each one of those window panes. Hours and hours of the screeching razor blade against glass and wood, cutting my fingers, inhaling musty old paint…..I wish I could do it all over again.

Refinishing the floors was the final touch on this beautiful house. We learned that this hardwood flooring style is called ‘Log Cabin’. Not bad for being 90 plus years old, huh? I don’t think I will ever buy carpet again.

A fancy staircase led you up to the second floor, with a sneaky servant’s entrance joining in on the landing. We made this huge chandelier (around four feet tall) by wiring two chandeliers together, antiquing them and adding a boatload of crystals anywhere we could.

I think this might have been my favorite rooms-it was one of the four bedrooms. I ate lots of PB & J’s up here with the hubby. It had the best views and the best sun to snuggle in.

I cried when we decided to sell this house rather than lease it. My blood, sweat and tears had been poured into it for a year and I wasn’t ready to let it go. My hubby told me we’d go to Europe with a small part of the profits if we sold the house.
I quit crying and booked two plane tickets immediately.

The Blown Up House ‘Remodel’-Past, Present & Blown Up

Meth Lab?

This was the first house my hubby purchased-before I knew him. He lived here with his band mates and a couple of other ruffians. I moved in after we were married and we lived here for three years. It was a duplex with great rental income. Then, a good friend of my husband’s stopped by.

And….blew it up. ‘How’, you might ask?

When a friend named Beau, a mattress and a gas line intertwine, what you get is a recipe for disaster. And then when the heater kicks on…KABOOM!

(Although, it looks like silk hanging from the broken window panes…they were at one time-mini blinds.) To top it off, this happened during Christmas. Both sides of our families were visiting. Nothing says ‘Merry Christmas’ like a blown-up house. Kayle’s dad laughed when he saw it. His mother cried. I cried. Then I started laughing. But had to pretend to be crying so the cops didn’t get suspicious.

The good news was that we got a great Christmas card pic out of this disaster. The house made it onto the local news and even into the paper.

We had a lot of memories from this wonderful moment in time; with family and concerned neighbors standing by our sides drinking coffee as firemen retrieved our singed possessions and portions of rock continued to fall off the side of the house, etc…. We thought of printing t-shirts with the picture above and a caption that read, “I survived Christmas with the Greiman’s in 2004.” I think it would sell. We ended up selling the remnants of the house and our lot to a developer. He’s done a pretty fine job fixing it up. One would never know that the house had blown up, unless they read this.