“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in…”Matthew 25:35

There is no question that in order to follow my faith and generally be a decent human being, I should not turn away from people who are struggling. I’ve found that this is much easier to do, however, when I am somewhat removed from the poor.

My choice of neighborhoods often puts me into direct contact with people who are needy. This is the case with the neighborhood where we live now. It’s close to downtown, so you pretty much see everyone who is on foot or bike who is in the area.

Sometimes people come up and knock directly on the door. This can be disconcerting. Often, it is someone wanting to do yard work to earn some money. This was the case a couple of months ago. This 6’4″ barrel-chested black guy with a lazy eye wanted some work. I gave him some money to chop up some wood in the back, and later to rake the yard.

He kept coming back after I lost my writing gig, which was awkward, because I don’t have any work for him. I gave him some dinner one night, though, because when people tell me they are hungry, I feed them, rather than hand out money for whatever. He has definitely marked me as a sucker.

Yesterday, he came by and borrowed our rake. I didn’t have the heart not to lend it to him, because, you know, this guy has been seen sleeping in the park across from our house! This morning, no rake. Bleh.

I’ll be honest — I don’t like dealing with these situations. It’s always a struggle for me to set the boundaries I need while still doing what I feel is right. I wonder what other people would do when desperate people come knocking on their door?

Speaking of door, and to totally and completely change the subject, I am working on removing the weather stripping from around ours.

It is so old that the tacks (nails?) used to hold it in are no longer produced. I suspect that Greg probably thinks that I chose this project this morning because he has a hangover, so after banging on a few of the tacks with a screwdriver to loosen them, I decided to wait until later.

I was inspired by this photo that I found on Pinterest:

This is almost the spitting image of my house if I did the work I am supposed to do. On another note, I’m loving that site because it is sooo escapist! It’s a great way to get out of my head, and as far as I’m concerned, has rendered fashion and decor magazines obsolete. Seriously, just search a term like “red” or “front yard landscaping.”

My mom is doing well. She did mention that she felt really, really angry for no apparent reason. I researched all of the new meds she’s on and found out that one of them can have that side effect. There was even a case where a guy shot a random person in public when he got on it — something we’ve all probably had the impulse to do — who needs a shove in that direction, you know? So she’ll be switching to a different med. I love the Internet.

Sage really likes the carpet in his new room. I still need to address the broken windows and replace a couple of outlets. One of those will require an electrician, while the windows will certainly require a professional. Bye bye money.

Sky’s 18th birthday is tomorrow, and we celebrated yesterday. Last week, we had went to the music store, where I traded in an electric guitar and amp, threw in fifty bucks and got him a conga set. It turns out he’s pretty good at drumming.

When my folks were over yesterday, my mom gave Sky a photo album she had put together for him. She teared up when she gave it to him. There were pictures of her as a young mother and photos of my grandmother as well as photos of me when I was young. These are photos that even I don’t have. There were also quite a few of him as a young kiddo, all smiling! My parents simply adore Sky, and it really showed with that gift. I hope he realizes how much that gift meant. I think he does.

Here is the cake I made. He said he wanted cheesecake, or even better, tiramisu. Since I live in a town where marscapone cheese is impossible to find, I invented a recipe.

This turned out to be the best cake I’ve ever made, even if it isn’t the prettiest one. If you want to make it, it is very simple, and you can do it in ten minutes. Here’s what you do:

Buy a bakery angel food cake, Kahlua, a dark chocolate bar, sliced almonds and a tub of ready to eat cheesecake.

You probably already have some coffee on hand. Brew up a cup of really strong coffee, sweeten to taste, and throw in about half a cup of the Kahlua.

Slice the cake into three layers. Poke the top of the bottom two layers with a fork. Pour half the coffee mixture on each layer (or until it is about 1/4 saturated), then spread the cheesecake filling on top of that, like frosting. Layer the cake as usual, and then “frost” with the remaining cheesecake filling. Grate the chocolate on top and decorate with almonds.

This would probably be good with amaretto instead of the Kahlua, although Sky noted that it tasted like a White Russian. Of course, you could always leave out the liqueur altogether, especially since that was the most expensive part of the cake!

One thing, I could never have that cheesecake filling around in the refrigerator. It’s dangerous.

I did get a lot done, though, and there’s plenty more to do. I’ve got to finish painting Sage’s room before the people come to install the carpet. We talked about getting stencils and painting some things on the wall, but we both think these are way cooler.

it’s at Etsy

dvider

I’m partial to the jellyfish one, personally. Sage hasn’t decided yet. There are others I’d like for the living room. The thing is, these pieces of vinyl are flippin’ expensive! For example, the fish are $60.

I asked Sky what he wanted for his eighteenth birthday and he said books. I asked him to email me a list, and he did. It had about ten books on it, every single one of which had to do with LSD shit in some shape or fashion. Apparently, I have not gotten my point across about not liking that shit. Anyway, no books for Sky. I’m getting him something else that I think he’ll like better anyway.

On another note, after cleaning that dirty disgustingly filthy apartment, I’m determined to turn over a new leaf. This may involve hiring someone to come in every other week and clean, at least after school starts. We’ll see.

Sage loves bright colors, and painting it yellow didn’t take very long at all. Yesterday, I did finish the parts up by the ceiling and took down the tape. However, the worst is yet to come.

Windows. Sage’s room has six old-fashioned windows. Four of the panes are broken, so I need to have that addressed. I spent a lot of time removing those plastic things that hold up mini-blinds and scrubbing 10-20 years of filth off of the sills. I mean, that water in the bucket was black! Today, I will tape them off and start painting. I’ll have to do a coat with Kilz first, though, to control the mildew.

Then there are the doors. This house has so many doors! The kitchen alone has four. If you walk through the middle of my house it is like a labyrinth. You can take a shortcut to the bathroom by walking through my closet, which has two doors. It’s pretty cool, actually. What is ick is cleaning decades of dirt off of the doors. They also have spots of mildew, which I clean and then spray with bleach before painting. The musty smell that the house had is gone now!

There are ancient fixtures on the doors, some of which have had to be totally removed, due to missing parts. I’ve saved the ones I can, however. I’m going to have to fill in where it was with some putty and put in a new doorknob. I need to buy about six sets of doorknobs. Do you have any idea how expensive attractive doorknobs are? Jeez!

The hallway between Sage’s room and mine has this cool telephone nook, which appears to have been painted in the ’60s. I kinda like it, but it doesn’t go with the rest of the house. I don’t want to paint it white (boring) but I have to be careful with colors because I don’t want the hallway to be too dark. It’s a nice light aqua blue right now. I’m tempted to just leave it, at least for the time being. (Hey, nothing shows how times have changed like having a modem where one of those telephones with the dials used to sit!)

Now that I’ve moved (again), I’m really tempted to go ahead and get a new address label to go with my new address. Vistaprint has sent some good deals (a lot of it free plus shipping) to my inbox, and I really want some. Especially since I live on Magnolia Street. Isn’t that a great street name?

Still, what with having to go and buy a sack of doorknobs and all, I don’t even know if I want to pay shipping at this point. Maybe next month…