Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Saturday Morning Monk Straps

I’ve tried to write a thoughtful story or two over the last three weeks but I just don’t have the bandwidth to do it. LFG, my work, my mom, my Old Town property rehab and my Bethesda move have me just snowed under like I’ve not been in a decade. I remain mindful though, that the stress and the overload are mostly due to good things.

Here’s an example of an honorable effort from three damn Saturdays ago. I never got back to it but I figured that I’ll now just toss the scrap of it out here for y’all to stare at…

Saturday Morning Monk Straps…and other assorted things.
Last year's half-price Oundles
LFG remains asleep in a rather contradictory way so I’ve got a moment to post some randomness. I’ll explain the contradictory sleeping thing later but for now let’s talk monk straps  After all, this blog thing used to be about shoes and stuff. The half-price Alfred Sargent monks from Leffot were, just like my Edward Green suede Oundles from last year’s sale, simply too good to pass up.
Color? Not exactly what I would have selected at full price but with a little bit of ADG fuzzy work, I had ‘em just right in no time. And methinks it’s good that for one rare instance, I didn’t buy another pair of suede shoes.
I’ve never owned a pair of A.S. shoddings but I’m inclined to think that they are gonna be a great value for the half-price pick up. Ok…on to LFG’s contradictory sleep…
Contradictory in that her adolescence is manifesting that transitional twain from little girl to young lady. So her bantam body is amidst a metabolic agenda that has her sleeping till almost noon some days. Surely this isn't news to any of you who’ve raised teenagers but all of this is a new thing for me to watch—to shepherd. So where’s the contradiction? Remnants of her little girl innocence remain, thank goodness. Evidence of this is that she remains asleep at this late morning hour…but in my bed…having asked sometime in the night if she could come in. My not so little, little girl…the one who with respect and kindness only grunts at me these days…needed the comfort of her daddy.
I’m transitioning to Bethesda with the realization that my gal may still only offer me the monosyllabic whatever amidst a predictable eye-rolling eighth grader grunt. Proxemics doesn’t mitigate such things. But I’ll only have to drive five minutes to harvest my paucities.
Onward. Repairing drywall and other stuff.


ADG II 

12 comments:

Main Line Sportsman said...

I'll come down and go out drinking with you again and you can sleep 'til noon.
And why do they call 'em Monk Straps...who are these monks...were they secretly S&M guys....tell us ADG??

Anonymous said...

You seem to actually enjoy your daughter even though in the coming years it might sometimes be difficult but I can tell you from experience it's worth it.

Kathy said...

In my experience, face-to-face makes all the difference. I live with my 16-year old every day and he's monosyllabic on the phone. With me, anyway, but in the kitchen, at the dinner table, in the car, it's all good. I still think my bright-eyed boy and LFG would make a cute couple someday.

Mink80 said...

REALLY liking how the Old Line State pad is shaping up......

James said...

A snuggle with your princess, you are a lucky man.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful new house you've found, beautiful Miss LFG, beautiful new color job on beautiful new shoes, beautiful view from the street right straight into your beautiful living room which, despite encroaching beautiful lady neighbor, is a beautiful reason nevertheless to draw those curtains shut at dusk, wishing you a beautiful new life in Bethesda, Max.

-Flo

Young Fogey said...

I'm glad you're not dead. The open weave linen pantaloons are like walking around nekkid. Got complimented on one of the shirts today. How wonderful that your little girl still needs you. You didn't splatter paint all over those madras shorts, now did you? How can you ever wear them in public again? What's that you say—you don't wear shorts in public? Huzzah! You, me, and about half-a-dozen other guys.

Scale Worm said...

I was doing drywall too!
ha!
remodeled a bathroom to studs...
I love fixing stuff into better digs.
Happy Summer and Good Luck buddy.

Anonymous said...

Hey Max,

I am staying in the shallow end of the pool for a minute. I have Alden slip ons (calf)from my early and skinny work days that will never fit me again. They have been tree'd and bagged for almost 40 years and I want to try to darken the leather color, just for a fun experiment. Any tips? And while I am on the shoe topic, any thoughts on JM Weston RTW?
TD Mann

ADG said...

Main Line-r...Even if I stay up all night and get hammered, I wake up at 6am regardless. I but you are wired a bit that way, too…what with all the pursuit of the feathered and furred. Monks? I have no idea. Maybe I’ll rename ‘em “Thelonious Straps” bam.

AnonymousDaughterCommenter...I DO enjoy my daughter but I’m confounded by the new phase we are in.

Kathy...I too think that our young’uns would make a nice pair. As for the monosyllabic situation…it’s ALL I get…24/7. Nothing. But. A. Grunt.

Mink80...I didn’t realize how much sh_t I had till after a decade of it being crammed into 900 square feet—I had to move it.

James...Thanks man. Hope you are well.

Anonymous-My-Ass--FLO...Thanks. But I’m keeping the curtains open. “Drape” like “Couch” … be a verb, too, no?

FogeyYoung’un...I’m pleased to not be dead as well. And my quads and hammies and right elbow (from the repetitive rolling of paint) are reminding every moment that I’m very much alive.

Glad to know that some of the togs worked ok. As for the madras shorts? They are now officially remaindered to the lawn care—painting ensemble.

Scale Worm...Here’s the deal, boss…I’m saving about ten grand by doing all of the work myself. I’m handy enough to do an above average job at it—but not proficient enough to avoid immense frustration.

And if I EVER use such dark colors on my walls that require endless coats of primer to hide…and if I EVER hang moulding and do a half ass job prepping—caulking—countersinking nails…and if I EVER use Liquid Nails caliber adhesive to secure wainscoting panels to drywall…just come and kick my a_s. The time I’ve spent repairing my original shoddy work has been the killer.

AnonJM WestonDarkerLeather...We need some shallow end banter over here. Ok…yes, I have some info for you. I just darkened two pairs of leather…NOT Shell Cordovan…just calfskin…shoes. I went to Amazon.com and ordered a few things.

First, you should buy a bottle of the leather prep-deglazer. It strips the finish of the factory calibre gloss finish.

Second, you should buy a bottle of leather dye. NOT suede dye but leather dye. Swab it on as evenly as possible even though there’s gonna be some variance in how the shoe takes the dye. This will be mitigated to some degree by the deglazer. You will need to apply multiple coats and probably need to go back the next day and hit some of the uneven spots.

Then finally, after another day when the shoes are completely dry, polish the hell out of them with brown polish.

Oh, by the way…I’ve only taken a light brown shoe to a darker brown. I can’t imagine trying to actually change the base color…it would probably turn out horrible.

And do this project outdoors if possible. The leather dye is messy as all getout.

As for JM Westons…a fine shoe I suppose. Just not for me.

Anonymous said...

"Thanks. But I’m keeping the curtains open."

Alright, baby. Then I got your housewarming present all purchased and wrapped, they say it'll ship out early next week after the holiday. I gave one of these to my brother-the-extrovert in Jax-ville who not only leaves his curtains open, but also leaves his front door slightly ajar.

http://www.galaxyneonsigns.com/images/AN/LED-Animation/25401-25598/25415.gif

-Flo

Scale Worm said...

I SO hear you.
What we've done in the past can come back to haunt us regarding house work.

I'm sure what you are doing will look awesome when you are done.

Just remember the more you do the sooner it will be done and the sooner you can get back to paint, adhesive, drywall, and primer-less fuzzy attire.
:)

Keep on Keepin' on!