I. Day Light Savings



It's the night before my first open house. I hope people will know to set their clocks forward and wake up on time to come to my open house. A lot of people noticed that this year the leep-forward-time-change is occurring about three weeks early. For those of you how are wonder why, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar the previous year had a 13th month, therefore the sun is rising and falling earlier according to the day calendars. Rana’s explanation is that the government introduced early Day-Light savings in order to save gas and electricity by having the people utilize as much day light as possible. I, for some reason believe he’s right.



II. Academic Update



It has been two weeks since I put the house on the market and it basically been uneventful. However, I did accomplish some academic goals. I have narrowed down to what I will be writing for my thesis, which it GREAT! Since I have started graduate school, I have always wanted to do something about Asian art. Since, UMKC did not offer any courses related to Asian art, my advisor advised against it. I think I have found my loop hole and it has captured my interest. I am currently taking a Decorative Arts class (instructed by Catherine Futter, Decorative arts curator of the Nelson Atkins Art Museum) and we have been discussing about furniture, utensils, pottery, ceramics, and etc. Our course paper has to be related to products, designers, and/or styles of the 19th and 20th century Europe or America. This is where I found my loophole in choosing to write about 19th century Asian-inspired French furniture. Dr. Futter liked the idea and I’m hoping I can expand this topic to my thesis. I am also fortunate to have Dr. Jeffrey Weidman (Senior Librarian for Public Services & Collection Development at the Nelson Atkins Library) to guide me in my research for my thesis. The resources can get overwhelming and Dr. Weidman has a nack in getting to the point and guiding me to the right direction. I have already started reading as many books and journal articles I could get my hands on about Asian furniture and rise of orientalism in Europe beginning in the 1800’s. Everything I have read so far has gotten me wanting to know more; hopefully this will result in a great paper. We will have to see, I will post the link to the paper on the blog as I complete it. As for French I’m still surviving. Si j’ai beacoup d’argent, je engagerais un traducteur de francias. If I had lot of money, I would hire a French translator.



III. Plans for Travel



So far Switzerland is still on stand-by. But for Spring break, Cas (girl temporarily living with me) and I decided to take a break from Kansas City and go for a hiking trip in Rogers, Arkansas. If weather got bad, no problem, we reserved two nights at an uppity hotel, Embassy Suites. Can’t go wrong with that, especially at the special price of $39.00 a night, with complementary breakfast (the good kind, not the cheap continental stuff) and Manager’s Special (Unlimited cocktails). There are perks for people working for the hotels. We did some search online and figured Rogers, AR is a place where we both have not been to before and is worth visiting, as well as limiting our driving time to less than 10 hours. I am looking forward to hiking at the Devil’s Den.



IV. Other Plans



Lately, I have been thinking a lot lately about purchasing another condo after the sale of this one. Since I don’t want to jinx the plan, I will have to tell you more about it, after the fact. Sorry, something’s must remain between God and me. :)

III. House visits before open house



My mother and I have gone through the house from top to bottom cleaning every nook and cranny. I am very happy with how the house looks and I almost wish I was staying here longer…almost.



I have had people visiting my home about everyday since the listing. The first week there were four visitors. The first one came the day after the house was listed. I got really excited and thought, “This is it!” I tried really hard not to get excited. However after the second, third, fourth, (you get the idea) visits, it became routine. I clean the house everyday is if I was expecting visitors. The second week I had about 8 visitors with 1 returning visitor. 4 came through on Tue. 1 Wed. 2 Thur, and 1 Fri. I was surprised that no one came on Sat.



Something strange did happen on Monday however. My back yard fence had apparently self combusted. You heard me correctly; my backyard wooden gate was on fire. Luckily, Cassia was at home and hosed it out. The ignition of the fire is still unknown to us and the position of the fire (now a burnt hole) was right on the door latches. Besides the location of the fire on the door, it is also strange since the weather was not hot nor dry enough, and Cas was home the several hours before the fire started. This decreases the possibilities of natural causes and intentional vandalism. During the middle of a clear bright day, Cas was in the living room painting and she noticed smoke in the corner of her eye. She immediately discovered it was the fence on fire and put it out. There was a chance that the fire could have taken up the entire home. The fire was flaming under a tree which was next to the house itself. It seemed like the fire had started on the out side of the door and just above or behind the metal latches. Some believed the cause were from vandalism from neighborhood kids, tossed out lit cigarette butts, and (according to Rana) pressures to weed out competition from local home sellers. A couple of college buddies and I could not keep a barbeque fire lit with a can of lighter fluid. Homosapians took sometime discovering fire. I guess my wooden gate is just smarter than us.



V. My favorite part of today.



I had started out the day thinking I would get some reading done and finish my French homework. As I sat at my computer eating my breakfast (a sandwich), Sister#3, the youngest sister, called me.



“Do you know anything about sewing dresses?” she asked. Today was her prom day. My 2nd sister, insisted that she would make the prom dress to save some money. Sister#2 had 5 weeks advance noticed; however not surprisingly, she left to the last 2 weeks to begin the project. The night before, Sister#2 completed the dress for Sister#3’s first fitting, there were some alterations to be made. The next day, Sister#3 tried on the dress and found that further alterations were needed; however Pam had already disappeared to Arizona for a week. Apparently, Sister#2 and 6 other of her friends left for Arizona for a “job” that no one really knew about. With mom and dad out working, Sister#2 not around, and Brother not interested in dresses, Sister#2 called me. Better to be thought of last than not at all, right?



“I’m sorry, I know nothing about sewing. Even if I went down there I don’t think I can help you with it.” I said apologetically.



“Oh.” I heard on the other line.



I suggested her to find a local tailor. I also made some phone calls but there was no luck with such short notice. I called her back and told her, we can just get her another dress at the mall in time for her hair appointment at her friends’ house.



“I don’t have enough money to buy another dress.” her voice was soft this time.



“Well that’s ok, we’ll find you a dress for now and I’ll take care of the rest.” I said. I was kinda relieved that she didn’t think of it herself. If you knew my family you would understand, but that is a whole other can of worms to spill later.



“You can do that?” She asked, voice gaining a little more spirit.



“What do you mean ‘can I do that’? Of course I can. I can do whatever I want.”



Since I was coming in from another state (40 min drive) and with 3 hours time allotted, I suggested she get to the mall first and find what she liked while I made my way down. We spent the entire time at the mall going from one store to another. We were looking for a simple, short skirt (to the knees), gold colored dress. Sister#3 wanted to match her prom date’s gold-colored tie. Don’t ask me why, I don’t understand it either. We finally ended up at Macy’s and bless her heart, Sister#3 found this little gold dress stashed in the clearance rack. It retailed around $100 but was cut to $36. It almost seemed as if the dress had been waiting for her. It looked great on her. After purchasing the dress we looked for accessories. We caught up on what’s been going on with our families and friends and what’s up with ourselves. Men call it gossiping, women call it staying-in-touch. Sister#3 gave me whatever money she had and I used it get some drinks before parting ways for the day. I got frozen coffee and she got the coffee-free frozen fudge mocha.



See her dress and her date