Mari Bickmore Design | Having a Blast In Interior Design and Staging

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July 2016

The Joys of Renovation 640 640 Mari Bickmore

The Joys of Renovation

We have flipped several houses in a few cities during our continual moving sojourn and I have never written about them.  Some things are just to painful to do whilst in the midst of chaos.  While living in Kansas we did a house in Overland Park and one in Independence and had two contractors directly from #*()#).  Well you get the idea.  One is being sued by the State of Missouri and the other should be being sued by several states and a multitude of people.  As far as I can tell he must be related to the Clintons.  It would take months and books to recreate what happened during that time…the lost sleep and anguish.  Now I know why people sue for things like that.  Really horrible people.   The best one we did was in Salt Lake City.  Loved the end product and the people we worked with.  Those are the two extremes of the spectrum.  Missouri contractors versus Salt Lake contractors.   At least the houses turned out well in the end.

Our most recent move was last summer, and this time we renovated the home we bought for ourselves.   We closed on the house while on a Scandinavian/Russian cruise, which was really weird, and at the same time went into contract on the home we were selling from the last place we lived.  Great stops by the way and Celebrity was a really great operator, but who am I to judge.  That was my first ocean cruise.  Cruises aren’t really my thing.  I like to rent a car and have tons of time to explore versus getting off the boat at 9 or 10 and then having to be back on by 4 or 5.  But I digress.

After we returned we moved out of our nice, midtown apartment to the burbs…to live in two bedrooms and a bathroom over the garage whilst our renovation commenced.  Did I say we were nuts.  Maybe not.  But you know the answer to that.  My darling daughter came to stay the first two weeks because not only was I starting demolition, I was having minor surgery.  Again, what was I thinking.

One of the first things we had done was removing all the hardwood and most of the tile in the house…kitchen, living room, great room, dining room, bathrooms, etc. and the carpet in the bedrooms (except for our “sanctuary”).  So first tip for any of you DIYer’s or those contemplating being in charge of your own renovation:  When someone quotes you on floor removal never sign anything other than a guaranteed price.  He ended up adding on charges that were over $2000 more than the original quoted price (Clean Site – don’t use them).  Not only that, they didn’t get close to the cabinets so I ended up having to pay extra to the floor installers to get that removed.  Not pleasant to deal with and not forthcoming, until later of course.   Then, of course, I had someone in for something else who said he could have done it for half the price…that really hurt.

One thing is weird, I would make appointments with three or four contractors for different parts of the project:  electric, plumbing, painting, etc. etc. and half the time they wouldn’t show.  Or if they did show they never got back with me to give me a bid.  Don’t these people need work?  Maybe they don’t.  In any event, that is a lot of time wasted and very frustrating.   Well, enough of this today.  I’ll continue with the saga in another few days.  But just to know it’s going to turn out okay in the end, here is a picture of before and after of my living room.  I think it’s great…but some of you may like the before better than the after.  Just let me know.  No, I won’t change it back if you do.  Needless to say,  it is not completely decorated yet, so I’ll repost later.

living room before after
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El Dorado Quesadillas 1024 739 Mari Bickmore

El Dorado Quesadillas

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This 2016 election year is the election year from Hell.  As I have mentioned, we have a woman who is as corrupt and self-serving as the day is long.  She is no more a public servant than a man in the moon…there is no man in the moon…

Don’t think I wouldn’t like a woman president, but one who is strong, honorable, and worthy of the title, not one who cleans up her husband’s womanizing problems with her witch’s broom.  Back in 1992, when we lived in Memphis, we had some good friends who lived in Arkansas and were friends of the Clinton’s.  Even though they were friends, they had some pretty bad/wild stories about the Clinton’s, and many revolved around just those things…and they were their friends.   If you are not a liberal wearing blinders, then you have to have read soooo many terrible things about them over these many years, but they seem to be teflon and get away with it all.  Probably because the people who could throw them under the bus are either DEATHLY afraid of them or they have dirt on that person, i.e. blackmail.  But basically they just don’t want to die a early and mysterious death.  I’m sure Hillary has collected enough dirt on people to fill several books.  In any event, this new book by the ex-secret service guy on their staff, just backs up all the things I’ve known or thought I knew (Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operate by Gary Byrne).  But do I think liberals will be able to process it???  HAHAHA!  Absolutely not.  They did elect ZerO a second time, and look how he has morally and fiscally bankrupted my country.  I still haven’t figured out how the American public thought electing someone who spent their formative years in Indonesia instead of being steeped in the American culture and learned to love America would be a good choice for President.  It never made sense and still doesn’t.  Anyhow, somehow being a statesman and having integrity is not important for getting elected to President in our current pop culture society.  I find that quite sad and disturbing.
The other day someone I know made a post stating that Christians shouldn’t post things that are judgmental about candidates and that instead they should only post positive things about their own choice for office.  I absolutely and unequivocally disagree with this posit.   Not only when someone is running for office are they laying their life bare for all to scrutinize, but as Christians we are supposed to do some investigation to find the best candidate to strengthen the values we want upheld in our localities and country to maintain for us and our children.  Exposing a bad apple is a good thing.  We are supposed to hate the sin but love the sinner, but when you “hate” a public figure you are hating what they stand for, since we don’t actually know them on a personal level.  We are actually supposed to judge a righteous judgment (that’s true, look it up).  I don’t condone maligning someone with untruths, but, especially in this case, you don’t have to look too far until you see the abyss.  Hillary is like black mold in the walls of a house that is spreading through the cracks and corners and the liberals are like the homeowners who are in denial and just keep painting over it.   We may all do things that are wrong (not as bad as Clinton by any stretch) and make bad choices, but we are not running for political office and then acting like we are in it to help people.  I find her scary and justified in noting it.  We won’t even go into how much she lied on her recent Email-gate investigation and how she somehow wiggled out of getting indicted, although who really thought they would do that to a Clinton…they live above the law and know it.  That’s why they do the things they do.  I will address this later.

On a lighter note, since I always have to end with food, fashion, or design, so food it is…again.  This is a fairly quick and easy dinner, and just yummy.

El DORADO QUESADILLAS

4 boneless chicken thighs

1 large boneless chicken breast

1/3 cup Kitchen Bouquet sauce

1 tsp Tony Cachere’s Creole Seasoning

Grated sharp cheddar OR Mexican cheese blend

Cotijo OR Queso Fresco

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Good quality flour tortillas

1 Granny Smith apple or other tart firm apple

Cinnamon

Butter

1 Haas avocado

Creamy chipotle sauce (recipe below)

Place all chicken in a glass bowl and stir with the Kitchen Bouquet and Tony’s; let marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.  Meanwhile prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Cut the apple into semi-thin slices and halve.  Sprinkle very lightly with cinnamon and saute in butter until al dente and set aside.

Saute the chicken on medium-high until golden on each side, just a couple of minutes, and then reduce heat to low-medium until done.  Cool just until able to handle, then shred.

In a nonstick skillet, either melt a small amount of butter (my choice) or use an oil of your choice and heat on medium.  Place a flour tortilla in the skillet and twirl to evenly disperse the oil.  Sprinkle all over with both of the cheeses (I don’t do it very heavy, but depends on how much cheese you like).  On one side place chicken pieces, apples, and sauce.  On the other side sprinkle onions, cilantro and some avocado.  Fold the quesadilla in half and cook until golden on each side.  I slice some tomatoes and use the extra avocado to garnish.  Really yummy!

Chipotle Sauce

Okay, this is just something easily made up.  The first time I made it I used ½ cup prepared Chipotle Mayo, about 3 Tbsp of cream, 1/4 tsp cayenne and 1/4 tsp salt.  Way good.

The second time I used ½ up mayo, 3 Tbsp prepared chipotle sauce, 3 Tbsp cream, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and ½ tsp salt.

They are both equally as good in the quesadilla.  The first one has an edge on just tasting out of the bowl.

EAT UP!

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