Day 2 with Mom

On her second day in Philadelphia, my mom woke up with a black eye.  I would like to say that I gave it to her because she wasn't working hard enough, but the sad truth is that she gave it to herself when she hit her face on the car door.  It's events like this that remind me I am definitely her daughter.

This picture is taken in Lowe's.  We were there to figure out the best way to deal with the bathroom walls, and all their imperfections.  The walls looked like a battle had taken place on them, or maybe like someone had a very inexpert knife fight in the bathroom.

We had been investigating some options, one of which was covering the walls with a paintable paper.  This idea didn't really appeal to me since I spent so much time taking wallpaper down.  The guy at the paint store also seemed skeptical, so we thought we would see how much of the damage we could repair with an electric sander.  However, while at Lowe's buying sandpaper, a helpful employee told us we should try to use patching plaster over some of the most damaged areas.  We picked up some of the plaster and a trowel and headed over to Mercy Street.

We spent the morning sanding and cleaning up all the dust we had loosened.  Then, just for kicks, we tested a bit of paint over a really bad area and concluded that, yes, something had to be done.  We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to patch the walls.

Well, except for a quick Starbucks break.  On our way into the store I was accosted by a reporter and photographer from the South Philly Review and asked to participate in their "Voice on the Street" column.  They asked me to answer the question "What do you think about the new police commissioner's  plan to meet with community leaders about the crime problem in Philadelphia?"  Not really knowing anything about the plan, I sputtered, "Anything that fights crime is good.  Because crime is bad."  Looking back, I'd like to qualify this statement: I do not condone totalitarianism, state-sponsored torture, or the arming of citizens. 

Here are the South Philly Review people with another unsuspecting passerby.

Tune in later for the conclusion of our bathroom wall adventure.