In which Koog tries to tell about buying something, but can't get through the story without a couple of sub-stories

I purchased an issue of Martha Stewart Living today. It was an impulse purchase... sort of. You see, I was standing in the long line at the Harris Teeter, which is near Clarendon. Everything in or around Clarendon is crowded, which is just one reason for me to hate it. (The other reason is envy. Capitol Hill could Clarendon-ify and there would be lots more good places to eat/shop near me, plus real estate would go sky high.) Actually, the Harris Teeter is in Ballston, which is walking distance from Clarendon.

But enough about Arlington, Virginia and its geography. I was standing in line behind Ed when he realized he needed to get toothpaste, which you can only get by going upstairs in this particular store. They put the sundries and the wine upstairs with the pharmacy, go figure. I guess the organic produce required to lure Clarendon-dwellers away from their neighborhood Fresh Fields takes up a lot of space.

So, right, I was standing in line and all of a sudden I had nobody to talk to. I picked up a copy of Martha Stewart's magazine because generally I can find something to roll my eyes at. (I did: greeting cards festooned with yarn. Eyeroll.) Unfortunately, I also saw a photograph that shows an idea I had years ago in practice. It looks really good. Basically it's just floor to ceiling shelves in the kitchen, but it looked great in this kitchen. And then there was a sort of stupid thing in the "Good Things" section that could be adapted for use in my evil bathroom. (It's evil because it lacks storage facilities; it is not evil like Miguelito's old bathroom. People are still talking about that one.)

Don't get me wrong, I feel the same about Martha as I did when I got up this morning. I just wish she'd shut up for five minutes, especially when I noticed that the magazine also contained an article about collecting old post cards, which I've been doing ever since I can remember. My collection is perfectly satisfactory, but I hate the idea that now I'll have to compete with people who read about the post cards in Living.

Anyway, the only thing that's changed is that I tossed a couple of bucks into her evil coffers. I feel kind of unclean now, but I'll also have a picture to show the architect when I ask if X wall would be structurally suited to that project.

The point of this whole rant being that if any of you have good ideas for a row house with a lot of square footage that's poorly laid out, given that said row house is cruising for a major renovation this year, well, let me know. I guess.

before - after