| Show gfljc gait Jake gtibunc Saturday Morning— September 19 198 Page 8 Section A Lifestyle Look for hidden treasures to add charm character By Nancy Hobbs Tribune Lifestyle Writer When Gene and Katie Hamilton buy a new home which they’ve done 14 times in 11 years they look for hidden features to be renovated to give the house new charm and charac- ter Their expertise in refinishing remodeling and repairing has made them professional Through writing and brief public television spots done from their home in St Michaels Md they encourage others to tackle projects The Hamiltons made their first real estate purchase in the late '60s as a young couple both teaching school in suburban Chicago The brick duplex required some repair and refinishing which the couple learned project by project step by step They bought a second home down on its renovation and finally sold the first home for a healthy profit The cycle has since become the Hamiltons’ way of life They moved to Maryland last year and are “knee-dee- p — again — in projects” said Mrs Hamilton during a recent Salt Lake visit The time and energy going into their projects led the couple toward a new career — writing freelance articles for home magazines and newspapers Opportunities to capitalize on their learned skills and expertise mushroomed as manufacturers of products realized the stability and growth of the market are a steady market In good times can afford to do more projects In bad times they can’t afford to pay anyone else to do projects for them" Mr Hamilton said “The industry is recognizing that and is trying to appeal to that segment" The Hamiltons are often contracted with to help reach p with product information and manuals They serve as consultants to the Minwax Co sponsor of the Hamiltons media visit here and have written two books Wooden Toys (Macmillan 1987) and Build It Together (Scribners 1985) They con the street started working step-by-ste- Katie and Gene Hamilton have turned experience into a years of dual career They write freelance articles booklets and do public television spots i I tribute regularly to several magazines and recently began writing a national syndicated newspaper column "Do It Yourself or Not?" The latter title is one of the most important questions consumers should ask before initiating a project Mr Hamilton suggested They also should always keep in mind the advice “start small" “Start with a project that can be completed in a weekend One step leads to another and then another" Break large projects into “bitesize” portions and be realistic about the time requirements to complete the job Mrs Hamilton said By confining the job to something feasible you’re able to restrict the construction and resulting dust and confusion to a smaller area as well as bringing a satisfying sense of completion with a weekend's work Domestic tranquility benefits when realistic time allowances are made for a job said the couple "speaking from experience" They admitted however that those calculations are still hard to figure accurately Breaking a job into parts possibly hiring professionals to do some work can be profitable A job requiring a lot of new tools or which has the working in unfamiliar territory may be more wisely contracted out Mrs Hamilton said Request professional bids on a job if there’s any question it might be more economical Although time consuming it’s often worthwhile To the consumer’s advantage is and studying the job basics being bid so communication between the home owner and professional is unhampered “A good portion of all building skills involves ‘grunt’ work to prepare for a job" Mr Hamilton said may be able to do some of that background work and save quite a bit of money" Books and pamphlets on basic home repair and specific jobs are many and varied in contrast to the time they were beginning their first house and had trouble finding information the Hamiltons said p With the technology and — available now many guides written by Gene and Katie Hamilton — the consumer usually needs only motivation and an open attitude to get a job done g step-by-ste- There’s purpose in conflict WASHINGTON (UPI) — “Squaband their bling between teen-ager- s parents today may be a vestige of our evolutionary past" says a University of Wisconsin devolopmental psychologist Laurence Steinberg writes in the current issue of Psychology Today conflict "enthat sures that adolescents grow up If teen-ager- s didn't argue with their parents they might never leave home parent-teen-ag- at all” According to Steinberg parent-chil- d conflict dates from an evolutionary time when a prolonged proximity between parents and children would have threatened the species’ genetic integrity Studies of several different primates show that adolescents leaving the family helps to in crease the reproductive fitness of the group because it minimizes inbreeding and increases genetic diversity Steinberg says these studies suggest that it is evolutionarily adaptive for offspring to leave the family early in adolescence “It should come as no surprise” he says “to find social and biological mechanisms that encourage the departure of adolescent primates — including humans — from the family group" One mechanism is conflict which can contribute to making the adolescent feel more comfortable with leaving the home Says Steinberg “Repeatedly I am struck by the fact that despite considerable love between most teens and their parents they can’t help sparring Even in the closs est families parents and sqaubble and bicker surprisingly ofteen-ager- ten” Spuds MacKenzie 'ayatollah partyola’ is suburbanite By Eric Zorn Chicago Tribune Writer CHICAGO — Somehow you always knew that the bland sybaritic Spuds MacKenzie was really a suburbanite The beer company that has launched its bull terrier mascot into the marketing stratosphere tells an elaborate fiction about the beast-Tha- t it is male That it is constantly surrounded bv fetching women That it is a that lives in condos And that it is “The ayatollah partyola'' as a grown man who works for the beer company actually said Really The dog known as Spuds MacKenzie is registered with the American Kennel Ciub as Honey Tree Evil Eve but is called “Ewe" for short Reportedly she was born f:e years ago in Woodstock at the Honey Tree Kennels of Peggy and Richard Selk and then sold to Stan and Jackie Oles of west suburban North Riverside jet-sett- She is now pregnant and lues in a brick house on a quiet middle class street with a nuclear family — mom dad son and daughter The famous dog is not outside much ac two-stor- cording to neighbors but Thursday-eveninwhen a reporter came by unannounced Jackie Oles wearing a Spuds MacKenzie sweatshirt was sitting on her front stoop next to her famous pet which was having an audience with several neighborhood children “I don't talk to reporters" said Oles who then scooped up the dog walked into her house and slammed the door “The family has tried to be really low profile" said Illinois Sen Judy Baar Topinka whose proposed Senate resolution in Springfield honoring her district as the home district of Spuds MacKenzie was withdrawn after objections from Anheuser-Buscof St Louis the dog's employer The cult of personality around the homely dog has grown hugely in recent months and merchandisers repot t that she is now more popular on than ALF and posters and Max Headroom But fame has its price Just this week People magazine in an article debunking the Spuds-is-dearumors tore aside the veil of mystery and published the full home address of the Oles fatnilv h "We were very surprised" said Bill Stolberg who manages Spuds MacKenzie s image for Anheuser-Busc“But he’s become so popular that it was probably inevitable " Actually the beer company itself blew the dog's cover several years ago when she was just a party animal" on a promotional poster “When they were telling the truth about the dog they let me spend the better part of a morning with her and the Oleses" said John McGuire a feature w riter for the St Louis Post Dispatch "Jackie said that she is unusually calm and catlike for a bull terrier She kept feeding her Raisin Chex out of a 7ip!oc bag ” but Honey Tree Evil Eye under her nom de chien “Spuds MacKenzie'' somewhat unexpectedly hit the big time following Wheaton's own promoting feline Morris the h ‘ cat-foo- Cat into the limelight Her first national TV spot aired during last year’s Super Bowl and the rest is history as written on hats mugs calendars parajackets and other phernalia ‘‘The family doesn’t talk too much" said a North Riverside neighbor of Stan and Jackie Oles who asked that her name not be used “Limousines come by for the dog and they bring it out in a cage But it doesn't do It just sits anything spectacular g there" “They used to have a big statue of the dog in the yard" said village resident Barbara Andler whose mother lives down the street from Spuds “They just took it down understand 1 someone broke the ears off" “We’ve had no contact with the family" said North Riverside Village Manager Wayne Pesek “But we re pleased to be sharing the limelight Obviously it's a better association for the town than some of the gangster stories in our past” Also pleased with Spudsmania is the local Fort Dearborn Bull Terrier Club which played matchmaker in getting Honey Tree Evil Eye together with the ad agency that came up with the Spuds MacKenzie concept “It’s always nice to have the general public be aware of bull terriers" said club member Mary Jung The breed has suffered in the past because some people think it is a fighting pit bull which Jung said it definitely is not But among those who frown on the poker-facepooch is Scott Murphy principal of Kenneth Murphy Jr High in unincorporated Beach Park near Waukegan At the start of this d school year Murphy officially banned Spuds and any other garments that promote the use of alcohol “A few of the kids groaned at first but we've had no problem with it at all” Murphy said “As a matter of fact some parents have come in to say thank you” Meanwhile in the fantasyland of marketing Anheuser-Busc- h still clings to the crumbling Spuds mythology- “He’s not a dog” said Bill Stolberg “He is an executive He is the senior party consultant for Bud Light Jackie Oles is just a member of his staff “He is the guru of good times” said Stolberg waxing colorful "The granddaddy of get down The grand pooh-baof “Once you start digging into his private life it takes the fun out of it” But not for us sir We throb with pride to know that Spuds is one of ours h party-ometr- y T lWWW''MiWlWAVVW'ZWZW5iS5 SH From Entertainment Centersto J Sleepers we have the Style the Selection and the Valuel K' I (: C1 CHILDRENS FINGERPRINTING CLINIC a V I Make a permanent record of your child’s fingerprints for identification! Sat Sept19 10:002:00 pm at CitiCollege - 3195 SO MAIN SLC Cooperation With SAS Investigations For Further Information Call 487-065- 7 In w Cla wm ¥ mm mm mm mm a T tt11 K rr rn mj '( I4- t f |
