V is for Voices (and other things)

I'm hanging in there with the annual A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. For more information on the challenge and its creator visit:   http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com

Can I just tell you that a whisper sounds incredibly loud in a house with no carpet? Voices... I'm always hearing voices... among other things. We had carpet everywhere, even our bathrooms were partially carpeted. Believe it or not, our baseboards in our sunken den were carpeted too.  (I love my new baseboards!) I suppose wallpaper in the kitchen and halls buffered sounds too.

What's weird is that it's not only inside sounds that echo and seem louder, its outside sounds too. Neighbor's music and voices, birds tweeting and cooing, and the ice cream truck sounds like it's in our driveway waiting for us to run out and choose a flavor.

Maybe things will change once we finish the furnishings--chairs, curtains, paintings on the walls. I hope so.

If you plan on getting wood floors throughout your house, you should know there's going to be some echoing. And certainly more dust. Sweeping is a daily thing these days so you might do like we did--invest in a dust buster to chase those dust bunnies.

Any tips on how to buffer the sounds in our house? Have I overlooked anything?

N is for Noise

I'm blogging my way through the alphabet with many others participating in the 2014 A to Z Challenge. The A to Z Challenge is the brainchild of Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out. We post every day in April except Sundays.

Today we're tackling the letter N and for lack of a better word, I guess I'll choose Noise. Noise has been defined as a sound of any kind. Seems like I always have noise going on in my head. A back and forth dialogue about something or other.

In restaurants I listen to those around me, try to tune in to what they're saying. While driving, I'm plotting stories and imagining my characters talking to each other. Way too often, I'm constructing a response to questions I know are coming. To me, thinking feels like noise. The only time my mind shuts down is when I sleep.

Silence.

Since we're undergoing massive renovation in our house, I've been hearing a different kind of noise. Scraping. Buzzing. Hammering. Sawing. Boisterous female laughter. Rhythmic Spanish voices. Humming. Even an occasional whistle--from a human. Sometimes a phone.

These new sounds inspire me.

The only noise I can't stand is when someone tries to talk while the TV is blaring. Now, that's unpleasant Noise. I can't understand what all the voices are saying. I feel panicky. My head wants to explode. Figure that one out!

I found a quote I like, and I think I might agree. At any rate, it stirs my imagination.

"People who make no noise are dangerous." Jean de La Fontaine, French Poet

What's your favorite noise?