Confessions of a One-Track Mind

Words can't do justice to how much I adore this bed. Not that it would FIT in my current bedroom (and if it did, it would be like a pig wearing pearls), but WOW!---it sure inspires some interesting fantasies! I'd go for a paisley wallpaper, rather than the stripes, and throw in some brass/gold accents, really go for the whole Byzantine vibe....



And this! I want to top it with this, and some big silk pillows! Although I'd like it better if it had a darker background, like midnite blue or burgundy--I'm not loving the pink---pink-mauve is definitely *not* in synch with the Byzantine thing!.



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I got a postponement for jury duty until October. Hopefully by then, the weather will be liveable and I'll have my act together.

I slept for ten hours today, or thereabouts. Woke up after five hours, used the facilities, stepped into the shower for a couple minutes (because I was sticky with sweat), went back to bed to cool off under the fans, and slept for another few hours. Woke for good at 7...PM.

Somehow, I managed to wrench my right foot. Possibly while switching out area rugs? I finally put down the hand-me-down I got from the C's, which I *love*, but it needs a good cleaning. It's mostly light gold, very symmetrical faux-Persian looking, which goes much better with my decor than the old rug did. However, light gold in a high-traffic area? I'm thinking some OxyClean and a power-washer....

Previous rug was geometric arcs in mostly purples and greens. Didn't go with a damned thing in the room. I'm thinking that I'll put that one down in the laundry room (garage), which will put it to good use in a space where decor isn't a major consideration.

Upside to shifting the rugs, I got at the front of my oak entertainment unit for the first time in ages. Completely emptied the drawer, which mostly had cords from various devices...found a reciept from '02, which made me wince. I really need to Unfuck that thing! It's key to a lot of what I want to do with that space.

Tuesday being trash day (along with Friday), I got two old pole lamps down to the curb. I'd been using them as hat racks, but was going to move one into my room, because I'm tired of squinting like a mole. Plugged them in and neither worked, at all. Said screw it and hauled them out. The stuff that was hanging on them is now in ONE shopping bag awaiting dispersal.

Had a call from an unfamiliar number yesterday and got all excited, hoping it was for a job, but it was a wrong number. *sigh* Maybe next time....

I did have a small freak-out because my plumbing was acting up, but my trusty J-hook and some CPR with a plunger took care of the clog. Thank god, because I sure as hell can't afford a *real* plumber! Otherwise, business as usual.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>But wait!

Fun stuff---got a clip-on light for my Nook from pwcorgigirl! I love it---it's very sleek and flexable---and I'm looking forward to some quality reading after dark. Thanks, hon!

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I haven't gotten a lot done since GK's departure, since the heat has returned with a vengeance and I'm mostly useless above 85F. Still, I consolidated a system for recycing cans---a Good Thing, since I keep finding them as I move other things around.

The middle room, which is the room everything seems to land in is earmarked to be my office/library, but GK says better I should stuff stuff in there and actually be able to use my living and dining room to their fullest. I'm not sure about how I feel about that, especially since that's my Career square on the feng shui grid. Deadweight is the last thing it needs.

Changed my bedding this afternoon, and since I can now circumnavigate my bed, I managed to spin the mattress around. (Not flipped, just a horizontal 180.)

I love the new striped curtains over my big living room window. Yes, they're darker than the old off-white ones in terms of letting in light, but they're also a lot fuller, which adds a note of luxury to the room. (Width of window is 105", plus the sidtance on either side to the brackets. The tab curtains are four panels of 42" each.) Now, if I can just get the old area rug up and the "new" one down....

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I don't usually watch the original CSI, but I saw the previews and tuned in for this week's ep...about hoarding. You know me, I did a talk on it for church, I *had* to see it. (Despite the fact that I've kind of gone off the reality shows on the subject.)

Given the nature of the show, I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying there were bodies in the house. Shades of the Collyer brothers, although it was probably prompted by the news story a couple of months ago about Billie Jean James, an elderly woman who disappeared from her home. She had dementia, and her husband thought she'd wandered off.

Without her there to stop him, her husband brought in a cleaning crew, and after several weeks, they found the woman's body among the rubbish. As someone said in comments on the article, "In the middle of the summer? In the southwest? Can you imagine how much the place had to have stunk for no one to notice a decomposing body?" Either that, or the A/C was set to "meat locker".

Me, well, I got a couple boxes of stuff out for the church rummage sale---I coulda-woulda-shoulda gotten rid of more, but it's still progress, right?

Another thing I've occupied myself with is thinning out the stacks of 'zines occupying my bathrooms. A while back, I started a notebook with plans for the house...and more recently, I picked up a package of page protecters and have been going through said 'zines and gleaning pix of things that really resonate for me.

Number one on my hit parade is 30s-40s-50s kitchenware/housewares in general. A lot of baby blues and pinks, linens printed with almost cartoonish fruits and flowers, massed collectables (like Fiestaware or milk glass). I aspire to Fiestaware colors in general, with white, ala shabby chic. Just wait---I'm going to hit WalMart for spray paint and they'll think I'm tagging, but really, it's just four folding chairs, the dining table, the coffee table, a wrought-iron side table, etc.

I also have a "thing" for cozy little dining nooks. Given how small my dining room is, it definitely qualifies, and is one of the motives behind the folding chair plan. I'm very fond of shutters, although split rattan blinds would do in a pinch. Occasionally, my taste veers toward exotic---persian carpets, painted tiles, tansu chests....

There's also an offshoot that leans toward mid-century modern, but the minimalism necessary to showcase those elegant lines doesn't really jibe with my over-all ecclectic miscellany. Bark cloth for the win, though!


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After last night's bedroom bottle roundup, today I headed into the oft-interrupted dining room (as in, I keep starting on it, getting distracted, working on something else, coming back to it, etc. I ought to decorate it in a homing pigeon theme.). Anyway, I removed the breakables from the white bookcase, slid it across the room while pivoting it 180+ and tucked it against the west wall. The frees up the east wall for that cabinet.

There was still a furring strip on the east wall from the days of wall-to-wall carpet; I took a hammer and chisel to it, revealing a stripe of immaculate terrazo beneath it and nastiness on either side. That inspired me to scrub that patch, despite the fact that it'll be covered when the cabinet is in place.

The color that seems to be dominating in there so far is orange---I don't mind---I happen to like orange, which is how I've managed to acquire an old enameled coffee pot, an orange plaid ice bucket, and quite a few candles. I also have a length of fabric with orange, brown and red stripes that looks to become a tablecloth.

Now I'm confronting The Drawer. It's the top drawer of a bureau that got trashed at least a year ago...the only reason it wasn't included was because my brain short-circuited when faced with a plethora of keepsakes. Things like the bell-shaped green candy dish I made in kindergarten, jewelry, mementos, tchotchkes, etc. I took it out and set it on a chair when I dragged the rest of the piece down to the curb and never did get around to going through it.

I got as far as sliding the chair around so I could sweep that side of the sliding glass doors and took a break to look at my email...that really side-tracked me, since there was an email from GK, saying Kat's going into the hospital. She was really quiet when I was with her on Saturday, and apparently she was in pain yesterday and had a couple of falls. They're going to give her the industrial-strength painkillers and hopefully this time they'll be able to drain the fluid in her abdomen. Or...GK says she's contacted Dr Bizarre to come if he can, since there's also a chance that This Is It. As much as I'm dreading my world without her in it, she really isn't herself anymore. Is it selfish of me to want her to be at peace?
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The tree is finally trimmed. I took twnty minutes or so and made gold wire hangers for the ornaments---I had the wire on hand, and definitely have more time than money. They may be less perfect than store-bought, but who the hell is going to look at them up close besides me?

So now there's: *draws a deep breath and sings*

lots of little white lights
18 golden balls
4 silver swirlies
2 flying saucers
and a leaping poodle on a pink Christmas tree!*

The so-called "flying saucers" are a pair of vintage fifties ornaments I acquired at two different yard sales over the years. They're showing their age, but the shape of them is so cool it doesn't matter. I got the swirlies at Family Dollar because they reminded me of the flying saucers. I like it, although I may end up getting another batch of gold balls and losing the others, for this season, anyway. I really love how clean and minimalist it looks with just the white and gold against the pink.

I've also cranked out 1650 words on yet another yuletide story in yet another fandom. If there's nothing too riveting on TV, I might even get it done tonight. I am *so* going to be ready for that massage tomorrow!

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* I know, it's silly for someone who doesn't celebrate Christmas as such to refer to a Christmas tree, but after all, it *is* a bastardization of an old pagan custom, that of the Yule Log (We had when I was growing up, yay Norwegian tradition!).