One Step at a Time

Decorating isn't as fun for me as it used to be.  I used to enjoy "the hunt" for just the right piece to fit in just the right spot.  And I found pleasure in garage sale and flee market finds that I could go home and "re-purpose"for my current decorating tastes.

Kids, schedules, commitments, and conflicting design ideas reduce the joy of decorating to more of a function than a fun action.  Regardless, I try to squeeze in a little bit pretty whenever I can; one step at a time.  Today I gave the guest bathroom a quick pick-me-up.  I moved the towels from under the sink (where they were getting pushed and piled into such a mess that I'd have to wash them before I could offer them to company) to a rack on the wall.  And I brought some color and life into a bathroom that is usually dim with the shades drawn (since the window faces the road...and who wants to pull their drawers down in front of an open window?).

It's not much, but the cabinet under the sink is neater now, the guest towels are up and out of the way, and the flowers are pleasing to look at when I go in to do...whatever I went in there to do.

Color and Texture

This summer is roughly half over already.  By my calculations, I would have to say it will probably go down as one of the best summers in recent memory.  That's saying a lot since two summers ago we had an *epic* (if I can steal a well-used term from my children) family vacation riding motorcycles through Germany and France.

This isn't *that* kind of summer, but it's got some pretty awesome highlights; nearly three weeks on a road trip with my kids - visiting family and friends along the way, building a beautiful deck on our house (I'm assuming that it will be beautiful, because it isn't done yet), and keeping things low key.  Aside from the road trip and the deck, we have kept the commitments simple and short, leaving lots of time to do...nothing.

Nothing except enjoy looking at my garden.  Yep, that's another highlight of this summer.  Last year I planted two *epic* car loads of perennials in the front yard, in newly created flowerbeds flanking our newly installed walkway.  This summer I get to enjoy the fruits of that labor.

The Hydrangea are gargantuan.  The large bloom in the front is about the size of my head.

 

(A Queen of Hearts for size reference.)

 

 One of my favorites - Astilbe

 Yellow Columbine

 This Menarda is actually in the back yard, but I have a hummingbird that really likes it.

 I'm not sure what this tiny green moss-like plant is.  I didn't plant it, but it's covering some of the shady ground.

 I'm not very creative with pots, but I really like Celosia.

 Creativity in gardening isn't really my strength, but I sure do enjoy a variety of colors and textures.

 And another Astilbe favorite.

 I can't wait to see the deck finished so I can start dreaming up pots of sun-loving annuals.  Hmm. Better order more irrigation supplies.

It's Official

Tonight was Awards Night at Trinity Baptist School, where the kids attend.

In addition to handing out awards for perfect attendance, academics, sports, and character (for the students), the school honors its volunteers and teachers. Volunteers drive the kids on field trips, to and from all the sporting events and programs, serve in the school office, assist teachers, make lunches, help raise funds, and teach some classes.  The list is endless.

This year I was one of those volunteers.  My job was to teach technology to the elementary (1st-6th) and music to everyone (1st - 12th).  My parents have been laughing at me (yes, you have) all year. You see, three of my four parents were teachers; two of them - my mom and my dad - were band directors.  Well, I became a business major because I knew I couldn't be a teacher (not enough patience), much less a music teacher.

But, it would seem, as evidenced by a pile of Thank You notes from all my students, that I am, indeed, a music teacher.  Not only that, it turns out that being a music teacher is a...SUPERPOWER! Who knew?

Hang Time

I have a perfectly lovely set of chairs with an ottoman, which I received as a birthday gift last year, sitting nicely in the shade of our front yard, but they aren't available at the moment.  So, I have taken up residents in the hammock.  It's nice enough here, but will quickly become too hot to hang.  What we need is a good breeze right about now.

Another Success

With my entry table "dressed" and my front hall looking more decorated, I was ready to attack a framing project.

Seven years ago we built this new house, and for the past three years or so my husband has been expressing an interest in putting up pictures.  "This would be a great picture for the wall"...hint, hint

But with all the windows in this house, portals to the beautiful surroundings that we call "home", who needs pictures on the wall?  All of nature is my picture.  Right?  That's a good excuse for not hanging pictures, isn't it?  Well,  that's my defense and I'm stickin' to it.

Okay.  I know, it's a crappy excuse to not have pictures of my children on the wall.  And then, to further reduce my good excuses, my mother sent me these awesome collage frames from Pottery Barn.  The fact that two out of three of them arrived in pieces doesn't matter.  Just look at those cute faces!  Each collage gets a theme; His, Hers, and Theirs.

Her

Him

Them

The threesome is hanging in the hallway that leads to their bedrooms, and the balance (frame to wall space balance) is really good.

It's not a great picture, but this panarama gives you an idea of how the whole wall looks.  I really like the way it turned out.  Hmmm.  Maybe this framing thing isn't so bad.  I wonder what else I can frame and put on the wall.

Finally

It only took me a year and a half, but I finally did what I set out to do.

Last summer (not the one of most recent past, but the one before that) I enjoyed some good ol' fashioned shopping for home decorating supplies while I was visiting family in Michigan.  Good decorating stores are hard to find here, so I took advantage of being in a larger metropolitan area.  I had a plan.

Then I got home.

Once I was back, I put the table in place and stored the new purchases in the basement with the other decorating supplies that didn't have a home upstairs.  Weeks passed, but the table sat there...naked.  Months passed, but still the table was alone.

Fast forward to this week.  Joerg is out of town, and every time he travels (for more than a day or two) I work on predefined projects.  For example, since his departure on Monday morning, I have scanned two binders filled with the kids' educational documents that go back to preschool.  I have sifted through old binders of house-building documents from seven years ago when we built this house.  I have scanned about one hundred old random photos to our new cloud, and I have "downloaded" thousands of pictures from their CD storage onto the cloud (two CD binders down, one to go).  Today, was 'decorate the entry' day.

It wasn't a hugely time-consuming project, but decorating (like clothes shopping) is one of those things for which I must be...in-the-mood.  Today, I was (for decorating, not clothes shopping).

I think I like the way it turned out.  I'll have to "sleep on it" for a couple of days before I call this project complete, but I would say it's a very good first draft.

We have been enjoying a wonderfully relaxed, no-commitment, stress-free, minimal-labor Christmas vacation.  Two weeks away from school and work, and nearly two weeks of video games, screen time, (catching up on) neglected projects, eating out, and sleeping in.  It has been faaaaabulous.

The kids have had play dates and sleepovers, we have visited with friends and family, and we have enjoyed doing something we get few opportunities to do normally… nothing.

Personally, I created a small list of things that I wanted to accomplish during this break. These are projects that are not necessarily important to anybody else, but require time - and sometimes a large chunk of time.

The first item on my list was to make a large batch of Zuppa Tuscano, a recipe from a friend, that uses kale. We don't cook kale here very often (nobody particularly cares for it), but we get some each summer with our vegetable CSA shares, and this soup is very flavorful.  So, I made a triple batch, served some for dinner, and put the rest in the freezer for random meals during the winter.

Speaking of recipes, the other larger project on my to do list involved entering all of my favorite recipes from two recipe binders into my recipe software.  Several years ago I purchased Cook'n  software to store all of my recipes. The plan had been to put all my favorites into Cook'n so that I would have one place to go where I could search by ingredient, or some other keyword, to find the recipes that I wanted. During this break I finally finished entering my favorite recipes into the software.  I still have a collection of Pinterest recipes to add, but the box sitting on the floor of my office (the one that held my recipe binders and loose random recipes) is now (finally) gone.

The next two projects on my list involved shopping on the Internet. First, I needed to order tablecloths for my table. It is not always easy to find tablecloths for my slightly smaller-than-normal dining table when I just walk in to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; I can either find the right size OR a color/style that I like, but not usually BOTH.  Thanks to Amazon, this is no longer a significant problem.  While I was browsing the pages of Amazon, I did some searching for drinking glasses. We purchased several sets of drinking glasses when we finished building our house several years ago, but after years of children, entertaining, and carelessness, it was time to replenish our supply. Amazingly, Amazon was able to provide me with not just any glasses, but the exact same glasses that I already have. A perfect match.

Next up on my to do list; prepared two computers to be donated to our kids' school. Prior to Christmas we started making some computer changes in our house and the end result was two decent computers that we no longer need. With little time and effort we could prepare those computers to be donated to the school.

That leaves the last thing on my to do list.  It's a creative project, something I have been wanting to do for a year now. It's a project that I pinned on Pinterest, but just never made the time to do.  Now it's done; homemade ornaments for my Christmas tree.  The timing really couldn't be better; a few years ago our tree tipped over and several ornaments were destroyed, then this year, for whatever reason, several more ornaments were damaged during the decorating of the tree.  Now I have six new ornaments done in some of my favorite colors.

With that done, my holiday projects list is complete.  I love the fact that I accomplished these many things, and yet still feel like this was a quiet and relaxing vacation; the ultimate success in my book.  May the rest of 2015 be as relaxingly productive as this Christmas holiday has been.

Happy New Year.