Today I went to the OBGYN for my annual exam with my 7 year old son. It was a dream come true.
sar·casm
noun \ˈsär-ˌka-zəm\
: the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult someone, to show irritation, or to be funny
He’s home sick today. There has been a total of 7 days of school. He has been there for 4 1/2 of them. Sigh.
My little guy is actually good as gold when he is home sick. Today he was my little buddy escorting me about town and a lovely companion. Although while he waited for me in the nurses’s station during my exam he picked up all sorts of female medical terms that I would have preferred to avoided.
So Home Goods was practically NEXT DOOR to the doctor’s office. I mean I almost had to walk through it just to get back in the car. Naturally, I dragged my semi-sick seven year old inside for a quick looksie. I actually think it was his idea. He WANTED to go in and see the Halloween decorations. While inside not looking at Halloween decorations we discussed his bedroom decor which led to this post. He wants to know if we could fit a giant robot in his room, a canopy to keep his room shady (?) and if we could paint the walls red. Maybe?
OMG it’s Labor Day. How did this happen?? Summer! Don’t Go!!!! And tomorrow is the first day of a new school for my boys. And sports. And extracurricular clubs. And homework. And bedtimes. And the often feared S-C-H-E-D-U-L-E. In short, many changes this way come, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It just feels like it.
What is it about change that creates such anxiety?
I read somewhere that our brains our wired to resist change–to follow familiar paths where we know there is no “danger”–something that goes back to our cave man days. So when something new comes up, your brain fires up warnings, saying, “911!” Your glands respond by preparing you to fight, flee or freeze. Now you’re all charged up with adrenaline so you’re physically able to fight or flee if you need to. You are ready to deal with a life-threatening event. Of course 999/100 times it’s not a life threatening event it’s just something “new”. But your body doesn’t know that so your head still throbs and your hands still get clammy. Or maybe you want to hide under the bed like my 9 year old wants to do about tomorrow. I’m trying to tell him that it’s ok to feel nervous and we have to push ourselves over the humps and eventually all the “new” will feel familiar. What I’m not telling him is that I feel the same way. I can talk a big game about creating new neural pathways in our brain–blah, blah, blah but I feel anxious regardless.
As I type this my kids are fighting. Maybe school tomorrow isn’t such a bad thing?! Ok, now I think they are hitting each other. Definitely a good thing about school starting. Wow! My brain adapts fast to change!
This is what I really want to post. If you have kids bringing home art, or something they wrote, or maybe something random that you have and want to display—Look!
Kiko Glass Frame by Nkuku. $30. www.notonthehighstreet.com. If you order more than one they become less expensive.
I’m not super enthusiastic about the prices so I’ve been hunting. Apparently there is a lot of tape being made just like this–and all expensive–coming from European websites. But then I found this:
It’s on Amazon Prime for $10.32! SOLD! You can find it here.
I keep getting sucked back into the same original website–because next I saw this:
I was listening to Les Miserables last night while looking at a magazine spread of Ralph Lauren interiors.
That is obviously what inspired the dream I had.
I dreamed a dream of Ralph Lauren
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that he would decorate my house
I dreamed that he would be not expensive
Then I was young and so naive
So dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no mortgage to be paid
No song unsung
No college tuition
But the budget talk comes at night
With my husband’s voice soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
And they turn your dream towards Target
And still I dream he’ll come to me
That I will live the years with velvet
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this budget I’m living
So different now from what it seemed
Now Ralph Lauren’s fee’s have killed The dream I dreamed
All interiors, needless to say, are by Ralph Lauren.
And if you didn’t get this post try listening to this
It’s August 21st. Today marks my very first normal day since 1979. Meaning, my house is not on the market, I’m not packing to move, I’m not unpacking from a move, I’m not being chased by a pack of very aggressive geese (really did happen last week), I’m not leaving for a trip, planning a major event, or staying at someone else’s house because I am homeless, I don’t have house guests (8 just left including a baby and a 4 year old not including a small dog and a really big dog), I’m not on percocet (Yes, my husband had to call 911 2 weeks ago because I was paralyzed on the dining room floor due to a very unwelcome back and nerve issue.) and my house is clean and semi-to do list free (I actually just refuse to make a new to do list so therefore that counts as not having one.) So today is normal. It’s 5:53 pm as I write this so I hope I don’t curse it. Watch, any minute a small car of 27 clowns is going to pull up, or the dishwasher will explode, or a reporter will show up wanting to interview me about bees while I am holding large stuffed animals (Oh, wait, that was yesterday.)
To celebrate this normal day I thought I would write a blog post.
Let’s look at not normal houses because really, who lives like this?
Awesome art I bought from local artist in Ferndale, Michigan.
Our house is still being shown to potential buyers…
…which is having A LOT of activity. We’ve been busy with many house guests. I’m torn between whether I am maintaining a museum (for the showings) or a bed and breakfast (for the friends and family). Of course a whirlwind trip to Detroit and bajillion other things happening isn’t really helping. It’s ok.
Birthday Card that I Love.
We’re all healthy, “wealthy”, and wise so I won’t complain. I only wish I had a tiara and a tutu–and rainbow striped rain boots. That would make it all so much easier.
My head has been in a fog trying to maintain momentum for the 6,000 directions I am running in. But I haven’t been too busy to scavenge. I just bought this cool chair for our next house in DC.
And I just bought a fern for my favorite chair which lives on the front porch. Hopefully, the new front porch will have an empty welcoming spot for it.
I’ve got a thing for chairs. I don’t spend more than a few pennies on every chair I buy (more or less). An interesting chair gives a little something something to every room.
This one sits by my front door. It is hinged and if you open it up and flip it over the chair turns into shelves.
This, my friend, is the Spanish Conquistador Chair. It has a title. I paid $25 for it at Edlin’s Auction in Corpus Christi, Texas, 1999.
This lady was a redo. It was also bought at Edlin’s in 1999, but by my friends. They reupholstered it, got sick of it, I took it, painted it, and then modge podged it with pages from a book. Sadly, it had a twin that still lives in Virginia Beach.
This is one of my favorites. I love the shiny enamel white chipped paint, the pink that is on the underside. It is so solid. It has stories. Someone else painted it other than me. It has age. It is sturdy. I love the lines. I love the back of it.
As I type this I am looking at my Chair Art…
I love chairs.
www.squarestate.com
Most homes I go into don’t have good funky chairs. You need at least two. Chairs, I have found, are expensive if they are already decked out. Junk stores, thrift stores, garage sales etc… are good places. Look for one with a nice shape and a seat that (if upholstered) lifts out easily (easy to take some new fabric and a staple gun to) and disregard the color. Scrub brush, sand paper, and/or paint can transform many a chair.
www.designloversblog.com
www.thewhitedresser.com
www.mrkate.com
LOVE this room.
Chairs to you! Get it? It’s like Cheers only Chairs because this post is about Chairs…
