Thursday, February 17, 2011

Decorating?

I have a passion for decorating!  When other little girls were always playing dolls, I was rearranging furniture and accessories in my parents house.  Back in the 1960's when I wasn't even aware of certain "styles" I would take my bedroom from traditional to more modern to even country.  At the age of about ten, I found an old quilt my mother had in a closet that had beautiful colors and fabrics in it, tossed it on the outside of the bed instead of under the bedspread and accessorized my room with baskets and some of my mom's antiques.  Saying all this,  I do not profess to be an expert.  I did study Interior Design at LA Tech University but have never been a member of a professional design organization.  I do it because it is a passion, and I think that every home should be a haven.  Having said all of this and knowing that I have never been asked to write a book or magazine article on decorating, it is on my bucket list so here it goes.  I would entitle my article, "The Top Five Decorating Styles To Avoid."  Decorating style #1---Dr. Seuss!  Yes, I said that.  It is hard to imagine having to tell someone that this look is not attractive for the real life home but there are those {few though they may be} that go for the look!  Now I am not talking about a brightly colored child's room in simple shapes and happy colors.  I am talking about the whole frickin house looking like it came out of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Some woman built a house exactly like the "Simpson's."  She even had things professionally painted because she couldn't find {there is a reason for this dearie!} neon looking appliances in every different color!  Decorating style to be avoided #2--Cracker Barrell on steroids!  If you like cows, you don't have to have 150 of them in the bathroom!  A yardstick stuck into a padded heart with the words "Grandma's paddle" written on it might be good for a laugh but take it out of the closet to get your laugh.  Don't hang it over the center of the couch and accentuate it by hanging family pictures all around.  Style to avoid #3---1930's depression era!  I'm not talking about antiques here.  But there needs to be a guideline on old furniture.  Antiques can either be expensive with lots of history or a piece that has been in the family for years and is just lovely, sentimental, and old.  But it is a beautiful piece of furniture, made well and lovingly, and with a patina of age. Side note here.  I don't own any really expensive antiques--although I did once inquire about a desk that I thought was lovely at an antique store.  I was told the price was $10,000.00.  After I recovered from my faint and knocking my head on the corner of a $12,000.00 table, I asked the lady which former president had used this particular desk!  I wouldn't pay $10,000.00 for a desk if God himself had used it to map out the parting of the Red Sea! Old furniture is well-- old furniture.  My definition for old furniture would be a piece of cheaply made furniture that wasn't even pretty when it was made years ago and  that has somehow lasted until the present.  That being said there may be a piece that fits that description that has a very special memory associated with it.  Then I would say keep it, love it, and cherish it. You just don't want your whole house like this! One of my favorite pieces in my house is a gorgeous secretary of the most beautiful warm wood, with inlaid burl patterns and an intricate wood design on the doors with the glass.  It is even signed on the back with an italian name in carpenters pencil.  My price--$80.00 at a yard sale that I found while driving through a neighborhood!  Man those breaks on my van are good!  Decorating style #4-- I call caveman modern.  To me it looks like an empty house that the people haven't moved into yet.  Although I suspect that some of the "lofts" in NYC that cater to this look have another reason for no furniture.  It's much cooler to say that you prefer a minimalist look that to say, "We paid out the wazoo so much for this penthouse apartment that we cannot afford furniture until 2026."  Cavemen didn't have a lot of furniture {oh great, now I'm an authority on cavemen!} because so much hadn't been invented.  With the wonderful plush sofas that we have today, why would you want a single lucite bench in a room to sit on?  Doesn't make sense to me!  And my final decorating style that I don't recommend is what I call HOARDER CHIC.  There is an entire series on television devoted to these people so the style must be more common that we think. Some advice sweetie! If you blew your nose on a tissue at your senior prom in 1948--this little item doesn't need to be bronzed!  Your child's first poopie diaper may be a miracle to you but not worthy of a shadow box on the wall.  Macaroni and cheese on a plate in your sink from 62 days ago that is now growing fungi is of no use to you unless you are a bacteriologist! Cat feces is well CAT FECES and should be thrown away!  By the way of a side note---I didn't know how to spell feces so I googled it.  Guess what came up.  {Identify Animal Feces {picture}-Kitchen Table Form-Garden Web.}  Some day if I am deposited alone on another planet with only a lucite bench, a laptop computer and the internet, I might actually be bored enough to check that site out!  Happy decorating and may your home always be your haven! 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

People Who Inspire Me.

I have officially regained talking privileges now that I am overcoming my insomnia.  Did you know that when you are sleep deprived that little voice in your head that tells you your shouldn't say something because it is inappropriate is shut down.  I DO!  I was recently asked about people who inspire me, and I had to admit it isn't who you'd think.  I'm not into reality stars, movie stars, politicians, sexiest men alive etc.  No, the people that inspire me are ordinary people.  I admire those that live their life that they've been dealt with all the gusto they can.  A lot of times it hasn't been easy, but they have persevered and changed their part of the world one person at a time.  I admire the neighbor who is always at every one's door with homemade soup when their family is sick even though everyone knows she herself suffers from Arthritus. The person who always lets cars waiting to get in the lane in even when they themselves have been waiting forever to get to the light.  The mother who although she is ready to drop from exhaustion can still read her child another story before bedtime. The person who sits by their loved one's side as they linger on with some dreaded disease knowing that there will be time for sleep later but the moments left on this earth with their precious angel are running out.  I admire the woman that has given her life to her family only to find herself single again with no skills and the rest of her life ahead of her and goes back to college sitting in a class with people half her age to finally fulfill her dreams.  I admire all of those who did what others said couldn't be done no matter the hardship.  I admire that check out person who always has a smile and a cheerful word for others even though she has a minimum paying job and a hard life.  There is the single mother who picks herself up, dusts herself off, and goes on to raise an incredible child on her own when others can't seem to do it with a whole villiage.  The soldier that gives up everything that they know and love to go far away to a strange land where they are not wanted to fight for a faceless crowd of people back home that often aren't even appreciative for their sacrifices.  In short, it's not what happens to us in this life but how we react to what happens to us.  My prayer for all of us is that we can be a little more extraordinary at being ordinary people!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

The most stupid question ever asked?

OK, I admit that I am not usually on the receiving end of a stupid question {see former blogs.}  However, I had to have heard the most ridiculous question that ever came out of someone's mouth today on the phone.  I've taken medicine for 3 years to help me sleep and about a month ago, it quit working.  Since last Friday, I have been trying to get in touch with my doctor to get a new prescription so that I just might hopefully be able to get some sleep.  We leave town tomorrow for our grand-daughter Rosie's 4th birthday party in TN, and no one in their right mind wants to be around a grumpy grandma at Chuck E Cheeses!  So, since I can't get in touch with my doctor--another doctor in the same practice calls me.  Basically, she says that there are 2 different medicines she can change my prescription to and that both do the same thing only have different side effects.  Get this!  She asked me if I would prefer medicine #1 that is expensive and causes weight gain or medicine #2 that is cheap and doesn't cause weight gain.  There it is!! !!!!!! Where is the reality TV show with the $10,000.00 prize for the most stupid question ever asked?  That would win it for sure!  I had to call my husband when I got off the phone to share this little bit of information {that by the way someone went to med school for 8 years to be able to ask  their patient!"  Why even my husband who professes to know about as much about women as a caveman does about the internet had to laugh."  I myself, don't even KNOW any women that want to GAIN weight, and if I did in my current state of sleep deprivation, I would probably walk right up to them and slap their skinny face!  What I wanted to say to the doctor was "Oh, hum, let me see now, I believe I'll take the one that makes you put on weight without  getting to enjoy a steady diet of M & M's, banana pudding and Chunky Monkey Ice Cream for a month thank you very much!"  And there is nothing that I like more than paying more for the same thing I can get for less.  I'm already use to running out of my allowance before I can get the next one anyway. Why change things! Just think of all of the brain activity that it would save me if I were trying to decide between the cute little red shoes or the cute little blue shoes, and I didn't have to make that choice.  I could just say,"Oh yeah, I forgot.  I don't have to choose because I can't afford either pair, since I just paid out the wazoo for medicine #1.  But I didn't say that, and I never would!  Southern girls don't do that.  I'm just thankful that there is a prescription being picked up by my sweet little hubby on his way home that hopefully will let me enjoy the delightful joys of la-la land.  I might even dream about all of those cute little shoes I can buy with all of the money I saved on my prescription!