Painting Hanging Lamps

I was talking to my daughter last night to see if she had gotten her water bill with the city straightened out. She recently bought another house in the same neighborhood and got her first water bill. It was almost $500! She was astounded since it's just her and her fiancè. After calling them and disputing that only 2 people could not possibly use 892 gallons a day on average, they told her to check for leaks. They checked in the back yard and nothing. So this weekend they checked in the front yard and and found a leak. It was the realtor who had turned something on and since no one had lived there for a while until my daughter moved in, the leak wasn't discovered until she got the bill. She's going to talk to the realtor and tell him he needs to pay at least part of the bill since her bill has never been over $80.

Anyway, she's still getting the house set up from the move since they took about 3-4 months to move over and did it themselves with the help of her son. That saved them a great deal of money as moving companies are expensive.

She was lamenting that she has missed doing her mosaics for several months and I said the same thing to her—I'm greatly missing crafting. So Friday hubs helped me put up the table in there and unload a box or two so I could get the other boxes unpacked and get back to doing what I love.

I have several of these white hanging lamps around my office here and decided I wanted to paint them pink. Different colors of pink. Only 2 were hanging and the other 3 were just sitting on top of a bookshelf awaiting...well, awaiting this old lady to decide what to do with them. So yesterday while Love Bunny was at a model train meet I painted away. One of the pinks I used turned out to be way too pink/red so I went over it with white after it dried to try to tone it down a bit and it looks kind of marbeled. I like it but now I just have to figure out where to put them in this room. This was taken before I painted that one pink.

So was this one.

This is the small one in front of the closet after painting it.

This is the large one after painting it. I took off the rose that was on it and stuck in these 4 coffee filter ones that I made in it instead. They tend to tilt if the top has an uneven amount of roses on them.

The large one in the back is the one I painted pink and then white. It turned out rather well. These hanging lamps are so cheap at a party store that if I messed up it's only a couple of dollars and they really do jazz up a room.

Remember now, all of the above photos were taken at night. The ones below were taken in the morning with no lights on in that room. You can see I have to share this room, by choice actually, with our food storage. So it'll never be like one of those you see of serious crafters/designers. But it will look better when I get everything in place.

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Just a Little Story and More Romantic Rooms

We were burglarized twice when we lived in California. The first time we were gone and the burglar broke in and took the usual items he could get—television, tools, microwave. We didn't keep money in the house so he was out there.

But the second time we walked in on them. Love Bunny hit the first one in the head with a mug but still managed to run away and chased the second one down the street and preceded to try and kill him. ;-) Not really, but he hurt him severely. (You do NOT, and I mean NOT EVER, want to mess with a Marine, especially one who ran marathons!) And I identified the first one from a lineup in Alameda with a trip down the Nimitz Freeway in the back of a cop car going 100 MPH. I was clutching hubs' hand so hard he was in pain. I hate high speeds.

Anyway, it went to trial. Let me just say here real trials are NOT like they are on television. They are as boring as watching crops grow, except for grapes, which actually grow inches in a day. Trials seem to take years when you're a witness.

So we went to the Oakland Court House and were put in a room with no books (you'd better bring your own reading material) and 2 wood chairs. I sat there while the other witness, hubby, testified and he sat there while I'm testified. Boring!!!

When I was on the stand the defense attorney tried to trick me into contradicting myself by asking the same question over and over again in several different ways. At one point, I turned to the judge, a very patient, kind black man, and said, "Judge, he's asked me that already several times!" He smiled and just said to answer the question again. I then knew why it takes so long to get justice. After all that, before the jury even decided on a verdict, the two men pleaded guilty. I mean, I saw them and knew with no doubt whatsoever they were the ones. I guess they just wanted to stay out of jail a bit longer. Such is our justice system, which is better than any in the world, but still lacking.
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Okay, time to look at more beautiful rooms, cute vignettes and just all-around pretty things for a while.

This is a room I could quite easily live in. Love the arrangement of the sofas. If I had enough room I'd have 2 sofas facing each other. Oh, yesssss, I would!

Seeing colorful wash on the lines just makes me feel good. I remember hanging my daughter's and son's diapers on the line and then just sitting in the cool California grass with neighbors chatting while the laundry dried. No dryers for us in those days.

I saw this cute clock and tried to purchase one but they were all sold out.

A dream in white.

This almost looks pink, but it's the hue of the wood I think that gives it that pink glow.

I saw these on a woman's website and thought they were adorable. Unfortunately, she lives in another country and I couldn't understand how much they were but I may try and make one for myself. This woman is waaaaay talented!

Another darling kitchen in red and white.

This dining room is one I would love to have but those wicker chairs would have me falling all over the place trying to get in and out of them at the table. I do love this room though.

Yes, I know. It looks like it's somewhere in France or Italy and you want it. Trust me, you really wouldn't want to live in another country. I have a friend of a friend who is now living in England on a mission for our church. We skyped so we could talk about our genealogy programs. She enlightened me to some things about England. It seems they are taxed to death. Carol said it's easier to take a bus 2 miles than it is to drive the 2 miles. The gasoline is out-of-sight expensive. They also have to pay 200 pounds a year for a license just to watch television. That equates to $317.00 at the current exchange rate. That's a year. In addition to the other costs associated with watching television like electricity. Carol was telling me everything is so much higher than here. Homes and apartments are much smaller. They have a 2 bedroom apartment and it's terribly small. We won't even talk about the food. Or the fact that it's dark at 4:30 PM in the winter.

Another creative idea for cabinets and storage in the kitchen—tie on curtains.

Yeah, yeah, I know. But just think of the upkeep and humidity and bird droppings you'd have to clean up. ;-)

Just makes ya wanna smile, huh? :-)

Hubs and I were only yesterday talking about new pillow cases. He wants me to make some; I want to be lazy and buy some. After seeing these, I think I'll make some as cute as these.

My daughter had wisteria on an arbor several years ago. It took the arbor out of the ground. Wisteria is quite strong and can rot wood if left on there for a number of years. Actually, any window box made of wood can rot and cause rot on the house and termites can then get in your house. When we bought our first house, the inspector told us to take it off because of that and we certainly did. Our neighbors got termites but we never did.

We are always on the anvil; by trials God is shaping us for higher things.
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A Tip on Posting Blogs

I don't know about anyone else but I spend a fair amount of time on each post. I first add the photos, but I generally wait until something strikes me before I add the text for my posts. I'm very picky about what I blog about. I'm also very, very picky about how my blog appears to people. I want everything just so. I may let it just sit for a few days and sometimes weeks before I publish it. Here's how I do it and if it helps any of you then I'm happy to be of assistance.

I've noticed so many as I'm perusing Google Reader where there are huge gaps between the photos. That's because of people using the New editor on blogger. I would show you but I don't want to embarrass the bloggers who do it. The old editor is much more stable when writing your blog. So, I use the OLD editor.

As I said above, I put all the photos in first and then go back and add any text I might want. Sometimes I'm lazy and don't add much but sometimes I feel like being loquacious. But then I always, and I mean always, go back and check everything several times for typos. However, I still will find a typo even after all that. It can be frustrating sometimes. And I always, always put the text above the photo. I am nothing if not consistent! And the same amount of space between each photo and/or text.

But the very first thing I do is go to the Post Options and put in the last day of the year—12/31/2012 for this year. But if I'm posting in the latter part of this year, I'll put in 12/31/2013. Why? Because I've published a post before I wanted to publish it and once it's published, it's published. I learned that lesson early on when I clicked Publish Post when I meant to click Post Options inadvertently. Nothing like publishing a post meant for a holiday 3 months earlier than I meant to publish it. Generally, the last thing I do is give it a title.

I like Swedish colors and design but it's far from my favorite. It is a pretty design but too minimalistic for my tastes.

Come. Walk with me through this doorway and into a garden. That seems to be what the door is saying.

I absolutely love this effect. I wish I had stairs so I could do it, but maybe I could do it along a walkway or the back yard patio.

Enticing entryway.

I think this could be done for any day of the year, not just Christmas. It's delightful when you use just any kind of white or silver garland with everyday things.

This is a green and fuchsia crewel rug I am thinking of buying at World Market. I'm just not sure if it's feasible as it will be used in my kitchen. It's dry cleanable only. See what I mean. Oooh, my dilemmas. See what I mean. ;-)

What an elegant way to set a party table. You could do this with ribbon or scraps of torn fabrics. I love the look.

See, your laundry room doesn't have to be drab at all. This is quite adorable and very French looking.

This is my laundry room and different from any other in the state of Idaho I'm sure. ;-) I absolutely love going into this room. It's a walk-through from our garage into our hallway.

Charming chair in a charming vignette.

Charming stroll along these paths.

This is a striking example of what small dashes of color can do for a room.

Craft room we all would love to have ours look like.

I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect. This is absolutely true.
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