Thursday, January 25, 2007

Until the Mermaid Finds Her Way...

...or until a new inspiration hits... this will have to do. I'm kind of tired of trying to figure it out. Every day my husband comes home to a new mantel display. He misses out on the two or three variations that existed earlier in the day, and that's probably a good thing.

I like this though, I like the old family pewter (Frank's family's) and the way it shines. The sticks and seashells work well with it and the house and fireplace, and the peace bird is so... me. It adds a bit of whimsy to all of it - so it's not so old-fashioned and serious. I think I'll keep this for awhile.



The Sea

This is my beach. Actually, it's officially the dog beach, but whatever. I don't mind sharing it with the dogs at all.

sunshine in january

Monday, January 22, 2007

Mantel Woes

I loved my holiday mantel. Loved it. I loved my autumn mantel too with the gourds... and my summer mantel with the sea shells...

But what I really really want is an every-day type of mantel decor. Something simple. Something elegant yet casual and maybe even a little rustic. Something artsy. Unique.

Does such a thing exist? Not in my world. Not yet anyway.

I've got an idea. I want a mermaid. A folk art/primitive looking mermaid. On her side, on a stand. I want her to look a little like a ship's figurehead, very much like she was created by hand. She must be magical, above all else.

I'm having a hard time finding her, I'm not sure she exists anywhere other than in my head. Yet. I may have to make her. I'm thinking if there was some way to morph these two photos, I'd be close. Aside from that, I've got to either learn how to sculpt wood, or work with plaster. Or come up with about $6000 and hire the artist who created the girl in the garden below, Dinah Unruh, to make her for me. Or Jennifer Marlow maybe. Hmn... either way it's going to take awhile and my mantel is looking really... lonely and forelorn - no matter what I put up there.




ETA: Ok, wow, after doing a better google search for "mermaid figurehead" I'm finding a few more things...

Check this out - the carving of two ships figureheads from start to finish - wonderful!

And a nice old mermaid figurehead here.

Five Things



I've been tagged by Felicia at Homefront Insecurity to do this meme thing. Five things you probably don't know about me. Hmn.

1. I just spent every evening for the past two weeks catching up on two years worth of Grey's Anatomy. On DVD. I can't get their characters out of my head. I'm even hearing their voices. And I have to admit, I'm a little depressed that there's not more to be had.

2. Spiders make my heart stop. I just can't stand them, especially in the house. Or the car. Yes, I've been bit by a couple and know how much that hurts... but still, it's not a rational fear by any means. I've passed this fear on to Luke, unfortunately and today he made me kill a tiny little spider in the car. And then he joyously tortured me about a spider leg that had landed next to his seat. A hairy little spider leg.... eeeeeewwe.

3. Pie. I love pie. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, coconut pie, banana cream pie, berry pie. Pie. Yum.

4. Birds, bird nests and eggs, flowers, leaves, sticks, stones... these are treasures my heart craves more than diamonds and gold. Lucky for me, these things are way more plentiful and much easier to come by.

5. Magazines will probably be my downfall. It's an addiction worse than pie. Almost as bad as my starbucks habit. Certainly as expensive. I'm afraid, if I added up all the money I've spent on magazines in the past year, I could probably have new living room furniture instead. It's bad. I should stop, I really should, but I just can't.

Ok, if you are reading this, and you haven't been tagged yet, then I tag you!

Friday, January 19, 2007

Color

I'm picking out a color for the master bedroom. I have it narrowed down to these two, Ben Moore's Covington Blue on the left, or Homestead Green on the right. I'm leaning toward the one on the right.



I used the room painter tool at the sherwin williams site to see if I could get a feel for it before I painted the whole thing... came up with these - color is close but not exact, I like the green ceiling - but wonder if that would get old fast.



Thursday, January 11, 2007

Snow Day!

I'm loving all this white snow, blue sky and sunshine!





Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Exciting News!

Remember that cute little shed I posted about at the beginning of the year? Well, it's scheduled to be built February 8-9. I just can't stand the wait!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Ceilings

You know, it feels like a "duh" moment here... but I'll share anyway.

Yesterday I was paying bills. Our gas bill, which covers heating, hot water, dryer and two gas fireplace inserts... was huge. Gasp-out-loud HUGE. Bigger than it was, ever, last year with the old inefficient furnace and all that. It-doesn't-make-sense, kind of HUGE.

So I instant messaged Frank and told him the amount and I swear I could hear him gasp-out-loud all the way over at his office, four towns away. I told him I thought we needed to turn the heat down at night and really think about getting some sheetrock up and stop heating the attic.

No, I wasn't just finagling a way to get some sheetrock up, though I should have thought of it earlier!

So last night after we put the boy to bed, I come out to find him measuring sheetrock. YAY!!! Together we got some ceilings up, and now the house is closed off.

It's SO quiet. The wind... is muffled and not-so-scary-intense sounding. And I think.... yes... it's warmer in here.

So "duh" on us. We paid for it though, out the roof, as it were.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Not Done

But close. Hanging this is going to force me to take down the rest of the holiday ornaments, if nothing else.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Silence

There's wind and then there's WIND. The kind that sounds like a train headed right toward your house. Blowing right through your house. The kind that makes you sit up straight in bed from a sound dreaming sleep. The kind that blows the window open with a smash and a bang. The kind that tosses huge pine limbs around as if they were autumns leaves... dropping them who knows where. Well, some you know, because you can see the flash of transformers exploding just up the street and others you know have just crashed on the roof. But most, you can only wonder what damage they might be causing.

More shocking than the wind though, is that dead silence that wakes you up when the wind has moved on. When there is no electricity to cause your furnace to hum, or the clock to make it's faint buzz... it doesn't last long, because the dog starts snoring, but for that few seconds or minutes, it's too quiet to sleep, too quiet to get up. Too cold to get up, too. Sleep still doesn't come, because you are wondering what the damage is... but it's good, a relief, the adrenalin rush that has been the norm for the past several hours, even in sleep it seems, starts to fade and that buzzy feeling inside starts to go away, and no matter what the damage is, you and your family have made it through, again, and whatever the problem is outside... it's nothing that can't be fixed or replaced.

Too soon, dawn comes and it's time to see what all those bumps in the night really were... branches and tree limbs... all around your car, hanging in half your magnolia tree, on the roof, all around.... The worst of it, which is nothing really - NOTHING! is the smashed in windshield - easy to replace, not another dent to be found, not a hole in the roof, not a whole tree down on a house or a neighbor's house or car. Lucky again, really. And only half the time before power is restored, though cable takes yet another 12 hours to show up.

It's all good. Except, the wind is back, even though it's at half-force, and I'm really not ready for it again, so soon. It sets me on edge, makes me want to run away. A constant swoosh and swish in the background... making me yearn for that complete silence again... that calm and peace that I guess I will have to find elsewhere... turn the music up or do some yoga or get caught up creating something... something to get away from it, before it drives me completely crazy.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Painting

I've been painting, but not walls this time. I'd like to paint the bedroom, but Frank says to wait since he's planning on having the electrician replace the old wiring with the modern type - and it might mean opening some walls. This makes my skin crawl - I so don't want him messing with these nice wood walls. Oh well.

So instead I've been painting on canvas. Experimenting with texture mostly. Not sure what room these are for, but they will find a home.

Universe

Universe I

Universe II