I've Been Tagged!

I've been tagged by Sandra at Canyon Wren Cottage, and I have to tell you seven random or weird things about me.  (Why is my brain conjuring up visions of wild animals being caught by zoologists and getting plastic tags stapled to their ears?)  By now, most of you already know how random and weird I am, so I'm not so sure this will be all that revealing, but here goes:

1. When I was a little girl, I could see people's auras.  Every one was different.  Some were rainbow-y, and some were more solid colors.  I'm not sure when I stopped seeing them.  Maybe it's when I stopped looking? 
2. Speaking of psychic stuff, three days before my sister's death, I had a premonition about the car crash in a dream.  Scary, man.  (This was 21 years ago.  God, has it really been that long?!)  I will also say that in grieving the death of my sister, I believe I learned more about what is important in life than I ever would have otherwise.
3. Since I'm on a roll about psychic stuff, I will share with you that I had a reading today from a locally famous psychic, Ann Fisher.  It was at my friend Kim's 40th birthday party, and Ann was there all day to give readings.  It was interesting, but I wouldn't say she told me anything I didn't already know myself. 
4. I'm not sure who said it first, but I believe this thought to be so true:  To have a child is to decide forever to have your heart walking around outside your body.  I can't imagine loving anyone more than I love my daughter.  I thank God for her every day.
5. I need my alone time as much as I need to be social.  I love to go to parties, and hang out with friends.  People interest me.  But I also need to have a certain amount of time alone each day, or I can get pretty cranky. 
6. I was painfully shy as a young girl.  Go figure.
7. I can't really think of a number 7 right now, so I'll just say here that I can't WAIT til Thursday.  Why, you ask?  The vice presidential debate, that's why!  *rubbing my hands together with glee*....oh, it's going to be SILLY fun!  (Don't worry...I'm never going to get political on my blog.  We are all entitled to our opinions, and we should keep 'em to ourselves...lol.  

Now I'm going to have to tag 7 more people?!  *sigh*  I'll come back for that later...too much work at 11pm.

This Just In...

Kathleen won the election. Meet the new Vice President of Student Council! She's a happy camper. Their first meeting is Wednesday.

And in other news....

The above is just a sneak peek at a client's home. He has a TON of panels set into oak (in one room) and mahogany (in another) that need to be upholstered with tapestry like the piece above, which is in his dining room. This house is beyond incredible. I couldn't get over it. Look at that plaster ceiling! The whole house is filled with carved wood and gorgeous moldings everywhere. I can't wait to find just the right fabrics and wallpapers for him!!

That's it from me for now. Nothing profound today. I have some sewing to do!

Bread Pudding (or How I'm Becoming a Domestic Goddess)

Last night, after grilling a nice London Broil and making Crash Hot Potatoes to go with it (thank you, Christy, for pointing me to that recipe!  Yum!), I was faced with the clear plastic container on the counter, which contained three apple cider donuts, sadly left adrift because they were no longer fresh.   Normally, I would have thrown them away.  But with groceries costing me an arm and a leg these days, I wanted to do something with them.  Enter my friend Kelly (remember Crazy Town?) and her recipe for bread pudding.  I broke up those donuts, added a week-old sandwich roll, and got down to business.  I scalded my milk, butter, and sugar, whisked together my eggs, salt, and vanilla, mixed it all together, poured it over the old stuff, sprinkled it with cinnamon, threw it in the oven and a half hour later, voila!  Dessert!  Breakfast!  Snack!   Both Kathleen and BF looked at it with crunched up noses and wouldn't even try it.  I guess it's ALL MINE then, eh?  Brats.  Both of 'em.  Not just my kid.
Speaking of brats, would you just look at Tess?  Is she not the cutest EVER with her little paws up over her eyes?  I like that she's perched on a box labeled "Fragile", too.  I brought some more boxes in from the garage....kitchen stuff, I hope.  I'm missing all sorts of casserole dishes and other bakeware.  I'm sure it's in these boxes somewhere.  Now I just need to unpack them!

Nighttime in the country

At first I think it is the heavy silence that may have awakened me on this chilly autumn night.  But as I lay perfectly still, watching pale blue shadaws linger in the glow from my clock, I hear a distinct crunching noise.  This sound brings me back to my childhood in New Baltimore, where the mice seemed to be chewing through the walls just to get to me in my bed every night--especially the first cold evenings of fall like tonight!  

And as I lay there, hearing the soft breathing of BF (finally home from 10 days in Texas) next to me, I slowly come awake, and realize that the chewing is one of my silly cats, down in the basement (I'm guessing Tess), who has decided to maker her presence known.  But I'm no softy. No sir-ee.  They're both staying down there until 6am.  I can't have them scratching at my door at 4 am.  Nope.  They're just going to have to scratch at the FLOOR. Urgh.  

Actually, the noise has completely stopped since I came out here to the couch to write this.  Now I hear nothing.  And when I say nothing, I mean NOTHING.   No traffic, no birds, no furnace (not on yet), no trains in the distance.  It's unusually quiet here, except for the chittering of my fingers on the keys, and the whir of the laptop fan when I stop typing.  It's nighttime in the country.  Peace.

She's Hooked!

I have been awarded this little "prize" by my friend Sandra at Canyon Wren Cottage, because apparently she's a HUGE fan of my yammerings and braggeryness (<--yes, it's a word...I made it up myself!) .    The award originally comes (in a roundabout way, of course) from Hooked on Houses, which I'm now going to have to add to my already ridiculously long list of hot spots on Google Reader.  Clearly I need to spend more time on this box.  Um.  Yeah.

So thanks, Sandra!  And now it's my turn to pass you all on to five of my favorite "hang" spots on the bloggery web (yeah, same as above with "bloggery"....it's my word.).  Now this was tough, because, well, Sandra already stole like three of my fav's, so I'm going to try and be original here, and give you something new to look at.

1. The Midnight Garden  ~  The author of this blog is an old college friend of mine, who happens to be a great photographer, and lover of all things beautiful and alive.  Flowers are his specialty.  (Love ya', Greg!)
2. The Devine Life ~ This is textile designer Michael Devine's blog, which I just discovered after a recent visit with him at his awesome shop in Kinderhook, NY.  He even gave me a little tour through his back garden!  Anyway, he hobnobs with the glitterati of the design world, so I visit his blog to live vicariously.  (P.S.  If you do a search in my blog for his name, you can see some pics of his shop that I took last year before Christmas--or I could do that and come back here and link to it.  Um.  Nah.  You do it.).
3. Project Rungay ~ Are you snarky?  Do you love snarkyness?  I am!  I do!  So that's why I read this blog about the latest episodes of Project Runway, which happens to be my latest vice (yeah, ok, ONE of my vices...geesh).  I love that show.  For real.  
4. Renovation Therapy ~  Another fairly recently discovered blog is authored by a literary agent named Jean, who happens to be renovating a house in Hudson, NY on the weekends, while living in NYC during the week. ( At least, I'm pretty sure she lives in NYC during the week.)  And she does weird stuff like paint chandeliers all one color with spray paint, and make her own ironing board--(you know--stuff that I would do!  So I like her! :) )
5. Sweet } Salty ~ The young woman who writes this blog is a genius.  A genius with words, and "seeing."  By "seeing"  I mean she SEES life, and FEELS it, and manages to convey it with the most amazing beauty.  (She needs to write a book.)  When I found her blog by a confounderance (yep--invented it myself) of bloggeryness, I read back about a year, and cried for hours.  So bring your box of tissues, and read about her life.    

Phew!  That list took forever to compile and link up.  Now go read!  YOU need to spend more time on YOUR box too!!  It's good for your eyes!  And your health!   Mmmm hmmm.

Another Vice Presidential Candidate

Hee!  How's that for a campaign photo?   Kathleen's running for Vice President of the Student Council this year.  BRAG ALERT>>>PROCEED WITH CAUTION: She is really blossoming in eighth grade--trying out for drama club (they're doing Mulan, and it looks like she might be a real contender!), being selected for the all county band (only 3 eighth graders got chosen...the rest are in high school),  running for VP of student council, and going to football games and getting involved in more student/social stuff.  She seems really happy, which of course makes Momma happy!  And of course so far so good on the grades!  She's a serious student (unlike her mother.....I was such a slacker....I have to laugh when I compare).

Tonight was parents night at the school, and for once, I'm impressed with all of her teachers!  They actually sound smart and serious and dedicated (aside from the new phys. ed. guy, who was just a joke....SO young, and SO full of himself....I was smirking during his whole schpiel...no WONder he's rubbing Kathleen the wrong way!--figuratively speaking, of course...ugh...lol).   

Sorry this was all about Tat, but I can't help it!  I'm proud!  :) 

The Moon Tonight

Shadows and Light

The sun was shining through the leaves and branches outside, and through the wavy old glass on my windowpanes this morning, and making a pretty picture on my wall.  It only lasted about 5 minutes until the sun was on its way moving through the sky and shining into other windows of the house.  I'm glad I captured it!

Wood's End Cottage

This was Saturday's find at Goodwill in Hudson, NY.  $4.99.  What the heck All Star is supposed to mean, I'll never know.  And I don't care.  I'm paintin' it!
When I bought my house and showed pictures of it to my (invisible) friends, my buddy Sally (Sal-pal) from Alabama told me it needed a name.  And she said it as if that was the FIRST thing I should have thought of, too.  Well, I had never HAD a place to name before, but I think I did OK with this one.  "Wood" is the name of the road I live on, and I'm at the end, so....the name sort of wrote itself, don't you think?


I broke out the paints yesterday and went to town.  I even painted my name on my mailbox (after painting OVER the previous owner's name).  Now it's MY house.  :)

P.S. Speaking of Google

Have y'all downloaded Google's new web browser yet?  It came out on Tuesday.  It's called "Chrome."  I like the interface a lot, but I'm finding that some of the blog widgets don't show properly, and when I scroll down a page, I can't scroll back up with my touchpad on my laptop.  I have to use the scroll bar on the right instead.  I haven't tried it on my desktop yet (you know--with a mouse), but I'd love to know your experiences, too.  I'm still figuring out all of its features, but so far I'm liking the bookmarks, the way the tabs work, and the overall speed of it.  So if you haven't downloaded it yet, get to it!  

Google Chrome

Stairs Before and After

Almost every bit of wood in this house was stained when we moved in.  Oh MY what a job it was to paint it.  These stairs (and all the doors to the bedrooms and closets) took three coats of primer, and three to four coats of paint to cover.  Helllooooo!  (I spent 12 straight days just painting before we came over for real.)  How 'bout those pink hall walls with burgundy trim?  Eeeew!

I found these scary before pictures on my computer today, and then I discovered that Picasa has upgraded to Picasa 3.0...lol...so of course I downloaded it, and looky there--new collages!  It does all sorts of other good stuff too, so do check it out and download it.  You don't even have to uninstall your old Picasa.  Boo ya!  Have I mentioned lately that I heart Google?  :)

Oh, and the floors upstairs were (are) all rubber tile, which I painted with dark brown deck paint.  Two coats on those, and I couldn't believe how great they came out!
Linda (from Lime in the Coconut) had suggested that I stencil numbers on the risers in black.  This was, of course, to dissuade me from putting zebra carpeting on them.  I'm mulling the numbers idea over, because I think it would be just quirky enough for me, and easy to undo if I hated it.  What do you think?
This last shot shows the brown floors really well, and also the final wall color, which is sort of a creamy yellow.  I could use a pretty window treatment here, as it's all quite boring.  I'm also mulling around the idea of what art to put on the walls.  Hmmmm.....

Getaway Drive

I drove and just kept on driving the other day, and ended up in Windham, NY, which is about an hour from my house. We've had gorgeous weather here lately, and I just couldn't resist taking the time to give myself a mini getaway. It was relaxing, and somewhat head-clearing, which is a good thing.

First Day of Eighth Grade

"Slipping Through My Fingers"
(Mama Mia soundtrack)

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn't
And why I just don't know
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers...
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile...

Kathleen and I saw Mama Mia on Monday. We both cried our eyes out when they were singing "Slipping Through My Fingers." *sigh* Being a mom is hard.

Just One of Those Days