Decorating – Puzzle I Am

Never even got one second glance

MRI/headaches: I should hear back today, hopefully, about my MRI appt date. There were some issues that’ve been fixed since, so there shouldn’t be any more hold up on getting that scheduled. I was doing okay for a while, only mild baby headaches every day. But the past few days, I’ve had bigger ones threatening. Not quite migraine level, but ones that are bad enough to be annoying as all hell.

Room: I bought new curtains. It’s amusing how much more “grown up” new curtains can make you feel. Granted, that’s likely because I was still a kid when I bought the old ones – and these are just beautiful. I found the curtains on JCPenney’s website, but oddly – the colors I bought are not listed. Since my room is going to be a sandy color, with reddish accents, I decided I wanted the curtains in the red as well, to help break up all the lightness. So, I went with the Kyoto panels in Red. They’re a truer red than the Claret shown on the site, and also slightly sheerer. Also, the images on the site depict the curtains hung by clips. They do have rod pockets as well, and that’s how I have them hung.

I’m not a fan of the scarf-type valances, so I opted for a different brand/style when it came to that. I went with the ascot valances of the Midnight Mist collection in Antique. Again, the color I bought isn’t shown on the site. Antique is somewhere between the Celadon and Natural colors they show online. Currently I have 5 of those valances and 3 Kyoto panels. I need to buy another panel, but I’ve got to wait until I get my pet sitting money first. 😉 I was going to take pictures of how it looks so far, but I kind of misplaced the cord to get the pictures off my camera. Oops.

Tuesday, I took one each of the valances and panels to Home Depot with me to color match them. That was how I discovered I’d accidentally bought 1 panel in claret, and the other 2 in red. That got exchanged yesterday to red, so now they’re all the same color. The color that came up as a match for the valance was Winter Garden. Amusingly, that’s the color I’d already 90% decided on using for the trim in my room (it was one of the colors in the paint kit I got last month.) While I was at it, I also bought a quart of the Seaside Sand paint to test out on my walls. I was highly disappointed in it. You could barely tell the difference between the Sand and the white primer. I know there’s always a variance between what shows on the paint sample and the actual color – but the paint on the wall isn’t even remotely close to the sample in terms of color depth. Oh well. Back to the drawing board while I try to find another paint. I still have to cover the rest of the walls in the primer anyway, so I’ve got a little time before I’m ready for the final color.

I’ve been doing a little shopping online for new curtain hardware and I found these curtain tie backs & matching curtain rod. Think I might just have to save up and buy those. Haha. I find it a little amusing, I’m not really a fan of the gold, but I’m really starting to like it as an accent in my room.

Diet: I’ve decided to start on a proper diet. I had just been “eating less” but that wasn’t working. Saturday I ran out of the last of my caffeine-free Pepsi. I had bought a Sam’s card the day before, so we went and bought a case of bottled water. So now I have officially completely given up soda, for the second time. Haha. But switching from soda to water will cut out a large number of empty calories, plus it’s better in me so many other ways. On Monday, I started drinking SlimFast shakes for breakfast and lunch, and a granola bar for lunch. I haven’t worked too hard yet on figuring out a “proper” dinner menu. Right now I’m just trying to clear out the rest of what’s in the pantry, then when it comes time to restock; better choices will be made there. Not to mention, I’m also struggling at the moment to make sure I’m getting at least the minimum number of calories recommended per day. So some nights I’ve been scrambling to find something else to eat to make sure I’ve had enough. That’s not something I’m used to. Haha. :-$

I’m also going to buy a mini fridge for my office here at work (the public ones are disgusting), and that will let me save some money by bringing my own water and SlimFast, as well as some fruit to snack on. I think in the end, my diet will be some kind of combo of SlimFast and South Beach. I’m not going to completely eliminate carbs, but I do eat too many of them, so I need to scale that back and make sure I get more protein. (I also need to pay close attention to my cholesterol, too.) I’ve been tracking all my food over at Fitday.com this week while I’m just starting out. I haven’t been on a scale since last week at the doctor’s office. I’m not going to yet, either. First I want to get my diet plan organized and properly underway. I’m supposed to go back to the doc in a month for med follow-up, and they’ll do my weight again then. That’s when I’ll start weighing myself at home on a regular basis.

100 Facts: Coming later. 😉 Haha. And yes, I do have one for today. As long as I can get it typed up before the oppressing heat gets to me. :-$

I could’ve sworn there was going to be something else to this entry… but I guess I was wrong. Oh well. If I remember it, I’ll write it up later.

ETA: Oh yes! I’ve got a music meme I’m supposed to be doing! Oops. :-$ That’s what the other thing is! I’ll have to get to that later, after I do today’s fact.

You don’t have to be picture perfect

Little by little, my room is becoming very vacant. I already did a ton of cleaning, going through boxes of crap and sorting out what I did and didn’t actually *need* a few months ago, prior to Emily’s visit. Now I’m going through the last remaining boxes, plus I’m moving all the furniture out of my bedroom and into the spare room. Eventually, everything will come out of my room so we can lay new flooring. But for now, I’m getting enough furniture out of the room so we don’t have to keep moving things around while we’re painting the ceiling and walls. It’s strange seeing my room emptied out little by little; but it’s also … invigorating. Freeing. So much baggage disappearing, that I didn’t even realise was there. I have a hunch I’m going to end up going through the boxes of things I kept yet again, likely trashing/donating/recycling even more. The less junk I have, the better, right?

Granted, we’re going to have to do the painting process all over again, possibly next year. Right now we’re getting the house fixed up, then we hope to move around the first of the year; if we’ve found a new house that we like in a good location. But, by then, I’ll know how much I like this new color scheme and if I want it in my new bedroom, or want to do something completely different. I have a hunch I’m going to keep it though. The Seaside Sand color does look a lot like sand, and reminds me of some incredibly happy times last year. Surrounding myself with things and colors that evoke happy memories is a good way to keep myself in good spirits. It’s one reason I have one of the paintings that was painted especially for me here at work, and the other just above my computer monitor at home.

And on a completely different note… over the last week, my bird has laid another clutch of eggs. Three of ’em, this time around. We thought we had removed the trigger. Apparently not. Now we have to figure out what’s in the cage or environment making her want to lay the eggs. Silly bird.

ETA: The bird laid yet another egg at 6:30 pm. That brings her total up to 6 eggs over the last few months.

Moonlight on canvas, midnight and wine

Brighten your spirits by livening up your surroundings. Sometimes you can curse the soul by means of the senses, and vice versa. Figure out what you can change, throw out, renew or purchase.

Funny that the above is my horoscope for yesterday. I’m in the middle of renovationg my bedroom, from the floor up. Well, technically, from the ceiling down, since we’re redoing the floors last, but either way, it’s going to be livened up. I’ve had the same Native American theme to my room for way too long, and I’m starting to get very bored with my mauve/grey/orange room. (Yes, mauve and orange can work together if you’ve got the right shades.) A couple of weeks ago, I ordered the Designer Combinations paint kits from Behr in their Eastern Fusion color scheme. I tested all but the New Brick out on my walls, and for the most part didn’t care for them. I don’t like that the paint samples they ship you are in flat – I prefer a semi gloss. It gives the room a little nicer look, plus it feels better to the touch. I don’t care for Winter Garden in the flat, but it would look nice in semi-gloss.

I finally decided that I’m going to use their Seaside Sand on my walls, with Winter Garden for the trim. I also got all inspired, and am using the New Brick to create my own art. I started last week, painting canvases with the New Brick as a base. I’m going to go back and use the Seaside Sand to paint the Chinese characters for various words (happiness, serenity, hope, love, etc) on the canvases. I’ve also got an idea for a larger canvas to take up most of one wall. I even know how to write my own name in Chinese for one of the canvases for a uniquely personal twist.

I’ve been feeling highly creative lately, and I fully blame that on Emily. I believe that the people around you can have an impact on your creativeness. For too long I was around people who used me, and sucked me dry of any creativity. Now that time’s passed, and I’m around her so much, I find myself inspired again, wanting to create. More specifically, wanting to paint, which is pretty much out of my league. I can do smaller projects like the paintings listed above, but anything with more detail (and that I can’t use a stencil for) I’d make an absolute mess of things. But I’ve got this deep-seeded need to try and experiment lately. I might. If for no other reason than to see how much of a mess I can make.