How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Some work, some play, some friends & family, some food. All good stuff. Here's a recap.

Sunday through Wednesday noon - see entry re our Third Annual Excellent Vacation with the boys.

Thursday afternoon Steve and I went to see Cinderella Man.

Friday we went to The Lumberyard Grill in Canandaigua for lunch with Steve's best friend from high school who was in town from California with his wife for their 30th high school reunion. (Steve didn't go to any of the reunion activities, "not his thing".)

Saturday was jam packed - grocery shopped early, made macaroni salad and a chocolate cake. Went to Nantz's daughter's graduation party, about 30 minutes away. Got home in time to run the vacuum before Steve's Boulder, CO sister, his mother and brother & sister-in-law, came over for dinner. I simmered 3 containers of Lloyd's BBQ Shredded Chicken in the crockpot and they all brought stuff too. I cleaned up the kitchen around 9:00 while Steve packed for his trip.

Rather spur of the moment, Steve decided to go with Lizz to Indiana to apply at a college and secure an apartment so they left Sunday morning. It was then that I got it in my head to paint our bedroom that day. It had been my #1 goal for my week off and I wasn't feeling very happy about not having had time to do it yet. This would be great - no interruptions for such frivolities such as cooking dinner and it would be fun to surprise Steve. I like to paint and he doesn't so it would be nice for him to experience a "new room" without having to live through the inconvenience of things moved around. (Note to self: probably ought to turn off the lights before undressing in a room with no blinds or shades. Per the neighbors' request.)

I told Gretchen I was going to do it in one day, "just like they do on HGTV". She tried to tell me some malarkey about those shows have teams of people doing the projects not just the two people you see on screen. She's such a kidder, isn't she?

Okay, so it took me two whole days, like until 10:00 pm each night. I have yet to paint the woodwork around the doors, but then I'll be done. I don't know what got into me - it was like I had an amphetamine IV drip. I was a mad woman. I was so bone tired by the end of each day but I couldn't unwind enough to get to sleep. Knowing I had to go to work on Tuesday, Simon kept checking up on me Monday night. "Mom - go to bed! You should be asleep by now. Look - Reggi is waiting for you to go to bed. You can't sleep until noon like I can!"

But I put the room back together Monday night, even hung pictures! I want a black dust ruffle so I'm going to try dying the white one we've been using. I've got nothing to lose except for the $1.49 x 2 for the boxes of RIT dye. I started looking for a real Amish quilt I bought years ago that would be perfect for the big wall. I have no recollection of seeing it for a while - Gretchen, do you have it, by chance? I bought it in PA on one of my vacations there with Lee 20 years ago. I paid $250 for it because I was determined to own an authentic Amish quilt. Because it was so expensive, it's not likely I gave it away during one of my purge-fests. I was very into quilting at the time and knew $250 was a lot of money for such a small quilt. Now I think it's ridiculous and would never spend that much on a small quilt, I don't care if God himself quilted it. I'm going to look for it again this weekend, more carefully. Plan B is I'll make one. I know that sounds ridiculous with the card business suffering from my recent painting binges and the needlework piece I'm working on but it would be fun! Maybe that would be a January project. Yeah, that's it!

While Steve was in Indiana, I emailed him a picture of the room. Lizz emailed me that Steve was wondering what the big deal was, other than a coat of paint. Then they saw the picture and realized how different it looked. They both loved it when they saw it. Steve gushed appropriately several times last night, which is always nice.

Here are the before shots of the bedroom:

Boring white walls with a southwest wallpaper border along two walls.

Color! Now that's what I'm talking about! I also moved the bed to a shorter wall. I bought that new comforter at Linens 'n' Things for 50% off! It was not in the $250 Liz Claiborne section, I can tell you that. It's sort of "suede", which means even more dog & cat hair than usual will stick to it, I'm sure. (We move Reggi's dog bed to the floor at night and she sleeps on it like a good girl. During the day we put it on the bed so she can be comfy and look out the windows easily. Spoil 'em much? Who us?)

We've never had a headboard so I'm hoping this "anchors" the bed a bit better. I may also end up buying two more pillows and buying or making pillow shams to make it look better. Confession: I've never owned pillow shams before!

I installed those black floating shelves all by myself. They are level and even and attached to studs. I'm quite proud. Those are new lamps I bought at Ikea a year or two ago. We had less than adequate reading light previously so I think this will work out nicely.

This is Steve's nicely decluttered dresser. That's the wall our bed used to be against that is crying out for the Amish quilt. I so deeply despise naked walls that I'm not sure I can wait until I make one. It's just been a few days and I'm antsy!

I removed a quilt rack from this corner. (That's the mirrored closet door to the right of the plant. The plant had been in the living room (from a cutting from an office plant a couple of years ago). It sits on a chair my dad made for Simon as a wee one (along with a table and a second chair). That picture used to hang in the bathroom. The basket was in a box of stuff I was going to Freecycle - it's perfect here. I had my own little Design Remix going! There's stuff on those black shelves that used to live in other rooms. I love when I can do that because then I enjoy stuff all over again that I had been getting bored with in the same old spot.

I bought that dresser for $50 at a garage sale when I was 18 or so. I was going to refinish it but only got the drawers done when I decided it was toooo much work. I always felt bad about that but someone (Gretchen?) told me it looks good like this. I really hadn't believed that until I see this photo. There is a mirror that goes on top that I took off for the first time ever - and I love it like this now - no longer bored with it. That's a cross-stitch piece that I made for Simon when he arrived from Korea.

Simon

Once there were two women who never knew each other. One you do not remember, the other you call mother.

Two different lives shaped to make yours one. One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.

The first gave you life, and the second taught you to live in it. The first gave you the need for love, and the second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name. One gave you the seed of talent. The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotion. The other calmed your fears. One saw your first sweet smile. The other dried your tears.

One gave you up, it was all that she could do. The other hoped for a child, and was led straight to you.

And now you ask me through your tears, the age-old question through the years. Heredity or environment - which are you the product of?

Neither my darling, neither - just two different kinds of love.

I've told this story before but when I picked this up at Golden Thread Needlearts, after it was framed, the women who work there had it behind the counter and had tears in their eyes when they gave it to me. I still remember that.

On the back of it I wrote:

Simon - Happy 1 year anniversary - we love you very much.
Mommy & Daddy, April 16, 1989