Just say "no can do."

Next time I consider volunteering for anything at all I hope I remember that I do not like being "behind the scenes." I like staying firmly in FRONT of the scenes where everything is clean, and easy, and sanitized for my protection.

Say Larry ....

Listening to Carrie Underwood's ballad of complete psychosis "Before He Cheats": "... I carved my name into his leather seats..." Kassie rolls her eyes and says all matter-of-fact "carved your own name? That's just stupid." (Pause ...) ... "I'd put "Larry."

Portrait of the Author ... in Squishiness

Here we have the ever popular "squish together for arms length self-portrait" photo of my son and I. This is because if I ask Mr. Wonderful to take a photo of us together he will heft up the camera, say "cheese" and inevitably take the WORST portrait ever . Bonus points if he can manage to add a couple of chins and flyaway hair for me and crazy eyes for the child. He also favors candids of me chewing or speaking with my mouth hanging wide open as if waiting to catch flies. Although, in his defense, chewing and speaking are default positions for me and it's probably difficult to catch me NOT doing one of those things.

Because I am a) a big sissy; b) lazy; c) both of the above, I tend to take on any new home decor or renovation project with enough trepidation that you would think I was considering adding a third child to the family, instead of just changing out the drapes.
Because I live in fear of painter's remorse (where you realize right after the first swipe of paint from a $30/gallon of paint that you have made a horrible mistake in your choice of hue), I tend to wallow in inactivity rather than just seizing the day - and paintbrush - and living large. I am also really tight with money to the point of squeaking and, as a result, tend to hate spending so much as a dime unless I am sure that I am saving 95-97% off retail and that the dime I do spend will result in million dollar rewards. So, as you can see, I don't ask for much. Just a freshening of paint, a few new knick-knacks, and a renewed outlook on life.

Spending far too much time on the internet pursuing decorating blogs has taught me the wisdom of creating "Vision Boards." Basically, this is artsy-fartsy speak for taking photos of the rooms, or pieces of rooms, that you like and throwing them all together in one big collage to get a "feel" for the overall look you like. I use Picasa, a free Google product, to organize photos and create these helpful little snippets of what I hope to find.

Below is a Vision Board thrown together from various sources to give an idea of the overlying theme that kept calling to me again and again when viewing catalogs and decorating blogs. I honestly had no idea until I gathered all these little pics in one place that I apparently really like the exact shade of blue-green Ball or Mason jars. Who knew?

Witness: One Vision Board



Witness: The Finished Product (minus the professional lighting). Below is our master bedroom properly outfitted via Vision Board inspiration and my rampant nerd love of all things thrifty and technological rolled int one.

Loner

We've been watching with great interest the former bat-cave that was the front eave of our home. One night 47 bats, the next, one.

One bat? Bats are not generally lone wolves. They prefer to live in colonies.

Leave it to me to be harboring a sort of Unabomber/Serial Killer of the species. I have visions of him living up there, plotting his revenge. The Lee Harvey Oswald of bat-dom.

Sweltering

Remember when Ohio wasn't hotter than the surface of the sun? Those were good times. 

Going Batty

 

No letters from PETA yet but I'm waiting for the indignant Letter to the Editor about how ignorant I am for not understanding how wonderful bats are. My response is that I DO understand that just as I know how crucial Honeybees are, but I don't want them nesting on my pillow either!