on my house (side note: it's simple, but I was very happy with a few installations of hooks in my shower, especially repurposing the failed sea turtle ukelele hook I 3D printed years ago into a razor holder - and the green and pink coordinates like Wicked were a happy accident). I sometimes joke that I work hard at DIY because I'm a princess and I want things exactly as I want them. DIY Princess - that might be a good title for my next design book.
Now, I am not usually a "me time" kind of person, nor do I usually enjoy spending time by myself. But after being ghosted by the latest potential match on the dating app, I am just so disheartened. I should also mention that Sam and I have rekindled a bit this month and I feel better than ever about our relationship. So while it's hard to be away from him, I'm honestly so into him that I'd rather be alone in between our visits than try to fill the gap with some local guy who just can't measure up to Sam.
To be fair, I did have a Thanksgiving day invite from a gentleman at work. We had been at a work happy hour the week before and I guess I must have said something about not having family here and not planning to go home for the holiday. I'm guessing he's a bachelor, too, by the way he phrased his invitation. Something like, "I was thinking I'd invite over people like you who don't have family to spend the holiday with; I could cook a turkey and make some sides and all of that. It may just end up being the two of us, though, I'm not sure who else might come." Is he interested in me? He's a nice enough guy I suppose, I don't really know him too well but when I hear him talk over the wall at work he sometimes makes me roll my eyes and other people have picked up on it and commented on it, too. And his stories just go on and on… yeah, probably best I don't give him hope or pursue anything with him, it would clearly only end in disaster and then awkwardness at work and work events.
Anyways, when I bought this house, I had christened it with the name of, "Just Ugly Enough" because it has good bones and a good structure, nothing structural really needed, but the color scheme is atrocious. That way, I don't feel bad splashing up my own, sometimes a bit "out there", color scheme. If it's all cosmetic work that's needed, then I can only improve upon it with some modern updates and fun colors. .jpg)
Contrast that with the very sexy modern house with the amazeball pool and hot tub in the backyard. I still dream about that pool, especially the feature where you can put a chair in the shallow end and sit in the pool without being in the pool. That was my first choice of house, although the commute was terrible, the cost was higher and I felt there was little I could do without taking away from the aesthetic, even though I wanted to. But oh, that pool. And I very much miss having a hot tub, especially now that the temperature has dropped from 80 down to 50 literally overnight.
Alright, so "Just Ugly Enough" has needed a redesign and I've been playing with color schemes since even before I officially owned the house and moved in. But I've not been fully satisfied and convinced of my designs in both the primary bedroom and the main family room, the two areas I want to attack first. The kitchen is meh but it's okay. It's the family room I've really wanted to do something with, and my primary bathroom, but without knowing what to do with the primary bedroom, I've been hesitant to start on the bathroom. I also started to realize how inundating a big paint project is and how little I actually enjoy painting. I could hire someone, but that takes effort too. And even if I hire someone, the decision still needs to be made what color to paint in. 
After hee-hawing for months, I finally decided to try to fit a close proximation of the color scheme I want to apply to the fireplace and built-in shelves and décor while keeping the main wall color the light boring beige that it already is. With that constraint in mind, I was able to come up with a design I was thrilled with. Oh yeah, I should mention, most of my winning designs and indeed the final design included painting my fireplace a nice shade of hot pink.
I slept on it for a few nights and then decided to commit to it. I put up painter's tape around the fireplace, and relocated the TV from its perch on the hearth. I pulled my paint color samples out and found the four best ones and put them on the fireplace to help me decide what exact color would work with the lighting in the room throughout the day. Having made my decision, I brought it to Home Depot the weekend before Thanksgiving and got a gallon mixed up. The name of the paint color was, "Invitation for a Princess." Using a roller, I painted the majority of the fireplace. But, brick is tricky and the mortar here is very deep, so I quickly realized I'd have to go over it all with a brush or small sponge to get all up in between the bricks.
Having painted just the first coat and not getting in the mortar yet, I sat down to watch some TV and admired the color - I was in love! Once I started filling in the mortar, having considered not filling it in or perhaps painting it a contrasting color like white or gray, I realized making it pink too was the right call, and loved it even more. With such a bright color, adding pattern would only make it too busy and painful to look at, I think. Now, with the very tall ceiling I have in the main room, and the fireplace going all the way to the top, I knew painting at height would be an annoying challenge. I have plenty of ladders, that's not the problem. In fact, the ladder I ended up using the most was the one I bought to finish up my water closet in the Palmdale house - just a straight telescoping ladder, nothing fancy. But it is tall! And also, terribly uncomfortable to stand on at length. Hence, it didn't take long for me to tire of painting while on the ladder, my back writing in pain.
Leading up to Thanksgiving, almost out of the blue I decided I wanted to make homeless care packages and hand them out as part of my way of focusing on gratitude. So I perused Amazon, first just searching for homeless care packages, which there were plenty but a lot of it was about warm stuff like gloves and emergency blankets and beanies. I mean, it does get chilly here but I didn't think that should be the focus of the kits I handed out. I did get some other ideas from that search, though, and ended up buying in bulk the following: draw string back packs (to hold the stuff), beef jerky packets, non-rinse bathing towelettes, and socks. Then I went to the store and bought Ritz with sectioned off sleeves and travel deodorants. I haven't been eating my protein bars lately in favor of lower carb foods, and seeing as they expired soon I thought those would be good to include. And I dug up my stash of hotel-provided mini soaps, lotions, shampoos, body washes and dental kits and mouthwashes.
As is so often the case, I may have been a bit ambitious with my holiday weekend. I had decided I also wanted to see the Wicked movie in the theater and wanted to get my pedicure and eyebrows did. Plus I wanted to do some programming, take a relaxing salt bath, practice my dance routine and workout, clean up around the house, finish packing for Italy and visit Old Chicago for lunch to have a cheat pizza I've been craving for three weeks.
Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I thought that I might even finish painting the pink, or Invitation for a Princess rather, on the fireplace while the stores were still closed, so I opted to throw a couple samples of the gray I wanted for the hearth and the mantle, made a decision on which one was the best and got a pint of it. This was all just in case I finished and needed the next paint job to keep myself busy.
I ended up working late Wednesday evening and didn't make time to assemble the homeless care packages, so I did that Thursday morning while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Then I took my extended glorious bath and booked tickets to see Wicked. I don't think I realized how long that film was - when I got out it was practically bed time but I hadn't yet distributed the homeless care packages. So I started driving towards the Stockyards and definitely came across a "target rich environment." I was nervous the first time I spotted a likely candidate and drove past, but convinced myself to turn around and get the nerves. I realized I felt better handing the bags out my passenger window - more distance and less ability for someone to grab me, for instance. Homeless people are associated with a high rate of mental illness and PTSD. Once I handed out a few bags, I found my confidence and was able to easily find more people to give the bags to, until I was all out. Even driving away I saw a couple more people whom I hadn't gotten to. I started thinking more about what else I should include in my next round - maybe ear coverings wouldn't be such a bad idea. I made a list on Amazon but it wouldn't deliver before my trip to Italy so I didn't purchase them (yet). But I did make up a few more bags with the remaining supplies I had already, and was able to hand those out today while I was driving around for various things.
All in all, it was a pretty good Thanksgiving. But I think today, Black Friday, has been even better. I can't quite put my finger on why. I made sure to exercise and practice my dance first thing this morning after leaving a check for the pool guy in our usual lock box - I felt so guilty I hadn't done it the prior weekend I was having dreams about it! Then I got to painting - finishing up as much as I could bare doing the mortar / cracks in between the bricks. It was exhausting. Satisfied with my progress, while not totally complete it was about as much as I could do without moving the ladder and I didn't want to introduce the possibility of getting paint on my wall.
Those activities complete, I decided it was time to reward myself with a pizza at Old Chicago and a pedi/eyebrow waxing. The timing was intentional for the latter to be close to the Italy trip so I'd look and feel as fresh as possible. Finally, an idea struck me to get my sis some get well stuff - rather than sending her a bulky package when she starts chemo. Instead, I decided to go with Massage Envy gifts cards. Naturally, then, that meant I also needed to stop somewhere and get a "get well" card. A Target was the first applicable store I saw - oh darn, I have to go to Target - and I got the cards, but David was so freaked out I had too.
Returning home, my recycling bins had been emptied, so I picked those up from the street. All in all, it was just a really good day for me. If only I could have more days off work with nowhere to go… kind of like an Invitation for a Princess.
Most people cannot afford to redecorate their homes for every change in season and for every special occasion. If there is one thing in the home you can customize for a big impact, it would be the centerpiece at your table, and centerpieces can be as creative as your imagination allows!
One piece every modern entertainer should own is a plain, clear, cylindrical vase. I would recommend one with a four to eight inch diameter, depending on the size of the table, and at least a foot tall. These are great because you can easily fill them with seasonal icons to make stunning holiday centerpieces. For
Halloween and Thanksgiving, you can fill them with small pumpkins, and for Christmas you can fill them with ornaments. For a baby shower, use rubber ducks or pacifiers. Small balloons can be used for birthday parties. There are dozens of objects that can work, but as a rule of thumb, stick to items that approximate a ball shape so the centerpiece is interesting from all angles. Three to twelve items of the same size, shape and theme are optimal, and should be big enough to almost fill the vase.
Using what you have around the house, a cluster of decorative items can be an inexpensive route to an expensive look. Place several candles in a circle on a decorative plate. A larger candle or a small vase with flowers can be placed in the center, or it can be left empty. For special occasions, a sprinkle of confetti can really bring the look home, or rose petals (real or fake) can be scattered underneath the candles, and even along the length of the table. Alternatively, as with fillers for the large vase, small pumpkins or Christmas ornaments can be placed on a decorative place surrounding a large candle as well.
Shabby chic centerpieces can be created with some paint and natural elements found outside. A shallow bowl of pine cones, for one idea, are great for the fall and winter holidays. Pine cones can be left alone, sprinkled with glitter, or painted in seasonal colors to match your holiday décor. For winter holidays, you might even try painting them white and sprinkling them with silver glitter, for example. Likewise, gathering twigs and spray painting them, setting them upright in a small vase can add a quirky, wild twist to the common centerpiece. If you have fruit that has fallen from your trees, instead of tossing them in the garbage, paint them in shiny metallic colors or bright summery colors to fit the occasion.
For wedding showers, reunions and birthday parties, photographs can be utilized in centerpieces. Consider making your own memo holder by partially straightening large paperclips and sticking the end into a piece of decorated Styrofoam. Or, print pictures on thin paper, wrap them on an empty food jar and make a paper mache collage.
Still not sure what to do? A trip to your local crafts store is a great source of inspiration, especially for seasonal events. Browse through the various sizes of vases, buckets and containers, and see what you can find to fill them with, from artificial flowers and plants to crystals, beads and feathers.
For more craft and design hacks, check out my book, Design Hacks for Disney Themed Rooms!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084H5SK33
I like to believe that there is no such thing as a bad day - that good and bad things happen every day, and that's just life, and deeming a day "good" or "bad" is all a matter of perspective and what you're focusing on. It's easy to have a "good day" when things are all going well; you finish a project and get recognized for your hard work, then an old friend emails you saying they are coming into town and you arrange a meeting to catch up, you get a free meal at Chipotle on your way home, your favorite show is on, etc. But when things get bumpy, when setback after setback and irritating things start creeping into your day, it can be hard not to think it's a "bad day". As much as I want to deny their existence, I think bad days can happen. But that doesn't mean you have to be angry or crabby or depressed, it just means you have to work a little harder to be grateful for the things that are going well and what you have in your life to be thankful for. It may sound bleak, but the reality is that things could always be much worse. Small things are nothing when big bad things happen.
I once thought I was having a bad day because my manager was getting on my case about a report and I didn't feel like I had been given enough time to really work it. It was frustrating, to be sure, because my manager should certainly know that I had had other priorities that demanded my attention, so I couldn't fathom why she was making a big deal about it. Then my colleague got news that her father had suddenly passed away. Those are two very different scenarios. I instantly felt more guilty than I've ever felt, for whining about such a little ordeal. I had lost my perspective.
I think it's safe to say that most bad days are not that traumatic; that is, most bad days do not involve the sudden, unexpected death of a close loved one. For those days, I really have no solution, because everybody deals with death differently and there is no amount of positive spin that can make it "a good day," in my opinion. But on bad days that are not as tragic, which should be most bad days, at the very least, you can say, "I'm alive and well, my family is alive and well, my friends are alive and well, and we're working through this thing called life."
In the summer before I started 8th grade, I made a promise to myself to never forget that I am loved. I've kept that promise ever since. It was a petty junior high romance gone bad at band camp that had developed into the bad day that led me to that moment, crying in the girl's bathroom at the band camp dance, when two girls whom I barely knew comforted me and made me feel better. I think that was a legitimate turning point in my attitude towards life, and I will never forget that feeling of being cared about when I thought (dramatically, as junior highers do) that all was lost. Looking back on it now, it was a silly situation to cry over, but that promise was more profound and mature than I realized then. Since then, when I felt lonely, I reminded myself that my family loved me. When my heart was broken, I surrounded myself with friends who cared. I have never let myself think for a millisecond that I am not loved, because I know I am.
In the last year or so, I can't even remember particularly when it was, I had somehow managed to injure myself so severely that I could barely walk, I couldn't bend at the waist at all, and all forms of movement caused searing pain. It was horrible. I remember thinking that this is only partially what it would feel like to be paralyzed. I made light of it by telling people how I had to put my pants on lying in bed, throwing my pants up in the air until I could catch them on my feet, and then work them down my leg. But it was just awful. I sat on ice and heat whenever I could to heal, but everything hurt all the time and life was very difficult. Getting into my car was the most excruciating thing I had to do each day. It was only slightly easier for me to get into the passenger side of a car, so I made Jaiman drive me everywhere we went together during that time. I ended up healing just fine, and since then, I have a new and profound appreciation for my fitness and my ability to move and dance freely. I am not the most fit, to be sure, and not the best dancer, but I can usually move as needed and desired, and when I am sore it's because I've been moving, and I am grateful for that.
I got an early start on the Thankful blog I was planning to do tomorrow, because today was one of those days that I needed it. I had taken a vacation day, and as is all too often the case with me, my to do list outweighed both the time I had and the energy and motivation I had. Still, I wanted to get things done. I got up to 25,000 words on my nanowrimo novel, although today was the deadline to get to 50,000 words. Ah well, 25,000 words is still an accomplishment, it's 25,000 more words than I would have written on my novel if I hadn't tried.
I took a break from writing to check my work email, just to see if there were any catastrophes I could potentially resolve - this was around 1 pm. The first thing that caught my eye was a MANDATORY meeting - yes in all caps - from my new VP, regarding the transition I've been stressed about the last couple weeks. And it was at 10 am. I looked for a reschedule notification, and there was none. Didn't he see that I was on vacation? I looked for a recap of what was said, and there was none. I checked the attendance list, hoping to at least see my production steering counterpart on there, because I knew he was also on vacation, so at least I wouldn't have been the only one that missed the meeting. But he was not on there. I guess it's not a catastrophe, but not being in the room when my senior leaders are discussing my product line and my project just seems very bad.
Throughout the day, my phone has been running terribly slow. Tmobile had pushed a new update and it caused the whole system to run like garbage. This may be the most frustrating thing at all, because there is literally nothing I can think to do except go to Tmobile and demand they fix it, which they won't. I tried to send a message to my sister in response to a question she asked, and it took over an hour to send. Then it took me another 15 minutes to type out an apology that my phone wasn't working and I couldn't communicate right now as a result. It nearly crashed as I tried to end the message with a period, so I hit send really quickly before it crashed.
I had asked Jaiman to see if he could get the plastic to feed into my new 3D printer, and he figured it out - the directions were wrong. Leave it to a man to do the opposite of the incorrect directions and solve the problem. I am grateful for that. But then, after spending quite some time taping up the table of the printer, a belt snapped and my attempts at repairing it lead to complete disaster, cutting right through the nicely laid tape.
So, I moved on to another project - putting up the Christmas tree. This is one of those annual projects that I always kind of dread, but I'm glad when it's done because I so love Christmas and nothing is better this time of year than a lit up and decorated Christmas tree. It's nice to have help fluffing the branches, but I knew Jaiman likes it even less than I do, so I went ahead and worked all three pieces while he was at work. Feeling accomplished, a got the base set up and the bottom section in, and plugged that puppy in. Of course, more than half the lights didn't light up. I was prepared, though, with my handy little Christmas light repair tool I had bought a couple years ago. It had solved my problems before, and it could surely save me this time. But, I tried and tried and could not find the busted bulb. I scooched around the tree several times, with no luck. I gave myself until 5 pm, at which point I decided that I needed to go to It's Sugar to try to get the special Japanese Kit Kats I wanted to bring in to work for food day, get cash for my Gypsy Jitterbugs dues, and then head to practice. So at 5, I called it quits, having had no success at all on the lighting, and now having three large sections of Christmas tree hogging the floor of my front room.
As I was about to leave, I noticed that my debit card was not in my phone case. The case had loosened up in recent weeks, so the cards were slipping out from time to time. This set me on a mad hunt around my house to find my debit card. Why did it have to be THAT card? I could live without one of my credit cards, but it's hard to pay dues when I have no money and no means of getting it. Finally, I found it and left, slightly later than I wanted to be leaving.
There was a line 5 deep at the drive through ATM, so I drove around and parked. Both walk-up ATMs had lines of two each, but I figured it would still go faster than waiting in the car. I got in line, got my money and headed to the store. I got the Kit Kats, but they were a little pricier than I expected. Ah well, now is not the time to be cheap, right? I got to dance practice right on time. Dance went well, and I headed home.
I should add that I had also seen the wreckage of a terrible accident on my way home - it appears a van had T-boned an ambulance, and both were smoking and severely damaged. The van was on its side and just completely crushed. Glass was everywhere. People were on the side of the street, one was crying with her head in her hands. It was really ugly. I made it home safely, and for that, I am thankful. I am so weary of the dangers of driving, that I should be thankful every time I get anywhere without crashing and especially without dying.
But, I wasn't feeling very grateful. I was feeling sorry for myself, now with a 3D printer I'm fed up with, a Christmas tree I'm fed up with, a phone that doesn't operate, laundry to do and an unknown situation to walk into at work tomorrow. Not to mention that I had wanted to walk Carly, which I hadn't, and clean the kitchen, which was still a mess, and a few other things that deep down I probably knew wouldn't get done when I put them on my list to begin with.
So, I needed some perspective. My house is messy, but I have a house. My 3D printer is not up and running yet, but I am an early adopter and this is to be expected, some day I'll chalk it up to experience and have great war stories to tell about the early days of 3D printing. My work is frustrating and tense, but I have a great job, I like my colleagues and my managers. I have a boyfriend who can help me troubleshoot things, a family that loves me, great friends who care, a cool car, some fantastic Christmas decorations, and I can dance. These things are what matter. I won't look back on today and think, "Stupid Christmas lights!" I'll think back on today and remember the words I wrote, the efforts I made, the dance I did, and the people and things in my life that make it interesting. These things are only difficult now because they are things that I have and care about.
It's a little like how the people you care about most have the biggest capacity to hurt you or let you down. My "bad day" wasn't really bad, if I didn't have a phone, a Christmas tree, a 3D printer, and a half-written novel, I'm not sure what I would have done with myself today. I'd be bored, and certainly that would be worse than getting frustrated at these fun things. And if I didn't have a job, I'd be in a lot worse situation. So I am thankful for perspective.
on my house (side note: it's simple, but I was very happy with a few installations of hooks in my shower, especially repurposing the failed sea turtle ukelele hook I 3D printed years ago into a razor holder - and the green and pink coordinates like Wicked were a happy accident). I sometimes joke that I work hard at DIY because I'm a princess and I want things exactly as I want them. DIY Princess - that might be a good title for my next design book..jpg)
Contrast that with the very sexy modern house with the amazeball pool and hot tub in the backyard. I still dream about that pool, especially the feature where you can put a chair in the shallow end and sit in the pool without being in the pool. That was my first choice of house, although the commute was terrible, the cost was higher and I felt there was little I could do without taking away from the aesthetic, even though I wanted to. But oh, that pool. And I very much miss having a hot tub, especially now that the temperature has dropped from 80 down to 50 literally overnight. 
After hee-hawing for months, I finally decided to try to fit a close proximation of the color scheme I want to apply to the fireplace and built-in shelves and décor while keeping the main wall color the light boring beige that it already is. With that constraint in mind, I was able to come up with a design I was thrilled with. Oh yeah, I should mention, most of my winning designs and indeed the final design included painting my fireplace a nice shade of hot pink. 
