Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone enjoys a great holiday weekend filled with love, laughs, and good food.

And remember, try not to get hit in the face with a ham, y’all!

 

Monday Morning Mish Mash

1. This turned out to be an unexpectedly busy weekend. Friday, after spending the morning at work, and the afternoon hanging garland, lights, and decorations for a client, a friend of mine and I went out for a night on the town. While I did not drink myself into oblivion as I have done the past couple of times a night out has happened, I did stay out til four in the morning.

2. Saturday, after sleeping in til almost eleven, I had a salon day. The same friend I went out with recently told me that I looked “ancient” in bright light because the white hairs that keep mulitplying across my head are all the more obvious then. So, guess what, I don’t have any white hair now. (I’ll grow old gracefully as soon as I am ready, thank you very much.)

3. Sunday, I went to Atlanta to see two exhibits–Dialog in the Dark and The Bodies Exhibit.  Now I have seen the Bodies before…and expected it to be somewhat gory, but it wasn’t. It’s an amazing and very interesting look at real preserved human bodies. If you ever get a chance, go see it. It’s fascinating how many bits and parts we are made of. Dialog in the Dark was an hour long look at everyday life for a blind person. In total darkness, myself and seven others had to explore a park, cross a street, make purchases at a bar, grocery shop, and board a boat. Really gives you an appreciation for your sense of sight, and makes you marvel at what blind people go through. And our tour guide, herself visually impaired, sounded exactly like Wanda Sykes.

4. The Thanksgiving countdown is nearing zero. I’ll  be making the trek up to the mountains of West Virginia in a few days and have a full schedule of people to see and things to do. I get to meet (I hope) my middle brother’s new girlfriend. I’ve only met one other girl he has dated, and she was about as refined as a dump truck, so I’m anxious to see what the new gal is like. Looking forward to some good food! (And someone best have me a pecan pie at the ready.)

Monday Morning Mish-Mash (Again, on a Thursday Afternoon)

1. The visit with my folks went great–lots of good food and wine. Since they were visiting me, that meant my two brothers had the run of the house for the weekend. Lil’ brother texted me as the folks were on their way, reporting that Middle brother had already arranged for the circus midgets and that he would be picking up the strippers on his way home from college. Later that night, while the parents and I were having a case a glass of wine, I sent Lil’Brother a text asking “How are the strippers?” His reply had us all cracking up the rest of the weekend, and I have to record it here for posterity, even though I know most people reading this won’t find the humor in it that we did.

“Riddled with self-esteem issues.”  We were dying, but maybe you have to know him to “get it”.

2. And while I am talking about my family, I have to see if they are reading by offering a link to a website I am sure my stepmother will enjoy: FOR YOU, NON-CRAZY MAMA.

3. So now that the little house in the Vinyl Village is officially on the market (and, doubtless, just waiting for multiple above-asking offers), do I have to change the name of this blog? Tales from a Generously Borrowed Guest Suite, perhaps? Sex and the Suburbs (if I’m lucky…LOL!)?  As I think a little about dating again (is there a time frame one must follow? I mean, it’s not like I was widowed?) I remember some of the stories from the last time I was single—way back before everyone and their cleaning lady had a blog. At least this go around my dating misfortunes can entertain someone.

4. While most of my work is residential, in these tough times, we will design a damned dog house if someone will sign a contract. To that end, I’ve been working on a new store at the local mall. It will open after the first of the year. Now, I hate doing commercial work. The codes and bureaucracy are enough to choke a horse, and no one really cares about the product the way clients do when you are dealing with their home. But this one is particularly interesting, because the people who currently work in the space HAVE NO CLUE that their store is closing to make way for the one I am designing. So, site visits to verify the as-built conditions have been done under clandestine circumstances. First, in order to inspect the height we could take the ceiling to, my boss and I were introduced (in our work khakis and button-up shirts) as “Men here to check the heating system.” A second visit, to locate electrical service/outlets/etc. we were introduced to another soon-to-be-unemployed gal as “Guys here to conduct an insurance audit.” I detest such dishonesty.

5. And while I’m discussing work, tomorrow I’ve been invited back to an old client’s house to decorate it for Christmas. These are great clients. I decorated the house for him, designed a half million dollar renovation once he and the new Mrs. started a family, and now they’ve come to trust my opinion so much that they won’t hang so much as a new roll of toilet paper without my advice. Anything to make a few bucks for the holidays, I guess. It’s actually kind of rare that I do a house for people with kids still at home. Much of my work is retirement or second homes done for folks who are near retirement age. It’s always nice to do a house that kids will grow up in though…because I know it will get filled with a whole other kind of memories.

Monday Morning Mish Mash (on a Thursday afternoon)

1. It was a beautiful fall weekend here…temps in the high sixties, with skies as clear and blue as a bottle of Bombay Sapphire. I took advantage of this weather by planting pansies and doing some outside work at the house in the Vinyl Village–painting the trim around the front door, getting a coat of paint on the French doors, and scrubbing mildew off of the little white picket fence I’ve lived behind for the past four and half years. Last week, I spent an afternoon doing the sorts of things inside that they advise home sellers to do on HGTV–packing away personal photos, pulling up rugs to make rooms look larger, decluttering the kitchen. The little house in the Vinyl Village is ready for the market…not so sure I am.

2. My folks are coming down this weekend! Now those of you who read often will know that when I say “my folks” or “my parents” Im referring to my dad and stepmom. Crazy mama is, of course, a parent too, but we all know she is in a different category all together. They haven’t been down for a visit in a couple of years I think, but it will be a weekend of good food, good wine, and good company. Fortunately for me, they will leave having provided absolutely no blog fodder.

3. I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by…it seems like it was just a week or two ago that I was laying by the pool, and now we’re just a few weeks away from the holiday season. I know this because I’ve already started getting emails about the “War on Christmas!” (ugh…don’t get me started), the stores are already stocking Christmas merchandise, and a client has already booked me to come do up their house for the holidays. (Please, dear God, let me be rich enough to one day be able to hire a professional designer to come string lights and hang my stockings!) I was talking with a friend about how the holidays will be low-key this year. Seems like many people, if employed at all, are scared they won’t be much longer, or have taken salary cuts, etc. Are there ways you are scaling back your usual holiday giving and traditions this year?

4. And speaking of Christmas…I noticed several of my friends voted on a poll or signed a petition or something saying that the Obama White House should NOT call the Christmas tree a “Holiday tree”. Fine and good, except the whole thing smacked of falsehood and sensationalism. And…it was: Holiday Tree Hooey. And to that I say: