. It’s Decorating Month. Because we don’t have enough to think about.
I’ve decorated my bedroom in used clothing, a wide assortment of Dove chocolates, empty Diet Coke cans, a laptop, an iPad, a cellphone, and three dogs. It’s the I-May-Be-Losing-My-Mind style. I did change the sheets this week, so I feel I’ve done my part.
It’s also Adopt a Ferret Month, so you know, you have choices.
In the antipodes 25 April is ANZAC day, the day we remember the first campaign in WW1 that lead to severe causalities for the joint Australian/New Zealand Army Corps, and all those who have served since. Also, why war is, in general, a terrible idea.
Today, commemorative events were cancelled for the first time in 102 years. Instead, people decorated – poppies in front windows replacing last week’s coloured in Easter eggs, (our Prime Minister shared the colouring in picture to create a national Easter egg hunt, which replaced in their turn the teddy bears), and stood on the street outside our houses at dawn. My 10yo has been practicing the Last Post – he wobbled a bit, but here he is in his scouts uniform with his trumpet. I was quite proud.
https://youtu.be/X56k9SCh9M0.
Allanah, that is excellent. Please tell him he made an Aussie smile. š
I missed the dawn service because I haven’t been sleeping properly, but it was incredibly strange watching the later service on TV instead of going down to the war memorial. Today I honoured one great grandfather, four grandparents, five great uncles, two uncles, and four cousins who have served. Lest We Forget.
Oh, he’s great. You’re right to be proud.
Oh, that’s perfect! Well done mum! Thanks to him for a surfeit of emotion.
That was wonderful. He did a great job. Thank you for sharing.
He was awesome. What a cool thing to do, and an excellent value for him to acquire.
Not sure where to post this, but I was hoping to find the Liz Danger series. Seems like not only is it out-of-print, but it’s impossible to find either the books or the CDs (or an MP3/Kindle version). Is there any possibility of this series being reissued? Plea(eeeeaaaa) se. (whine) (beg) (puppy eyes)
It’s not finished yet. I have a lot of it done, and the my life went sideways. Stay tuned. (Don’t hold your breath, though.)
We’ve been having both, a good and difficult time of it here in SA. I’d think decor would be sanitising of many places that need it.
I gotta share my tweets because as complex as politics is, our President and ministers are doing a pretty good job so far. https://twitter.com/SarahV2K/status/1253409606962868224?s=20
Pres fumbled putting on his mask and SA twitter went off. It was humour in a dark time. Second tweet in the thread is Mr Ramaphosa’s response, in good humour.
Good for him. Our butthole would blame it on a faulty mask.
I bought a glider rocker because I need that comforting motion. But I won’t call it a decorative item.
I have definitely increased my home decorating, including cutting up old calendars and posting pictures of Hawaii and the like all over my kitchen/living room area, making cross stitch samplers, etc. What else do you have to do?
Decoration? I have my two remaining plants, giving me the excuse for weekly Nekkid Watering Day. I have my book shelves, which the dotter mostly decorated. I’d have just put books and DVDs on them.
I have my Christmas tree, which used to reside atop the late refrigerator (and will again!) I have a Christmas wreath that’s going to end up on a bicycle hook on the wall.
Not exactly decoration, but I said to the dotter, “I’m only keeping my Rubbermaid(tm) storage containers. Do you want the Ziploc, Glad, and generic stuff?” Foolish woman said “Sure.” After the first double-armload, she cried “Hold; enough!” The rest are headed for Goodwill. Yes. Collecting “tupperware” (none of which is “Tupperware brand”) was one of my stupider hobbies. I have an entire book case of Rubbermaid, and more in the cupboard.
But I’m not sure it counts as decorating.
I’ve been starting seedlings, so I have decorated with flat pans of seedlings in the windows. Since our soil is like a nut bar with the some chocolate in between, (i.e., rocks with a bit of dirt) we can’t get too serious. I have basil, sweet peas, butterfly/bee wild flowers, bee balm, cosmos, and dill. We’ll see what we get.
I keep losing comments; not sure if itās my end, but I think probably it is. Anyway,
I just said that my decorating is confined to my gardens. Iād like to paint my shed – leftover ivory to match the house, plus a pale grey-blue for the woodwork – but getting the gardens going is more urgent.
Hmm. Well, I got a jump on decorating with three adult kids at home and most of their subsequent college stuff (youngest stored his as he has not graduated yet and expects/hopes there will be college on campus once again in the fall), and all the family photographs my uncle had saved after my grandparents died, and some of his books that we brought back after he died. There is still a full library at his home. So, our decorating scheme is “Piles of things to go through, deal with, and/or read.” We are trend-setting, here.
I’ve been building a pigeon hole/storage thing for my desk. I’ve only been working on it for two months, and the way things are going I may be working on it for another two months. But I hope to get all the pieces glued together today. Does that count as decorating?
I’m going to pass on the ferrets. My dogs spend enough time chasing the cat. I don’t want to add a ferret to the mix.
The reason I’ve never considered having a ferret as a pet is a vivid memory of a scene from a Julie Garwood romance. When describing why she has given up on dating, the heroine recounts an incident where a college boy brings a pet ferret in his suit jacket pocket along on a first date. When it peeked out of the date’s pocket and looked around the woman screamed,”and,FYI, ferrets don’t like loud noises.”
I won’t forget THAT image for a while!
In one of David Dodge’s travel books, he mentioned a lady who kept snakes, and who had a dental appointment on a day when one of her pets was under the weather. So she tucked the snake into her bodice to keep warm, and went along to her appointment. The dentist was just revving up his drill when the snake stuck its head out from between her buttons. The dentist had to be helped down from a flagpole across the street . . . .
David Dodge wrote the book, TO CATCH A THIEF, on which the Grace Kelly movie was based, along with other mysteries which have faded away and a bunch of travel books.
I purchased a picture of an archway in an old fort a few weeks ago. I also bought, a few weeks ago, a frame to put it in. In honor of decorating day, I am going to finally get that picture into that frame. Then I have to figure out where it goes and get it in place. Baby steps.
I once asked a neighbor who was a free lance display designer what I should do about my apartment (which was a mirror image of his). His advice was succinct and to the point: Get rid of half your stuff.
I didn’t then and since have twice moved into smaller places. Each time I moved, I made an attempt to downsize, but never was ruthless enough. My present apartment has half the floor and storage space in the kitchen and no storage locker . I now have a fully loaded four foot long and six foot high pantry shelving unit in the dining room, a small dining table in my living room and overflowing bookcases everywhere.
I think that if you had to define my style, the best term would be Early Warehouse. Because I am so embarrassed by the dining room and frustrated by the lack of counter space in the kitchen, I have rarely invited friends over to this apartment. My friend Dave, who has dined in all 3 of my Chicago apartments says that I am being too sensitive and that nobody else minds. So I hereby swear that as soon as the Stay at Home order is lifted I will clean my apartment and start cooking for friends again.
If you need more counter space, you can get a little board to put over your sink, I saw them on youtube, the lady chops her veggies there
You are being too sensitive. As a person living alone I would give my eye teeth to visit my friend’s house, no matter what state it’s in. Even in normal times ie the good old days, your friends want to enjoy your company, not critique your rooms. Honest.
You are being too sensitive. š If the food is good and the books are interesting, nothing else counts.
My tempera paint finally arrived in the mail. I have four giant glass windows making up my front porch and am planning on painting temporary murals on them. Starry Night and other Van Goghs to start, I think. Easily recognizable and cheerful.
I am looking for further suggestions…
The four stages of a day – dawn, day, dusk, night? Four seasons? All sorts of fours pop into my head but major works of art sound wonderful. If I could paint worth a damn, I’d do the same.
Matisse did some church windows that were simple, but lovely
I spent the day hammering and feel like someone beat me with a 2×4. But the bees come tomorrow and my electric bear fencing didn’t arrive (and won’t until Wednesday) so I bear proofed my old run-in shed and put my beehive in there.
At least I hope it’s bear-proof. It just has to last until Wednesday. That’s three nights. So fingers crossed. Maybe I’ll take a picture tomorrow after I decant my bees into the hive.
If I can move.
I’m not decorating, but I am going to take a couple of days to reorganize and neaten. Between having the House Guest here long term when I am used to living by myself, and being too tired and frazzled to keep up with things, the mess is starting to encroach around the edges. And when I’m stressed, I don’t cope well with chaos.
So starting tomorrow, let the neatening begin. Also, the snow tires are finally getting taken off. Oh, the wild life…
We built a new house six years ago in the same place we lived beforeādidnāt want to change our sons school or lose our neighbors. And we planned where everything would go. I do not expect to buy any more furniture or move it around. Ever.
However
We probably should finish hanging pictures at some point.
All my decorating now is in gardening.
My aunt’s 98th birthday is today (and it would have been my mother’s as well; they were identical twins). She happened to be in a nursing home getting rehab care to get her back on her feet after a fall, but of course it’s in lockdown. One of her sons set up a Dropbox and asked everyone to scan any good pictures and upload them, so I did that.
I love the idea of decorating. I plan. I start. The finishing part
There were FIVE different people on our local Facebook info pages asking for people who would come and take scrap metal. We have had beautiful weather and it looks like everyone is doing spring cleaning š.
Fostering ferrets did turn out to be very good for an agoraphobic lady I knew online. She became friendly with a very nice elderly gentleman on a forum who kept them as pets and he set everything up for her. I think she ended up adopting them.