The painting saga continues

I am finally done with the bedroom painting. I have some in progress shots. Even in the "done" photo it didn't have the curtains hung. The curtains are the same color as the quilt. Oh and there is one thing that I seem to do more often than not, paint the ceiling the same color as the walls so I don't have to be as careful. I did the same thing in the bedroom. ...lazy.

Oh and don't be overly impressed by the painting on the wall, I saw it on a website and "copied" it. I will attach it to the bottom of the post.

A visit with Santa

John and I headed over to Knoxville Center Mall to visit with one of Santa's helper before Christmas. John of course had a long discussion with Santa who was very accomodating. This year John had a list to go over and also wanted to ask Santa who came to the house and took the "list" he made from the silver envelope ornament on the tree. Santa said that elves came. John wasn't sure if it was an elf or Santa himself.


In addition to Santa, there were also trips to the train, play area for kids and little vehicles you can pay a dollar to ride. I chose to only document the train.

Fountain City Parade 2009

Every year the Fountain City Optimist Club puts on a parade through North Knoxville and for the past 4 years or so John and I have gone. This year was no exception. I would like to share some of the parade festivities with you all. Since I stink at figuring out where the pictures are going to finally end up on the post, I will explain here and you can check out the photos as they sporadically show up.

First there is the start of the parade. ...aww, aren't the scouts cute?



I always love the Shriners. I should taunt them next year by wearing my Shriner hat that I bought at an antique store.



Ok, this one I just laughed as they passed by. I wish I had gotten the name of the baton/dance studio but didn't so we will have to just giggle anyway. Ok, the "leader/instructor" was freaky scary looking. I swear I gone back in time. Following her and mixed in among small young girls was a confident young man who was probably seeking the same later for a date. He was out there twirling with the rest in his white sweat suit, dyed hair and BLACK shoes.































The one thing I missed this year was the "candy cane queens".

The culmination was Santa of course riding a fire engine instead of reindeer.

I am being such a "client"

I started painting my bedroom Saturday and if you follow me on Twitter (englandaia) then you will know I moved my gigantic pillow-top king size mattress by myself on Friday and even managed to trap John and Lucy in two separate rooms before shoving it into the guest bedroom...from where I am writing this entry now. I tweeted about the process mainly in case people stopped hearing from me then they would know that I had been pinned under the mattress and could send help. Don't laugh, it was a real possibility. :)

Anyway, I am off topic now and need to get back to the story in the title of the post. So, I prep the walls and ceiling (patching, sanding, taping and such) and start cutting in with the field paint. Lingo translation; field paint is the main paint color. I am being odd/lazy and using the same color on 3 walls and the ceiling. The wall behind the head board will be a darker accent wall. There will be pictures later.

So...cutting in corners, windows, and such and I start second guessing color choices. I picked out the colors and bought the paint in June and this is the last room I had to paint from that era of color choices. I remember thinking that I could get it painted before the furniture arrived. I was so very wrong. I came home at lunch one day and set my brand new quilt from macy's in the floor and pulled out my box of paint chip samples and selected the two colors for the room. I then dashed away back to work. It seemed fine at the time but now I am rethinking.

Did I want a blue paint with a little gray or a gray paint with a little blue? It is a medium dark blue/gray. Did I want it this dark on the ceiling too? Do I want to paint the trim in the accent wall paint (almost black) or paint it white? Is the accent wall going to be too dark? What was I thinking? Did I smoke crack when I picked this scheme out?

These are the types of thoughts clients have at times and I felt very much like that type of client. I took a deep breath and decided to continue on and trust that it would come together. I have never done illegal drugs so I figured I probably WAS thinking when I picked it out and I should go with it. We will see. Anyway, if it doesn't turn out well then I can always paint over it. That is the beautiful thing about paint...you can always try a different color!

I will post before and after and if need be, the between schemes photos, once the bedroom is painted. Fingers crossed.

Coffee

This morning as I am up earlier than normal and having orange juice and an egg mc muffin type thingy (aka Jimmy Dean D-light sandwich) I want coffee too. It seems too wasteful to have a coffee maker when it is just me drinking it at home. I have a one cup maker but for some reason that also seems like trouble.
I did run across this article in my rss feeds this morning and it seemed apropos.

Perfect Cups: How To Make Coffee Without a Coffee Maker

I might just give this a try when I am not feeling quite so lazy.

Twitter carry over

So I tweet a lot more than I blog but there are some interesting things I happen across in my tweets here are a few. If you are on twitter I am "englandaia". I protect my tweets (that is just who I am) so if you want to follow me just let me know.

Twitter excerpts:

This little light bulb terrarium and vase idea is just too cute. http://tinyurl.com/ykrmkt5

These are too cute not to tweet about even though they are sold out. Wine glass slip on coasters http://tinyurl.com/yf6p7sa

Oooh, add this to my Christmas list! http://tinyurl.com/cqkosc

Oh no, @knoxmoms just let me know that people really are going to be saying "leggo my eggo"...waffle shortage! http://tinyurl.com/y9xopf2

It is never too early in the morning to learn how to open a wine bottle with just a shoe and a hard wall; http://tinyurl.com/yzrokyh

Santa, please bring me: http://tinyurl.com/yz6sola and http://tinyurl.com/yh4v6tk

I so want to use this memoir technique for my next vacation; http://tinyurl.com/y9nfkdr

Maybe I needed to say "Help, I...am addicted to the internet". Check out this "Help" site it is super cool, http://tinyurl.com/nuz43b

@FrankMurphyCom Frank, this has you written all over it...make your own peeps! http://tinyurl.com/cum2ee

I think this may appear at my Christmas party. I have always been leery of sushi due to fish allergy but...http://tinyurl.com/cgwfes

Chore chart so everyone is equitable and no one is screaming...of course I get to do all of them :) http://tinyurl.com/mgdqgo

I am not sure if this means this guy is creative or just bored around the house to come up with this idea; http://tinyurl.com/yldywnh

Afraid of sulfites in wine? Read this...http://tinyurl.com/yjzabsl

Another useful link, this time about cleaning...fess up, you know you need to do it. http://tinyurl.com/y8omveg

This looks like a fun DIY project! http://tinyurl.com/ydo3nf5

Want to figure out what interior design style you have? Take the little quiz linked in this article, http://tinyurl.com/yknu4jj

Good article. RT @OPENForum 6 Desktop Apps for Better Org & Focus: http://bit.ly/1XA5IL

Mustache fascination...

There is a small mustache fascination going on with me that may be replacing the "owl" one that I was being accused of. First it started with this mustache screen saver. I had a paper one on the computer at work and last weekend while in Nashville visiting a friend I found some fabric ones and bought a pack. Now my laptop has it's own mustache. :)


Today John and I went downtown to pick up a present that I ordered and he dressed as Santa's Helper and I went incognito including what else but a mustache. Here is a photo of us about to head out the door. We got some odd looks downtown.