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Living Room Quandary
I’ve always wanted to have that kind of home where friends felt completely comfortable to drop by without even calling first. I know it’s silly and I’ll probably regret those words someday but I always thought that would be really cool. When I worked in an office I had that kind of office. People would drop by so often I sometimes had trouble getting my work done. But I loved it. I guess I’m just a social creature by nature. It’s not such a bad thing.
I even love to daydream about having a bed and breakfast someday. I know it would be a lot of work to cook and clean for guests all the time but I’d love to have a long country table where people sat around for hours telling stories and sharing.
It would be so fun to set up a website to get guests to come and then when they did come, I’d send them off with muffins and and informational handouts on where all the local adventures could be had. I might not be up to running an Inn in the long run. I hear it’s terrible work but I do want to have that long country table where friends can just drop by for an hour or two to sit and chat. I think I might even paint a sign someday that says “Sit and Chat.” I like that better than Keep Calm and Carry On.
Well, I do have a cozy welcoming home now. I even have a small table that people can sit and drink coffee or wine at comfortably. I have had several friends drop by to chat but guess what? I have no seating!!! I have one old chair that the dog sits in constantly and it is covered in dog hair no matter how many times I wash the cover. I have a bunch of wooden chairs but they’re just not comfortable. I’m constantly apologizing for the lack of seating.
This is a 7days shot but it does sort of capture the musical chairs game we play to see who gets the one comfortable chair in the house. I need to get some new seating. Please, please, please don’t think this is me begging for the internet to give me money so I can go buy more furniture. No way. You guys have already embarrassed me with your generosity. I’m more just asking for ideas. What could I put in this corner to make it more sit-able?
I visited the local thrift stores for ideas yesterday and spied this couch. It had good bones and I considered reuphostering it (in orange!) but it was 80 bucks and I just didn’t feel like spending that much money on something I wasn’t sure about. It did have a hideaway bed though which would be kind of nice.
So what should I do with that space? I’ve got my heart set on two low-set avocado green chairs in pleather but they have not been popping up in thrift stores like I would like them too. There was one once and it was only $40 but I passed on it and now I’m rueing the day. Why oh why didn’t I buy that green chair?!! It was only $40!!! Chairs are never that cheap! And it was pleather which is perfect for dogs who like to sit on chairs!
Another time there was a garage sale just down the street from me and they had this giant round coffee table with a big “FREE” sign on it and I stupidly drove by that thing for three days. I kill myself sometimes with my shopping regrets. But I guess that’s part of being responsible. Some things you just have to pass on. I bet you guys have some good stories about things you’ve passed on and wished you’d bought later.
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15 minute posts, Bug, crazy stuff, domesticity, easy on the words, house stuff!, place holder posts, Slow News Day, the sticks
boring Tuesday in the life of
Life is quiet out here in the sticks outside of my incessant sneezing. The cold rages on as you can see. Thankfully even wadded up used tissues look better with a 50mm lens.
In other news, I rearranged my bedroom. Huzzah! I love it that I can rearrange furniture whenever I please. This new arrangement is not for beauty or any kind of bren* shui though. It’s purely because I got tired of the drafts from the window wafting down on me in the night. It gets cold out here at night!
I think I’ll move the bed back under the window in the summer because then drafts are quite nice. For now though this is much cozier and it only hampers our path to the bathroom by a few steps. We don’t use that bathroom much anyway so it’s no big deal to have to walk all the way around the bed to get to it. In Bug and Holly’s case, you can just lumber right over the top of the bed and save yourself five steps.
Since we’re doing a “home tour” I might as well show you Bug’s fairies. She draws them (with some help from me) and then tapes them around the house. Look right below the red poppies painting and you’ll see this little guy:
I think this is me as a “mom fairy.” She watches over me when I sleep or maybe this is just here so I know where my bed is. Who knows. If you give your kid paper and things to draw with and access to scissors and tape, you never know what you are going to find randomly taped around the house. Right now as I type this, I see there is a colorful Easter egg taped to the living room window. She’s very proactive with her seasonal decorating.
Holly has a fairy too but it was too dark when I took that photo and it was too blurry. (You can see it in the window shot, just really really small. That’s where Holly’s dog bed usually is.)
This is Bug’s fairy. I drew this one (per her instruction) and she colored it.
While I’m in Bug’s room I might as well show you her giant shoe collection. Do you think this kid has enough shoes? (Most of them are hand-me-downs or gifts.) You’d think she does but there is aways some outfit that doesn’t match with any of these. Good thing kid-fashion is pretty carefree. She wears the craziest combos and nobody even blinks an eye anymore. I think she also has a giant shoe collection because her feet never grow. She’s been a size 7/8 for a whole year now. She’s just like me with tiny feet.
Also, the vacuum cleaner lives in her closet. I do feel a bit bad about that but there is no room anywhere else and it’s almost like that shelf was built just for vacuum cleaners. Thankfully Bug doesn’t know any better and thinks it’s totally normal to have a vacuum cleaner in your closet.
These are some very important rock star concert documents. Can’t you tell? The one on the right is a contract that I had to sign and on the left is some sheet music I presume. Bug made this really long movie describing them all and what they are for, (the card is for zoom-zooming in the zoom zoom machine) but then after she was done and I was watching the movie, I noticed my shirt was gaping wide open sideways showing some armpit/boob action so I deleted that movie. Sorry Bug. I’ll have to have her do it again. It was all very funny of course as most doomed things are.
And that concludes my boring Tuesday in the life of Brenda post!
*Bren shui is my own form of feng shui that has no system of aesthetics other than my gut feeling of where things should be.
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