And to you, Zaz.

Whynot, I just keep clicking back and forth in wonder. Magic is possible.

Rina, thank you soooo much. It is really transformed! Can't keep the Cheshire grin off my face. :D

Sorry...I had to do it....

Not one thing to be sorry for, MamaB. Perfection!

Snap (ish), Mamabear.

You two are too cute together. hehehe

I am embarrassed at how happy this has made me feel. I shouldn't be this excited over things but I confess I truly am. I am so proud of this and so grateful that you all have hung in there with me.

Oh! Don't be embarrassed!! I am overly happy and it's not my room!!

So you're coming by here in June on your way back from Florida, right? :D

That would be lovely! We have the condo rented. So, it's definitely a go! The third full week of June! I will probably get sunburn, but can't wait for vacation!

Wear lots of sunblock. Sunburns are not fun!!!

Oh I know. I got a horrible one a few years ago in Texas. We spent the day at a water park and in and out of the water. By the end of the day, I was already a lobstah. During the night I woke up shivering and was so sick. I learned my lesson.

Well, I don't know how many of you are still around or interested but I'm starting to work on the DR a bit more. This is a mock-up of the color that I'm going to use. It's a little transparent looking in the pic but it's definitely not IRL. I'm lazy and taking a while to "get 'er done" but maybe eventually. The color is SW Raindrop. (Look at the very back wall.)

Oh yeah, I like that very much... it relates very well to the living room. Really pretty, a great choice, I think. :)

Thanks, Zaz. I won't post the swaths I painted on the walls just yet but I love the color in there. It's so bright and soothing at the same time. Makes me Cheshire cat smile. :D

Exactly, it is soothing. I love the color.. it works well.

Smiling = Good! ;)

Looks good, why! I have that color on my SW list of favorites.

Thanks, mamabear! The bits that I have painted are exactly the color on the sample cards so that makes me feel a lot better about finding the right color with them. I've had a coral sample stuck out from the side of a picture in my master bedroom for months now. I really love the color but haven't gotten the get up and go to do anything about it so there it stays. :D Need to get the painting done though since the holidays will soon be upon us. I at least want the LR and DR done. DD was here Sat and she loved the color for the DR. Then she turns to the kitchen and says, "What are you going to do in here?" Arggghhhh! NO CLUE!!! hehehehe

I still think you are doing a great job making this house your home. And if it takes a little big longer, oh well.

I finally got my new floors! We still have to put up the trim. And I have been trying to pick a color for my counters. I had one color picked, but then I chickened out. So I started over and I think I am down to 2, but waiting for a price for one particular quartz. It's a new one. I am sure it's in the expensive group. : (

Awesome!! Now did you put this on a dilemma I missed? If not, I want to see pics!

No, I didn't make a dilemma. I posted some pics on rredpenn's snazzy garottage thread. But I have some pictures in my ideabooks, kitchen update. We are taking it a "piece" at a time. And papabear has been pretty good about it all.

I'll check them out. :D

OOOoooo...I like that! How exciting!!

Thanks! I really like them so far. Very comfy on the feet.

*nodding*...very important. I left a comment on your ideabook.

YAY, HOORAY, Whynot!! I always thought that back dining rm wall should pick up a bit of the turquoise-ish accent from the living room! Your home is inspirational....
BTW-I missed you guys.

Hi sandi!! I remember you suggesting a turquoise. Good call! How is the new job?? I hope all is going well.

Hey Sandi! I've missed you too! It's going to be very expensive to keep adding stuff to the house just to keep us all in touch! :D

After I had selected the color, I was re-reading the posts and realized that you had suggested a similar color. Your suggestion must have gone to my head and simmered there a while before the idea fully cooked.

I wish I were as fast as Zaz about painting but I am piece-mealing it and just letting the color sink in bit by bit. It's going to take me a while I'm sure.

Hi MamaB! LOVING the new job! Fall Semester starts tomorrow. Tues-Thursday class, but I am doing some consulting for the State Dept of Ed, so doing workshops Sept, Oct, Nov. busy, busy... Thanks for asking! :-).
Working on little coach house on back of our property now.
Whynot, I can't wait to hear your plans for the DR

I don't have any real plans right now other than painting, at least above the chair rail. I may decide to try to find wallpaper below it but, gosh, that stuff is pricey now!

You know, lately, several people I know are wallpapering. It is VERY expensive!
Maybe you could find a stencil that imitates wallpaper. I have seen some that are really lovely.

Example:

I have thought about doing that, Sandi. DD has a cricut machine so I could make my own. I was considering doing something like this on the bottom but that might be too literal although I do really love it.

I like a subtle Moroccan feel, esp since that background color lends itself so well to either dark OR light patterns.

I do too, Sandi, but take another look at the couch pattern. Maybe too much? or no?

Anyway, I need to find my bed. Talk later. Good night and thanks, ladies!

Oh Pooh!! Forgot the couch pattern--yeah may be overkill
Big day tomorrow! Sleep well, all...

Friends, as touchy as some other threads have been, I hesitate to post anything that smacks of politics, and did not want to start another thread---but most of the people I respect have followed this thread, so I wanted to share something my son wrote on FB today
15 years ago, he was a 17 year old hospital volunteer, and today, he wrote about his thoughts on that 9/11...thanks for indulging me. The events of that 9/11 still tear me apart

"Fifteen years ago today I was working at the VA in my hometown, filing X-Ray jackets and listening to ESPN radio-- "Mike and Mike in the Morning". But as you know, all the comedy, all the sports, all the entertainment fell off the radar quickly.

The first plane hit the tower.

"Freak accident," I thought. A lot of people thought that. The timeline is jumbled in my head--when did I find out about the Pentagon? About Flight 93?

What I do remember is making my way to the waiting room and watching the Today Show when the second tower was hit. Surreal and horrifying. I remember knowing it was an attack, most likely by Al-Quaeda or some similar group. And I remember standing there with one of our radiologists, me a devout Christian and he a devout Muslim in a full length robe and turban. We were both horrified.

There aren't enough words to express the courage shown by our first responders, and there is now way we can express enough gratitude. They are heroes.

This is Sunday, our day of worship. It's the day we remember that in the end, life is stronger than death. Remember those we lost, honor those who sacrificed, but always remember that those who choose evil and death will lose. Finally, and with finality, they will lose.

What a wonderful image, Sandi. Thank you for sharing such a special memory.

This article popped into my vision this a.m. I was so moved by it I wanted to share it. I warn you, it's a bit long, possibly offensive in some ways to some people, but one of the best I've ever seen on the subject.

https://medium.com/@anastasiabasilcunningham/ketchup-sandwiches-and-other-things-stupid-poor-people-eat-41617483b497#.51cfwvprf

I suppose I am on the liberal end of conservatism. Never was poor--went to a private school free because my dad was principal (the kids who knew that made sure to point it out--my first world problem I guess).
However, my husband came from a different world--his alcoholic, abusive father threw him, his mom, and his sister out, and they lived in an abandoned chicken coop that summer, until his grandparents rescued them. He was the first person in his extended family to go to college, and became a pretty successful businessman. He is more politically conservative than I am.
Neither of us EVER,EVER would begrudge anyone help if they need it, and make it a point to help those in need! I totally understand where this article was coming from, but it does bother me that people define conservative as selfish, elitist, or uncaring. I know MANY conservatives who are just the opposite.

I think it was the last two paragraphs that hit me so hard.

Don’t confuse aid with charity. Charity is old coats. Donating a coat doesn’t make you a good person but I bet it makes you feel like one. You didn’t even want that coat anymore, what you wanted was the closet space. Sure, you could have sold it at a garage sale and made, like, twenty bucks. It was an expensive coat, damn it. But you, with your heart of gold, gave it away. There’s a twinkle in God’s eye just for you.

What makes you a good person to others (and not just to yourself) is the same thing that makes me, or anyone who can afford the occasional $12 cocktail, a good person: Your vote. Not your coat.
Vote for a Living Wage for others. Vote for health insurance for others. Don’t get in the way of food stamps for others. Understand how important $17 might be to others. That poor stretch of Atlanta is quiet because people are working and paying for day care. They’re clocking the same hours you’re clocking but they make a shit wage.

My YS has helped me see that I can't look at everything from just my own perspective, through the lens of my own life experiences. I know, I'm pretty dumb to be this old and have to learn that lesson from my son. It just never occurred to me that I was really doing that. But, yeah, I was. This article hit home because of that I think.

Sandi, I think it's about tendencies. You find more of this in this community, and more of that in that community.

But Rina, it is not fair to paint "this community" OR "that community" with that broad a brush...
And Whynot, I can relate to having my eyes opened--my husband opened my eyes to a lot of things that were not in my frame of reference, but have made him the man he is today.

Sandi, I was thinking about what I had said about YS earlier and realized that he had taken something I used to tell him and put it in a much larger context (much to his credit). He has a very high IQ, is a strong, large boned person which is not the stereotype, but had a lot of social problems growing up because he couldn't understand why other kids didn't see things the way he did. He was quite frustrated with the classroom experience and I had to do a lot of work with him outside the classroom to keep him interested in learning and to help him understand those whose thinking processes didn't match his.

My belief is that he took that lesson and projected it into the world at large and began to see others in more empathetic ways than I did. He also had a broader world experience than I did just because the world he grew up in was different than my own. My friends were basically in the same socio-economic situation that my family was so I wasn't exposed to a large variety of differing circumstances and, in my day, one didn't discuss such things very much. His friends, on the other hand, came from a large variety of situations and he saw so much through their eyes. Regardless, I am very proud of him and, a little bit of myself, for allowing him to teach me the lessons he has learned.

Yes, Why, BTDT--nothing like being schooled by your offspring...
Sounds like an awesome young man. I have 3 sons that have each taught me a thing or two. I think my super power is being a sponge.

Sandi, yes, I accept your point.

Hey friends!! Do any of you live in Lexington, Ky? I am speaking at an international education conference there, Nov 2-4. Will be busy, but if you want to meet at the Hilton and grab a coffee, I would love to put faces w/names!