Do you prefer hardcopy or e-books?

26AUG12
A cursory peek at my new followers on Pinterest tells me I piqued the “pinterest” of many of you. That’s wonderful! I think this is a great website for quickly and easily finding images of items which reflect your style. I love that I can search images and, instantly, I have hundreds upon hundreds of images to peruse; google has already done the work for me!
I have always enjoyed research. I used to love spending time in the library looking for resources for my research papers, feeling like Indian Jones when I was able to unearth references I was sure no one else had cited in all the years of term papers written at Lenoir-Rhyne College (now a University, but old habits . . .). In fact, I enjoyed research so much I had thought of becoming an attorney, but after receiving my BA in History, I took the track of paralegal instead. Upon landing my first job as a paralegal, it didn’t take long for me to realize there was a lot more to lawyering than research—umm, no thanks. Researching product for home décor is a lot more fun, so here I am.
Do you remember my suggestion of keeping a notebook for your home decorating ideas? Well, it occurred to me that Pinterest is probably the “notebook” for the next generation; perhaps for this generation. While I do enjoy it and think that it is nifty, it will never replace my idea book. Just like an e-reader will never replace my need to hold a book on my lap and flip through its pages.

I think that is why one of my favorite publications is a quarterly about blogging. Yup—a magazine about blogs! It’s called Artful Blogging. Like all Stampington & Company publications, it is produced on a beautiful, matte paper (love the feel of the paper). The content is submitted by bloggers and simply provides some insight into how they approach their blogs, but it is gorgeous! They also furnish photos, which are often the best part of many blogs. I like it because I feel like I spend my entire day in front of a computer screen. I need tactile interactions with more than my keyboard and mouse!

Another of their publications is Where Women Cook, which shares stories and images of the kitchens—some commercial, but most are the household variety—of the women who elevate the simple act of meal preparation to an artful level, either as a domestic goddess or a professional chef. What you find as you flip the pages of this publication are real kitchens—kitchens which are truly used and abused. You can tell these kitchens are not kitchens designed to impress your bunko group—they are real, hard-working kitchens whish have evolved with the talents and needs of the chefs or families that use them. You see kitchens decked-out in the finest, most desirable professional series equipment, as well as kitchens fitted with a basic four-burner, electric stove and crock pot on the counter. As an added bonus, the articles usually include several recipes.

Another reason to love these magazines is their minimal advertising. There are no “made to look like articles” advertisements about kitchen appliances or the latest sleep aid on the market. And, unlike most websites and many blogs, there are no pop-ups which you have click on the precision-pin-point-spot to close, lest you open another window to learn more about why you should refinance your house now. Stampington & Company publications are intended to inspire and that they do. After reading them, I am motivated to do stuff—to make something or to reorganize my craft area.
So, yes, I love perusing the Pinterest site for images and ideas, but nothing beats the feel of a good decorating book or magazine. I much prefer being able to flip the pages to the “sliding” of images across a screen.
You can pick-up many of the Stampington & Company publications here at Hodgepodge, but they are also available at book stores and the magazine racks of many supermarkets.

Pinterest

19SEP12
Change is in the air. I’ve actually been able to leave the house on a few occasions and not had the life sucked from me as I hit a wall of humidity. We even opened the windows last weekend! Perhaps we can look forward to a little less heat and humidity as we wind-up summer. Even those of you die hard summer fans have to admit this one has been brutal. Can I get an “Amen?”
Well, regardless of the love of summer held by many, most can agree that fall here in middle Tennessee is wonderful. It is always my favorite season (no matter where I am living), and I am looking forward to it more than usual this year. I’ve already decided my fall wreath and porch décor will be out as soon as Darren finishes his improvement project. I am no longer waiting for the official end of summer. It’s not like I am wearing white shoes after Labor Day, for heaven’s sake; I’m just putting out a wreath and vintage pitch fork!
According to most of the activity on Pinterest, it would appear many agree with my efforts to put summer behind us.
What’s that? You’ve not heard of “Pinterest?” Well, my dears, let me help you down the road of more lost hours than you can count . . .
Pinterest is yet another social media network. As a member you have the ability to create your own “pin boards” where you can grab images or videos you find on the web, say while browsing your favorite blogs or websites, and save them to your own boards. Think of it as an online idea book. You name your own boards and, as near as I can tell, there is no limit to the number of boards you can have. I, for instance, have 40 (wow! That many? Really didn’t know that until this moment.) boards, but a friend of mine has 89! I will not name names, but let me assure you, she is on Pinterest a lot! (I love pointing fingers to distract from my own issues . . .)
To give you an idea of how you use it, I’ll share some of my boards. I have a board named “I eat, therefore I am” where I post recipes I’ve found. Now I don’t have to have a log in for epicurious.com and other foodie sites—I just post them all to Pinterest. I also have a board called “The Crafting I’ll never get to” where I post, well, craft ideas. Then there is my “Patina, Please” board, where I post ideas about furniture painting inspirations.
The beauty of this site is, you can (almost) always find the source of the image, therefore you can always find it for yourself. This virtually eliminates those endless hours of hunting for that cool platter rack you saw on someone’s blog. Now you can figure out they got it at, oh, say Hodgepodge, or they just downloaded the image from a google search. Either way, the question is answered.
As near as I can tell, you still have to request a membership, but I think a member can send you an invitation, too. So, if you are a fellow “image addict” and would like to while away the hours putting together your own idea boards, drop me an email (address is below) and I will send you and invitation. If you are already on Pinterest, I hope you find me and follow! I am at: Pinterest.com/paigetk

two-by-two

August 12, 2012

Preparing for two kids to leave for college is like survivalist preparations. You double-up on everything and pack it in big plastic bins. The only difference is they will have running water, so we can leave bottled water off the list; that, and ammo. Two birds leaving our nest.

Recently, Facebook has been awash with pictures of the children of friends as they approach the school bus for the first time or as they trudge ahead of Mom, laden with a fully loaded backpack. Most photo posts are accompanied with comments such as, “I’m going to cry all day,” or “I can’t believe time is going so quickly!” All I could think was, “Looks like freedom to me!”

I remember when I started sending the kids to school. I don’t remember ever really being sad about school days. I do remember thinking things like, “Wow, grocery shopping is going to be much easier now,” or “Maybe I can get the dining room painted now!” But sadness wasn’t really part of it. I guess there was comfort in knowing that I would see them again after school. The freedom was good, but it was temporary and that was also good.

Now I am facing a much more permanent “freedom” that is making me feel a little off-center.

Our eldest daughter was gentle with me. She started her college career here at APSU about two years ago. At that time, she decided to continue living at home. It has been great (for me), but now she is ready to live in the dorms. We are very excited for her and hope that she is able to fully enjoy the university experience now that she will be living on campus. But part of me is now-so-secretly glad she will still come home for the occasional meal or maybe to do laundry.

Our son is a different story. He is off to eastern Tennessee, where he will attend UT Knoxville. (eep!) This one will be a little more difficult. He will eat all of his meals and do laundry (I hope) in Knoxville—now through fall break (hold on . . . yes, there is a fall break, Oct 11- 14) or (eep, eep!) Thanksgiving. He will not be taking a car with him, so any efforts to retrieve him for a weekend will require hours of travel there and back; not likely to happen with my schedule.

So, our youngest has a lot of pressure on her. She will be home alone for three years. We’ve already told her she is going to have to pick-up the chore slack (hee, hee), but what I don’t think she is expecting is how she is going to have to pick-up the entertainment slack, too. I really enjoy their company now. We have interesting conversations—talking books, issues and the like with comfort and ease. I actually like my kids and look forward to the daily rundown during our dinner conversations.

I find that I really like my adult kids. In fact, I recommend skipping all of that other stuff and just adopting fully grown, well-behaved adult children. Since, however, the youngest requires a little more time to enter the next phase of life, I will follow through with our commitment to raise her.

Alrighty then, I guess I better get back to packing—you can call me “Noah”—everything is going, two-by-two.

Just When I Thought I was Accomplishing Something

Motivation is a good thing. Sometimes we have external motivators; others, we create for ourselves. Last week I created my own when I told your lovely readers about my woeful neglect of my home. My confessions resulted in a level of activity around my house I haven’t been able to claim since Christmas!

Last Sunday I woke-up and began my usual level of cleaning—it’s my day to clean our bathroom. Whoopee! Then I decided to take it to the next level and began dusting the family room. Pleased with my efforts and results I moved, duster in hand, to the office and through the entry hall. Having exhausted the heroic efforts of my little dust grabbing cloth, I then shifted gears and headed outside to salvage some plants that have not already surrendered to the heat.

That is when I found my husband, diligently toiling away on the house. You see, several years ago he began his one man crusade to preserve our old house. His first major project was our roof. The front of our house has a standing seam metal roof, which we want to try to preserve. When we noticed some leaks, we immediately began researching methods for preserving a metal roof. Darren settled on a product that he painted onto the roof. For a week, he was perched on a rented cherry picker with a rubberized paint product and mesh tape. He worked diligently, all-day, each day of his “vacation” to salvage the roof of G.B. Wilson’s house.

Now, during his break between jobs, he is back to the tedious job of scraping 130 years worth of paint off of the wood siding of that same house. This is an on-going job. He has slowly, but surely been working his way around the house, heat gun and spatula in hand, removing the paint which has been baking onto the surface of our historic home.

 

(this is the before—at the bottom of the pic; after scraping—the mid, yellowish tone; and after the primer has been applied.)

I feel sure I have mentioned this before, but just in case you missed it . . . I love our house. I’ve wanted to own an historic home for longer than I can remember. Mom and Dad brought us up on “This Old House;” we were watching when Bob Villa was cool.

Funny story: Darren and I were living in Richmond Hill, GA when Steve Thomas and crew were renovating a house on an historic Savannah Square. My sisters came to visit us for St. Patrick’s Day—a pretty big day in Savannah. Well, we went out and did what you do on St.Patrick’s Day; by that I mean we ate corned beef and potatoes. What?!?

Anyhoo, we were on our way home (don’t worry, my sister, who doesn’t eat corned beef OR potatoes) was driving and we had the brilliant idea to drive by the project house. Next thing I knew, we were pulling-up and the sisters were running up the stairs for a photo! We couldn’t wait to share this photo with Mom & Dad! Of course we were hoping Norm would walk out of the front door and pose with us, but alas, he was a no show. We were this close to fame!

Okay—so back to present time. Darren shares my love for historic homes, but I don’t think he really wanted to be this involved or perhaps, he thought I’d be doing more to help. I make my contributions, but I can assure you, I do not have the “sweat equity” Darren has invested. My help involves interior paint colors and furnishings. I do help with a few of the maintenance projects, but they really don’t stack against scraping paint in desert heat!

(Here is my dedicated man, heat gun in hand, scraping under the eaves.  He’s a keeper.)

Barn Weddings and Barn Sales

Last week I helped a client decorate for her daughter’s wedding reception. It was an absolute honor to be included in such an important way, as I knew this bride had been looking forward to her big day for quite a long time.

The setting was a barn (hurrah!) in a valley with a picturesque creek running through the bucolic scene. As the setting was so lovely, there was very little for me to do to add to the natural appeal of the surroundings, but I was happy to try.

The bride and her mother have been gathering many of the items they wanted me to use for the table settings, so my part was relatively easy—all I had to do was arrange everything for the reception. I did make a few decorations to use, too. My absolute favorite was the garland I made using the pages from a book. It was something I had been working on for a while, but never getting it quite right; then Calla Ketchens (from Ingredients on Strawberry Alley) wandered through during Art Walk and had an idea that sparked my solution. I went home after Art Walk and knocked it out—from scratch—in a little over an hour!

Don’t you love collaboration? That is one of the many reasons I love where my shop is located. I feel like I am constantly surrounded by creative people. From the business owners and the folks that run the galleries to the folks that volunteer their time to make the downtown a viable and vibrant place to spend time—creativity and creative thinking abound!

Speaking of creativity and barns . . . have you heard about barn sales? They have been popping-up all over the Midwest for years. I liken them to flea markets on ingenuity steroids! The displays are out of this world—inspiration and originality are everywhere!

My sister, Kendall, and I have been entranced by these events ever since we found out about them through one of our favorite blogs. That was about three years ago and ever since we have been trying to find one close enough to attend. There is a biannual barn sale in Hartville, TN that we have been trying to attend, but we have had scheduling conflicts. Fortunately, our search has come to an end! The HayLoft at Port Royal is the first (as far as I know) barn sale in our County! (I think it’s our county—I went to see it, I drove into and out of KY . . . I think.) The dates and times are Oct 19 – 20, from 10 a.m. til 6 p.m., but you can enjoy a sneak peek on the 18^th from 4 – 7 p.m. (there’s a $10 charge for the sneak peek, but there will be food and entertainment as well). There will be repurposed vintage items, handmade jewelry, revamped furniture, handmade clothing and regional art. Folks, this is going to be fun! The HayLoft can be found at 551 Port Royal Rd, Clarksville, TN 37040 (guess that settles the “county” question . . .)

How lucky can a girl be? First, the opportunity to decorate for a wedding reception in a barn, followed shortly by a barn sale! I just hope they’re still smoking the tobacco when I get there! That would be the equivalency of a barn trifecta!