Day 4 - Pieces of Me

Ahh..day 4 of the Beyond Layer's Pieces of Me Prompts is already almost over.  I've been gone all day so this is the first chance I have had to post. Today's prompts are (1) what I am currently reading  and (2) a light fixture....

I seem to be reading a multitude of things right now.  I have started 4 books and need to start a 5th & 6th for book clubs in September and October.  It's not that I don't like the books I have started, I am like the kid in the "proverbial" candy store when it comes to books.  There are just so many, it is hard to choose which one to read so I try and read multiple books and then end up having a hard time finishing them.  Pretty dumb huh?? Right now my started ones are:

1. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister - a sweet lovely little book about a cooking school and those that attend.  
2. The Soldier's Wife by Margaret Leroy - Our bookclub book for August.  Didn't finish it, but still reading.  Interesting story that takes place on the isle of Guernsey during the war.  Beautifully written.
3. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkenss - this received so much press and the author has just released the sequel that I thought I would see what all the hype is about.  Well written story of a modern day witch in Oxford, England along with her vampire, soon to be love.  
4. Sister by Rosamund Lupton another English setting with a twin sister that has been murdered and the remaining twin desperate to find how and why.

And the two I need to get started are:

1. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
2. Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

Looking forward to reading both of those.  Any good books you are reading??

And the 2nd prompt is "a light fixture".  Well, I have to post this.  It is my 3rd and final bathroom re-do. I bought this little chandelier at the flea market a couple of months ago in anticipation of putting it in my new re-done bathroom.  

The color of the paint looks different in these two pics....I am sure it was the lighting.  But it is a lavender purple.  I love it.  Will show more pics later.  

I am now officially tired and need to go to bed...tomorrow is another busy day.  Be sure and hop over to my collaborative blog on Friday (Focusing on Life) to ride along with me as I go on another adventure.  

"Unlock your natural desires by doing what you enjoy."  ~  Hans Selye

Until next time....

Pieces of Me - Day 3

Oh boy...today's Scavenger Hunt items are (1) front door and (2) kitchen faucet.  Wouldn't you know it's the kitchen faucet after I just put in 3 brand-new faucets in my bathrooms.  Oh well, maybe it's time to get a new kitchen faucet too.  Ooops no can do, have officially run out of money.

OK now how many times have you taken a picture of your kitchen faucet??  Looking at this closely it definitely could use a little clean-up around the ridges.  Should have done that before I took the picture.  Oh well.....

Next the front door....

Just kidding...did I have you there for a minute...did you go "oh my"?  Actually got this off of pinterest, love beautiful old doors and windows, but this is definitely not my front door.  Here is mine....

Or at least a snippet of it anyway.  Actually this is inside looking out and it is the "storm" door, not the real front door.  But it's prettier than my front door so this is what I am showing.  Plus I love all that pretty bokeh in the background.

Today's newspaper had some interesting news....did you know that "50 Shades of Grey" has saved B&N from going bankrupt??  Well, I don't know if it is the primary reason, but according to the newspaper the sales of this book has brought their profits way up.  So I guess this novel has brought delight to not only a gazillion women but also to the CFO of B&N.  Maybe if they changed the name of the book to "The Book That Saved B&N" I might consider reading it but as of today I have not.

And just because this is all about "pieces of me" I am posting pics of Bathroom #2 that is finally finished.  In this bathroom, the wallpaper was stripped and the walls were painted.  New bathroom sink & faucet installed, new curtains & shower-curtain, new overhead light fixture, new blinds, new toilet seat cover, and new "stuff".  It is very difficult to find "gold" stuff these days.  Everything is now burnished bronze or brushed nickel or shiny silver, not so much gold.  But if I wait long enough, gold will return.

So that's it for day #3 in this Pieces of Me Scavenger Hunt Week at Beyond Layers.  Been kinda fun. See you tomorrow for day #4.

"Boredom arises from routine.  Joy, wonder, rapture, arise from surprise."  ~ Leo Buscaglia

Until next time.....

Pieces of Me #2

Continuing on with our Beyond Layer's Scavenger Hunt Week today is (1) breakfast and (2) mailbox.  Oh dear, now I have to confess that many times I do skip right over breakfast.  I just get so busy with drinking coffee, reading the newspaper, catching up on blogs, writing posts, taking pictures in my PJ's that there just doesn't seem to be room for breakfast in that line-up.  I know..."most important meal of the day"...gotta get better at it.  I do enjoy vanilla yogurt on granola, but right now I am out of both, so no pics of that.  But I did manage a little something for the sake of art today....

I did enjoy a softboiled egg altho by the time I broke it open it had almost hardboiled, but it was still tasty.

Earlier in the summer my mailbox was covered with beautiful purple clematis, but not now.  I'll admit I did try to go back in my archives and search for those pics with the flowers covering the mailbox, but after awhile, decided...what the heck, this is pieces of me, right now, not a couple of months ago. As you can see, the mailbox is currently empty which sometimes is a good thing....no bills, no junk mail.

OK, now is where I try and attempt the proverbial 2 birds with one stone trick....I missed posting in Trisha's Barn Charm yesterday and today is Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, using her new texture "dreamit" which by the way, I absolutely love, so here goes the 2 birds trick....actually I did cheat a little here...I took this pic earlier in the spring, but the texture is brand new.

Oops, just hopped over to Tricia's blog and found out that her modem is down so no barn-charm this week.  So those 2 birds are now one...

And just because, I am posting a couple of pics of my "thank God it's over" bathroom redo.  This is the downstairs powder room.  All that really happened in this room was stripping off the wallpaper and painting.  The bathroom vanity had been updated a couple of years ago with a new faucet and new hardware and a new toilet was added at that time.  This has now become a mini art gallery for a lot of my photography work.  The extra things on the wall all have special meanings...I will post on that in the future.  The color was changed from a dark forest green to this soft golden tan which matches colors in the family room.  I love it...with only a change in the color it made a huge difference.

And today, in honor of the death of Phyllis Diller (I know some of you probably don't remember her, but she was a terrific comedian who was always telling jokes about her age and her marriage) I want to close with just a few of her laugh out loud "quotes".   She lived to the age of 95, probably laughing all the way.

"I love to go the doctor. Where else would a man look at me and say, 'Take off your clothes?'

"You know you're getting old when your blood type's been discontinued."

"I realized on our first wedding anniversary that our marriage was in trouble.  Fang (the name she gave her husband) gave me luggage.  It was packed.  My mother darn near suffocated."

"Whatever you may look like, marry a man your own age - as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight."

So on that note...Until next time....

Thursday Stuff...

I heard a sound last night that I haven't heard in a long, long time.  The sound of thunder and rain.  Oh Lord did I love that sound, eventho Toby was on top of me all night long.  As much as I like the sound, he is totally opposite, do they have teeny tiny earplugs for dogs??  The plants and flowers all had happy smiles on their faces this morning, the trees still want more, but are glad they got a taste of moisture.

Yesterday, as I went to Leows and Home Depot still buying stuff for the bathrooms, I had, just had to pick up some colorful flowers to add a splash of color back into the garden.  This heat has pretty much wiped out all the flowering plants, their leaves are crisp and the flowers are a dried-up brown color.  Not exactly awe inspiring.  And because it is late in the season, most are on sale right now if you can find some that are not hanging on for dear life due to  neglect.  But low and behold Leows had some grand multi-colored zinnias and periwinkles that both love the heat and sun.  Hopefully they will add just the right punch that the garden needs right now.

Linking up to Deb's This or That Thursday, Nancy's Rural Thursday, Beyond Layers & LeAnne's Flower Art Friday.

Thinking about this one for my postcard for Kat's Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap....these have to be mailed pretty darn quick so I have to make a decision fast.  I ordered blank postcards from www.The2Buds.com.  They have a sticky back so you just peel off and add your own image.  On the other side they have the regular postcard image address, stamp and place to write a note.  I ordered 50 thinking I could put them to use for myself.

Or I may choose the one with the pony in the field of flowers, or the farm scene, or the hydrangeas in the ball jar...see that's the trouble, it's hard to choose.

Over at Kim's Beyond Layers this week it is fence week...she also gave us a sweet texture to use for today's link-up....I am likin' this one.  Using this also for my Flickr group "Prompt Addicts" for Quote Week...2 birds, one stone.

A little more rain fell on my parade today...after painting my bathroom cabinet two coats of primer and then 3 coats of black paint, my people, you know my people, came back today to finish up.....he was afraid it had not dried long enough and was leery to install the sink base, faucets, and lighting fixture for fear of messing up the paint job. (and it was a fine paint job, I will have to say)  Damn, and I thought today would be the day it would be DONE....but we will continue to muddle on and they will be back on Saturday to FINISH!! If you want to slowly lose your mind, not sleep, make umteenth trips to Home Depot do not, I repeat DO NOT decide to re-do 3 bathrooms at the same time.

Eventho I didn't get my sink in today, I did get the paper lantern hung that I bought over a year ago for the screen porch....it is so colorful...I love it.

Gotta go, have to return some cabinet hardware and buy more.  See what I mean....never-ending.

"No one has every drowned in his own sweat."  ~  Ann Landers

Until next time.....

That ##%%$@$ Hand Sander

OK, the morning started off with a bang, I mean bark.  Toby running down the stairs, barking at whatever that happened to wander into the front yard woke me from a right nice dream state.  And you know I don't come by those too easy.  OK, it was 8:00 AM, time to get up.  After coffee, newspaper (must have coffee and newspaper in the AM, grouchy if not) I decided to tackle the bathroom project, re-painting the bathroom vanity.  My man, you know the one that is helping me finish all the stuff I can't do, removed the sink and faucets and the doors so I had no more excuses why I didn't begin.

I was smart enough to purchase an electric hand sander, so the first thing I had to tackle was the "hand sander".  Now you ask, how difficult can it be to handle a hand sander?  Pretty straight forward, looks like an iron, place the sanding pre-cut paper over the holes on the bottom, press gently to adhere and begin.  That begin part is where I faltered.  There was a rubberized button on the sander that when looking at the instructions (yes, I occasionally do read the directions) saw that it was the on/off button.  OK, plug it in, turn it on. HA...NOT.  I pushed and pushed nothing happening.  OK, maybe I blew a fuse, move the plug to a different outlet, same thing, move it to a third outlet and still nutin honey.  Well, obviously this is a defected hand sander, I guess it is time to put it back in the box and return said merchandise and another day to "get that project over with" wasted.  OK one more time.  I pushed as hard as my little arthritic fingers could and voila it started.  I sanded for awhile, getting the hang of it, then I made the mistake of turning it off.  And by the way, easy peasy to turn off.  I again had the same difficulty turning it back on. Who ever decided  maybe it would be safety factor if it wasn't easy to turn on, obviously did not ask this lady with arthritic fingers.  After sanding for quite a while, I turned it off.  Then decided that before I tackled the on/off switch again it was time to eat lunch.  Maybe build up some strength.  


I am still on lunch break, and decided to water the garden, sad sad state with no rain, and unmerciful heat.  Saw birds sitting on the back fence and decided that would make a great photograph.  But too late, all flew away before I could grab my camera and snap.  But I did manage to get the first of the Black Eyed Susan's as they begin to open and a lone day-lily blooming.  They don't fly away.  I have NEVER said this the 2nd week of July, but I will almost, just almost, be glad when this summer is over if this heat continues without any rain.   Linking to Deb Duty's This and That Thursday.....

Well, I must get back to my project....wish me luck turning that @!$##sander on. 


"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." 
      ~  Benjamin Desraeli


Until next time.....

Bathroom Update

Almost, almost finished with one bathroom and pretty darn close on the 2nd one.  The third one needs the most work.  But after findng this couple at Menards to do all the remaining work, my worries are over.  They come together but he does all the work.  Found out that in 2011 he had a massive aorta aneurysm,  almost killed him, but the surgeons were able to save him however he has some memory issues because of it.  They at first thought that if he survived the surgery, he could be a vegetable, so it is a miracle that he is able to do all that he can.  So his wife goes with him on every job, sometimes to help, sometimes to advise, sometimes just to be there for him.  Now is that love and devotion...wow.  Anyway, they can together pretty much do anything and everything, so I consider it a huge blessing that they have entered my life.


Today he installed a new shower door, hung towel racks, removed the sink in the bathroom so I can re-paint the cabinet, tried to fix the toilet but I am going to have to buy a new one, darn thing just won't stop running, fixed my broken bed (another whole story, hoping this may fix some of my sleep issues), hung curtain rods, hung a new blind and will be back next week after I paint the cabinet to finish up....yeah!!!  


Here are just a couple of pics of the bathroom that is pretty much done (powder room downstairs)...I am still adding wall art and little stuff, but all the major work is complete for this one.  The pics are all from my trip to Arizona earlier this year. 

Do you ever buy something that does absolutely nothing....but just makes your heart sing?  That is what this lady is to me.  She just sits on top of the sink, doing nothing, but I do love her.  Something about her that is pleasing me.

Stay tuned for more updates....hee hee!!


"You have to have faith that there is a reason you go through certain things.  I can't say I am glad to go through pain, but in a way one must, in order to gain courage and really feel joy."  
~  Carol Burnett


Until next time....