In praise of Wisteria & shopping online

I love shopping online. It's 10:30 and I just made a major dent in my Christmas list. Times must be hard. It's a little more than a week before Christmas and the sales are incredible. You must go check out http://www.wisteria.com/. Their holiday clearance sale is amazing. And I didn't even come close to buying all the things I wanted. Here's a peak at what I couldn't pass up:

First I fell in love with these charming little ornaments, handmade with antique silver beads. I wanted them for myself, but since this is the season for giving, I refrained. I also think they would be beautiful stitched to a stocking.

Earlier in the week I wondered what to get our godchild, Kyra, for Christmas. What could I get her that would have a lasting impact and not just clutter up her house (like mine)? An ornament seemed a thoughtful, yet easy gift. Since she's only one year old, by the time she leaves the nest she'll have a nice start on her very own tree. Fabulous. I could start a tradition and ease the pain of thinking up an idea for the next 20 years. These days I am all about streamlining.

Then I had a brainstorm: why not start and carry out this same tradition with my nieces! And then what about my daughters? I can't leave them out in the cold. My two nephews are on their own. One day they'll have wives and you know how women are. I can just hear it: "Some old aunt is going to tell me what ornaments to put on my tree....." I'll spare them the drama.

Anyway, that's how much of my Christmas list was conquered in about 30 minutes. Starting this year, I plan to get each kiddo something fun, like the Hannah Montana wig I got Aschlen last year. She clutched it to her chest and with all the emotion of an Academy Award winning actress, almost whispered, "I needed this." Obviously I was filled with joy because I had nailed the perfect gift.

The kids won't care about the ornaments, or understand their significance, at least not now. But after their mothers do a good job raising them, hopefully one day they will appreciate my crazy aunt Christmas legacy. I think I am getting old and nostalgic.

Originally I thought I would get a range of ornaments because there were so many beautiful contenders on sale. These beautiful glass ornaments in green were in my shopping cart for a while:

Although they are stunning, the lightbulb went off that everyone should get the same ornaments. That way, when I'm long gone, having worn out my broken down earthly body, there will be similarities among all my girls' trees. One Christmas, many years from now, won't it be cool when my niece Aschlen passes by little Piper's tree and remembers "the year crazy old Aunt Sami gave us these ornaments?" That will make me very very happy from my afterworld perch.

Having snatched up at least 8 sets of four ornaments for just $7.60 a set, (what a bargain!!!!), I couldn't pass up this handy contraption designed to contain all those Christmas cards currently in a pile on our buffet. Several lucky families are getting this:

At $14.50, and 41 inches tall, I think this Christmas card holder is amazing. Can you tell none of my family members read this blog? I'm giving away all my secrets.

And check out this wreath! At $14.50, I mean who could pass this up? It's made from birch wood. I must say, however, that this bow is ghastly. What the heck?

I don't know who is getting this wreath. I decided to buy it for that "just-in-case-I-forgot-someone" present and if that never comes up, I can keep it for myself.

Fabulous Addictions & blogs I love

Wow! The love just keeps pouring in! This time, Lavenderchick nominated me for this most fabulous "Your Blog is Fabulous" award. Again, my heart is so big. Oh, did I tell anyone that over Thanksgiving my mother, Teeni, got the "my heart is so big" inside joke all wrong and asked me: "is your heart large?" She kind of drawled it out, Laaaarge???? If you knew Teeni, you would be falling on the floor laughing right now.

OK, back to my award. It apparently has nosy questions that come with it. Since I myself have been called some variation of nosy a time or two, I will play along:

Here are the rules: Copy and paste the rules and instructions in your post. When posting on receiving the award, make sure you include who gave you the award and link it back to them. Post five winners and link it back to them as well. Post five of your addictions. Add the award image. Let your winners know you gave them an award by leaving them a comment on their blog.

5 Addictions (no particular order):

1. Coffee. Alright, it probably has something to do with my whirling freakishness, but I'm sorry. I cannot be perfect. I gave up smoking and wild living. This is the best I can do.

2. Red wine. See excuses above and add in that I have three children, all girls and one is almost 14. I love almost all red wine, but my favorite is La Crema Pinot Noir, which little old me discovered on my first trip to Sedona. I also must send a shout out to my good friend St. Genevieve for all those lean times when she was there for me.

Me, drinking red wine on Lavenderchick's sofa: (note need for Botox, which I hope to become addicted to in 2009)

3. Fixing. This is my most obsessive compulsion. And don't start emailing me with suggested pharmaceuticals. God made me this way and the rest of you will just have to cope. No matter what I see, I want to fix. If it is a house, I analyze it and try to figure out what would make it look better, new paint colors that would transform it, a better landscape design. If it is a marketing piece written by my darling husband, I edit it. My fixing obsession is a curse. And I do realize it's annoying. I just can't help it. However, I will say that I do apply this fixative curse to myself and I have seen improvement in the last few years. Part of my personal improvement has been learning that I cannot fix people. So I try not to try.


4. West Texas and Mountains. I love mountains and the desert, so I love West Texas. I think about it all the time. And one day, when I'm an old lady, you'll be able to find me sitting on my porch, staring at the mountains, thinking about something I need to fix. I used to say I'd be smoking a cigarette, but I really think I've kicked that addiction for good.

See me trying to grow a plant in the desert. Most people will see this and think 'how pitiful.' But I'm here to tell you this mini century plant is thriving in its little rock circle! Note the nice dry dirt and not a hint of mud. When you are from West Texas, mud is a problem.

5. Learning. I love to learn stuff. I love my smart friends who also like to learn stuff and are therefore smart. I like people who are not smart only if they are interesting and I can therefore marvel at their flawed nature or twisted upbringing. Being from West Texas, I can say I know a lot of smart people and probably just as many who are flawed, twisted and interesting. I pledge never to reveal who is who.

Here's me and three of my smart friends in West Texas, at the Gage. It doesn't get better than this. Oh yeah, and we drank some red wine. See, we are all smiling.

And here's a pic of me and my two best friends, who just happen to be smart and are from West Texas!
In this photo, I now notice I must have been having a hot flash. Compared to everyone else in this photo, I appear quite exposed.

That's it for me and My Fabulous Blog Award. To share the love, I'm nominating the following super cool bloggers I follow. Some of them may already have received this award and I just don't know it.

1.Joni at Cote de Texas. Since I am addicted to learning, I love Joni's blog because I learn about design and see beautiful things. And, I have a sneaking suspicion that she's more addicted to coffee than me. She is way too famous and cool to respond to this chain letter award, but I love her and am nominating her all the same.

2. Lucchese to Louis Vuitton. I just discovered this West Texas girl so go check her out. Her blog right now is serenading me with "Silver Wings." Must be a girl I need to get to know.

3. Design-Block. I just love Design Block when she blogs, but she's busy and not as prolific as I'd like. But when she does say something, it's good.

4. Laura U. A darling young designer in Houston. She's got a great shop on Westheimer, Laura U Collection, and is creating some beautiful interiors that recently won some ASID awards. I love her website as well, www.laurau.com

5. Cheap Chic and Lizzy Webb. Another new blog discovery for me. I already love her. One of my favorite things is clicking on to blogs that my favorite bloggers follow. Lizzy appears to be Joni's daughter and although I am old enough to be her mother, she is darling and I love her fashion sense and the way she writes. Again, I don't care who I learn from, as long as I'm learning. If I lose my mind, I think I'll refer my daughter Mary over to her blog.

What happens between coffee and Triskits and cheese

The New Year is official here and it has been a while since I've blogged about anything, what with my pre-Christmas freakout and post-Christmas recovery time in West Texas. Since http://www.paintedgroove.blogspot.com/ is supposed to be about decorative painting, from time to time I realize it's been a while since I blogged about anything creative. Doesn't Christmas just suck the life out of you?

I'm working on getting my creative groove back in groove mode and it helps that everyone is back in school and back at work. But here's what I got to work on leading up to the holidays. I sure have a lot to be thankful for. Imagine all the people telemarketing and making bosses look good out there. If that's your thing, God love ya. I prefer to make my clients' stuff look good, drink coffee, a little water, eat some Triskits and cheese, and then have a glass of wine.


The walls in this powder bath I am nominating as my Number 1 best job of 2008. Please disregard the annoying photo stamp on the picture. How annoying. I made an effort to eliminate that annoying thing from the camera during my vacation.

Here's another shot. Now these photos in no way do justice to the yumminess of these walls. (Figuring out how to capture faux painting in pictures is my goal for 2009.) So these walls are a warm terra cotta color, Venetian plaster, all buffed out and waxed. When you walk into the room you are compelled to reach out and touch them. The color of the walls works perfectly with the orangy color in the Talavera sink.

OK, this was really fun. Do you see the pretty gold and red tones in this slate? Well, originally, they were not there! Selecting slate is so risky because you never know what you're going to get, what the installer will pull from, etc. My client felt the too-gray slate was killing the gorgeous granite below! I originally thought, "oh please, how can you be so picky?" But when I saw it installed in the job, I agreed and fixed it. Don't I have the coolest job in the world?

I actually get to paint slate for a living!

When I was working on this job and had on clean clothes, it was really hard to pry myself out of this chair below. I love, love, love this big old fabulous chair. It's a little too westerny for my house but it's perfect in this ranch house setting. The fabric on the arms and back is some sort of delicious velvet that is really soft and casual (if velvet can be casual). You can see subtle antiquing on the walls in the background. (Soon to be obscured by deer heads).


I could probably sit on this comfy sofa for about a week if someone would just keep bringing me wine and coffee, and maybe some Triskits and cheese in between.

This home is new construction, on a deer ranch. So right now it's looking a little fresh from the furniture store but that's all going to work itself out as the totally cool family that lives here makes their mark and keeps on putting their personal stamp on the place. And I was also thinking if it was my house, I would turn my kids loose in here to warm it up and wear it out and make it look a bit more lived in. After the holidays and deer season, this family has probably already accomplished all that.

So here's to 2009. Informal polling among Smart People Who Sami Knows and Saw Over the Holidays forecasts a much better year than 2008. To a person, all my smart friends were glad 2008 was over and are looking forward to rerides in 2009.

Peace & Love all over the place

There was peace and love just coming out our ears. Seriously. Yesterday, Thanksgiving, was a wonderful day. It could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't. I was really happy.

First of all, I don't care how old you are, divorce in a family is going to screw things up. I'm sure there are some parents that need to be gotten rid of, but in my case, it's been terribly inconvenient for me and my siblings. Divorce fractures relationships, divides families at holidays, and otherwise just leaves somebody out in the cold, no matter what. Except for yesterday when our humble gathering included the following:

My biological mother. My biological father. My stepfather I call Dad. My sister from my Mom and Dad (Stepdad) who was adopted and is a Sioux Indian. Three half brothers, two of their wives and one new girlfriend (Miss Alaska). Two nieces from my brother's first marriage. Two nieces whose parents are still married and one cute little three-year-old nephew who was driving his harried mother crazy. We couldn't understand why, he seemed perfectly normal to us.

Then my husband, who was raised in a very normal, All-American home with two married parents had his Mom and Dad here, plus his 90-year-old grandmother, and a his uncle Wayne, who is blind. Oh, and then there were our kids: Mary, from my first marriage, and Catherine and Caroline from my current and last marriage.

While all this was going on I was texting with my former husband's current wife who I went to high school with about Mary going to visit them and the arrangements for that since he is very ill and not doing well at all. I had to keep making stops in between to say a prayer for the poor guy. We have a lot to be thankful for this year, starting with that he's even alive. We also have to be thankful for the fact that if the two of us were talking and texting, it's proof that God is alive and at work in our big old extended dysfunctional family.

So today my other brother Clay came to see Dad, who's visiting from Arizona, and brought his precious one-year-old little boy named Pius, and his other son, who is actually from his wife Heidi's first marriage. Does anyone have a headache?

Amazingly, everybody got along just fine. A good time was had by all. The best thing about it all is that all my parents were in the same place at the same time for the first time since our wedding. And I didn't feel stretched or fractured. I wasn't even stressed. What a blessing.

We were driving down South Alamo Street in San Antonio the other day when I noticed this grand house for the first time. It must be the new paint job that did it because my eyes had never beamed in on it before. Apparently it is a bed and breakfast, in the heart of the King William district. "Wait!" I shrieked. "Did you see that house?"








Ryan had not noticed it, because he doesn't care about paint colors and, to be fair, it was almost dark. "Oh my gosh!" I said. "That house color combination was fabulous. Maybe we need to paint the Marathon house like that," I continued in that rapid-fire, wheels turning a thousand miles an hour way that I do when I get all flitterbated about something exciting, like paint.



"I thought we had already decided what to paint the Marathon house," Ryan said. Poor thing, he thought this subject was behind him. What he doesn't realize is until it's painted, the decision is never final. And, really, that's what I love about paint. It's never permanent. It's always changeable. I wonder what that says about me, from a psychological standpoint?



Anyway, I need your help. Do you like it? Do you hate it? Here's another view of the house that cranked my head:

I just love the crisp white against the warm tan, and the black sets it all off so nicely. Is it too formal for the Marathon setting?

Here's a picture of the dingy outside of our humble home in Marathon. It really needs some help:

This is how it looked the day we went to do the inspection. The evaporative cooler is out of the window and it has a new tin roof. The storm screen doors are off. And there are a few plants trying to grow in the yard. But other than that, it's still aching for some curb appeal. A new porch is planned to jazz up the front entry, and a little overhang is going over the back door, but those will have to wait until people can qualify for home mortgages again. (Shameless plug: www.accessmortgageplanners.com.)

The former option for this quaint little West Texas diamond in the rough was Sherwin Williams Crater Gray, which Ryan loves. I love the color, too, It's a gray/green/bluey color and quite masculine and cool. We first saw it on a beautiful house in Castroville. The difference that gives me pause is the Castrovile house sits in the shade, surrounded by beautiful green trees. This house sits out in the arid plains, set against tan, dry desert mountains. I do not want it to stick out like a turd in a punch bowl, as someone really influential in my life named Bob used to say and probably still does.

So what do you think? If you're one of those sneaky people who reads this blog and doesn't comment, please break that trend today and tell me what you really think!

It's official: I am crazy

I told my husband today I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Part of me wanted to have a big Thanksgiving dinner and invite all our mish-mash of family from all sides. It's so fun, and welcoming and fills us with peace and love.

Another part of me said that was crazy and we have no business inviting everyone over here for Thanksgiving: We should just go to someone else's house. Then, when we're sick of all the dysfunction and peace and love, we can just go home to our own dysfunction, peace and love.

And then there was another part of me that said I don't even want to be anywhere around so let's flee for the hills like we did last year. Last Thanksgiving was magical. We fled to West Texas and IT SNOWED!

So this year when I dared to bring it up, my darling husband declared I must be suffering from multiple personality disorder, or something. Later this afternoon we caved and decided to throw a big bash at our house. One of my brothers is hosting his new girlfriend we like to call Miss Alaska, and he needs somewhere respectable to bring her to introduce her to the family, after all.

Just like every holiday, everyone will offer to bring something. And then I'll fret that we'll run out of food, which we actually did one Easter. I was horrified, given that I come from a long line of cooks and eaters who take great pride in cooking delicious food in copious quantities. We strive to create the best dish everyone raves about on any given holiday. But in recent years, I have discovered not every family is like mine, which can be good and bad, depending on how you look at it.

In recent years, I swear I have eaten fake mashed potatoes on Christmas (Jesus would not be happy about this, I know) and one year at Easter, someone brought a dozen boiled eggs, undecorated, with some chips. I promptly made deviled eggs, in a feeble attempt to fill everybody up.

It occurs to me that not everybody views a holiday gathering like my family does. Average, normal people don't realize you need to cook 10 pounds of potatoes or 5 pounds of green beans even though you're only one person. They don't know you can't bring a two-person serving to a 30-person gathering, or one dish if you've got five, big-eating kids.

Then there was the year everybody brought their dishes stone-cold and were all vying for stove and microwave space while patient old people and kids sat around, glassy-eyed and starving. Good times. The next year we employed subtle suggestions to at least bring the food at room temperature or in a crock pot or warmer. My father-in-law, who is the most precious man ever, always arrives just in the nick of time, takes over the kitchen and makes gravy. I've learned to just glide on outside for pre-dinner glass of wine.

How can people look at the same issue and see it so completely differently? It's baffling. I've thought about this a lot in the past few months, during the past election, when millions of voters did not share my insightful view. How can I be so right and they're just so blatantly, blindly wrong ? And how can they think the same thing about me when I'm so obviously right?

And then there was the time when I lovingly interjected there would be 30 people at the Thanksgiving gathering. And the invitee replied "well the recipe makes a 9x13 pan." End of discussion.

All of it is just fascinating. And here we go again.

I miss my girls

I'm away from home again this week, being a rock star faux painter and missing my girls at home. This job entails texturing over old wallpaper, new base coat, and then two coats of Faux Effects' Lusterstone in Brown Suede and Champagne Mist in a master bath. The base coat is SW Nomadic Desert so it's all real neutral and peaceful and warm. And then there's a water closet upstairs that's going to get some new texture, a fix for the sheetrock and then some faux glazing over the top.

Before you think this all sounds real glamorous, let me stress my life on the road is far from fabulous. I don't set out to work all over the state, it just happened that I have some out-of-town assignments all jumbled up on top of each other. Last week I was out on a ranch in Dilley. This week it's Houston. I'm so tired I feel more like the traveling roofers that are sharing this less-than-glamorous Comfort Inn with me. Boy have I become spoiled. This hotel is just not doing it for me. I much prefer the Omni but their weekday rate is $359 "for business travelers." That rate must be for "business travelers" who aren't "in business" for themselves.

Anyway, I thought I would share some pictures of my gorgeous girls that I am missing so much. Here's a picture of Mary. She is 13 and loves taking pictures of herself. She's the light of my life on every day except those days when she's really living out that she's 13 and I'm whining that "she used to be the light of my life."

She can take some artsy photos, don't you think?

Here's a picture of Caroline. She's four years old. My sister-in-law Sallie took this picture at the Guadalupe County Fair & Rodeo when I was out of town retreating in West Texas. Notice the Flashdance, off-the-shoulder t-shirt she's wearing, along with her famous attitude. I did say I was out of town, so you can attribute this outfit to Daddy.

When I've been out of town for a few days, I even miss that attitude.

And finally, here's my little Catherine. These are older pictures, but they're my favorites because they totally "capture" her thoughtful side. I love her deep-thinking nature, and that she'll wear pearls and take her poodle to church.


Could our twins be any more different? Catherine is so girly girl. I took the picture below at her second birthday party. That's just about the time her hair really began to grow.

Everyone marvels over Caroline's blue eyes, but I think Catherine's are exceptional.

I took this picture below on the first day of dance this year. They just started their second year of Hermann Sons Dance and this year they love it. Don't they look like big girls?

This photo marks the first day Caroline agreed to let me put her hair up without a fight. I just love this picture because you can see that Catherine is so take-charge and has such a sassy walk.

I can't wait to get home tomorrow and snuggle them up.

You like me? You really like me.

Wow. I finally got some sort of blogger award. I really feel unworthy, seeing as how I haven't been able to blog much lately and when I do I need to be reminded to blog about what I'm supposed to be blogging about (thanks, Paige, for keeping me on task). I must say I can accept the Perfect Blend of Friendship Award much more easily than the BFF Gold Card. I'll tell you a little bit more about that later. But first, let me thank Lavenderchick for nominating me. My heart is so big (an inside joke related to something Lavenderchick herself said way back in about 1990. I think it was in Mexico and tequila was to blame. You know, as I recall. If I knew how to work my scanner, I would scan the picture of her saying it. The scary thing is I have the picture.)

Do you have the same friends since childhood?

Yes, thank God! What's funny is some of them have come and gone and we've done other things -- been single, married, divorced, single again, married, had kids and careers and cats and dogs -- but there is a comfortability (if that's a word) that I couldn't bear to lose. I find great comfort in the fact that Debi, Paige, Lisa, Dara and Kim know what I'm talking about without me having to explain it. They know the difference between a Hut Coke and a Sonic Coke. They know where my heart is even if what I am saying is outrageous. It's just easier. And, we generally find the same things funny and understand the background behind the rant.

Are your friends sounding boards?

What would we do without our girlfriends? Mine most certainly have stepped in to provide an auxiliary brain when I have been beyond thinking clearly. And they step in to pick up my basket when I drop it. Still, I must say my most frequent and dependable sounding board is my husband Ryan, who actually will patiently play along and answer when I annoyingly ask the question, "what should I do?"

What is your favorite activity to share with friends?

Talking, exploring, and pondering life with an occasional glass of wine or a good cup of coffee.

This is where I get to brag on my new friends. When you have so many old friends from the old days in West Texas, it's hard to imagine that new friends can match up. I have been proven wrong on this one and my new friends (you know who you are) have added to my life in ways I never could have figured.

OK, so more about the BFF Gold Card. This award doesn't appear to have any questions with it. I really must say I don't deserve this award because I haven't always been the best friend or person in the world, but my friend Deb is a great person to send it my way anyway because she's a loving, forgiving and overlooking friend. It must be because she's a middle child.

The scariest thing I've ever seen -- in the daylight

It was a brisk Minnesota morning, a few days shy of Halloween. I didn't expect to be frightened. I just needed some exercise and wanted to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage, cool temperatures after a few days cooped up in an airplane, airport and hospital room. And then I saw it:

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! OMG! Could it be true?

And that's my scary Halloween story for 2008.

Life's a .......

Back in the day, we used to say, "life's a bitch. Then you die." I'm not quite so negative these days. I've matured, thank goodness.

These days, we have so much to be thankful for. We're well. We have electricity. My husband and I are putting some distance between ourselves and work and other looming obligations to rest and recharge this weekend. West Texas is calling me.

See what I mean? I'll be looking at this tomorrow night. A nice, neighborly goat may happen by to visit while I sit on my porch.

While life is so good for me, I just can't get thoughts of those less fortunate out of my mind. My best friend's Uncle Bo died this week in a plane crash in West Texas while surveying flooding on the Rio Grande from the air. The Texas Gulf Coast is in serious distress. My brother and his kids can't go home to Beaumont. The markets are a mess. Two very important people in my past life have really scary cancer. I wonder whether that beautiful Galveston beach house that Joni of Cote de Texas blogged about earlier this summer even exits anymore.

I can really see myself sitting in this chaise, reading a book. You know, in another life.

The really simple and realistic girl in me loved this house from the Joni's post. I could see myself lurking on this porch, incognito, watching tourists meander by. I wonder how it fared when Ike attacked?

We don't get to pick the trials that make us stronger and form us into really tough old ladies who retain their good manners, snazzy good looks and charm. I guess if there' s any lesson to learn, that's it.

The bathroom wall I'm currently in love with

My most favorite recent faux application -- lucky for me -- is in my very own bathroom. Philosophically, I'm really not into making something look like something else, which I guess what faux painting is supposed to be, after all. For some reason it makes me think of something my grandmother used to say: "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."

While Mama was referring to "common" people without breeding or good manners, she hadn't yet seen some of things we can do nowadays with good painting materials and plain old sheetrock walls. Please let me whisper that our family can only claim manners, alas. And some of us don't do so well with those either.

Anyway, back to my favorite wall. Its basecoat is Sherwin Williams Blonde, which is a pretty great color in a light-filled house. I can be a little muddy in a dark little room without much natural light. Then, I used Faux Effects Lusterstone colors Antique Parchment, Silver Moss and Charred Gold. But my favorite part is the white, which is Faux Effects Fauxstone Pull-Off. That's my favorite product ever.

Sorry. This photo is a little blurry because I was trying to take the photo without a flash, in natural light. Still, you can get the idea.

I really love how how the Antique Parchment catches the light and looks gold. I did a similar application in a house on Treasure Island, in the middle of Lake McQueeney. Remember this?

This is the house with the sexy sink. I didn't do a very good job taking this photo and it looks a little blotchy, which it didn't in real life.

Now I need to go see about being a faux mother and cooking some real dinner.

Too many adjectives

For the love of God, could we stop with the labels, the excessive adjectives? If I hear Sarah Palin's little baby Trig referred to as "the Down Syndrome Baby" one more time, I might go mad. It's just rude. Were we not raised better than that? I grew up in Texas, mostly, and we like to think we have manners. Some of us spit and cuss, but we like to say things like "bless her heart" and not mention the obvious -- until later.

Are you wondering from where this rant comes? Listen, you won't hear me or any of my girlfriends say, "Oh yeah, I'll bring Susie, Little Bobby and my Ugly Daughter over to swim on Saturday." When we're talking about our neighbors, we don't say, "Oh, yes, she and her husband have three kids, two cute and normal ones, and one with buck teeth and diabetes."

It's just despicable. And disrespectful. Trig is a baby. A sweet little four-month-old baby. And despite whether you think Sarah Palin should have avoided his birth or not (God help you) , he's a baby. He is one of God's children and he deserves to be referred to as such.

In my experience, only cool and special people who can handle it are gifted with "different," "special," "challenged" and "not-quite-right" kids. And that's all I have to say about that.

OK, OK, enough already

Lavenderchick grew weary with my procrastination so I finally decided to rebel against my perfectionism and just take a few pictures of the bar I have been writing about for months now. This is the bar that makes my Modelo so happy.

Here is the top. All these images were cut out of a planner book Mr. Kevin gave me for my birthday about 10 years ago. And then my super new neighbor Lauren had a book of Mexican folk art and advertising images that she sacrificed for the projecto.

It was really fun and easy and so if you'd like to make one of these happy places to sit and solve the problems of the world, here's all you need:

1. Friend who is raising money for a vacation and wants to unload their ugly bar on you, "because I know you can do something cute with it."

2. Motivation to do something fabulous with ugly bar because you'll never hear the end of it from your husband and brother who had to help you move it. And really, it's destroying your chi just sitting around in your garage it's so ugly. See:

3. Smart and creative neighbor who is interested in helping you "create" in a steaming hot garage.

4. At least one bottle of red wine.

5. Maybe a few beers for when you get thirsty.

6. A chance bottle of Modge Podge you don't know why you have.

7. Scissors

8. Leftover paint in fun and funky colors.

9. Palm fronds you just happened to have trimmed off your palm trees that you can rescue from the compost pile. If you don't have any, call me. I have a little more trimming to do.

10. Staple gun, any do-it-yourselfer woman's best friend.

11. Great new lime green spray paint from Home Depot for bar stools. They've sure have come a long way with spray paint colors, havent' they?

12. Briwax or gel stain to age and/or "antique" it all. It needs to look like it's been salvaged from Francisco's Bar in Boquillas.

So there you go. That's the bar I've been raving about. We had such fun putting it together. And the sad part is we haven't had much time since to belly up to it. But we will.

I have been like a woman without a country, a cordless phone without a base.

A month or more ago, my old hand-me-down laptop died. It was helped along by a crazed, my-spacing 13-year-old and two manic monkey four-year-olds, at least according to the 13-year-old, who blamed it all on her younger sisters. Anyway, I was without a computer at home. I contemplated what kind of spiffy new laptop I would order for myself. My darling husband, ever loving and oh-so generous, sent up a trial balloon that he might get a new one for himself and give me his current, burned up laptop. You can imagine how well that idea went over, especially since it was his old broken-down laptop that had up and died on me in the first place. He slinked off to dream up other great ideas, tail tucked between his legs.

And then I didn't have a desk at home. I had moved my home office to the office, before I couldn't take working there anymore and fired myself. So you can imagine how productive I have been and it's been driving productive me crazy.

Tonight all that changed. I couldn't decide what kind of laptop to get so I just brought my computer from the office home. I brought a desk too. And then next week I'm going to go get all my note cards, postage, pens and files. My stuff. So I can be a person. A productive person with stuff.

And did I mention that my oh-so generous hubby did actually buy me a fancy fax/scanner/copy machine? It was new, and he just took it out of the box. My new plan is to learn how to scan.

At this point you must be wondering, what the heck is that hideous looking piece of furniture at the top of the blog. Well, it's the beginnings of the bar that Lauren and I transformed one Sunday afternoon in a manic episode. I've been promising to take pictures of the finished product and share them with the world, but I keep procrastinating because the vignette is not yet complete. I'm busy and I haven't had a desk. And a few other excuses I won't bore you with.

Have you ever seen such hideous pleather? Rest assured it's rotting away in a landfill right now.

In praise of red

Red has always been my favorite color. Sometimes I'll wander away from it, but I always come back. My first room of my own in Minnesota I designed in orange, yellow and green, a combination of stipes and floral wallpapers. I'm sure subsequent homeowners stripped it right off immediately.


Then in Alpine, I went through a blue phase. I'll always remember both my parents helping me with that and allowing me to do my creative thing is planning that room. Then there were the bubblegum pink twin beds I painted for me and Debi's one-bedroom apartment in San Angelo. ("Hey Debi, how's San Angeloooooo?") Just thinking of that place can keep me giggling for days.


Somehow I've never really decorated with red. But get a load of this kitchen.

My only role on this job was trying to fix what had been done by someone else they mistakenly let paint and "antique" the cabinets. The paint scuffed everytime you touched it and they not only have two big teenager kids but also a huge, ferocious dog that barked and growled at me (while I was trying to be in my groove ...)

These cabinets are now luxuriously beautiful if you ask me. My antiquing process sealed in the paint, whatever it was and whatever its problem was. Who could say? That painter flew the coop.

Here the paint looks a little orange, but it's really just my flash washing it out. I love the use of drawers under the stovetop. People just don't usually have enough drawers in a kitchen. Lower cabinets, if they don't have pull-outs, are just a hassle.

The lesson here -- painted cabinets are just cool. And see how much more beautiful and fun they can be when they are red? Mine are the color of cardboard but they have been done with this same technique.

I am helping a builder friend pick some colors for a spec house -- that really cool one on the lake Lavenderchick told you about. I asked about cabinets and they told me: "We'll probably do a stained, oak cabinet ...."

When I got together with the interior decorators they use for selects, we promptly vetoed that bad, bad idea right away. Not in a lake house. Not with travertine. As my daughter Mary would say, "it's just not correct."

Call it a breakdown in communication

There was a terrible breakdown in communication. It's pretty common in our house, but when Paw Paw arrived at the twins' birthday party with a puppy, all I could utter was "Oh noooooo! There's been a terrible breakdown in communication!" My husband shot me that look. You know the one.

"What," Paw Paw asked increduously. "The girls wanted a puppy. You didn't tell me you already got one."

"Well you said you were going to Wal-Mart to get their presents," I exclaimed back. "You always get them gift cards!" I was beginning to freak.

"I was going to Walmart ... to get the dog!" Paw Paw answered heatedly back. There was nothing we could do at that point. We just had to make the best of it. I suppose since I had twins I have to do everything in twos.

So the girls got a little brown chihuahua to name Bambi like they wanted all along, ever since the Puppy Parade when Caroline cried the whole time.

Isn't she seriously cute?

She was about as big as a hamster. Smaller than a guinea pig for sure. Too young to have been sold, straight off the puppy mill. I like to think we rescued her from a horrible life. Technically she is Shih Tsu and Chihuahua. She's what we call a Designer Dog.

Here's Rooster with his baby sister. She makes him look like a Big Boy. He loves her so much. But he does like to pounce on her and roll her around like a bouncy ball.

OK, enough of this. I swear I have fascinating decorative painting pics to share. I haven't given it all up for puppy raising.

Oh and one more thing. Guess what the big lesson was, as I struggled to make it through those first two tragic weeks of puppy crate/potty training?

I do have enough love to go around. My new key word, which I should get tatooed somewhere important, is .... perseverance.