Say "Ah" if It Hurts

I have reached the point in life where I make noises when I stand up or sit down. Getting out of bed in the morning produces a cacophony of groans, grunts, and popping sounds. I baby my right knee so as not to torque it. Bending over to touch the floor requires an act of willpower. 

Blair and I were in the car this weekend and as we parked and got out, I let forth with a few "ow's" and "oh's" as I shook the blood back into my legs. 

"I feel fine," said Blair with an annoyingly smug look on his face. 

"That's because you don't work out," I shot back. "If you were healthy, like me, you would hurt more." 

Crazy sounding, but I stand by my logic. Blair will probably die a peaceful death in his sleep, mobile until his final days. I'll end up bed-ridden and highly medicated for the damage I did to my body over the years.

But if I outlive him, I'll still have to crow a bit, and attribute it all to exercise. ;)

Cheers,

Dena

Changing the Outgoing Phone Message

For reasons too long to go into here, we've decided to drop our land line and switch our existing home number over to a cell phone. This morning as I lay in bed, I could hear Blair in the next room selecting ring tones. Then he recorded the outgoing message.

Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. We're not in to take your call. Please leave your name and number and we'll return your call just as soon as we can."

"Can we do something less formal?" I shouted from the bedroom. 

Blair walked into the room. "Such as?"

"How about just, 'Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Leave a message.'"

Blair dialed into the phone to re-record. Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. We're not in to take your call. Please leave your name and number and --

"You're recording the same message," I said. "Try again."

He made me repeat the short message, took a breath, and began recording.

Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Please leave your name and phone number and... he trailed off and looked at me helplessly.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked. "This is not hard."

"I always leave the same message. Here, you record it."

My voice has been our answering machine for 16 years. It's time to mix things up.

"You do it," I said. "Hi, you've reached Dena and Blair. Leave a message." 

I swear to you, it took four more attempts to get it right. Once he had it recorded, he grabbed my cell phone and called the home number, just to make sure it worked. The recorded message played and Blair left a message: "Hi, this is Blair. Call me. But I'm not leaving my phone number because you didn't tell me to in your message." 

I'm still laughing.

Decorating Diaries: High Falutin' Art

"New Found Friend" I'm embarrassed to admit how little I know about art. I can't identify periods or painters, and I'm one of those people who in the past has looked at abstract art and sniffed, "I bet you could put a five-year-old's finger painting up against this and no one would know the difference." 

So I felt a little shy when my friend Melanie asked if I'd like to stop by her office to look at art for our newly painted hallway. Melanie is the owner of Molee Fine Art, soon to be known as Lucky Fish Gallery. We were flipping through framed art and I was commenting, "Oh, that's nice. That one's kind of pretty," when all of I sudden I froze and shrieked "KITTY!"

I had found the painting of my dreams. I don't care what you think of it. I adore it. I burst out laughing when I saw it and even though it's just sitting in my writing room at the moment, I grin every time I glance over at it. I can't wait to hang it in the hall. I lu-uh-uh-uve this painting. 

Even better, Blair feels the same. I wondered if this might be a little too much "cat" for him, but he had the same reaction I did. Our rule is never pass by something in life that makes you grin. It's pretty much why we got married.

So this is the start of our hallway art collection. The painting is called "New Found Friend." Don't feel intimidated by my high falutin' art. I'm still a regular person, just like you. 

I just have a totally cool cat painting in my hall.

Cheers,

Dena

Decorating Diaries: Early Results

I hope Blair likes orange...Blair is in Fayetteville, so I came home from today's run and started painting. It's easier to just jump in and start the process versus waiting for him and having the discussions on whether we ought to wait until we have a clear schedule to tackle such a project (Him- yes, Me-no) and if taping is necessary to protect the trim (Him-yes, Me-no) and if the cats should be locked up while we paint (Him-yes, Me-no -- see a trend?).

I've got one coat up on half the hall but so far I'm liking it. It's a little more orange than I expected. Lowe's was WAY off on so many of the sample colors they gave me that I went to Sherwin Williams where they did a color match on the sample and it's dead on. The Lowe's sample I'd brought home had a tad more yellow to it, but not much. I'm still pleased. It looks like a fiesta in the hall. 

Once the hall is painted, it's time to take down the tacky 70's chandeliers and maybe think about getting a rug and some artwork in there. But one thing at a time. Dinner, and then I have another half of a hall to paint. What remains to be painted of the beige hall