Monday, July 23, 2012

Get the lead out

Was last week the longest week ever? I've had some stuff unrelated to the house or Greg that has left me feeling really blue and I've been moping around the house, watching Greek on streaming rather than grocery shopping or taking pictures of all the things blooming in my garden. Everything is going to be fine but my people are an anxious people and worrying comes too easily to me.

On Saturday we went to an open garden tour hosted by Lance Wright (beautiful!) with Greg's parents and had banh mi at Double Dragon. Then Greg and I finally saw Moonrise Kingdom and grilled in the backyard and I felt fussed over and better than I had all week. Sometimes you just need to be taken care of a little.

I think our day of leisure was restorative because I woke up on Sunday on a mission. Our toilet has been intermittently running for the last three months and it's been driving me crazy . . . so crazy that I've ignored it for three months. But there were strong words every time I heard it running!

I degunkified the flapper and adjusted the balloon arm thingy and our toilet stopped running and my blood pressure is back to normal. It took all of 15 minutes. It was running and driving up our water bill for three months. I'm a little mad at myself for this.



I didn't take pictures of the inside of our toilet. You're welcome.

I also didn't take pictures of our office, an unending source of shame for me. Just picture piles and piles of artwork stacked on the floor, an Ikea desk piled 18 inches high with god knows what, and a bed covered by plant catalogs and nursery receipts.

Greg and I had a lot of artwork between the two of us when he moved in. My artwork is mostly cheap but sentimental prints in Ikea frames. Greg's artwork was more expensive but chosen without much thought. He needed art for his bathroom. "Hey, two sailboats, I'll take it." Boom. Except he paid to have it professionally matted and framed, so it looks way better than my prints, even if we don't really care about sailboats. I don't believe in hanging art that I don't love just like I don't believe in styling rooms with books if you're not a reader. At some point I will convince him to let me move different artwork into his frames, but until then we have sailboats in our entryway. The word sailboat has officially lost all meaning. Sailboats!

We both secretly think sailboating is too much work to be considered fun.

And I took all the big pieces and put them in the freshly painted basement stairwell. I am not a fan of gallery walls but we had a bunch of leftover art and I hate empty space, so there you go. Boom.

Yay, pulp fiction covers!

And then I cleared my desk because we have house guests next month and we have to pretend I don't live like a savage. Greg is super organized and his desk always looks this clear. I like stacks of papers that make my allergies flare up. That cable bill isn't going to lose itself.



So we're practically ready for visitors, I have artwork on every conceivable wall in the house, our toilet doesn't run, and now I'm going to reward myself with a little fretting session. Didn't you hear? The universe could tear itself apart sooner than anyone expected.

8 comments:

  1. Hey Heather, I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. I really do enjoy your blog - it has a great energy and sense of humor, and your love of gardening really comes through. Anyhow, if you want to accept the nomination, there's some stuff you are asked to do. For details, see my post at gardeninacity.wordpress.com/2012/07/24.

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  2. Jason, thank you so much! That makes my day. :)

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  3. Oh dear, a fellow fretter. Norm can't quite figure out how I can work myself up into such a state. Not hysterics, mind you, I just kind of shut down like a zombie. I've been known to wake up at 3am, frantic that our foundation is crumbling, new furniture won't fit in a room...etc, etc. And let's not even talk about work...eek! I hope you're feeling better sooner rather than later! Oh, and I never trust people with clean desks ;-)

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  4. Yes, exactly! 3 am is always that magical hour where doubt creeps in. And I LOLed at your desk comment . . . And I agree. :)

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  5. We always go into a cleaning frenzy when guests are coming, pretending all the while that we are doing it for our own enjoyment. Pity the poor visitor who drops in unexpectedly. Well, truth be known, they might actually be more comfortable with our daily semi-slovenly state. Your spaces look magazine-ready, and I love the color in the entry.

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  6. Comfort yourself with the fact that at least the sewer bill, which is predicated on water consumption, isn't being determined this season. With the toilet fixed, you're ready for the winter assessment. And your spaces look lovely and visitor-worthy! I was never a fan of gallery walls either, but after inheriting some beloved family pieces, we now keep our overnight guests awake with our doozie of a "feature wall". They can sleep when they get home.

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  7. I'm not the only one who streamed Greek. My husband made so much fun of me for it. Ah, guilty pleasure.

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  8. I love that show so much! Empty calories but so delicious.

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