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Clutterbusting by Brooks Palmer - I think I met Brooks at our library a few years ago, and after his talk, he actually came to my house and looked around and encouraged me to get rid of all kinds of stuff. He didn't have an answer for how to get Steve to get rid of even a spec, though, and ultimately that's what we're talking about. Ha! I had no idea then, how much worse it could get! If Brooks saw my house now, he'd make me a before in his next book. Then, I was just a person with a few pieces of mail that she hadn't gone through. This is a great book, and is one of my top two in the organizing and getting your life together category. The other is by my friend Mary's sister Anne. I'll re-read it and review it soon. The weather is cooling off, and I bought some darling chairs at a garage sale yesterday, and they are motivating me to some sunroom and painting action. And I sold three things on Craigslist this week! Yea! The Bose speakers, the dolphin painting and well, I've sold two things on Craigs, and the third thing I'm supposed to sell today or tomorrow. An earring tree. Nevertheless at least some things are going out the door. Just so you know, this post is being written on August 28, 2011, not May something. Sometimes I put the titles into my blog so that I can remember to write the post later that day. These two titles fell between the cracks so to speak, but here's how to backdate posts. Just get the titles in place and write any time!
Black Swan - This is the Natalie Portman movie about ballet. It's a weird thriller, and I didn't like it, but somehow I watched it until the end. That ballet world seems very stuck up. I don't know how the ballet people all stand each other if they are really as depicted in the movies. Maybe the movie people are envious of the dancers and get them back by giving them bad cred in bad movies. Possibly if you're into ballet, you liked this movie, but it seems like you could watch some real ballet and do without the nuttiness.
The Hangover Part II - Alas! The eagerly awaited sequel to The Hangover is here, and it was hilarious. Every single minute of this crazy movie was funny or cringe inducing and then uncomfortably funny. Just like Curb and South Park, when you think that the story is going somewhere and you can't believe that it will really go there, IT GOES THERE. A huge pre-requisite to seeing this movie is that you saw The Hangover at least once and liked it. Because if you didn't like that one, you will definitely not like this one. The things we liked about it were all the similarities....we know these guys, and we know the movie, so it's comfortable. But then there are the differences - ramped up foreign location, ramped up situations, ramped up raunch. Really ramped up raunch. Really really funny ramped up raunch. With surprises.
Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth - This novel takes place at the site of an archeological dig in Asia Minor just before World War II, so I thought it might be interesting to read for increased understanding about the Armenian Genocide and Greek Catastrophe which would soon take place there. No such luck. It's wordy and British-y, and more of a mystery of some sort, rather than a novel that lends historical light to anything. And it wasn't even a great story. I realized right away that I wasn't into it, but kept going for more than half the book until this morning, when I said that's it, I'm speed reading to the end just in case something does happen. And it happens, but I didn't care. If anyone reads it and feels differently, please call me on this. The book cover is attractive, and filled with glowing reviews. I've got two more books in the pipeline and hoping for better reading fare soon.
Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter by Antonia Fraser - This is a lovely 20th Century love story written by British writer and biographer Antonia Fraser about her 33 year relationship/love affair/marriage to the playwright Harold Pinter. The title refers to the beginning of it all, and Antonia tells the story right away on the third page of the book....there had been a dinner party to celebrate the first night of a Pinter play....
Wait a minute, I said, 'I must just say goodbye to Harold Pinter and tell him I enjoyed the play; I haven't said hello all evening.' .....I went over to where Harold was sitting. 'Wonderful play, marvellous acting, now I'm off.' He looked at me with those amazing, extremely bright black eyes. 'Must you go?' he said. I thought of home, my lift, taking the children to school the next morning, the exhausting past night in the sleeper from
Scotland, my projected biography of King Charles II . . . ' No, it's not absolutely essential,' I said.
Really now, is there anything more you need to hear about this book? Harold wrote the most beautiful and simple poems to Antonia, and they enjoyed the most wonderful, romantic, artistic life together. Not without its hardships, but she writes with eloquence and honesty. And she writes with that British voice about which I complained in The Glass Room. Here, the voice is original and true. I'm so happy to have read this. Must you go?
Our new powder room looks lovely. The eggplant color walls look very rich, velvety and dramatic. I still need to find the correct size rug for the floor, and a great picture for the back wall, and a window treatment. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about the 2" white wood blinds, but they seem to be fine. My biggest concern is that my before photos look somewhat better than my afters! So.....Here's the paint job: Two coats of Benjamin Moore Purple Lotus provided the deep rich color I wanted. It definitely takes the mind off of the less-than-perfect trim we have in the room. I also painted the radiator this time, which brings the color down into the room.
I'm thinking about silver leafing the gold mirror that was in here before, but in the meantime decided to go with the mirror that I had in our guestroom. That room is supposed to be spa-like and serene, and this mirror never did feel at home in there. Et Voila! I think it looks fabulous on eggplant walls!
I knew that I wanted silvery accents in this room, and I've always loved the parrot pictures that were in there, so I decided to use some Silver Leaf "Rub 'n Buff" that I bought ages ago for just this kind of job. On their own, I didn't love the transformation, but in the room, they look good since the frames echo the design on the frame of the large mirror. 
The other day at Homegoods, before I'd even bought the paint, I saw these towels which perfectly matched my Purple Lotus paint chip, and decided on the color. They only had two hand towels, and although they're 100% cotton, the quality isn't great, but for now, they will do. I've accented them with the pale green fingertip towels.
Last but not least, for now, the parrot pictures look great, and I added this silver framed picture to the back wall. I still might do clear display shelves, or I might use one of my own black and white photos, blown up and framed simply in silver. Or maybe a collection of them. Or maybe I can get out today and take some more, since the Lilies of the Valley are here this week. All it takes is time!
I thought today was Thursday.
I thought yesterday was Friday.
Peter is going to the State Finals in Track and Field as part of a 4 x 800 Relay Team.
I've got to get rid of a lot of stuff and maybe not have a garage sale.
I am going to repaint my powder room eggplant.
Now.Here's the BEFORE:
It's a circa 1927 White Subway Tile with Black Trim Tiny room with a radiator. When we bought the house it was papered in a large black and white floral. I painted it white, and decorated it with black towels. Then at some point in the late 1990s, I painted it this sage green. Found towels to match, put up the charming green checked sheers,
gold mirror, 
colorful impressionist oil 
and the bird pictures. It's sweet, but lacks drama. 
Last weekend I went on a Historical Housewalk, and saw a few rooms painted in a rich eggplant color. Didn't matter the room, in every case it looked super modern and very rich. Went to Epco (our local Benjamin Moore Paint Store) got all the purples, went online to see which purple people were picking, and then decided to take the finalists to the store to compare them to an actual eggplant (aubergine). I already knew that eggplants go about three shades. The blue/black, the purpler, and the reddish purple. In homegoods, I saw a Cynthia Rawley throw, and it was the perfect color. Consulted with a couple of random shoppers who were also talking color, and we all agreed that the Cynthia Rawley purple, while maybe not the color of a real eggplant, was a great color. The closest Benjamin match was Purple Lotus.
Bridesmaids - Last week at bead group, Sue mentioned that she was going to see Bridesmaids as soon as it came out because it was supposed to be really good. Since Sue knows what she's talking about when it comes to movies, I couldn't resist going to a matinee in Evanston after delivering Meals yesterday. It was a dull drizzly day, perfect for a movie and I've been in major avoidance mode of late. I loved it! So go see Bridesmaids and get some laughs. It's kind of a Hangover for chicks, with our own kind of drama, and no special effects to speak of. For the guys, there's a wildcard bridesmaid reminiscent of Alan in the Hangover. She's there on the left, and her name is Megan, and she's hilarious. I just watched the trailer, but it gives the whole movie away, so forget that.
Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta - As my readers know, I loved Swallow and News From Home, and now I've just finished Everything Good Will Come, a story told by Enitan, a thoughtful girl growing up in Lagos in the 1970s, becoming a young woman in London in the 1980s, and returning to live her life at home in Nigeria in the 1990s. For me this story was more about characters and less about place, and this was her first novel, so as Sefi Atta progressed as a writer, she added Lagos into her writings as a major player. I like having read her writings in reverse, because I had pictures of Lagos in my mind's eye from having read the previous, more recently written books.
The Book of Salt by Monique Truong - Halfway through my next book, and I'm still deciding on Book of Salt. It's a novel told in the first person by a young Vietnamese man, Binh, who is the cook for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris in the early 1930s. What I love are how he refers to them as "my Mesdames", when he considers salt,
"Salt, I thought. GertrudeStein, what kind? Kitchen, sweat, tears, or the sea. Madame, they are not all the same. Their stings, their smarts, their strengths, the distinctions among them are fine....",
and all the passages about food and cooking. I enjoyed the beginning and I enjoyed the ending, but it was slower going through the middle, and I considered putting it down. I'm glad I stuck it out because the ending was satisfactory, and the writing and the feeling once again became musical. This is perfect for the sophisticated reader, and if that sophisticated reader is a cook or an appreciator of flavors and textures, all the better. I wish there had been one small photo of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. I think I'll go find one now.
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - If you've ever liked Joan Rivers, then this movie is for you. The Joan you'll see here is the insightful human being inside the fast joking comedienne. She is honest, sometimes fragile, sometimes even sweet, mannerly, and reflective. She's a survivor who still struggles to survive. Put this together with the reality show she did with her daughter, Melissa, and you know that she is feeling her age, feeling the natural decline that some people experience as they age. She's not fighting it as fiercely as she'd have you believe, and when you're as outspoken as she is, people don't see it, so her dilemma is whether to be honest about it, or continue to get out there and be her old (younger) self. I think she's doing a fabulous job of both....for her real fans, the ones who watch this movie and even the reality show, she'll show you the truth and her whole self. For those who only watch Fashion Police, she's still the same old wise-cracking, over the top broad. I've become a real fan.
Bossypants by Tina Fey - Tina's got the magic. I wish I had a friend half as funny as Tina Fey. This is a great book...it's kind of like my blog in that it has no one focus - it's about all kinds of things. Tina's life, her dad, comedy, TV, some famous people, being a mom and more. I love "The Rules of Improvisation" on pages 84 and 85 because these can be adapted to life for everyone. If everyone in the world followed these rules, we might have world peace. I think. Turns out that Tina is smart, too. She graduated from the University of Virginia, which I count as a brainiac college as opposed to say, Ohio State or Michigan State. Smart and funny and a mom and down to earth and laid back. Even the praises on the back of the book are pure Tina. This is a super fun read, perfect for this summer at the beach. It'll make you laugh and laugh.
Peter's room is painted! Yea! Yesterday was Mother's Day, and while all the other moms were enjoying breakfast in bed, brunches, fetes and fabulous presents, I was prepping and painting Peter's room. My gift was the gift of Steve helping me to get this finished once and for all, because I just wasn't getting there. It had been 5 weeks since I emptied the room and tried various blues on the walls, and all I'd done in that time was a small amount of sanding, chose the blue and bought the paint. We still had to spackle holes, do a bit of sanding, wipe down walls, move furniture, cover furniture and paint. And we did! Yesterday!
This is the Before picture with the sample blue that I chose - we lived with it to make sure that we liked it in all lights. It was originally Respite by Sherwin Williams, which converts to Sheer Romance by Benjamin Moore. The employees at our local paint store do an excellent job of color matching, so they started with Sheer Romance and tweaked it to more perfectly match the Respite sample I gave them.
Here are Peter and Steve painting. We taught Peter how to roll paint, and he actually enjoyed it.Steve is cutting in along the baseboards. 
Years ago, I thought that changing all my switchplates to white plastic was a clean nice look. Now I think it looks much nicer to have the switchplates match the paint. It gives a cleaner more continuous look to the walls. Not to mention it's classic rather than plastic. 
Here we are - all the walls are painted with two coats. Tomorrow we'll see if there are still any spots that didn't get full coverage. You never know until the paint is completely dry.
Today I'm washing the floor in preparation for the new carpet that will go in tonight. I've removed all the drop cloths, and I'm going to push the furniture back into place. Once the carpet is down, we'll decide whether to change around the sailing dresser and or the bookcase. Peter would love to have a beanbag chair in his room. We're going to get a Steve Prefontaine poster, and I'm going to find running pictures of Steve and Peter, and get those framed as well. Then I'm going to organize all the medals that Peter has gotten from his races since 5th grade, and I'll figure out a way to store/display them. Lastly, or it might actually be firstly, I'm going to make a triangular pendant flag valance for the windows. If we get the beanbag chair, maybe we can cover it in the leftover fabric from the window treatments. I think I'll go with white sheers on the french door windows rather than the blue check sheers we'd had forever. The blue check is a little too dark for the new color scheme, and I want this to be as pulled together as it can be, so no "almosts"....just elements that work great together and make for an interesting fabulous room.
Fire on the Track The Steve Prefontaine Story - This was the third movie that we've watched about the runner Steve Prefontaine, and so far, this was the best. Rather than a fictionalized account, this is a documentary with actual footage of Pre's races, and interviews with those who actually knew him. If you want to learn about Steve Prefontaine and to be inspired by his story, this is the one to watch. The fictionalized versions were close, but there is something about reality that speaks to the viewer.
The Glass Room by Simon Mawer - This is the story of the life of a Modernist house, built in Austria in 1929 by a wealthy Jewish man and his gentile wife. It is somewhat awkwardly (for me) told in the present tense, and much about the woman of the house, Liesel Landauer. But it's written by a man, and in the style of 1930s British writing, like so: "Oh, God, do you really think so? Auntie Hana teaches her goddaughter naughty words? But she's upstairs, isn't she? She won't have heard, will she? Oh, dear, I hope not." The entire book is like this and was making me crazy, but the story was just compelling enough, and the print large enough, and the chapters short enough to keep me reading. And then I came to the end. And I cried, and it was a good thing, because this writer wrapped up this story with a beautiful bow. The glass room was the large open living room of the home that boasted unheard-of-at-the-time walls of glass, and those walls reflected much interesting living during the 60 years spanned in this story. The cover art and title are good too! (Oops, I couldn't help myself there....I just finished Tina Fey's Bossypants, and was channeling Tina).
Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls - Wonderful wonderful wonderful. I couldn't put this book down. It's a compilation of stories about the author's grandmother who was born at the turn of the century, and lived an incredible life. She was born in Texas, and her father taught her how to break horses, and gave her wisdom beyond her years, so that armed with an 8th grade education, she rode her horse to a small town in northern Arizona at the age of 15 to be a teacher in a one room schoolhouse. She always knew how to make a dollar, and then how to stretch a dollar, she was a tomboy and an adventurer, a pursuer of knowledge, and she was clever and always had a goal in front of her. It's wild to think that her daughter Rosemary was the mom in Glass Castle. This timeless story is a true reader's read.
