To Paint Or Not To Paint, That Is The Question!

The world works in mysterious ways. I just bought a tall old cabinet with a wood finish and hauled it home with the sullen help of my not-too-happy-about-it husband. 

For once, I didn't imagine painting it when I saw this piece. This is a shocker because, according to Wild Bill, my Indian name is "Woman Who Paints Everything"

But this piece seemed happy to be wood, and I wasn't unhappy about leaving it that way. We put it in the garage while I took some time to think about it. 

If we leave the cabinet unpainted, it still needs some TLC time with a wood finish product and that needs to be done in the garage.

Taking a breather, I checked some blog posts. To my surprise painted-furniture-lover Linda, at Q is for Qaundie, was dealing with a similar issue!

Quandie Wants Your Opinion Whether To Paint

When I saw this gorgeous cabinet of hers...well...I'm thinking, "don't paint it!"  What do you guys think?  To paint or not to paint...seems that is the question today.

Be sure to read Quandie's blog POST. You will get a good laugh as she describes taking her whole neighborhood to pick up the cabinet.

Thanks for dropping by!

Well Done Texas: Hurricane Harvey

Yesterday we were headed down towards Dallas on HWY 75, which runs directly south from the Oklahoma border to Dallas -- where it turns into Interstate 45 and runs all the way south to Houston.

Houston Area In Path Of Hurricane Harvey Aug 2017

As we passed what was a construction zone just days ago, we saw all the construction equipment was loaded onto trucks and haulers, which were sitting on the side of the road (the front of one vehicle almost touching the end of the vehicle in front of it) in a long "convoy" line. 

All the large vehicles (there must've been at least 25 of them) had a driver behind the wheel and appeared to be ready to go! 

It was such an odd sight, it took me a minute to realize Texas had already mobilized road construction workers throughout the northern part of the state to head down south to aid the victims of Hurricane Harvey!

I'm pretty sappy so you won't be surprised that it brought tears to my eyes when I saw how The Great State of Texas was already mobilizing, not only the National Guard, but everyday people. 

Texas National Guard Mobilizing To Assist, Aug 25, 2017

This is how it's meant to be in the United States. The states take care of themselves and the Federal Government stands ready to provide Federal assistance when and where needed. 

Our President had already offered Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi back up support and Federal Aid when and where needed, but the American spirit was alive and well on our Texas highways yesterday and probably for weeks to come. 

Thanks for dropping in!

For more information see:
Wikipedia.org - Hurricane Harvey

Hurry Fall

We live in northeast Texas, and it's cooler here since we've been getting lots of rain. Maybe it's due to Hurricane Harvey bearing down on the southern part of our state today. 

I sure hope Harvey loses it's force before it reaches shore. They're predicting up to 40 inches of rain to accompany this storm!

At any rate, I'm starting to get out the Fall decor and dreaming of when the cool weather will be here to stay. I bought these two Fall magazines this morning to help me get inspired. 

I also found some pictures of Fall decorations around our house from previous years. I usually just add pumpkins and florals to the normal decor. I don't want to store more than I have to so I keep it to a minimum.

These little pumpkins, which can fit into a bird's nest or a tea cup, are one of my favorite things to decorate with in Fall.

And to me, it wouldn't be Fall without this old lighted pumpkin from Walmart. It has lasted about 15 years and is still glowing strong. Pretty good value for something that was about $3 if I remember right.

My homemade chalkboard, made from an old frame and a spice rack, always gets decorated for the season. 

Here it's decorated with a sweet Fall banner that Carol from Art And Sand sent me a few years back...despite the fact I didn't win her giveaway. So many talented and generous bloggers out there! 

Finally, here's the gang that usually hangs out on top of the glass cabinet in the kitchen all Fall. 

That scarecrow in the middle has been around quite a while. It was purchased at Cracker Barrel around 2005. If you're looking for cute country decor that lasts, Cracker Barrel always has cute stuff for each season.

I haven't gotten out my decorated pillows for Fall yet, but I did buy a new one the other day. It's a little more colorful than I usually pick.

It found a home on the bland colored love seat here. Hopefully it will perk the place up.

Weirs furniture, a local chain in the Dallas area, had just gotten their Fall stock out of boxes and starting creating their displays when I walked by and spied it. I think it says "Hello Fall!" in the loudest of ways.

Thanks for dropping by!

Stainless Steel Cleaner That Works

If you've tried stainless steel cleaners without any success, I have another one you might try. Sear Kenmore's Stainless Steel Cleaner.

I had given up on this sink and wanted to replace it. The metal ring was all rusted and it was terribly dull before. The lighting makes it look dull in the bottom right, but I promise it shines like the top section.

When we replaced our dishwasher and garbage disposal recently, I asked our plumber about replacing the sink. 

He said it was in fine shape and just needed the ring replaced. He did it in just minutes for about $17 for the part. Vast improvement!

And then when he installed the Kenmore dishwasher, there was a small packet of Kenmore's stainless steel cleaner in the information package, so I tried it. Wow! 

This is my torn packet with the top ripped off. If I had had any hope of this actually working before I tried it, I would've taken a nice "before" picture!

Sorry, but that's all I've got to show as I've used this little packet for quite some time and keep forgetting to buy a bottle. It only takes a tiny bit of it to get that shine.

Of course I used it everywhere! This almost 7 year-old refrigerator shines better than new. 

If I stand beside it the light reflects like crazy!

So that's the end of my quest to find the perfect stainless cleaner. As always, this is my true opinion of this product. I never receive any compensation for my endorsements.

With Sears in limbo (for non-USA friends, they're closing some stores and selling off their Kenmore brand), I'm going to buy enough to last for years just in case.

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Gray Lady Down

I've been dreaming up a lot of projects I could do, but I'm actually on hiatus for a while. 

A few weeks back, my arms started to hurt and were hard to lift and painful to flex. I sat in a chair for most of the day waiting for that to pass. It didn't. 

Then my back chimed in, which was where the muscles in the back had knotted up causing the arm problems. It went downhill from there!

Honestly, in my mind I'm still 19 and up for high adventure. Maybe that's why I never mentioned here that I had spinal fusion surgery in 2007, which lead to early retirement. 

It took years for my back to return to somewhat normal.

I've had a lifetime of back problems due to an injury in 1972 while working evening traffic in a RADAR unit in Tampa Florida. I've posted some Air Force pictures of me, around that time, on the upper right corner if you're interested in a visual. 

That night, when all the planes had landed, I took a minute to bend over and fix a loose wheel on my crappy government chair when a 20-pound, overhead emergency light came loose and swung down on its cable, hit the middle of my lower back and knocked me head-on into a heavy metal door. 

After going to bed that night, I woke up around 3 a.m. and my back had locked completely up, and I couldn't move! It's a scary feeling. My heart goes out to the men and women who get injured and live paralyzed the rest of their life.

I've had several bouts of that over the years (due to herniated discs) until the fusion surgery in 2007.

During spinal fusion surgery, three of my lower back vertebra were fused together using the bone of a cadaver and a piece of bone from my hip. 

As you can imagine, I have some limited motion in my lower back, but most of the time you wouldn't know I have a problematic back. I have never regretted having the surgery. 

What I do regret is that through the years, I didn't seek chiropractic help. 

Only one time, around 1994, when my back froze up and the E.R. (at the HMO I was a member of) kept giving me drugs and sending me home on bedrest even though I could barely move without two people assisting me. 

I, who rarely ever called in sick, was off work for over 2 weeks on intermittent bedrest. Well, it was actually "floor rest" because if I got up to go to the bathroom during the night, I usually couldn't get back into the bed.

During that incident, my mother and another person put me in mom's car and she drove me to her chiropractor. I could barely get into the office. After an hour of treatment, I walked out by myself. It wasn't a pretty walk...but it was on my own two feet!

I completed a 6-week treatment plan with that chiropractor, Dr Wyrick, which I (a single mother barely making it) paid for since my HMO only wanted to provide drug treatment. After the 6 weeks, I was back to normal again.

Now when I look back, I really wonder why I didn't see a chiropractor again through the years during the sporadic bouts of back issues! 

I can only say, in the military, we were taught to "suck it up" and keep going.

I've been seeing a chiropractor for 3 weeks now for my current back/leg/arm problem, and I'm feeling much better, almost normal. 

In fact, better than normal because now I'm sleeping through the night whereas, before treatment, I was used to being awake every few hours!

I just wanted to share with you what I've learned lately for my own situation. 

1. The sign on the wall in the treatment room reads:

Manipulation First...

Then Drugs...

Maybe Surgery

2. This clinic advised to stay away from heat, as in only use ice.

3. Turns out, babies can benefit from chiropractic care. Every time I'm at the office, I see at least one or two babies with their moms.

Let me be clear, I'm not giving medical advice here. I just want to relay what works for me. You should always check with your doctor concerning medical conditions and treatment.

I'm not trying to be "woe is me" about this. I think I'm more the norm than the exception...half the people I know have back issues. 

Just thought you might like to know that if you, or someone you love, suffers from back pain and related issues -- there may be some good treatment out there just waiting for you to stumble on in.

Thanks for dropping by!

Wordless Wed: Livvie Always Lives Life With Gusto

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DIY-ing My Lights To Chippy White

My last post was about Quorum lighting options I found at a local shop. 

Before seeing them at the local shop, I had been drooling over the Quorum line of lighting at the online site called Lighting New York. 

I'm smitten with Quorum's whole line of chippy white metal and glass lights. Here's the option I love for the bathrooms...

Quorum Lighting at Lighting New York

Here's our kitchen island in an old photo from when we looked at the house when it was for sale.

I'd love to put this light below over the granite island, but I think I'd need three of them so that means I'll need to win the lottery soon!

All the lights are part of Quorum's group of lights described as a "Persian White" finish. As a typical DIY-er, I've been studying the finish and thinking I could replicate it on some of the lights (instead of buying new ones) to save some money! 

I think a good candidate for that chippy white finish would be our master bathroom lights, so I'll start with them. Don't worry, I'll clean off all that dust first, and hey if you think yours aren't dusty just go take a look...I was shocked.

I think if I flipped those bathroom lights upside down, painted them a chippy distressed white, bought clear bulbs and clear glass covers, I might get them to look like this...

Since our house was built as a spec house by a local developer, it came with a collection of odd ducks as far as lighting goes 

After buying 5 spec houses in a row, our experience has taught us that spec houses are built with bargain pieces, seconds, and mis-matched leftovers. Our current house is an example of that. 

There's an antique chandelier in the dining room. It's a little rickety and lightweight, but it does provide a lovely glowing light at night. This old photo was taken when we first looked at the house.

It might look better if the finish was like this one...

The half-bath has this black, torch-type sconce, which doesn't even try to look compatible with the rest of the house.

I was thinking this torch light needed to go, but then I saw this Quorum one and thought I would give it a go too. I think I'll use more white and less brown for the finish.

Even the fan in the bedroom has a light that needs some improving.

It's hard to see because it's a 16-foot high ceiling, but it's a gold-ish type frame and amber glass. 

Here's the one I could buy to replace it, but it would be so easy to paint and replace the glass.

I'm going to give them all a try and see if the lights can be improved, or at least a little more coordinated. I'm not going to make them matchy-matchy, but just not so out of whack with each other. 

And if it doesn't work out, I figure I was going to replace them anyway so maybe no gain, but no loss either.

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Local Lighting Options

Carol's Home Interior Store, a local shop in town, had a lot of lights displayed a few weeks ago when I was there. 

These two are my favorite picks for the dining room (above) and the breakfast room...

I would love to replace the lights in those rooms with these two, but here's the one I actually couldn't leave the store without.

I've been in love with this little guy forever. I thought they had sold it, but when I saw it had just moved to the lighting area, I bought it on the spot so it didn't get away again. 

It's going to replace the light in our entrance hallway in the picture below.

Of course when Wild Bill saw it coming home with me he was less than awed. I go for anything beat up with a little industrial bend. He likes modern (excuse me while I gag) and matchy-matchy! 

We used to compromise on our furnishings until we realized that when you compromise, no one gets what they want! In the case of furniture, that meant neither of us ever liked what we had. 

Now as far as furniture, we generally do without until we happen upon something we both like, but housewares and the fluffy stuff...that's a different story. 

Thanks for dropping by!

Short Vacation

We joined part of our family in Albuquerque last Wednesday for a long weekend. It's always fun to get together when there's little ones involved. 

The youngest four of our six grandchildren were there and in rare form. 

That's the youngest, Little Henry, in the orange T-shirt. He's trying really hard to make a funny face like his older sister next to him and his two cousins on either end.

At just 3 years old Henry hasn't completely mastered swimming, so we had fun floating around the shallow end together in the hotel pool. 

We were lucky to have the hotel pool and hot tub completely to ourselves almost every time we went down to swim. 

Henry fought it a little, but nap time couldn't come a moment too soon for Henry's dog Lucy...

On Monday, Wild Bill and I headed east towards home and the two daughter's families headed west to the Grand Canyon for four more days of fun.

Or what they called fun. Here's our son-in-law Mike crazy close to the edge...

The last time I was at the Grand Canyon, in 2002, I spent all my time clinging to the far side of the parking lot and yelling at Wild Bill and the girls to get away from the edge!

I think if I'd gone this time, the side trip to Bearizona would've been more my cup of tea. 

Plenty of friendly animals in the petting area...

The cool weather last week in Albuquerque and this week in Arizona really helped to make the trip more enjoyable. Usually both New Mexico and Arizona are much hotter this time of year.

Thanks for dropping by!