Happy Autumn!

With God you must let things begin,

With God let all things come to rest,

In this way the work of your hands

Will flourish and also be blessed.

~Simple Prayers of Love and Delight

A little encourgagement from Debbie at Bungalow later and I have a square wreath for my front door. You can find Debbie's *here.* Hers is so beautiful that I couldn't resist trying to make one of my own. (The first one turned out terribly because I used wimpy twigs on the sides.) I didn't want to make the flowers that Debbie features (call me lazy) so I slapped a faux apple on mine and a ratty old ribbon made from painter's cloth. (Now I'm noticing that my door color seems to be very similar to Debbie's. Since the guy at Sherwin Williams selected it, I'm not sure how that happened. Obviously, I like Debbie's style. )

I'm feeling so proud of myself for not buying that $25 wreath at T.J.Maxx yesterday that I'm going to show you another view.

It's true; the best things in life are free!

Wishing you the most wonderful of autumn seasons. This is my favorite season of the year as I know it is for many of you. Let us delight in it!

What are you going to be doing this first full day of autumn?

A Sweet Realization

"Mom, do you have some good pictures of Grandma?" she asked me.

"Sure, I have some really nice ones," I responded. "What do you need?"

"I want to wear her picture on the sleeve of my tee shirt for the P*atrick D*empsey Challenge."

So began our time going through photos last evening. We looked at this one taken in September, 2010.

My mother and my grandmother

We smiled a little and said how odd it is to think that we had them both a year ago. I named this photo "An Autumn Walk," though it was winter for them both. My grandmother would be off to Glory in just a few short weeks and my mother in three short months.

Then we looked at this one...

My daughter and my mother

It's a favorite of mine. My daughter thought it needed cropping and so started in when I said, "Wait a minute, you're cropping off your grandmother's hug."

My daughter looked a little startled and then her face began to crinkle and soon mine mirrored hers. "I never knew that she had her arm around me, " she whispered.

"Yes, she did and don't be surprised if she sits on your handlebars and enjoys the ride in October."

At that thought, we chuckled through our tears. We've not cried together like this since January. It was good to talk about my mother. I think we'll do it more often tears or not.

Kidnapped

The car broke down. The carpenter felt that he had better, more pressing things to do than repair it. We dropped it off at a garage yesterday. As I was now in the driver's seat, I decided to kidnap the carpenter. He said, "Are you a terrorist or a guerrilla?" (You'd have to know the books we're reading lately to catch the humor.) I took him out to lunch. Then I took him to visit a craftsman working on a house project for us — a hose holder. Then I took him to Giffords for ice cream. Then I took him to the hardware store. Then I took him to another hardware store. Then I took him to the Ponderosa where he picked up his truck. Then I went home and thought how nice it was to kidnap my own husband. I should do it more often.

More on the Doors

It's raining again this morning and the house is cozy and dark with the furnace running. I'm so glad that most of the painting is accomplished because rain is predicted for four out of the next five days. Would so love to send some to Texas, anywhere really.

Here are the three incarnations of my front door. Yes, I am responsible for that screeching yellow. It was a bad idea. Schoolbus yellow. Fire truck yellow. Yield sign yellow. Awful yellow. The center photo is the priming, which is preferable, and the last photo shows the new Coastal Plain.

Trouble is that, from the front, one can not see much through the storm door. I can't tell if the newly painted door is gray, white or green.

This is how the door looked earlier in the summer when the morning glory was just a teenager and not the monster it is now.

See how beautifully the centers of those morning glories matched the front door? ☺☺☺

Yesterday afternoon I shoved the volkswagons (what I call my living room furniture) around and created a new flow space. It'll take some getting used to. I'd show you, but with a camera not working quite right and the rain...too many obstacles. What I can show you is the plan that I worked up using *this program.* What I love about that virtual room planner is that it doesn't require a download nor does it require signing up. The program was truly helpful. If you have a lot of furniture or volkswagons as I do, you do not want to be doing a lot of unnecessary shifting and shoving.

Thank you for all the sweet comments on the color. You're the best!

A pleasant Tuesday to you...

I've Really Been Painting the Door

A weekend later and I'm still not finished painting doors. That's the story of my painting escapades. Painting is so not my thing, but I am trying to help out since John is very busy doing more important things.

You may remember way back *here* when your help was requested on my "I've Been Painting the Door" post. John and I settled on Sherwin Williams' Laurel Woods. Perhaps it is because my daughter's name is Woods. (Wonder how many times this bad comic can get away with that joke < insert cheesy grin > )

Anyway, we went through the choices, read your comments again, and that's what we decided on unbeknownst to each other. He didn't tell me; I didn't tell him; it just came out that we both agreed on LW. I also liked Studio Blue Green, but John didn't.

When we arrived at the Sherwin Williams store thinking we knew exactly what we wanted, we discovered that Laurel Woods is very, very dark, almost black. I mentioned to the salesman that we had used the Color Visualizer and he said that the values are not always true. Hmmmm...I suppose that they are just true enough to get customers in there. Though I was not thrilled to be starting over, I did find the salesman and his suggestions helpful. So here we have it, the big reveal:

This is called Coastal Plain. I have another coat to do on the front door...same color...and then some touch-ups back and forth, forth and back. I also have to do the door frames in exterior white. I may finish up before November.

A happy Monday to you!