Time for a new post, almost a year after I started this blog. Lots happening. Have had a manic weekend (aren't they all?). Got a new computer Thursday and was so delighted with it that I stayed up til 3 in the morning setting everything up. It's FAST and so powerful. And the screen is big at 20" yay.

So woke up at 7:30 thinking I'd get a nap on Friday (took a vacation day, bless the flexibility of my job), but didn't I find myself back at the computer setting up music and photos and programs and bookmarks and all the fun stuff I don't get to do at work. What a pleasure. (Not that work isn't--it's just different.)

Wouldn't you think I'd be tired by Saturday? No nap--but woke up Saturday morning with a burning desire to paint the spare room after the youngest of our four teenagers moved out several months ago. We were waiting cause we weren't sure whether he was coming back or not, but he's happy where he is right now, and I'm tired of the worn-out half-empty room.

So went to Lowe's (I swear we keep them in business) and bought paint and roller fuzzies and trays and stir sticks (didn't get the tape and wish I had) and a gorgeous creme color, some dark gray primer and some glorious red. I have wanted a red wall in my house since my hubby & I were courting and we painted one of his walls red. It's too fun, but let me tell you, even with the gray primer (HGTV tip) the red made me feel like a kid painting for the first time. That blasted red goes on like you're using glaze and the pigment doesn't spread evenly. The conversation I had with myself as I put on the first coat wasn't for delicate ears, but as I continued I began to believe it would come out all right with a second (or maybe third) coat. At least the shade of red is good--not too orange, not to blue, but stimulating.

I've discovered I'm about the sloppiest house painter in the world, which is surprising given that I love to paint watercolors and my style is very tight and controlled. Not so in the spare room--I was a half inch over in the corner with the red--how is this possible?! Never mind, I'll go over it. Decorated my jeans, my chest, my chin, and assorted other body parts too. However, the wood floor still looks good and that's a blessing.

About 4 today my head decided it had had enough of the fumes and decided to float off several feet above my shoulders so I figured I'd get away from the paint and do something else. Cleaned the bathroom and I'm sure the chemicals there helped to send my head even further out. Finally decided I can't finish all this in one weekend (where are my pizza buddies?) and went to sit on the porch and plan next weekend's second coat of RED. It's gonna be great.

With Torey in Argentina, Jess in Oregon, Trevor in Pittsburgh, and Alex footloose and fancy free about town, I don't know who I think is going to visit us to stay in the spare room, but we have twinkles in our eyes dreaming of grandchildren down the road a ways.

I'll post a photo when done--will be a bit longer than I thought, aren't house projects always that way? Multiply the cost and the time by four and you're about right....Now what will we do with the kitchen? I can't even think about that yet, still only a twinkle....

Today we're spinning silk.

We're spinning silk because that's what dreams are made of. Sometimes they come true.

I stayed up late last night rearranging furniture. It happened because I fell in love with a burgundy velvet barrel shaped chair I came across in TJ Maxx. I couldn't leave the store without it, and oh, a cream silk feather pillow embroidered with a soft floral pattern to go with it. I meandered through the aisles of the store, playing my "can I forget about this?" game--distracting myself with a myriad of colorful pottery and imported treasures, none as insistently calling to me as The Chair.

Did I need the chair? Nope. Did I have anywhere to put the chair? Not hardly. But I wanted it because it was beautiful, and fit my body like it was made for me. Not a huge chair, but petite and elegant. Definitely not a kid-proof chair with all that luxurious silky velvet.

I snuck a look at the price tag and Hallelujah, it was on sale. (I'd have bought it anyway, the game was not working....)

After I bought it, my husband carried it out of the store and put it on the sidewalk out front, where I sat, while he brought the car around. It was soooo comfortable and soooo soft and such a gorgeous burgundy merlot wine deep velvet color.

A woman I didn't know was heading into the store to find some treasures of her own and declared the chair magnificent, with a huge smile and twinkles in her eyes. It was a moment of connection between us. She understood.

My husband and I had quite a time trying to fit it into the car. Despite his protests, I knew it would fit because it was simply meant to be. It wouldn't go in between the door openings; we tried two. Then we tried several positions in the trunk and at last found one, upside down and backwards that promised to last long enough for the drive home.

Once home, we brought the chair into the family room and placed it next to the telephone table, but as beautiful as it was there, I decided that was too far away from my "sacred zone" and contemplated how I would fit it into my already over-cozy study. Then began the adventure, where I rolled up the rug, cleared all the surfaces, and started hauling and shoving and scooting and dragging and huffing and puffing and sweating to make a place for My Chair.

Several hours later, My Chair had found its home, surrounded by some of my favorite things--the tall, thin bookshelf that was my mother's when she was a girl, the drafting table my husband refinished to bring out the gloss of the wood, the old cabinet cast off by a Rosicrucian library, upon which we installed beautiful brass leaf-shaped door pulls, the Persian rug inherited when my father passed away, and the Tiffany dragonfly lamp sitting on the desk. Shanghai Buddha rested on his perch across from My Chair, contemplating its serenity and softness.

Finally I curled up to sleep, worn out and content, surrounded by soft bergundy velvet and my favorite things.