And to you, Zaz.

Whynot, I just keep clicking back and forth in wonder. Magic is possible.

Rina, thank you soooo much. It is really transformed! Can't keep the Cheshire grin off my face. :D

Not one thing to be sorry for, MamaB. Perfection!

Snap (ish), Mamabear.

You two are too cute together. hehehe

I am embarrassed at how happy this has made me feel. I shouldn't be this excited over things but I confess I truly am. I am so proud of this and so grateful that you all have hung in there with me.

Oh! Don't be embarrassed!! I am overly happy and it's not my room!!

So you're coming by here in June on your way back from Florida, right? :D

That would be lovely! We have the condo rented. So, it's definitely a go! The third full week of June! I will probably get sunburn, but can't wait for vacation!

Wear lots of sunblock. Sunburns are not fun!!!

Oh I know. I got a horrible one a few years ago in Texas. We spent the day at a water park and in and out of the water. By the end of the day, I was already a lobstah. During the night I woke up shivering and was so sick. I learned my lesson.

Well, I don't know how many of you are still around or interested but I'm starting to work on the DR a bit more. This is a mock-up of the color that I'm going to use. It's a little transparent looking in the pic but it's definitely not IRL. I'm lazy and taking a while to "get 'er done" but maybe eventually. The color is SW Raindrop. (Look at the very back wall.)

Oh yeah, I like that very much... it relates very well to the living room. Really pretty, a great choice, I think. :)

Thanks, Zaz. I won't post the swaths I painted on the walls just yet but I love the color in there. It's so bright and soothing at the same time. Makes me Cheshire cat smile. :D

Exactly, it is soothing. I love the color.. it works well.

Smiling = Good! ;)

Looks good, why! I have that color on my SW list of favorites.

Thanks, mamabear! The bits that I have painted are exactly the color on the sample cards so that makes me feel a lot better about finding the right color with them. I've had a coral sample stuck out from the side of a picture in my master bedroom for months now. I really love the color but haven't gotten the get up and go to do anything about it so there it stays. :D Need to get the painting done though since the holidays will soon be upon us. I at least want the LR and DR done. DD was here Sat and she loved the color for the DR. Then she turns to the kitchen and says, "What are you going to do in here?" Arggghhhh! NO CLUE!!! hehehehe

I still think you are doing a great job making this house your home. And if it takes a little big longer, oh well.

I finally got my new floors! We still have to put up the trim. And I have been trying to pick a color for my counters. I had one color picked, but then I chickened out. So I started over and I think I am down to 2, but waiting for a price for one particular quartz. It's a new one. I am sure it's in the expensive group. : (

Awesome!! Now did you put this on a dilemma I missed? If not, I want to see pics!

No, I didn't make a dilemma. I posted some pics on rredpenn's snazzy garottage thread. But I have some pictures in my ideabooks, kitchen update. We are taking it a "piece" at a time. And papabear has been pretty good about it all.

I'll check them out. :D

OOOoooo...I like that! How exciting!!

Thanks! I really like them so far. Very comfy on the feet.

*nodding*...very important. I left a comment on your ideabook.

Hi sandi!! I remember you suggesting a turquoise. Good call! How is the new job?? I hope all is going well.

Hey Sandi! I've missed you too! It's going to be very expensive to keep adding stuff to the house just to keep us all in touch! :D

After I had selected the color, I was re-reading the posts and realized that you had suggested a similar color. Your suggestion must have gone to my head and simmered there a while before the idea fully cooked.

I wish I were as fast as Zaz about painting but I am piece-mealing it and just letting the color sink in bit by bit. It's going to take me a while I'm sure.

I don't have any real plans right now other than painting, at least above the chair rail. I may decide to try to find wallpaper below it but, gosh, that stuff is pricey now!

I have thought about doing that, Sandi. DD has a cricut machine so I could make my own. I was considering doing something like this on the bottom but that might be too literal although I do really love it.

Photo from http://www.twitterevolutions.com/bgs/keyholes-alice-in-wonderland-twi · More Info

I do too, Sandi, but take another look at the couch pattern. Maybe too much? or no?

Anyway, I need to find my bed. Talk later. Good night and thanks, ladies!

What a wonderful image, Sandi. Thank you for sharing such a special memory.

This article popped into my vision this a.m. I was so moved by it I wanted to share it. I warn you, it's a bit long, possibly offensive in some ways to some people, but one of the best I've ever seen on the subject.

https://medium.com/@anastasiabasilcunningham/ketchup-sandwiches-and-other-things-stupid-poor-people-eat-41617483b497#.51cfwvprf

I think it was the last two paragraphs that hit me so hard.

Don’t confuse aid with charity. Charity is old coats. Donating a coat doesn’t make you a good person but I bet it makes you feel like one. You didn’t even want that coat anymore, what you wanted was the closet space. Sure, you could have sold it at a garage sale and made, like, twenty bucks. It was an expensive coat, damn it. But you, with your heart of gold, gave it away. There’s a twinkle in God’s eye just for you.

What makes you a good person to others (and not just to yourself) is the same thing that makes me, or anyone who can afford the occasional $12 cocktail, a good person: Your vote. Not your coat.
Vote for a Living Wage for others. Vote for health insurance for others. Don’t get in the way of food stamps for others. Understand how important $17 might be to others. That poor stretch of Atlanta is quiet because people are working and paying for day care. They’re clocking the same hours you’re clocking but they make a shit wage.

My YS has helped me see that I can't look at everything from just my own perspective, through the lens of my own life experiences. I know, I'm pretty dumb to be this old and have to learn that lesson from my son. It just never occurred to me that I was really doing that. But, yeah, I was. This article hit home because of that I think.

Sandi, I think it's about tendencies. You find more of this in this community, and more of that in that community.

Sandi, I was thinking about what I had said about YS earlier and realized that he had taken something I used to tell him and put it in a much larger context (much to his credit). He has a very high IQ, is a strong, large boned person which is not the stereotype, but had a lot of social problems growing up because he couldn't understand why other kids didn't see things the way he did. He was quite frustrated with the classroom experience and I had to do a lot of work with him outside the classroom to keep him interested in learning and to help him understand those whose thinking processes didn't match his.

My belief is that he took that lesson and projected it into the world at large and began to see others in more empathetic ways than I did. He also had a broader world experience than I did just because the world he grew up in was different than my own. My friends were basically in the same socio-economic situation that my family was so I wasn't exposed to a large variety of differing circumstances and, in my day, one didn't discuss such things very much. His friends, on the other hand, came from a large variety of situations and he saw so much through their eyes. Regardless, I am very proud of him and, a little bit of myself, for allowing him to teach me the lessons he has learned.

Sandi, yes, I accept your point.