The Many Shades of Winter

As I look out my window at all the grays and browns, I realize that choosing bold colors for our house is a way of compensating for the lack of life and vibrancy outdoors. I still like all the shades we chose, and fortunately, none are what could be called "winter" colors, but it makes me wonder why humans need so much visual stimulation. When I think about it, that giddy, almost high feeling that I get around spring probably has less to do with the temperature than it does with the colors of spring. All that new bright green, and flaming yellows and pinks popping their heads up through the soil makes me feel alive and joyful. Its like nature is celebrating the return of life by painting the world in colors that awaken happiness and hope in it' s inhabitants. I think now that I understand why so many cultures have rites to banish winter and welcome the spring. It was their way of heaving a sigh of relief that the gloomy shades of winter had finally given way to the living joy of the spring.

All the colors of the rainbow

This Saturday, the husband and I went to Home Depot looking for paint for our new home. Because of the many repairs we've had to make to this new home, money is at a premium, so we have to watch our decorating budget closely. Wonder of wonders, there exists a little thing called "Oops" paint, which consists of a large stack of paint cans, each with a little blob of their color on the lid. Apparently, people take home custom colors, decide that it wasn't quite what they wanted, and return it to the store. Since there is often only one gallon, or less, of that color being returned, Home Depot cannot sell it at full price, so they label them "Oops", and sell each gallon for five dollars.
The best part of this afternoon (other than the price) was how much fun we had going through all of the cans, looking for that perfect color for each room. Since our selection was much more limited than if we had been looking through the hundreds of custom paint chips, the experience was light-hearted and fun, rather than stressful. With our choices narrowed down to orange, brown, blue, or a rather horrible yellow, the decisions were easy, and made with no argument. Furthermore, there was that feeling that you get at a yard-sale or flea-market, that you're really getting away with the better end of the bargain.
We're going back again next weekend, to see if we can find anything for the dining room! I think we're hooked.

Colds and tea

After a week of poor sleep, mostly from being pregnant and uncomfortable, I've come down with a truly unpleasant cold. It is the kind that reduces previously coherent and intelligent adults to drooling, sniffling messes of misery and fogginess. It is the type of cold that makes me long for the oblivion of sleep, except that I'm afraid to sleep, because I fear that I'll suffocate from stuffiness. Death by snot - now there's a description I do not want on a coroner's report.
Thank God for Puffs Plus tissues with Aloe tm. And for tea. I don't know what it is about tea -hot, strong, and with a dollop of honey - that makes colds seem much less miserable. Perhaps it is the caffeine providing the feeling of sharpness and being awake, or the soothing of the steam and the honey on my throat. Perhaps it is a learned response from my childhood; a time when tea and toast were the staples Mom brought out for the sick. Whatever the reason, my husband is making me tea, and so, for a short time at least, I'll depart the land of the cold-suffering zombie-people, and pretend that I'm just fine.

Life, or something like it...

In May, 2004, I took one of the biggest steps of my life and married my high-school love/hate interest. We were several years, colleges, and careers removed from high school at this point, and having met up again, decided to skip the hate part of our relationship this time around.
After the wedding, and an incredible honeymoon in Italy, I made the difficult decision to leave my job in D.C., and work full time on making a home and a life for us. Although I loved my job, traffic in Northern VA meant that I spent between 3 and 4 hours commuting every day, and between that and the long hours it demanded, I realized that I would have little time to spend with my brand-sparkling-new husband. So, after some discussion with said husband, and some logistics decisions, I entered into the life of a home-maker! A couple of months later, I became pregnant with our first child, and I guess this is life coming at me at breakneck speed!