Less is More

From Proverbs 1:19:

When you grab all you can get, that's what happens:
the more you get, the less you are.

Because I've been painting rooms in my house (we're downsizing, so getting it ready to sell), I've been listening to things. I love lectures on TED. They're always interesting. And it fills my mind with good stuff, not the junk I would hear if I just listened to the radio or the tv.

Anyway, I caught Rick Warren's talk about what happened to him after he wrote "The Purpose Driven Life." This is the second time I'd heard it, and I was repeating it because I enjoyed it so much the first time.

Something he said really struck me. He was talking about all the money that quite literally poured in from the book, because the book was so successful. He said this: "Every time I give, it breaks the grip of materialism on my life."

I'd never thought of it that way. Giving what I have to others breaks the hold that wanting more has on my life.

Wow.

So it's true -- when you want more, when you grab for more, more, more, what ends up happening is that materialism has you imprisoned. The wanting of the stuff overshadows the person in you that God has created. And God's Spirit in you becomes less and less as you pursue more and more stuff, influence, power, position.

There's a line I love from a movie I saw once. The movie was "Black Widow -- and the quote was this: "Rich is funny. It's never quite enough."

Could that be a truer statement? Again, Rick Warren, "significance doesn't come from status, because you can always find somebody who's got more than you."

Less truly is more. When you're planning to sell a house, the less stuff you show off, the better it looks.

So Lord, thank you for bringing this concept home to me today. Room painted, and pun intended.

xoxox

Jen with a Hammer vs. Jen with a Paintbrush

Those photos in the previous post make my kitchen look nice and light, don't they? They were taken at night with a flash.

How I wish it was nice and bright.

However, it is not.

I need some help here, folks. So please give me your opininons. They are welcome, no matter what they are. I need some advice.

My kitchen is dark. The kitchen is the place where we spend most of our time. It's dark because we have a covered porch off the back of the house, and the roof cuts off all the light into the kitchen windows.

There are two skylights on the porch but it doesn't help. This is what I see when I look outside:

All that beautiful warm sunlight just dying to get into my kitchen. Making shadows of our van just to tease me.


Now most husbands will tell their wives to please not run up the bill on the credit card, or please don't try and mow the lawn because you'll screw up the lawnmower, or please don't try and hang the picture because you'll put too many nails in the wall.


My husband tells me to please not tear the porch off the back of the house.


This is because when we were cosmetically fixing up our HUD repo house in the 1990's, he saw me going at the paneling over the fireplace with a hammer. It didn't even occur to me that there might not be drywall behind it. His comment?


"Where there's a will, there's Jen with a hammer."


He knows I will do it.


But I digress. Back to the dark, gloomy kitchen -- here's the deal. I NEED SUNSHINE. Seriously, it's a health issue for me. I have SAD and clinical depression for which I take some great drugs that have been a lifesaver for me. No kidding. I am a different person than I was the the 40+ years before I started taking this stuff. It may wreck my liver eventually, but I'll die happy.

And today I would die happy in a dark kitchen. OK, happier than without the drugs. It's all relative, you know?


So I painted the kitchen blue when we moved in. It was full of '80's wallpaper that had to go. It has wainscoting all around, which was a nasty mustardy yellow. That's all white now, and I painted the kitchen cabinets white. I took down all the upper cabinets and put up shelving.


See all that sunlight just trying to get in?



This was actually taken with a flash. And still it's dark.



The eat-in part of the kitchen.




Would you want to walk down this hallway to do your laundry? Who knows what may lurk there? No wonder the dog hates going to bed at night in the laundry room.


I'm flirting with the idea of painting the walls yellow, though. A nice sunny color that would look like sunlight hitting the walls.


And that makes me think maybe I should paint the kitchen cabinets some darker color, maybe a nice slate blue or a really dark brown. To anchor the space, so to speak. And to cease the endless having to wipe down the cabinets so they don't look filthy.


I have to deal with all this immovable brick, which is dark. I can't replace the cabinets with two kids going to college in the fall. But I can paint.


So whatcha think? Should I do the yellow, or another color that would lend some light into the rooms? Should I leave the cabinets white and deal with the constant cleanup, or paint them a darker color?


Suggestions desperately solicited!

xoxox

Bah Humbug.

I am married to Ebeneazer Scrooge. The one at the beginning of the story.

Although only Babydoll and I were involved in the Peter Pan play, apparently Hunk O Man, Rose, Bug, Barbie, and JB were unable to get their behinds out the door and over to Lowe's to pick out a tree. Their excuse? "You couldn't come with us."

So here is my living room:

God forbid I ever die. Because if I did, the girls would be dressed in WalMart overalls, own no makeup, never have any clean laundry, live in small house with white walls and no curtains, share the same bedroom, have a freezer full of Banquet Fried Chicken in boxes, and NEVER HAVE A CHRISTMAS TREE.

Bah Humbug.

: (

Can This Mean I Am Truly An Artist?

The signs of a great mind? Well, at least I console myself with that thought.



It's everywhere. Mess everywhere. The results of a creative weekend --

And I will not be cleaning it up. I will be creating some more for the Etsy shop and our local Craft Fair in December.

At least I have some kind of validation for the way my house looks. I made this and gave it to Hunk O Man the first year we were married --

I definitely need another cup of coffee.

xox

It was an Inspiring Evening of PR Dish.

Well, Barbie and I watched PR last night, and dished and ate popcorn and dished and then we watched Top Design. I swear, if I had been drinking something, it would have come flying out my nose. That Barbie Doll of mine is flat hilarious. I nearly fell off the bed laughing.

So, Project Runway.

Joe is out. Pity. Nice straight guy with a great eye. What is with all the straight guys being Italians?

Maybe there is something to the idea that all great fashion comes out of Milan.

Joe made this, for a girl who just graduated college and will be looking for a job as a graphic designer. And her mother was involved:

Pretty girl -- but the outfit speaks for itself.

Jerrell won with this, for a girl who loves being in a t-shirt and jeans --

What a transformation. This guy really is talented after all!

LeAnn made a very cute jacket and dress for a very short, very young elementary school teacher. But she was in the bottom 3, and that wasn't good. It really was a cute dress.

And Kenley stole my heart with this outfit for another girl working as a fashion buyer:

Kenley is a great fan of 40's vintage, and creates everything to reflect that. I happen to love that as well; it's very feminine, and very pretty. And flattering to most every body.

Plus she has a cool name. Kenley. Wish I'd thought of that one.

Honestly, all these designers really are incredibly talented. I know they've all been to design school and all, but come on! I've been sewing for 30 years, and I still need a pattern most of the time. These folks come up with this stuff out of their imaginations and a fabric store. THAT is talent.

We also watched Top Design, the Project Runway of home decorating.

First off, I have to say that Kelly Wearstler is the oddest, strangest looking person I have ever seen in my life. Barbie and I decided that she must just wash her very long hair in hairspray, dry it upside down, and then go out in the humidity. And then she puts on a hat.

And what is up with her SOCKS?

All I can say is this: You know you're getting old when you fail to be able to distinguish between "cutting edge" and "just plain ridiculous."

Margaret Russell, on the other hand, is the absolute Martha Stewart of fashion in terms of the way she looks on the show. Always impeccable -- beautiful clothing, beautiful and basic hair. Wow.

As for the contestants this season, my favourites are these --

Wisit, a strange, odd little person who can sing fabulous opera --

And Kerry, who is officially out of the competition as of last night, but who proved himself a man of good design and wonderful integrity:

These two were teamed together to create a window display for previous PR winner Jeffrey (whom I insist to this day cheated and shouldn't have won). Jeffrey is looking like an unkempt biker dude lately, complete with handlebar mustache. Apparently winning PR means you never have to shave or cut your hair.

But I digress. He made this outfit that he said was inspired by the movie Bladerunner. Cool movie, but you have to be old enough to remember it. Interestingly, neither Kerry or Wisit, above, had heard of it. And that's a pity, because it's a great movie. I spent quite a bit of time explaining the look of it to Barbie.

It basically looks like urban Japanese streets in the pouring rain.

So they should have made the window look like Bladerunner, but didn't, and now Kerry is out because he was the project leader. I am sad. He was so talented, and funny! Last week Barbie and I nearly died laughing, repeating him saying in his deep, slow, southern drawl, "You got to have ya a work ethick. And you got to bu-leeve in yerself.

You can have your American Idol and America's Got Talent and America's Got Entirely Too Many People Lining Up to Have Some Celebrity Say You're Good Enough. I like these design shows. Hunk O Man hates that they're so subjective; he also hates gymnastics and ice skating for the same reason. He says to give him a good track race anyday. You can't argue with the clock. True enough, but I like the subjectivity. And the brilliance of these people really comes through, whether or not you agree with those who are chosen to be the best.

This type of brilliance is less rare than you'd think. One look through the things on Etsy will tell you that. The way communication has connected the world is really a good thing for the arts communities.

Beauty abounds. I am inspired yet again to look at God and just marvel.

Wow.

It's Contagious

The craft virus is catching around here.

So What's on Your Fridge?

I think a fridge can say a lot about a family. I'm curious to know what's on yours.

Mine actually contains some truly fantastical, almost magical things --

Like the amazing, invisible, color-coded Chore Chart:

The Bible Verse that Nobody Ever Sees Anymore:

The Coolest of the Cool Uncles, my brother The Droid:

The Never-ending Project List:

The Ever-Changing Grocery List:

The Magnetic Words that form Ridiculous Sentences:

Earnest T:

Hunk O Man Many (Skinnier) Years Ago:

Comic Relief:

And always, Chocolate on Top.

So what does your fridge say about you?

xox

I Ran Away Yesterday

I got tired of being the one who never gets the car. So I stole it and ran away.

(IF YOU'RE HERE FOR THE GIVEAWAY CARNIVAL, KEEP SCROLLING)



Just to the nearest big town, really, to drop off my dead serger and browse Tuesday Morning. Great store -- also went over to Big Lots, another favourite store. I found a few things. At Tuesday Morning, I found the greatest decorating book:

I used to be a big fan of Lynette Jennings, until she got her American show and things went downhill. It was a show with a live audience, and I just didn't care for it. She started sounding like the penultimate know-it-all of home decorating.

But she was the one that got me started on HGTV with decorating. She was the one I'd watch and learn from -- I remember one thing she said that has never left me. She held up a piece of wood to a white wall and said "see how this looks brown?" Then she held it up to a colored wall -- red or blue or something -- and said "see how now it has woodgrain, and depth?" I couldn't believe my eyes. She was right.

When I picked up this book yesterday at Tuesday Morning, I didn't have much hopes for it. But was I ever surprised! She throws out all the rules about decorating, and rather helps you organise yourself and identify your own style based on what you already have. And based on what things you own which mean a lot to you. This is really good stuff. I even sent a copy to my good friend Chari via Amazon.

I just finished upstairs installing a new ceiling fan for Rose. I think I bruised my thumb. Waaah. I also removed the cabinet doors and hardware from my bathroom cabinet. Time to paint. I have the girls painting doors today -- I haven't had a door on my bedroom, my bathroom, my closet, the half bath, or the hall closet for a few days now.

Actually, I kind of like it.

Lynette has me thinking I should knock out a wall. One of the pages in the book says "Your kitchen can be your living room. Why not?" What a great idea. Talk about an easy way to alleviate all the food dishes that accumulate in the family room!