Friday, June 08, 2007

meandering introductions to things

I am making a serious effort to lose weight. I am, as my doctor told me at my last physical (a year ago), definitely obese. I've decided to reward myself for five pound increment losses with a trip to a thrift store. Five pounds down!

I found this yesterday. Isn't it cool. I think I will start signing off with verses from it. Makes me wish people still did autograph books. Maybe we all should send ours out round robin style and sign books for each other. ;)


My husband his mother both feel that room decor needs to be done thematically and so my MIL always wants to know what theme a room is when we move into a new place. We told her the Master bedroom and bathroom would be nautical. For the most part it is. I found this yesterday while shopping at Goodwill. It is painted on wood if you look closely you can see some scratches but I've fixed those already. I rubbed some burnt umber into them and they blend right in. This and the following image will be an anniversary gift for my husband. I will get the Japanese print reframed.


I was thrilled when I found this. It is reproduction of a painting by Shibata Zeshin a Japanese artist who lived from 1807-1891. It is titled Autumn Grasses. Hubby likes Asian art and this will look wonderful with the painted bamboo scroll that hangs on his side of the bed plus it will tie colors together. (Our style is definitely eclectic).

I took this out of the frame yesterday and boy - whoever owned it before was a heavy smoker. That smell just lingers. Ugh. After testing the surface, I wiped it off with a lightly dampened cloth - I removed lots of yellowish gunk. Ugh.



My Mom quilts. She prefers to make crib quilts, she makes them for all her grandchildren and for special others. This one is the one she made C when she was a baby.



K's quilt came in time for her third birthday. :)


My MIL likes to give lots of gifts and likes to receive gifts and insists that children be treated equally which in her minds means equal gifts even though it might be one child's birthday and not the other child's. So I try to keep little gifts about. I gave these to the girls while she was here, I bought them at a thrift store for two dollars a piece. The girls are adorable when they play with them.


Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that my Mom made for my girls. K's are on the left and C's are on the right. I like K's Ann for the pink and red color combo. However, C's Andy is special as Mom used buttons from my father's air force uniform on him.


Which leads me to the things that I've written this week. I can't believe how long it has been since I've written it is amazing how much company throws one's life out of order.

I am continue my exploration of fairy tale with a short bio of The Brothers Grimm.

Since I find them creepy and fascinating and I love to photograph them, I wrote an article on Webworms.

I wrote a book review on a book about St Patrick written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola (who for some reason I thought was a female and now discover is a male).

Finally, I wrote an article about Raggedy Ann.

As the years go by
And the pounds roll off
You'll grow up to be
A real show-off.

:)

7 comments:

  1. First off, congratulations on losing 5 lbs! that is quite an accomplishment...and secondly, love that Autumn Grasses print...and now I'm off to read your article on Raggedy Ann :)

    (you have been 1 Busy Lady!)

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  2. Good for you on the weight loss. I need to lose some myself ~ ugh! I'm looking forward to all your "sign off verses"; I like this post's. :o)

    Great finds for your anniversary gifts. My mom has several Japanese paintings, gifts from her older brother when he was stationed in that region over 40 years ago.

    Your mother makes the *cutest* things for your children. Beautiful quilts and Raggedy dolls!

    And I am so in love with those tea sets! Seriously, I could play with them myself! :o)

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  3. Those tea sets are the cutest ever! I can't believe you found them for $2!

    Danielle over at Bipolar Diaries is starting a sort of weight loss endeavor if you are interested.

    Much luck to you! The quilts are amazing too.

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  4. What a joy to read this post was and what a blessing to have talented Mum and MIL to share art with. The quilts and the dolls - gorgeous.

    I am glad your MIL does not visit at my house as the theme is: Do I like it? It stays. Find a space.

    good luck with the weight. I too am obese and recently lost a little.

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  5. Anonymous3:58 AM

    Congrats on losing 5 lb, well done.

    I love your latest finds. Those tea sets are just gorgeous! And your mother's quilts, well, I love homemade quilts. It's one of my 'one day' hopes to make a quilt.

    Hugs.

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  6. Oh, Me.

    You always have such FABULOUS ideas!

    I think I just may have finally found weight loss motivation.

    Speaking of obese...

    One day a few weeks back my grandson was vocalizing like only a sixteen month old can. He kept pointing at me and saying "Beetho beetho beetho beeth!".I had NO IDEA what he wanted, so I told the story to my family. What a mistake. They just broke into peels of laughter, as it comes out "Obese obese obese obese."

    Which, is true.

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  7. I'm very proud of your serious effort to lose weight. It is such a widespread issue. And so hard to deal with. I know. I'm in the same boat. -sigh-

    But you are young and you have so many reasons to do all in your power, to help your health. And that's what it comes down to... our health.

    Mari-Nanci

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