A Fast, Creative Way to Dress Up the Walls

I fell in love today.

Ever heard of Blik? Me neither, until yesterday. Blik makes and sells surface decals - incredibly awesome surface decals "...for the commitment phobic."

The designs are up-to-date, imaginative and seemingly easy to apply. The decals are extremely affordable, as well. I can easily imagine them in a nursery, home office, teenager's bedroom or dorm room.

The decal that may me go "oooh" is a design from SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), Mid-Century Gothic. The webpage for this design showed two orders used together to create a sort-of headboard in turquoise and gold. Ooooh. It would make even the dullest dorm room shine, for only $120.

Check it out and leave a comment. I want to know what you think.

I'm an iPod Slacker Because of My Teenagers

It's not my fault. I'm blaming this one on the kids.

You see, I could have cared less about iPods and MP3 players and the whole deal a few years ago, but then I actually listened to someone's iPod and, well, the clouds parted, the sun's rays beamed down on me and angels sang. Well, not exactly angels - some band was signing and the clarity of the music hooked me right away. I was ready for an iPod.

But all those directions! I'm not a Mac person and didn't understand the nuances of the single vertical line versus the double vertical lines versus the arrow - and that was only to turn the iPod on. Downloading the software was easy enough, but understanding how it all worked, what should be turned on or off to download or upload - it's too much. Not what I wanted to invest a lot of time learning. So my kids did it for me.

The result? I'm still helpless. I had to erase my iPod for some reason and now it's useless until I load it again. So my iPod has idled on my desk for months, empty. I haven't even been able to use the docking station I received for Christmas (yes, it's been THAT long). I resisted asking my kids for help: After all, isn't it better to teach me to fish than to give me one to eat?

Too bad. It's another year and more before my son will leave for college. My daughter is only a high school freshman. No need to learn the technology now, when it will just evolve again. Fiddle dee dee. Tomorrow's another day. (Insert your own lame phrase here.)

Like I said before... it's not my fault, so don't blame me.

They Should Call It Cutting and Ironing

My kids are on Spring Break this week and while my son is at crew training camp, I've brought my daughter and her best friend to visit my sister and brother-in-law. My sister loves to quilt and has just about every sewing tool made, so we've been working on a couple of sewing projects. One project will be a gift for neighbors who are expecting their first baby (I'm "decorating" some cloth diapers that they can use as burp cloths); the other is aprons for use by parents who provide food at my son's high school crew events (we spend a lot of time feeding the rowers).

I haven't sewn in years and it's fun to discover how much I remember (and what I've forgotten). Fortunately, the sis is far less rusty than I and together, we've done a pretty decent job between us.

Without a doubt, the thing I've forgotten most is how much time is spent measuring, strategizing, cutting and ironing, especially ironing! Holy cow. Since when did sewing make you work up a sweat? How is it that I can spend eight hours on other tasks and 30 minutes at the machine?

From here on out, I'm gonna call it like it is: Cutting and Ironing. It's not sewing. There's no sitting in this effort. You stand, you think, you iron, you cut, you swear, you iron, you swear some more. And when it's over, you have six diapers and four aprons.

Cutting and Ironing. It took a lot of work, yet in the end was very rewarding. We'll have to do it again soon.

Photo by Anne Norman