Back From The DeadZone With My Asus…

I find it easier to create a blog post when I am regularly blogging… once time lapses, for whatever reason/s, it’s more difficult to sit and ‘feel’ the post… instead, my head feels like an old arcade game -  Astroids –  zipping in every direction.   One day at  a time, sweet Jesus… 

My laptop and I are getting along just fine.   My new Asus has a keyboard that has backlight -  how cool is that?  (I am not keen on the name  -  it reminds me of anus.  Sick, I know.) 

I am a happy camper – I have my two fuzzy buddies next to me, a warm snapping fire at my back (see the reflection in my laptop?),  and a fast and efficient computer at my finger tips – just waiting for me to go to town on -

 

To all  of you that are emailing and calling,  patiently waiting, and emailing again,  wondering if I have dropped off the face of the earth,  I am here.  And I feel guilty as hell that it is taking  me so long to respond.  If you know me well enough, you’ll know this about me -  I like to be of help.  I take it serious.  I can’t just offer a quick reply or response without forethought. Instead, your email stays in my INBOX.  I don’t move it, or delete it, until I can answer it.   But that takes time, and crazy as this sounds, I’ve not had any of that.

This week didnt’ start well-

   - my computer crashing,  a day of chaos trying to set up and pull off a video training session for Caromal Colours… but i did it!

  – a new client,  2 rooms to pull off, hopefully by Friday so I could stay on track for next week …. check! 

But tough to get the rest of the stuff done,  like

  -running daughter to soccer every other night …  The good thing is, these training facilities have Wi-Fi… I , like many other parents there,  drag the laptop and widdle away….

  -grocery shopping (just what you feeling like doing after hanging on the wall all day … NOT!)

  -my adult, over 30 soccer game – fun but I hate the late nights…..

  -a friends birthday.   Budgetary times call for creative meaning… I took one of our coffee-to-go cups and decorated it with ribbon and metallic pens, filled it with vanilla caramel coffee,  planted a candle in a cupcake, and stopped and dropped on my way to work -

 

And then dinner one day -   planned early in the morning in the form of a pot roast in a crockpot.  Wait.  Not that easy.  Daughter calls me, while I’m grocery shopping (at 5PM) to tell me the power went out (early in the day) and the crock pot was just blinking.   Not on….   shit.  Roast floating all day in funky luke warm juice.    Ended up buying stuff to whip out tacos quick….  

Did I mention sick kids, and now moving my way?   Ah, who cares – it is Friday,  the week was a good one,  and I am back…

Have a great weekend!

Sorry For This Interruption, My Boyfriend Broke Up With Me…

My boyfriend broke up with me…  His hard drive died.

LOL

I wondered what was happening, lately, wtih my Dell E1705 Inspirion.  It has been dogging slow… spinning into hourglass dizziness – and the infamous “Not Responding” as the screen ghosts…   This weekend  I struggled with it and did several System Restores.   It seemed back to normal.

Nope.    This morning I tried to get my Windows Live Messenger going.  I had a scheduled video camera date with a finisher in Illinois – we were going to do a LIVE Caromal Colours Independent Representative Training at 10AM.  Joining us was another finisher from Gaylord, Michigan (about 3 hours north of me).    Needless to say, we got a late start because my laptop crashed for good.   Had to think quick, and thankfully I was able to load my video camera software onto the kids desktop down in my workshop area. 

Later,  I called my PC fixit guy.   Ends up my hard drive is shot.   It all makes sense now.     Tonight I ran up to  Best Buy and got a new boyfriend.  He is really pretty – sparkles like black galaxy granite.  I don’t know how he works yet but I will learn soon.  He is equipped with Windows 7, is that what its called?  No Vista.   

I have to share a quick funny that happened when I was paying for the new machine.  A young sales guy was helping me, but then had to go take care of something so a female sales lady finished helping me.  She was ringing me up, when Mr. Young guy came back over.  He commented on the machine I’d chosen – I  commented that originally, when I’d arrived at the store my plan was to NOT get a big screen like my old Dell (17.3 inch).  I thought I would be fine with a smaller viewing screen,  and then it would be easier to carry around.  But, I told the salespeople, when I checked out the new options, I only felt comfortable with the bigger ones.  So the young guy says “Ya, theres something to be said for the big ones”  (trust me, he was being innocent) .  Now here I am,  signing the bill,  not thinking, and I reply back “Oh, do YOU have a big one?”     About 2 seconds later, I started to crack up -  out loud – because it just struck me as such the wrong thing to say!  And the funny was?  He didn’t get it at first.   The sales lady did.  She tried to save me -  she said  ‘Yes, he has a BIG desktop”   and I said  “ah, yes!”   I couldn’t get out of there quick enough!

Now I just need to get all my STUFF transferred over.    Tomorrow morning, on my way to this weeks wall job , I will be dropping off both my old boyfriend Mr Dell and my new flame  Mr. ASUS, and see if he can hook me up. 

Tomorrow job is a 2 part – I’m hoping to get both done in 4 days, at least  thats the plan – going to Sandstone and Glaze the kitchen

and  dress up an orange Master Bedroom focal wall with some Lusterstone Metallic Plaster-

 

 Will post pictures as it progresses.

You Know It’s Sunday, Give Me Your Eyes

I find myself listening more and more to newer Christian music.   I call it my ‘Jesus music”.  It calms me.  It’s kindof like the songs tell stories – you can understand the words/message – can follow along…

I’m realizing how visual I really am.  Talking with my hands.  Blogging through photos.  I love the music put to video – so many interpretations…    makes me reflect even more.

This video is to Brandon Heath’s song Give Me Your Eyes.

My eyes.  Of course I use them to see – to see all the wonder God has created and blessed us with.   But I watch this video, and it opens my eyes -

A need to see all people through the eyes of God and reach out in love.

Red And Black Kitchen Cabinets

I am working on a reply right now, to Carolyn who posted this -

I do have a question. I am ordering the Peppercorn distressing set to do my kitchen cabinets. My hubby and I were talking about doing the top cabinets in peppercorn distressed and the bottom in paprika. We want to put in black (possibly) counter tops of granite or soapstone. We have black appliances. I wanted to do all black cabinets but he thought is was too much black. Can you get a visual of the black and red?? I want to unite it with the toner and perhaps black knobs. How do you think that would look??? I really need a female opinion here.:)

In the process of answering,   I found myself googling to find red and black kitchens so that I could offer visuals.  This past weekend I had a guy call me – his wife saw a Caromal Colour News Article that was in the Detroit News this last Spring.  He was finally finding time to focus on their kitchen – a kitchen full of oak stained cabinets.  Long story short, he and his wife stopped by, an hour later, to SEE what this cabinet finish looked like.  They loved it, and are planning on doing their kitchen cabinets in the Paprika, and then the island they want to do in a 2 color Paprika with Peppercorn (black) over top, then distressed back to reveal the red underneath.

Thats twice, in the matter of days, that I am hearing about black and red together.  This morning I had another email about Caromal Colour choices, and their choice is Parchment for the kitchen mains, and Paprika (red) for the island and tall cabinet – accents.     Now how about visuals?

So,

……Can you get a visual of the black and red?? I want to unite it with the toner and perhaps black knobs. How do you think that would look??? I really need a female opinion here…

Yes, I can get a visual from the photos above.  The first one gives me an idea of what you are thinking of doing (the photo is quite modern but look beyond the style).  Several others show me that I like the black counters on top of red cabinets.  Maybe black counters on black would be too much?    Its hard to tell you what to/what not to do – it is all absolutely a matter of personal choice.   To help you better see the ‘visual’   take that all red kitchen, above, and imagine coloring in the bottom cabinets black.    There are several all black kitchens above.  All black ‘could’ be a lot of black – it all depends on what is on your floors, what your counter choice will be, wall color…   The all red looks nice as well.

I think a mix of both black and red would be lovely, as is shown in one of the first photos above.  It looks like the main cabinets are black, then the island is red as is an accent cabinet over top.  Do you have an island? Or tall set of cabinets, like a pantry unit? Or desk area?   I think my personal choice would be to tie in the second color by using it as an accent, rather than top 1/2 being one color, bottom 1/2 being another  – but that is just me and MY space.   YOU know your space best – and YOU and your hubster have to be the ones deciding this choice!  Let me know what you do!!!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween.   Wow things have changed…

I miss the younger years….. when we got to walk down the sidewalk,  while the kids ran from house to house… My parents would come and hand out candy for us. I’d capture pictures, like this one, of mom posing with the kids right before we’d head out -

Now they’re off with friends, trick-or-treating -  sleep-overs after…   What?   I can’t do the pillowcase DUMP and sort everything, and snag the Heath bars and Milkduds?

S I G H…. I guess the TEEN years are arriving.  It is bringing a new, very real change, to what I am used to…

So, here we sit hanging out candy to the neighbor kids that yell “Trick or Treat”  …  it’s kind of a quiet Halloween, there doesn’t seem to be as many kids.

A few of my favorites -  neighbors to the right -

Neighbors to the left -

and 3 guys I didn’t know (probably around 15ish)  I had to grab my camera for – I thought they rocked!

Happy Halloween to all!