Wall arrangement - Advice, please!

I need some help!  I have a photo/mirror arrangement that has been sitting on my floor in the bonus room since early summer. I can't decide what to do with it.  The sofa isn't centered on the wall so do I center the arrangement on the wall? or center over the sofa? Find another spot? Get rid of it altogether? arrrrrrrrrrgh.

Undecided about the arrangement

Does this arrangement even work together?  I kinda thought the frame tied the mirrors and the plaque together with circles and rectangles, but now I think I've just looked at it so much I can't make a decision at all.



This wall needs something on it!

I think the fact that this sofa is not centered on the wall is contributing to my indecision.  My instinct is to center the arrangement over the sofa and not on the wall .... I think that would work best.  I just want to have a plan before I start putting more holes in the wall!

Halloween Fun!

It's Halloween!  Ok, almost.  Anyway - have been sprucing up the place and thought I'd post some pics!  Love trying out different decor - especially now that I have a mantle to decorate!  What d'ya think?

Halloween Mantle

Eyeballs and small skulls in the apothecary jar

Gotta love the rats!

Love this owl with the flying bats - if the wind blows hard enough they fly around.

Boo pumpkin and monogrammed pumpkin - ideas borrowed from Pinterest

Pathway to the door

Pink Dreams

I spent most of my night last night searching for hot pink things in my sleep. A common thread in my dreams is that I'm late for class and last night was no different - just the reason was a little out there. I had lost, misplaced or left somewhere some ugly, hot pink, clodhopper shoes (looked like crocs) and was barefoot going all over the place looking for them. Someone at a part time job I had (working in a church kitchen or something) had found them and put them in a paper bag. When I got them and put them on, my feet hurt worse than without them, so I was barefoot the rest of the dream.

Along with the found shoes was my also lost pink coat. (I actually have a hot pink coat - but no hot pink shoes) Now the only thing I was still trying to find was my hot pink car. I walked and walked the various parking lots surrounding this building (church?) and finally tracked down the person who had found my shoes. She told me she had parked the car in such and such parking lot. I told her I had looked there. We went out together to search all the parking lots. You would not believe the number of pink cars out there! Seems like everyone had one, but none of them were mine. We never did find my pink car and I never did make it to class.

I have a suspicion all the pink searching was triggered by some shopping I did last night. It's close to Valentine's day and I purchased a pink rug for the bathroom and was looking at a lot of Valentine items trying to find small gifts for some friends of mine ... lots of pink stuff. I'm hoping I don't go looking for that pink car again tonight.

2012

I managed to make it through the holidays - woohoo! It was a little tougher than I expected it to be - seems my dad's absence was weighing on me and my mom. We figure last year we were still kind of just numb and so this year we were really feeling his absence. Still - I made it through and now on to 2012 and whatever it brings.

I'm starting the year off with one of my favorite pasttimes - board games. Have a couple of friends coming over to play - sometimes it's better to have just a few because then you can play games that don't have to accomodate 5-7 players...that can be limiting.

Also making Hop N John goulash .... don't know what else to call it. Black eyed beans, rice, smoked sausage, onion, celery, diced tomatoes ... I think mom said it was supposed to be soup, but it wasn't very liquidy. Adding to that some collards and cornbread ... try #3 on the cornbread. One day I'll get it right.

Happy Birthday Recording

Today was my 50th birthday. I've had a great few days. Spent some time away with some amazing gal pals and today talked to my mom on the phone and received her Edible Arrangement birthday bouquet. Still, I've been sad all day missing my father and wishing he could have been here for this milestone. From a couple (?) of years ago I have an answering machine birthday greeting from my parents ... they called and sang Happy Birthday to me on my answering machine. To my knowledge, it is the only recording I have of my father's voice and so it is currently my most prized possession. At the end of the song my dad says "isn't that beautiful?" ... he had no idea at the time how beautiful it would be to his 50-year-old daughter.

Flag-draped casket

Friday here was an overcast, drizzly, chilled day. And of course it was a day I had to be out getting a ton of stuff done - like license renewal. That actually didn't turn out to be so bad - for the first time ever I was in and out in under 40 minutes.

On the way out my attention was drawn to the neighboring cemetery where a funeral home was setting up a graveside service. It seemed I was immediately transported back to the graveside service for my father just over a year ago. The casket in this cemetery was draped with an American flag, just like my dad's was. The weather was almost identical - wet and cold - and so the funeral home had the tent up to protect the family members who would be arriving. The memory of my father's service was so fresh that I started sobbing in my car and thought I would have to pull over. I could picture the funeral attendants who met us at the car with umbrellas to walk us to the graveside and how cold and dreary it was under that tent. It was so hard saying goodbye to my dad that day and I felt like the heavens were sharing in my grief.

I knew the casket I saw Friday wouldn't be there alone for much longer. I knew that family and friends of that loved one who passed would soon be sitting there under that tent mourning their loss. I cried for my dad and I cried for them. I knew whoever they were, they were having a hard day.

One Year

Today marks a year since my dad passed away. In some ways, it's hard to believe it's been an entire year since some days it seems like it happened recently. On the other hand, this has been one of the longest years ever. Losing a parent you had a good relationship with is hard. I miss Daddy every day.

I keep a box on my dresser filled with some of dad's things. One of the items is one of his watches. I had just bought him a new one a few months before he passed away, but it was identical to the one he had ... he wanted the same kind. Mom kept one of them and I kept the other. I must have gotten the newer one, but I'm not sure, because the watch is still ticking. Sometimes at night, when the room is quiet, I can hear the watch ticking in that box. It's like a gentle reminder of my dad and like it is helping to keep his memory alive among those things in that box. Some might find that eerie, but I like the reminder. I know when that battery life is over, I'll be replacing it so the ticking can continue to stir the memories for me.