I Want To Live Here

Okay, maybe not literally since there are a few things I would definately change...but to rent it out for a vacation would be a blast. Someday I would love to let go and have fun like this in a few rooms. Of course some of the rooms are so funky that guests may not get the most restful of sleep! Trust me, if fun and funky is your style then its worth it to scroll through all of the images....but I'll toss a few favorites in here to whet your appetites.

Loverly plum walls and a funky "moss" shag throw rug....I would definately get a different style of bed though, that whole Marie Antoinette/Regency style just isn't for me.

More of that plum color.

A tad minimalist but I love the color combinations. This is a bathroom made for soaking and relaxing after a hard day's work.

Plum again....I am really responding to this color for some reason! I have always wanted a chaise lounge....one day I will finally have room for one. I like the slight outdoorsy feel you get with this....its almost like Narnian where you're in the woods yet they brought the Royal Furniture outdoors.

Long view....such a wonderful use of color and space. Very soothing.

I couldn't resist adding this one. I love the funky geometric paint job around the front door and the fake pampas grass "growing" on the ledge.

Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye

These last few weeks have been up and down and everywhere in between.

Those who follow the posts of our family already know that Arlene, my "Other Mother" (as she prefered to be called...she hated being referred to as "Stepmom") finally lost her battle with cancer after a long struggle. I say lost but that's not entirely accurate. Mom decided to stop fighting, choosing instead to die quietly at home surrounded by family rather than in the hospital, fighting an infection she had picked up at her last chemo treatment and just couldn't shake.

I think many of us thought she would somehow manage to pull another rabbit out of her hat as she was given a 1-8 week sentence of death over a year-and-a-half ago and managed to fool the doctors and keep on going. She hung on long enough to see several of her children married and another grandchild born before she gave up the ghost.

As my stepbrother Wes says, she put up one hell of a fight.

Maybe its my upbringing. I know that I will see her again and it helps with the hurt. It doesn't stop me from missing her...but I feel so sorry for people who do not have the comfort of knowing that their loved ones are never really lost.

There is a song that I love that sums it up best. I tried to find it on YouTube but its only available with cheesy scenes from One Tree Hill and Days of Our Lives. That's what I get for quoting a song that's nearly a decade old. Here is a link to it anyway for those who are interested.

"Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye" by Beth Nielsen Chapman

Say goodnight not good-bye
You will never leave my heart behind
Like the path of a star
I'll be anywhere you are

In the spark that lies beneath the coals
In the secret place inside your soul
Keep my light in your eyes
Say goodnight not good-bye

Don't you fear when you dream
Waking up is never what it seems
Like a jewel buried deep
Like a promise meant to keep

You are everything you want to be
So just let your heart reach out to me
I'll be right by your side
Say goodnight not good-bye

You are everything you want to be
So just let your heart reach out to me
Keep my light in your eyes
Say goodnight not good-bye

Say Goodnight....not goodbye

Science Fiction

It was a moment ripped straight out of the Twilight Zone. Not the somewhat safe neighborhood with Edward and Bella, but the uber-creepy Zone chillingly narrated by Rod Serling.

Setting: Orem, Utah.....just your average, everyday (if somewhat clean-cut) neighborhood.

Girl backs car out of driveway and heads off to work...passing a tall blonde out for her morning jog. Her shoulder-length hair pulled back in a ponytail that swayed to the rhythm of her run. I-Pod strapped to her shoulder helping her keep pace in her startlingly white and blue jogging suit.

Girl, driving on, realizes she has forgotten her cell phone and decides to turn around to go get it.

Passes a MALE jogger, his shoulder-length hair pulled back in a ponytail that sways to the rhythm of his run. I-pod strapped to his shoulder helping him keep pace in his startlingly white and blue jogging suit.

Girl pauses, gives jogger a second look and his eyes meet hers for a moment with an icy "you don't see nothing" tone before she passes him.

Girl keeps eyes peeled for female jogger but she's nowhere to be found.

Girl arrives at home, finds cell phone and clambers back into car to finally make her way to work. Female jogger is still nowhere to be seen but male jogger has turned around and was running back towards the direction of the girl's home. Gives her "evil eye" again as she passes, but otherwise lets her drive on, unmolested.

Girl, thankfully passes on and arrives safely at work.

She has passed through the Twilight Zone... and survived.

All Things Considered

Life is not so bad.

Sure it has its ups and downs....(and usually not in the proportions you would prefer) but its those constant swings from one extreme to the next that keep life interesting (and keeps Clairol in business covering up those gray hairs we collect along the way!)

Yes, we when least expect it life will smack you upside the head with a dead cod....something smelly and somehow not-quite-what-you-were-expecting. But on the flip side, sometimes life really does hand you roses....soft, sweet and oh-so-uplifting.

No specific case-in-point. Honestly my life is fairly in balance at the moment between good and bad....yes the bad sometimes keeps me up at night but the good has me in a happy and contented mood today.

I say take the contented mood when it hits you and freaking run with it.