Fighting With Blogger

Let's see if I can post this, maybe Blogger is just anti- pictures of fruitcakes.

So the party was lovely, everything was a hit except the couple of things that got forgotten in the fridge, and we got to have leftover cookies and cider for ~1.5 days, which is reasonable.

Christmas was also fun, we went and had a delicious cioppino at the house of some of Matt's Italian gourmand cousins. I brought a tiramisu as it is my only recipe that will stand up ti ANYONE's scrutiny, no matter how fancy their tastes.

And now I am at work and it is DEEEEEEAD because it has been pouring rain and nobody is worried about their plants being happy when they are worried about their trees blowing down. So I am using up all my data on my phone farting around online instead.

House Update and the Beginning of the Party Planning Lists

I inherited some stuff from a parental cleanout this weekend, the annoying office rug that never stays flat under chair wheels is getting Craigslisted and the old vaguely Persian rug that is in way better shape is now residing under my wheels as I type. Also my mom's knockoff Herman Miller-ish desk chair that she never used. So my office is fancy now! House tour update is still pending, I swear.

I have also been swapping art around on walls and it is still not where I want it to be. Grr. However, good art is everywhere and is even sometimes incredibly cheap - I am thinking about buying the digital download of this amazing thing and hanging it over the bed, which would be one nice big thing to center that room around. But not right away as framing is still not free. Maybe after the holidays.

Party Thoughts: the party is two weeks from today. I need to dig out the entertaining box from the garage, it is the magical place where all spare paper cups and napkins hibernate until needed, as well as the big coffee percolating urn thing that gets filled with cider and keeps it hot and on tap for me. So here is the list/plan so far. A Costco trip is pending as of next Tuesday.

Sweet
Cookbook's amazing bourbon balls

Peppermint bark

Nut/shortbread bars (I am addicted to these and am only allowed to make them once a year)

(possible new recipe) Smitten Kitchen's lemon bars from the new cookbook

Gingersnaps 

Some kind of thumbprint cookie to use the insane pineapple guava jam I made from free pineapple guavas, or at least some kind of shortbread sandwich cookie for the same purpose. Trying to decide if it could work in ischler, which are Hungarian sandwich cookies made with ground almonds (may test this with hippie almond flour as they can be dense) and chocolate on top.

Savory
Cut up veggies with hummus (possibly two kinds, last year it was roasted garlic vs. roasted red pepper)

Baguette with cheeses (this is another potential place to serve that bonkers pineapple guava jam)

Spiced nuts

Baked brie with cranberry sauce for something hot and holiday-ish

Trader Joe's mushroom tartlets (I usually forget to serve anything warm so this is one thing)

This highly exciting savory version of hamentaschen, but I need a filling other than mushrooms if I do the TJ's stuff. Or maybe I should do these instead and go with the mushrooms? They will get a test run next weekend, they just look sooooo good to me

Korozot, my grandmother's highly addicting Hungarian blue cheese based dip

Mini bagels with shmear (korozot is also good here) - this was a random thing my mom brought last year and it was a HUGE HIT

Smoked salmon (great with the tiny bagels)

Antipasto plate with olives, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, salami and prosciutto, possibly with the little mozzarella balls...


90% of this can be made ahead of time, served at room temp. and eaten with fingers or toothpicks. Somebody is threatening to bring a crock pot o' meatballs and I have to figure out what that involves, utensil-wise. But I figure if the brie is warm as well as the mushroom tart things I can get away with mostly cold stuff other than that.

Next up, thoughts about decorating. I need to get a tree soon!

And because Eve Moneypenny had the best costumes in Skyfall and I want them all. 

That red outfit might be good for a holiday party...

Brain Dump

Happy post-American-holiday food coma! We went to the Sacramento area for the holiday and stayed overnight there, thus completely missing Black Friday (and when I say "missed" I mean "didn't miss it at all"). We went to my aunt and uncle's place (centrally located, big room for entertaining) and had a lovely time. I brought the apple pie I bring every year (don't mess with success, eh?) and it was demolished. Somebody else brought a pumpkin pie, the other thing I usually take care of, so I also made the almost no-bake pumpkin cream pie from Joy the Baker (Smitten Kitchen's gingersnap pumpkin tart with cheesecake swirl was the first test recipe but was not terribly interesting) and it was a massive success. Much lighter and fluffier than a standard cheesecake and the maple whipped cream is sheer genius.

Also saw the new James bond movie Skyfall. And is it just me, or is it becoming a progressively worse and worse gig to be a Bond girl? I just vaguely remember the Pierce Brosnan ones (showing my age, these were the ones I first saw in theaters), and while they were heavy on the camp and riddled with silly gadgetry by the end, they were also the ones with strong female characters that didn't just not think/sleep with Bond/get killed off ASAP. Yes, Xenia Onatopp was campy, but she was also a threat. And yes he was saving a lovely Russian but at least she was also some kind of scientist.

Daniel Craig's nu-Bond established Vesper Lynd as the be-all, end-all of women in Bond's world, killed her off, and decided that no other female gets to be the badass she was. Give me Honey Ryder or Pussy Galore and I will snigger at the name and then be ok with them. These new ones just kind of make me mopey.

New hipster Q, however, is adorable. 

Also, INSANELY GORGEOUS sets. The ruined island where the bad guy hides out? Chase scenes through Turkish markets? Bond's ancestral family home in Scotland? Good gravy. The whole thing was clearly shot with a loving eye and I enjoyed looking at every minute of it. Woof. Apparently they built the whole manor from scratch, which is also fun.

Also, Albert Finney! Bond's arc is pretty good, they spend a lot of time establishing him as aging and losing his knack and his interaction with the excellent Javier Bardem (it's another American movie, he must be playing a creepy bad guy) is so well done. And the car, sweet sassy molassey, the car. I don't want to spoil anything, so I will just say the first car scene makes the movie for me. Bond movies need a sense of humor if they're gonna fly. Daniel Craig is a good Bond but I think sometimes he gets a hair too serious.

And speaking of beautifully shot movies, we also rented Jiro Dreams Of Sushi, and it is also a visual feast. There isn't really a plot or much development of any kind, it's just this guy, he is a top sushi chef, and he talks about food, and his acolytes talk about food. Yes, he has acolytes. But man, talk about a pretty movie.

And more hipster Q. Happy long weekend, Americans! And happy Saturday, Canadians!

Go Vote (With Digression)

Last time I watched Mary Poppins it kind of made me sad that this was a throwaway scene. The whole movie makes it seem like Mrs. Banks should be spending more time with her kids, but in retrospect, this is so awesome. Everybody in America should be voting today if you haven't already!

Also, Glynis Johns (Mrs. Banks) and Elsa Lanchester (Katie Nana) are two of my favorite of Danny Kaye's ingenues. If you like a hilarious movie, check out the Inspector General with the amazing future Bride of Frankenstein.

And the possibly-even-better Court Jester where Glynis Johns does not get nearly enough screen time as the badass Maid Marion-esque love interest vs. Angela Lansbury's shallow, pretty princess.

Danny Kaye had it pretty good back in the day, eh?

I Need Some Exciting Things To Talk About

...because right now I am sans projects and fun things. I am accumulating lots of ideas though, the biggie right now is to do something about the laundry situation, right now the laundry area is in the garage, and that means it is grimy and there is no good work space because I stack stuff on top of the dryer for storage. So my plan is to slap a coat of paint on the wall in there and hang a cabinet on it. Then I can store soap and cleaning things in there. And I swear, there will be before and after pictures. 

I have plans to shoot a new house tour because things have gotten moved around and my inspirations and whatnot are all jumbled up. I have been helping a recently-divorced friend redecorate and it is making me want to rearrange my house. And since the size of the house limits rearranging quite a bit, that means mostly moving accessories and swapping around art.

So I swear, there will be pictures soon. Right now I am just brainstorming and lacking inspiration. And time.

On Gardens (Mine, and Other Peoples)

This job is killing me. Every time I talk to a homeowner about their yard and make recommendations, I think, I should do this in my yard, I should prune this and fertilize that and my list is SO LONG NOW. This weekend should be good for some pruning and fertilizing. Every time I go out to a homeowner's place to take samples I am eyeballing their garden and thinking "hmm, what have they got going on here that I should copy/use as inspiration?"

I am also inspired by our trip to Monterey and the lovely gardens at the mission in Carmel.

It is a little tough because it is much foggier in Monterey than here, I am coveting these plants but I just don't have the humidity to keep them all happy without fussing over them. And I will not fuss.

The anemones are so pretty! And I have always loved tree ferns. I am adoring my new office because in between the buildings is all full of tree ferns!

This is the entry garden, there is a big cross and a big telephone pole in the background, so don't get confused. The giant purple echiums on the left are calling my name. Echiums are ubiquitous on the coast here but when they are blooming they are just kind of bulky and take up a lot of space. But they are a showstopper in full bloom! These are already a little bit past their prime.

Japanese maples add such good contrast in any churchyard! Honestly, they are so colorful and I love them, but they are the go-to specimen tree down here and they would take up space that could otherwise hold another fruit tree. Priorities, right?

I promise there will be pictures of MY garden soon, I am distracted with big cleaning projects right now because I have a very special guest coming to visit next weekend and we haven't seen him since April (and I want the house to look nice for him)! It is killing me that we only have an air mattress for him to sleep on, but the futon wouldn't even fit in the door here. So I am gussying things up and tidying and decorating instead. Which probably means that once garden projects calm down and I get those documented on here, I should do a house tour update. Things are getting done, but slowly.

I am, in fact, alive.

But until I have a real post here are some vacation photos. We got some sun at the mission in Carmel.

And on our hike down to the beach.

It was a nice beach but for the life of me I don't know what it was called. 

But by the time we got to Point Lobos the fog had rolled in.

And you could only hear the sea lions barking from afar.

Tiny Update

We just took off for an actual vacation! No visiting family, just the two of us farting around the central coast of California. Let me tell you, there will be pictures soon.

"Issues"

All this free time is messing with my head. I have so much stuff I want to get done, I hardly know where to start, and I am worried about finishing everything. Everything that I wouldn't have been able to do in the first place if I didn't have two weeks off. 

So if I was busy there would be nothing to worry about, but since I'm not I don't have enough time. So I worry instead. Make sense?

GOT IT!

A grown-up job with a reasonable salary, legitimate benefits and a 15-20 minute commute. How awesome is that? And two weeks off before I get to go live in Anaheim (bleah) for a week and get all trained up.

Thus... a To Do list for my time off.

Get a grown-up haircut
Get some decent work clothes (~1 step up from t-shirts and jeans, it's still a soils job)
Do ALL the yard projects (separate future list)
Clean out garage/ have a garage sale (I now have other people with stuff to get rid of, so this is no longer something to be put off)

Hoo boy. I don't think I ever thought this would really happen. And now I have to save the last Game of Thrones book for those exciting Anaheim nights.

I walked into Matt's work the other day and everybody clapped for me. My week is much improved.

Waiting And Reading

I have been getting antsy about not hearing about this job. My friend who works there said the lady didn't even tell them she was interviewing OR going on vacation but the IT guy showed up at her office and installed a new computer in the empty office so I feel like I might still be in the running (since we're not sure if she has actually interviewed anyone else). So my fingers are still crossed. Because she hasn't told me no yet either.

So to curb my antsiness, books!

I just finished book 3 of the Song of Fire and Ice series. I had to take a little break in the middle because Good Gravy These Books Are Violent. I am not big on violent movies so I think it is official that there is no way for me to be watching the HBO version, no matter how many good things I hear about it. But I heard a great comparison for this book in particular: somebody called it the Empire Strikes Back of this series, and that makes (hopefully for future books) total sense. Horrible things happen to characters you like and it ends on a very uncertain note. But I will definitely be continuing this series. It also helps to remember that it is based on the wars of the roses and there was quite a bit of royalty then that didn't get happy endings. History books just usually aren't as gory.

However, I needed a palate cleanser. Stella Gibbons wrote one of y favorite books of all time, Cold Comfort Farm, and when I was at the used bookstore with my mom a couple of weeks ago, we found one of her other books, Nightingale Wood.

It still has the same atmosphere and style, but somehow the humor is not the same. I like the way she creates a character, but none of these characters spoke to me like the fabulous Flora Poste.

Cold Comfort Farm is a hilarious book, and has to be one of the best book-to-movie conversions ever. The cast is beyond perfect, with Kate Beckinsale, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Fry, Eileen Atkins, Ian McKellen and Rufus Sewell. It boggles my mind that somebody made this, and that it was a TV movie and that they got these actors, and that they are SO WELL CAST. I don't even want to explain it too much, everybody should just go read it. And watch the movie. Nightingale Wood is very much less exciting and fun in comparison.

Still Waiting.

The lady I interviewed with (LAST Tuesday) is on vacation. So hopefully I will not die of impatience before she gets back.

That said, it has been very peaceful around here. I finally succumbed and got Game of Thrones from the library - it was available for the Kindle but book 1 had several dozen people on the hold list while books 1-4 were available right away as a bundle. So I have been trying to make a dent in these suckers ASAP.

They are very well written, I love a good swords-and-sorcery epic and I haven't read one in a while. The nearest comparison I have been hearing is the Lord of the Rings books and that is a good idea of the scale of the world-building going on. There are some parallels drawn to the wars of the Roses in some reviews I've seen and that also makes sense. I enjoy that the perspective switches to a new character for each chapter (and there are plenty, of both characters and chapters), and there are some strong, interestingly written female characters (which you can't really say for LOTR, Eowyn aside). A lot of it follows the same family and the three main female characters in the family are really enjoyable because they are so different and interestingly written.

To be fair, there is a lot of sex and violence. However, I find it pretty easy to self-edit with this kind of writing. Rape is a common weapon for subjugation of whoever and the violence is pretty prevalent, but there is a reason I am not watching the tv shows. When it's in a medieval setting I can tune it out. When it's in a book like Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and it is very realistic and detailed I find that excruciating and unreadable but this stuff I can basically just *bleep* over in my head. And his writing of all the sexy sexy sexytimes is kind of hilarious after a while. Probably the weakest part other than his need to perpetually list knights and their colors when you know they're just going to die. I'm in book 3 now and I need about three mentions of the same knight or some actual character development before I'm going to try and remember his name.

I finished the first two books and there was no wait on hold for book 3 so now I don't have to finish the whole bundle in three weeks. So I can put my Kindle down for a breather now. But odds are I will probably pick it right back up as soon as I am home from work.

It has been too hot and boring to work much in the yard - weeding and futzing with irrigation are two of my less favorite activities. I have been working my butt off in the front yard (no groundcovers in yet and the bermudagrass really wants to get in there, I can't let it get any ideas) so the backyard (a.k.a. where the tomatoes are) has been neglected. I still have ideas about blueberry bushes and lots of transplanting back there so there should be some more action out there eventually, but right now it is too sweltering to dig anybody up and try to move them so not much excitement. And I needed to baby my tomatoes for the first couple months and failed to so now they have some fruit that is tasty but they are only 1-2 feet tall. I guess every garden has a learning curve.

Mini Update Because I Have To Share

Cross all your digits, my opposably thumbed friends, I just booked a flight for a second interview for a much more exciting job. Like, a job using my degree and experience to do science and help people job. Can you cross fingers and toes, please? Also, the interview is far away, but the job is 10 minutes from my house. Can you ask all your friends to cross their fingers and toes too?

Until there is further news, here is a rabbit stealing a cookie.

TerriBlogger

My apologies, I have been busy with not-terribly-exciting things. Thus, not much to write about. However, I have gotten my Kindle hooked up with the local library. So my junk reading is now free and back on the schedule (I have been too lazy to go to the new library since they closed down the one that I went to since I was tiny). I promptly mainlined several of the most recent Alexander McCall Smith #1 Ladies Detective Agency books. These are pretty much ideal summer reading. Reflective and charming without being as annoying as the mystery ones he does set in Edinburgh. No massive twists and turns, just relationships between people and lovely writing about Botswana. Also, intermittently, the Edgar Rice Burroughs Princess of Mars series. Ridiculous and quite fun, but they require breaks due to excessive alien battles.

Also I am attempting a different workout regimen. My job was really active but now it has become a lot less so, and so on the days when I am not too pooped to pop when I get home, I am trying to run through this pilates video a friend gave me. There are points for being able to get home and run through it before getting in the shower. Very low pressure. So we will see if I can stick it out. I have only done this stuff in class form before, I had a great teacher but it was hard on the budget and once I got home after work I didn't want to leave again. I'm a bum that way.

Also there was never a final official jam head count (we started eating it too soon), but we ended up with apricot jam, apricot chutney, cherry-apricot jam, plum jam (with and without cinnamon) and two little jars of what was supposed to be apricot syrup for waffles etc. but turned out more like apricot simple syrup. Potentially for mojitos or mixing with champagne. So not bad so far for this summer's haul.

It Must Be Summer

Because my kitchen is full of free fruit. One of my mom's book club ladies had an overactive apricot tree so she put the word out... After about an hour climbing around in the tree I came home with 32 lbs. of apricots. My mom gets jam for being an enabler. Jam in the style of my grandmother - mostly fruit, not too much sugar, like summer in a jar.

The next stop will be my mother-in-law's peach chutney. With apricots. We'll see how it translates. But I think it's worth trying just because you don't have to peel the apricots. I can't stand peeling peaches.

Interlude

Sometimes you just need a break from projects. Last Saturday it was Filoli, just because I haven't been there yet this spring (and it's almost summer)!

And yesterday it was the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park, as well as the Botanical Garden. The Botanical Garden is more of a giant park where the plants happen to have labels, there were lots of people going for walks or picnicking. Matt liked the Botanical Garden more because they had the big exotic weird stuff from Australia and New Zealand. But the Tea Garden is much more my speed. 

They are both in Golden Gate Park and we met some friends for lunch afterwards (only had to wait 45 minutes, aah San Francisco I am so glad I don't live in you). All in all a lovely day.

Skipped A Few Steps

So the first of the plants are in. This is not the best picture but it is a very general start. The stuff in front is a creeper so it will get maybe three feet tall and should fill in that corner. The little tree is a navel orange. Because I couldn't move to California and not plant an orange tree. There will be much more, but plants are expensive so this is just the very first round. Also, the neighbors offered to rip out the yuccas (see: nasty spiky hedge, back left) so we will be recalculating what goes in on the left side of the path. 

 But there was a break in there between leveling the big pile of dirt in the last post and getting the first of the plants in.

 Yes those are new windows.

 When the landlord wants to get something done, it can pay to not argue.

 The kitchen corner is much brighter now. We still need to finish the interior trim but the house is SO MUCH QUIETER now that it is weird.

Gratuitous office picture. Yes that is my exciting view. I consider this the reward for making it through the fumigation bits. And leveling the giant pile of dirt (that killed a weekend).

The List Goes On

Before I get to do any planting...

One More Thing Off The List

This was my poor house this week. Big black plastic sheets and chemicals, chemicals, chemicals! At least hopefully nobody will be eating their way through our kitchen floor again for a while. If it's not one thing, it's another.

The rear view. They got around most of the plants and the succulents that they had to cover will probably make it. But my little herb garden under the patio window is completely fried. I didn't even want to take a picture, it looks so sad.

So now we get to clean the entire house. We were told "the chemicals dissipate so they won't settle on any of your stuff and you won't need to clean everything when we're done". But we were not told "we will open all cupboards and drawers as well as your attic and crawl space access to let the chemicals circulate and prevent them from getting trapped anywhere and set up giant fans to enable the circulation and this will blow all the dirt and dust from the attic and crawl space into your drawers and cupboards". Or at least, we were only told the first half of that bit.

It is a gritty place here right now, and I don't mean like the inner city so much as like the inside of a vacuum cleaner. Bleah.

P.S. the lines across the dirt in the front yard? That is where the path is going! And then we can finally get some plants in up there!

Update-y Goodness

Remember this picture?

 Its denizens have moved on to bigger and better things. 

Although from here it looks like flatter things it is really cushier ones, the angle is just bad. But the seams line up and it all looks like it was sewn on purpose. A minor triumph.

 This is what that corner now looks like. The giant loveseat has left us and now I just need a smaller lamp so that table is more efficient. The blanket and pillow will most likely live on top of that chair for the foreseeable future as it is the most comfortably-shaped chair ever but was ceded to us for its lack of upholstered cushiness. So someday it will get reupholstered, and until then, it will be lazily padded. But the room now feels several times larger.

 This is my newest acquisition from my favorite store. I had no idea they had art and I adore this print.

 Pardon the glare, I don't want to take it out of the plastic until I have a frame for it. The cardinal is adorable. Adoration abounds. 

 And we survived our belated Easter celebration relatively intact. Although the nephews will not be back until I can get their footprints off of my walls.

And the garden is looking respectable, but that's another post. So far, my purple pots are surviving. And my succulent hoard is expanding... 

Technology Has Landed

I don't have pictures yet, but I'm posting this from my new smartphone. Happy birthday to me! We stayed home sick for my actual birthday but we had to go to Reno so we got to have a big birthday party for Matt's 40th and as birthday-related shenanigans I now have a smartphone and it is not surprisingly an entertaining toy. So expect more photos soon... And more excessive run-on sentences.

Yes I Am Still Alive

However, I have too many irons in my fire right now. We ripped out the front yard and before we got to the next step (pavers and trees), found out that we have a massive termite infestation and have to tent the house. I have been sick and Matt has been even sicker (bleh). And now we have to go to Reno to tidy up the house because our renter has to move out and we have to find a new renter. But it is still potentially snowing so we can't turn on the sprinklers yet. And I have no idea if I will have time/weather to get anything done in the garden up there.

So I am cranky.

And in response I have been doing the little dinky projects I have been putting off. Pictures may ensue, depending on how productive my Craigslisting is. Craigslisting funds the little projects. But the little projects keep me from being quite so cranky. And at least the back garden looks decent for Easter (which we are celebrating two weeks late because my sister is an accountant).

Bleh.

Mini Project

I have been staring at my collection of terra cotta pots for a while now. I finally recycled all my plastic pots and am trying to pot all my random plants in decent-looking pots to make them look slightly more cohesive. So then I went back and stared at this bookmarked post. And then I got an email from Ace Hardware saying "Come in for a free quart of paint!" So now cross your fingers for some more actual before-and-after shots, it's pot-painting time!

Also, if there is an Ace in your area, and you like projects, sign up for their rewards deals. They regularly send me coupons and email me deals and I tend to wait until they do to start projects. Like today!

Actual Follow-Up With Photos!

Where's a GIF of Satan ice-skating to work when you need one?

So here is the couch wall - the small pictures are still going to get reframed because it bugs me that they are so beat up and the mats don't match. They will also be thicker, square frames and take up slightly more space. But the picture in the middle is awesome and the overall effect is much more balanced. And yes, that is how dim my house is naturally.

And here is the drumset wall. There is a reason why these are hung high. Yes somebody has to sit under them to play the drums. And they are not as high as they seem because they pretty much play along with the pictures in the adjoining kitchen.

Although I really like the relationship between the three pictures since they are all similar sizes but not the same, I think I may have to move them all down an inch or two overall just because they look SO high to me. Thoughts?

Slim Pickings

I received an early birthday present which I will soon be showing off... my dad upgraded his camera lens and I got his hand-me-down. So now I can Craigslist my old lens as well as the loveseat. And then I can get frames! I have four more pictures to add to the wall over the sofa, and they are varying sizes and shapes so I can get the coveted "salon wall" effect.

This wall over the sofa currently has three similarly-sized pictures that aren't big enough for the wall. Now I have two more medium sized ones, one tiny one and a long skinny one that I am going to try to arrange so they look a little less like I attempted to have everything match and failed. We will see if I have any luck. I will possibly even scrounge a newspaper somewhere so I can cut paper templates and make sure everything is spaced out evenly. 

Also no, the living room has not changed much since we moved in. You can compare and contrast once I get this danged art hung up. And photographed with my snazzy new lens!

Something To Show For It...

Welcome to my office. It looks about the same overall, but we have been doing some art swappery and I am now debating sticking this loveseat on Craigslist. My dad has offered me an elderly armchair that he doesn't feel like having reupholstered. I would just cover it with blankets etc. for now but it is one of the comfy chairs that I grew up with so it is highly tempting. Also, see the door there? The loveseat is a bit big for this room...

And I finally found a spot for my kingfisher print! The buffalo needed a little company.

This may be the only vignette in my entire house. The buffalo has lived on top of the bookshelf since I was very little, my great-grandfather made it and for years it stood up there alone. I feel like it is a little more homey now that he has some company.

This is the current quandary. I like the lamp base, my dad made it for me (well, he had the ceramic cylinder made and then he wired it and put the base on. The only thing is, the lampshade is terrible (in my eyes). I am thinking that when there is a little more room in that corner after I replace the loveseat with a chair that is two feet narrower, I can get a nice cylindrical drum shade for it so it looks a little more modern. Although probably not one of those, something on the same lines but not so overpriced.

So that's where things are right now. And no, I am not posting a picture of my desk right now. But the loveseat is getting vacuumed and put on Craigslist this weekend!