A Little Bit of Decorating

The Problem:

I need something above this television.  I have never had anything there, but I just cut the cord with my cable (thank you Sling!!!) and now that the DVR box is gone, and I can finally display these lamps that were my Gurnie's (The story goes, my Papaw bought these at "the thrift" when they lived in Vero Beach, Florida. Gurnie told him they were ugly and were NOT going in her house. Then somehow, she found out they were worth hundreds of dollars, and they adorned her mantle every day after that!)

So ugly they're fabulous!

Anyway... back to the empty wall space.

So I wanted something above the television.  But the walls are plaster and it's a brick chimney behind them, and, well I didn't really want to hammer/drill/whatever to hang something.  I thought about doing one of those vinyl wall decals, but I have one on the adjacent wall that leads to the dining room, so I thought that was overkill... but I did like the idea of a word: blessed.

Among other things, every morning I pray that God helps me remember all of the blessings I do have and not to focus on the few things I don't have. It's easy to focus on what we don't though, isn't it?  I do try to be grateful and understand that I truly am blessed... but I will admit, sometimes it's harder than others.

The idea of this word blessed morphed into a Pinterest worthy idea, and I am pleased at how it turned out!

I went to Michael's for some canvases, paint, and brushes.  Can you believe that the $14.99 canvases were three for the price of one this week, and I had a coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase and my total was just at $25. See, I told you I was blessed!

Step one was painting the canvases a tan color. Oh, I'm sorry, "Unbleached Titanium." Which makes sense, because who wants bleach in their titanium?

Because I am highly aware of the fact that fonts are WAY cuter than my actual writing, I had found this free font online (I found it at 1001fonts.com but I can't remember which of the 1001 it was... sorry) and printed the word in like 635 point font. I wish I could've used this size on my 30 page grad school papers.  

I then turned it over and shaded the back with a pencil, so I could rub the outline of the letters on before I painted.

Look closely and you'll see the outline

Then it was just painting over the letters (which I readily admit I should've practiced before I went right in to the canvas, but hindsight is 20/20, right?) Today I bought the Command strips that are kind of like velcro, cleaned the wall and hung them up.  Those strips are the best because part stays on the wall and part on the wooden back of the canvas so I could straighten, move, etc very easily. I love those things.

So here it is now!

Again, the letters don't look as good as I wanted, but all in all I am happy.  And blessed. :)

Fixing Single People

I love my DVR. I love that I can set a series recording and never miss a new episode of Scandal. I love that while watching a UK game, I can rewind and do my own version of an instant replay even if the SEC Network isn't going to show me the play again. I love that at the end of a close basketball game, I can pause the TV and watch in slow motion (which somehow makes me less of a nervous wreck). But I really love it because I can skip through commercials, because let me let you in on a little secret...



I



Hate



Commericals


Now, every now and then, there will be a funny commercial (the Taco Bell one where the guy kisses his girlfriend's dad on the cheek because he won't put down his tacos to shake his hand) or a sweet commercial (Peter coming home for Christmas) that I don't mind, but in general I am not a fan.



I have never taken an advertising class, but I have noticed that commercials are more than just selling us something, they are all about fixing us. A quick look at commercials will show you everything that's wrong with you, and what you need to buy to fix it. Lashes too short? Too much grey? Stomach too flabby? Hair too flat? You can get products to fix each of those problems.



And the latest catastrophe that's plaguing us? Singleness.



Are you still single? You need to be married! Join a dating website so you can find someone! Join NOW!



While that's not the exact script, it does seem to be the theory behind the commercials I continue to see from Match, eHarmony, OurTime, and even FarmersOnly. You are single, something is wrong, join this site to fix it. While I am not bashing online dating (I really do know people it has worked for), the multitude of commercials for dating sites really does convey the message that this is an epidemic... a problem that has to be fixed.



And while we are on the topic, does anyone think it's a coincidence that when someone has a friend, or a friend of a friend, or a boyfriend's sister's neighbor's dogwalker's college roommate that would be "perfect" for you, it's called what--fixing you up. FIXING.



Everyone wants to fix the singles.



But... not all of us feel like we need to be fixed. Not all of us think it's a Greek tragedy if we are coming home to an empty house. I'm not even talking about people who are anti-marriage. Whether single people want to be single or not, it's okay to be single. Whether you are okay with it or not, it is okay to be single. Just because my happily ever after doesn't look like everyone else's doesn't mean I'm not happy.



And trust me, happy or not, the last thing a single person in their 30s needs is someone else making them feel like there's something wrong with them. We've got plenty of commercials for that.