Fly on the Wall: October 2014

Hey there!  Welcome to the October Fly on the Wall Group Challenge. This month, 12 awesome bloggers and I are describing what it would be like if you were to take a peek inside our homes....

Have a "look" around mine, and then go visit the other blogger's pages. There's always something fun, sentimental, or better yet, embarrassing going on. It's like your house, only we're admitting to the craziness. You have our permission. Buzz on over!

Why is your dame moving her lips?

All right, I don't WANT to chalk this up to living in Utah, but I just don't know anymore. If you look up feminism and our state in the news as of late, you're going to find some very passionate articles. Read a few if you get a chance and then we can discuss.

I know this doesn't happen EVERY where here, but I swear to you, I'm a magnet for sexism.

My current (actually, ongoing) issue is with salesmen. It doesn't matter if I'm buying an appliance, a car, or in today's instance, furniture. It always starts the same way. Without fail, the salesmen comes up to us, but only looks my husband in the eyes.
Salesman: (staring at Mark) "Can I help you folks with something?"
Mark: (pointing to me) "Well, we gave our living room furniture to our daughter, so we're looking for some new stuff."
Salesman: (to Mark) "Are you looking for anything in particular?"
Mark: (again, pointing to me). "I have no idea. Michele has done most of the research. I'm leaving it up to her."
Salesman: (rocking back and forth on his heels, with his hands in his pockets, he leans once again towards Mark) "Well, what does the little lady like?"

Sweet father of upholstery. What year is this? Will this man's short-sleeve shirt and clip-on tie begin to melt if he has to look at me? I could have been holding a huge wad of hundred dollar bills whilst pointing to a sofa and I'd bet that salesman would have slapped me on the behind and asked me to make him a drink. 

When the last salesperson saw the disgust in my eyes, he turned away from me and whispered to Mark in a, 'You poor man. You've got one of THOSE women..' faces and said in a singsong voice, "You know what they say! Happy Wife, Happy Life! "
If I had one of the man parts required to speak to these guys, I would have pulled it out and beat them with it. But then, I may have messed up my pretty dress.

Three furniture stores. Each out of huge sales. Each getting a letter to the highest ranking female I can find.

Long story short, we found our living room set at an out-of-the way non big-box furniture place. Mark sat down on a comfy sofa while I picked out what I wanted, arranged for the delivery and paid the bill. Guess what? My uterus didn't even fall out.

My cute new stuff.

Photo property of DownEast Home

Some things never change:
I was scanning over an article I had written for a friend's blog forever and a day ago. Life got in the way, so it didn't get posted. In it, I was listing 25 things I'm always nagging my children about. The funny thing is, the list still works today. ALL OF IT. 
SO, I'm sharing it.. Any month of the year, a FLY could hear me yelling saying these things: (If you visit this blog often, you'll already be somewhat familiar with the list.)

1. Did you brush your teeth today?

2. When was the last time you got in the shower?

3. Where are you going now?

4. When will you be home?
5. Who ate my candy bar?

6. How long have you actually had to finish the assignment that’s due tomorrow?

7. Will a how-to meeting help our family learn to replace toilet paper?

8. Why are you hoarding wet towels?

9. Where is your pillowcase?

10. Where are all of my forks?

11. Are you really going to wear that?

12. Where’s your jacket/scarf/coat/boots?

13. Can you tell me this story in 30 words or less?

14. What were you thinking?

15. Who hit who first?

16. Why did you say that to your brother?

17. Why did you do that to your sister?

18. Do I look pleased?

19. Do I care what your friends get to do?

20. Did anyone in the public witness this?

21. Did you say “Thank You”?

22. Did you say you were sorry?

23.  Where did you get THAT idea?

24. What is that smell?

25. For the love of all that is holy, WHY?

More quotes from random family members:

"Come to our house. If we're not crafting or eating, we're yelling. All of those things are fun to witness."

"If you're giving away the sofas, are they perhaps being accompanied by the side tables as well?"

"At the checkout I found a bag of Jolly Rancher Lolly pops. I was instantly disappointed. Who wouldn't name those things Jolly Pops? I would buy those in a heartbeat. I mean, I bought them any way, but I'd do it again with a smile on my face." 

"Are we ever going to eat the shrimp in the freezer or are they just going to become one with the ice?"

"I'm not here to say 'Hi', I just need a fork."

"Send that sleep-machine back. The white noise sound makes me think that someone's going to tell CarolAnn to stay away from the light."

"Sure mom. We promise to help clean-up after 'craft night'."
Mmm hmm.

They didn't keep their promise. The project coming together here will be in a new post on Tuesday. Stop by to check it out :)

Go visit the other crazy kids participating in the October Fly :)
Happy Friday, Friends!

Baking in a Tornado                          

The Rowdy Baker                                  

Just a Little Nutty                                

The Momisodes                                          

Spatulas on Parade                          

The Sadder But Wiser Girl                                   

Follow Me Home                          

Stacy Sews and Schools                 

Menopausal Mother                          

Battered Hope                            

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy                         

Someone Else's Genius                

Crumpets and Bollocks               

Let your own light shine..

The last few families have used the room in front of our kitchen as a family room. It makes sense. There's a huge fireplace, it's cozy and people seem to enjoy that open atmosphere that allows everyone to  visit with the people in the kitchen...

When we walked the house though, and I stepped into the room, I knew I wanted it to be a dining room. It also makes sense. People can still visit and sit around. But the bonus is that everyone can eat while they are visiting. I love to cook and I love hosting brunches or birthday parties or barbecues. So there we go. It's a dining room.

My dining room table was a gift from the man when we bought the house. I think he knew how much I loved entertaining, but even more, he knew how important is was to me to have my family around the table for dinner as often as possible. He was right. Sitting around that table for meals is one of my favorite things.

Because the room wasn't intended as a dining room, all of the canned lighting was set up to show off the fire place. Other than that, and the use of lamps, there is no light above the dinner table.

We (my idea) thought about having a chandelier installed or you know, hang some orange electrical cord up and over the table with a big old 200 watt light bulb stapled to the ceiling. (The man's idea).. The benefits from his winner-of-an-idea? Dining AND tanning at the same time.

Our original problem is that I didn't want to lock myself into an idea I'd regret. Electrical is expensive and by hanging something dead center meant I'd always have to keep the table in one position.  TO be honest, I'm not in love with ceiling lighting. I love the light a beautiful lamp gives off. It's not harsh, or fluorescent and they are so easy to move around. Even better than lamp light is....candle light.

So let me show you my dream lighting for the dining room...

It's from Restoration Hardware (whom I love!) for the low, low price of 975 dollars. Holy McDollars!

I love the candle idea. I know that some are electric, but many are not. They let you use your own candles or the battery operated ones you can find all over. You can over flow them with candles or set out just a few. The only thing that I don't love is that the bottom is in two solid slats. The problem is you can be sitting at the table and not be able to appreciate the candlelight overhead. Oh and it costs just a wee bit more than I 'm willing to spend. By about.....$900! She is a beauty though, isn't she?

Going along with the general idea of the plan, I decided to create my own very low cost version. What I love most about the idea is that I can take it down as easily as I can put it up. Want to make one?

You'll need ...

A piece of ironwork. The kind that people buy for their garden or ginormous stairways. A rectangle shape is really nice, but I went for a diamond shape.

8 feet of small black chain. I warned you that I'm not spatial. I picked up only four feet and ended up adding on some heavier chain to hang up the project.

Eye hooks (2) attach to ceiling studs or beams

S hooks (4)

A piece of glass that will fit on top. I used one from a picture frame

A level

pliers (to open and close chain links)


Here we go. As always feel free to shake it up the way you like it. Also, no laughing at the woman who know what she wants, but can never seem to convey that information to the man or the helper guy at Lowe's.

Here is my iron work. I got it at Tai Pan for 18 dollars. My first intention was to tie it up with ribbons to the ceiling using the S clips. It was pretty, but I was afraid it wouldn't be strong enough for what I wanted.

We clipped the small black chain in half and attached to where I had the ribbon tied in the upper picture.

At the top of those, we attached an equal amount of larger chain to the small chain and hung them from eye clips we screwed into the beams. The S clips can be attached at the top of the chain (or you can open chain pieces with pliers and hook onto the eye hooks. I love the S clips because It's really easy to remove this if I change my mind. I was at first really upset about having to use the bigger chain, but now I love that it is definitely strong enough to hold what I want. Still though, those larger chains need to be painted black..

Once your ironwork is hung, you can lay a piece of glass on it to be a platform for your candles or what ever else you want to put up there. I took the glass out of the old frame (below) and set it evenly on the hanging iron work Make sure your glass is safely centered and level. You may want to warn anyone about the dangers of shards of glass. If you live at my house, you warn them by simply saying, "DON"T. TOUCH. THIS. EVER!!!"  Safety first, people.

Now it's ready to hang, or take down if you aren't happy with it. For now, I love it.

I bought these little glass bottles for 91 cents a piece. They are perfect for burning tea lights in . They remind me of little jelly jars...

 Here it is! My hanging candle chandelier. It glows at night and uses zero electricity.

Below is a view of the underside of the chandelier. A smarter person would have taken of the labels from the bottom of the jars, but.....um...she forgot

 Finally, here's a different look with round candles on top. I think it's going to be just what I've been looking for. and it's so much prettier than orange electrical cord.... :

There you go! A cute little non-electric/removable/interchangeable chandelier. Too sweet.

Shine your favorite kind of light all over the place today, friends