Fax Fun: 18 months later

In April 2009 I posted about nuisance fax calls to our house.  Read it here.

We hadn't heard from our Fax "Friends" for a while, but the other day, those calls came rolling through again.  The stars must have aligned, because it happened to be one of those days when the phone was ringing off the hook anyway, and add 5 calls from the fax machine.  Thankfully I wasn't home when they tried to send me the fax.  I might have ripped the phone off the wall and thrown it into the street.

But, as I was deleting the 7 messages from my answering machine, 5 of which were from the fax, I decided to try and find an office number once again to see if I could get this thing resolved.  Remember those stars aligning?  Yep.  I finally found a number online that would get me a human being!  Score!

So I called today and wasn't really sure how to start.  "Hi, um, I'm just an ordinary citizen..."  I'm sure the girl on the other end of the line thought I was nuts with that opening line.  But she transferred me to someone else and I again explained the situation.  That woman was skeptical she could help, since the number on my caller ID did not match their fax number, but she promised to look into it, and wouldn't you know, she called back within 10 minutes to tell me she'd found my number in the system and had deleted it.  Thank you!!  I should send her cookies.   Or the peanut-butter-caramel swirled brownies I made yesterday.  (Yummm!  If you look up the recipe, I skipped the espresso powder.)

Turns out our number was linked to a regular customer of theirs, so every time he made a purchase the computer tried to fax him an invoice, but he now uses email fax or something like that.  Whatever his method, cue the Hallelujah Chorus, 'cause I'm FREEEEEEEEE!

Persuasion: Part II

Two weeks ago I posted about David getting the FluMist.  Read it here if you missed the first go 'round.

Today Nathan got the flu shot at work.  When he was putting the kids to bed, David gave him a big hug and in the process squeezed hard right over the inoculation site.

Nathan: "Ow."
David: "What's wrong?"
Nathan pulled up sleeve to reveal a band-aid
David: "What's that from?"
Nathan:  "I didn't sniff."
David got huge eyes and said: "Daddy, you should have sniffed!"

Priceless

When we bought our house 3 years ago, there was a mural of monster trucks in what is now David's bedroom.  As a 3-year-old, he thought it was pretty nifty, and we left it up.  About 15 months later, he started mentioning on occasion that he didn't want the trucks on his wall anymore; he wanted dinosaurs.  He has gradually increased the frequency of his request over the past couple years, but it hasn't been high on the home-improvement-priorities list.  More like rock bottom.

Last night David emerged an hour post-bedtime with a very urgent request to get rid of the trucks.  Wanting to start instilling financial awareness in him, I told him, "Sweetie, we just don't have money for that right now."  Today he retrieved $0.85 from his piggy bank and said, "Here Mom, you can use this to pay for the paint."

Persuasion

I took David to get FluMist today in lieu of a traditional shot (it's administered as a nasal spray). The nurse gave him the first dose in one nostril and told him to sniff. Nothing. Gave him the second dose in the other nostril and again asked him to sniff. Nothing.  We asked and asked in a variety of ways with no results.  Finally I said, "If you don't sniff, you'll have to get a shot." 

**SNIIIFF!** 

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

I think he sniffed all the way home.


[update: He sniffed for three days afterwards.  We finally had to tell him it was okay to stop sniffing!  Read Part II here]

Hot Dog!

We had hot dogs for dinner tonight.  As he was eating, David declared:  "I know what hot dogs are."

Nathan:  "Oh really?  So what are hot dogs?"

David: "Meat!"

Nathan: "That's right, they're a type of meat.  Sometimes they're beef, or turkey, or pork, or...

David: "Carrion?"

...

[much laughter ensued]

Design Musings: Round 2

Thanks everyone for your input!  Here's some follow-up on other suggestions I received.

Several people on Facebook suggested a collage of family photos. I saw this idea in Good Housekeeping and decided I could tie family pics in with my theme by using pictures we took at our favorite beaches:

Several said they didn't think I needed to worry about tying the pictures to my theme, but I think it would look randomly placed otherwise.  Call me OCD.

In context (because that's how I roll):  Pretend there isn't a darker circle around it.


Others suggested a mirror. I found this 38x68 one at Kirkland's for $100. Is that a good price for a big mirror? Seems like ones that size are usually several hundred, but I really don't know...


Come to think of it, that mirror has just the right proportions...

Hey, a gal can dream, can't she?  :)

Design Musings: What do you think?

Long story short: 18 months ago we repainted, recarpeted, and added a pair of comfy chairs to our living room.  Here are the basics of the room:

I'm happy with the feel of the room, except for this view:



When anyone walks in the front door, they don't see all my lovely, accessorized built-ins or pretty blue wall.  They see beige foyer, beige wall, beige carpet, and brown chairs with no decor or accessories.  Besides fantasies of end tables, console tables, lamps, and greenery (preferably silk, since I can't even keep spider plants alive), I really, REALLY want to get some art on that wall to break up The Bland Band.

I've been told that if you're going to hang art behind multiple pieces of furniture (such as my pair of chairs), you need one item that extends, at a minimum, to the midpoint of both furniture pieces to unify them instead of a collage of smaller things.  So I need something at least 48 inches wide.

(Quick furniture arranging note:  I'd put the chairs on the blue wall, which I don't think needs art, and put the sofa on the white wall where I'd have more options for what to hang behind it, but if we do that, the chairs have to be practically in the middle of the room to allow for rocking/reclining.  We've toyed with a variety of furniture arrangements, but this really is the only arrangement that makes any kind of sense to us with built-ins, windows, traffic flow, etc.)

So back to the task at hand.  I would love to introduce this piece to the room:



Unfortunately, the largest print sold by the artist is 29"W x 17"H.  $45 plus framing, which always ends up with a doozy price tag.  Plus, I don't think adding 10 inches of matte all around to achieve the necessary dimensions will look right.  Back to the drawing board.

Last summer I was at a street fair in Mount Vernon, WA and I saw this piece:

The print is available in a size 42"W x 20"H, which once framed is PERFECT.  I think the blue in the sky might tie into my blue wall enough to forgive the greener blue of the water.  I'm willing to overlook that part since this bridge is one of our favorite spots in Washington, and it isn't far from where Nathan grew up.  The only reason I do not have this piece hanging in my home right now:  $420 just for the print.  Framed I think it was $725.  Or maybe $825.  That's an "ouch" no matter how you slice it.

And so I've been mulling, musing and wishing for a more budget-friendly solution for that wall.  The other day I saw this idea in an old Better Homes & Gardens magazine.  I don't know if you can read the caption at the bottom.  It says "Sylvie created her own artwork by attaching a cotton shower curtain to a batting-covered board..."  :


Now THAT I can afford.  So this morning I went online and perused shower curtains to see what I could find that would fit my lighthouse/nautical theme without looking like a shower curtain stapled to a board.  I have two possibilities, and here's where I want your input.  Mainly:

• Is this a good idea or a terrible one? (and I need you to be honest please)
• Does it look too much like a shower curtain?
• Does it fit the rest of the room?

Option #1:

An attempt to view it in the proposed context (I don't have software that lets me cut out the chairs and paste them over the other image, so use your imagination).  I tried to get the approximate scale, too.

One more time with the general room sense so you don't have to scroll:

Option 2:

Unfortunately, the online image is not complete, so I don't really know what's on the left side of the curtain. I don't really care about the seagulls, so I'd probably make this one with a shorter height to focus more on the lighthouse, water, and sky. Or maybe I'd just prop it on the floor behind the chairs so you mostly see the bluer parts and the whole thing doesn't tower over the nearby door frame.  Hmm...

Here it is in context: (wouldn't it be nice if the image were flipped so the water tied in the blue wall and light from the window to the right?)

Okay, so what do you think?

Infanticipation

So in case you didn't know yet (I think I've covered most forums for such an announcement), we are yet again in a state of what my brother so appropriately calls "infanticipation."  

We had the ultrasound today and are somewhat dazed (but happy) to announce #3 is... decidedly a BOY.

[None of the Y-chromosomes in this house are shy about their manhood.]

Nashito #3 is scheduled to debut February 4, but true to tradition, he is measuring big, so *hopefully* we'll get to meet him sooner.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but not my legs.