Boring entry about my love of decorating.

I love to decorate. I love to choose colors for rooms in the house, I love to pick out matching accessories, I love to find the rug that really pulls the room together.*

When I got my condo three years ago, I was thrilled, because since I owned it, I could paint and hang curtains and pictures -- all to my little decorator heart's content. And I did. You may remember how I agonized over what shade of beige to paint my living room -- thank god my aunt swooped in and informed me that we were painting it yellow before my head exploded. I have the "accent wall" in a brick red, and my aunt chose the perfect shade of yellow that wasn't too lemony and yet not so light it was almost - ack - beige. If you haven't seen the pictures of my house post-painting, look here.

The first room I painted was the guest bedroom -- I painted it "cabernet" and decorated it with black and white accents. It wasn't a highly visible room, and so I was able to take a color risk and paint it a darker color than I generally would have otherwise. Then, when the girls started staying at the house, we decided to make it into a bedroom for them.

So there it was -- three rooms I could decorate. And now? I have like 10. I haven't moved to Chris' house yet, but hopefully that will happen before the end of October (here's where I would make a snide comment about his money-grubbing ex, but I will not because we're talking about DECORATING. Ahem).

I also may have mentioned how Abby's room was not decorated at all -- nothing on the walls, no shelves, no paint, nothing. So I decided I'd do her room first -- it's a garden theme. I spent Saturday with her picking out paint and accessories (I already got her bedspread -- it's called "happy flowers") and luckily she's an easy kid to shop with, because she picked out a lovely almost flourescent green, but pretty much didn't care when I said no. I instead painted one wall "Bibbidi Bobbidi Blue" which you may figure out is a Disney color, and sponge painted on white clouds so it looks like a sky. Along the bottom of the wall, we're hanging a white picket fence and putting silk daisies behind the fence so it looks like a garden with flowers. I put little painted wood bees and ladybugs and dragonflies and butterflies on the wall so it looks like they're flying around the sky. She LOVES it. And I have to say, it looks adorable. I love when the project turns out like I envisioned it would. I'll post pictures next week.

Next up - Riley's room. She's getting the bunk bed and bedding from their room at my house, so it will be a couple of shades of purple and also a pale green. After that, I have our room, our bathroom, the guest room, the kids' play loft, the dining room, the kitchen, the living room. Oh the painting to be done. But I am SO EXCITED to have an actual house to decorate. A BIG house. And because Chris is a sweetie, whenever I tell him what I'm planning for one room or another, he says "whatever you want". Aww. Poor guy has no idea how much painting he's going to be doing in the very near future...

*You will not get this unless you are familiar with one of the best movies ever "The Big Lebowski".

If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes

The angry pterodactyl showed up again this morning. The NAKED angry pterodactyl. You know, the one who kicks and kicks so that you can't get their underpants on and then if you accidentally get them on by some stroke of luck, well, the angry pterodactyl will take care of THAT thank you very much and take them off and throw them. Then, when the angry, nay FURIOUS pterodactyl is hustled up to her bedroom to cool off, there is a lot of door slamming and full on screaming.


Five minutes later, she returns. Except I'm not sure it's actually the one that was sent upstairs. Because this one lets me dress her and she even laughs. She chats away and lets me brush her hair and kisses me goodbye. "Have a great day, Dr. Jekyll!" I say as she leaves. And then I go upstairs and look for the portal to the alternate dimension where I'm SURE the angry pterodactyl is hovering, waiting for the moment when there will be evil panties to avoid once again.

Foot-BLAH

As some of you might know, I LOVE fall. And since it is rapidly approaching, I’m thrilled. It reminds me of good things. Plus, I just love the crisp air and warmer clothes and changing leaves and pumpkin carving and hot cider. Fall + Amber = Love.

Last year in the fall, Chris and I started dating. Here's an example of last year vs. now.

2006: Chris and I would watch football while waiting for dinner in the crock pot to be done. We'd laugh and drink beer and be that newly dating couple whose main interest is the other person. I'd nap on the couch while he cheered on the team. There'd be a fire in the fireplace and fleece blankies. There might have even been some angels singing. Oh, love in the early stages. So sweet.

2007: I’ve pretty much had it with football already. I like to watch Bronco games, but that’s just the one game – a couple of hours and you’re done. Unfortunately, I didn’t figure on fantasy football. That means all football all the time, and when he's not watching the games, he's monitoring the fantasy site on the internet to make sure he's winning. Here is what was most certainly a very loving conversation we had Sunday evening, post-football.

Chris: “I’m BORED. Can we watch a movie?”
Amber: “I don’t feel like watching a movie. I’m watching Law and Order.”
Chris: “But you just watched Law and Order. Isn’t it over?”
Amber: “Yes, but it’s Sunday night – it’s on ALL NIGHT.”
Chris: “All night? Humph.”
Amber: “Humph? Really? Coming from the guy who watched football ALL DAY?”
Chris: “I did not watch football all day. We watched the Bronco game, which was a couple of hours, and then we watched Law and Order.”
Amber: “Were you in a time warp? We turned on football at 10:30 this morning, watched the Bronco game and about 90 brazillion other games, and turned on Law and Order – at FIVE THIRTY. That’s a good 7 hours of football. I’ve watched my show for one hour."
Chris: "Really? Huh. I wonder if I'm still ahead in fantasy..."

So yes, things might be different this year, but it doesn't diminish the fact that I still love watching football with Chris. If it's just the one game and also if he's actually sitting next to me on the couch instead of in front of his computer. I love him, even if he is obsessed. He's a guy -- I expect that. I'm crossing my fingers for next week though! Let's hope for just one game and actual sitting next to each other!