THIS is not Peggy's fault...

...it's Julia's fault.  She's the one who did the post about the art of L. Young from Monroe, LA, website http://www.lyoungstudio.com/.  Anyway, here are the weaknesses I purchased from her.  Just as Julia said, they are even more beautiful than in the pictures but here are mine:

A for The Big Apple/New York City for Paul and

the B for queen bee from Texas for me.  These are great; make great gifts for oneself or others.  Initials and states and...

Surviving New Bedroom Furniture

I mentioned when I did the post where we got our new sofa that we were also getting new bedroom furniture.  We had always used Paul's parents' furniture and an antique bed that I insisted we buy a couple of years ago that was not...umm...practical.  So when I realized we needed all new furniture I really panicked.  I've barely bought two matching chairs in my life much less a whole matching set of furniture.  Janine assured me that once I put all my crap all over it that it would be okay.  Well here it is and we are happy.  The sleigh bed.  Notice I did not get matching bedside tables.  We bought the floor model set which only came with one beside table, adding another would have been a ridiculous price plus that let me opt out of matching.  I got the little round table for my side in matching wood.

And here's the prime example of me putting my crap all over so that you can't tell what the actual furniture looks like.  And this is just a few days old, first draft if you will, so...

And the other dresser.  Note there is no t.v. in the bedroom now.  Our t.v. did something weird when we moved everything and we are trying to see if we could get used to not having one.  There was something about a big, black t.v. on top of an antique white dresser that never did appeal to me.  And this dress is too high for a t.v., so who knows, we don't feel like dealing with it right now anyway. I know, nothing thrilling, but we feel like grown ups having our own bedroom furniture for the first time in our 50's.  Oh, and the huge promise I had to make...no painting it white...hmmmm....details...

Trip to Penn State

What to do, what to do?  They were having another, bigger, better reunion for my high school last weekend, the same weekend as the 75th anniversary of the Meteorological Department at Penn State where Paul received his PhD.  I knew it was a big deal and I had just been to B/CS, Texas in May for a reunion so, even though I really wanted to go again, I knew what the right thing to do was.  And I even did it!  And I'm so glad.  They did a very nice job marking the occasion.

Here we are with Ron and Glynnis.  Ron is also a meteorologist and works for NASA.  Glynnis got her masters at Penn State; they all met there.  So Paul has known them for a long time and I met them when Paul and I were first married and we all lived in Monterey at the same time.  Ron and Glynnis and their children moved here near us ten years ago and we love them.  Their daughter is going to be a junior at Penn State this year and their son a freshman.  How cool that their kids are following in the family footsteps.

Paul and some of the boys from the department.  Fred, second to the right, has been the face of the department for a very long time; he's an icon and quite a character.

More of the gang...students and professors.

Jon Neese did a fabulous job of putting together a really wonderful video celebrating the history of 75 years.  They gave each of us a copy of it on DVD and we will cherish it (besides, Paul is in it a couple of times!).

Also last weekend was the arts and crafts fair which State College is famous for.  There were too many vendors for us to see even half of them but there was wonderful art.  Speaking of art, Paul's dad, Art, went with us and had a grand time.  Here are Paul, Matt, and Art standing in front of a building that had a huge mural painted on it.  If you'll notice, JoPa (Joe Paterno) is right above Art.

Matt in a book store with "JoPa".  He's already decided he's going to Penn State-Paul took him to a football game there before I could get him to an A & M game-no fair!  I'm adjusting slowly but surely.  He wants to be an astrophysicist.  Oh yeah, he gets that from me!

Another view of the beautifully painted wall.  I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures while we were out and about.  Missed some great sidewalk chalk art and many others...I was just too busy looking.  It was a great weekend all together; I'm so glad I made the right decision.

Hi, My name is Stephanie and I am a media hound.

Welcome Stephanie!  Click on the above so you can read it.  The article says most of it all.  The only part that was left out was that the reason I declined the overdraft protection is because it is in the form of a credit card or line of credit, neither of which they would approve me for because I have overdrafts on my credit report.  Ironic?  Check the subtitle of this blog again...

Oh boy!!!!

Oh boy, fun day!!!!  This sofa was delivered February 14th, 1997.  I remember that because we had been in our house only a little over 2 months and I had waited none too patiently for this to come.  We also got a washer and dryer that day.  I had no complaints when Paul didn't give me a diamond tennis bracelet for Valentine's Day that year, I assure you.  I'd rather have a new sofa any day.  But that was 13 years ago and this thing was done-put a fork in it-oh wait, it had a fork in it somewhere.

Today this baby came.  The color is a little darker than it shows here but, yeah, I'm happy with it.  And, believe me, this is as close as any of the boys or animals will come to sitting on it.  Next up...our new bedroom furniture comes Thursday.  Please don't think I have blackmailed or killed Paul...these are legit purchases.  We have been using Paul's parents' furniture in our bedroom since we've been married except for the actual bed.  So, we are getting our own furniture.  The bed we have is one I just had to have.  It was a piece I was consigning in my shop and the consignee offered me a deal I couldn't pass up.  It is a beautiful, antique oak bed that had been retro-fitted to be a queen size and I painted it white to go with the other pieces in our room I had also painted white.  Well, as beautiful as the bed is, it has broken many times (which we have rectified) and makes...umm...lots of noise when...umm...just sat on gently.  Much as I love the way it looks I do have some practicality about me.   And yes, we bought a SET of furniture.  I called Janine in a panic when it came to me that we had little other choice.  I've barely bought two chairs that match much less a matching set of furniture!  She assured me that once I got all my plethora of crap onto the furniture it would be hard to tell it matched.  I had to agree.  This is going to be a much bigger deal as we have to move a lot of furniture from that room DOWN THE STAIRS including a big heavy mantel, big heavy dresser, and a big heavy bed.  I'll be sure and make it fun for y'all and just show the after photos.  Once again, stay tuned...