So, in addition to being the organizer of our family's "Reoccupy West Fort Worth" movement, I am also assisting with the planning of a couple of upcoming social events, which means I am ordering party decor simultaneously with hardware and home decor. In the midst of all of the above, PJ came down with a bout of insomnia, and I happened to be on Pinterest, so in the interest of killing two birds with one stone, rather than reading him a story I read to him from a Pinterest board. Specifically, from my "Art-y Party" Pinterest board, because the young artist in residence has decided that he wants an art-themed birthday party this year. Long story short, just after midnight my son and I created and purchased a couple of photo creations (using online Photoshop-type tools), with the intent of incorporating those into his new room and, later, into the decorations for his party.
All of this makes for an interesting browser history/e-mail inbox/credit card statement/PayPal account summary.
Here's an inexhaustive list of things that I have on order or have saved to an online shopping cart - along with shipping details, NOT THAT YOU CARE ABOUT THEM, BUT I AM JUST A WEE BIT OBSESSED WITH SHIPPING STATUS THESE DAYS, TO THE EXTENT THAT WHEN I LOG ON TO THE TRACKER FEATURE ON UPS.COM I GET A LITTLE MESSAGE IN THE CORNER OF THE SCREEN THAT SAYS, "REALLY, KATHRYN? AGAIN?" (Okay, that's not actually true, but I'm halfway surprised that UPS hasn't found a way to block me, because, my "refresh" frequency ought to be putting a significant drain on their bandwidth.)
Moroccan rug. For C's room. Should be here on Monday. Praying that it is the right color.
Pearls by the yard and large acrylic diamonds. For "Breakfast at Tiffany's"-themed centerpieces for ADPi Founders' Day.
Ikat-patterned FLOR carpet tiles. For PJ. We opted for the barley colorway (that's fancy talk for BEIGE), and in lieu of purchasing the rug cleaning kit we applied those dollars to two additional backup floor tiles, over and above the two I had already planned for. When I say that "we" did this, I mean that I asked Spouse, while he was napping on the couch, if it was okay for me to pull the trigger on the carpet tiles, since they are on sale, and did he mind if I went with the beige instead of the gray, and did he think that the rug cleaning kit was worth $27.99? And he authorized the purchase, and the color choice, and told me that he thought that $27.99 was highway robbery for a rug cleaning kit and that if we had a major stain we would consider buying the kit at that point. Needless to say, HE HAS NO RECOLLECTION OF ANY OF THIS. Was the timing of my inquiry driven by the knowledge that he was likely in REM sleep and therefore likely to agree with anything that I said? No, not at all. You don't know Spouse. He is a big fan (HUGE) of sleep, and he does not suffer gladly fools who dare to disturb his slumber. As such, it was far more likely that he would tell me to take a flying leap (but he would be far less delicate than that) and refuse to authorize my purchase. At which point I would have made it anyway, because my momma didn't raise no fool, and I saw the handwriting on the wall (or floor?) - when FLOR puts something on sale, it means that they are phasing out the product. And the fact that the barley was a dollar-per-unit cheaper than the other colors signaled an impending sell-out.
So drastic measures were required.
Gmail informs me that my FLOR has shipped. But I can't track the shipment yet - dang it.
A high-resolution image of a Warhol-inspired photo, featuring my child's image and the Warhol quote, "Art is what you can get away with." PJ picked the quote, and the background color, and I ordered the JPEG using PayPal. As the Warholizer folks are based (I believe) in Spain, I was charged ONE EURO for this item. Which made for a very interesting conversation with Spouse this morning (after I advised him that he authorized a purchase of carpet tiles): "You're going to get a PayPal notification for a one Euro purchase. It's legit. Your seven-year old was experimenting with pop art in the wee hours of the morning. You'll understand when the image arrives. By the way, you need to let me know when the image arrives, because it's coming to the e-mail account that is linked to PayPal, which is the one that I never check."
Okay, so it wasn't so much a conversation as me telling Spouse things. But at least he was awake at the time.
A wholesale lot of white picture frame mats. Because it occurs to me that five of the Etsy art pieces that the boys have selected for their rooms can be matted to 11x15 and framed in 16x20 frames. And a discount art supply store is willing to sell me a minimum of five mats at a volume discount.
Now I just have to find someone that will offer me a similar discount on the frames.
Alice in Wonderland photo booth props. Self-explanatory. I also need to find a big, heavily carved frame that I can spray-paint a crazy color, so that people can peer through it, "Looking Glass" style, at the JWC Past Presidents' luncheon. And then again at an art-themed baby celebration that I'm throwing. And then a third time at PJ's birthday party. Thinking that I might have luck at Goodwill. And I do love it when I can amortize a random item across multiple events.
Retro Scandanavian-style "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" poster (pictured above). The showpiece of C's room, in that it ties together the gray on his walls, the moody greenish-gold that is going on the ceiling, the new rug (which I REALLY HOPE IS THE RIGHT COLOR - and that's not a "new hope," because I have been hoping that the rug would be right since I ordered it) and the gray and olive bed linen. Poster is from Handz ReStyle Store's Etsy site. Proprietor is Jan from the Czech Republic, who is a lovely guy - ships internationally for $5.99 and is willing to change the proportions of the art to fit a standard American poster frame.
I see that he has a Star Trek version as well - and that he will vary the colors.
Hmm. Needing a bulk frame-seller, stat.
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