Another bed video & random thoughts.
I wanted to include this video in last week’s post, but I needed to switch video-hosts (my free trial had expired and the service was too expensive,) and I waited until the last minute, and then ran into tech difficulties… No surprise.
Anyway. After I posted the first bed-video, the dominant response was:
A – your husband is a saint.
B – how sweet that he secured you to the roof.
And I would like to say:
A – oh really?
B – before you canonize him, you need to see the unedited clip.
Now. About the final result– some of you felt the end result was fantastic, but some of you thought I should take further steps to truly make the bed fit the mattress.
However, my only requirement for this bed was owning the fanciness. Once it was mine, all goals had been achieved. In fact, so great was my satisfaction with the end result, that I was actually surprised anyone expected something more elaborate.
Obviously it is fine if you would do it differently… I do not know how to explain the formula in my head for determining between too-broken and perfect-item-as-is; when I love something, really, really, really love it– I don’t need it to be any different than it is.
Paul would tell you this is why we have a house full of half-assed, half-broken stuff no one is supposed to touch… And I would tell you I am fine with half-assed, half-broken, as long as it is also giant and fancy.
The giant fancies do not even need to serve any purpose, so the fact that this bed actually does is a step in the right direction.
Example:
No part of me is bothered that the bed hangs over a few inches. The bed could hang off another 3 feet, and I would be totally fine with it. I would’ve still driven six hours for it. And I still would’ve paid what I paid for it. Even if it fit the mattress perfectly, I would not love it any more.
I think generally I am overly-detailed in a way that blinds me to the big picture. This house has illustrated to me over, and over, and over that whatever minuscule detail I am spending ridiculous amounts of time focusing on will not matter at all a year from now.
No doubt, I am really happy with my final tile-choice… but I wonder retrospectively if the time/stress/thought devoted was evidence of superior taste in flooring or a sign of mental illness.
The only thing that breaks my rigid adherence to whatever imaginary perfection that lives in my head is when I REALLY LOVE SOMETHING. Then, all decisions are made for me. Compromise is not an issue. I can barrel forward with the blind certainty that space, time, and structural issues will all fall into line from the sheer force of my faith.
Now, random thoughts:
1. Speaking of mental illness – when I was getting ready to take some photos of the bed, I decided I should iron the sheet. I got the ironing board up from the basement, found the iron and a spray bottle. Then, once I started ironing and getting irritated about why ironing boards are so small and why are sheets so large? I realized that is the wrong question. The RIGHT question is – WHY? AM? I? IRONING? A? SHEET?
2. A friend of mine is giving away a ticket to Design Camp in Las Vegas. Apparently this is for people who are really serious about interior-design. (If I win, they may not even let me in.) If you live in the area, or fancy a reason to plan a trip to Vegas… Maybe you would be interested. PS –She also has gorgeous taste in kitchen counters. For those of you who are obsessed with marble-alternatives, you’ll like her Super White Quartzite. (Her kitchen is not too shabby either.)
3. SPOILER ALERT: in case you were wondering how Mad Men is going to end?
4. IMPORTANT NOTICE: this blog is now a Mad-Men-free-zone. I do not watch until all the episodes have aired and I can snort view them all in one go. If you are confused about who that very real and alive person in bed with me is… Here is some form of explanation about Don Draper (as much as the above can be explained at all).
5. Every week in the comments, you make me laugh so hard… But once in a while, you make me mad by inadvertently showing me how something I wrote could have been 57,000 times better.
Example:
Laurel reminded me about the to-be-shredded folder’s counterpart: the folder to-be-stored-permanently-in-a-temperature-and-humidity-controlled vault: a place where all misdeeds are recorded and cataloged for all time.
Paul likes to go in there sometimes, just to take inventory.
April 24, 2014 @ 11:47 am
I had a great-aunt who said that growing up, she had to STARCH the sheets. I asked if they wouldn’t be more comfortable unstarched, and she said “That’s what I said.” I am thankful for declining expectations on housekeeping pretty much every day.
April 24, 2014 @ 11:59 am
You are so incredibly HILARIOUS – my husband hates facebook but he fully encourages me to read your blog because it is sooooo funny. There is something so honest and refreshing about all of your posts – thanks for making my day!!!
April 24, 2014 @ 12:07 pm
Victoria; sheets are to be ironed when they are on the bed! This is how I do it! lol
(I’m serious)!
April 24, 2014 @ 12:34 pm
You are hilarious. Thank you for making me laugh today!
April 24, 2014 @ 12:39 pm
You don’t need validation, you are you! The two of you fit together like hand in glove. Most men would not tolerate the recording, or the dancing, even if they tolerate your addictions to old, archaic, dusty, and gynormous antiques and CraigsList and any others I might have missed. Thanks for cheering me up. Keep dancing!
Love,
therese
April 24, 2014 @ 12:56 pm
The fact that Don Draper sleeps in a suit……..that’s what jumped out at me. Of course I love the bed and everything that went into the acquisition, hauling, lifting, placing, ironing, etc. Those of us who identify with you see absolutely NOTHING wrong with your jones for fabulous things. Keep it up.
April 24, 2014 @ 1:21 pm
Oh the picture with Elvis really shows off the wonder of your beautiful bed. But the high lights of the video are the dance moves with Paul. You are so graceful and Paul so good @ twirling you-your TV show must include lots of dance moves-you don’t possibly sing do you? Hey this is going to be a bit nauseating but you and yours light up my life. Thanks!
April 24, 2014 @ 2:09 pm
Country music?? You never cease to surprise me.
April 24, 2014 @ 3:34 pm
Now why in the hell would you want anything OLD to be perfect! I have learned to accept imperfections in everything old except….it has to be perfect old! On the other hand new things better be perfect or I am taking it back! If you try to return old they will tell you ‘its old that’s to be expected.’
April 24, 2014 @ 4:26 pm
I loved your explanation about the bed’s final state. I was probably one of the people who commented censoriously, although, I didn’t really intend it that way. Consider me satisfied just to know you love the bed, regardless of its size. I would rather have your opinion on similar matters than my own, which is that, very often the perfect sought-after, laboriously moved in “perfect” thing (my things are not giant and fancy, more’s the pity) quickly becomes less perfect once it has been seen in person, in the house, in the room it was intended for. I am the ultimate victim of buyer’s remorse.
April 24, 2014 @ 4:27 pm
The kitty rocks!
Don looks superb next to you in that bed. Now, get Paul in there and you have a true Mad Men scenario 😉
April 24, 2014 @ 5:13 pm
Now, completely off subject…almost,anyway….. I just watched Jon Hamm (Don Draper) in 4 episodes of Young Doctor’s Notes and other stories, (I think I have the name right…it is on Netflix, might be an “A” at the beginning!). He was amazing…British accent and all. The series is about a young doctor who just graduated med school in Moscow, and is sent to the nether regions to practice. Jon (Don) plays the older version of the doctor, talking to him on a regular basis! That’s all I’m going to say about it… don”t want to spoil it for you!
April 24, 2014 @ 5:37 pm
I wonder what kind of interesting traffic you’ll get with “bed video” in the title?
April 24, 2014 @ 6:24 pm
P.S. I went to secondchanceinc.org, and I so want the Lapis counter top with the 24K gold plated sink and fixtures, and I absolutely have to have the cobalt and ormolu chandelier to go with it! Also, I don’t think I can live without the carved oak sideboard, or the Mother of Pearl and pine folding screen. I think I shall just curl up and die tonight.
April 24, 2014 @ 7:03 pm
I was looking at my blog stats, trying to figure out where the heck I was getting a surge in random traffic from, and BAM, V.E.B.! I even read your post, and somehow managed to miss the reference to my name! Thanks! And yes, I think with my husband, in his files, they are either regularly purged, or kept for all eternity, the contents to be tactically trotted out whenever he needs to make a point.
April 25, 2014 @ 1:08 am
Ironing Boards!
We bought one of those Nutone fold-up-to-the-wall ironing boards at auction and I wanted it installed in the laundry/utility room.
Dave: The ceiling is too low and, even if it were tall enough, opening the ironing board would block the back door here or run into the counter there or run into the freezer over there.
So I bought one of those white rack things that lets you hang the ironing board and iron against the wall. Dave installed it.
Dave: But now that we’re going to hang wall cabinets over HERE, we have to remove the rack and the ironing board and the iron.
So I’m going to store the ironing board and iron in the bedroom closet.
Dave: That works…since you haven’t ironed anything in four years anyway!
April 25, 2014 @ 9:39 am
Growing up, since the age of 10, I had to iron the family’s sheets every week. No matter how much I complained, I could not convince my mother that this was POINTLESS. As punishment, I also had to iron dad’s boxer shorts. Don’t even get me going on the stupidity—and grossness—of that.
April 25, 2014 @ 1:07 pm
You do realize your bed has boobs, right? That’s what those pillows say to me.
April 26, 2014 @ 12:14 am
Well, if you put the sheets on when they are a tiny bit damp, they finish drying on the bed and look like they have been ironed. Oh, and I love your clean floor, wish mine were clutter free like that!
April 26, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
I totally get it, and your attitude makes perfect sense. After all, the only person who has to understand your happiness is YOU! As much as we like to think that bloggers live to fulfill the wishes and dreams of our readers, that’s not the case. What makes you giddy, over-the-moon satisfied will make someone else anxious to the point of twitching. Notice that many of the folks who want you to fulfill their version of perfect are not old house owners nor do they have a clue about most of the things that go into living and renovating an old house while maintaining one’s sanity. What works for one person/couple won’t work for someone else.
I appreciate this window that gives us glimpses into your world.