No Strings Attached

"If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push button finger."

Frank Lloyd Wright

If we didn't cross the finish line of home decorating today, we at least can see it in front of us and we're closing in fast. The blinds were installed on the living room and dining room windows.

While in the process of our "total makeover" I learned that draperies are passe. A major contributing factor to the demise of heavy window coverings besides allergens and dust mites that take up residence in the cleanest of homes (which mine is not) is, of course, the expense. It takes yards and yards of fabric to cover a big window like ours, not to mention the cost of someone painstakingly sewing all that fabric into one long piece then pleating it. I considered for about two minutes doing it myself, then sat down with an iced tea and talked myself right out of that stinkin' thinkin'.

Instead, I called a local business called All About Blinds and turned my window covering woes over to an expert. We discussed shutters - too expensive; we considered wood blinds - our windows are too big so they may sag; and decided on honeycombed shades which turned out, now that they are hung, to be just right.

[Photo: On this picture the delightful new shade looks like a plastic shade on a roller that you buy at Walmart. I can assure you it is not!]

And here's the cool thing. Well, cool, if you're a guy. We (or more correctly, my Sweetie who has been permanently appointed "Shade Operator") can now raise and lower the shades with his own remote control device. He can do it from a chair, he can do it with a bear. He can do it standing up, he can do it with a cup. He can do it sitting down, he can do it on the ground. Zip. It goes up. And Zip. It goes down. Going, going, gone are the days when one has to physically walk across the room and pull on a cord to bring sunlight into the room. It's all there at the push of a button. Redecorating just got a whole lot more fun for that man of mine!

[Photo: Sweetie, his remote controls and his dog who heard the click of the camera and sat right down and posed.]

The little lady of the house can still let the light in the dining room the old fashioned way (unless she sees that Sweetie is having way more fun in which case she'll just order a remote control of her own) by gently pulling on the cord as if raising a flag. I weighed the pros and cons of expense over ease and went for the cheaper way.

Things are coming along quite nicely, I think. Even if we do still have pictures to hang and a garage to clean out of all the things that no longer seem to fit our new style which could be considered a cross between Southwestern/Native American/Down home country/Peaceful green retreat/and Hodgepodge. Is that what decorators call eclectic or a big fat mess?

I seriously doubt this is ever going to happen but if I/we should one day become wildly famous and then pass on to greater glory and my children wanted to capitalize on my/our fame and turn our home into a museum. They could do tours through different rooms like at the White House. There is a Green Room, an Indian Room, a Flower room and, the creme de la creme the "Family" room. Sweetie's collection of remotes could be lined up neatly beside his recliner across the room from where I sit surrounded by an assortment of, shall we say, eclec-ticity. It could be a long, heated debate as to whether or not the dishes would be left in the sink. Would people actually pay to see someone's dirty dishes or would they rather just see the kitchen where the famous but deceased Merry ME burned the brownies?

I think it's time to quit planning things for my children to do after I'm gone and get busy finishing feathering my nest.

Today I'm grateful for small wonders like remote control devices, power driven screwdrivers, and floor cleaners with a spray attachment so you don't have to put your hands in dirty mop water. I'm grateful that little things can mean so much, and I'm grateful for big things like a roof over my head, furniture to fill it up and windows to cover up.

Today I wish for you thrill of something with no strings attached.

Merry ME