china shepherdess

Flowers of the Week

It's been awhile, so you get a twofer. It was my birthday last week, and a certain someone gave me  traditional red roses. They look lovely gracing my kitchen table. 

Thanks to a lovely co-worker, I have a second bouquet that is brightening up my cubicle at work. I know it's not home, but sometimes it feels like I spend more waking hours there than I do at my house. Since this snapshot was taken, more of the lilies have opened up and my cubicle is filled with a beautiful pop of orange.

First sign of spring

It has been awhile hasn't it?

It was nice to arrive home this evening and find this first sign of spring in my yard. Up until now it has been concrete stairs breaking during the thaw and general post-winter muck. Here's to more exciting projects soon!

Sprung forward.

I don't know about you, but I'm no so keen on this whole losing an hour thing. It seems especially hard on a grey morning like this one. I can't believe it's nearly 9:30 and I'm still sitting about in my pajamas.

I thought this bright swath of color from one of the Martha Stewart blogs might brighten your morning like it did mine. It's a wall hanging featuring the entire spectrum of color choices from Martha Stewart's new line of paint.

Here's to spring!

First-Time Home Buyer Blues

First off, the nice part. The lovely tulips pictured above will be adding some cheer to my dining nook for the next week or so. Aren't they lovely?

Cheer is definitely needed because another big project just got moved to the top of my to-do list. I knew my front stairs would eventually need to be replaced, but it seems that winter took its toll and part of one of the stairs has started to give way. This is in addition to a similar situation on my side stairs. I'm a bit frustrated, but what can you do buy move forward? Here's hoping my first-time home buyer credit comes through soon so I can take on these rather spendy projects soon.

From my wishlist: A modern family tree

I can't remember where I first spied this beautiful piece of decor and history in one lovely little frame, but it's been on my wishlist ever since. Most family trees aren't something I'd want to hang on my wall, but this one from My Tree and Me looks like an abstract piece of art, but on closer inspection, gives you a view of your family going back seven generations.

My father is the family genealogist, having inherited the bug from an aunt who went to great pains to trace their family's roots back as far as possible. When she died, my dad picked up the trail and has found connections for his family going all the way back to William the Conqueror and of course, the ancestor all people of European descent share, Charlemagne.

One thing that has held me back from ordering this beautiful tree is that I don't know nearly as much about my mom's family. In fact, in some cases, I can look back only three generations. This is fairly common for most people. I think the reason I care so much is that my mom suffers from Alzheimer's. Now it isn't her lack of memory that is preventing us from filling in these blanks (she already shared what she could years ago), but with my grief so raw and ever present, I think the empty spaces on the tree would just feel like a cruel reminder that I'm losing more and more of her each day.

So, I'm inspired to try to fill in those blanks myself.

Coincidentally, there are two recent television series that have helped to feed this interest. One you probably saw advertised constantly during the Olympics -- Who Do You Think You Are?. The first episode (now available online) was an enjoyable look into two of Sarah Jessica Parker's ancestors. PBS also recently ran a series called Faces of America, which also took a look into family histories through the lens of celebrities, but with a bit more of a scholarly and philosophical tone. You can watch it online on PBS' website.

Faces of America took an interesting twist when it added DNA research into the mix. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and his father both had their entire genome sequenced by a company called Knome. It was almost surreal when he walked into the Harvard Club and was presented with a silver box containing all of his DNA information.

Though I'd love to get those details, at a price of $68,500 it's not something I'll be able to do.

The show also used a less detailed, but still fascinating option from 23andme. This made for one of the funniest moments from Faces of America, when Stephen Colbert was informed that he was a 100% white man.

With 23andme, you can get some handy dandy pie charts (who doesn't love pie charts?) and other interesting information tracing your history through your DNA to the places on the globe where your earliest ancestors were found. The price is a lot more palatable, so I might actually order that DNA research tool at some point when I'm feeling more flush.

Though I wish I had the resources of a Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to help me, for now, I'm playing around with Ancestry.com and trying to fill in those blanks that I'm missing. I already found a few new branches to my tree. With a little help from my dad, that site and my mom's family, maybe I can pull together enough information so that I can finally order that beautiful family tree and hang it proudly on my wall.

Secret Passageways and Hidden Rooms

I was catching up with DIYdiva, a site I love but often miss in my RSS reader, and saw an awesome post about hidden doors and other features you should consider before you build/renovate.

I've decided that my next house has to have a secret door or room of some sort. This fireplace from Hidden Passageways is my current favorite.

And yeah, I did just say next house, but that could mean a lake house or country estate, should I ever have the good fortune to win the lottery or write a brilliant screenplay. My current home is more than enough house for me at the moment.

In other news, I have to say how happy I am that Google is finally giving me some keyword love in their search index. Someone arrived at this site by searching for twee window treatments. I guess my little blog has finally arrived!