Mantel Accomplished.

The mantel is finished, the mantel is finished!





This surprises me: usually my painting jobs take at least twice as long as I plan for. Or longer. Generally it depends on whether or not I lose interest and stop in the middle of the painting to start some other more interesting thing. (Generally not painting.)


I like it. I'm a little surprised at how different it actually looks; after all, there was only a small amount of the maroon paint, really. It's a little...bland? Cold? There isn't much contrast there. So now I have to go buy some accessories for the mantel. Such a pity, to have to go shopping.


But I'm happy with it, and even more importantly, I'm done with it. So on to the next project, and I can't decide if I will start sewing drapes or repaint the kitchen table and chairs. Both seem like they will take a long time, and the kitchen table thing seems like it will negatively impact our lives--plus, it's too cold to strip/sand outside, and I'm not feeling that amenable to cleaning up after making that kind of a mess. We'll see.



And here is some broken glass. Not just any broken glass; this is car rear window broken glass. Not actually a big deal to me, but for some reason it was a major crisis for some of the younger members of the family. Yesterday, stopped and waiting to turn onto the highway from the gas station, car loaded with the whole family, there was a very loud POP! and, looking in the rear view mirror, I saw a very different looking rear window; glitter, with a ragged hole in the middle. So out I pop, to see what piece of ice must have fallen through the window, but nothing had fallen, and luckily for me, there was also no sniper (pardon my paranoia, I blame it on my upbringing,) so off I drove to home, with one shrieking child claiming emotional distress. Lots of drama. Typical, I suppose, for the ages involved. And today it was replaced, just like that, insurance not a problem. It seemed so unusual to not have to jump through hoops to get the car fixed! Very nice.


And here is some more glass. Just for fun. Playing around with the camera. Kind of looks like something organic. No drama here!