House matters

Yes, Hugh Laurie, aka Dr House, does matter. We still watch him religiously (if you can download your weekly worship from the IMDB at a time that suits you), though we have a slight suspicion that maybe he jumped the shark a while ago. Yesterday, out of the blue (actually, because Kai Penn turned up on an old episode of Buffy) I got all riled up all over again about how annoying and unnecessary the whole Kutner suicide storyline was, because everyone knew they'd just shoved it in there because he'd left the show to be Obama's advisor on lupus (or something), and it was ridiculous to see Taub and the others feeling all terrible and guilty about not having hadn't noticed his depression when we all knew that was because IT WAS TOTALLY FABRICATED AFTER THE FACT. Bah.

But that's not even remotely what I was going to talk about. I was just going to show you some photos of our new carpet, and stuff. Sorry if I got off on the wrong foot there.

Here's a photo of the disreputable Dr House, to make up for any disappointment. But make sure you come right back.

I finally got around to ordering the runner I wanted for upstairs. The wood floor is lovely, but had some big obvious stains on it that wouldn't come out (probably dog pee, our floor guy said; delightful), also it's a bit chilly underfoot and noisy. This is exactly what I wanted, and after I'd sent back the extra tiles I mistakenly ordered, quite good value. It's from FLOR, as you'll have guessed if you see as many online ads for them as I do. But I invented the pattern all by myself.


Also, in a moment of pure inspiration, I picked up a sideboard at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago for $25. It's exactly the style I wanted - just right in our 1967 house beside our inherited dining table - and if I ever actually manage to refinish it, I'll then put things in it and it will be useful. At the moment I'm still basking in my great bargain.

Here it is under some lovely flowers that just arrived from my brother-in-law because he was here for dinner on Tuesday. If people sent me flowers every time I cooked them dinner ... well, I'd have no vases left, that's what. Luckily, these ones came already in a vase with water, which I particularly liked about them. The painting is an original of B's (high) school, a wedding present from our best man.


Remember our new sofa (photo at the bottom there)? This is the deconstructed version.


And finally, if you're even still here, I ordered some great alphabet cards from Secret Agent Josephine and put them on the wall in the family room (inspired by her photo of her daughter with the cards similarly stuck above her desk); but since Mabel still thinks things should be on the floor more often than a table, and Monkey is prone to pulling up anything that might be trying to remain stuck down, I had to put them at least a bit out of reach. I hope they're low enough to read. Mabel was delighted with them as she saw them go up, and I love the way the colour of the wall makes them look almost as if they're painted right there.


Sorry about the light coming through the window there. If you go to Brenda's post here or her Etsy page, you can see them properly, and maybe even buy some for your own monkeys. I was really happy to order something from her, because she's a great artist with a lovely blog, and I actually met her last year when she visited Bethany near here.

Finally, here's Mabel, bouncing.