Stuff that's been up

[jenk]

It's definitely spring. I'm frequently doubling my daily antihistamine dose. I also have more energy and feel like Doing Things occasionally instead of hiding in the house ignoring all my friends. (And a big thank you to the ones who stay in touch even when I'm hibernating).

I've even been gardening a bit, though nowhere near as much as jw1776. No pictures to post tho. May need to do something about that.

-o-

I had a touch of ... not really sunburn, but redness ... last weekend. Despite sunscreen.

-o-

We now have red curtains in our home library. The old curtains were a dark rust color with beige wheat stalks on them. They have button tab tops that are currently (mostly) attached to wooden hoops for ease, but can be used without the hoops. They are also available to anyone who wants 'em ... 4 panels about 55" x 80", 100% cotton, machine wash, originally from Ikea.

-o-

Oh, and this couch is on order for our library. It's on order because we want it in brown. We could have gotten the green right away, but ... um ... NO.

-o-

I'm becoming happier with fluorescent lights. The tricks appear to be:

• Don't expect them to look like incandescent. It's not just tone, it's brightness. A "looks like 60-watt" fluorescent is often just that little bit brighter than a 60-watt incandescent. A hallway with 3 recessed overhead lights should be all one type of bulb. Putting in one 60-watt fluorescent or one 60-watt incandescent is going to look "off". (Our downstairs hallway drove me nuts for months. I finally noticed the middle bulb was incandescent...replaced it with a fluorescent to match the other two and OMG I'm actually turning them on now!)
• Think about the type of light you want. Our home library is a big room with a cathedral ceiling. We have uplights for general room light, but task lights - reading lights - have been a struggle. At the moment, I brightened the overall lighting by putting in "daylight" fluorescents. Are they true daylight? No. Do they mimic "grow-bulbs"? Not quite, but close. Would they make me nuts as the only lights in the room? Oh yeah. But having them in the uplights, with other smaller lights for balance - that works.
  
  And on a similar note,
• Not in my "makeup" (bathroom) mirror. Not yet.

-o-

I've been using the county library. Partly because I can search for a book on http://www.kcls.org, place it on "hold", and have it delivered to my local library ~ which means books at Burien, Bothell, and Federal Way are just as accessible as our own. Partly because our shelves are mostly full, which makes me less likely to take a risk on buying a new book. And partly because books that are on the expensive side are often readily available through the library ;) Of course, Amazon still comes up with cool recommendations and more details on many books that the library site. So I flip between the two quite a bit...

-o-

Started yoga class again, since I don't keep it up as well without the class boost. I was already flexible, but it's interesting to see my balance improve.

-o-

jw1776 and I are joking about a ceremonial viewing of The Seven Year Itch for our anniversary in August ;)