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How to decorate your home

IKEA rugsHa! I’m not going to tell you how… that would be impossible. An easier question for me to answer would be which car you should buy. If you want gentle advice on that, ask.

However, I did want to give a small pointer on decorating your home – add spice where you can.

These amazing rugs are on display at our nearby IKEA. They wouldn’t fit anywhere in our place, but they could in yours. They’re definitely quirky designs and might work well in front of your flat color sofa.

A great way to get ideas is to visit a place like IKEA. Look at how the pros who designed their sample rooms do it. Observe the juxtaposition of plain and complex designs. Light and dark. Flashy and simple.

Then go to your neighborhood charity shop (Goodwill) and get what you can to make it happen. Sprinkle in more things from IKEA. Stir and serve up neat.

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Quick Review: The Help Movie

The Help was great.

The movie certainly was not perfect. White ladies were all made out to be demons, except for Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan and the hurting character, Celia Foote. The African American ladies were painted as almost angels.

True, the situation was appalling. People like Skeeter, Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson – and Martin Luther King – put their lives on the line to stand up for what was right, and helped culture and society change. Highlighting that courage and strength of character was worth the price of admission alone.

The visual texture was excellent. Pacing was fine. I thought not reading the book was an advantage; the experience of enjoying the story stood on its own. My wife had read the book and still fully enjoyed the film. But she had comparisons of how the film was different than the book, such as how the film was softer in its treatment of characters.

The film challenged my way of thinking about injustice in the world today. Similar conditions of virtual (and real) slavery still abound. What am I doing to change things?

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My style council

Wearing shortsMowing the lawn. Hot. Shorts.

So I wore some old short shorts – attempting to stay cool. My 10-year old daughter pointed out that I was seriously out of style.

It’s nice to have someone watching out for me.

(And by the way, I was wearing shoes when I mowed the lawn – thanks James & Bill, from the comments.)

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Different signs

Gold bicycleBicycles are all over Oxford, England. (Good thing, since there are few places to park a car!) Signs are on every surface that isn’t moving. (And some that are.)

Someone thought of combining the two – they put signs for theatre productions on old bikes that are painted totally gold.

What ways can you combine unlikely objects to get your message across?

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Listen to that advice

Flooded basementA year ago, our friend Jack said our water heater was probably going to break soon – and he recommended getting it replaced.

We though, “Why spend the money today? It probably has 2-3 years left, and we’ll get a new one when we feel like we can afford it more.”

So Saturday morning, it broke and flooded our basement. Thankfully, recovering from the flood cost no more than a Saturday afternoon and a sore back. But I would have avoided both if I had listened to Jack’s advice.

So my advice to you is this: please listen to your plumber, your doctor or your car mechanic when they say it’s time to get that work done. They probably know more about the problem than you do. And it may cost you more than a Saturday and a sore back to fix that disaster.

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Fun for your Friday, number 15

Artwork similaritiesMy nephew Tijs (roughly pronounced, “Tace”) is an amazing artist. The apple does not fall far from the tree; his mom (my sister Amy) is an artist too.

When Amy sent me this little metal piece and his artwork, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities.

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Six years ago today

My former blogsI started blogging on August 24, 2005. My first personal blog was My Part of Nairobi. My second was My Part of Colorado. My third? It’s what you are holding in your hands now.

Blogging, it has been good to me. And hopefully to you too. If you’ve been with me since Nairobi, you deserve a loyalty card! If you’ve arrived since then, Check out some of that old stuff. You will enjoy the ride, I promise.

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How do you stay healthy?

BicyclingThat’s a question. I’d love to hear what you do to stay healthy. Please leave a comment at the end of this post. Why? Your healthy activities and interests might inspire me and other readers in new and interesting directions.

Here’s what I do:

– Ride my bike. I try to ride it places instead of driving. This takes some planning. And it’s rarely possible with the whole family. (Those rides are usually for leisure.)

– Exercise my arms and shoulders. Last October, I pinched a nerve in my neck. A great physical therapist gave me a set of several exercises that have kept that pain away. I do this 3 to 5 mornings a week, using a very simple stretch device.

– Eat dinner with my whole family. With two teenage sons and a ten-year-old daughter, this is not easy, but we do manage to share our evening mealtime about five days a week. This allows us to stay closer and keep up with what we are all doing.

– Read the Bible. This keeps me focused on what’s important. (If you’d like to explore this one, start with the book of Mark or Luke.)

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It’s all about context

MangosteenWhen we were in London, we stopped into Harrod’s. My sons loved the food hall that had a large selection of exotic fruit. If you were willing to pay, you could sample all manner of fruits, flown in from very far away.

I had to take a photo of the mangosteen – £32 for a kilo – or about US $ 52, as of this writing. My dear friends in Southeast Asia pay quite a bit less. But sitting on a tropical patio eating mangosteen is a lot different than sitting in a cramped apartment in grey London, enjoying (nearly) the same taste. And maybe to someone who sorely misses their home near the equator, that taste would just about be worth it.

We also saw an unbelievable number of exotic cars. The highlight was a Bugatti Veyron, worth about $1,500,000. Just driving on the street. The guy behind the wheel was maybe on his way to get a litre of olive oil at the nearest supermarket. Driving that car was an ordinary part of his day. For me, it would be an experience to remember for the rest of my life.

Context.

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