Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wordless Wednesday: What I've been doing today and a question

Today was the first day this year that I hung laundry out on the line. I so love hanging laundry out. I love the savings of it and I love the way the laundry smells when it's finished. It makes me happy. It's indicative of how very nauseated I was when pregnant that I couldn't abide the smell of line-dried laundry. It would literally make me puke.

So anyway, it's warm and I'm finally inspired enough to hang clothes out (no, nothing in my house gets done without my being inspired to do it...got a problem with that?). Because we are klassy with a capital "K", I have my own homemade laundry lines. I tried to find a picture of Friend Gina's beautiful lines for comparative purposes but couldn't locate it. Since we don't have a gorgeous laundry line in our backyard, I improvised.



Oh yeah, I know my mama's proud.

I also decided to wash the quilts that Friend Husband and I had used on our bed all winter. You might not think that this would be that big of a production, but it is. The main one that we use is ginormous. It almost hits the ground on both sides of our double bed. I call it the "quilt that ate Cleveland". That one has to go into the washer all by its lonesome.

The washing of the quilts necessitates that I clean my porch. No, that was not a non sequitur. Stick with me. When I wash the quilts, I hang them out on the porch railings to dry (unless it's the middle of the winter and someone has just urped all over them). So I had to clean the porch railings and sweep the parts of the porch and front sidewalk that would touch the damp quilts. I also had to threaten the twins and the neighbor urchins that if they touched those quilts I was going to have to hurt them. Severely. The girls learned long ago that you don't mess with Mama's quilts. So here they are, in all their clean glory:


And here are all the urchins in their unclean glory:


Only the brown ones are mine. The other two ostensibly live next door, although they spend a fair amount of time over here.

BTW, the quilt on the porch swing is the huge one. I made it my ownself and it took something like 8 years. It's a memory quilt with blocks from folks we knew (and liked) in Columbia, MO before we moved. (Yes, people we didn't like were not invited to participate.) The pink quilt is one that my Mamaw made years and years ago. It's a modified Ohio Star with a Glorified Nine Patch in the center. You probably can't see it but the setting triangles around the Nine Patch block are floral fabric. From curtains. I remember those curtains. Those of you who are quilters are shuddering now. I'm surprised, given how delicate that fabric is, but it's held up well. She had two of them on her beds in her house in Brady. I'm tickled that I have them now.

I also took time to smell, if not the roses which are not yet in bloom, the flowers.

These are from Abby's garden. And the ones below are from mine.


And now for the question. For the last few (five, maybe, hee hee), I've wanted to repaint the shutters on our house. I've cleaned them and cleaned them but I think it's time for a new look. The problem is that the brick on our house is sort of a funky color for brick and I'm not good with warm colors. Here's the house, or at least some shutters:


I was thinking at first about a soft, mossy green (because I love green so and I thought it might look ok) and then an electric blue (because I'm weird that way). But now I'm thinking that something like a barn red would look better. What do y'all think? Here's a Klassy superimposition of the colors for your perusal.

At any rate, all the shutters, the side of the garage, the porch, etc. need to be pressure washed. I think my daddy should pack up his new dog, his pressure washer, and himself and get on up here to help me, don't y'all?

Seriously, though, I'm decorating impaired so tell me what you think about the shutter colors. And have a wonderful Wednesday!

7 comments:

Stephanie said...

I enjoyed your "wordy" "wordless" Wednesday....LOL....it was nice to read words of someone with a lot of energy! Good job on the laundry, I have some to get to myself, thanks for the push.

p.s. Your 2 kiddos are adorable!

Anonymous said...

Its funny but I was going to blog today about how much I love my clothesline.

I washed flannel sheets today (goodbye winter!) but didn't have enough room to do blankets too.

I think barn red would really make the brick pop. Paint your front door red too! Think of the snazzy cushions you could make for the porch swing, flower pots with red geraniums, a wreath with flags and stars on it. It would be so pretty. I've got a thing for red right now...

Anonymous said...

Love the quilts! My problem is I don't have time to quilt, paint my house knit and blog. Not to mention make dinner.
Definitely barn red. A personal favorite.
I am not allowed to hang laundry out. My association says it brings down the neighborhood. I think I'm putting out a renegade line on my deck. Rebel I am.

Anonymous said...

Dude, he's got a pressure washer? And there we are kinfolks and all. (this is your in-need-of-a-pressure-wash cousin, the one with the oft forgot password)

Ima call you tomorrow. Just 'cause.

Anonymous said...

Your not so wordless Wednesday ~ too funny! That's how my wordless blog entries go too.

I love, love, love your quilts!

I will not weigh in on your paint colors. Right now I am on my husband's crazy person list. I want to paint the upstairs Restrained Gold. It is already Anjoy Pear. My husband swears that they are identical colors, but there is a subtle difference. I have been told that the upstairs cannot be painted until A) it needs it and B) the basement is finished. :o(

Anonymous said...

the only time i started using the dryer was when we moved here to the US, just because we've lived in apartments that wouldn't possibly allow line-drying. :) but prior to that, our clothes were always hung outside. i love the freshness of it, and the smell of the sun naturally bleaching our clothes. it also brings back a lot of memories. :)

thanks for the "wordy" ww :)

MyMemes: Butt Kicked
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Tink *~*~* said...

I love the way sun-dried clothes smell too, but our HOA rules forbid hanging clothes out to dry. It's so silly!

Tink *~*~*
My Mobile Adventures *~*~*