Above the tv, I want to put as few holes as possible: it's the patterned plaster. I actually like the whole bunch of little stuff thing and will probably do that on the stairwell. I'm good at it because I like random and not in a pattern for small stuff (witness the 2 kitchen pictures. Though there needs to be a third in that grouping.) In my old place: [link] [link] [link]

I'm a little forced into symmetry in this middle room, what with the mouldings.

I ended up decorating the space above my tv with lots of round mirrors radiating out from a sunburst mirror (the living room is currently filled with curves and round furniture, although I'm giving the roundish L-shaped sectional to an out-of-work friend and getting a loveseat from a coworker).

Now that I have the freedom to paint whatever the heck I want in the new apartment, I might paint a stylized tree on a wall I know will be blank. Something contemporary.

I still don't believe that this is read: [link] (click the video).

Am now in love with a rug: [link]

Which would look crazy/excellent in my LR:

[link]

Can't see your LR, but neat rug.

I love having others along in my home-settling experience.

My eldest aunt called me tonight. She wanted to give me a few weeks to settle in. She's so cute. She's my busybody aunt, and I am amazed at her restraint, waiting so long. She had plenty of advice. I'm sure she'll have more now that I've email pictures and friended my uncle and her eldest on FB. You just have to know how to deal with Mary. She's full of advice and worry and you can't let it stress you. But don't let her or Lorin drive you around. You'll fear death is imminent.

It kills me that my uncle who is a retired contractor doesn't have email or internet. He and my aunt (another of mom's sisters) visited my parents a few weeks ago and he was over the moon over me getting this house. I've got to print pix for him. I wish I could more easily share this with him. If he didn't hate planes so much, he'd be here in a heartbeat. He loves old houses, used to do rehab and construction in Carmel. He was from the poor half of an old money Carmel family.

I'm back from our tournament in Fremont/Milpitas but JZ and Matilda are still in Portland.

We won the tournament. The championship was a close game for the first half but they couldn't match out pitching depth and as we got into their other pitchers we pulled away. Emmett had a pretty good tournament. Hit a home run, was on base a lot, played his usual high quality catcher (threw out two runners, which is always rare and a big deal in Pony league tournaments where the runners can take leads).

We got fired up for every game by blasting Guns 'N Roses and AC/DC.

Whichever tournament we play over Memorial Day is always the real beginning of the tournament/all-star season for us, and it's a big bonding things for everybody to stay over in hotels together. Albany had seven different teams in one hotel, so it was crazy kid city around the pool for three days. You get to see kids who graduated up to the next level, and guys you coached with, and kids from your regular season teams and their little sibs and the whole shebang. And it's a big get-reacquainted event for the parents because you spend so much time together.

that rug is perfect, Sue!

There's a Company C near my parent's place, and it kills me, because EVERYTHING is beautiful and funky and unusual and rather outside my budget. But Mum has been saying that she'd buy me a rug from there for the past three years. And the new place is smaller, so I wouldn't need a huge, terribly expensive carpet.

My only concern is: cats. They have their cardboard palace which they love to scratch on, but they've still managed to slightly mangle the carpet i got from Target. Would a more expensive (better made) carpet be more resistant to kitty claws, or am I setting myself up for heartbreak?

I still can't get over the wall-to-wall in Current Apartment losing it's threads from me washing out spilt laundry detergent. I am not used to cheap carpeting. They are so going to make me pay for that.

I don't know about carpet and cat's claws--my cat only scratches at the carpeting in the spots left when I move furniture. However, she is loving my new couch, and not in a way that I like. I'm thinking about picking up those double-stick sheets of tape and slapping them on the areas she's finding fun to scratch. I'll probably also get the sofa people in here to fix the fabric she's already managed to pull away from the wood on the front of the couch (that's what I paid the extra $70 for!).

Yay Emmett and the Eagles!

I'm hiding in the computer/TV room while Matilda and my brother and his GF garden and toss around a Nerf ball that has, for complicated reasons, also been designated the GF's teddy bear. Aside from one spectacular meltdown leading to an aborted playground visit and a stern time-out, she's had a grand time digging in the dirt and playing with the cats and eating noodles and splashing in fountains. If David and Emmett were here, she would never want to leave ever again.

My interview went well, thanks for asking. I now have two hiring managers to make it past this week. Here's hoping.

Good luck, ita.