Filing Cabinet upgrade

 We had a LARGE metal filing cabinet that was that boring filing cabinet color, covered in stickers and dings. it needed HELP badly to look decent. First step was getting all the stickers off I found olive oil and rubbing alcohol helpful with that. I saw this metal border and decided to give it a try. It actually does look nice not sure I would do it again though, the metal border is sharp I sliced my finger with it and I had to get creative clamping it long enough for it to dry. I used Gorilla Glue to adhere the metal border to the filing cabinet. And it's a two person job at least to get it started. Big thanks to my friend Tammy for  lending a hand.

 I selected these flower knobs and found glitter paint to match.

 The metal border was probably the most time consuming part.

 I had to do one section let it dry and then do another section.

 I found a nice teal. Krylon® ColorMaster™ Matte Paint & Primer Color Surf to paint the entire filing cabinet. The drawers got special treatment, after painting them Surf I added a layer of  Krylon Glitter Blast Diamond Dust. I loved the result and if it hadn't been for all the holes from the handles, lock and card holder I would have left it at that. While I did use metal filer in the holes (very messy) I couldn't manage a smooth surface. 

 My original plan was to put wallpaper on the drawers. I had seen it done on Pinterest but alas wallpaper has gone the way of the Dodo Bird and seems to be extinct. Instead I used craft paper but I couldn't find any that would cover the entire drawer and unlike wallpaper that you could have placed side by side it doesn't line up. Hence the paint job. I know other people would have measured, but I gave up on trying to follow the directions to use math to center the paper and just eyeballed it. I briefly considered using shelf paper but was afraid it would prove to thin to hold up well. Also not a great selection of colors with shelf paper. This probably turned out to to be my favorite one as it has Teal to match the file cabinet and Dusty Lilac to match the walls in the Home Office/Study.

The other paper I found has a nice mixture of Dusty Lilac, Pink, Peach, Maroon and Yellow flowers.

The side of the file cabinet painted Surf.

The drawer just painted Surf with the Diamond Dust Overlay I left one of the original handle holes uncovered in order to install my pulls. You can see the indentions where the others were.

I used decoupage glue to put the craft paper on the drawers then I applied a coat of Krylon® Triple-Thick Crystal Clear Glaze

It was beginning to get hot here so I did a lot of the drawer work out on my porch instead of in the garage. Fenris was tasked with keeping Yin away from the decoupage glue (who knew cats were glue addicts).

Since I applied the paper by eyeballing it, it was important to make sure it all lined up.

Once the Glaze had been applied it was time to put the hardwear on and reassemble the drawers.

I choose to do the pulls in a staggered pattern.

And this is the finished product.

Laundry Room Makeover

 When we first moved in I referred to this as the utility room as it was so blah Really why do builders think we want to look at icky boxes and huge water heaters? First the Room was painted Glass Slippers

• Dusty Lilac (Lowe's: 1003-8A Glass Slippers / Ace: VR061C Twilight Bloom / Independent: V077-3 Twilight Bloom)
• Healing and peace. Looking for a sanctuary for inner peace, holistic healing and spirituality. We draw from a mix of eastern and western influences to find our balance.

 I got this idea from Pinterest.  I love Butterflies and this curtain was a lovely mixture of teal, blue and green, it's called Garden Discovery.

Hubby put shelves above the Washer and Dryer. I love them everything I need is within reach, it's very handy.

 Next I created a curtain rod out of PVC pipe.

 Next step painting it.

 A cute place to hang the dog leashes.

 While I was painting I also painted a picture frame.

 It took several coats.

 Flanges (also painted) provided the base for the curtain rod to hang.

 The Glass Slippers works well with the Flood Tide accent door and the Urban Sunrise trim. And the Garden Discovery Valence adds a nice touch. The rug is a nice mixture of Teal, Gray, Cream and white and work well with the Dust Tile.

The Tile is Tesoro Rox Series Color Dust

The Rox collection is the newest generation of digital ink jet technology tile.  The soft yet dramatic graphics give this series an authentic earthy look.

The Dust color is interesting as it is a mix of neutrals and seems to change color depending on the light.

This porcelain tile has similar characteristics found in a slab of honed granite. Large chunks of blue grey and pearly white are scattered throughout filled in with smaller swirls of speckled tan and cream. 

 Chimera approved of the Simplehuman Pet Food Cans. They are air tight and stainless steel. A stainless steel garbage can completed the look along with the gray and white shelf paper. I also found some lovely teal and gray containers to keep things in. They are so handy for taking cleaning supplies to other parts of the house.

 I found this dragonfly hanger at Lowe's it's perfect for hanging the broom on.

And now back to the curtain alcove I created.

 I had to get a hook to place in the ceiling to anchor the curtain rod, this was unexpected as none of the blogs that featured this mentioned it. Kudos to the nice guys at Lowe's who helped me find the things I needed.

 The curtains were a happy find as they match the colors in the rug perfectly. And it looks so nice not to see the hot water heater.

I love my new laundry room.

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen (Goodreads Author)

The Shape of Night by Tess Gerritsen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A spine chilling read for Halloween. Ava Collete is racked with guilt when she arrives in the sleepy Maine town but just like Ava the town has secrets. Is the house she is renting really haunted by something or are her visions of Captain Brodie fueled by her consumption of alcohol? And is the handsome Doctor to good to be true?

Slowly Ava will come to terms with her past and learn to live with her guilt but the discovery of a woman's body (the former tenet of the house she is renting) will have her packing her bags, but when she can't find her cat (Hannibal) will Ava flee into the arms of a killer.

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No Greater Love by Danielle Steel

No Greater Love by Danielle Steel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually started this book when we were on the cruise and didn't have a chance to finish it until now. The majority of the book was unbearably sad as Edwina dealt with the loss of her parents and fiancee on the Titanic while struggling to raise her siblings.

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Quantum (Captain Chase #1)

Quantum by Patricia Cornwell
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Captain Chase Callie to her friends is unbelievable, those of you who are familiar with the Scarpetta series she makes Lucy look like a slacker and an underachiever. Callie has not one but two jobs as a Cybercrime investigator she is investigating a staged suicide of an employee whose badge went missing. As a quantum physicist she has to save a top secret space mission all while trying to unravel what her identical twin Carme (pronounced Karma) has to do with the mess. We haven't meet Carme in person yet but according to Callie she is even more impressive.

The characters all seem unbelievable and unlikable. I rate this series an epic fail and will skip it. I couldn't find even one character in the book to connect with Fran (Callie's boss @ NASA Protective Services) suffers from paranoia and a fear of enclosed spaces, supposedly stemming from an incident that happened years ago when she and her son were broke down in a deserted location. Carme was apparently molested when she was six and Callie left her alone with a family friend, and Carme's boyfriend Rush felt Callie up supposedly when he mistook her for Carme. Callie and Carme's Dad always lets someone else do the tough stuff including letting them know bad news and her Mom seems to be a Pollyanna obsessed with lights and Dick sounds well like a Dick.

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At Death's Door (Deadman's Cross, #3)

At Death's Door by Sherrilyn Kenyon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interesting facts
Madoc (Dream Hunter) is Adrian's son, neither seem to be aware of the relationship.
Jaden is Jared's Grandfather (think we already learned this in another book.)
Shadow is the son of Azura

This is Valynda and Nibo's (Xuri) book.

Valynda is getting tired of being made of straw and everyone seems anxious to give her back her body for a price. Adarian offers to return her to her body if only she'll steal Nibo's crook for him (it's made from the tree of life and can raise the dead). Of course this will mean betraying her friends...

After briefly considering it Valynda realizes she can't betray her friends and along comes Circe. Return her son (Agrios) from Hell and she'll give Valynda her body back. With Nibo's help she goes to hell and retrieves Agrios, now Nibo owes Hades a favor. Valynda now has her body back but like Sallie her soul is stored in a bottle.

(lots of sex between Valynda and Nibo, honestly we could have advanced the story more without all the sex)

During a battle the bottle with Valynda's soul in it is broken thanks to Qeenan (Nibo's evil twin) and Adarian. But never fear Acheron is around to bring her back to life, and they send the bad guys packing.

Madoc is brought to the human realm to drain Adarian's powers and everyone follows Adarian to New Orleans. Menyara puts her plan in motion to replace Adarian with Nick (a Malachai born of light and dark).

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The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy (Harold Fry, #2)

The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It was OK and answered some questions that The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry left unanswered.

I have to say I didn't like Queenie much, she seemed to constantly get involved with married men. First there was "The Shit" who got her PG and packed her off to have an abortion. Then there was Harold and while she didn't sleep with Harold I think a part of her did want to take him away from his wife. And I think the way she treated the widower was hurtful. He was free and wanted to marry her but she turned him down because of Harold. So it was hard to feel sorry for her, she could have had a marriage and family but she choose not to and to hold on to her love for Harold.

Her relationship with David also seemed like a way of replacing Maureen, not only as Harold's wife but as David's Mother. And like Maureen she enabled David's bad behavior.

It also goes to show that Harold never saw the real Queenie. He never knew she was pg when she came to town or that the reason she was crying in the cupboard was because she had lost her baby. He never knew about her relationship with David or that she loved him.

And I still don't understand why Harold felt the need to walk to see her. Hopefully Maureen will get her own book, I think of the three I will probably like her best.

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The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (Goodreads Author)

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.) The story begins with Young-sook as an old woman, gathering algae on the beach. What secrets or clues about the past and the present are revealed in the scenes that take place in 2008?Why do we only understand the beginning of the novel after we have finished it?

OK, I hate books that do this so it really detracted from my enjoyment of the book. We know from the beginning that something happened to destroy Young-sook and Mi-ja's friendship, that they have a grandchild in common and that Young-sook has never meet her grandchild.

2.) When Young-sook and Mi-ja are fifteen, Young-sook’s mother says to them: “You are like sisters, and I expect you to take care of each other today and every day as those tied by blood would do.” (Page 13) How are these words of warning?

Sisters fight but they usually forgive each other.

3.)The friendship between Young-sook and Mi-ja is just one of many examples of powerful female relationships in the novel. Discuss the ways in which female relationships are depicted and the important role they play on Jeju.

The Mother is head of the household, when women marry they live with their Mother-in-law, the women earn the money by diving and their dive partner has their back (like a sister) in order to dive you have to belong to a collective where the women support each other and discuss the problems they have.

4.) On page 17, Young-sook’s mother recites a traditional haenyeo aphorism: Every woman who enters the sea carries a coffin on her back.But she also says that the sea is like a mother. (Page 22.) Then, on page 71, Grandmother says, “The ocean is better than your natal mother. The sea is forever.” How do these contradictory ideas play out in the novel? What do they say about the dangerous work of the haenyeo?

The sea provides them with food and a source of income and it is always there for them, but they also lose friends and relatives to the sea. Yuri is brain damaged after she goes after an octopus. Young-sook's Mother drowns when she is trapped by an abalone.

5.) In many ways, the novel is about blame, guilt, and forgiveness. In the first full chapter, Yu-ri has her encounter with the octopus. What effect does this incident have on various characters moving forward: Mother, Young-sook, Mi-ja, Do-seang, Gu-ja, Gu-sun, and Jun-bu? Young-sook is also involved in the tragic death of her mother. To what extent is she responsible for these sad events? Is her sense of guilt justified?

I don't think Young-sook's sense of guilt is justified and I really don't think anyone else blames her. Yu-ri was the older more experienced diver. Perhaps Yu-ri wouldn't have made the dive if Young-sook had refused to disobey her Mother's call to come in but she was also adhering to the rule to have your partners back. Mother may have given Yu-ri to much responsibility (putting her in charge of the baby divers) before she was mature enough to handle it, but I don't think she was to blame either. It definitely made Do-seang and Jun-bu's life harder as they lost an earner in their household and they had the burden of taking care of the brain damaged Yu-ri. I don't think it affected Mi-ja, Gu-ja and Gu-sun that much other than it gave Mi-ja something to hold over Young-sook's head.

6.) Later, on page 314, Clara recites a proverb attributed Buddha: To understand everything is to forgive. Considering the novel as a whole, do you think this is true? Young-sook’s mother must forgive herself for Yu-ri’s accident, Young-sook must forgive herself for her mother’s death, Gu-sun forgives Gu-ja for Wan-soon’s death.On a societal level, the people of Jeju also needed to find ways to forgive each other. While not everyone on Jeju has found forgiveness, how and why do you think those communities, neighbors, and families have been able to forgive? Do you think anything can be forgiven eventually? Should it? Does Young-sook take too long to forgive given what she witnessed?

Young-sook's refusal to forgive cost her time with her youngest daughter. I think you have to forgive for your own wellbeing and in order to move on, but I don't think anything can be forgotten and that some relationships can't be mended. Mi-Ja’s actions cost Young-sook the lives of her husband, oldest son and Sister-in-law. I think it was easier for Joon-lee to look past this as she hadn’t been born yet and never knew her Father, eldest brother and Aunt.

7.) Mi-ja carries the burden of being the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Is there inevitability to her destiny just as there’s inevitability to Young-sook’s destiny? Another way of considering this aspect of the story is, are we responsible for the sins of our fathers (or mothers)? Later in the novel, Young-sook will reflect on all the times Mi-ja showed she was the daughter of a collaborator. She also blames Yo-chan for being Mi-ja’s son, as well as the grandson of a Japanese collaborator. Was Young-sook being fair, or had her eyes and heart been too clouded?

Children can't prevent the actions of their parents and should not be blamed for them. I don't think Mi-ja's destiny is inevitable and she bears some responsibility for the choices she made. It wasn't fair of Young-sook to blame Yo-chan for his Mother's actions.

8.) The haenyeo are respected for having a matrifocial culture—a society focused on women. They work hard, have many responsibilities and freedoms, and earn money for their households, but how much independence and power within their families and their cultures do they really have? Are there other examples from the story that illustrate the independence of women but also their subservience?

They seemed to have great independence in their homes and when they are away doing waterwork but not so much in the society at large.

9.) What is life like for men married to haenyeo? Compare Young-sook’s father, Mi-ja’s husband, and Young-sook’s husband.

Young-sook's father mainly just took care of the young children and was dependent on his wife and daughters for money. Mi-ja's and Young-sook's husbands both earned their own living and had more education.

10.) On page 189, there is mention of haenyo from a different village rowing by Young-sook’s collective to share gossip. How fast did information travel around the island and from the mainland? Was the Five-Day Market a good source of gossip or were other places were more ideal? On page 201, Jun-bu mentions his concern about believing information broadcast on the radio, “… but can we trust anything we hear?” Were there specific instances when information broadcast on the radio was misleading or false? What impacts how people hear and interpret the news?

The news on the radio was often false; the child being killed accidentally by the horsemen and the people following him to the police station being turned into a Communist uprising is a good example. What they heard from others when they couldn't be overheard was probably more accurate. But it made it hard for people to know what was really going on and to trust what they heard from anyone.

11.) Confucianism has traditionally played a lesser role on Jeju than elsewhere in Korea, while Shamanism is quite strong. What practical applications does Shamanism have for the haenyeo? Do the traditions and rituals help the haenyeo conquer the fear and anxieties they have about the dangerous work they do? Does it bring comfort during illness, death, and other tragedies? Does Young-sook ever question her beliefs, and why?

I don't think Young-sook ever really questioned her beliefs. She did question who Yu-ri, Jun-bu and her son were speaking too.

12.) On page 39, Young-sook’s mother recites the aphorism If you plant red beans, then you will harvest red beans. Jun-bu repeats the phrase on page 199. How do these two characters interpret the saying? How does this saying play out for various characters?

You reap what you sow. Mi-ja was often secretive and acted superior at times because she came from the city. Her secretiveness made it difficult for Young-sook to trust her when she needed her too. Young-sook had a hard time forgiving so it made it difficult for Jon-lee to be honest with her when she fell in love with Yo-chan.

13.) At first it would seem that the visit of the scientists to the island is something of a digression. What important consequences does the visit have for Young-sook and the other haenyeo?

For Young-sook the visit of the scientist gave her a glimpse into how an education could help her youngest daughter. Unfortunately by giving Joon-lee the education her Father wanted her to have she lost her. The scientist taking notice of the haenyeo made the government more interested in them and they became more regulated.

14.)The aphorism “Deep roots remain tangled underground,” is used to describe Young-sook’s and Mi-ja’s friendship, and it becomes especially true when it’s revealed that their children, Joon-lee and Yo-chan, are getting married. How else does this aphorism manifest itself on Jeju, especially in the context of the islanders’ suffering and shared trauma? Do you think it’s true that we cannot remove ourselves from the connections of our pasts?

The island was made up of victims and perpetrators and their lives were often intertwined. In some ways the past is always a part of who you are and colors the choices you make.

14.) On page 120, Young-sook’s mother-in-law, Do-Saeng, says “There’s modern, and then there’s tradition.” How does daily life on Jeju change between 1938 and 2008? Discuss architecture, the arrival of the scientists and the studies they conduct, the introduction of wet suits and television, etc. How does Young-sook reconcile her traditional haenyeoway of life with the encroaching modern world? Do you think it’s possible to modernize without sacrificing important traditional values?

Life changed a lot between 1938 and 2008, they got electricity, indoor plumbing and television, and women no longer had to become haenyeo in order to earn a living. I am not sure it is possible to modernize without sacrificing traditional values. On Jeju they never had the chance to find out though because the government outlawed Shamanism and forced the villagers to change their architecture and use modern toilets.

15.) The characters have lived through Japanese colonialism, the Sino-Japanese War, World War II, the Korea War, the 4.3 Incident, and the Vietnam War. How do these larger historic events impact the characters and island life?

The War's brought invaders to the island who wanted to use it as a path to whoever they were attacking. The 4.3 Incident took the lives of many of the island men as well as women and children and created a culture of victims and perpetrators. It was perhaps the most damaging because it was Koreans mistreating other Koreans.

16.) Mi-ja’s rubbings are critical to the novel. How do they illustrate the friendship between Mi-ja and Young-sook? How do they help Young-sook in her process of healing?

It helped her see that Mi-ja never forgot their friendship and that she wanted to share her grandchild’s life with her.


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Death in Focus (Elena Standish #1) by Anne Perry

Death in Focus by Anne Perry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have to admit once she killed Ian off I lost interest. I think Ian and Elena would have made a great duo. Also it all seemed a bit too contrived and implausible.

***Spoiler

While attending a conference in Amalfi Elena meets Ian who works for M16, they agree to journey to Paris together but Ian is killed on the train. With his dying breath he ask Elena to warn Roger Cordell (at the British Embassy in Germany) that Scharnhorst was going to be assassinated and his death blamed on M16. Elena takes the message to Cordell (who she knows from when her Father was the German Ambassador) but he fails to stop the assassination. Elena is framed for Scharnhorst death and is forced to go on the run.

Walter helps her to get home to her Grandfather Lucas (former head of M16) but then attempts to kill her to pay Lucas back for naming his Father a traitor. Grandma Josephine saves the day by shooting Walter.



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