Tuesday, September 13, 2011

stained glass colored glasses



Thought you'd enjoy seeing our newest acquisition...we got this stained glass panel Sunday at an old house warehouse/antique mall place. (Old House Revival, if you live in Winnipeg.)
We hung it immediately in our dining room. Check out the photos! We're hoping that this will:
A) Block out some views of the ugly new condo across the street, which is growing uglier by the day. The latest is the landscaping, which appears to be all rocks....no greenery at all so far.

B) Screen views from the street so people can't look in and see the babies all the time.

C) Beautify our lives a bit.

So far, option C is working. I think it looks great and that makes me happy! I have a call into the store to find out if they know anything more about the history behind this piece. I am so sleep deprived that I am surprised by how nice it looks every time I enter the dining room. I just can't remember that we bought it. :)

It doesn't entirely screen out the condo (very little would) and now it appears that some of the lighting they've installed on the staircase directly facing our house is purple. GROSS.

We acquired this really quickly--went looking at stained glass with the babies in tow on Saturday. We asked for the Old House Revival folks to get a price quote on this piece for us. They called us on Sunday, and the professor went and bought it, brought it home and hung it.

It was a great way to make a decision about decorating! Quickly!

I am posting this colorful set of images to offset the not-so-wonderful other complications we're encountering. This summer I had some big postpartum health complications which I'm not going to go into here. The major stuff is mostly resolved now, but I won't lie, it hasn't been an easy haul. Meanwhile, my professor has been juggling his busy laboratory, teaching a course with 50 some students, life with new twins, taking care of me and two dogs...and a lot of bureaucracy.

You see, we're American citizens living in Canada. The twins are eligible for both U.S. and Canadian citizenship. There's a lot of paperwork involved in all of this passport, Social Security Number and Social Insurance Number acquisition, of course, and the bureaucracy around it is boggling. If, for instance, we want to visit our families in the US, we must straighten all this out before we leave home so the babies' papers are in order to cross the border.

Anyway, as you might imagine, life with two infants is very busy. The babies eat every 2-3 hours, and at night, they stretch that out sometimes to 4 hours. So, we don't get much sleep. A rare and great night is more than 6 hours of sleep with only a single interruption. Usual is 4-5 hours, with perhaps two feeding or diaper changing interruptions.

When patience is stretched to the breaking point by crying, barking, and passports potentially lost in the mail (no kidding) and the new parents in question are seriously tired, sometimes maybe one needs a bit of colored glass (rose colored glasses?) to try to see the world in a more cheerful light.

Sometimes one needs bread as nourishment. Sometimes too, I need art nourishment. This stained glass is helping make the bread feel more like a meal these days. I think it belongs in our dining room.

Labels: , , , , ,

4 Comments:

Blogger AdrieneJ said...

1) I love stained glass panels hung in windows. Hubby doesn't agree. I'm thinking about calling one window "mine" and just do whatever I want with it.

2) Sorry to hear it's been so rough for you. Keep on truckin' - you'll sleep again soon!

3) I'm grateful you took the time out of your tiring day to write this. Thanks for thinking of us, even in your bleary-eyed state.

September 13, 2011 at 8:45 PM  
Blogger Melissa said...

Thanks for sharing - I think of the four of you often! I remember the winter that we had our first child, we discovered flannel sheets and down comforters and decided that if you weren't going to get enough sleep, what sleep you got should be in very comfy surroundings!

I think adding beauty to your life if a wonderful thing right now, in whatever form makes you happy!

September 22, 2011 at 3:25 PM  
Blogger Karen Johnson said...

Your new art is beautiful. I can't believe you have a moment to blog with all this it on your plate right now. I know it will get better.

September 23, 2011 at 1:54 PM  
Blogger mommy besieged said...

Hi Joanne,
Just thinking of you as we plan this year's Handmade Holiday Sale - I remember last year you were very sick and newly pregnant. Glad to read that all is well with you and the twins. Yay! Hope knitting continues despite your probably hectic new life. Good luck with everything and congratulations.
Tammy (Manitoba Craft Council)

September 29, 2011 at 11:53 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home