I mentioned in my post on spring cleaning that I was redecorating my apartment, starting with the bedroom. I am finally at a place where I can call it done(ish) and I am so pleased with how it turned out. The difference is…astonishing.

There were a lot of things I didn’t like about my bedroom before. To start with it was kind of a disaster area. (Please don’t judge me for the photos below.) In addition to being a mess, I lacked good storage and layout. Hmm — you think maybe that contributed to the mess? It was also a study in shades of white and beige which drove me nuts. Color. I need it.

Created with flickr slideshow.First step in this was the biggest — I took things out, painted my furniture and spruced it up (more on that later) and then moved things and rearranged. Having the bed near the light switch is brilliant since I’m blind as a bat. It also makes it easier to get to things.

Then I added more — shelves above the dressers, and though you can’t see them some hooks behind the door to make use of otherwise dead space and hang up my (growing) collection of scarves and wraps. Apparently I am a scarf-person.

From there it was a matter of (neatly) storing all my stuff back in and going through it, plus some small bits: new hardware for the drawers, sewing new curtains, hanging the fabric above the bed. I’m loving the colors and while it’s a bit girly, I don’t think it’s oppressively so. I do still have a few things left — I’d like to find art for the wall the window is on, and some brass candle sconces to near the bed, but that will happen as I come across things. I’m really quite pleased.

Now, onward to the rest of the apartment!

I have not, for the past year or so, spent nearly enough time reading. I get busy and sidetracked by craft projects, but I really miss books. So I straightened out whatever had gone wonky with my library card (because I’d walk past  a library think, oh I miss libraries and then go home and buy books on Amazon) and got a Kindle to make commute reading easier.

I’ve also decided to use Goodreads more to help track what I’m reading; I’m over there as quirkyknitgirl so if you’re on Goodreads, add me!

Some of what I’m reading now:

Beyond Outrage: What has gone wrong with our economy and our democracy, and how to fix them (Kindle Single) by Robert Reich — Read this. Right now. It’s a great use of the e-book format, because he’s able to include recent events and it doesn’t feel stale. It’s also a really understandable case laid out for what the hell is wrong with our country economically.

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Shelly Turkle — This one hits a bit close to home, but is really thought-provoking. It also makes me want to unplug my electronics and go sit in a park with people or something.

The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon — My mom and I have started a project to read all the Newbery award and Newbery honor books. This was the 1922 Newbery award winner and it’s really fascinating to read a history book written in the 1920s. Some of it still holds and some of it..yeah. I shake my head.

Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture by Bishop John Shelby Spong — I feel weirdly unqualified to evaluate books on theology, but I’m enjoying this. It’s very readable, and I’ve gotten some valuable context for keeping in mind the historical and social context in which the Bible was written and compiled.

Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts: The Mystical Tradition of Ancient Egypt by Jeremy Naydler — So help me, I will finish this book. It’s interesting, in terms of examining the idea of Egyptian religion as shamanic in nature rather than funerary based but it’s extremely dense. Extremely. BUT I WILL TRIUMPH.

There are a few others I’ve started, but those are the main books I’m working on. What are you reading these days?

Note: Links are Amazon affiliate links.

I posted a ways back about exploring the distinction between spirituality and craft; the two often get tied together particularly in the area of modern neo-paganism. But I’m not so sure that they are so intertwined, at least for me. One thing I did want to explore, though, was herbal and home remedies. I mean to learn more in this realm, but reflecting on it I realized there are already quite a few things I rely on. I’d love to hear more — do others uses these? What else works for you?

To start, this one was my Nanna’s, and it is really an herbal remedy as much as a home remedy. But she swore by it and so do I. If you have a splinter that you can’t get out (or a child who hates having them removed, as I did) then mix a little bit of sugar with some liquid soap and put it on the center part of a bandaid. Wear the bandaid over the splinter and it will draw it out. I suspect that what it actually does is cause the skin to contract enough for the splinter to work out but it’s certainly effective and less painful than rooting around with tweezers.

One I developed after a particularly bad sunburn is lavender tea for burns. This is especially nice for really bad burns where aloe is painful to use. Make a strong lavender tea by boiling water, adding lavender and letting it steep. Pour the tea into a jar and refrigerate until cool. You can strain it before putting in the jar or leave the lavender in while it cools. Use a clean washcloth and soak it with the cool tea. Place it over the burn and let it sit. The lavender is cool and soothing, and I could feel the washcloths getting hot from sitting on the burn. I used the tea before putting on aloe gel and it seemed to minimize the painful sting.

Not at all unique, but my Mom always keeps an aloe plant in the kitchen so she can break off a leaf and use the juice on minor burns. I do too, and I think it’s the only plant either of us can keep alive.

Peppermint tea will soothe a stomach after a big meal.

It’s not an herbal remedy but a home one — flat coke will help with nausea and vomiting.It has to be flat, though.

This is from the Lady Yeshe Rabbit, but has been a lifesaver for me: a tea made of oatstraw and lemon balm is calming and soothes the nerves without causing sleepiness. I usually drink a cup when I get home from work. It helps me de-stress but I can still stay awake for the rest of the evening.

Not herbal and I can’t have this one anymore (unless I have goat milk on hand) but warm milk will help you sleep. Stirring in honey is also good.

With the anniversary of the Titanic, there’s been a lot of talk around the Edwardian era. Balls, dinners, costumes. Add to that the amazing popularity of Downton Abbey and I admit to succumbing to the some envy.

It was a beautiful era to be sure. I look at it and sigh over the civility, the beauty, the peace from constant technological input and of course the clothes. Oh, the clothes, the beautiful, luxurious clothes.

Because I like civility. I like pretty things. I think there were a lot of stifling, restrictive norms in the past that it’s good that we’ve abandoned, but I also think we’d do a whole lot better as a whole if we got a good dose of manners and started dressing like we cared how we looked when we left the house.

But all this nostalgia ignores something about the era — that it was the Gilded Age and a time of vast, vast disparity between the upper and lower classes.

We watch think about these things, the dark edges lingering just outside of our field of imagination, and we imagine ourselves as ladies and gentlemen of leisure, dressed in beautiful clothes, gentility and peace.

But we do so ignoring the reality — which is that we’re rapidly approaching income disparity of gilded age levels. Add to that the technological improvements that have rendered any number of jobs obsolete, and you have this toxic soup of unemployment, stagnant wages and a government bought by those with unbelievable wealth.

The reality is that most of us, we are not in the upper classes. It’s easier to disguise it, we’re not servants and we are seemingly autonomous. But we’re far more Anna and Mr. Carson than we are Lord and Lady Grantham.

It took a crash and a depression to knock sense into the world before, to start putting protections in place that were meant to keep greed and corruption from running out of hand. But we’ve been systematically dismantling those protections for some time. We’ve had a crash again, we’ve had a recession and still things are not changing.

I wonder what it’s going to take to wake us up this time? Or if it’s possible to see inequality get even worse?