Stop the Pillows

Like so many women, my wife has an obsession with pillows. I never really realized this was a problem one could have until I got married. One evening when I walked into the living room I noticed an exceed of pillows on the couch. Rather than throw them on the ground I chose to add more cushion so I sat on a pillow. Yes, ON a pillow. Heidi came home and tried to explain to me that the pillows are for making a room look "comfy"...and proceeded to give reason after reason why we needed to continue to add to our stockpile of pillows. Things like pops of color, texture, and depth, most of which I thought only belonged on a wall. But we both knew the truth, we have enough pillows to make a small country "comfy."

There is also the issue of the heap of pillows on the bed. Heidi thinks its a must but the problem is they have to be stacked somewhere. Where do they get stacked you might ask? ON MY SIDE!!!

Like a chipmunk hoarding nuts, Heidi hoards pillows. When we change colors we find a new room to throw them in and call it decorating. Despite my objections I have learned this is the mind of a decorator savvy girl.

Pillow Fight!

... not the fun kind.  It's not even so much a fight as it is an "agree to disagree" ~ a marital compromise if you will.  I have a mild obsession with pillows.  But don't all decorator-savvy girls? I never realized it was a problem until I got married. One evening I noticed Eric sitting on a pillow.  Yes, ON a pillow.  I objected.  He looked at me like I was crazy and replied, "What else am I supposed to do with ALL these pillows?"  He was surrounded.  I tried to explain to him that pillows made a room look comfy.  That pillows brought that much need "pop of color."  That pillows tie it all together.  But we both knew the truth.  They're useless.  Especially if you can't sit on them (but really, ON a pillow?)

There's also the issue of the heap of pillows on the bed.  A must, right?  But then they have to be stacked somewhere and if one's bed isn't always made (don't blame me - I wake up first), they stay stacked in a corner.  And husband makes comments such as, "Why do we even have all these pillows?"

Our guest bedroom has a decent amount of pillows as well.  Again, a heap of pillows on a bed is just so ... right.  These pillows are left over from the old colors that our master bedroom used to be (redecorating - another obsession of mine, but at least I'm reusing!)  We have had one guest since we bought our home.  It was my sister, though, and I am CERTAIN she appreciated the pillows.  Otherwise, they are usually hidden beneath clothes laying out to dry or perhaps a sleeping cat.

Oh!  And our living room ... we just found some furniture for it (woot woot Craigslist) and the pieces are in desperate need of pillows.  Even Eric said so himself and I am sure he is kicking himself for that slip of the tongue.  That's all the push I need.  Within hours I was pillow shopping.  And still am!  It's exhilarating. 

So there you have it.  Eric puts up with pillows and I love him for it.  See the guilty obsession below ...

~ Heidi

                                                                        The TV room

                                                                       
                                                              The Master Bedroom

                                                                        Guest Room

                                             A possible contender for the new living room chair

                                   This adorable map of Paris pillow that I found and need a home for

Battleground: Front Yard

As a child my biggest weekend fret was which friend I was going to play with. As a teenager it was who I was going to the football game with and who am I hanging out with after. In college it was what city or state to drive to and as an adult my biggest worry about the weekend is what sprinkler section I am going to try to fix.
Since moving to this house I have replaced countless sprinkler heads, some pipe sections and the entire main sprinkler valve system. Despite winning these small battles the war is far from over. I have gained adequate coverage in the backyard by replacing 4 of the rotary head sprinklers. The side gardens seem to be flourishing and keeping damp soil but my ultimate nemesis has become the front yard main grass area. I have had to seed multiple sections that died from inadequate watering , which by the way I learned there is a difference between fescue and St. Augustine, and I have replaced 4 sprinkler heads and a small section of pipe. If you have replaced sprinklers in your grass area then you know that to accomplish this you must dig up your grass in a careful enough way to preserve the roots and replant the section of grass when you’re finished. This did not work out great for me and we now have several sections where the grass appears to be sinking. Despite my effort at repair I still have a dead patch looming in the front yard. Realizing the sprinkler head replacements were not accomplishing my mission I turned to making adjustments in the amount of water that was spraying from each sprinkler. Perhaps by limiting the spray on some I can boost pressure in others to shoot farther into the dead zone. Once again to no avail. Perhaps it was the type of sprinkler that I was using so I switched to high end Rain Bird quality firepower but still the water pressure enemy thwarted my plans. Now after months of study and countless diagrams (and some help from my wife) I think I may have plotted a battle plan to outsmart my foe. If you review the below drawing of my front yard you will notice that I have 11 sprinklers on a single valve line. 11!!! Way too many for a single line and that number doesn’t include several drip systems that also run off of the same line. By capping off the sprinklers marked with an "X" I can reduce the output by 5 sprinkler heads which will in turn boost the pressure within the pipes. But if I cap off the sprinkler heads how will the grass get water you ask? Well, the two marked with an "R" will become rotary head sprinklers and will cover a 180 degree area up to 20 feet. This should (in theory) allow the other sprinklers to build enough pressure to spray a normal distance thereby eliminating the dead zone. Game on! 


Eric