Sunday, April 19, 2009

Rearranging The Furniture

Years back, in the salad days of my early twenties, I lived in a tiny one bedroom apartment in a converted old mid-rise hotel in the Mount Vernon area of downtown Baltimore. It's the kind of apartment that would have rented for two grand in NYC, but in Baltimore was pretty low rent. It was a neat building, but was a bit run down. It had the distinction of sharing the block with the Baltimore Cathedral. It has since been torn down and turned into a park, which gives you some idea of the kind of shape it was in.

Anyhoo, my parents came for a visit and stayed in my tiny apartment with me. They slept on the itsy bitsy pull out sofa I had in my itsy bitsy living room. These are the people who think they're slumming it if they're in anything less than a junior suite in a hotel. I left them alone there while I went to work during their visit. I figured they would walk around the neighborhood, grab something to eat and we'd catch up in the afternoon. What I hadn't planned on was my mom. She is a woman with no patience for sitting around. Even a few idle minutes are an opportunity to DO SOMETHING.

When I walked through the door after work that day, I was like, "WHAAAT?!" It seems my stepdad took just a teensy bit too long in the shower and my mom heard opportunity knocking. She had rearranged ALL of the furniture in my apartment. Remember it was a small apartment, but STILL.

Every woman thinks they won't grow up to be their mother. Even the best of mothers have their quirks, their funny sayings or their annoying (what? no!) habits. We all think, "I'm my own person, that won't be me!" And inevitably, we all become our mothers in more ways than we ever expected. I hear my mom in the way I say words and the phrases I say to my daughter and as it turns out the likeness extends to my inability to allow something to stay the same for long.

So I apologize that y'all keep walking into my blog and I've moved all the furniture. I just can't seem to settle on how I want it to look and I keep changing things up. I know that in the interest of branding, you're supposed to have a consistent look, but I just. can't. do. it. I need VARIETY.

In the end, I am my mother's daughter.

23 comments:

  1. I had a roommate whose mother rearranged our kitchen cupboards every time she came to visit.... I hated that.

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  2. I like the change. I understand the need... I have been itching to change mine too.

    My mother re-arranges my place all the time. It was worse when I was single. I had to phone her one time after she kitty-sat to ask where she out the litter tray and my tupperware. :)

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  3. I am not so good with change. I could barely concentrate on your words because
    this.
    is.
    not.
    Land.
    Of.
    Bean!!!!

    Aggghhh!!!

    (don't worry, I'll get over it soon...I take awhile to adjust to changes)
    I mean it looks really goodd {{sob}}

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  4. I enjoy changing things up (as does my mom) and am enjoying the changes in the Land of Bean!

    The new blue color is very soothing to me.

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  5. love it. I love change. Shaking things up is my specialty....

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  6. I'm totally the same way. I get too antsy when my surroundings remain the same for too long.

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  7. Ha! So funny! I am itching to redo my blog lately, but trying to resist! I try to change with the seasons.. and I just did spring.. (I change my cartoon's clothes and stuff.. corny, I know.) Maybe when summer hits I'll redo.

    I think it looks nice here! Maybe you should have your mom take a look and see what she thinks needs to be rearranged! lol!

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  8. When I clicked your link in my blogroll and your page loaded...I had much the same reaction as when you walked into your apartment! LOL.

    I LOVE IT! But I must confess, I miss the beans in the header. Silly how I actually got used to the beans. Blue is very soothing.

    Oh, and I SO know what you mean about doing things you never thought you'd do that your mom does.

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  9. I was startled. Completely startled. I need a life.

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  10. I'm a fan of changing things up, but I did like your other banner with the bean better :]

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  11. Branding-schmanding...
    I love variety. And I LOVE this layout.

    And it's why I'm designing, in my head, a new look for Lulaville. It's time. Any suggestions?

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  12. I think it looks great!

    I'm like your mom--I totally would have rearranged the furniture too!

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  13. I like changing it up a bit. Keeps things fresh. To hell with branding. Branding is boring.

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  14. I totally LOVE what you did here. Life gets boring if you don't change it up once in a while.

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  15. Variety is the spice of life! LOL Or so I've heard.

    I love coming to a blog regular and seeing a new look!

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  16. Looks great!

    What a cute story about your mom.

    So did you put everything back the same way after your parents left? ;)

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  17. I swore too I would never be like mine but I have to say now that I am a parent, she had a couple of things she did do right.

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  18. A little change every now and then is a good thing...

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  19. Am I right in remembering you saying that you, like me, moved around a lot growing up?

    I used to move my room around every few weeks. My friends would laugh at me because it was always different when they would come over.

    I do have to say, I momentarily thought I'd come to the wrong blog, but I like it. It's fun.

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  20. I like the changing...keeps it like a surprise when I click on over!

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  21. No worries. Change is good. More importantly, it should be how YOU like it :) I'm the same way at home though. I can rearrange furniture on a weekly basis.

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Give me some sugar, baby!