Thoughts.

I knew there was something pulling me to Phoenix yesterday, other than getting my glasses fixed and picking up our lame summer reading prizes from the library. SO thankful Jackie and the boys weren't injured seriously yesterday in her accident - could have been ugly.

I'm kicking myself for not reporting the Dad I saw, schlepping his kids around in his little car with ZERO carseats. I could have easily told the policeman that was standing RIGHT THERE.

Jackie is amazing, did you know that? She wasn't hysterical and crying, like I would have been, she was honest with the police and took her "kid not in a carseat" ticket with a thank you. She even came home and hosted my crazy kids for a few hours while helping Lorena do a sewing project for the young women. I swear I would have cancelled everything, taken a valium and gone to bed.

I only splurge on pedicures a couple times a year, and my crusty heels were begging for some love yesterday. Even though it's under new management, and "Jimmy" isn't there, I can still recommend the place on 35th Avenue and Southern. "Essence Nails" I think.

I am literally losing sleep over ceiling fans - and not just because my master bedroom fan has taken to swinging erratically and CLICK CLICK CLICKING constantly. I know I'm ridiculous about these things, but I have very specific opinions when it comes to ceiling fans.
#1 - I want a Hunter fan. My dad swears by that brand, and we've had very good luck with them as well, so I'd like to stick with it.
#2 - I do not want to be able to see the light bulbs. Until they make cute CFL bulbs, not the swirly kind, I'm NOT buying any light fixture that displays bulbs.
#3 - I want the hardware to match everything else I have in my house (and since we've already got (mostly) oil-rubbed bronze doorknobs, that choice has been made)
#4 - I want all the fans in the house to coordinate with eachother. I know, I know.
#5 - Anything with this shape of blade looks totally dated to me.

#6 - Anything with this shape of light also looks dated to me, and cheap Walmart as well.

#7 - I do NOT want to see any pull chains. I'm short, and several of my ceilings are 9' or taller. Wall control and/or remote is a must.
#8 - This is my BIGGEST COMPLAINT with fans. I loathe what I call "nipple lights". You know what I'm talking about... something akin to this...

Unfortunately, 70% of the fans on the market, I think, have nipple lights on them. Another 20% have multiple shades where you can see the bulbs. Another 8% of fans are "novelty" type with weird kid themes, or overly designed with the funky blades, etc. So that leaves me with 2% to choose from - and those choices are three times the price of anything else. Grrrrr...... this fan, I think, is almost perfect (or would be, with a bright WHITE glass dome, instead of amber):

This one I could live with as well, even though I don't like the blade shape as much...

But again, both of these are more than three times the price of something like this: This is called the "Stratford" from Home Depot - totally affordable, love the shape of the blades, and the hardware is the right color. (But it's got a nipple light.) A Hunter rep that happened to be in Home Depot this weekend also told me that I could call the company and they would send me new free domes, so I technically COULD get the glass in white like I want, instead of this amber color...

I like the idea of having three of the dark-wooded 52" Stratford fans in my main areas - family room, loft, and my master bedroom, and having coordinating white 44" Stratford fans in all the rest of the bedrooms.

Bonus of this one is that the white version also comes in a bigger size of 52" as well, so I could put a bigger one in J's huge bedroom and have the 44 inchers in all the rest of the bedrooms, and they would still coordinate.


SIGH. What to do, what to do. I guess become a fan designer at Hunter, that's what. Anybody want to hire me?