I have plants! in Another Open Diary refugee

Lots of small improvements this week... nothing really major, just little things that make the duplex feel more like the home I want it to be. John's wall mount for the tv arrived this week, and on Thursday he got me to help him mount the tv. Getting the mount on the wall was the easy part - getting the TV attached to the mount almost brought us to blows over the teensy weensy little screws that he was trying to use - he wanted me to screw them in and I just couldn't do it no matter how hard I tried! In desperation we went to the hardware store and bought four slightly larger screws, and I STILL couldn't quite manage... but then he had a brainwave - he screwed the tiny screws directly into the holes on the tv and used them as pilots to get the tv through the mounting holes. Then I could hold it up from underneath because the pilot screws kept it in the right place, and HE could remove them one at a time and screw in the correct screws (and he didn't find it easy either - those little screws are a SOB!) We have a wilderness of cable coming from it, and yesterday I tamed it all with a generous application of velcro. Now all we need is a cable wrap to make the velcroed cables into one neat bundle...

Another change happened today. Since we couldn't use the floor-to-ceiling shower rod in this bathroom, I put it out on the corner of the patio to hold plants, but it's been sitting there empty... this afternoon we went to the grocery store and my eye was caught by some lovely big pots of live herbs for only four dollars each. The parsley looked like it was on the way out (shame, I love fresh parsley), but I got sage, thyme, and oregano, and there's room for one more pot on the plant stand because I have four shelves. If worst comes to worst and I can't keep them alive, I can strip the leaves and freeze them and still come out ahead because fresh herbs are so expensive in the veggie section, but I'm hoping they'll be happy on the plant stand. :)

And lastly, when we were in the hardware store I saw some lovely 'cotton candy' coloured duct tape (actually mixed pastel clouds). I bought a roll, and I'm in the process of recovering the red walker that I bought at the flea market... it's a lot more difficult to cover the frame than I expected because you have to work around the curves and screw holes etc. but I'm halfway there, and I'm really pleased with how it's going to come out.