I'm a hypochondriac who is starting to hate Christmas

I'm sick.  The kind of sick that makes all my other sick days since my last bout of stomach flu in June laughable.  I'm sweaty; no wait, I'm cold; my throat hurts; I'm weak; I can't sleep because I'm swallowing and salivating and drainaging all at the same time.  I hate it.  I can't get things done and I certainly am not a good Mommy to Evie when I feel bad. 

Take a nap you say?  I totally would.  Except for the fact that the past 3 days - each day being a different issue - I have to wait for AT&T UVerse techical support to show up and screw up something else. 

Day 1 - Sunday
Neither the iPad or the Kindle have a wireless connection.  That was remedied after an hour Live Chatting with a guy on the support site and he did a system reset on their end and suddenly everything worked perfectly.  Note:  This is after I was convinced the iPad was messed up and went through the painful hour long process or system resetting it.  Twice.  No bueno.

Day 2 - Monday
All was fine and dandy until about 1pm when the PC internet went down (connected to the ethernet).  NO PC internet = no blog posts.  After an hour on the phone with someone trying to fix it; they conceded and sent me a tech guy.  "Your technical support should be there sometime between 4 and 9pm".  Really?  9 pm?  Whatever, I'll wait up. 

So that dude shows up at 5:15 or so and about an hour and a half later he says it's all fixed and he changed the PC to Wireless internet instead and blah blah blah.  Well, shame on me because I was part of the problem.  During his work, I turned off the security alarm notification because it was beeping every 10 seconds since it didn't have a phone signal and driving me bonkers.  Turns out the phone was never reconnected....I figured this out at 10pm as I'm getting ready for bed and noticed the notification light was still on.

Day 3 - Tuesday (Today)
Wake up and the TV in the bedroom is out.  We try to restart the UVerse box - no worky.  I tried 2 more times and that worked. All other TVs are ok.  Still no phone and guess what?  No internet on the PC either!  Another phone call - only 20 minutes this time and this time the tech is suppose to arrive between 12 and 4pm.  (It's 3:26 and I'm still waiting).  I threw a mild hissy fit today on the phone which is why the call lasted the full 20 minutes and I pulled the "Don't make me go back to DirecTv" threat.

All of these things are making me angrier and tireder.  We've only got half our Christmas shopping done and I'm tired of trying to accomodate what everyone else wants to do for Christmas.  What about me and my family?  We've never get the chance to start our own holiday traditions because we have to attend or host the events for both sides of our family and sometimes I just want it to be us.  Just the 3 of us.  Alone and quiet and making our own special memories.

In Conclusion:

• I'm a bit of a hypochondriac
• I hate technology
• Families are annoying
• UVerse is better than DirecTv

Obsession of the Day: Chinese Chippendale Chairs

Today was our first snow to experience back in Arkansas.  I suppose it flurried overnight but left enough to blanket the yards and rooftops.  Roads are clear though and that's good.  I took Lil' E outside to play in it and she was not having it.  She kept saying "Oh No My Slide!!"  "Oh No My Basketball Goal!"  "Oh No My Table"  "It's Dirty!!"  and she wouldn't touch it at all.  I did, however, sing the Bubble Guppies theme song and got a smile out of her. 

On to the topic of the day:


When I say Chippendale, you think this......

When I say Chippendale, I think this.......

Then I think of this......

I've seen them. Twice.

And then I think of Chinese Chippendale chairs.


I love Chinese Chippendale Chairs~what a lot of people (like myself for years) refer to as bamboo chairs.  They are called Chippendale for Thomas Chippendale who lived in the 1700s in England and was a renowned interior designer and furniture maker who introduced the style.  It's truly amazing that Chinese Chippendale or Chinoiserie is still a popular design staple today. 


You'll notice in the pictures below there are many of today's designers recreating these looks.  If you want to look at more Chinoiserie style items I encourage you to visit chinoiseriechic.blogspot.com.  That Beth is an abundant resource for inspiration and links to purchase Chinoiserie items.  During my research I found about 20 photos of chairs I wanted to include for this post, but thought since she's already done the work you should directly visit her site.  Hope you enjoy!

Courtesy of Chinoiserie Chic

Courtesy of Jonathan Adler

Courtesy of V and M

Graciella Rutkowski Interiors, via decorpad.com

Courtesy of STYLEBEAT

I'll take the beverage cart too. 

Courtesy of Society Social

Courtesy of Design Workshop, Inc.

Courtesy of The Regency Furniture