the eugene bean

J has been into interior decorating recently. For Halloween he spent hours making pumpkins and ghosts and then spent more hours taping them on every flat surface he could reach. You know they stayed up well into November. (I still haven’t put my suitcase away from my Phoenix trip.) J’s new trend is snowflakes. He made about 10 of them for the tree. Now if you look really hard you can see a bit of pine needles sticking out from a bunch of cut up, white computer paper.

Today J renovated my bookshelf with clay creations. I had just finished cleaning the house and I had to try very hard to appreciate his artistic creativity rather then fuss about the new mess. Then I realized his art actually looked good on that bookshelf, which contained such a strange assortment of stuff that I was moved to photograph it.

If you look at the bookshelf in the altogether, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to it. The furniture itself doesn’t have any real value, although it does its job well. Let’s dissect it shelf by shelf, from the bottom up:

My scrapbooks are here, along with some other stuff. I have a circle journal; the kids’ first Christmas photographs that I need to buy frames for, and a tin that was once full of yummy popcorn. The scrapbooks are clearly the crown jewel of this shelf; they make my heart happy just to look at the covers.

Next up I have a shelf primarily for my Aunt Betsy’s pottery. You can also get a pretty good view of J’s fluorescent clay creations. The Olive Bowl is my number one fave, with the Garlic Holder a very close second. Oh, and I can’t forget J’s leaf placemat. It’s a school-made gift that’s too big to hold on to but it’s too soon for me to throw it away. (Not that I didn’t appreciate it, I just don’t want to keep it forever.) I have to wait till he forgets about it, so it is biding it’s time on my shelf.

This next shelf is my favorite. One of my most prized possessions is a square platter that I received as a wedding gift from family in Japan. It’s beautiful. Sitting in it is yet another clay creation, this one a product of Ellis’s demands and Ty’s hard work. I asked Ty to explain the animals. They are:

Sharkdog (you know, the one that looks like a cross between a shark and a dog)
NuNu (the mousey looking thing)
Bob (The Shark)
Willy (a surf board more or less)
the dragon (we never did make a definitive choice on a name)
These guys all live on an Animal Island. NuNu is talking into some kind of microphone because Ellis wanted him to be talking into some kind of microphone.

Next to the platter is a Buddha. One of my student’s gave him to me for Christmas last year. I like my Buddha, he makes me smile. On that shelf I also have 2 picture frames. One holds the kids and their cousins on the beach in MS and the other is of the boys with a bench they painted in memory of Alex. I love those photos, and I love the frames. The piece de résistance, however, is the birthday greeting from George W. and Laura. They’ve been presiding over our living room with their cheesy smiles since Ty’s birthday. Revolting, yet funny. (Thanks, Mom!)

On the top shelf, I keep some books. They rotate frequently but I always have the Lord of the Rings boxed set and a Saints book from Granny Dot. Right now I have a couple girly novels up there because looking at their covers reminds me of good times. I have another framed photo up there, a picture of Ty’s great grandfather’s restaurant. There’s a spider perched on top, his job is to keep an eye on the living room. He does a pretty good job overseeing the place.

So, that’s the bookshelf and my play by play of its contents. I don’t know what the point is, except that I wanted to be able to look back and remember. Hope you enjoyed peeking into my living room!