Countdown to Passion

Final rehearsals this weekend, and first concert on Sunday.  I've been singing since January, all the time every day, while I'm frying the mushrooms, while I'm dusting the shelves, while I'm hoovering the carpet (well the Dyson we have is very quiet).

So far, I've taught myself:

To sing and articulate at the same time (in French)
To be PRESENT when I sing
To live the story of the song
To sing down to earth
To push out resonant sound (to compensate for lack of vocal volume)
To hit higher notes
To breathe more effectively (still difficult)
To sing from the 'base' (a bit more than before, still difficult)
To sing with earth, air, fire and water
To be unashamed to sing any time, anywhere (R&B are not unashamed)
To ignore criticism
To have a jolly good time

This is what I rely on:

Vogel echinacea throat spray
Propolis throat spray
Propolis throat drops
Swedish bitters in litres of water


Still to do:

Sew button on jacket (check I can still fit in to it, expanded lungs don't you know)
Iron skirt
Do all cooking and shopping in advance
Programme concert venues into the satnav

Made Over

Chez nous, the Changing Rooms phenomenon is not passé, it is alive, and filled with excitement and wonder, because the whole thing happened while I was out of the country and I haven't had time to get bored with it.  It also adapts to an ecological recycling approach, reducing over consumerism and saving cash.

JC and I have just changed R's room - the change to teenage/adult, and because we are dividing R&B's shared room into two dens;  a project which involves putting up a sliding door partition with frosted glass, recycling and re-vamping existing furniture, using ecological materials.

We had to put up the partition ourselves as we couldn't get anyone to reply to our requests for an estimate.  This is French DIY - you have to do it yourself because you can't get the labour or it's too expensive. I can't show you the partition, as we encountered French Shopping disasters;  had to order the doors, when phoned for doors, had already sold out, took the 2 left in the shop, and still waiting for the 3rd.

The whole project took over a week of work, full time, the hardest thing was being responsable for the cooking at the same time.

We love LED clip on light, IKEA

My taste is Arts and Crafts movement, the more colours the merrier and with an abundance of painted on plants , R's taste is your standard square black red and grey industrial, so it was a bit of a challenge for me but I think we found Compromise.

As the room was now divided in two and R's room small, I painted as much white as I could to make the objects recede into the wall.

renover secretaire en pin

We bought the solid pine traditional French style secretaire at Emmaus for 15 Euros.  We cannot permit ourselves to buy a reconstituted wood fibre and melamine ecological monstrosities from IKEA which will sit next to R's bed and outgas carconogenic and toxic fumes for 10 years (however this type of furniture over 10 years old can be recycled rather than destroyed).   R immediately took against the desk;  it was old, it was orange glazed pine, it was never designed with a computer in mind,  it was scribbled and scratched on and to make things worse, by a GIRL.

We experimented with using cheapo caustic soda,  leaving for 24 hours and then neutralising with hydrochloric acid.  We scraped off the worst of the gunk and sanded the rest.  The worst paint was the local DIY slightly better for the environement, which isn't very interested in sticking.  The best was BIOFA water based undercoat and top coat.

Metal office locker as wardrobe and recycled peg board  and hanger found in bin

The knobs are Knobs of Contention.  Here is how I see them;  a modern take on a traditional French design, made in porcelaine, funky as slightly outsized and in a colour range.  Here is how R sees them; not metal, not square, and shouldn't be more than 2 colours, preferably 1, grey.

R however, enjoyed the transformation of the desk, and can appreciate the solid wood ecological quality.

Solar LED lamp, left, right, LED clip on lamp, both orange

B took the opportunity to enjoy a mini-makeover for his den.  He has 3 multi-plugs full of wires in order to supply the gadgets he needs to live in comfort.  We tidied them up with IKEA's excellent wire- tidying organisers and put a red metal cabinet under the desk to put ugly stuff and wires in, and cut the large carpet in two to make one for each den, and he has IKEA's state of the art desk chair guaranteed 10 years, good.

Overall, a joy to be in, visually pleasing, practical, A TRIUMPH and R loves it (apart from the knobs, have agreed to change the ones on the bed to grey).