05.17.09
Hansel Blue
A friend of mine, one of my oldest and closest friends and probably my best friend has a tendency to give me bad advice. In a lot of ways, I am actually better off doing the opposite of what he tells me. In many ways, that's a comfort in itself. He makes me think, and gives me confidence in my own ability to decide. Thank you George. Sincerely, Thank you. You are always there for me. You always have a sympathetic ear. I know you care about me and my well being. No jealousy, no malice, no agendas. You simply care. Thank you so much. That is worth more than gold.
After closing on the townhouse, George was one of the first people I showed it to. The short version of this story is he advised me to get Oyster coloured paint from Sutherlands for the walls. He said, "It's a great colour, it matches peoples furniture, it's a pre mix, make it your 'standard' so you'll always know what coulour it is, Paula uses it on all her properties, it's just what you need. Oyster. Sutherlands."
Message Rec'd. Loud and clear.
The first project was the Laundry room. Oyster, as it turns out is a yellow colour. It would be perfect in a smokers home. To me, not a happy colour. In my mind, sunshine yellow is cheery, but I want a warm calming colour for the inside of my rental home. I want people to be glad to be home, feel calm, rest well and ultimately be energized by the environment.
Bek & I went to the store in search of a perfect colour. We kept getting close, but they were all off a tick. A huge part of the learning curve was eliminated when I asked for the formula for the colour. Essentially what I did was find the shade of white or blue that I was after and get the formula. ie: 8 units black, 8 yellow and 12 blue. After getting the formula for just a few colours I began to see what women are born with the ability to see. This has yellow, this has red, etc. Mind you, these are all shades of white. This conversation whould have been mute 20 years ago with me. Today, I understand.
As luck would have it, the woman at Home Depot was kind, patient and understanding. It's funny, my mother, who was born and spent formative years in Germany, told me very little about racism. One of her most racist remarks was, "Older coloured women are generally very good with children." I distinctly remember asking herwhy she said that, several times and in different ways as to make her thing and she said, "They are very patient."
This woman, who happened to be of colour, was very kind and patient with this Hansel child. There were no others who needed serving and in every way it seemed she enjoyed going the extra mile in serving me. Together, we mixed the perfect shade of "off white." We began with a formula and tweeked it a little. If you take an LED lite and shine it on an absolute white, it has a blueish hue to it. That's what we cooked up. I call it Hansel Blue. We start with a Behr Blah, Blah Tint Base and add to it 8 parts black and 12 parts blue-- the symbol for blue is 'E'.
If you live in one of my properties, chances are it is what colour your walls will be. It's lite, cool, soothing, and matches everything.
. . .
Forgive me, I am confused by shadows...
The Name
My spirit name is Hansel. The one who called it out of me did so quite by accident. But I have to say, my soul was stirred that day. Hansel. The happy wanderer. At least the goal is to be happy. By nature, I wander and marvel at the magnificence around me. There is so much sorrow in the world, sometimesit is just necessary to stop and say a prayer for all the pain, man's injustice to man. Most of the time, I just mosey about enjoying the fragrant beauty that surrounds me.
Someone asked me, "Oh, so you are a seeker?"
"No" was my immediate reply, "I know the destination, I am just enjoying the journey. I want to see and touch everything along the way. I want to know about people and ways of life. I want to share and discuss beliefs. I know God. I walk with God-- every day. How painful would it be not to?! I guess you could say I am a tourist."
Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!
A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."
"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.
"No", she said. "He's out."
"Then we cannot come in", they replied.
In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. "Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"
The woman went out and invited the men in.
"We do not go into a House together," they replied.
"Why is that?" she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"
His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"
Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"
"Let us heed our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his wife. "Go out and invite Love to be our guest."
The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."
Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"
The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!" Where there is pain, we wish you peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubting, we wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through them. Where there is self-doubting, we wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through them. Where there is fear, we wish you love, and courage. Now let us fill our home with Love ...
"Love is not enough,"
said the love of my life.
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