2 moments of underwhelming intelligence

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First, a big fat THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to check out my very first post, peruse the different pages on my blog, leave a comment, share my link on Facebook and follow me. I hope I made it all worth your time. Thank you, thank you!

Now, onto the underwhelming. I learned 2 things this week that I feel like I probably should have already known. But, I didn’t, and I’m happy to know them now and feel obligated to bring them to you. Lucky you! 😉

#1 – I LOVE to decorate/accessorize (whatever you want to call it) with natural elements. We now have a plethora of driftwood decor, and we have 8 foot long bamboo poles, a tall glass container of sea glass, a few bowls of sea urchins and some coral mixed in at random. I have had two pieces of a sponge like coral on one of our side tables for a long time now. But pretty much from the moment I set them down after dusting around them they start dropping sand. And after a week (and some excessive shaking for photo purposes) the side table would look like this:

Fast forward to my Driftwood Christmas Tree project from the last post, and my continuation of driftwood projects that I will be selling at the December meeting of the Brit Club of Curacao. And just the constant handling of said natural items, all which have a little bit of nature on them that I don’t really want. For some reason, out of the blue, I had this thought for my sandy coral: what if I could put some sort of clear, protective coat on it that would seal it all up? I know, underwhelming! I’ve had the stupid coral dropping sand on my side table for over a year and this is the first time I’ve thought of it. Ugh! Anyway, I went to one of our island home improvement stores, Building Depot, and bought some Krylon Crystal Clear satin finish varnish. I came home and knocked as much of the loose sand out of the coral and then varnished the bajeezus (makes me want some pasta, Liz!) out of the two pieces.

What do you know, a week later and my side table still looks like this:

And yes, I realize these pieces of coral are really underwhelming (figure out the theme of the post yet?) in photos, but I really do like them in real life. And, the varnish solution isn’t perfect. But I would give it an improvement percent of 99.3. The coral is very porous so it’s not like I could clog every crevice with the varnish without affecting the look of the coral. End result = happiness + less dusting which = double happiness. (Those of you who didn’t take real world math may not be able to follow along with my sophisticated equation.)  😉

And for underwhelming intelligent moment #2 let’s go back to those cute little driftwood Christmas trees and that extra little level of nature that I don’t really want and enter random thought – compressed air. In the vein of full disclosure, I was in the process of making my 12th tree. Seriously, to say thoughts don’t happen quick around here is an understatement. Anyhow, I just happen to have a can of 3M Dust Remover on hand that I bought at an island superstore called Goisco, for when dog hair and crumbs other randomness get into my keyboard. So, I took this tree back outside…

See all those dark spots in that little crevice, that’s loose sand that wasn’t really budging when I wiped it with a cloth. But after a quick spray of the compressed air, and a little help from Marley, it now looks like this:

Seriously, it’s so simple it’s kind of embarrassing that I’m announcing it like it’s revolutionary. But, the truth is, if I wasn’t planning to sell these trees I really wouldn’t care about the sand. I mean, I’ve lived with a sandy side table for over a year. But, again, it makes me happy to now know this, even though it seems so simple.

I would say the moral of this story is that I am not that bright finding a productive use for something outside of it’s obvious purpose is awesome. Of course, I may be the only one to whom this was NOT obvious. 🙁  If only the Krylon Crystal Clear can said For Metal – Wood – Wicker – Coral and the 3M Dust Remover said for Home, Office and Driftwood. I think I would have seen the light just a tiny bit quicker. 😉

What about you? Had any of those moments where you were really happy to have learned something but wanted to kind of hide that you didn’t already know it? Or any other super simple tips that seem to elude the general public? I’d love to just know them all now. 🙂

God Speed Andy Rooney, you will be missed.

And just for fun, I drove by this little house the other afternoon and had to turn around to take a picture. It’s kind of wonky because I was holding up traffic, but a good representation of some local housing. I love the color, the rusty roof and the haggard light fixture over the door drooping over the house number. Enjoy your space today!