| I can’t shop at Walmart anymore. Yesterday I was at Walmart buying a large bag of Purina ONE dog food for Conan, my Wonder Dog, who weighs in at 104 lbs. I was in the check-out line when a lady behind me asked if I had a dog.What did she think I had – a hippotamus?So because in was in a long line up and had nothing better to do, I impulsively told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, but was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that it might not be the wisest thing to do, as last time I ended up in the hospital – but I did lose 30 pounds before waking up in intensive care with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and an IV in my left arm. But, I continued, it’s essentially a perfect diet. The way it works is, you load your pockets with Purina ONE Nuggets and eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete, so it’s great – as long as you add water.Now everyone within listening distance was now enthralled with my story.Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stopped to pee on a fire hydrant and a car hit me. I thought the guy behind me was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard. So Walmart won’t let me shop there anymore. |
| Speaking of dogs, mine has taught me a lot over the years about food, sleep and design. It hasn’t always been an easy road, but it has been a fortuitous one. What I’ve learned so far: |
| 1. Mattresses (naps) are worth getting excited about.Conan is a good sleeper, which is to say that he sleeps almost as much as I do. Most of it on top of me. But the moment I open one eye, he is awake, firmly aware that it was the great mattress that made for our duo Sleeping Beauty rest. My bed is, without question, the most looked forward to part of my day, other than my morning cappuccino. Not only do I sleep in it; I write, read, nap, ponder, and watch squirrels from it. All in all, I revel in it. |
| Interior design law says that you should prioritize your home furnishing dollars on 3 things: the flooring, seating and mattresses. So, mattresses. You’re probably not wearing the same clothes or driving the same car you had in university, so why are you still sleeping on the same mattress? Or a hand-me-down one? Entry-level and budget-friendly mattresses are good enough if someone is just starting out on their own, but those of us older and more established are especially worthy of an upgrade on sleep, especially if getting out of bed comes with sound effects – ours. |
| 2. Don’t turn your nose up at unorthodox combinations. I think I started adding a dollop of cottage cheese to Conan’s dog food to keep him from inhaling it so quickly that it goes down the wrong tube or somewhere it wasn’t supposed to go. It didn’t really strike me as being a weird combination — after all, he loves kibble and he loves cheese — but when I think about it, it maybe it is a bit unsavoury. But given the speed he downs his dinner, it must be rather tasty — or tasty enough. Same with interiors.They can be unorthodox. A vibe is everything. A vibe can come from the look, feel, colour, or even the people in the home. My advice is focus on the vibe, and you will automatically formulate a home and spaces you love most ardently. |
| You may think two design styles could be seen to be too far apart from each other, like Bohemian with Traditional or Scandinavian with Country. Yet with a little creative flair (and probably an indeterminate amount of vexing), it’s possible to take the best of these two ‘worlds’ and furnish your home with the styles and colours you love. The result could be stunning – free-minded with classical opulence, minimalist efficiency with warm, personal invitations. Stay open to possibilities. What ultimately matters in the end, is how your home resonates for you. And in some cases, whether there is cottage cheese in the fridge. |
| 3. Food trumps everything. Conan doesn’t like the utopian majesty of nature walks as much as he likes food. Every morning after his cottage cheese/kibble combo, he hides under the bed until I, usually having had had a follically-challenged morning as well as trying to locate my runners, shout “cappuccino”. He comes at a sprint. Such a kindred spirit. Thus I have learned that it is truly beneficial for everyone to live near a cappuccino machine. |
| 4. Sharing is overrated. When Conan was a pup, I would put out his food and walk away, reading somewhere that you aren’t supposed to make a big deal of meal time. This might have been bad advice because one day I heard, “Grrrr!”. Investigating, Conan was alone, guarding his food with his growl. They say that this behavior shouldn’t be encouraged, and I know this is at odds with my personality, but there’s something to be said for keeping your food for yourself. It’s a unsettling realization. |
| 5. Try everything once and don’t be afraid to get rid of it if you don’t like it. |
| Allow yourself the luxury of trying something and/or changing your mind. We live in a culture where one of the greatest social disgraces is not having an opinion, so we often form our “opinions” based on the face our neighbour makes or the mutterings of the person sitting next to you, without investing the time and thought to come up with our own true feelings about why we really don’t like that light fixture. Cultivate that capacity for negative capability. Just say, “No”, and take your God-given poetic license to spit it out on the floor or to donate it to Goodwill. |
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