One of the side benefits of buying this new home was that the previous woman, who’d lived here for 13 years, had named it Betty. That kind of cinched it for me.

Betty was the name of the woman who owned and rented me my last place. She was a sweet little old lady who lived above me and I loved her. She passed away a few years ago, and for me, the heart went out of the place.

When I moved in here, one of the first things my sister did was take down that waterfall crystal chandelier in the dining room. It just wasn’t me. It was just extra shiny.

I just got this new little crystal globe for the entry. I saw it in the window of a shop in my new neighborhood. It was just going dark, and I was walking down the middle of the street with some friends during a street fair, spotted it and I had to go back for it. It’s especially pretty when lit.

I like to think of it as giving Betty back some of her bling.