A Little Makeover Action

TA-DA! Here it is, the much anticipated chair makeover reveal! There is the horribly disgusting "before" pic and the super-amazing-I-can't-believe-I-finally-like-these-chairs "after". I really can't believe how awesome it turned out. I only have the one done so far, I can't wait to do the three others. One more will join our fishy friend there on the front porch. He is in for a makeover himself so that he doesn't clash so ridiculously and take away from my beautiful "new" chairs. Then the other two will find a new home on the back deck along with a long cushion of the same fabric to top the built in bench on the deck. Should look pretty fabulous. I inherited these chairs along with a black table that has already seen its own makeover day a while back. It now sports white legs and a magenta chalk board top. Anyway, the chairs have been pushed all around the house waiting for me to decide what to do with them. I was almost convinced to give up on them and just donate them to Goodwill when I found this fabric on clearance at JoAnn's and fell in love. I'm so glad I didn't get rid of the chairs now, I knew I could revive them! So, with clearance fabric and a few cans of spray paint, I have four awesome new outdoor chairs for less than $10 bucks a piece! And, they'll look even awesome-er after Mr. Fish gets his makeover and I take a scrub brush to my siding. Eventually, I daydream about painting the shutters and porch railings, too, but all in due time, huh?

The Total Letdown Post

**Excuse Alert** So, I had all intentions of posting last night. But, as we all know, I did not. You see, my next semester starts next week, so before posting last night, I thought I would try to be a diligent student and log on and see if my class was up on the website yet so that I could peek around and get an idea of what I was in for. I was trying to be on the ball, you know get a leg up, a running start...well, that was a bad idea. See, I am only taking one class this semester because it is a six credit class! That means just this one class fulfills my part time status all by itself. Let's just say that the info on the class site was a little intimidating. Actually, I totally freaked myself out and told Zac that it looked like way too much work and I didn't think I would be able to do it. Then, I spent quite a few more minutes freaking out, much to Zac's dismay (he hates when I get all nervous and stress-y). Then, I plopped on the couch and watched "Scrubs". It's my new Netflix addiction. I never saw it when it was new, but I sure am having a grand old time watching almost ten years later, can't believe what I was missing, so funny! So, just in case you're wondering, that was not, in fact, the letdown of the post. The real letdown is that I finished one of the four chairs that I am redoing! Doesn't sound like a letdown, right? Especially when I say that it looks AWESOME! The bummer is that I don't have a pic to share with you yet. I threw my camera in my work bag today, hoping I would have it handy for any picture worthy moment that might cross my path, but alas, it is now trapped in my car and I am unwilling at this late hour to go out in the cold and retrieve it, so, you will just have to wait. I know. I'm very unreasonable, but really, it's pretty cold out there.

Ice Cream, You Scream...

We all scream for Dairy Queen! I guess Nana just can't stay away from her girls for too long, because she came over this evening after her day off to bring over a slipcover she made today for the chairs I'm repurposing for the front porch. They are awesome. I thought I was going to be able to put it together, but realized I need a second coat on the spray paint, so maybe tomorrow. I can't wait to share 'em though! So, after that, Nana asked if we wanted to go out for ice cream. Um, of course we did.

More Progress...

Well, first, let's get it over with and talk about my two day absence. I know, I know. Friday night I was actually invited to a friend's house to just hang out with a few other moms. This never happens to me. I never go out by myself. I was very excited. I stayed out until 11:30. I came home to two crying kids and a stressed husband who still needed to do homework. I forgot all about posting. Yesterday, I worked at the mall until 10:00pm. Laramie always gets to wait up for me when I work at the mall, so when I got home I grabbed something to eat and conducted her bedtime ritual. I forgot all about posting, again. Ok, now that my confession is over, here's an updated bathroom pic. The tub and toilet are fully functional and have both been christened. Zac broke it in last night while I was at work and gave the girls a bath. He said they loved it and didn't want to get out, and he finally forced them out when they started to look like shriveled up old women. Bonus...Laramie loves it because it has the shower head attachment on the faucet, so it was really easy to rinse her hair. For now, the sink is just sitting in its position waiting for me to order a faucet, which I will do once I finish this post so that I don't get scolded by my father again. He's only "reminded" me once or twice that he cannot hook up the plumbing without said faucet. So, there she is. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...I think!

Hooked

Here's what I did to be productive this evening. I hung up a couple hooks that I scored for $1.50 a piece at Hobby Lobby waaay back when we first moved into the house (read: a year and a half ago). They, along with countless other odds and ends (mainly picture frames) have been hanging out in the closet in my office waiting for a home to be found for them. Well, hooks, today was your day. See the hooks on the opposite wall? That is a cute little wall plaque thing-y with three knobs across the bottom that my mom bought me a while ago (ironically also from Hobby Lobby). It sat on the shelves above my desk for quite a while after she gave it to me. I thought I would hang it in my office, but finally realized this little wall was the perfect spot for it and a perfect place to hang necklaces. I couldn't believe the transformation of this weird little alcove with just one little wall hanging, it totally changed the look. Once my full length mirror got displaced out into the hallway when I rearranged my bedroom, I decided this little alcove would become a cute little "dressing nook". My plan is to find something smaller to replace the dry sink (I'll return that to my parents for now), hopefully something that still provides a little storage, but is about half the width, therefore allowing my mirror to fit into the space with it instead of randomly sitting pretty much in the middle of everything. At first, I thought about painting the hooks. They're kinda dark for my taste, but I wanted to feel accomplished tonight, so I thought I would at least get them hung, and then realized they actually match the one on the other wall, so I guess I'll leave 'em be...for now.

Givin' It All She's Got

So, normally, I just snap a few pics each night to get one for the blog. Sometimes I've just taken one. Tonight I took a lot. Thirty-one to be exact. And that's not counting the ones I deleted because they were just that worthless. Both girls were up waaay past their bedtimes, so I wanted to take advantage of that, you know, at least make lemonade of the situation, and get a pic of the two of them together for once. Well, that didn't pan out so well. The picture capturing gods were just not on my side. And neither was my camera. Oh how I long for a fancy schmancy-er camera. The shutter speed on my little guy is just too slow for the likes of toddlers. Even on sports mode. The FinePix people definitely did not take that into account when they created this camera! So, anyway, I thought this one was pretty cute. Look at that little face. What determination. See that leg in the back? Almost looks like it's growing right out of the side of her head? She really wanted to climb onto the footstool all by herself. And, by golly, she did. She's becoming quite the climber the past couple weeks. I'm definitely gonna have to keep an eye on this one.

Daffodils

Who doesn't love a good daffodil? They just make me smile. My sweet little girlies picked these for me over the weekend from our backyard. And then picked some more. And a couple more. It's a good thing our yard has a lot of daffodils, because they don't stand a chance against Laramie. And of course, where Laramie goes, Irelyn follows. But, I can't really blame her, I totally understand how she just can't resist those happy sun-shiny blossoms. Each time she brought me one she told me it was 'cause I was "the best mommy in the world". It is absolutely humbling to hear her say that. Most of the time, I feel like I am barely keeping it together!