La Chaise Remodèle: Deux

I went to one garage sale this summer. One.
Luckily, it was pretty wonderful. It was one of those ones you see on your way home from somewhere (like swimming lessons) and realize you have a wallet-full of cash and the sun is shining and you feel good and know that it is kismet!
For $15, I got a ton of nice clothes for me, Doug and Evie, a gardening book, a free front door and this beauty:

...No, not those... This:



So pretty.... my precious...


The girl who was selling it asked me what I was going to do with it and I told her frankly, "I have no idea- but something!" Genetics makes it impossible for me to pass over something like this and not want to take it home, give it some love, and make it all better. It was hard deciding, though, whether I wanted it to keep the masculine feel with leather, or give it a daintier touch. I went for dainty, but kept it clean for a more modern feel.

A coat of primer and two coats of Heirloom White later:


The back had to be installed first since it is inset.


Then the burlap over the back piece for sturdiness and batting for "fluff." The part that took me the most time was sewing the cushion for the seat. It was my first upholstery zipper, but thankfully it was much like installing any other kind of zipper. The major hang-up was when I realized the I couldn't use the buttons I had painstakingly covered to make the backrest tufted. That would only have worked if I had been able to install the front fabric before the back. Lesson learned... Finally, the top upholstery was brad-nailed to the frame. And...


Voila! Bonjour, mon petit jolie! (Being creative surfaces the high school French apparently...)
A cute little chair for the kiddos that looks so great in Evie's room.





I'm so in love... It may be time to retrieve the wing-back chair that has been collecting dust in my Grandparents' attic for 9 years (that Doug still brings up as an example of my inability to finish things I start, and as a reason to not buy cute projects like the one above-- can you tell this is a source of contention...?). In any case, it may be time to remove that weapon from his grasp and prove him wrong.
I think I am ready.

"This is the {post} that doesn't end, it just goes on and on, my friend..."

"...Somebody started reading it, not knowing what it was, and now they keep on reading it forever just because... it's so freaking awesome!"

One of my friends (who has a food blog here), made mini bastillas just like our Moroccan restaurant downtown P-town. She sent me the recipe she used, but it looked too involved, so I found a simplified version online and it turned out pretty wonderful. To my surprise, it wasn't any more time consuming than assembling a lasagna and the kids even ate it. Hylton is our pickiest eater by far and he was literally sucking the flaky pieces of Phyllo dough. ...Could have been because it was entirely covered in cinnamon and sugar, but whatever...




The day before Sterling started Kindergarten, Michelle and I took the kiddos to the Zoo for one last Summer fling.


Hylton loved the Sea Lions and all the kids were barking at them.


Sterling & Evie started soccer. Despite the fact that she could actually kick and pass the ball (pretty well for a 4-year-old), Evie quit the first day. Just not for her right now, I guess.


I love these action shots of Sterling. It makes it look like they are playing a knock-down, drag-out game of soccer, when in reality, they are mostly running aimlessly across the field, tugging on eachother, oblivious of the ball.










We finally got some ripe plums (a month later than last year due to El Niña); not many at all since we severely cut both trees back too late in the spring, but a few.


Speaking of El Niña, this is the day last week that we got torrential rain (1" in under an hour) and this is how our "rigged" downspout drain worked:


It's a little hard to tell in the movie, but the water is flowing right back toward the house, along the foundation and around the crawl space blocks so that it looks like we were trying to create our very own, personal moat...


This is how it was supposed to work, in theory (ie, still attached to the downspout, water flowing away from the house...):

Yes, that is packing tape...

On Sterling's first day of school, I was a little disoriented. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself, so I pulled out some material and decided to try to make Evie a pair of pajamas, which she needed in a bad way since she's been wearing pajamas 2 sizes too small for a couple of months now.
Hylton and Evie happily fell into the flow of a different kind of day together without Sterling:

With them playing so nicely together for the most part, I was able to make a nightgown in about 2 hours.




She was in love with them. She modeled them for me and then proceeded to chassé and pirouette around the living room in her new, twirly Hello Kitty pj's.


It seems like all our projects around here take us forever because life happens. Things are constantly creeping in to replace the things that really need to get done (like the gutter drain). One of those things was the East hedge of Arborvitaes that were easily 24' tall. My Dad was going to come take his power trimmer back, so we needed to get them wacked down to size.





Doug cut them down to 8'. Our next door neighbor who has lived here for 20 years says she has never seen them so short.
Unfortunately, we didn't take a picture of the before, but I have one from last winter so you can see how tall the hedge was compared to our Magnolia tree.


Sterling celebrated his 6th birthday last Monday, so we had a family gathering for him on Sunday. I decided not to do cake this time, but made fruit salad instead and put his candles into ginormous marshmallows. There were a few complaints, but Sterling was happy.


The boys- Papa Jack, Papa Larry, Uncle Scottie, Papa Scott, Sterling


Grandma DeeDee and Hlyti, Evie


Sterling showing Grandma and Grandpa his "thousand dollars" (actually $15 in ones) that came out of his card from Papa Scott.






Grandma Bobbie gettin' down with Bocce in the front yard


These pictures crack me up because there's absolutely no way you'd ever guess we were related (sarcasm alert).




Sterling in his new Mario jammies from Aunt CC.

Running With the Big Dogs

When did my baby get so tall and handsome?! He was so proud and excited to be going to school with the big kids today. Doug worked very late last night, so he wasn't able to give Sterling the customary father's blessing for the school year. He went into work late this morning so he could give one to Sterling before school, but Sterling didn't want one, so we just said a little family prayer instead. I imagine he'll change his mind when the excitement has settled, though.


This guy is such a little ham- I hope he behaves himself in class. He really loves to do silly things to make people laugh (much like his father in a classroom of people). Entertainers...
Check out those rockin' tennis shoes that Sterling picked out. They are Iron Man and they light up when he walks. I swore I would never buy character shoes that light up, but alas, here we are!


Sitting in his assigned seat with the breakfast the school provides. He met a little boy (Caleb) while we were waiting in line to get checked in and he happened to be at the same table (on the end). Sterling was really good about me leaving; he didn't seem at all concerned. I was so proud of him. His teacher is in the top left corner. She seems really excellent and we are so pleased to have her.


As I drove away from the school feeling like I had left part of myself behind, I felt some pre-cry tingling in the back of nose, which I was not expecting. But being dead inside, like Doug says I am, I choked it down. Crying is for babies. However, the Mommy in me left this note in his lunch like my mom used to do, and I left a kiss on top (a chocolate one). So hopefully, if he's sad in the middle of the day (full day Kindergarten- every day!!), he'll feel better when he sees this.
....or it'll make it worse... I dunno... :)