Chairs

So when I finished the desk project, I jokingly mentioned that I needed to find some cool chairs to put with it. Really, I never imagined I would actually find some. Well, a couple of weeks ago I spotted two diamonds in the rough in a pile of bulk pick-up on the side of the road (Gotta love bulk pick-up.) I also said I don't make a habit of dumpster diving, but I think it just may have turned into one. I have to have something to do in my "spare" time since I don't have school projects anymore.

I was on my way to pick up the babysitter and I didn't have much time to maneuver them to fit, so the back of the van kept opening mid-route. It was kind of funny. But these are the measures that must be taken if you are going to scrounge through somebody else's garbage and take stuff home.

Here is the before:
And here is the after:

Yes, I painted them purple. I must be in my "purple" phase, but I assure you, I've got plenty of other colors in store for my future projects. I just felt like purple would add the right color pop to this part of the house. And hey, you can't go wrong with free chairs--if nothing else I can just put them back on the curb.

Okay I didn't just paint them purple, first I sanded them, spray painted them yellow, then spray painted them purple, and then I sanded parts of the purple to expose the yellow. At this point I felt that the purple I did was a little too bright and glossy. I still wanted to stick with purple though, so I got a slightly different shade, then painted and sanded again. Way more work then it should have been, but like I said, I need something to do. Then I put on some poly-urethane and called the paint job good. I like how the color turned out and how you can see the details in the yellow.

Here is a close up of some of the details (Okay, seriously though, don't look too closely. It is so far from perfect):
I got the upholstery fabric on sale at JoAnn's. I know it's a light fabric and that my kids will probably smear spaghetti sauce and pudding all over them in a matter of weeks, but I'm going to scotch gaurd them and hope for the best. I'd never upholstered anything before so it was a bit of a learning curve. The seat cover? No problem. For the back, I covered a piece of cardboard in the shape of the chair with quilt batting and fabric, then glued it on. The front was the most tricky because I had to use upholstery tacks which by the way are sharper than they look. I unwittingly sliced my pinky while doing one and didn't realize it till I saw blood all over the fabric. It came out thanks to Oxy-clean. I cut another finger doing the second one too, but they're done.

Here they are at the computer desk:...our comfy, purple, re-purposed roadkill rescues. I love them!

Grocery Clerk, Teeth and Being Pretty

A while back as we drove away from the grocery store Erin told me that she knew what she wanted to be when she grows up. I was so excited because she's never mentioned anything before. "What?" I asked. "You know those people that check out your groceries at the store? That's what I want to be." Not a teacher or a doctor or a musician or even a princess--a grocery store clerk. Later I asked her why and she said, "Because it looks easy." I asked, "Don't you want a job that is fun?" Her response was, "Oh, I think it looks fun too." I may have mentioned that it would be a good job during high school or to earn money for college, but that ultimately she wouldn't make much money doing that. Although... every time I ask her about college she assures me she isn't going. Maybe she's on the right track after all.

Later she told me, "Mom, you know how I know that Dora show isn't real? It's because that monkey wears boots... and talks." So, not because it's a cartoon? I laughed.

That same week Erin lost her second tooth, or should I say that Jared pulled it out with dental floss. After seeing that Marissa became obsessed with her teeth. One night she came up to me with dental floss and said, "Mommy, my tooth hurts. Can you pull it out?" I told her I would pull it out in four years. She said okay, then ran off yelling, "Guys, mommy said she would pull my tooth out in four years!" Then I went to check on the status of the teeth brushing and found Marissa on the counter with some dental floss in her hands. I asked if she had brushed her teeth and she said, "I'm not done pulling out my tooth." (So I actually wrote this story before she knocked her tooth out. I guess she wasn't kidding about wanting it out.)

Tonight as I was tucking Marissa in I said, "Goodnight my sweet Marissa." She looked up at me, put her hand on my cheek and said, "Goodnight my sweet mommy" and then kissed me. I love that girl!

The other day Alex found the 72 hour kits and was asking what they were for. I told them they were for emergencies and he said, "So like if someone can't breathe or something then you use those?" Yes, not breathing is definitely an emergency, but hopefully he'll realize that's not the solution by the time he can babysit.

About a week ago I went to the store with just Erin. Two people in line kept telling her how beautiful she was and how she should be a model. In the car I told her how everyone keeps telling her that and she said, "Yeah, I know. How did I get to be so pretty anyway? I mean, I'm way prettier than you and daddy." (A little dose of Erin is always good for the self-esteem.) This, of course, is said in all seriousness. She has no idea she is being funny and would not appreciate being laughed at. She was just stating the facts. And I must agree, she is prettier than us and I don't know how that happened either.

Twins, again.

Remember this post?

I was looking at some old pictures and came across a few of Alex that looked just like Connor. Jared and I were having a good chuckle over it. Some of them are way too hard to tell them apart in. Not too much genetic variation I guess. Crazy! See if you can tell who's who.

Models

My friend Barbara is a talented woman and sews some amazing clothes. She has a shop on Etsy and needed some last minute models to show the clothes off better. She is even featured on the blog Make It and Love It where she has a free give-away. My girls were lucky enough to be chosen to model. Our other friend Heidi is a talented photographer and did some really creative shoots with them. I definitely need lessons from both of them. Erin was a good model and kept striking some great poses. It could have gone either way with her, but I'm glad she got into it. She looks so cute!Marissa was another story. She would not crack a single smile no matter what we did. Tough crowd! I think she was a little unsure of what was going on, but she still looked cute in Barbara's little tutu.
Later that night I decided I should learn how to use my DSLR camera and went out back to practice doing the blurry background with the kids. Even though Marissa's hair was messy and she was in her pajamas, I still think she looked so cute. These are also the last pictures I took of her with all her teeth.