Another World

Princess Maren is reading.  I love it.  I love this stage of discovery when every painstakingly sounded out word is like how I imagine it would be for Columbus stepping out of the boat into a whole new world.  The possibilities are endless.  The adventures too numerous to count. She gives me a triumphant look, a smug little grin, and is off to the next continent.  You go girl.

Project

Do you ever look at words and think the spelling looks totally wrong?  Is that how you spell project?  It just looks wrong.  Anyway, I finally completed a little DIY project endeavor. 

Here's our sorry little water-stained, nail polished, too many hot pots left on it, cloroxed, had  it since the year we married table top.  Pitiful.

The thing was, I didn't mind the legs and the antiqued finish on the rest of the table and it's  actually still very sturdy.  It's a little wider than most tables, and I liked that too as far as having company and serving family style goes.

After a little trial and quite a bit of error in the form of Polyshades and going against the grain, (eh Captain?) we were redeemed by some custom mixed Old Masters gel stain and Cowboy's Momma (who happens to work for Old Masters AND live across the street). The result was worth it!  I love my table top now more than I did when we first bought it.  Seriously.

Now came my next quandry.  What to do with the chair seats?  Originally they were the same stain color as the table top. Minus the water stains and nail polish but plus some ground in strawberry jam, spaghetti sauce, and other unidentifiable remnants of past meals. Honestly, after what we had to go through to get the table top color, I knew there was no way I was gonna get close to matching that.

The thought came to mind to upholster them.  I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on this though.  The M's still have their share of spillage - OK - the Captain and I do, too.  But, one day at Walmart I found these chair pads. Two bucks a piece. Already cut to fit.  Sold. Figured I could find some cheap fabric on E-bay.

Then I went to Target a couple days later and found this.  It was a duvet cover but I loved the fabric color and I liked the feel of it and it was serioulsly marked down.  See that nice little red sticker in the corner? Love little red stickers.

Sold! I had more than enough fabric to cover six chairs and the backing of the duvet cover will make a nice coordinating table cloth.

I gave them a couple good coats of Scotchguard, but if they do get hopelessly yuck, I didn't spend enough to feel horribly bad about it.  They aren't perfect, but in the words of my nephew Tyeson - I "wike" them.

For about $80 and a little joy and pain ( ooo, what a great 90's dance tune! - sunshine and rain) we got us a good looking dining room table again.  I wike it. I wike it a-wot.

Bday x 3

The Captain and his womb companions had a birthday last week.  They have been out and about for 41 years now.  An accomplishment of sorts, I would say.  The Captain scored this year.  He had three, count 'em, three, birthday celebrations this year. 

PARTAY 1!

A mild celebration.  We all gathered at the nursing home. For my Dad's sake, not the Captain's, just to make that clear.  We celebrated the September birthdays on this side of the fam.  Jackson turned 7. Kleyton turned 8 and the Captain turned 41.  How fun is it to turn 41 with a Lego cake...

and a Hovaround!

My Grandma also turns 85 this month, but we spared her the Lego cake. Which was absolute deliciousness by the way.

PARTAY 2!!

The Captain got done with work last Friday and jetted out to Cali to meet up with his bro and sis.  Pretty sure this was the party to remember.  Or forget? Depending how much alcohol was consumed?  I think they had a pretty darn good time.  It had been awhile since the triplets had all been together since they are all sort of strewn across the western US of A and with busy lives and busy families, it makes getting togther that much harder.  Glad he got to go! Happy Birthday to you too, Chris and Kim!

PARTAY 3!!!

It's always a party at our house when the Captain's truck hits the drive, but this time the girlies did a little more screamin', huggin', and kissin' to commemorate the event.  They missed having Dad home on his birthday.  We celebrated with salmon croquettes and  homemade carrot cake - the Captain's birthday meal of choice.  The girls were thumbs up on the salmon croquettes but our tastes veer more to the side of chocolate as far as cake goes. 

So Happy Birthday Honey! We love your weird, a bit goofy, Office-loving self.  Thanks for taking such good care of us!