currently loving...more like obsessing

Check these chairs out I found on craigslist for $85 a piece, I want SO bad. 

acrylic chairs

How amazing would those look paired with an old rustic dining table or a saarinen table? Reupholstered with this fabric:

faux ostrich leather

 or this one 

fun floral

 or even this one? 

schumacher chaing mai dragon

Are you salivating like me yet?

I want. No. I need these in my life, they are so cool! 

Everett's Joke of the Day

Everett: Mommy I have a joke for you.
Me: Ok, sweetie what is it?
Everett: Why do animals sit on the toilet?
Me: I don't know, why do animals sit on the toilet?
Everett: (In a a very enthusiastic voice) Becaaauuuse, they don't have a potty chair to go on!

Cue loads of laughter from both of us, because he's three and potty talk is hilarious -- mommy laughter because it's the cutest darn thing to witness my three year old telling jokes!

These little moments are what make mommy-hood SO worth it.

just trying to keep this in my head

Who ever said my house with small children was going to be clean? Who? And why did I believe it? I probably told myself this lie, when I didn't have children and couldn't imagine that two little people could run such a muck. Life is messy, sometimes in the most literal sense. Thank you, Mary Randolph Carter, who ever you are for uttering these words. It keeps me going in this season of my life. 

this is glamorous

Readers are Leaders

My sister in-law always says 'Readers are Leaders" and it's true. Although, I wouldn't call myself much of a leader. I am a reader, I have loved books for as long as I can remember. Picture it, a girl under the blankets with a flashlight because she just had to finish that last chapter. Yup, that was me. Nerdy advanced reading classes. Yup, me again. Devouring 400 hundred page chapter books in fourth grade, guilty. Books transport you to other worlds and lives. That's probably the main reason why I loved books as a kid, it helped me forget the world I was forced to live in at the time and focus on grand adventures and amazing places.
Naturally when I had children, reading was and is important to me. I started reading to Everett when he was 6 weeks old, it was part of our bedtime routine. Did he understand a word of it, no. But experts say it helps language development and form a love of reading. It is true, he does love reading, at least being read to. Hopefully that transfers over to wanting to read when he gets older. When Zooey came along, it was harder to read to her. Second kid syndrome, poor thing. But I had two kids under the age of two, it was tough goings at first. Slowly things got easier as they both got older and she actually brings me books to read to her now and she really has started to love books. Which makes me feel less like a failure that I didn't read to her as much when she was a baby.

When we go shopping and the children want toys I always try and offer books, I will buy books over toys any day. We also go to the library more often now that the kiddos are older, it's gotten a lot easier to manage them. It's fun they have a new rotation of books coming in and its WAY cheaper then buying books all the time. I also buy books at Goodwill they are usually cheap like 99 cents or a couple dollars which is cheaper then buying new, especially when they can be a little rough on books anyways. Readers may not always make leaders (in my case) but it is a whole lot of fun if you let it. There are so many amazing stories that people can come up with, it reminds me that imagination does not die when you become a grown-up. Opening a book or going to an art gallery is proof of that.
Now go get a book, would ya!

Shattered Dreams

Ok, that title is a little dramatic, ok, really dramatic. You may remember I wanted to make a chalkboard out of this mirror.

But, it was sitting up against a wall by the slider in our home and I shut the door too hard and it toppled over shattering into a million pieces. Hence, the title. It was a big bummer moment for sure, but now it means I have one less thing on my giant to-do list. Except, for the fact that I know have a giant pretty wooden frame with nothing in it. Hmmm. Maybe I will figure out something to do with it, ohh there goes that list not getting shorter again.

oh, yeah. Remember how I was re-upholstering a chair?

Um, so yeah it may be almost a year since I decided to re-upholster my first chair. Let me tell ya, it's been difficult. Not because of the project itself, over all I'd say it's been pretty darn easy. Finding the TIME has been another thing. My husband took a job last year that required him to be gone 5 1/2 days a week, so mommy free time was very few and far between! And then winter came and we have no garage so I didn't feel like painting an old chair in 40 degree weather. If you'd like to catch up on the sloooowwww progress check it out here and here. If you can't recall what this chair looked liked before here you go:

And here is what it looks like now:

The somewhat finished product.  There are a few more things that need finished: the cording, the seat cushion cover sewed on, the bottom screwed back on, and the felt covering up the underside of the seat. 

stud muffin and stud muffette