Unemployed, homeless and rocking!

Well, I'm officially unemployed. Friday was my last day at CCCS and I can say with no hesitation that quitting a job I absolutely loved was one of the hardest things I've had to do in a long time. I'm also, at the moment, currently sorta homeless. That is I have a home waiting for me in El Paso, and I have all my belongings in a truck on their way to El Paso. I even have a husband waiting for me in El Paso. I, however, am not in El Paso. I'm spending a few weeks with Dad waiting for Brian to fly back so we can drive out together.

Harley seems not to mind staying at Dad's. She LOVES rolling around and lying in the grass. Better get your fill now, little girl, there's not a lot of grass in El Paso!

So what am I doing with myself while I'm waiting to move West? I'm relaxing! Of course, my idea of relaxing may not be what most folks consider relaxing. I spent the first two days cleaning and organizing, which is not only relaxing but also satisfying! But I like projects I can really sink my teeth into (think laying new bathroom flooring). So I decided that now was the perfect time to finally re-do Mom's old rocking chair.

I have no idea exactly how old this rocking chair is, but I know for sure that the fabric is at least as old as I am, and probably a few years more. Mom told me once that when she got this chair it had several layers of poorly applied paint. It took her a lot of elbow grease to get the paint off and varnish it. In some of the corners and hard to reach spots, you can still see hints of green, red and black paint. I remember tracing the patterns on the fabric as a small child, and hours on end sitting in Mom's lap as she rocked me. I'll admit, a small part of me wanted to just fix the loose fabric on the seat and keep the memory intact. But I decided that a fabric facelift was in order.

As usual, the first step to any renovation is destruction. I had to painstakingly pull out hundreds of staples and unravel yards of webbing to get down to the skeleton of the chair.

Then came re-weaving the webbing. I had a small amount of webbing from another project and was afraid I might not have enough. Luckily I was able to re-use the old webbing, which was a nice surprise.

Have you ever looked at your furniture and wondered "How do they get those straight, stitchless seams?" No? I guess it's just me. I have wondered this before, usually when considering a re-upholstery job.

Well, now I know the answer. You use ply grip (also called curve ease)!

Though it looks a little scary, and can leave quite a mark on your fingers if you're not careful, this stuff is totally cool! You tack the bottom down with staples and tuck the edge of the fabric into the teeth. When you fold it together, the fabric is stretched tight and secured, providing a really sharp finished edge. Now that I know about this little gem, I may be inspired to tackle additional decorating jobs...

Lastly, I needed to be sure that there were no loose ends for Roscoe to chew. Using some cambric (or dustcover) I finished up the bottom nice and tidy.

And tah-dah! It's like a whole new chair! I'm pretty excited with how it came out and can't wait to sit in it tonight while I'm knitting and watching NCIS with Dad. I think Mom would approve.

P.S. This would not have turned out so well if it weren't for the awesome website www.diyupholsterysupply.com or the assistance of the Sofa Doctor here in Kingsland.

Daily dose of adorable!

Not much time to write, so I thought I'd keep you entertained with adorably cute photos. Enjoy!

Daddy's pup, Roscoe, hiding under the table to avoid Mo.

Mo, enjoying the comfy doggie hammock on the drive out to AL.

Mo had a blast sniffing around the rest stops on the way to AL. Look at that stance!

The carpet at Poppa's house is great for napping.

Puppy play dates tucker Mo out!

At 3 months old, Mo weighs in at 14.7 pounds.
If we can just get this UTI cleared up we'll be doing great...

A finished knitting project: a happy little bluebird!

Finally Finished Crafts and Puppy Dates

For starters, Mo is 10 weeks old already!! It's hard to believe how much she has grown in the month that we've had her. She really is a sweet little thing, and pretty well behaved, as puppies go...

Several years ago (about 6 years, if you really have to know) I started saving corks to make a wine cork message board. As I myself don't actually drink wine, it took me a good long while to get a sizeable amount of corks (many thanks to the plethora of corks from the Inn at Stonington!). After I got a small box full, I sorta put the project on the back burner. As I was organizing for the pre-move logistics, I unearthed the box of corks. Vowing that I would not move a box full of corks yet again, I broke out the glue gun and went to work!

I also unearthed a Sisters journal that I have had for so long I can't recall... I forced myself to sit down, put the pictures in the sheets, and write out the 4 pages worth of sisterly quotes that I had gathered from the internet.

Gotta say, it's pretty darn cute!

This morning was Mo's very first ever puppy play date!! She had a lot of fun romping around Daffin with Raina and Diego. She was by far the smallest of the three, and often tried to climb my legs for a moment's peace.

We even had a visit from some Goldens that were enjoying the dewy field. All in all I think she enjoyed herself. I know that Harley has enjoyed the fact that Mo has been passed out almost all day!

Chocolate muffins and more purses

I'm really enjoying the pattern for these purses! I whipped up two more today using old linen and some bright, colorful lining fabric. They are so fun and charming that I'm not sure how I'll part with them. In a fit of creativity, I also had an exciting idea for a new snack. A few years ago a friend told me about using a can of pumpkin mixed with boxed cake mix to make a very moist muffin. I got the idea to mix a little peanut butter with powdered sugar, then drop a dollop into the center of the muffin before baking.

The photo doesn't do it justice, but the end result is awesome! The perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter, with just a little bit of guilt!

Several great finishes

I finally did it! I finally ran an entire 5K! Okay, so really I jogged it. But still, I didn't stop to walk at all. And I finished in 36:23, which is pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned. It's a little slower than the first Komen 5K (which I did in 36:08), but better than any other race I've done. Now that I know I can jog the whole way, maybe I'll start working on improving my times. But for the moment I'm just going to let my achy knees recover a bit... Thanks to Robyn for convincing me to do it, sticking with me most of the way, and joining me and Dad for a delicious breakfast at J. Christopher's afterwards. What a great morning all around!

On a different note, several years ago I bought a cute little sling-style purse from The Other Tiger in Westerly. I bought it because it was a fair trade product, but also because I thought "What a cute style! I bet I could make this." Then low and behold, I did make it! Katelyn had asked for a purse like it after the wedding, and I finally found the time to make a pattern and try it out. I really, really like the final product!

And for Katelyn's I even experimented with putting her name on a ribbon on the inside pocket. Pretty cute, eh?

Lastly, another example of seeing something and thinking "Hey, I could make that cheaper." Introducing the Doggie Car Hammock a la Skye! I've had this upholstery fabric since I worked at JoAnn's (which, if you were wondering, was almost 10 years ago) and I finally came up with the exact, perfect thing to do with it. There are straps to drape it from the front headrest, elastic straps to secure it to the front and back seats, Velcro to keep the edges secure to the floorboards, and a few ribbon ties to keep it from billowing in the breeze. It is amazing at keeping the dog hair and paw dirt contained.

Love. It.

Financial Literacy Month

Here are a few short videos from the Federal Trade Commission for your viewing pleasure during National Financial Literacy Month! (I love that they're spoofing "the other guys" videos!)





And the trailer to a great movie I just saw last weekend, "To Catch a Dollar" about microlending.

More more small box.

Have you seen this yet? Now THAT is dedication! (Thanks, A!)