How to put off packing

I have started about a dozen posts in my head in the past two weeks but I never seem to make time to sit down and actually write them. Things have been crazy, mainly just with finishing up the house -- we're supposed to move on Saturday -- and I should definitely be packing right now, but procrastination's kind of my thing, so here we are.

The hoopla over Valentine's Day never ceases to annoy me (who in the world do those Kay's commercials work on?) but, as usual, ours was lovely. We have celebrated 16 or 17 of them together now and Matt well knows that overpriced flowers are NOT my thing. Even though I honestly have no expectations for the day, he always seems to do a little something to make it special. This year we grilled steaks and ate them with homemade potato chips. On his way home from work Matt also swung by the grocery store for chocolate-mousse ingredients and some other goodies.

Matt: "I was wondering if I'd get some looks from cashiers, buying flowers, champagne and whipped cream."
Me: "Haha! So did you?"
Matt: "I did self-checkout."

Unrelated: The new house is looking so fantastic. I don't usually get attached to houses, for obvious reasons, but this one is something special. I keep taking pictures but none of them have made it to the blog because by the time I get them off my camera they're already outdated. I will most definitely get some good ones in the next couple of weeks and post them here. Here are some pictures of the two vintage chandeliers I painted:

Office: Before

After

Breakfast nook: Before



After

 I LOVE how they turned out. My only regret is that the green chandelier, now that it's hanging in the house, really seems to bring out the green in the walls, and it's a little too much. So it's probably going to get a third life as yellow or blue, eventually. But that is waaaay down my list of priorities. Overall I'm thrilled with how much color we have in this house. We may have to tone it down some when we sell it, but right now there's no beige anywhere, and that's the way I want it.

While I should be sleeping

I absolutely love the way our new house is coming together -- it has as much character as you can possibly hope for in brand-new construction -- and it just feels wrong to fill it with mirrors from Kirkland's and light fixtures from Lowe's. Therefore, I have spent an unhealthy amount of time the past couple of weeks searching for thrifty, awesome alternatives.

I've squeezed in a five- or 10-minute run through practically every thrift store I know of around here, but haven't found anything I couldn't live without. I've also done plenty of searching online, everything from Craigslist to Etsy to eBay to the big boxes. Although that's provided a lot of inspiration (and confidence -- other people have pulled off spray-painted chandeliers, so maybe I can too), most everything online is either ugly, boring or more than I want to spend.


We ended up getting really lucky with the light fixtures. After bemoaning the lack of "different" options at A Light Source in Aberdeen, the salesman took us in the back and showed us two gorgeous antique chandeliers they'd rescued from a home renovation and were rewiring. They sold them to us for $120 each. Score! I probably will end up painting one of them because it has great detail but the finish just looks rusty. The other has a nice oil-rubbed bronze finish and we'll leave that as it is.

Our dining room chandelier we actually did get from Lowe's and I love it. I'm hoping that it will hang high enough above the table that no one will notice that the "crystals" aren't really crystals. For that matter, I'm hoping that globe at the bottom is glass, not plastic -- we haven't taken it out of the box yet.

Mirrors should have been easier to find, because virtually any of them can be made beautiful with a little paint and elbow grease, but it's been a tough assignment, because we need two sets of matching mirrors (one pair in the master bathroom, one pair in the kids' bathroom). And mirrors don't typically come with matches in thrift stores. So I've pretty much decided we'll have to buy four of the cheapest, most generic mirrors we can find in sets of two and plan on painting them whenever I get around to it. However, if you know of any great, inexpensive mirror resources I might be overlooking, do tell.

Even though I couldn't buy any of it, all the cute stuff I ran across online gave me the energy to finally get to work painting a mirror I bought for $5 at the Habitat store awhile ago. A lot of Habitat's mirrors are pretty pricey, but I always seem to find cheap ones in the mix. In fact, the mirror that's probably going to go in our powder room is one I found there, painted, distressed, and now love. It was also $5. I left the price tag on the back just for fun.

Anyway, the mirror I bought more recently is going to go over a cute antique (maybe just old) vanity Matt and I claimed from the side of the road on our way home from Charlotte one day last fall. Eventually I'm going to paint that too. It didn't come with a mirror, but obviously that was easily taken care of. We picked up a matching dresser and not-matching but adorable stool from that same spot on the side of the road.

(I have a weakness for seeing potential in free and cheap things. Our garage is FULL of painting projects. Not only can we not park in it, we can't even walk through it. Thank goodness we're having a yard sale next week so other people with the same problem can take some of our junk to their garages.)

Tonight I was finally inspired to paint the vanity mirror, so that's what I'm doing right now, alternating between blogging and reading "The Great Gatsby" (for book club) while I wait for each coat to dry, and falling in love with Pandora all over again. It really gets me.

If Corduroy were a dresser

Ever since Matt's mom showed me how easy, inexpensive and fun it is to transform furniture with paint, I've been constantly on the lookout for future projects. I don't think there's a room in our house that doesn't feature some piece I found at a yard sale, thrift store, Freecycle, the dump, or that was handed down from family. And you should see our garage -- it's full of discarded furniture patiently awaiting new life.

However, at some point even I have to concede that a person only needs so many tables, dressers, chairs, bookshelves and mirrors (a particular weakness). So today I would like to share the love and let you know that a diamond-in-the-rough dresser is available at the Coalition on Pennsylvania Avenue in Southern Pines.

For the bargain price of $15 (!!!) this can be yours:

It's big -- wider than it looks in the picture -- and solid. The wood is definitely worn but easily covered by paint. I saw only one somewhat significant flaw: A piece of one of the drawers is broken off. This is cosmetic only and wouldn't affect functionality but if you did want to fix it I'm not sure how easy it would be.

Slap on some paint, replace the handles, maybe work on that drawer and you have a gorgeous, sturdy dresser at a nothing-to-lose price, plus a good story for every person who compliments it for years to come. Somebody, hurry to claim this -- and by all means, if you do, let me know!

P.S. Shout-out to Matt's dad, who babysat for us tonight while we went to dinner and then Bible study. We had a great time, Ron had a great time and I know the kids did too. Not to mention we didn't have to pay a babysitter. Let's see, I think that would be a win-win-win-win situation. Thank you, Ron!

Baby time!

Almost, anyway, I hope. I guess this post technically belongs on Evan's blog. I'm writing from the hospital bed. We've been here since 5:30 a.m. After a couple of hours on a penicillin drip they started the Pitocin at 8:30 and now my contractions are a couple of minutes apart. I haven't seen the doctor yet but as of 8:30 I was 3 cm. dilated, up from 2 on Tuesday, so at least things seem to be moving along better than they did with Claire.

I don't love being stuck in bed but I have been able to finally start a book I checked out from the library a long time ago. The first due date was Sept. 21 and I've been renewing it ever since. I also have responded to almost every neglected email and Facebook message, so for at least for a few hours, I have a clean slate.

Daytime TV is awful. How do people watch it?

I never posted a picture of Claire's new dresser (which Evan will use while he's in the "baby room"). We got it at the Coalition for $35 and added more coats of paint than I care to think about (it was red with decorative fish when we bought it), plus new drawer pulls. Here it is (it's hard to get a good angle in that small space):
So, not a lot else to report. Thanks a MILLION to Mom and Dad for coming over at 5 this morning so they could be there when Claire woke up and then take care of her until whenever we get home. What would we do without you?

3 things

[This is old news now. I started writing this about two weeks ago but forgot to finish or post.]

One of the mirrors I've blogged about before, the one I bought for next to nothing at a Goodwill and then Terry helped me faux finish (it was the first thing I ever painted), is in another Etsy treasury. This one's theme is "In the future." Very cool, but I wish someone would buy the thing!----------

[Back to the present.] I don't pay much attention to my blog stats, but I have noticed recently that by far the No. 1 post strangers land on is this one (click here). I could not figure out why until I typed "poison ivy hand" into Google's Images search.

A disgusting first impression, but kind of funny.

----------

Congratulations to Meg and Drew on their new(est) baby, Sam! One babysitter is NOT going to suffice for our Bible study next year. We've produced three babies in the past month.

Anyone who's involved in a group effort to make meals for people who have just had babies (or are sick, etc.) should check out FoodTidings.com. This is a great site that simplifies and streamlines the scheduling process -- highly recommended.

In brief

I'm getting in a bad habit of starting posts, getting interrupted and then never finishing/publishing them. By the time I return to them they're usually so outdated it's not worth it. And generally speaking I try to make this blog at least somewhat interesting to at least some of the readers. But it also serves as a journal of sorts for me, so before I forget ...

- Claire made it all the way through Mom's Morning Out last week, and she has made it through Sunday school and church two weeks in a row. Not perfectly -- she still cries some and I think requires a lot of one-on-one distraction from a variety of gracious and patient volunteers -- but I'm very hopeful that her separation anxiety is starting to improve.

- Mom, Amanda and I (no babies! Thank you, Matt and Stephen and Dad and Ron!) went to Chapel Hill Friday and Saturday for a miniature version of our annual girls' trip, a tradition we began the year after Mom's liver transplant.

Before babies, we had slightly more ambitious destinations (New York City in 2008, Greenville, S.C., last year), and we stayed for three or four days. Next year, with four babies between Amanda and me, our "trip" will probably be a morning in Carthage, but I'll still enjoy it. Any time is a good time with the two of them.

- I finally used that massage gift certificate Matt gave me for Christmas, thus checking No. 39 off my 101-things list. Being pregnant again has already rendered me unable to complete a few other items (e.g., give blood at least five times and visit an amusement park -- I'm not going to go if I can't ride the roller coasters). I did not want a soon-to-appear baby bump to get in the way of the massage. Thanks again, babe!

- The details aren't finalized yet, but this store in Knoxville, Tenn., is probably going to sell my picture frames! I will be really excited if it works out!

Life is good

We sold the Acura yesterday and in cleaning out the console I found an old scrap of paper on which I'd scribbled some comments that tickled my funny bone and I didn't want to forget:

Matt: "We're living in an age of quarterback depletion." (re: fantasy football strategy)

*****

Amanda: "Well, if their hearts aren't growing warm, their voices are growing husky." (re: Christian romance novels)

*****

Me: "Thank you for getting me this chapstick!"
Amanda or Mom: "I didn't get it for you, I found it in the couch." (I remember this exchange taking place in the hotel on our New York trip, but I don't remember which of them said this! Amanda and Mom, do you?)

*****

I want to extend major props to Mom for going to a yard sale this weekend where she noticed they were selling Bum Genius one-sizes for $10 each, a great price (plus a boatload of other cloth diapers and accessories). She called me and Amanda and I ended up buying five for $6 each, so I now have 16 and am done. With these extra five I will keep washing a load of diapers once a day but now I can line-dry them, saving on electricity, plus keep one or two in the diaper bag at all times.

The first 11 I received as gifts, so these are the first diapers I've bought (except for disposables for babysitters) so our out-of-pocket expense for diapers for Claire is $30. Boo-yah!

Check this out: The mirror hanging over our fireplace (which Dad rescued from the dump, gave to me, and I painted) is featured in an Etsy treasury right now! This doesn't really mean anything, it's just cool.

Matt beat me in fantasy football this week by 2.5 points because I stupidly overmanaged my team and benched Tony Romo, who exceeded all expectations to get something like 22 points. Grrr. Next time, husband ... next time ...

I think I mentioned we're going to be listing our house next week. Because of that we cleaned out the garage this weekend so potential buyers will understand it can be used to park cars as well as store junk. Matt has decided, and I must agree, that our handy-dandy manual lawn mower will not be joining us at future homes, now that it's been replaced with a loud, gas-guzzling version of itself. So ... anyone want to claim this thing? You can read about its merits here.

4 snippets and the funeral

Grandma Loyd's funeral was beautiful, moving and inspiring. The two pastors who spoke captured her perfectly, emphasizing how well she loved and embraced everyone she encountered, from her closest family and friends to the people who took care of her in rehab over the past couple of months. The associate pastor, a guy about my age who spent time with her while she was in the nursing home, choked up while recalling how she extended that loving spirit "even to a young preacher she barely knew."

There were also several mentions of her "smile that could light up Atlanta" -- she always radiated pure delight when someone she loved walked into the room -- and the pastors read a selection of her favorite scriptures, most of which were Psalms.

Grandma loved music, a fact that was reflected in the service. Long-time family friends Warren, Brian and Leah beautifully performed "Ashokan Farewell" and "Friends Like You." The pastor described how Grandma and Grandpa met, at a YWCA dance after World War II: He spotted her, he asked her to dance, soon everyone else had stopped to watch, and they danced together for the next 60 years. And she (the pastor) brought a lot of us to tears when she told how Grandma sang "I'll Be Loving You, Always" to Grandpa just last week.

The family requested memorial gifts to Grandma and Grandpa's church in lieu of flowers, but quite a few people sent gorgeous arrangements anyway. I couldn't believe that even the Chick-fil-A where they eat ALL the time sent a peace lily. Maybe there's a genetic component to my CFA obsession.

There was a crowded visitation Tuesday night, another before the funeral on Wednesday, and another informal one at the burial. A lot of people loved her, that's for sure. What a well-lived life.

--------------------

On Monday Kate and I had coffee (yay for federal holidays) and I remembered to take a picture of my punch card. It's a little dark; in case you can't read it, someone -- I still don't know who -- wrote: "Drink this coffee for time -- CrossFit rules."

--------------------

Matt (reading): "Forever" should always be one word, right?

Me: Yes.

Matt: You've turned me into an editor. (Pause) I'm, like, the editor who can't spell his own name.
--------------------

Person who shall remain nameless (not Matt): This is a dumb question, but approximately ... means, like, an approximation, not exact, right?

Me: Yes.

Person who shall remain nameless: You can forget I asked that.

--------------------

This painted mirror (which Terry really deserves more credit for than I do -- I found it at a Goodwill and she used it to teach me a sponging technique several years ago) made it to an Etsy treasury themed "Fairest of Them All." Cool!

Merry belated Christmas!

Happy day-after-Christmas to everyone! I can't believe how slack I've been about posting, but the last week has been so busy. Between tearing off that wretched wallpaper, then sanding and Kilzing the walls, last-minute (of course) shopping and wrapping, lots of Christmas get-togethers and an overload of editing work, I haven't had time to think about much else.

We had a great Christmas that started out with breakfast with Charlie and Liz, our great family friends (Mom and Dad's BFFs who now live in Kentucky), who are staying with us this week. Then Matt and I exchanged gifts. He gave me an upgraded fleece (I live in mine and after about six years it's looking pretty ragged) and I gave him a thing that lets him play his iPod through the receiver. He said I can check No. 53 off my list.

At lunchtime we went over to Matt's mom's house for finger foods and gifts and, most importantly, Riley time. As usual we received WAY too much but none of us got as much as Riley. :) I have to brag on what Matt and I gave her. SO CUTE. There were a couple of others, but some of the pregnant readers of this blog will be receiving them soon, so I won't ruin the surprise by posting pictures of them yet. (If you are one of those pregnant readers, DO NOT go to my Etsy site before the next time I see you! And I know you're not pregnant but that goes for you too, Lauren G.!)

I searched and searched for really fun, unique onesies to give as Christmas presents/baby shower gifts and didn't have much luck so Matt and I decided to make our own. We spent a good chunk of Christmas Eve designing and making these and it was so much fun. They might not seem that awesome if you don't know Jacob and Carrie, but Jacob's obsessed with fantasy football (and had a really good year this year), he's a huge Panthers fan (and Riley Cat is Riley's nickname), and both Carrie and Jacob could eat Jersey Mike's subs every day of the week.

We spent the afternoon at Terry and Dan's and just as we were leaving I started to feel sick. We needed to go straight to Granny's to have Christmas with our family, but I lay down for a few minutes first to see if I would feel better. I called them to say we'd be there but a little late and not to wait on us to start eating (nothing ever starts on time with our family anyway).

Five minutes later I started throwing up and Matt called back to say we wouldn't be coming after all. I was sick for about six hours but then I slept all night and this morning I feel not quite 100 percent, but better. Thank goodness, because if I were the only person in the world to experience sudden-onset second-trimester "morning" sickness, that would not even be funny. I think it was just something I ate.

Now I have a big platter of deviled eggs that aren't going to be eaten before we leave for Atlanta tomorrow. Any takers?

Final version

I forgot to post these pictures. This is the chair after two applications of stain. It's hard to tell much difference in the pictures, but in real life it looks a lot cooler.

Happy weekend

I'm pretty happy because I just realized that this Friday we'll be leaving for the beach. I can't believe the week of July 4 is already upon us! I usually think of that as the beginning of the end of summer. We're going to spend that whole week plus the weekends on both sides of it at the beach. I can't wait, but I need to get a lot of stuff taken care of before we leave.

Yesterday Matt gave me a lesson in planting bushes. We planted six azaleas around some of the irrigation-system equipment. I know most people like azaleas but I'm not crazy about them, but for evergreens of that size in that location it seemed our choices were azaleas or hollies. At least azaleas bloom for a month or so. We also planted a hydrangea bush in the boring area beside the front door. I forget what kind it is exactly, but it's supposed to be fast-growing and it hasn't bloomed yet, so it sounds good.

I love how the chair turned out with the addition of stain but I accidentally left my camera at the office so I can't take a picture of it today. I think I'm going to post it on Craigslist and see what happens. I don't think I'll bother to put it on Etsy or eBay since shipping would be a pain and expensive unless the buyer were local.

Out of the office

Today was the United Way's annual golf tournament. As much as I dislike golf I kind of enjoy this day every year. Usually my main responsibility is driving around in a golf cart, keeping the coolers full, taking players' pictures and generally making sure they're having a good time. It's a good day for networking and a great excuse to spend a day outside.

Mr. Hotness himself:



He, his dad, Stephen and Bill played on our company's team.

The day ended with an early dinner/silent auction/awards ceremony, and then Matt and I crashed. In the above picture we both had killer headaches. We got home at 4:30 p.m. and slept for three hours, which we're probably going to regret later tonight. I feel better but he doesn't.

I think I figured out how to fix what I didn't like about the chair I painted and decoupaged the other week: I stained the whole thing with Minwax Golden Oak (shout-out to Terry). I think this will mute all of the colors and make the painted/distressed parts less of a stark contrast to the seat, while still looking old and antiqued. It's too dark to take a picture now (it's on the porch) but tomorrow I'll post one.

No. 99

After last night's post I ended up finishing the chair project despite the darkness, bugs and the fact that it was almost midnight. NBA finals are keeping us up late this week.

All in all, I like it but don't love it. I think there's too much going on in the seat and I should have stuck with more muted patterns and colors, maybe even just blacks and golds. Instead of redoing this one I am on the lookout for another junk chair (um, Dad ...?).

This is what it looked like at 8 p.m. yesterday.
I sanded it and painted it black ...

... then decoupaged the seat. Those curves were hard, so be impressed.

Then I distressed everywhere except for the seat pretty heavily. I'm out of distressing practice, but I think it improved the final look.

Another sale!

I promise this is the last time I'll do this to you guys but I must announce that I just got a custom order from my Etsy shop! A woman in Apex likes my XO set (below) and wants me to do five letters for her.

That is all.

Here's a way to make my day

Someone bought one of my picture frames! One of the first ones I made, and one of my favorites.

It really made me happy to see $14 in my PayPal account. Not only did I have fun making this frame, but the $14 covers basically all of the costs I've incurred making all of them.

This is the first thing I've ever sold online and now I can check off No. 15!

Frame-o-phile

The last few days have been a whirlwind. Work's been pretty busy, Melissa gave birth to Matthew Aaron yesterday and I have a new obsession, decoupage. I know, that's somewhere between cross-stitching and crocheting on the coolness scale.

I have been wanting to try decoupaging an old chair, if I ever come across one free or very cheap. And I have been playing around with the idea of decoupaging a desk that I was about to give away last week but ended up keeping. Both of those projects were a little overwhelming and large-scale for my first attempt at decoupage, but when I went into Swank earlier this week there were some really cute decoupaged picture frames and I was inspired.

Turns out this is a really cheap hobby, too -- my favorite kind! (I'm the girl who in sixth grade collected business cards. Because they were free, unlike stamps, trolls, Madame Alexander dolls, NKOTB memorabilia -- the things my friends collected.) I started out buying picture frames at thrift stores before realizing they are cheaper at Michael's. The only thing is, the Michael's ones (at least the $1 ones) don't come with glass.

I haven't even made a dent in the $5 bottle of decoupage stuff -- I have no idea what it's called. And I've used only pictures from magazines and catalogs that I either already had or got on a special recycling-bin dive Thursday afternoon. And that, Carrie, is why I was late to Body Pump that day.

So once I started making these things I started wondering what to do with them. I looked on eBay and there didn't seem to be much of a market, so I started an Etsy store: http://jenniferdare.etsy.com/. (Also cheap -- free to set up, 20 cents per four-month listing.) Go visit it! But do not pass judgment on the item descriptions! I know they are CHEESY, but it was harder than you might think, and I had to come up with something. I have new respect for the people who write the product descriptions for catalogs.

I'm thankful for the delicious 195 coffee Mom gave me, which is brewing right now!

Thanksgiving countdown, day 3

I'm thankful for paint, without which none of the furniture in our house would match.

From where I sit as I write this, I can see our eBay dining-room table; our Freecycle end tables; our Goodwill mirror; one of three yard-sale bookshelves; and our rescued-from-the-dump TV cabinet. Thanks to paint plus sandpaper, primer and Golden Oak stain, everything goes together pretty well.

I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law who, in addition to many other wonderful qualities, taught me everything I know about faux-finishing furniture (she used to do it professionally). She deserves a big chunk of the credit for my bargain finds' looking better than they ever deserved to look.

Paint (and three coats of polyurethane) makes it impossible to worry about whether anyone's using a coaster. It adds life to a room with little time and even less expense. It's a rare form of immediate gratification in which you can indulge without negative consequences.

I like to spread out my paint-splattered sheets, pull on my paint-splattered clothes and get to work on a new project. I'm thankful that I can do this because painting furniture is one artsy hobby that truly requires no artistic talent.

When baseboards are hopelessly scuffed, there are dead-bug stains on the wall or I'm trying to sell a house that smells like smoke, I'm thankful that there's an easy remedy: paint.

I like paint's knack for bringing out the potential in even the ugliest pieces of furniture -- and the fact that the uglier they start out, the less they cost me. I like the seemingly infinite finishes and colors and combinations, and the way they encourage experimentation. I even like the way paint smells.

And I'm thankful every time I walk into a chic, upscale shop, spot a gorgeous faux-finished buffet and know I could duplicate it for 5 percent of what the store is charging.