a funny quote

"I have CDO. It's like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order. AS THEY SHOULD BE."

This makes me laugh, because I may have a slight problem with OCD. I like things to be in certain places, especially in my house, and look certain ways. Sometimes it's hard for me to let my children do things themselves because then it doesn't look the way I think it should., and so what if I iron my sheets. I have gotten better at these things. It's not debilitating or anything. not yet, anyway.

I should go on a run, but I'm too busy eating s'mores

Ragnar is 3 days away. I should be training and running to make sure I don't throw up on the side of the road. the three legs I have to run are pretty intense. But you know what? I love me some s'mores.

Secretary Desk before and after

I found this secretary desk on our local classifieds (ksl.com) and when I first saw it, it was $75. Well, I waited a week, and saw it go down to $60, then to $50. Finally it went to $30, and I offered her $20 and she said "SOLD!" So I picked up this little beauty to try my hand at refinishing furniture. After I picked it up, it sat in my family room for a good 2 months, before my husband said "no more projects until you finish that desk." and he said it with his serious voice, so I got to work (because I have many more projects to do).

As clear as I can remember, this is my first sand -it-down-refinish-and seal-it kind of project. I really wanted it to turn out well, so I tried to do it the right way. Let me tell you, It took a few tries to get it right. First, I tried just painting it cream, without priming it. That was lesson #1. So after 2 coats of paint, then 2 coats of primer, (i know, but I didn't feel like sanding the paint off) I did 2 more coats of paint. I kind of wanted an antique, distressed looking piece so I tried rubbing a stain on the whole thing. This I did not like. So I sanded the stain off and did yet another coat of the cream/ivory color. finally, after letting it dry, I sprayed a coat of polyurethane to seal it all.

(I realize this picture is awful, I'm going to take some photography classes to learn how to take gorgeous pictures)

I wanted some fancy on the inside, so I decided to mod podge some fancy, vintage looking paper on the inside. My brother-in-law Josh helped me with this part, mostly because he's super nice and he can't say no to me.

So that's my secretary desk revamp. Not too shabby for my first time. I loved doing it, and I have now learned things I should have done differently, so I will know what to do for next time.

I really love the cream and black look, and think i'll probably put it in my girl's room, as it will go with the vintage theme in there. plus Lauren thinks it is the best thing ever to have a desk in her room.

one chair, two chair, old chair, new chair

Because I like to switch up my furniture, I sold my sectional upstairs. I found another couch that I want up there, but it's on backorder for 6 weeks! So we moved the recliners (one was in our family room downstairs, and the other one was in the girl's room) into the tv room for seating for now.

So we had a big empty space in our family room downstairs. It just so happened that I had an old, yard sale chair sitting in my basement that I was going to try to re-upholster. It was going to be a desk chair, but I thought it could work in a formal sitting room. the chair was free, so I wouldn't be sad if I had to throw it away, should it turn out hideously.

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So this is the new chair. I know, it looks like the lining of a sleeping bag, but this fabric was inexpensive, and I didn't want to invest too much if I was just going to throw it away.

I didn't get any pictures of the chair before I redid it, but this is the fabric. It's a baby blue velvet. quite fancy, actually.

I didn't really know what I was doing, I just made it up as I went along. So considering that, I'm really quite pleased with the way it turned out (camping plaid aside). My first reupholster was a success! So now I'm looking for something else to redo!

A choir concert

The girls had a program at school, and each grade did a little singing (or in Brynnlee's case, recorder) concert.

Lauren's grade sang "God Bless the USA" and if you're wondering why the camera is shaking nearly the whole time, it's because that song makes me cry!! Especially when sweet little voices are singing it!! I'll be the first to admit that I'm a crier. I can't help it! But your heart is made of stone if you're not moved by seven and eight year olds singing this song.

Brynnlee has been learning to play the golden tones of the recorder (the redheaded step-child of the flute). This is a rite of passage for 4th graders in Jordan school district, and has been since I was in 4th grade (so many, many years ago).

After each grade performed, I went to their classrooms so they could show me some special artwork they had been working on. Their school has a great art-awareness program. They do this thing called "Meet the Masters" and learn about famous artists. Ethan told me about how Picasso cut off his ear, and Lauren told me about Impressionism. Brynnlee recreated "Woman with a Hat" by Henri Matisse. It is all very impressive.

Since Lauren's video took nearly an hour to put on the blog, you will have to request by email or in person to see Brynnlee's video. Sorry, but that just took way to long to upload!

ApologyWorld

One day, Ethan was sent to his room for a time out. A few minutes later, when I called him downstairs, he told me he had something to show me in his room. so when we went upstairs to look, he informed me that he had been working on this "ApologyWorld" to say sorry for what he had done. A whole world to say he was sorry. That's why I can't remember what he did wrong in the first place.