Pool Par-Tay!

Today Morgan and I hosted a pizza and pool party at our house. Tom was a good sport and did the best he could to work during the noise (since he works from home).

It started last week when I had a last minute pool party and we started talking about pizza dough and I mentioned how I wanted to have a crust tasting party to find the best crust that doesn't taste homemade. My friend, Kelly, mentioned that she has a recipe that is the best ever so my other friend, Angela, suggested that we have a pizza party. So I decided that we would have a pizza and pool party and we invited a lot of people (we couldn't invite everyone we wanted to because there were just too many people but we will next pool party -- don't feel left out!).

I had everyone bring a pizza topping and Kelly and Audrey brought dough. It was seriously great and I now have two dough recipes that are AWESOME!

Hooray for pool partys where I actually feel like having a pool isn't a waste!

10 Years? Really?!

Today marks the 10th anniversary of when I entered the MTC for my mission. I didn't automatically remember the date but I was wasting time on Facebook today and saw the last person I dated before the mission wish his wife happy 9th anniversary. They got married on my year mark. Haha! So, happy 10th to me. I remember being so nervous that I couldn't eat my pasta and lobster entree from Red Lobster. And if you know me, you know that not eating is a huge deal. I. Love. Food.

Anyway, it was a crazy day but one that I'm so glad I had. I loved the MTC. Maybe I'll share some mission experiences to commemorate that spiritual high that happened a decade ago (in future posts).

Bunder Scary

A couple of nights ago there was a thunder storm sometime when everyone should have been sleeping. Unfortunately it woke Morgan up and since the monitor is on my side of the bed, I got the honor of getting up to go comfort her. When I walked in her room she was standing up. I asked her if she was scared of the thunder. She said, "bunder scary."

I took her downstairs to my bed (keep in mind that this is the middle of the night and I have no desire to be awake). She kept saying "bunder scary, bunder scary," so when we got t0 my bedroom door I told her she needed to be quiet because daddy was sleeping. She was for about .3 seconds and started yelling, "bunder scary, daddy," over and over until finally, knowing that he was no longer asleep, I told him to acknowledge what she was saying. He did and she kept saying it.

After an amount of time that was way too long and Morgan was still awake I told her she needed to go back to her room. The thunder was gone and she was more than happy to go to bed. Here's hoping for no more "bunder" storms in the middle of the night.

Conceived in 1979

Although it's true, the title of this post is not talking about me. It is this new chair that I know you have all been waiting for, even if you didn't know it.

This was definitely the most expensive and time consuming project (and that's including the piano), but I think it is my favorite (every new project is my favorite, by the way).

I got the vintage chair on craigslist for $35. The lady wouldn't budge in price. I asked her if it was in a smoking home (not that that would prevent me from buying it but it tells me how much work I need to do) and she said, "oh heavens no," so quickly. What I learned... don't believe when someone jumps to the answer she knows you want to hear so fast. Maybe they didn't smoke in the home, but after 32 years of 2nd hand smoke, the poor chair has lung cancer. So I pulled off the groovy red and orange material and washed the cushions, which helped. Cutting and sewing the piping onto the fabric for the cushion took the longest -- hours. I'm not a seamstress!

The next two pictures are to show you the difference that glazing makes. It brings out the wood work a lot.
Here's the breakdown:
Chair - $35
Primer - $3
Paint - $3 (the color is Heirloom White from The Home Depot)
Upholstery - $20 from JoAnn's (which was 1/2 price! Gulp. But I loved it so much.)
Total Cost for Chair - $61
Would you buy this for $61? I think I would.

Radio Show

Last Friday I got a message from my broker saying that the guest on his radio show canceled last minute and he asked me if I wanted to be the guest and talk about home staging! Um, yes! (okay, the truth is that I was super nervous and didn't really want to do it but Tom encouraged me and I ended up telling my broker yes).

I got there and the studio was the quintessential small city radio studio in the basement of a large downtown building. Pretty great! I put my headset on and sat in front of my mic and as soon as I was asked the first question I developed a speech impediment and had to start the entire thought over. On LIVE radio -- Embarrassing! But after that sentence I did alright and it was a lot of fun. We talked for the whole hour instead of the 15 minutes I was asked to fill.

(I had my broker take a picture of me with his phone but he hasn't emailed it to me yet so I will post it when I get it)

Morganisms

Ah, Morgan is growing up so fast. She isn't a baby anymore. Her legs are long and skinny in a big girl way (they've always been pretty skinny). She likes to put on makeup and walk around in mommy's shoes. She enjoys looking in the mirror and "driving" the car without anyone else inside.

Some funny things...

We let her watch some shows like Wonder Pets and Caillou once in a while but when we want to watch with her we "talk her into watching" Phinneas and Ferb. She'll say "no Ferb, no Ferb" but we don't really give her the option (again, this is when we are watching with her -- keep in mind, we'd rather be watching Prison Break or 24). We watch Ferb. So now Morgan will say, "where's Perry" as soon as we turn it on. If you watch Phinneas and Ferb, you get it. It's funny, right?

She has this bear that she got the day she was born. It's the kind that has the arms that "hug" a vase. She was playing with it the other day and I heard her call it "Squeak." She has called it that all the time since and she carries it around with her. Apparently she thinks it looks like a mouse and a mouse says "squeak squeak." Hence the name.

Tom's sister and family were over for Sunday dinner a few weeks ago and our nephew has an obsession with popcorn. Everything cool is "popcorn." He's 3, by the way. Anyway, he wanted to say the prayer and was doing a great job until he got to "in the name of" he said, "Jesus popcorn." We were all trying so hard not to laugh but Morgan, who was sitting on the counter with her back facing him, turned around to look at him and started cracking up like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. Those two are going to be quite the pair!

Today's DI Special

I had a meeting in downtown Boise yesterday so Tom watched Morgan. I decided to take advantage of the time alone and stopped at the DI for two minutes on my way to pick up a chair (be very excited for this one... future post) that I found on craigslist. In that two minutes I found this cute little chair and I knew exactly where it would be going in my house (or should I say, outside my house). The front porch still needs a little something (I'm thinking a festive wreath on the door) but I like it. I got the inspiration from this super crafty gal that I visit teach. I dropped cookies by her house (of course it was the last day of the month) and she had a shabby chic little chair on her porch that was to die for (at least copy worthy). So, um, thanks Jane!

More Before/Afters and a Complete Living Room

It's only been two years and two months, but I have finally decorated my living room the way I want it. It took a little sweat and some tears (okay, not really tears), but it's done! Here's what I did...

I found this coffee table at the DI for $20 and I negotiated it down to $15 (I know what you're thinking... I negotiated at the DI... and I'm okay with that!). Then I sanded it and threw on some primer and ivory spray paint on the bottom and the darkest brown that Lowes had for the top. I also put some antiquing glaze on the ivory to give it some personality. I'm loving this piece! I found this shiny gold lamp at a garage sale for $5. I don't know about you, but I don't like shiny gold so I bought some espresso metallic paint at Hobby Lobby and covered the gold. Then I did some antiquing with the same glaze I used for the coffee table. I love these results too!

So here is my finished living room. I really really really love it now (have I mentioned LOVE?).

This is a view from the table.

I had this doily that my mom's neighbor made for our wedding and at the time I wasn't sure what to do with one. I thought they were outdated, but now I know I was wrong. I think it goes perfectly with the "antique" table. Oh I could just kiss it!

Our Festive 4th

We started the day with a big American breakfast (what's more American than crepes?) at Mari's while Nana and Papa were there. Later in the day we went to our friend's house for dinner, slip and slide, and fireworks.
It took Morgan a while to warm up to the noise of the fireworks.

The Latest Project

I scored this gem at a garage sale two weeks ago for $2. Two dollars! Can you believe it? I bought some stain and polish at Lowes ($15-ish but I have a bunch left over), and some new upholstery ($3 at JoAnn's). Grand total for the chair... $20 and I have extra stain and polish!
What I learned: I sanded the chair first instead of stripping it. The guy at Lowes suggested it and I think he was wrong. It took hours to sand and I didn't get all of the other color off so the chair is two-toned (which I love, it just wasn't the plan). Also, it takes a long time to stain and polish. It's easy, you just have to wait 24 hours for it to dry before you can apply another coat. I like how it turned out, but I would probably paint next time.

If you have any tips for "next time," please feel free to comment. I need all the help I can get!