Recently I decided to get back on the creative projects bandwagon. I was in Florida for the holidays and since Florida has the BEST thrift stores, (seriously the best), I decided to hit a few up. I picked up an old vintage school desk that I am currently restoring but I also ran across a wooden fold up chair that I just had to have. Best part is the chair itself cost me $.05!
I used the supplies I bought for the school desk so this project really cost me very little. I found the seat pad on clearance at Target for $2.95. Score!
To get this look I primed the chair first. This is important for both prepping the surface but also for the end look I desired. I wanted to see the color of the wood and the primer peaking through.
I watered down the paint so it didn't go on too thick and again, could see the wood and primer through it.
Once that dried, I sanded it down until I achieved the look I wanted. Then I applied two coats of water based polyurethane.
The key to distressed projects is in the depth of the layers of color. This one gives me the dark wood, the white of the primer and the final paint color. You don't always want to see the primer but in this case, I did.
The end result is quite adorable, if I do say so myself!
First of all, I apologize that I have been MIA for the last week.
Actually, screw that. I don't apologize. I had a week off from motherhood. An ENTIRE week.
Yes, it's true that I promised myself that I would get ahead on blog posts and catch up on networking and the endless household to-do list.
Yet, I did none of that.
What I DID do was: I slept in. I drank far too much wine. I bought shoes and Victoria's Secret items that I don't need. (REALLY don't need). I cleaned practically nothing. I cooked ABSOLUTELY nothing. I took walks in parks that look like this:
And I enjoyed EVERY. FRIGGEN. MINUTE of it.
So yeah, I don't apologize.
In fact, this last week was probably the first time in many, many years that I've been able to just BE. I was able to focus on myself with NO guilt for doing so.
It was virtually stress free and virtually drama free. (Ok, I'm lying. I totally flipped out at my ex, but what can I say? Stress free or not, I'm still me. Deal with it.)
But I digress...
In short, it was amazing and it was exactly what I needed.
And I really, really wanted to share it with you all. I did attempt to sit down and blog on several occasions and I just could not do it!
Whether it was too little stress and therefore not enough pressure or just too many pairs of shoes calling my name. Or possibly, and maybe the most likely, too far in to a bottle of wine to compose a rational thought. (I know, I know. Who am I kidding with the "rational thoughts"? The irrational, drunk-off-my-ass ones would have been far more fun. For you.)
But regardless of the reason, I could not think of a single thing to write and could not find the discipline to sit down and try until my kids came back and I was forced back in to the daily routine of things.
But fortunately (or unfortunately) for you, they are back and so am I.
AND this is exciting because I'm going to be launching a new series on this blog on Wednesday and I am really, REALLY going to need your help!
This new series is inspiring for me and I think it will be for you as well.
So don't forget to check back here on Wednesday.
I'm seriously, really, REALLY gonna need your help.
For real. :)
I am kicking myself for not checking out the YMCA outdoor pool much earlier in the summer. I assumed that there was no way I could take my non-swimmers, swimming by myself. Ever tried to keep a 5 and a 6 year old within arms reach in the water at all times? Yeah. It's borderline impossible and really not fun. But I failed to consider one small thing... life jackets!
I found out this past weekend that the kids can swim and play on their own so long as they are wearing a life jacket. Yay!
So now we go here:
Put on one of these:
And they do this:
While I do this:
Brilliant.
Two things enter my mind when I see this video:
1 - Holy hell I look tired and stressed (so does my house). That's because I was. This was a tough time period and all I can think is thank god for children like mine because how can you NOT smile at a moment like this?
2. - There will come a day when I will have to apologize to Kaylee for that haircut. So here it is: Kid, I'm sorry, I didn't do it. You went out of town with your dad and came back with that. In his defense, you didn't have a whole lot of hair to start with or to work with.
We went to Burgess Falls in Sparta, TN this Memorial Day weekend. You hike up the mountain and there are look outs over 3 different waterfalls. The tallest one is 130 ft tall.
(I also took the opportunity to test out a bunch of different options on my Hiptamic for iPhone app... Random, different looking shots below...)
A short video of the kids reaction to seeing their first waterfall.
For relative size, those little specks at the bottom of the waterfall are people.
One of the smaller falls.
On the way up Michael made friends with a park ranger. They chatted for quite a while.
Before we left I asked Jarod if flip flops would be fine for the hike. Probably a stupid question but his answer was yes...
Yeah right! Thanks, babe... ;-)
Once we got back down the side of the mountain to the base of the falls the kids played around in the water and on the rocks a bit.
Thanks to Kaylee's skort, I felt like I was playing Where's Waldo all day...
A short clip of the largest waterfall. I highly recommend this trip! The hike was fun and the waterfalls were breathtaking!
Every Sunday is our "family day". It's the one day we all have off together and so we make a point of spending it together. Fortunately the area that we live in is loaded with family friendly activities so we are never at a loss for something fun to do. This past week we went to the park. Being on the tail end of spring, it was not too hot to enjoy the abundance of wild life.
We are surrounded by lakes and creeks here. It's fabulous. Even more fabulous is the lack of gators in said lakes...
Having lived in Florida for so long, I forgot how much I love ducks. The Mallard is my favorite, they remind me of feeding ducks as a kid. I'm loving the white ducks though. Anyone know what they are called?
Baby ducks! They flee when approached so it was incredibly hard to get a good shot. Aren't they cute as heck??
The geese, however, did not flee...
They walked right up to you and asked for food...
"Demanded" might be a better word for it...
My favorite shot of the day. The storms here have been knocking down quite a few trees. They had a blast climbing all over this one.
This happens at my house quite frequently and yet, not nearly enough. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Jarod on drums, Kaylee on vocals and a special dance appearance by Michael.
Heck yes. How can you not love a family THIS awesome? ;-)
Every 13 years this Middle Tennessee Cicada comes up out of the ground in droves. We've been having a ton of fun observing these little creatures.
This little dude talked to us. The kids thought it was hilarious.
This was my favorite part of Easter as a kid, and surprisingly, the first time I've been able to do it with mine. It took everything I had to not take the eggs and dye them myself!
I'm not gonna lie, holidays as a single parent SUCK. Nothing quite like them to remind you that your family is not quite whole. This year relationship troubles have me feeling particularly empty. But, what can we do but just get through it and do our best to enjoy?
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