The Furniture Is Here! The Furniture Is Here!

I am so excited! I finally have my living room back! Even though it has not taken nearly as long as it FELT like it took (no, Amy, it wasn't four months) it is so nice to have it done. Wanna see some pictures? Even more than you bargained for? If you make it through to the end you can even give me your opinions!

First we have a full on view of the sofa. The body is the diamond pattern and the cushions are solid velvet.

Here is a kinda side view. In real life there is just a very subtle sheen to all three fabrics, but when I took pictures all of a sudden there was this LIGHT everywhere! It's crazy!

Here is the best chair in the world. When it finally wears out and can't be revived with any more batting or slipcovers I don't know what I will do. Seriously it is the best thing ever. It's so deep and wide and my very favorite place to sit in the whole house. Everybody likes it, including my dog, Molly. We have to puppy-proof it when we leave so she doesn't get up on it. This involves putting the back cushion sideways on the seat cushion and putting hardback books on both the chair and the ottoman. She's a little thick and can't get it through her skull that just because we aren't here doesn't mean she gets free reign of the furniture. Goof.

Here is a closer shot of the arm of my favorite chair.

A different angle which includes a book and my glasses. Stupid over 40 eyes.

Here is a close up of the ottoman fabric. It's the same fabric as the cording on the cushions. And the cording of the ottoman is the diamond pattern.

Here's a shot from the doorway of the dining room. My entertainment center needs to stay on that wall because it's about the only place it will fit. But if you have any suggestions on other furniture placement, I'm all ears.

A couple from the front door area.

And here's one from the corner looking towards the dining room.

And here's one of the whole wall where the couch is. I would love to do THIS behind my couch but it would make it come too far out in the room and would block my access to the bookcase in the corner. Unless I figured out a different place for the bookcase or moved the couch down toward the dining room doorway a bit. Or moved the couch to a completely different area. I also notice that the green(s) of my walls look so much different in real life. Do they "go"? Should I paint them more of a neutral?

Thanks for looking and visiting me in my home!

Paper Clutter!

OMG! I am buried under paper clutter and don't know how to get out. Well, okay, I know how but I don't take my own advice to throw stuff out. I mean, what if for some reason I need to see my check stub from January 2008?

Today is my day to sort through stuff that has been sitting on my desk for a few months. And, honestly, I bet I could shred the whole stack of stuff and never even miss is. But instead, I am going though it piece by piece and deciding what should happen to it. Ugh.

I need to remind myself that going through my files at the end of each month would solve most of this problem. But old habits die hard! And the fact that I love all the file folders, staples, cute paperclips and other "file organization" ephemera doesn't help me. At. All. I would much rather make labels, file folders and filing systems with all the cool toys than to actually file stuff away.

Do you share this sickness?

Prom Update

I have had a couple of emails asking about what Amy decided to do about prom. And since I can't think of anything else to blog about at the moment I'll give you an update!

She has totally decided to go visit her BFF at college this weekend! She is using some of her birthday money and she and her friend are planning a grand adventure. I wish I could be a fly on the wall to tell you the truth! One of the other benefits (for me anyway) of her not going to prom or after-prom is that I won't feel obligated to work at after-prom. Anyone who knows me knows that I can get a little (okay, a LOT) cranky if I don't get enough sleep. And a party that starts at 11 and ends at 4 a.m. is NOT going to end with a happy Kristi.

I think that this was the right decision for her. Amy is really suffering from senioritis right now. It's not the classes or work that is getting her down. It's just that she is so over all the drama and bitchiness that everyone seems to be exuding right now. She is done with high school and ready to move on to the next step. It's such an exciting time for all of us!

The only part of this year end stuff that is freaking me out a little bit is this: you know how fast time has gone from January 1st until now? That is the same amount of time I am looking at until she is at school. I don't know if I'm ready for this......

Dilemma

So my daughter is having a dilemma and I thought I'd blog about it and see if I get any fabulous advice to pass along to her!

This is her senior year of high school. It is prom time. For the last few weeks she has been planning on going as a single but with a group of friends who were also going as singles. But just within the last week or two the group has started to fall apart. Some of the kids have coupled up with other kids, some are going with different groups, etc. So now she is trying to decide if she still wants to go at all. The group as it is right now is full of kids that she knows but she is not close to any of them and it's not like any of them run with the same group. It would not occur to any of them (including my daughter) to call any of the others up on a random weekend to just go hang out.

She did go to prom last year, and while she had a good time it wasn't as fun as she thought it was going to be. Her date and his group of friends were pretty new to her and it was just a little awkward. So it's not like she would look back and say "Gee, I never even went to prom!". But she is having feelings like if she doesn't go that she is going to feel guilty.

She has thought about going to visit her best friend that weekend. Her friend is a really good girl and I have absolutely no qualms about her going. The friend attends the same college that my daughter will be attending in the fall so that would sort of be a fun weekend since they'll get a bit of a preview of what next year could be like.

So, should she go to prom with the group (even as it morphs into something else yet again)? Or should she have a girls weekend with her BFF?

Back in Business

I am back in business with my slipcovers! Remember the very sad tale of how the fabric store didn't have enough of what I needed? I had picked out two fabrics and they had enough of the accent fabric but not enough of the main fabric. So I ordered yet MORE samples from another company. Those came in and I just wasn't in love. BUT! I did what I hadn't thought of doing before and just switched out my fabrics. So my accent fabric is now the main fabric and what was my main fabric is now my accent fabric. Duh! Why did that take me two weeks to figure out? Anyway, I ordered it up and the warehouse was even kind enough to give me free shipping since that was the promotion going on at the time I originally ordered the fabric. Whee! It came in this week and I called the seamstress to let her know it was here. She came over to pick up the fabric and my chair that afternoon! In two weeks I should have all three pieces completed.

The only "problem" is that now between the couch, chair and walls I think I will have way too much green in the room. So I am going to repaint my walls a light gold/tan color. Of course this part will need to wait until Amy has left for college because I really don't want to hear all the bitching about home improvement projects. The girl has no use for re-decorating. She is under the very false impression that things around the house are ever done. Nothing is EVER done, right? It's constantly evolving, right?

Anyway, I think I am going to repaint the living room (and you know I means Tim right?). But if you have ever been to my house you know that there is no way to paint the living room without painting the dining room and main hallway. And in order to paint the dining room I am going to have to remove wallpaper. I am also starting to think crown molding. Or is it moulding? So I am thinking this will be a great project for those first few weeks of fall when I am dealing with an empty nest and wondering what to do with myself.

I will start posting pictures when I start getting my furniture back. I can't wait!

Reading Memories

I was feeling a little crafty today! I love when that happens. I was recently inspired by this post to create and keep track of the books I read so I created this:

Now I know that Shelfari is a great resource and I still plan on keeping track there as well, but there is something satisfying about actually writing down the name of a book that you have read and when you read it. I am planning on also writing down the books that I begin but don't finish because I am a big believer in the fact that there are way too many books in the world that I WILL like to force myself to read something I am having a hard time getting into.

I chose the paper for the cover of this notebook because it reminds me, for some reason, of my childhood. Probably the colors and flowers since I was a child of the 70's. I'm surprised it's not paisley since that is what my mom always insisted on dressing me in. It was not until about eight years ago that I could look at paisley without whining about it. Now I like it again, go figure.

While I was creating the book for my books, my childhood reading and book memories came flooding back to me so I figured I might was well write them down!

I was a very early reader. What I think happened is that my older sisters would read to me and I started following along and recognized words that kept showing up. It's the same way my daughter learned to read at age 3.

Anyway, I remember that I would walk to the library with my sisters. It was a little over half a mile from our house. A lot of people wouldn't let their kids do that now. But off we would go, with books to return and hopes of what new books we might find. We probably made that trip once every two or three weeks. Sometimes our mom would take us, but most of the time if it was nice out we would just walk.

Once when I was about five, the three of us went and I was looking through the card catalog to see what I might want to read about. One of the librarians came over to me and said "All the books for children your age are over here.", and led me to the picture books. I waited until she turned away and then went back to the catalog. She came back over again and told me to quit playing around with the cards. I mustered up as much courage as I could, put my hand on my hip and told her "Those are BABY books and WAY to easy for me!". Luckily, about this time Kathi came over and told the lady to leave me alone and that I knew what kind of books I wanted and that if I needed any help I would certainly ask for it. Then she went with me to pick out some not-too-easy books. (Thanks, Kath for having my back even then!).

Walking home from the library was the worst because I would have a huge stack of books (wow, nothing has changed in 35 years!)tucked up under my chin and would have to walk home like that! I imagine it was probably only ten or so books but holy cats! Not moving your head or your arms for a half mile walk was torture! I don't know why we didn't bring a book bag with us. And I don't remember walking TO the library like that so I have no idea how that all went down. I mean if I brought them all HOME with me I must have had to take them all BACK too, right?

I also remembered trying to teach my friend Aleah to read. We were just in kindergarten and back then they didn't start teaching reading until first grade if I remember correctly. But since I already knew how I thought I would teach her. Everything went great on some words like dad, mom, tot, etc. But all the other words she was getting WRONG! I couldn't figure out what was going on until I realized that she was reading from right to left and not left to right. She was Pakistani and that was the way she was taught at home. It was one of my first cultural lessons,(the first being when my neighbor said something about my "little black friend" and I told her that Tonya wasn't black, she was brown.)

So it was an afternoon on memory lane for me. And now I am going to go try to fill that book up. I am reading "The Third Angel" right now and so far it's really good!

I Need a Maid

OK guys, I am trying to get organized here. I always feel so much better and calmer when my house is organized. And I love the way things look when they are tidied up. The problem is that I don't like to spend all my time cleaning. And face it - - it is NEVER ENDING! Gah! I wish we could just all go naked one day so that I could say that every. stitch. of. laundry. was. clean. And I wish that my family (including myself) did not feel the need to sully every flat surface in the house with junk. And I wish that my 17 year old did not use my dining room as the receptacle of her coat(s). And shoes. And flute. And backpack. If I could train her father to hang his jacket up in the closet instead of on the back of the chair, it would be a miracle. But it's so FAR to walk to the closet! It's a whole six feet away from the chair! Did I mention that he actually needs to PASS the closet on his way to the dining room chair? Deep breaths. . .

I have been trying to follow the Motivated Moms chore system. For only $8 you get a download of daily chores with nice little checkboxes (love those!) to check when you have completed an item. It's a good system because eventually you will get to some of the tasks that never seem to get done. Like vacuuming your curtains or furniture and cleaning off the top of your refrigerator.

I struggle with some of the daily chores though. "Make the bed" is tough because there is usually either a sleeping human or two sleeping dogs (or both!) there when I leave in the morning. And I just don't really think about it again until it's time to go to bed. And when I try to "read to children" she rolls her eyes at me at tells me that I have issues. When "clip children's nails" comes up on the list, she tells me, "That's gross!"

Oh well, at least my trash cans will get washed out at least every six months or so and my stress levels should start to go down a bit as things get neater. Speaking of which, I better get off the computer and start tackling some of those flat surfaces!