Lil’ Pilgrim

 

 

 

 

Today was the First Grade First Thanksgiving Feast.  Miss Is’ class were Pilgrims and she was bound and determined to look like a real one, so much so that it sparked quite an argument this morning. 

 

“Mom!  I need a black skirt, white apron, black shirt with a tall white thing around my neck and a hat.”  As she threw the black tights I had just tossed her back at me. 

“You can wear what I can find in your closet or you can go just in your purple panties for all I care.”  I returned the tights along with a black and white checkered sheath dress with equal gusto.

“Can’t you go to the store and get me a black skirt?”   Maddy’s arms were folded across her bare chest; dress and tights on the floor. 

“Absolutely not."  I’m trying to adopt the “regal” pose instead of just letting the smoke and flames shoot directly out my eyes, ears and nose.  “Don’t worry, you’ll look as pilgrimly as I can make you, but I’m not going to the store.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.” I started gathering one of the legs of the tights together to help her get them on.  “Get over here please or we will be late and I’d like to figure out a hat for you before we have to go.”

 

Geez-Louise, Sis!  I dug out a white pillowcase, folded over the side and wrapped it around her head after a quickly giving her some braided piggy’s.  The end result was not too bad if I do say so myself.  Of course it wasn’t the over-achiever, full on Mayflower costume, but I worked.  She was happy, I was happy and off to school we went.

 

 

I helped out serving gravy, sweet potatoes and corn and pulled out my phone just in time to snap this one and only picture of  Miss Is while she was in line.   By the time I was done, she was too.  It was a lot of fun, lots of food and all the first-graders enjoyed their First Thanksgiving Feast.

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Trash to Treasure: Two Dollar Table

 

 

 

All right, I’m a ding-dong.  Well, that goes without saying I suppose.  Somehow I have lost my before pictures of my two dollar table so this trash to treasure is considerably light on the trashy part and therefore unimpressive.  I can, however, tell you that this table was so icky that the manager of D.I. laughed at the check-out and said, “I never thought we’d sell that table.  I thought we’d have to pay someone to take it.”  Of course I jumped on the opportunity to be PAID for something I wanted, but I shelled out the two bucks anyhow. 

 

The poor thing was wonky with a couple of screws loose, which I can totally sympathize with, a few adjustments later and all’s well.  The recessed glass top was covered in 80’s stickers and at least a quarter inch of dust.  Goo-gone and it’s gone!  Using what was left of the spray paint I had used on the chairs, it got a fresh, shiny black coat .  To bring out the rope details on the sides, I dug out some very ancient metallic gold rub-on paint with I applied with my mad, artsy skills… my fingertips. 

 

It fits nicely in between the two chairs and currently has a lovely, all-white floral arrangement in a glass vase on top.  All for less than a Happy Meal on 1/2 price Tuesdays.  Cha-ching!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little preview of things to come…

 

 

 

Trash to Treasure: Now Seating

 

 

 

 

Good bones, but a lot of goo.  I found these two beauties at Savers for $6.99 each.  I had - no, I HAD to have them. 

They were just what I was looking for, but never thought I’d actually get. 

The chairs I found online in a similar style would have cost me around $300 so at $14.00 I will happily settle. 

There are a few good-sized gouges as you can see and the upholstery is atrocious, I think it was off-white back in the day.

Not that the finished color is bad, it’s just not what I’m after and covering the flaws would be hard to blend.

 

Trashy chairs at Savers:  $14.00

 

 

So I did what any do-it-yourselfer girl would do.  Buy a big can of spray paint and toss caution to the wind.  Of course, it’s always nice to put down a layer or two of newsprint, but a minor precaution nonetheless.  Piano Black in a high gloss finish. 

 

Paint:  $3.48 at  Wal-Mart. 

 

I found an online home decor fabric site that I’m in love with, it’s called Warehouse Fabrics Inc. 

The prices are decent and there are so many lovely fabrics to choose from that making a

decision between choices a, b, and c, d, e, f was rather difficult. 

Check out was easy and shipping was fast. 

Having yet another reason to break out my electric staple gun, I set out to recover the pads while the paint dried.

 

Two yards of fabric with shipping:  $17.42

 

A few screws here and there, remove the painters tape off of the front legs covering the silver caps and……

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

 

 

Ta-Dah!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love, Love, LOVE my chairs. 

I plan on ordering a few more yards and making fill-ins for the backs out of Masonite that I can Velcro in or out depending on how I’m using them.

As always, everything has a dual purpose. 

 

 

Grand total:  $34.90! 

 

Someday I’ll finish decorating my office and give you all the “tour” so you can see how perfect they are!  One thing about thrifty, trash to treasure decor is that sometimes it takes imagination, patience and a little elbow grease to get what you want.  To me, that’s half the fun.

 

Up next, my $2.00 side table.

Senior Pictures: Delaney

 

 

 

 

 

What a ride taking pictures for this girl was!  My bus (Yukon XL) was stuffed with myself, Delaney, her mom and boyfriend, Preston and let’s not forget the suitcase with everything a fashionista teen would and could possibly need for a photo-shoot.    We started off at a barn then made our way to downtown.  From there we hit the rain tracks and multiple, out of the way places along the way.  Preston was a trooper through the whole thing, finding songs she likes on my iPod and holding the boom box just right.  He was an even bigger sport when she asked if she could get some pictures with him.

 

Delaney had her senior photos taken already by a local pro, but didn’t like them so much – at least not the lovely price tag that went with the few prints available.  So I asked if I could give it a try, if I could do any better and maybe, just maybe there will be something she loves.  Judging by the fact that I received an instant text message back when I told her the pictures were ready and ten minutes later she was at my door, I’d say yes. 

 

Some are fun, grungy and bold while others are muted and classic in black and white. Heaps still yet to learn…

 

 

 

 

 

      

   

 

    

 

 

 

    

 

 

   

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

It started raining towards the end of our session.  See the rain drops – you know, those blurry white stripes? Delaney asked if I could capture them, so they’re supposed to be there. lol  I really like how this one turned out, it’s one of my favorites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The middle shot was taken just before we got kicked out of the train yard.  Technically nobody said “leave” it was more like a worker staring at us from outside the buildings.  For the record, I did look for someone to get permission from before we started.  Claim ignorance, right?

 

 

Favorites with the beau…  the filmstrip shots.  They could really hold the “serious” look so much that her mom and I had to break it up.

 

.   

This shot was completely candid, well… Delaney notice the camera pointed in her direction.  We were clearing out of the road before a

red mustang ran us all over, Delaney and Preston headed for the pull-out and I just leaned up against the guard rail a ways down the road and happened to catch the moment. 

 

Doesn’t that just scream personality?

 

Thanks Delaney!

 

Do A Good Turn

 

 

 

 

 

Those boys of mine were busy bees this morning, running the snow-dusted neighborhood to collect food for the Scouting for Food drive.  I’ll be sure to have some hot chocolate ready for them when they return!  They love the food drive, even though there are complaints about getting up early on a Saturday and being cold, but in the end they are excited to have helped other families out.

Lucky Dog & Lightroom

 

 

Meet Lucky, he’s our “adopted” dog we’re babysitting for a year as my sister April travels the world

doing things I only dream (or have nightmares) about doing. 

I live vicariously through her and am happy with that.  

 

In the meantime, I get to play pet-parent to her pride and joy Mr. Lucky Dog, the inspiration behind WonderMoto.  He’s a blast. 

The Farmers love, LOve, LOVE him and I have to admit it’s nice to have both Lucky and Spike

at my feet while I am home alone all day.  No, don’t jump to conclusions… the Farmers can stay in school.  lol

 

And how could you not love that?

 

Or that?  Lucky is ready to please and more than ready for a good round of fetch.

 

“I’m ready…. ready… ready….  I’m still ready.”

 

 

I suppose his patience wore a little too thin. 

It’s dangerous business trying to take pictures with a tennis ball in hand.

 

 

But he’s back on his game. 

 

 

What concentration!  What perseverance! 

 

 

Doesn’t he make your heart melt?  Even if you’re not a dog fan, he makes a great case to be one.

 

 

So well behaved is he, except for when he gets the idea in his head

that he needs to be the center of attention.  Like now, as I’m sitting at my desk,

Lucky’s wet nose nudges my arms off the keyboard.

 

Or I get a big, slobbery kiss when we’re cuddling on the sofa watching t.v.

 

 

And that’s when I take a break and we go play ball again until he drops.

 

Yep, he’s a lucky dog all right.  But we can’t forget about Spike…

 

 

Who spent the entire time I played fetch with Lucky contemplating the deeper meaning of life at the edge of the pond.

 

 

Deep thoughts like “how many birds can I catch at the feeder”

or “here little fishy, heerreee little fishy.”

 

 

Or deeper still, “when will that darn dog go home!”

 

You gotta love a cat with attitude.  Lucky and Spike are friends actually. 

They tear up the great room going round and around and around the seating

area until they either get yelled at or one of them calls a truce. 

The same thing happens outside, except it’s the trees and they don’t get yelled at. 

 

Lucky settled himself down in Spike’s bed – that was hilarious,

talk about Goldie Locks’ '”this beds too small”  – we decided it was time to get one of his own. 

They snuggle each other. They bathe each other.  They’re just good buddies who look out for each other.

 

The strangest thing happened yesterday,

Lucky nudged me out of my seat and headed downstairs to the back door. 

I thought it was an emergency potty run, but instead  I just let Spike in and Lucky was happy.  No potty needed.

 

Saturday Dave and I went into Petco to get a new bag of dog food.

I remembered what brand, what color of bag, but when we got there we found two green bags.

I called Dev at home and asked him to check for me. 

“What kind of dog is on the front of the package?”

His classic reply,  “I don’t know… a spaghetti dog?” 

 

I knew exactly what he was talking about.

 

 

I hope this makes up for the lack of Lucky updates, April. 

He’s doing just fine and lov’n life… not too much though!  Take care, we miss you!  We love you!

 

 

 

 

 

A little side note, I’ve got a new software program that I’m playing with.  It’s Adobes Lightroom 3.  All the pictures went from RAW

camera files to completely processed in less than five minutes.  Heck, it took longer to paste them into this post

and is incredibly faster than what I have been doing. 

 

For example, the old way:

 

1. Import RAW  (can’t see the images)

2.  Convert using Camera Raw in CS3.  (10-15 shots max at a time.)

3.  Sync if applicable.

4.  Save as TIFF’s

5.  Edit one by one or batch process (single action) if there are only slight changes.

6.  Save.

 

 

New way:

 

1.  Import RAW into LR

2.  Select similar groupings, adjust and sync.

3.  Slight edit if necessary in LR or more serious stuff in CS3

4.  Export as TIFF’s and JPEG’s.

 

Done!

 

I have to play around a little more with it before I can make an “educated” decision, but so far so good. 

Need more practice… need more pictures….  need more willing volunteers!