Upholstery 101- Challenging and Fun

we received this wonderfully comfortable chaise lounge chair from my parents for our new home. But as you can see, it needed a makeover.

Enter Upholstery 101 at the Sedgwick County Extension office~

First class was spent de-stapling...definitely the easiest job. Only got harder from here on out...

Second class, mom was out of town, leaving me up a creek without a paddle, the paddle being sewing skills necessary to do ANYTHING else in that class. So i waited....

Third class, got the bottom cover on!

Largely due to mother's sewing skills.

Batting and Padding. Neither of which are done on a baseball diamond or in the middle school girls' locker room.

Pre-sided.

Naked backside. We stripped a lot of it down, but we didn't have to re-tie springs. Praise God!

This is looking like a chaise lounge...a pReTtY chaise lounge

Plusher. We finished OVER half the job in one class period.

the LAST class period, when everyone goes home and says Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas, we are saying, "can someone help us move this monstrosity?"

clothed backside.

Whew, are we done?

a million thousand (approximately) staples and headaches later....tada!

This was a really fun class and i am sure the next time will be better when i don't feel like a chicken running around with my head cut off. One thing's for certain, if mom wasn't there by my side, this thing would still be the tan-gray beauty it began as.

The ladies in this class are HILARIOUS and it's very worth taking. However, make sure you have the time (6-6hour classes) and the moola for the resources (staple gun, compressor, fabric, sewing machine, all the knick knacks....another thing i'd be unable to do without my mother). Great bonding time, though! Highly recommended!

Thanks, Phyllis and Frances and all the other helpful and entertaining ladies at UP101!

DIY- Do it Yourself, OR Do it Yodeling. Options are good.

 excuse the mess, this was the first week we moved in. 

These are just scrapbook paper i bought at a local dance store. I fastened them with glue dot-type stuff.

This is the scented drawer lining paper you can get at World Market. Yummy scents and cute designs. Bed, Bath and Beyond and even beyond have these, but the designs aren't as freaking awesome in my opinion:)

yerp.

This is our doorbell! It started out as a fake stone-type plastic surface. I used some old wallpaper a friend gave me (it was her grandmother's, and then just folded and taped onto the back. The good thing about using wallpaper is that it is thick and pliable for wrapping around things.

D put up the doorbell last week and it just looks beautimous!

Death of A Lemon Tree

My friend Emily just informed me that her lemon tree died. 

See, I bought an orange tree at the farmer's market in downtown Wichita last summer/fallish. Then i ran into Emily and she decided she wanted to get a lemon tree! These things are quite puny. I bought a huge pot for it in hopes of a fruitful growth, as well as encouragement for it, kind of like telling my tree that i believe in him, and he CAN fill up this pot with roots! It's akin to when my mother used to encourage my 5'1", 14 year old older brother. AND HE DID FINALLY GROW!

But alas, I think my orange tree is the exact same size he was 7 months ago. BUT he is still green and his leaves have not fallen off. If Florida would've given up on their orange trees all those years ago, well, you would not be grabbing your Florida orange juice out of the fridge, my friend. 

So I press on...

I would add a new picture of my tree, but there is actually another post about it and it looks the exact same. sad day.

Keurig- Welcome to the Space Age

I think that the life of the Jetson’s is not so far away. I can’t believe the amazing little gadgets that people come up with. Upon opening a roomful of gifts when we returned from the h-moon, I discovered that something crazy amazing lay in one of the large boxes. It was our Keurig! Ever heard of a Keurig? I didn’t, until I was over at one of my mom’s awesome friend’s (and mine) house and she had one and practically insisted I get one. I am SO glad I did. This little booger is amazing. How it works: Well, you get these little things called K-Cups. They remind me of those little cups of creamer that you get at restaurants, but bigger. There are all types of flavors of coffee, tea, and hot cocoa (my fave!). Different brands. Extra bold to decaf. Lots. There is a built- in canister on the one side, and that is where you pour in the water. Instantly, it makes this rumbling noise that appliances make when they are working really hard, and it turns that water into 182 degree water (or whatever degree you set it on). Then you put your mug under the spout, choosing between three different cup size options. Grab your K-cup, open the lid and place the K-cup in its place. Close the lid. And the coffee begins dripping out a few seconds later. WOW! Seriously, I just watched as I closed the lid and my wonderful brew of energy practically fell out of thin air.

Now, one mistake I made already is I kept waiting for the machine to say “Ready to Brew”, but it kept saying “Not Ready”. So that frustrated me, but I gave it a break because I figured turning cold water into 182 degrees was not a small feat. After about five minutes of tinkering around, I decided to just put my mug under the spout, and of course, it said “Ready to Brew”. Ohhh, I get it. Okay, that’s easy. Now, the Keurig is a pretty penny, and I kinda just registered for it (at Bed Bath and Beyond) last minute on a whim because I was told I didn’t have enough large items registered. Didn’t think I would get it though. And I registered for various boxes of K-Cups, which I received and it might have been a bummer if I didn’t even get the machine. It’s like buying all these frozen goods, thinking your freezer is coming in the mail. And it doesn’t. JUST like that. I forget for sure, but there might be a variety pack that comes with the actual appliance. Not sure on that. Oh, and don’t forget to get the K-cup Carousal. Cooly schway. I almost feel too guilty to keep this basically hands- free delicacy of a machine. Almost. And I almost want to make Rosie go brew me a cup, but then I realize I can do it in the push of a button. Might as well burn a few calories, right? Now, Rosie, bring me my brew!

Pure, Raw and Unfiltered.

I'm talking about honey, of course (you assumed that, right???). My current food obsession. My constant craving. If i were on an island and could eat nothing but one thing for the week i was there (i guess i could just say i was at home, too, but an island sounds more survival-y), i would have toast topped, and i mean topped, with peanut butter and honey. Lots and lots of oozing, golden, sticky and sweet yummy yummy honey! The oozing-er, the better! Of course, if this realistic scenario actually happened, my overindulgence would most likely end my obsession and create in its place a deep aversion for anything resembling honey. I guess we'll see:) hmm...when am i going to an island anytime soon?

So i get this pure, raw and unfiltered honey at my local Whole Foods (which is NOT, i assure you, like the huge amazing monstrosities of a natural food market that you are familiar with). This Whole Foods is tucked in the corner of a shopping strip and has about 5 aisles. But they do have two things I am hard pressed to find anywhere else--acai berry sorbet and HONEY! I like the fact that i am supporting my local farmers (these are from Haddam, Kansas, by the way), even though my support is equivalent to wearing a thin t-shirt meant to hold up the "girls". It still is SOMETHING, right? Better than nothing, so I've heard.

Honey is not without its disadvantages though. First of all, I woke up this morning at 5 am starving. So i went down to make me two slices of peanut buttery honey-oozing toast. And what usually happens is i wake up with a slice of my hair matted together in a hard sticky mess of golden goodness. Nice. This morning, though, I switched it up. I decided instead to put my finished plate on the floor by my bed, and then i decided to get out of bed, and now one of my foots' underside is covered in goodness. Better than the hair, I suppose. Easier to wash. Quicker, at least. Oh, and did i mention that i lick every plate after completion of my snack? Well, I do. And I should have mentioned that. B/c it makes the story all the more pitiful.

Right now I am trying to fall back asleep, while "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks plays a sweet melody in my head, and my brain turns to mush because right now, I kid you not, I have no idea the answer to this question:

Do bees eat honey?

Pitiful.
Get back to me.
Blame it all on my roots...