An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life...

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

"Which wolf will win?"

The old chief simply replied,

"The one you feed."

The Chair.

Forward: I am often far too optimistic.  I think I can do things I can not.  I put unrealistic time frames on everything... but it's just because I am ignorant and never learn my lesson.

After moving in to our house and needing more furniture than we had, I thought it would be a perfect time to take on a reupholstery project, because now I had a garage that was all mine (and my husbands, but who said it had to be his?!) that I could take over if need be. So I did.

I began this project about a month and a week ago... on a trip home for a quick lunch break, I happened to take a back way and stumbled upon a garage sale. It was furniture galore. Apparently a Mother-in-law sale.  At any rate I saw 2 wingbacks and an ottoman... for $10. Altogether.  Yes. They were horrendous, and already had a slipcover attempt go awry, but I don't shudder at the nasty 90's decor.  I think, stupidly, that reupholstery has got to be easy.  As long as I've got my staple gun and fabric, I am good!  I was wrong.

The most I had ever done with upholstered furniture was sit on it, sleep on it, or move it.  I didn't know what hid underneath that fabric!  But my bravery withstood my stupidity, and the journey began. I took it apart just how all the blogs told me to, like an onion, working my way from the outside in.  Ok.  I also read that it was smart to take pictures, of everything.  I mean Everything.  I took probably about 100 pictures, but I wish I had taken more, of the little things, like the sizes of the staples in certain areas or WHERE they stapled each piece... Ah well. Just had to figure that out on my own.

 

So I stared at it.  A lot.  I would remove one staple and look.  My husband would come in and ask, "how's it going?" and my response, "Great!"  I had no idea what I was doing, but my blind confidence got me through somehow!

This picture is of me trying to figure out just how they put this thing together, AND that this chair requires much more sewing than I was expecting. Sewing is not a great attribute of mine... but so be it.  I dug myself this deep so far, might as well give it a go.


             

  Here is the fabric we chose.  You wouldn't think it, but this was a huge time consuming, heart grueling process. It's really the first time I had ever made any type of fabric decision that actually had an effect on me. Everything else I've ever chosen has always been fun fabrics for a blanket or something goofy... never FURNITURE! Ack.

 So I recruited Dave's help to be my EYE, because my brain was in distress and it couldn't make one more decision.  If you know me, you know I don't like decisions.


    So here you have it.  The fabric. The wall. The curtain.  I still don't know. I put it on the chair to find out.  Looks decent enough. I cut it up to pieces that somewhat match the original fabric and keep going. And going.


and going.


and going.

And finally, I get here:  The CHAIR IS DONE!

well,

except for the cushion.


ugh.


I think, "It can't be THAT bad, I just did that whole chair.

I watched a video or two and started putting the cushion together like the confident girl I thought I was.  It was not working very well, but I pushed on, but these thoughts were running through my head...

I've never sewn a ZIPPER before!  I've never had more than 2 pieces of fabric to piece together.  Cording?! What's that?!

At any rate.  I put it together, and all of about 6 inches was sewn.  So I finally put it the pillow in to just see how my great work was looking.


and I was mortified.


It was supposed to look like a big fat blocky letter T...  It was, but Italisized.  No one wants their cushion to look like it was sewn in Italics!


I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture.  THAT bad.  I even tried to recruit the help on Facebook.  No takers.  I started looking up upholstery companies.  For as cheap and as determined as I am, that's big.

I mulled over it for a few days, bummed at my lack of this ability... my future dreams of yet another personally owned business, shot!

But!  I am the same woman, so I finally decide to watch some more instructional videos and try again.  More careful and patient this time...




...

and

SUCCESS!

I don't know if I have ever been more proud of myself for such a silly thing as a CUSHION.

SO here she is in all her glory:

 I still have to find good throw pillows to go with the green walls.  Side note:The fabric is not as shiny in person.  The thread in the stripes is a bit metallic, but certainly not THAT shiny in person.

Moral of the story:
I encourage whomever sees this to try things you're afraid of. Ya never know, it just might turn out to be a brand new skill you can add to your list!

Now I just have one more chair and an ottoman to go!

My what A SUMMER!

Were you aware it was summer?  Oh, yes.  It is.

And Mine has FLOWN by.  June and July were consumed by "THE MOVE."  We purchased a home in this cute neighborhood.  The home was owned by the original owners since 1957.  How CUTE!  And the house is the same.  We came from a townhouse, so this nice house with a full finished basement, a 3 season room and a huge yard is a wonderful change.  Starting in mid June, we started moving a few boxes or a car load every other day or so, depending on how crazy our schedule was.  When he had our big move on July 16th, I thought we were doing really great.  At that point, we had moved very box we thought we could pack, and then we would unpack them in the new house, and then refill them with new things at the town house.  July 16th came and went.... and there was STILL stuff in the town house.  How is this even possible?!

I'll tell you.  We had one of thos Mary Poppins bags... but it was our townhouse.  Magically spilling out things we don't really need, but have...

On the big move day, we had to put everything back together.  Beds, shelves, tables, you name it, it came apart and needed to be put back together.  Endless tasks were spilling over.  I suppose that happens when you're an adult.

Then.  Dave left.   for a week.  Bummer!  I promised him that upon his return, I would have the whole townhouse emptied and spotless.

That didn't happen.

I had to go to Cinci on Monday to have Jonah visit grandpa.  Jonah was allllll sorts of excited for the trip.  They talked about going to the zoo and going fishing and the throwing the ball!  How fun is that!  What kid wouldn't be excited?!  My son was... until we got in the car to leave.  I drove down the highway with him screaming, "I don't want to GOOOOOOO!"  Uhhhhh what just happened?!  5 seconds ago all you wanted to do was peace out!  The he fell asleep.  Phew, drama handled.

Or so I thought.

We got to the predestined restaurant to have dinner with G-pa and have Jonah leave.  I kid you not, I was there at bob evans for close to 3 hours.  45 minutes of which I was trying to get Jonah to sit on his bottom on his own like any other normal 5 yr old.  The other 2 hours, he was crying and hiding  and yelling.  What?!  Jonah had been to his g-pa's plenty of times before.  after all that time, I was DONE.  We got in our cars and started ot drive away.  Jonah reached for his Ninetendo DS.  OH NO YOU DON'T.  You do NOT do that to G-pa and get to play your DS.  and then I heard even worse crying.  So I ask, "If I let you play your DS, will you go to G-Pa's?"
"YES!!!"
Ok then.  you're going.
"But I will still miss you mom mom. "
"That's fine, Jonah, but you'll be fine."

Crisis averted.  Jonah drove away with G-pa.  and I was alone.  and I cried.

I got home and was alone.  How weird.

A few updates:

  Hello hello!  It's been a fun summer so far, but since my memory ain't so keen anymore, I'd better document the fun so far!  A lot has happened in the last month.  We've been moving in to our new abode, changing a few things and hitting a few landmarks.   The first exciting thing that happened since the last post is that we had a massive hail storm here in D-town.  My immediate neighborhood wasn't hit so bad, but just south of us had baseball sized hail, along with very serious damage.  There were so many cars with their windshields blown out and windows in houses shattered.  Meanwhile all this was occurring, sirens going off, our power out for the day and madness on our hand cranked radio, Jonah, Kitty and I were cramped in our half bath with our "emergency tub" (a Sterilite container full of flashlights, matches, rope and the like) and whatever food I could grab in about 30 seconds.  Jonah was only worried about Dad who was stuck on Campus, in a basement and barely had reception.  So, with the help of technology, we learned we were both safe.  Then, when the storm calmed, I realized we had no electric, and wouldn't probably for a while, and then thought we had to get dinner in us, since we had just gotten home from Jonah's judo class before the storm.  We went to Subway, and ate fresh.  In this act, I left my technology in the car, not realizing Dave was freaking out because I hadn't responded.  Needless to say, he wasn't too happy that he had leave class early, fly down the highway racing home to make sure we were alright just because I left my phone in the car while eating dinner.  Whoops. 

 His frustration ended soon after because about a week later he had is last day at school!  Do you see that stack of library books he was returning?  Oh yes!  That was for his last paper about something having to do with Korean "Othering."  With that came intellectual and political mumbo jumbo.  At any rate, he's a smart dude and shortly after his last day in school, he graduated!  Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!  I can't describe my pleasure with his graduating -- and with a 4.0.  Proud wifey over here!

 So after the graduation, we have started getting serious about projects at the new house.  Project #1, remover wall paper in basement.  If you remember, it was pretty nasty wallpaper.  It was brown, yellow and orange, much like the rest of the basement.  Well, my awesome momma picked us up a Wallpaper steamer removal thing and in a matter of about an hour, we removed all that wallpaper!  It took a bit getting all the other glue and such off, but look how much better it looks!  I am mildly questioning their choice of blue paint, but not as much as I was frightened by signs of their previous paint choice.  That's right.  Just look at it!  It's ORANGE!  But I guess that's the 70's for ya.  
 

 NEXT!  We painted the living room.  I took these pictures when the sun had already gone down most of the way, so no natural light aided this picture, which makes the color look a bit off.  The paint was "New Avocado" from Valspar (i think).  We love it!  Because all of our current living room furniture is going to the basement, we've got to find all new (and wonderful ) living room furniture that goes with the green.  All of window sills are slate and the fireplace is a grey stone.  We went to IKEA and found the perfect pillows that are going to help us tie it allllllll together.  I am  looking forward to that!

  On a family note, we celebrated Father's day at my Mom's house.  There are quite a few "Dads" we have, but this year we ended up here.  The year before we were at Dave's Dad house, so next year, we should end up at my Dads.  For mothers day at my moms house, we had a Mexican potluck.  It was such a hit, we decided to do an Asian Feast for Father's day!  It was so delicious!  Dave and I brought sushi and egg rolls.  The Sushi was top notch, but the egg rolls didn't turn out so well.  I made them in the morning.  Note to self, make them right before you cook them.  YUCK.  My momma made a few different kinds of Spring rolls which were divine, my brother made a few different types of "meat on a stick," and there was also endless other noodle and soup dishes.  Endless yummieness.  This picture was taken more towards the end, where everyone was so stuffed we could barely move.  What an amazing meal!

It's been a while!

A LOT has happened since the last post....  Yes, offer accepted, but then a few issues with inspection, but really, a lot fewer issues and expected on a house thats over 50 yrs old.  So we dealt with that... then we had to have the appraisal.  Oh, appraisals!  It's a good thing they are there, to let us know how messed up the houseing market REALLY was a few yrs back.  So, there were a few issues with that, but we quickly came to an agreement when we agreed to :

1. Close a month sooner.
AND
2. buy their old patio furniture!

The second one made me laugh, in a giggle sort of way, not snarky.  The furniure was the only stuff left in the house besides all the appliances and all the manuals for said appliances. The house was owned by an old couple who were original owners since '57.  The husband was an engineer and the wifey, an elementary school teacher.  Can you get more cute than that?  No way!  Every inch of the house has cubbies and storage holes.  It was also the cleanest house we saw out of over 25 we walk-through'ed. In looking through the papers left behind, there are papers like the landscaping layout, the houses electrical layout, plans for the 3-season room addition, etc.  Very handy to have I must say!    They took excellent care of the house and we are so excited to have found the gem!

It is a gem, how ever, it is an old gem hat needs some polish... so here is the beginning of what might seem like an unaccomplishable task of turning this house in to a well oiled modern machine!  Here are some pics of projects to come:

First and MOST importantly is this room!  It is the Laundry room, but will soon enough by my Craft room!  The are pictured I am wanting to put in a fun table for doing crafty things.  Maybe also some Wall hangings, shelves or something. My initial idea was a retractable folding table of some sort that could also be used as a cutting table or just a table to do something on while I stand.  Regardless, lots of possiblities, especially because there are already 3 built-in closets in this room! 

 Basement Hangout room...  We'll be putting our current dinner table & booth down here for the current wet bar to turn in to the family fun room area.  There is plenty of room for a ton of activities.  Right behind where I was standing to take the picture is where the TV and couches will be and then to the right is a huge wide open area where we'll probably put a few of Jonah's big toys. Excitement to be had by all!  The only real issue is the wallpaper...  I know! The're classic!  But really, we don't need all the different types of alcohol plastered on our wall.  Instead, we're dumping the old stuff, giving it to whomever wants it, and then making a bit of an homage to the classic drive-in movie theatre type deal.  We already have the little characters and a few classic movie posters, all we need now is a color other than BROWN.  Don't get me wrong, if you know me, you know I am a huge Brown fan... but not an entire BROWN area.  The previous owners did a decent job with their decor, which was all bright GREEN via 1973. Albeit awesome, there just aren't a lot of options for green furniture these days... nor is it an option, because really, the only color you can accessorize it with in this room is bright yellow.  and I just will not do that.  Also, Not sure if I am willing to paint over the pine paneling, just because it's awesome, high-quality stuff and really did look awesome 40 yrs ago, it will most likely be back in within the next few decades... right? 

Here is a picture of some of the backyard.  When Dave went over to meet our new backyard neighbors, the couple whispered to themselves as Dave walked away, "They must have really loved the house to live behind big hillbillies like us!  Tis true, neighbor!  At any rate, I am hoping to eventually get some type of garden in there... cucumbers or strawberries or something that I enjoy eating. Or, maybe flowers!  Since those are fun to look at.  Regardless, this tree is of need of a tire swing.  STAT!

Ok.. that's all I have time for now, and my picture uploady thing is weird... sometime real soon!

One step closer....

So, we've been a little busy. 



BUYING A HOUSE.


Well, we're at least at the next step... We put in an offer on a house last Monday and it was accepted!  We have out inspection this week.  If all goes well, we'll be there before you know it! 

A little about the place:

Its close to Lincoln Park/Fraze Pavillion(which is an outdoor concert hall), it has 3 bed 2 baths and a finished basement.  The first floor is circa 1993.  Gold, flowers, white and navy blue.  Awesome, I know!  The basement gets even better.  Think Orange, yellow and cedar and you have our new basement!!  So amazing, right?  We have a huge ( literally 3 1/2 feet x 3 1/2 feet) painting of sunflowers circa 1976 that we got when we were first married that went with our sunflower oval dinner table and bucket swivel chairs.  It is very sad that we had to give away the table and chairs about 5 years ago, but we still have the painting! AND It fits right in, I am pretty pumped. 

Projects to be added to the list already:

1. Remove awful pink and blue wall paper in the kitchen.
2. Remove fresh new carpet to expose even better hard wood floors.  At least in the living room and dining room... and get new furniture... and put the older stuff in our new play room (basement living room). 
3. Bathroom circa 1957.  Its about time for an update... at least its not pink ( which is why it's # 3)
4. Add one corner of fencing, thanks to neighbors who have already put up theirs, and get a new furry friend!
5. Wainscott our bedroom...
6. Chalkboard paint in Jonah's room?

and I am sure a gazillion more to come.  Perhaps I will add the "To-Do" list on the side of the good ol' bloggy to keep a running update on progress.  Yay for progress.

"as of late" Food edition

It's a phrase I often say.  Don't really know why, but it's one of my faves.  I have a lot of faves that on most occasions may confuse others.  Why, you ask?  Well, because I am sort of a space cadet and live in the world that's created in my head.  I kind of like it here, so I will stay a while. 

So, to get on with it, as of late, I have been up to some things... I have been cooking more often and crafting a little less, but crafting still. 

Here are some gems that I have put in my tumm-tumm as of late: 

     This  was a fun little experiment.  I wanted to do something with some left over egg roll wraps and I REALLY wanted to recreate my favorite Chicken Ginger soup from the Korean sushi place we love.   So with all that, I created these!

The egg roll things ended up being like a Rangoon type of thing with chicken.  I took some sour cream and cream cheese, garlig, onion, seasonings and mixed it 'til it tasted good, stuck it in the wraps and fried 'em up in oil - YUM-O!  The Soup is also super easy.  It's chicken stock, however much you want, I always do about 4-5 cups of stock and 1 1/2 cups water, but I water mine down and you don't have to if you'd rather have very chicken stocky soup.  Throw in about a tablespoon of minced ginger, or more or less, depending on your affinity for ginger...  Dave and I heart it, but my son does not care for it too much, hence the table spoon. Then, dice up some carrots, probably about a cup.  I cut them up pretty small, because this is supposed to be a smooth, brothy soup.  Then you throw in 1 chicken breast that minced... yes, minced.  It will go a very long way.  Then let it boil for a bit.  At least 5 minutes, but the rule with any soup, the longer the better.    When you're ready to serve throw in some green onione or chives.  SO good. 

Next, we have Dave's creation.  He cooked up some Ramen, soup style, added some veggies and herbs and some chicken, sliced 'er up and threw it in the soup with some pickled ginger.  AMahhhZING.

This was a little experiment that turned out great, even if the pictures don't look like it!  We sauteed zuucchini and squash and red onions with a little EVOO, garlic and herbs.  Then I threw in some frozen diced chicken.  This was my first experiment with frozen, precooked chicken... I would say that if you're not pressed for time, cook it fresh, yourself.  A lot of flavor is lost in packaging.   Even thought the chicken wasn't that great, the rest of it was awesome.  Then we threw it on some whole wheat penne and added parm on top!

KUCHEN:  Doesn't it look amazing???  Let me tell you, it is!  I don't even know how to say it correctly, but all I can say is Mmmm Mmmmm Mmmmmmmmmm.  It's a yeast roll pile, were each of them are covered with chocolate, sugar, and a little cinnamon and nuts. Oh, and butter... a WHOLE lot of butter.  It was divine.  It starts our with a yeast dough, then you let it rest for a while, then pull apart the pieces and roll it around in butter and then the chocolate, sugar, nut mix-y stuff.  Mine would have even be better if I had all the right ingredients!  Pile 'em together and throw it in the oven.  DIVINE. 

Korean Night: My favorite Night!

It started with Kimchi Dumplings.  Thank goodness we got a rice cooker, because these were great!  Oh, and I didn't make these, I just steamed them... and I didn't really steam them, my rice cooker did.  All I had to do was put them in there and then push the "Steam" button. Done-zo!  We got these beauty's from the Korean market in Fairborn, well one of the many.  It was called "Hon Me."  They have a ton of different varieties of Mandoo and dumplungs.  If you're not versed in the korean verbage, Mandoo is very similar (in shape) to Pot Stickers... but we like to saute ours up in a sauce pan.  So, we did that too.  THEN we made Salmon sushi... but in korean, it's called Bibimbap.  It's great.  We served it up with a blended dipping sauce of soy and hoisin and oyster sauces.  loved it.

BEST OF ALL, THERE WERE TONS OF LEFTOVERS

(that I promptly took to work and finished off the next day.)  DELISH.

Now that I have thoroughly made myself hungry by making this post, I am off to go find something to eat!

OUR FIRST OFFER... an experience in and of itself.

 You could say that Dave and I are particularly thorough, and you would be right!  Dave and I have been house hunting for some time now... and there is really only one that we liked.  We thought other houses were okay and liveable, but not a basket we wanted to put all our eggs in.  On our first trip out to see houses, we saw this beauty... third on the list.  I think it was love at first sight.  Well, maybe not love, it's a house for goodness sake!  But, in terms of houses, this one is a gem in the rough. 






We think it's got everything we're looking for.  It's 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, full semi-finished basement, great neighborhood, great yard, great windows and the list goes on.
 The good part was that, like all houses, it has it's issues... but the issues with this house are all minor cosmetics.  It has hard-wood throughout, but on top in most rooms is carpet... but we get to rip it right up!  It was custom built in the '50s, so it's a great quality house thats got a few wrinkles we have to smooth out.  Ok... I'll walk you through. 

To the right is part of the front of the house.  It is a little bit bigger than this picture would suggest... for example, from this angle, it doesn't look like a 2 car garage... but it is.

 This is the living room/dining room.  Under the carpet is awesome wood floors.

 This is the entry into the kitchen/dinette area from the big ole' dining room/living room combo.  I wish I had endless money because I would deck out the kitchen... but details on that later.

  My absolute favorite part of this house.  The living room window.  You wanna know what I love about it?  I love that it isn't looking any house square in the face.  Its kind of our own world, but obviously not really, but we don't have loo