Memory Trigger

I had a moment the other day.  My husband enjoys the super sweet - and I mean super sweat treats.  He decided that he wanted birthday cake ice cream.  Gross!  He bought this knowing that I would not touch it no matter how desperate I am for ice cream. So to stick it to him, Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was on sale so I grabbed myself a pint.  Ha!

As I had my first spoonful out of the carton. No judging! I was instantly reminded of my first spoonful of B&J's CCCD goodness. I was in 2nd grade and my dad and I had gone on one of our Daddy Daughter Dates to a Phoenix Suns game. I can picture sitting in the arena and using that little pink spoon to dig into the best tasting ice cream ever.  To this day, I still prefer this flavor to any other.

A Dresser Redo - Part IV

It's finally over, I promise!  The dramatic conclusion to the dresser is here! 

I know left you on the edge of your seat wondering how I would fix the large missing chunk of wood.  Here you go . . . I covered it up.  

I went to Micheal's and bought a piece of 3" x 36" x 1/16" balsa wood.  The shelf in question was exactly 1", but unfortunately all the pieces of wood at Micheal's, Home Depot, Lowe's and Ace that were 1" wide were way too thick.  Luckily, balsa wood, especially that thin, is easy to cut using a knife.  I did just that, and  I cut it long enough to cover the entire length of the front.

Next, I painted it with a few coats of white and polyurethane to match.

Then, I glued it to the dresser using Krazy Glue.  (Well first, I dropped a hammer on it accidentally and had to start the whole process over.  Thank goodness for the extra wood!)  The wood is so thin, you can't tell that it's even there.  I made sure to line it up with the existing breaks.

In case you have forgotten, here's a before and after shot.

There were some unique challenges to this one, but I like to see them as learning experiences that will help me with my future projects.  :)  Besides, the transformation was worth it!

Top 10 - Things I Love About Fall

I LOVE FALL!  I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that it's my favorite time of year.  As we enter the wonderful season that is autumn I have somehow managed to condense all my loves down to ten.  Hopefully, you share at least one! 

1. The Weather - The days are finally not sweltering and the nights are cool.  The air seems crisper and easier to breathe somehow.  You can have the windows open both at home and in the car (sorry people who can now hear me singing at the top of my lungs).  The 100 degrees with 100% humidity days of July and August are quickly forgotten and finally, it's 63 and slightly cloudy and, in the words of Cheryl Frasier, ". . . all you need is a light jacket." (Or sweater, or hoodie, or scarf.  Which leads me perfectly to #2.)

2. The Clothes - Boots, Scarves, Hats, Sweaters, Tights, Mittens!  All the wonderful soft warm things that have been hiding all summer can come out to play.  Not to mention, as someone who LOVES layering, this is my season.  Added bonus, a sister who knits!

Thanks for the Captain's Hat Sara!

3. The Smells - Noses rejoice!  Maple, apple cinnamon and pumpkin are here!  They smell tasty and warm and make me want to curl up in a blanket while eating something made of them. 

4. The Seasonal Food - There are certain dishes that appear only once a year.  
J. Christopher's Caramel Apple French Toast, I'm talking to you.  Thankfully, Starbucks finally relented and put Caramel Apple Cider on the menu all year round, but it used to be a seasonal drink also.  Delish!

Looks yummy, huh?

 5. The Return of Football - It's finally here!  Grown men in tight pants pounding each other to move a silly shaped brown ball 100 yards.  Ah.  I like many sports, but for me, nothing beats football.  Defenders, please stop tackling like wussies and WRAP HIM UP!  Go Cowboys!

Witnessing the very first kickoff of the college football season, right here, at our little Vanderbilt.  Go Commodores!

6. The World Series - I'm going to add in all of the baseball playoffs.  7 months and 160ish games ago, baseball started and now it all matters.  You've seen my doormat, we watch plenty of baseball in this house, but this is the best part.  Wild card races and play-off runs all culminating in a final show down of the season's two best teams.  Plus, with that crisp air, the crack of the bat seems crackier, the grass seems greener and players of all ages and experience can do amazing things.    

Okay, so it's not at a playoff game, but it is still during fall at Petco Park during our trip to Coronado Island.

7. The Pumpkins - With the exception of pumpkin pie, (I don't like carrot cake either.  No vegetables in my desserts please.) I love everything about the pumpkin.  I love carving it.  I love sticking my hand in to pull out the wet disgusting guts and picking out the seeds to later bake and eat.  I love the smell of pumpkin spice candles.  I love that you can stick one on the front porch, unaltered in anyway, and it's considered decorating.  And, most of all, I love It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.  

Last Halloween's Rapunzel Pumpkin.

8. The Leaves - The colors are magnificent!  The yellows, oranges and reds light up the trees as if nature is saying one last time that it's vibrant and bright and will back soon. Stanley Horowitz cleverly stated, "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."  I spent last weekend Leaf Peeping in Vermont and New Hampshire with BF Olivia and it was incredible.  Who knew that driving around looking at leaves was a vacation, and an amazing one at that?  (A word of advice from Linus Van Pelt, "Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker.")

B-E-A-UTIFUL!  Courtesy of shutterbug Olivia.

9. The Holidays - Halloween.  Thanksgiving.  Dress up.  Stuff your face.  'Nuff said.  :)

Us three and the mom all dressed up for tricks-or-treats.

10. The Fires -  Call the chimney sweeps because it's time to light up the fireplace!  (Add this to the list of smells, too.)  Nothing beats the glow of a fire to warm me during a chilly evening.  Add a cup of apple cider and a snuggie with a Charlieface underneath and I will not be moving. 

Happy fall everyone!

A Dresser Redo - Part III

Part III is here!  Are you excited for the conclusion of this dresser redo?  

Moving right along . . . 

As mentioned in Part II, I allowed the final coat of white paint to dry overnight before taping.  Then, I painted on my second color, black.

I know there are lots of tricks to getting the perfect line with tape, but sometimes the easiest thing to do is just to touch up where the paint leaked under.  One thing to remember is if you are using anything but flat paint (eggshell, semi-gloss, etc.) make sure to score the tape before taking it off.  If you skip this step the tape is bound to take with it large chunks of paint!  Here is what it looked like after taking the tape off.

After letting everything dry overnight, I did one final coat of water-based polyurethane.  If you want your white paint to stay white, make sure to use water-based poly.  Oil-based poly has a tendency to yellow over time.  On top of stain and dark colors, the difference is negligible, but on white, you'll notice.  I let it sit just one more night before putting it all back together.  I bought new hardware, black, to match the trim.  Drum roll please . . . .

Oh no!  Do you see that too?  I knew there was a chunk of wood missing from the frame, but I honestly though that the drawer would cover it!  Self, always double check!   

There are always a few final touches that need to be done once I've reassembled a piece, but this is a little bit more than I expected.  At first, I was angry and exasperated with myself, but I am nothing if not a problem solver.  So, I guess there IS going to be a Part IV.  Sigh, :)

The Most

Not only am I the oldest sister...the most beautiful sister....the most intelligent and talented sister, but I am also the nerdiest sister. (And I say that proudly!) I bring it up because Halloween is on it's way. I love Halloween! Last year, Jake and I decided to dress-up together. Not quite like couple costume "together," but with a common theme. So, he was The Doctor and I went as Amy Pond. (Doctor Who is our show. Definitely quality mother-son geek-fest bonding time.)

Here he is channeling his inner-David Tennent. (Sorry, no picture of my costume...athough, that blurry blob on the left is my arm. :)

It turned out that we had TWO Trick-or-Treating events last year, so we decided to mix things up a bit for soiree Number Dos.

Amy Pond and her sidekick ;) fighting The Silence. We battle evil with our positive outlook and cheery smiles. (I love Abbie's face in this one! "Must...have...sonic...screwdriver...)

(I just had to add this one for fun. That face of pure joy just kills me! Makes you want to give her anything just to see that face, doesn't it?)

Anyway, Jake and I had such a good time in our joint costume venture, that we decided to get the whole family to play along this year. We brainstormed a few themes, and Kaylie has decided that this year will be...Star Wars. That's right, folks. Rapunzel has spoken and don't call her Rapunzel. It's Padme this year. :)

So, keep your eyes glued to this spot for dork-tastic costume-y goodness. Trust me...it's gonna be good! (There might even be a real couple costume this time around. Wink wink.)

A Dresser Redo - Part II

As promised, the redo continues. . . .

To ready the rest of the dresser for primer, I did a quick sanding over everything.  I use a power sander whenever possible as it makes quick work of the large flat surfaces, but this piece has quite a bit of detail that had to be sanded by hand.  When you are painting, stripping the piece to the bare wood isn't necessary.  You just want to rough up the surface to give the primer/paint something to hold on to.  Some would argue that since I am using primer, I don't need to sand at all since the paint will adhere to the primer, which is true, but I like to create as uniform surface as possible by sanding out all the aforementioned nicks and scratches.  

 

Next, I primed everything.  I like to lift the furniture of the floor so I can reach the very bottom and it won't get painted or stained or whatever to the drop cloth.  Paint cans work great. 

 I'm going to be painting a two-toned color scheme (black & white) so after the primer dried, I started with the white paint.  Always do your lighter color first.  

 

 

Before taping, I suggest letting the paint dry overnight.  More to come! 

You've got Something on your face....

 ...right...here. :)

 

 Is it just me, or does everybody have those days.

 
The ones where you have this nagging suspision that something is just not right and it feels like everyone else can tell and is staring right at you?

I've checked my teeth in the mirror. Nothing there. Toilet paper stuck to my shoe? Nope, not that either.

I pull a super-sneaky-fly-check. Hmm...my zipper's right where it should be. What could possibly be the problem!

Maybe it's something bigger. Certainly no one can tell that I'm upset at myself for not being strong enough, good enough, patient enough. Maybe I'm just being paranoid?

And then, I look at these little faces. They don't care that I'm not perfect. They just care that I'm Mom. That I'm here. That I love them. All. The. Time.

So, while others staring at me might just be in my head...there is still some staring going on. Cause I can't keep my eyes off these two!

(Success! Found the fork at last!)