Flower Bouquet and the Egg Yolk Room

Yahoo recently wanted to paint and boy did I jump on that! She never wants to paint which is so different than the way Yip and Yap were when they were 4 years old. When they were this age we painted all the time. But the other day she had it in her head that she wanted to paint and she wanted to paint on coffee filters. First she merely wanted to draw on them with markers and spray them with water.

A cool project if you can get kids to color the entire coffee filter, which I knew Yahoo wouldn't have the patience for (since we'd done it before) so I convinced her paint was the way to go.

Pull it together, a twist of the pipe cleaner...

...a gorgeous spring bouquet.

She was being just a bit silly with the camera trying to hide from me. Goofy girl.

Have you noticed my new walls yet? Yep, I finished painting room number 2 in my house a couple weeks ago and now I'm trying to get it all back together.

DR isn't too fond of the color I chose. He says now he knows how it must feel to be in the middle of an egg yolk! I didn't think it was that bad. It does make the room feel lots bigger.

What do you think of my corner shelves? I did have a bookshelf in that room where the kids kept art supplies and those corner shelves sure opened up the space. I found a great tutorial on how to build them.  The problem is...my house isn't square...HA! I made them fit but if any carpenter took a close look they'd be greatly disappointed in me. 

This room is pretty much done except for this wall. I'm just not sure what to put here. 

Next up...my kitchen. And guess what, it's going to be yellow too!! Another egg yolk! 

The Plastic Dinner Party

Last week DR and I were surprised by some visitors from southern Indiana. Mike and Connie were DR's neighbors when he was growing up and he was in school with their kids. I'd say Mike and Connie were like a second set of parents to DR. We lived fairly close to Mike and Connie for about a year, back when the boys were about two years old. They are a great couple and I've always loved spending time with them.

Mike and Connie had been in Texas visiting family and they decided to swing through Kansas to see us. DR called on Tuesday to let me know they'd be at our house just in time for dinner. Great!! A fabulous excuse to grill up some T-Bone steaks. I had dinner a hummin', the kids were behaving and helping me pick up the house...everything was going great! Until I went to set the table....

Did you know all of my dinnerware is plastic? 

Our plates are plastic McDonald plates DR used when he was a kid. And all our drinking glasses are plastic. I was mortified. It's not often I have dinner guests and I sure didn't want to serve dinner to a couple of adults on Ronald McDonald's face!! But I didn't have much choice, I couldn't stop time for an hour and rush to WalMart (cuz that's the only choice) and buy new glasses and plates. I should have known though, Connie and Mike are such wonderful folks it didn't bother them a bit. They were just happy to see family (well, not exactly family but close enough).

Now I distinctly remember receiving a set of white and blue ceramic dishes and real glass drinking glasses as wedding gifts. How is it that almost eight years later (wow, 8 years!) all of that adult dinnerware has disappeared? I know we lost some of it when we moved (one out of a million times) but what happened to the rest?

Oh yeah!!  *sigh* We had kids! It's a wonder we haven't moved into a plastic house yet!

So when do I get to eat like an adult again on real plates out of glasses that aren't decorated with Santa Claus or have a restaurant's name and cartoon characters emblazoned across it? Is there a magical age where kids don't break dishes anymore or can be trusted to actually, dare I say, be careful with a real glass? Better yet, can't I just cast a spell on dinnerware to become unbreakable?

It isn't like I intended to use plastic plates and cups when I starting having kids. Grandparents gave us some of it (not complaining grandparents, just stating facts), some came as part of goodies from school parties. Aliens drop off plastic silverware in the middle of the night! (There's no other explanation.) Plastic has invaded our home like rabbits. It's everywhere!! 

So, the older I get, I'd like to know which leaves first.....the plastic dishes or the kids?

Crash!!! (the sound Prairie Mother just heard in the background)

*sigh*

Anyone in the market to buy a few kids? They're housebroken....almost.

Thanksgiving Batik Table Runner without Wax!

I have been busy decorating for Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday! Yes, I can honestly say I enjoy Thanksgiving more than Christmas. No presents, no trying to get all the gifts in the car, no trying to hit all the relatives in a few short days.

Thanksgiving for me growing up was a huge dinner organized and overseen by my grandmother and her five sisters. Every Thanksgiving was spent with tons of family (I'm talking 50 or more people) and lots and lots and lots of food.

With this being our first Thanksgiving in Kansas without being surrounded by family, I decided to spruce up our new dining table to keep things warm and cozy.

I had an old, heavy, canvas seed corn sack in my fabric stash. I cut the apart the back and the front and sewed them together at the bottom to make a long runner.

I just love the stripes on the bag. To create my design I found some leaf patterns online that I used for stencils. I traced each stencil with glue and then added glue leaf veins. I let the glue dry for about 24 hours.

Using watered down ACRYLIC paint I then painted in the leaves and let it dry overnight. It's important to use acrylic because it's latex based and won't wash out if you need to throw the runner in the washing machine.

The next day I used watered down blue and green for the background and allow to dry overnight. I added a few glue accents in the background for more visual interest. Be careful how watery your blue/green paint is because it will bleed under the glue into the leaves if you aren't careful. I had a lot of bleeding but I actually enjoyed the way it looked in the end.

After the runner is dry, soak the whole thing in warm water for 20-30 minutes. This will loosen up the glue to be removed. I found a butter knife scraped under (not across) the glue worked well at removing the glue. You could also try wiping it off with a damp rag.

Once the glue is wiped off (you aren't going to get every bit off), allow runner to dry and iron it flat. Enjoy a beautiful piece of artwork on Turkey Day!

My New Dining Table Is Here!!!

Tada! Our new table!!

Isn't it beautiful? DR did a fabulous job.

We stained it with ebony stain which turned out so much better than I imagined it would. Even though part of the table is just stock 2x4 pine, DR wishes now he would have used nicer wood, I think the stain looks wonderful and pulls out the wood grain beautifully.

There are four coats of polyurthene on the table top which makes it so easy to clean up. The rest of the table has two coats. The stools have two coats of polyurthene on top and one on the legs. I almost didn't polyurthene the legs but now I'm really happy I did. The finish just adds a nice touch to the overall look.

When we aren't using it all the stools slide neatly under the table out of the way.

And my vaccuum slides right under the table! (I know really not that exciting to many but it's a big plus for me!)

Look how much room there is!!

No one's elbows are sticking in someone's ear while we eat.

DR, I love it!! Thank you so so much for building us a new table!

Now what other wonderful wood working project can I come up with for DR to make for me?? I asked him to make me an automatic house cleaner but he just rolled his eyes at me.

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad table.

Memba' how I told you DR was making me a new dining room table? Well today I'm going to show you my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad table.

Here's my current dining room table in a teeny little dining room; 8 ft x 10 ft.

I found this table a few years ago and thought it would be so cozy and practical. But it's not. It's hard to move, the benches are awkward to share and I hate that the only place to put it covers up windows. The bench seats lift up and I assumed it would be a wonderful place to store things but as you can see I don't have anything under the seats.

Why not? Because crumbs drift down in there all the time.

See how dirty it is?

(If my grandmother knew I was sharing my dirt with the entire blogging community she would be rolling over in her grave....seriously!)

It's kind of hard to see here but the table is covered in paint spots from craft projects and dents and dings. It doesn't help that the table is white either...every little stain show up.

But I have to say the worst thing about having this kitchen nook bench table thing is that during mealtimes Yahoo takes it upon herself to march around the benches and help herself to her brother's food! I'm constantly breaking up fights when we eat. (Don't suggest a high chair, she vetoed that LONG ago.) I wouldn't recommend this dining nook to anyone....maybe I'll just send it to Australia!

My new table is on its way...very soon it will make its debut. Yahoo and I have been sanding and staining and I'm really excited about how it's coming along! I'm looking forward to sharing it with you soon.

Thanksgiving Table

Look how hard at work the men in my life are! There they are in the garage slaving away.

Cutting, nailing, sanding...what are they up to?

Okay, only one of them is hard at work. DR runs the power tools while Yip is always standing at the ready to pick up wood. Yap keeps his bum useful holding down that seat!

DR is building me a new dining room table! He always amazes me....he had the whole table and 8 stools built in one day.

And they're great!

Dirt and sawdust looks good on you Yip!

The reason DR is so hard at work is for Thanksgiving. Now, I don't expect a big crowd for Turkey Day but I did invite a few people and our current dining table just wasn't big enough; I'll compare the two later. Our dining room is small so space is at a premium; rather than chairs DR and I decided stools would work well.

Now that the table and stools are done Yahoo and I have the job of sanding and staining. Okay, it's my job alone...

DR tried a couple different stool designs. I'm thinking a dark walnut stain. What do you think?

Even though DR banged this out fast and I really love it, because he made it, it's not anything fancy. This table and chairs was designed for kids in mind. I know my kids will climb, draw, paint and give this table a good workout in the next decade or so. But it's sturdy and affordable. DR only spent about $100 and all the materials!

I love the looks of it all though. Sturdy, a bit rustic and practical...nothing fancy.

My new table is 3 ft. by 5 ft, big enough to seat 8 people. I can't wait to get it finished and in the house!

Even though I only invited a few family members (you know who you are) don't be offended if you didn't get a call from me! Hey, I'll happily feed anyone who shows up on my doorstep on Thanksgiving. So, if you have nowhere to eat turkey swing on by and check out my new table!