heirloom makeover

When Tuan and I were engaged and had found our first apartment, we needed furniture for it. Fortunately there is this abundance of furniture between both sides of my family. At the time, my folks and grandmother had moved to FLA and left a bunch of things in a giant storage room behind a check-cashing business my dad's friend owned. (Don't worry, he has moved on to the much more reputable work of poultry farming). Anyway, we got the key to the building and went one night and picked out a few things: a kitchen table I refinished, some odds and ends, and this chair that belonged to my grandmother, but was left behind when she moved. I had drooled over the chair and it's twin for some time and was thrilled to grab it. Naturally, being the oldest grand-daughter and the bossiest, I just took it without asking. It's a family chair--the one that was always pulled up to the dining room table when all the other chairs were full. The pair flanked my grandmothers ENORMOUS stereo cabinet (radio/eight track/lp).

I adored that chair and it was a loyal companion to our sofa. Several years later--when our house here was being renovated, my grandmother was packing for another move and I put dibs on the twin chair and got it! The chairs, which were made in the seventies and then recovered by my mom in the nineties are so comfortable and I love the style. Here are Johnny and Aubrey enjoying the chairs.



However, being thirty years old, the finish on these chairs had seen better days. It had a strange finish that sort of peeled off, revealing the laminated wood on the curved back. the chairs couldn't be refinished, yet they were solid wood with super well made cushions. I decided to paint and recover them, but was stumped for ideas. Caroline suggested a Heywood Wakefield look. I didn't know what she was talking about, but after googling the company, I got a bit starry eyed and in absolutely agreed with her. Unfortunately, Wal-mart doesn't carry a Heywood Wakefield colored spray paint. I chose a shade of "gold" and went home inspired.

Unfortunately this was the equivalent of painting my chairs mustard and I don't mean pretty mustard. I sprayed one chair and gagged. This was the plain yellow mustard left out on the counter for a day. Our resident painter drove by as I was painting and I just cringed with humiliation. What to do!?



Fortunately, there was some bathroom paint leftover, a khaki/beige color. I grabbed a dry brush and lightly brushed over the horrendous mustard color. It came out distressed, but pretty, and all the detail in the legs shown through. I liked it, but that meant I had to put the second chair through the entire humiliating process. I also chose to drag the chair outside and paint it on a day when there were oodles of FPC families around. I just wanted to hang a sign on the chair that said:

"I know what I'm doing! [now]
It will look good!
Don't judge me by this chair"


But I didn't. I got right to work on humiliating and redeeming the second chair.



Now with a fresh finish, the "fabric-I-loved-but-didn't-know-what-to-do-with-it" found a happy, happy home.





I hope that these chairs stick around for thirty more years of happy times.

A Truly Useful Bargain!

I've discovered a terribly fun blog. Meredith at Like Merchant Ships is a woman after my own heart: frugal, but loving beautiful things. She's got me rather renewed in my quest for frugality. Going shopping with J/A has stifled a lot of my bargain hunting. The logistics of getting them in and out of car seats and into a store and out has me pretty set to only hit one place for groceries and goods, rather than hopping around. HOWEVER, I found a great spot that warrants and extra visit and I can hit it once a month and satisfy our needs.

The Colonial/Sara Lee/Earthgrains bread outlet on Hwy 49 is most excellent. I stocked up on Sara Lee Whole Wheat English muffins, and Earthgrains, double fiber, whole grain breads at unbelievable prices.

Here's the run down:

$ 1.09 Sarah Lee Whole Wheat English Muffins (Buy one get one)
1.09 Earthgrains bread
1.09 ditto
1.09 ditto
------
$ 4.87 Grand Total!!

I looked for comparable breads at Kroger. They sold their whole grain breads for around $3.36. I'm not sure how much english muffins are--maybe two dollars? So, I could have purchased the equivalent at Kroger for $14.08. That's a difference of $ 9.21. I think saving/earning ten dollars by making that extra stop is absolutely worth it. The bread is still fresh and I freeze my bread anyway. It's also great to buy bread with a dually clear conscience (whole grain and inexpensive). Hope someone else checks it out!

God, infinite and personal

I was reflecting this morning about how personal God is--he knows everything about us, our needs, desires, wants, quirks, cares, heart's cries, and yet He is so infinite and mighty and beyond us. A god who was merely personal, but not infinite might care, but be helpless in his care for us. A god who is solely mighty and infinite would have all the vast resources, yet not know us enough to meet us, to care for us, to supply our specific needs.

God, Yahweh, is both infinite and personal. He knows and can supply all our needs (and then some!). I am glad to be His child.

Further Notice

Rocky Mountain Spotted fever. That's what the doctors are saying that my father-in-law now has. I feel like I am throwing out a new diagnosis for y'all daily, but this is the latest. He actually called to talk to Johnny today so that's promising. The doctor is re-running a test to confirm the diagnosis--I guess tests break up the monotony of being in the hospital for so many days. He's been in for over a week now and it doesn't sound like they'll let him go until he's truly ready. Thanks for all of your continued prayers.

updates

I heard from Melissa's sister-in-law that Melissa and Joey received some good news. While Edie does have galactosemia, her type is the mildest. That means she may have a mild learning disability down the road, and that dairy is a possibility in the future.

I haven't spoken to Melissa yet, so this is a bit through the grapevine, but we are all relieved at the good news and grateful that we serve a mighty God who hears prayers and answers them! We are also thankful for all of your prayers.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Praise Him, all creatures here below!
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts!
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!

Tuan's father is improving, but still being tested. As I understand it, they drew blood yesterday, separated the white from the red and radiated the white, then put them back in? This will help them find the infection or something like that! He is still hallucinating and has headaches, but he seems a bit better. Being in the hospital for so long can be quite a bummer, please pray that he doesn't get too down or worry too much about missing work. We took the kids to visit last night and made cards and posters for him. I'm sure our visit didn't help his headache much. : )