Can't Make Up My Mind.

I have been having to lay down with Bear at bedtime while she is adjusting to going to sleep without sucking her thumb. She apparently has to talk herself to sleep now. And I'll tell you - a conversation with a four year old is not what I need when I am going to sleep. She gets my mind going in all directions.

So - she's excited about Saturday and trying to figure this countdown thing out. Being the good homeschooling mom, I am taking full advantage of working on her days of the week while we talk and thinking to myself, "heh, this homeschooling thing is a breeze - they are thirsting for knowledge and you just have to take advantage of the teachable opportunities." (I know - BIG mistake!) Then, this is how our conversation ended:

Bear: "How many days is it till Saturday?"

Me: "Two."

Bear: "I thought it was three."

Me: "Yesterday it was three, and today is it two. Then, tomorrow it will be one more day."

Bear: Pause. "Why do you keep changing your mind?"

Me: Silent - but laughing hysterically inside!!!


Okay, so the conversation was not going where I thought! We'll keep working on it. I love the thoughts of a four year old. I have a lot of funny friends - but they are funny on purpose. And, as much as I love them, the innocent thoughts of little kids just crack me up!

Bloomin' Aloe!

Look at this! Did you have any idea an aloe plant would bloom??? I had no idea. I totally neglect my aloes because every time I re-pot them, they immediately fill that pot with new babies. Then, they don't look very nice and I just look like I am neglecting my gardening duties. Which I am. But, I don't want my plants to reflect that. Seriously, we have a lifetime supply of sunburn care here at our house.

Now I'm not touching it until I see this bloom. I'll have to divide it later. I am so excited to see what this flower looks like. I'll post a picture for anyone who is as surprised as me - and who even cares. heh!

Update: Okay - that was pretty much it. That's what the bloom looks like. I was expecting it to open up wide. It turned a little more yellow, but when we got back home from vacation it wasn't worth a new picture. I still think it was cool!

Mother Knows Best

I have been on the hunt for new chairs for my kitchen table for a while now. They were looking pretty bad and falling apart, so I thought I definitely needed new. My mom mentioned I should just re-finish the ones I have, but I quickly dismissed that idea when I thought about all of the paint and drying times and re-covering seats and searching for fabric to re-cover seats and - yeah, right!

Then, Heidi over here challenged her readers to share their latest project. Well, you know me. I'm always up for a good challenge. Not really, I'm not very competative at all. But - I needed new chairs, so I decided I had to try something. And, when will I start listening to my mom?

Well, here is the before on my sad, faded, scratched up chairs. My dad kindly glued the joints back together for me before I got started. I was so afraid we would have someone over and the chair would bust right out from under them.




Here is the chair now. I went with a matte black paint to go with my black kitchen table. Can you tell I like yellow? I found that material at Hobby Lobby on clearance. It was $24.99/yard and was on sale for $4/yard. That's quite a bargain, if I must say so myself! How's that, Heidi?