Featured!

 

(This is where the Get Outta My Head Please button is supposed to be, but I can't get it to work.  If it shows up, great.  If it doesn't, trust me.) 

*I love being featured!

I don't link to be featured...or to get traffic...

I link to meet some very cool people.  Like the folks in the Tribe.  And folks from Fort Erie.  And folks who know what Genny Cream Ale is.

Featured is a bonus.

Soon, I will be writing my 400th post.  I am working on a giveaway for that momentous occasion.  It may or may not involve Modge Podge.
Stay tuned!

Here it is!! (After a very long day at work.)

Y'all know I love my bloggy peeps, and y'all REALLY know I am ready for some summer.
Let's add the two together, shall we?

I have a wonderful IRL friend, Anne.  She works with a group that coordinates estate sales.  Sometimes, when there are goodies left over, she calls me.  And I get stuff like this:




...a hideous old chair with no seat.

So I finished taking the seat out...nails, straw, etc.  (Actually, DL did this.  He wanted to.  I think he might have been bored that day.)





We measured the pot (one we already had) for trimming purposes, and made sure it fit snugly.

Used some paint that was left over from another project...

And finished with a coat of spar varnish.





Countdown to summer projects!

What I did over the long weekend:

made a "paddywhacker" wreath using dollar store materials, for the pool noodle challenge

painted one of my amazing finds

tried the hydrangea trick (it works!)

turned a chair into a planter

...and rescued these girls from the side of the road.

I LOVE LONG WEEKENDS!!

Memorial Day Banner

To all our veterans...we thank you!

She sails...she scores!

a small tea table and partial set of Fostoria,

a darling vintage metal rolling cart--like Grandma Hazel had. along with two perfectly-weathered flower pots

a basket and Ikea clock, for which I have big plans

and the piece de resistance!

Words to live by

This from Bliss gave me an idea.

I have a Pinterest Board that is just for words.  You know, things like this:



courtesy of that company that's funny as heck and all over the place

 ...or this:

courtesy of someone who shared it on Pinterest, so I think it's fine

...or this:

This one actually has a name attribute: Kate Seim

I also have approximately four hundred and seventeen canvases left here by my art student daughter who is now in Philly of all the godforsaken places.

But Miss Bliss mentioned that she painted over sticky letters and the lightbulb lit.

I primed the canvas, taped it off, and stuck on some letters that I bought at our new Hobby Lobby.  (Unfortunately, the aforementioned Hobby Lobby, which I will casually refer to as 'The Hobbs' as if we are friends because I love it that much, is an hour away.)

Then, I painted over it with one of those $1 cans of 'oops' paint that they occasionally have at the Home Depot or Lowes.
After a reasonable amount of drying time (which is hard for me because I find it hard to wait for things), I peeled the stickers off.
Here's the result:

Not perfect, but a good first try!

Now where did I put my coffee?  I need to keep busy.

Things are not as they should be

If you are following this, you might know that I rented a second booth space about a month and a half ago.  I was excited about it, and I fixed it up really cute:

After all, this is the same place that has stuff like this Vera Wang chair:

  ...and this really cool china cupboard with the fabric backing:

...and this really cute desk:

...so naturally, I though my stuff would fit in. 
Unfortunately, my booth is located next to this:

...which might explain why I haven't sold anything.

A surprise for me!!

A month or so ago, I won a contest!  It was posted on one of my fave blogs, HouseTalkN, by one of my fave bloggers, the ever-so-stylish Kerry. (And yes, I did just use the word 'fave' twice in one sentence, which probably means I need to renew my subscription to Tiger Beat.)

Anyway, the prize(s): two (not one, but TWO) pillows by Jonathan Adler !  When I first saw the pictures on Kerry's blog, I knew they would be perfect for my new couch.  (Completely switching out the color scheme in the living room--going from buttery yellows and taupes to a mushroom and greens--like a forest.  If a grandma lived there.)  The pillows were a giveaway by Checkered Moon, a store in Champaign, Illinois.
(It looks like a very cool place to shop.  If it wasn't such a long drive.......)

And they look great!

See how perfectly the color goes?

Love me some Bargello!

The pillow on the left is one of a pair I bought at Christmas--a great match, I'd say!

My mom used to do a lot of needlepoint--but not like this!

Thanks, Kerry!  They will have a good home here at Brandywine!

*Whew*

Now that it's all over but the results....
Thank you to everyone who read my (temporarily depressing and in need of and extra dose of Paxil) blog and sent me comments and basically kept me going during Hell Week. 
Now I can get back to unreality!
There's lots to get caught up on here at Brandywine:

Painting some garden trugs that DL put together;

pruning the rosebush that took over the entire yard, hoping to devour the city;



and replacing a makeshift valance with something a little less-temporary.

And, of course I need to get started on:



...and get caught up with all my bloggy friends!

Annual EOG poem

When I belonged to another blog (where the kids have taken over), there used to be writing challenges. I loved those writing challenges; they elicted some of my snarkiest work. But they also elicted the wrath of the anorexics, and I had to leave. I made some awesome friends (Mark, Nancy, Ed, Jeff, Mary Ann, Ruby, Lin) and only a few followed me here. Okay--only two followed me here. Thanks, Nance and Mark! But here, where fifty is the new thirteen, I'm still going to carry on some of the traditions of the former blog. Because if I don't write her a scary story on Halloween, Nancy will find a way to destroy me. The other staple that carried over is my response to a challenge called "Food and Paperwork." I wrote a poem (knowing full well my limitations as a poet) on the "food and paperwork" topic. So, in honor of EOGs and the unofficial start of gin and tonic season, here it is:


Food and Paperwork

We are about to start the Reading Comprehension
section of the North Carolina
End-of-Grade test.

(I am sorry if you had a bad morning.
I know some of you had to get yourself
out of the bed
and to the bus this morning
because your mom is working
third shift
because your dad left and took all the money
--but not you--
with him.

I am so sorry if you were up
most of the night
listening to people fight.

I know some of you did not
have breakfast.
Everyone else will try to ignore
your rumbling stomachs.)

You have
eighty-five minutes to finish.

What they neglect to tell you about Mothers Day...

Happy Mothers Day to all my blogpeeps.  I know that lots of you are mothers, and that many of you have small children. As a mom who has "been there," I will let you in on a little secret: When people tell you it goes by really fast?  They are not lying.

I know that some days feel like they go on forever...all the kids are sick at once and you don't feel so hot yourself and there's nothing in the kitchen but leftover pizza, one can of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee, and bagged salad that has seen better days.  You know...the day that you actually contemplate LEAVING SICK KIDS HOME ALONE in order to just "run out for a few things." 

The day that will not end.

Five minutes later, they drive.  And you have a whole different set of problems.

Then, in the blink of an eye, they are gone.  They are done being your children, but you are NOT done being their mom.  And that's the hardest thing about being a mom--they get to stop being kids, but you cannot stop.
You wonder where they are.
You wonder if they're healthy.
You wonder who they're hanging out with.
You wonder if they're doing "stupid stuff."
You wonder if they're eating right.
You wonder if they need you to beat someone up for them.
You wonder if they're happy.

And you realize that even if they told you...WHICH THEY WON'T...there really isn't anything you can do.  Because grown-ups need to find their own happiness. 

And moms need to find a different happiness, once the kids stop being kids.

Happy Mothers Day, to all the moms.  Hug your kids.  If they try to squirm away, hug them tighter.

Fairy Tale Table

Not much time in May to write--got to cram into the students everything they've been ignoring all year!  But here's my latest Mod Podge undertaking--a table with a top covered in pages from a 1912 edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  Then sealed with a water-based sealer.

It's a cutie!  (My husband is beginning to suspect I am having an affair.  With the aforementioned Mod Podge.)

Linking at Southern Hospitality!  AND

Teacher Gifts

It's teacher appreciation week, and lots of bloggers have posted some very cute ideas for teacher gifts.
As a teacher, I love gifts.
But my wish list doesn't include anything you find on a "make this cute teacher gift" blog.***
Want to know what teachers REALLY want?  After a rather lengthy (20-minutes) and highly scientific (I asked six teachers at the lunch table) survey, here are the top four answers:

google images: again I steal from you.

4. BLING
Now, don't get me wrong--I love cute pins.  And macaroni necklaces.  But this necklace?  Is REAL appreciation.  This necklace is appreciation from not just the student, but also the Sultan of Brunei. 

google images, you are my friend

3.  BEVERAGES
This one is self-explanatory.  I mean, a teacher doesn't just take YOUR kids off YOUR hands for 7 hours a day, but a lot of other people's kids, too.  Buy the teacher a drink.  Or three bottles. It's the least you can do.

yep--google again!

2. VACATION PROPERTY
Believe me...there's a reason teachers get the summer off.  Shouldn't teachers have a beautiful place to enjoy those summers?

Thanks, google and Steve Jobs!

1. GUARANTEED RETIREMENT
Most teachers are like me--having to figure out what the "Second Act" will be, because we can't really afford to retire.  It would be nice to have a company to skim profits from  run.

There you have it--the top four teacher gifts for 2012.  Of course, if the Mayans are right, the only thing we'll have time to truly enjoy is the liquor. 
(To be honest, most of us said we'd like longer than 20 minutes for lunch and that we wished we could go somewhere other than the cafeteria to eat.)

***And those cute teacher gifts are really cute.  But my all time favorite things are notes, because I can put them in a notebook I have specially designed for my teacher stuff and look at them on the days when I want to walk out of the school and not ever come back.  You can imagine that it happens, especially when I tell you I teach 8th grade.
There's a reason for all of the wine in my house.

One down...

She had to go...sometimes, size matters.

This is the cabinet I had to replace...it was just too big and bulky for our space.  It was a shame, because it's really pretty.

So, at an estate sale, I found this:



Blurry, my reflection in the glass.  Hey, you do what you can at an estate sale.

She is a much better size, and has pretty curves.

Even though I have about a hundred things to do that are more important, I felt it necessary to cross something off the list, which meant actually finishing something.   So, this weekend, I finished something.



Taaa-daaa!

She is smaller, obviously, but has a similar finish (less yellow, more gray, to match the marble on the fireplace and a seafoam green back instead of Carolina blue.) 

Her bottom is problematic (hey--aren't they all?) but she has nice lines.

What is it with me and these handles?

 She's a keeper!!

And Mustard