The brown have it!

I spent all of Sunday sewing a new slipcover for our futon. The old one (see above) was disgusting. I'm ashamed to say that towards the end, this is how it looked right before I'd put it in the wash (this was the worst and the final straw). Bleach could get the stains out temporarily but within a couple days they were back....with their friends. I originally made the white cover a little over a year ago to match my IKEA armchair and ottoman (which have seen better days as well). I figured after a year of washing and bleaching I finally got my money's worth and bought fabric for a new cover, a more....how should I say....chocolate milk colored cover. The top picture is the finished futon. Looks good. Now, only three more pieces of furniture to go....sigh....

Lily the Lionheart

Brian, Lily & I on 'The Scrambler' at Hersheypark. Lily was quite the fearless four-year-old, asking when she could be old enough to ride the rollercoasters. Then actually riding one (a small one with no tall hills).......though we led her to believe she was in line for this rollercoaster which she happily accepted.

Say 'Cheese Curls'!

Last Saturday my sister and I went to the lake with lily and molly. Lily was whole heartily excited about getting in the water. That is, until she saw the sea weed floating on the surface. She clung to my sister like a rhesus monkey. Molly surprisingly sat in her floaty and had a good time. This picture was taken pre-sea weed swim.

A tisket, A tasket

For a long time I thought fresh flowers were a luxury I could not afford. However, after drooling over 'Oh Happy Day's posts about flower arranging and a bit of rationalizing, I decided that (as long as they last a week and I buy the inexpensive varieties), they were something I could splurge on. I'm no florist so to the amateur arranger my bouquet must look like a tangled tot's coif but to me, any fresh flowers in the house brightens my day!

NEW!! I had a couple people ask where I bought the chandelier. However, I had something very specific in mind when I was decorating and could not find anything even close to what I was looking for. So I made it myself. The only advice I can give is how I did it. I took a regular extension cord, cut off the plug, striped the wires and hardwired it into the ceiling. I bought a ceiling plate at Lowes and screwed four eyelet screws into it so that I had something to hang the black chandelier chains from (also bought at Lowes). From the chains, I hung two 3' wreath frames together with floral wire, then finally wrapped brown christmas lights (which were the hardest to find) around the frame and plugged them into the extension cord which I hid inside the chain. Complicated? It sounds a little but to be honest it was easier than I had anticipated.