*chuckle*

I am laughing to myself because I just sent this guy

to Walgreens, by himself, at 10 pm,
for a hair dryer.
And only a hair dryer.

*chuckle, chuckle*

All by our Two-sies

A few weeks ago I promised Theia I would take her on a special outing, just the two of us, as a reward for a scholastic achievement. Wow, I have never seen Theia so motivated. Every day there afterward she begged me to work with her on her school assignments so she could earn her "ow-ting" (as she so distinctly pronounces it) faster.

The day finally came, and she was giddy with excitement. We started with a trip to Target where I told her she could choose three things from the $1 section.

Theia is my little shopper. She was very excited with all the possibilities. Yeah, I was dorky enough to take out my big camera at Target. If Theia were a few years older, she probably would have been embarrassed.

She chose to get three neon light-up squishy things (I don't know what else to call them), one for herself and each of her sisters. Needless to say, I changed the limit from three to five after that magnanimous gesture.

Then we headed to one of our favorite waterside parks for some fun with one of her other choices, the butterfly shaped bubble wand.

We used water right out of the canal to make our bubble solution.

She was proud to be sporting the necklace she had made the night before.

After she tired of the bubbles (and the paparazzi), we took a little walk down Coffeepot Blvd. 

It is one of the pleasantest walks around.

And she is the pleasantest five year old around.

~~~~~

We took a surprise detour on the way home that brought us here:

So many choices

After deliberating for quite awhile

She finally chose Orange Pineapple

She pronounced it to be very good

I don't know who enjoyed this outing more, Theia or Mama. Jessie and I decided that we need to take turns doing this on a regular basis. Having four children all close together has it's share of wonderful, but it is easy to fall into a herd style of parenting sometimes. It was so nice to just focus in on the individuality of my oldest with no other distractions for a few hours.

I can't wait for my next kiddo date!

He's definitely got the passion

But does he have the talent?

a small slice of my small brain.

Have you ever watched the Food Network shows and wondered if the taste-testers in the kitchen are actually lying? I mean, how are we supposed to know if all those moans and exclamations of delight are sincere? Just once I'd like to see someone take the taste of truth, turn it around in their mouths a bit, then say, "You know Rachel (Jamie, Martha, Julia, etc), I'm only so-so about this one - definitely not one of your best." They can't hit a home run every time, right?

That was just a sample of the deep thoughts I've been thinking this morning.

You're welcome.

Farm Table Re-Do

As I've said before, this is most definitely not a DIY blog. But I have continued dabbling in furniture refinishing (at a very leisurely pace), and I have sold two of my projects, one of them being the chair and bench I blogged about before. That helps me feel justified to continue financing my habit.

Jessie and I picked up this table at a garage sale about six weeks ago. It is a solid pine Mexican table, originally purchased at Pier One. It came with four chairs, and the whole set was only $20. From the beginning I planned on changing it to a farm table feel, and that would not match the chairs (They were parsons style, and upholstered in an Aztec print). So I mended their cat-clawed edges and put them on Craigslist (where I recouped the amount spent, times two).

Then (over the course of several weeks) I sanded the tabletop and stained it a dark walnut,

and primed, painted, and antiqued the legs.

The pine has a lot of texture and worm holes in it.

I like the way the stain and dark glaze seeped into it.

The drawer in this table is super cool, and the hardware is awesome and a little rusty.

 I really would like to keep this one, but I bought it with the intention of selling it, so it must be sold. Hopefully it is gone by the end of the weekend. Our dining room is feeling pretty claustrophobic about now, and besides, I've seen what happens to tabletops in this house. I'm a little worried about it's long-term survival in our dining room.

This is the Before:

I liked the rough-hewn look of the original piece, but it had been abused pretty badly, with large parts of the finish flaking off, and paint splattered all over the top.

Housekeeping

If you are reading this on my actual site, and not just in your google reader, you will notice a few changes. Things are still under construction, and I can't promise you that they will be finished in a timely fashion (but I can promise you that they won't). Most notably you see that the name of this blog has changed. I'll go into the appropriateness of that name later (Jessie's middle name really is James!), but for now you might want to make a note that the web address has changed. You should still be directed here from the old address for a time, but I think you will need to update the address in whatever reader you use.

For now I'm just glad I don't have to feel guilt over the exclusion of Emeth every time I see my blog header anymore!

Thanks everyone for reading my sporadic updates. I don't know who most of you are, but I trust that you are all lovely ;).

*Updated* I lied! You will not be automatically redirected from my old address! But I put a stub there with a link to this site. I guess I should have known from my past stormy relationship with blogger that it would not be that simple!

Exciting Discovery

Who Knew?!?!