Sittin pretty.

My legs are covered in orange paint.  Repainting our retro patio furniture a bright flaming orange.  Hopefully this fall we'll be making ourselves some modern adirondack chairs like the Sawyer at CB2.

Yesterday at the Restore, a major score!  A funky retro laz-e-boy recliner for the new house!  A recliner with feet that pop out is a must have for our girl Amy, but god those overstuffed ones are an eye sore.   Her currently lives in our garage and only comes inside when she does.  This will give her comfy visits and is soft on our eyes.  It's no retro Milo Baughman, but it was also a 1/20 of what that chair would cost. Some day I'll find of of those for a song, but this is pretty flippin awesome.

I'll be sanding and attaching the arms and legs.  The upholstry is tighter than it looks in the second picture.

Resolve

When my mom died, I promised myself that I would not be unhappy another day of my life.  I might be sad, but I wouldn't be unhappy.

That has proved difficult, but it continues to be my ultimate goal.  To this end, I'm trying to get back on track.  More doing.  In the spirit of the new year, I am energized and hitting a mental reset.

I have a wonderful husband, a job I love, two AMAZING sisters, an aunt and an uncle and a cousin who have taken us in, and in-laws who have opened their hearts to my sisters.  We rent the perfect little house, our car starts every morning, our dog is a riot.  I have a cabinets of food, a washer, a dryer, a dishwasher, wifi, and hot water whenever I want it. 

There is a lot of pain and plenty of woes, but I am a lucky person.

This year, I will:

• Run 365 miles this year, running at least twice a week.  This year we ran 20 miles one week, sometimes not at all for a whole month.  I trained for a half marathon, got up to distance, and then lost interest and didn't run for six weeks.  We COULD run more and more often then the goal I'm setting, but I'm aiming for achievability and consistency. 
• Run the Illinois Half Marathon
• Pack lunch four days a week
• Sew more: 2 potholders and a mitt, two double draft snakes, one dress, one skirts, two leggings, bag for me, bag for Amy, small quilt, repair or improve the mass quantities of clothes in my fix/modify pile, and use my serger when I should be instead of not finishing edges that ought to be finished (don't be a lazy ass, Allison)
• Leave less crap on the porch
• Get dressed every day.  Okay, every weekday.
• Read 26 books this year
• Make 26 new recipes this year 
• Make a batch of cider
• Set a weekend visit with Amy for every month.  I'll end up seeing her more than that, but the real goal here is to not spend the weekends I don't see her feeling like a lousy piece of crap sister
• Keep stuff off the floor
• Spend less time on the computer when I'm at home
• Get our basement and garage organized and streamlined.  
• Get family photos sorted and prepared for scanning. 
• Drink less soda.
• Get out of bed in the morning with less of a fight.
• Go to bed when I think, man, I should go to bed.  Not two hours later. 
• 50/50 coffee after 1 pm

I have a whole list of other goals -- goals of Amy's and goals of my own for Amy that I can contribute to and support, but that is another post.  If I try to write it now, I will slip into bitterness and anger, when I what I really should do is march myself into my sewing room and fix something.

Woooo, interrupted by the phone.  Amy played me today -- two after work calls AND two bedtime calls. 

Anyway... Stats on a few quantifiable goals

Week one: 4/4 lunches, two runs: 5.5 miles
Week two, so far: 2/2 lunches, one run: 4.25 miles, 3 new recipes

Ok!  Marching into my sewing room right now!

Update!  Three garments fixed or modified -- a hole in a shirt mended, side seam pockets of a thrift store dress sewn shut and trimmed off, and pockets of a red corduroy skirt sewn shut. Now, to lay in bed and read!

Midterms in Jar City

It's midterms here and the locals are cranky, poorly behaved, and unkempt.  Good things on the horizon though.  For one, MIDTERMS BEING OVER in a week.


Invitation stock has arrived and will soon be whisked to FedEx for printing.  We found a great company out of Michigan that sells brightly colored, quality paper from a hydro powered mill.  The "whitewash" stock that almost everything will be printed on is 100% recycled/30% post-consumer, and at the moment I can't find that stats on the Poptone "tangy orange" envelopes or "lemondrop" cardstock for the insert cards.  We're skipping RSVP cards and envelopes -- it's all on the website.
 

Picture frame and coffee mug acquisition is also underway.

Now for the wild successes that bring great joy to our tired midterm minds.

We are 90% certain we have found our photographer at long last.  I'm not posting her here yet because the contracts aren't signed, and I'd die if someone swooped in and took her from us as a result of my bragging online about how awesome she is, how local she is, how great her work it, how affordable she is, and how she's available on our wedding day.  We were waiting for a sign and one came.  She was married on the same farm last year.  Done.  She's out of the country the next two weeks, then contracts are getting signed.

And second, yesterday, we hit the jar jackpot at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore!  They have the best stuff, the best prices, and their employees and volunteers are so much fun in this hoarding process.  So I have pretty high expectations when I go into the Restore, but this score was above and beyond my expectations.  I wish I had a photo of the what the shelves looked like when I walked in on Saturday.  I almost started crying.

One hundred thirty four pint size mason jars, 23 quart size mason jars, including this awesome Knox jar, that is definitely a keeper.  Bam!