Finally, the Cushion Update!

When I think of how I would like the rooms of our house decorated, I picture classic, comfortable, and a little country look.  In reality though, I'm drawn to bright primary colors.  For example, our dishes are Fiesta in Scarlet, Sunflower, Shamrock, and Cobalt.  So then, naturally when I decided to make a new cushion for our glider, I went with brighter colors again.  Here's how the whole process went...

First, I bought 3 foam egg crates and folded them in half. 

My mom came up with a brilliant idea for a cheaper choice of fabric.  Beach towels!  I bought 3 beach towels and sewed them end to end.  Then I sewed each side.

As I mentioned in my first post, I've had very little experience with a sewing machine...

Hence, the bent needle.

So, I had to break out the manual to learn how to replace the needle.

Luckily, Nanny had some in her bag of supplies that came with the sewing machine.

So I get the needle replaced and I'm sewing along, when something goes horribly wrong.  I realize that I have somehow managed to sew the towels to the sewing machine!  I don't even understand how that's possible.  But apparently, if anyone can do it, I can.

I cut the towel off the machine, and take the whole thing apart.  Somehow, the tread wound around the bobbin casing.

How am I supposed to fix this disaster?  Back to the book...



Finally, I get everything re-assembled, and it's smooth sailing from here.

What the...

OK, this is really trying my patience, but I get everything untangled, and finally, finally, finally, get everything sewn.

Ta-Da!!

It looks like it should fit just fine, but when I started putting it on...

it was a little tight. 

Luckily, Julio was always nearby to help, or hinder...

Finally, after much struggling and accidentally punching myself in the arm, I managed to get the cover on!

All I had left was to sew up the fourth side by hand.

I searched everywhere for bright red pillows.  During my search, I realized it was the wrong time of year to be looking for bright red anything.  When I was about to give up, I found the clearance aisle in Wal-Mart and UGA 24" pillows on clearance for $7.50 a piece!  The Georgia G logo was only on one side, so I bought 5 of them, brought them home, and this is how the whole thing turned out!

Pretty cute, huh?  I am exceedingly proud and impressed with myself!

Checking In

I'll be posting an update on the progress of the cushion later, but I just wanted to check in.

Anyone who knows me well knows how phenominally lazy I am, so they wouldn't be surprised to find out that a week has passed by and our porch is not clean yet.

However, I have gotten a lot done with the cushion, which was my first goal.  Then I decided it was pointless to throughly clean the porch or the house because it would just get dirty again.  Same thing with the yard.  Then this past weekend we went to Pirate Fest, and we were in no condition to do anything on Sunday. 

Tonight I have to make 100 oreo truffles for hubby's co-worker, who is getting married this weekend.  Wish me luck!!

Our Redneck Porch Makeover - Part 1

We are throwing a "Tailgating Diaper Baby Shower" for our friends in a little over 2 weeks.  I realize that "Tailgating Diaper Baby Shower" sounds pretty redneck in and of itself, however I do not want our back porch to look as redneck as it currently does. 

Therefore, I am making our back porch my project for this week.  Hubby left again today, so I'll have a little bit of extra time. 

The following are a few embarrassing photos of the current state of our redneck porch.  Don't judge me...



The view from one side of the porch.

The view from the other side of the porch.  Notice the redneck beer selection of choice.

 

You can't notice the spider webs that much in this photo, but they are bad!
The flower pot holds my failed attempt at growing herbs.

Our catch-all corner.

Everything is sitting on an old church pew here.  Also notice the old dryer that we need to sell or get rid of!

 

This kegerator came with the house, and was actually a major selling point.
(It hasn't been used in 10 months...)



This glider belonged to my grandmother.



My first step in this project is a cushion for the glider. I actually started it a little while ago, so it shouldn't take too long to finish!

My Weekend Was...

Complete the sentence with one of the following options:

Happy.  Fun.  Unproductive.  Boring.  Relaxing.  A Reunion.  All of the above.

My hubby has been traveling for work.  A lot.  In the past month he's been to London and Bristol in the UK, Toronto, and Las Vegas.  He got home Saturday evening from Vegas, and has to leave again tomorrow for Kentucky. 

I thought that I would be fine with his traveling.  I mean, I used to be a pretty independant girl!  But I seriously just miss him constantly when he's gone!  I told my friend Sarah the day after Hubby left for London that all I wanted to do was crawl under the covers and wait for him to get home. 

I'm not sure when I got like this.  I'm not sure if I've just grown so dependant on him, or if I've somehow developed some sort of social anxiety disorder.  I hate calling people to see what they're doing because I'm afraid it'll sound like I'm inviting myself along to do stuff.  When Hubby is home, I usually just wait to see what he comes up with to do, and then go along with it.  It always works fine for me, but when he's gone for 2 1/2 weeks, it doesn't work out.

Anyways, he came home on Saturday and we went to a few bars to watch football and to see some friends.  Sundays I usually try to get some things done around the house ("try" being the key word) but this Sunday since Hubby was exhausted, and I was pretty tired from the night before, we tried to catch up on our recordings on our DVR.  We did a pretty good job of it too!

In The Beginning

Since I'm planning on this blog to be about Life As I Know It, I'm going to write about Life As I Know It.  (Clever, huh?)  I have one or two hobbies that I enjoy, but I would also like to explore and get better at several others.  This blog will help.  I've divided the hobbies into several categories.

The categories are...
Cooking
Photography
Household Projects
Sewing
Life List
Books I Love

Cooking:  I LOVE to cook.  I'll admit, most of my cooking is comfort food, and definitely won't win any awards for being healthy or low fat (as my hubby's and my waist lines can verify), but I love the act of creating our meals, and my hubby loves eating them!

Photography:  A few weeks ago my hubby gave me the best birthday gift I could imagine - a Nikon D5000.  The past year or so I've had a growing facination with photography, but never imagined owning a digital SLR myself.  I have a LOT to learn about my camera, and photography techniques, but I'll document it all as I go.

Household Projects:  We've been in our house for about a year and a half now, and I'm embarrassed to say how little we've done with it.  I have an extensive list of projects, both large and small, that I would love for us to accomplish at the house.  Any tips or suggestions are welcome, and I'll share all kinds of before and after photos.

Sewing:  This category ties in with Household Projects, but I'll give it it's own category.  I've got my grandmother's sewing machine, and I have little to no experience using it, but I think sewing things myself could be a cheaper option than purchasing certain things.

Life List:  I borrowed this idea from Mighty Girl.  Soon I'll have a list put together of all the things that I would love to do before I leave this earth.   And I'm excited about crossing those items off!

Books I Love:  Growing up I was always the girl with the most stars on the reading chart.  I still love books.  I may not read the books that win literary awards, though.  I mainly just love a good story, and a chance to be entertained.  I belong to a defunct book club, so if we have any more meetings, I'll write about those books, but I mainly just read on my own now.

I hope you enjoy my life as much as I do!