Antique Chairs Revisited and Refinished and Reupholstered!!

Do you remember a few months back I took my beautiful antique chairs from my Aunt Bea down to finally be refinished and reupholstered?  If not, please go look back for the post titled "Antique Chairs" and check out the BEFORE pictures.

Then come on back here and see the after photos.  They are even prettier than I pictured they would be.

Here we go with the photos!!!

Above is chair #1.  There are 3 chairs and chair #1 is a regular standing there with it's 4 legs kind of chair.  It has the needlepoint on the front of the back with the new edging stuff that I found out is called "gimp" and then the nutmeg color velvet on the seat and the back of the back.  I am so in love with the way these turned out I can hardly stand it.

This is chair #2 which is almost identical to #1 except it sits on a base with a rocker spring and is a rocking chair.  It has the matching needlepoint to #1 as well.  Love this chair!!

This big beautiful chair is #3 and it is essentially a chair-and-a-half or a settee.  This is the first time I have seen it with the springs tied down.  They had become untied over the years and talk about bouncy!  Just sitting on it was like taking a roller coaster ride!  This settee is just spectacular now.

This little guy is the one and only foot stool that came to me with the set.  I don't know if that is the way they were sold originally or how it is the only one to survive with the chairs.  It is topped with the fourth and final needlepoint that I was given by my Nana.  It fit perfectly. And can I just say how lovely my rug looks in that photo?

Another shot of #1

And some close up views of the needlepoint and the velvet on the settee.

So, please go check out the before photos and now the afters and let me know what you think. I am beyond thrilled with them.

Now my only issue will be which of my children will get to inherit them.  Because I am not breaking up the set.  No way, no how.  They deserve to stay together.

And stay tuned for my dining chairs to be reupholstered!  The fabric is ordered and due in any time now.  I will post some before photos of them as well.  How on earth that current fabric got so stained is beyond me.

Thanks for reading!  Hope you all have a happy and restful Thanksgiving!

Reading

I just finished a fantastic book.  And since I am always on the lookout for new reading material I thought I might share with you in case you are doing the same.

This is the 3rd of her memoir books.  And let me just say that if I had Mary Karr's gift of stringing words one after the other and creating the most amazing mental pictures I would die happy.  So many times I read a book/article/poem/whatever and nothing, no emotional response.  But Mary Karr's work?  Well, that is something else entirely.

Here is what the cover of her first book looks like:

The one in the middle between these two chronologically is called "Cherry".  Also amazing.

There are very few writers who by their very words can reach in and touch your heart.  There are even fewer who grab your heart and twist it into pieces and rearrange it in a way you never knew was possible.  Mary Karr is one.  Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood also do this for me.

If you are not familiar with these books, take my recommendation and give Liar's Club a try and work your way through to Lit.  Then come back and thank me.  I sincerely hope you enjoy her books.

Customer Service or Dis-service, you be the judge

Y'all, I really hate to be the person who just rants and bitches but unfortunately someone has to do it.  And once you turn 50 you lose that little part of you that just gives a shit what other people think. So, there's that.  It is now my job to call people on their bullshit and not to take any.

I was on etsy or pinterest or one of those sites that leads you down a rabbit hole of websites and found my way to a website that is selling some really cute, cute things that I thought I needed for Christmas gifts.  Really cute.

And so I looked at the website for the "about us" to see who these people are, where the money is going to, etc.  And there is a whole bunch of photos of the people who own/operate/run this company, but no information as to where they are geographically.  No physical location.  I clicked on the "contact us" button to ask a few question regarding a couple of items and it opened up an email.  So I went back and looked and yes, only email, no phone.  WTH?  No phone number?

I emailed and explained what my questions were and said I would like some customer support.  I got a really prompt return email with these words Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately we don't offer all call center at this time, as we are an online business only. But I can help you via email!


Okay, that seems odd to me that because you are online you don't think people will ever need to talk to you.  That makes it even MORE likely that people will have a phone inquiry.

After several more email back and forths with the customer service person I placed the order with the choice of using Paypal for my payment since I didn't feel great about giving my credit card information to people who don't even have a phone.  And I sent her an email saying that I had ordered and to let me know if there was a problem.

And you'll never guess what!  

There was a problem.  She didn't get the order.  So I spent a ridiculous amount of time going all over their website trying to figure this out. And the website order form kept giving me a gigantic yellow yield sign saying I am required to give them my email address.  On the paypal payment page it had a square to check if I wanted them to share my email with the company or not, so I went back and checked that box and filled everything out again for the FOURTH TIME and you will not believe this but where they wanted me to fill in my email address?  THERE WAS NO SPACE TO PUT IT!!

If I put my cursor in the tab above it and hit my tab key it dropped right down past the email question to the next space.

So I sent off yet another email to the customer service person describing the situation and said please have someone call me to place this order or I am just going to forget about it.  And gave her my phone number.

And you'll never guess what happened next!

SHE EMAILED ME AGAIN!  She didn't call me!  Here is her reply to my request for them to call me:  Thanks for keeping me updated. So sorry the websites being difficult! Just to let you know I am going to do, I am forwarding this conversation to the owners so they can try to troubleshoot.

And if I can get your order via email, we will send you a PayPal invoice and order that way!

Are you believing this?  I got that one last evening and I had to sit on it overnight to not reply "Are you fucking kidding me??"

This is the email that I shot back to her today "I appreciate you being so prompt and getting back to me right away.  Because customer service is such a big part of the shopping process to me, I am going to say that it feels really awkward to me that there is no way to reach a person on the phone and try and resolve the issues i am having with this order.

I have gone out on a limb and trusted leaving my phone number with a total stranger and said that I would prefer if someone could just call me and we could get this ironed out.  And I get yet another email instead of a call.

So this makes me suspicious of a company that doesn’t have a responsive way to help customers through a website that has some issues.  No phone, really?  I just don’t think I can give my credit card and home address information to a company that doesn’t have phone support.

Sorry we couldn’t have done business together.  Your stuff looked really cute."

What do you think?  Are these people on the up and up?  Will they respond?  Will I ever get a phone call?  Would you try to work this hard to spend money?

I just don't understand the whole "one size fits all and this is the ONLY way we do business" mentality.  Every person has different needs and if you are dealing with the public you are going to run across loads of different kinds of people.  And all I wanted was a few questions answered and then for them to fix their stupid order online form that wasn't working.  

My guess is that they will not reach out to me to try and rectify this and I will not get to purchase these cute things and I will have to go to Plan B on the Christmas gift list.

Let me know your thoughts on this or just how you feel about customer service in general.

Quilts!

I saw a banner hanging across the road that was announcing the local Quilt Guild annual quilt show. And it was this weekend.  So I went!

I was so excited by the cover photo on their website showing the quilt they are raffling off.  Check this out:

Now tell me you wouldn't want to win that beauty.  Gorgeous.  So much applique and gorgeous quilting.  It was perfection.

They gave me a program with a little ballot to fill in with the number of the quilt that I think deserves to win the Best In Show prize.  And I wandered and wandered through the area with all the quilts up for the award.  My God in heaven, there must have been close to 1,000 quilts of all sizes, shapes, colors, etc.  I was about halfway through when I saw people taking pictures.  So I started taking some photos of some of these exquisite works of art.  Here you go!  Enjoy!


Look at that!  Wizard, space and extraordinary color squares!  Just gorgeous.

And would you look at this!  It looks exactly like those crocheted hot pad things I make with the metal bottle caps!

Here's a close up view of the little hexagons and the quilting.

Look at the quilted Aztec calendar!!

Good Lord, will you look at those colors!  Just spectacular.

The ABCs of winter in quilt form.  Could you just die from the sweetness?

This one is like the drawing that goes from fishes to flying ducks above.  Very clever.

Would you just look at the quilting on this beauty?

This sunflower quilt was about as big as a wall.  HUGE!  And vibrant and beautiful.

The next couple of quilts are from 1930.  Depression era creativity.

This thing was so 3D that I had to walk up to it and walk away and keep looking at it to see that the flowers were appliqued on a thin piece of netting overlayed on the quilt and it truly was 3 dimensional.  Just breath-taking.

Can you even believe the loveliness here?  I couldn't.  It was like looking at a Tiffany glass window.

This quilt was HUGE.  Just HUGE.  And those squares were about 1/2 inch square. Teensy tiny little things.  I would have gone blind just trying to cut so many different fabrics that size.  Amazing.

This is the 12 Days of Christmas.  Just beautiful.

And which one did I choose for my personal pick of the Best in Show?  This one.  Although they were all winners in my book.

This is the tag that accompanied my choice for the winner.  SIX YEARS TO COMPLETE !!!  Can you stand it?  6200 pieces of fabric all hand sewn.

Right now I am eagerly sitting by my phone waiting for them to call and say I have won the raffle quilt.  I think I might just quit holding my breath.  : )

But it was a lovely afternoon seeing all these amazing works of art.  Can you even imagine how many millions of hours of work went in to them?  I am just gobsmacked.  

I can only aspire to doing work this good.  My quilts so far are much more utilitarian looking and not so museum-quality.

How about you?  Do you love the quilts?

Oh!  And I was good.  There were strict rules about not touching any of the quilts.  And I didn't.  I was very careful to not touch even though there were a few that were begging to be caressed.  Like the one made from teeny little marquis diamond shapes cut from 100% silk ties (men's neck ties) and had a burgundy wine colored silk velvet backing.  Oh my God!!!  It was amazing.  I don't have a photo of it because I had to hurry and back away before I wrapped myself in it's luxuriousness.

An afternoon well spent, wouldn't you say?

If Wishes were Horses . . .

You know those thoughts of "oh, if I had all the time in the world I would learn this, or that"?  Remember when you were little and every day there would be a new "when I grow up I want to be a pilot, astronaut, archaeologist, princess"?

Well, when you are on the back side of 50 those thoughts come back to you.  You have much less time left to achieve any of those dreams.  Sad to say it, but it's the truth.  If you want to be a librarian you best get to figuring out the qualifications and getting to it.

I have a list of dreams that I would think of but only in the abstract, never in the real life.  And in no particular order, here we go!

Archaeologist

Psychologist

Writer/Storyteller

Midwife

Chef

Owner of a cozy book store

Librarian

Artist (not necessarily a painter, but something artistic)

Healer

And what have I achieved in my life?  I never did become an archaeologist, or a psychologist, or write any books.

But I am a massage therapist and I have read, studied and learned to heal and treat with herbs, oils and natural remedies.  I am a birth and postpartum doula and I am good at it.

I am a pretty damn good cook and am an adventurous person in the kitchen.

I would never claim to be an artist or an author, but I am creative.  And I have spent many years making things, learning needlepoint, cross stitch, embroidery, sewing, crochet, knitting, and quilting. I took a class one time on making Battenburg lace.

I am a nurturer and hope to be blessed to be a grandparent one day.

And the things I wish?  I still wish I could write.  I would love to write stories, poems and straight-to-the-point diatribes on what's wrong with the world.  Because I am opinionated.

I still wish I knew what it takes to be an archaeologist.  I think it could still be in the realm of the possible.

But no way I am going to get to have a cozy book store like the one in 84 Charing Cross Road.  Barnes & Noble killed off most of the fabulous little book stores and then Amazon gutted what was left.

Any wishes you have?  Any dreams that you haven't reached for yet?

Seriously Random Thoughts

This is something I have thought for a while but haven't really shared with other people.  Have you ever looked at your pets in the mirror?  My cats love to jump up on the sink and drink water from the slowly dripping, trickling faucet so I have looked at them in the mirror on many occasions and I am struck by the way they look different to me when I look at them straight on or at their reflection.

And that led me to thinking about how we mostly see ourselves in a mirror 90% of the time and maybe the other 10% is in photographs.  Which is the real self?  The backwards reflection?  Or the photographed image?

And is this why people always say they hate photos of themselves?  Because our perception of what we should look like is just enough changed from what we see on a daily basis?

This is what happens when you are sick for too long and have way too much time on your hands so you ponder weird shit like this.

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A few years back I posted loads of pictures of all the different kinds of candy corn at the Walgreen's. This year, had I taken pictures of all the new candy corns you would be looking at about 5 more new flavors.  Now, why on earth do we need any new types of candy corn?  I like regular candy corn and see no reason to add Caramel Macchiato or Pumpkin Spice or S'more flavoring to it.  Those things are never going to taste as good as you think they will.  I promise to take some pics of the damn candy corn aisle next time I am over there.

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If I had had any idea back at the first part of April when I got sick and started coughing that damn near SIX MONTHS LATER I would still be sick the smart thing to do would have been to buy Walgreen's stock.  It's a good thing I didn't have any idea that this thing would hang in here this long because it is just too ridiculous for words.  My next move is to find a good allergist and get some extensive testing done.  The fall allergy season is upon us and I am not at all ready to take it on.

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Usually by now I have my Christmas list made and worked out what gifts I will be making and made good headway on having a bunch of them done.  And you would think with all the time I have spent at home doing nothing I could have achieved that and even finished most of them by now.  And yet, no.  I am blaming my lack of energy and stamina on the 93% oxygen saturation that I was at for all summer long and just being exhausted by the never-ending coughing.  So the truth is that I have done next to nothing and really have no clue about the Christmas list and gifting.  That's sad for me to admit.

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I was really looking forward to The Bastard Executioner, the new show by Kurt Sutter who did the Sons of Anarchy.  It premiered last night and was a big 2 hour extravaganza.  It took me damn near the first hour to get involved in it and figure out who was who.  I can't really tell how it will go yet.  There was a LOT of set up of time, place, characters, conflict, etc.  It is very reminiscent of The Vikings.

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Just so you know, I am done D U N with talking about my health and being sick this year.  It is boring and a pain in my ass and I am quite sure no one else wants to hear this crap either.  So rest assured, if you come back here to read again, there will be no more of the sick talk.

I am also done with using the cute little spacers between my random thoughts.  I thought it was a good idea, but now I don't think so.

Hope you are having a really good day in your part of the world.  Let me hear from you on the mirror vs photograph idea.

Dancing with the B List Celebrities

Let's face it, they use the term Dancing with the "Stars" rather loosely, don't they?  Did you see last night's new kickoff to the season?

There was no Len.  I am sorry, but I love Len.  He is the grumpy dad who keeps everyone else in line and at least the slightest hint that this is about talent and improvement and not just a popularity show. I am skeptical about how this season will go without him.

But there was a Gary Busey.  Holy cow!  You just know that people are going to vote to keep him around a while for the sheer entertainment value of watching a train wreck in slow motion.  His poor dance partner.  Lawzy, do I feel bad for her.

And speaking of oh-my-god-what-were-they-thinking casting, did you see Paula Deen?  Good lord. She was awful.  She also managed to be disgusting by shoving her partner's face into her bosom several times, belching loudly and talking about how her white undies were no longer white.  Now who wanted that mental image?  And who can't get rid of that image?

The ones who shone and looked like they were enjoying themselves were Crocodile Hunter Daughter Bindi Irwin and Nick Carter of BSB fame.

And for some reason they have a married couple on and had them compete back to back and wait to get their scores at the same time.  We get it.  It's a competition.  We get it.  They are married and won't it be great fun to watch the sparks fly while the producers create drama and friction between the duo.  I just don't think it's going to be as much fun as the DWTS people think it will.

Did you watch?  Do you care about this competition any more?

Random Musings

The Random Musings posts are the easiest for me because this is how my brain works, popping from one thought to the next with no regard for connectivity.  Here goes!!

Last night I was in bed getting ready to fall asleep  play games on my Kindle and Mr. Big Ed was already fast asleep as he goes to bed about 4 hours ahead of me.  When all the sudden he started jerking, moving and making sounds (reminds of me how a dog barks and runs in their sleep) and then he kicked me!  He KICKED me!!  AND DID IT AGAIN!  I started trying to wake him up and said "Hey, you are kicking me!" And in his dream fog he replied back "Yeah, I know. I was trying to kick the zombies".

Huh?  Zombies?

That was quite the unexpected end to my day!  Can't wait to talk to him about this over dinner and see if he remembers any of it.

A few days ago it was one of my sister's birthday.  She was turning the Big 5-0.  I did that just a few years ago my own self and wanted to come up with something fun to mark the occasion for her.  So I turned to my friend Google, and speaking of Google let me say this:  I do NOT like the new Google logo thing.  But back to the Googling adventure.  I asked Google about what products were put on the market the same year that she was born, 1965 and got a nice long list of really fun things.  Then I set about trying to find some of them.

Here's what I got:

The Sound of Music - they had a 50th anniversary edition available

Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella - similar 50th anniversary edition

Mattel's See n Say, the Farmer says - This was a reproduction and it was the very first toy she was ever given as a Christmas gift so I was really happy to find one.

Operation Game - vintage with all the parts, money, even the original rubber band.

Mystery Date - reproduction of the original.

Spirograph - Be still my heart!  I loved the Spirograph so much!!!  This is an original one with everything still in the box minus the green pen.

Barrel O Monkeys - old, vintage, original.  Cute!

Spaghetti-Os - brand new can

Honeycomb Cereal - of course, new.

I found really fun brightly colored striped and polka-dotted giftwrap papers and wrapped them and set them out in a big pile in my family room because she happened to be in town this weekend.  She and her friend and friend's son all came over for dinner last night and I had her open them and try to figure out the connection between all these things.  I think the "50th Anniversary edition" on the damn DVDs gave it away but it was still lots of fun and I hope she likes them.

AND we broke out the Mystery Date game and played.  That was lots of fun.  We had dinner and I made a birthday cake which we were all too full to really enjoy.

This is the week leading up to the premiere of the new season of Doctor Who.  The 52nd season as a matter of fact.  And months ago they announced that there would be a showing of the first episode for this season in the movie theaters.  They did this last year and I got tickets and we all went dressed in our best Doctor Who outfits.  So the minute I saw this was happening again this year I snagged 2 tickets.  I have been beside myself about this ever since!

Until last week when I watched the trailer about the theater showing and see that it is actually going to be THE LAST EPISODE FROM LAST SEASON with a "special preview" of the upcoming episode.  WTF??

Are they kidding me?  What complete ass whistles.  That was a really crappy thing to do.  And guess what?  The new season starts this coming Saturday.  And this coming Saturday I will be at my mama's house at a family birthday party for my sister.  The one who was here.

Well, sonofabitch.  Now, not only do I NOT get to see the episode beforehand in the theater in 3D, but I also don't get to watch it on Saturday with the rest of the world.  I will get to watch it off the DVR much later then everyone else. Goddammit.

In other news, fall is shaping up to be absolutely gorgeous around here.  The sky is such a beautiful shade of blue, the birds and other critters seem quite happy.  And I have started decorating for fall/Halloween/Days of the Dead.  By decorating I mean I have hung Days of the Dead wreaths on my front doors and put out a package of Pumpkin Spice Kisses and some Halloween flavored Peeps. But it's a start!

Hope your fall or spring depending on your hemisphere is shaping up nicely!

Recycling, Downsizing and Letting go

Remember the other day when I showed you the KonMari book?

I am trying to implement this in my life.  If you know me in real life you may be picking your teeth up and putting them back in your mouth.  I KNOW!!!  I am a packrat.  I love stuff.  I have accumulated loads of stuff.  I have collections of stuff.  Let's face it, I am on my way to being a hoarder.

So I am trying my best to embrace the more minimalist side of myself.  The part of me that sees all the stuff as things that weigh me down, that keep me from being the best I can because I am too busy dusting, arranging and finding homes for all my important stuff.  It is hard to completely change your mindset, especially when you spent years of your life accumulating.  I did recognize years ago that I had a lot of things and made a hard and fast rule that any time I saw something I wanted I had to stop and think of a similar object in my house that I was willing to let go of, be it sweaters or shoes or whatever.  Note:  this rule has never applied to books.  Books are sacred and as such, limitless in the number you can own.

I let things go all the time.  And yet, the clutter persists.  So I am reading and re-reading the KonMari book up there and falling more in love with the idea of having fewer beloved items that now have air around them, that aren't crammed into a large collection so that this item of beauty can shine all on its own.

And you know what is really strange?  Along with minimizing my stuff I am also changing my style of furnishings and things that I want to inhabit my space.  I have always been in the Bohemian camp with loads of competing patterns, fabrics, textures, over-stuffed big comfy furniture and the like.  Nowadays, my taste is running more towards mid-century modern, Danish 1960s looking things and craftsman/arts & crafts.  Where the hell did THIS come from??

I have very slowly over the last 15 years come around to the Small House Movement way of thinking.  I love the idea of making great use of the space you have and not building, heating, cooling and walking through long hallways of unusable space.

That's me right now; recycling things that need to go to someone else, downsizing the amount of treasures I want to keep and letting go of all the things that no longer serve me and no longer spark joy in my life.

Holler at me if you need something, I just might have a collection of said item that I would love to gift you.

Update on the new eyeglasses and a few other things

Did you look at the pretty frames I posted the other day?  Well, I got in to see my eye doctor and the new and improved lenses will be ready to go soon.  However, one of the new frames did not work for me.  Yes, it is sad to say that the Frida Kahlo frames will not be mine.  They did NOT look good on me.  My daughter is coming to visit and I will offer them to her if she wants them and if they look good on her face.  If not?  Well, I will either offer them up to someone else or ask the seller if I can return them.  They are lovely and need to be worn.

Other random thoughts running through my head:

1. When you have little kids and you can't go to the bathroom by yourself, they eventually outgrow that nonsense and give you some space.  When you have cats?  Not so much.  This morning I had 2 in there with me and one at the door.  They are like little 2 year olds with OCD.

2. I am still sick.  I believe I am on the mend, but I am still sick.  And every time I go to a doctor they all ask "Are you depressed?"  Well, let me think.  I have been sick since April 1 and before that I had sciatica and couldn't walk and before that was the frozen shoulder.  What do you think?

3. I know summer is the worst time to try and watch anything on t.v. because it's usually a wasteland of crap and reruns.  In case you haven't seen any of these great summer shows, here are a few I highly recommend:  The Jim Gaffigan Show.  It's on Nickelodeon or TVLand.  Also the FX channel has 2 great new shows, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll starring Denis Leary and John Corbett, and also one called Married.  These are outstanding t.v. Look for them.  The upcoming fall season is going to include The Bastard Executioner whick I am really looking forward to and what appears to be the final season of The League.

4. I am still doing the mostly all meat-free, dairy-free and gluten-free.  I say mostly because I have eaten a bit of meat here and there.  Maybe once a week.  But no dairy and almost no gluten.  I went to an Indian restaurant and of course I had a small naan and one of the golub jammun for dessert.  The naan was totally worth it and the golub jammun was not.  It was not as good as I am used to and was a total waste of calories and gluten.  So far, I am still with the sinus congestion and still coughing.  I have lost 1 pants size so there's that!

5. I am almost completely off the caffeine, too.  I dropped my black teas months ago and drink a cup of green tea in the morning and then switch to red tea (rooibos) and herbal teas after that.  AND NO SUGAR!!!

6. I have been starting the Kon-Mari method of tidying up and decluttering my life.  I love her philosophy.  Here's the book in case you haven't seen it yet.

And that picture is almost life-size.  The book is tiny.  Everything in your life, your house, etc. should spark joy and bring happiness and be useful.  If not, thank it, and release it.

Have a great long Labor Day weekend!

Cool Stuff in the Mail

Y'all, I am beside myself!  Do you remember a few years ago I was looking online at cute eyeglasses frames?  Well, I chickened out on trying to order them online because I was afraid if I didn't like them or they didn't fit well I would be stuck.

But after living with the crappy frames I picked out last year I am ready to take the plunge and try out something else.  So I got on Etsy and of course, I found some outstanding frames available!

There was one seller in particular that I seemed especially drawn to his items, so I bit the bullet and ordered.  They are made in Israel and if the return address on the box can be believed they are from a Kibbutz.

Let me show you the pictures of these beauties!

First up is each of the cases with the card of the artist making them.

Here is pair #1 They are blue cat eyes and have little flowery things at the temples.  Cute!!!

And these are called the Frida Kahlos.  Note the black unibrow-shaped top. Lots of vibrant red, pinks and pretty flowers.

Now, didn't I tell you the truth?  Aren't they the cutest?  And guess what?

THEY FIT!!!!

First thing in the morning I am calling my eye doctor to schedule my annual check-up to get lenses put in these beauties.  Then I can promptly donate the glasses I have now to the Lions Club.

I promise to post some pictures of me sporting these new pretty glasses as soon as I can.

Antique Chairs

I have these gorgeous antique chairs that came from my Great-Aunt Bea.  There are 3 of them.  One is a regular chair with 4 legs, one is a not so regular chair with a base and a spring on it that makes it a rocker, and the third one is a large chair-and-a-half.  Then there is a foot stool.

Way back in the 70s or the 80s judging by the fabric, my Aunt Bea refinished and recovered 2 of the chairs and for some reason left the chair-and-a-half alone.  Let me show you photos.

I just adore the old original fabric on the larger chair but that avocado green stuff where they were updated is not so good.  Sadly I checked and the original fabric is not underneath.

So I have been searching high and low for years to find something gorgeous to put on these chairs and bring them back together.  And I do mean years.  The upholstery needs to coordinate with the antique sofa and the rug.  You can see a bit of the rug in the photos.

And one night I was in bed dozing off and what popped in to my head?!!

I have some old needlepoint canvases that my Nana gave me years and years ago and I stuffed them into my hope chest and forgot about them.  I suddenly thought "what if there are enough of the needlepoints to fit the backs of the chairs?"

The very next morning I got up and got out those needlepoints and there are four of them.  2 that match that fit the chairs, one large one that will fit on the back of the larger chair and a smallish one that is perfect for that foot stool.

You can not believe how serendipitous this is!!!  Now all I need to do is find a neutral fabric for the seats and the back sides of the backs that will bring this all together.  So I trotted myself on down to Calico Corners and picked up some gorgeous velvet.  And I am taking these all over to the refinisher/reupholsterers to have them brought to their former glory.  Nay, even better than their former glory!

These chairs are going to be so beautiful that my kids will fight over who gets to inherit them.  I can't wait to get them finished and show you the after photos.

Genealogy and the family tree and the nuts who fall out

Since I have been a really bad and sporadic blogger you may or may not remember that I have become quite interested in family trees and doing the research.  It is tons of fun and very exciting to find things out.

I joined ancestry.com a few years ago when I was sick with the bronchitis or something that kept me glued to the house and have found a ton of ancestors.  Then I was offered the special deal of $99 from ancestry to do my DNA profile and connect to others who are also registered through them.  So I did that and my husband found it so interesting he did his as well.

My whole life I have always been told that I am mostly German on my mama's side and mostly all Irish on my dad's side.  Not true.  Those people on my mama's side may have lived in Germany but they don't test out as Germans.  And all those Irish people on my dad's side?  Mostly all English, a little German thrown in just for good measure.  Loads of the Irish ancestry comes from my mama's side according to the family tree.

Here's what it looks like:

America< 1%

• Trace Regions

  < 1%

Europe99%

• Great Britain51%
• Ireland17%
• Iberian Peninsula11%
• Italy/Greece7%
• Europe West6%
• Trace Regions

  7%
• Scandinavia4%
• Europe East3%

Show all regions

• 3%

 

Could I be any more European?  Europe West is where Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, etc. are.  See, not much German DNA there.  I have more Iberian and Italy/Greece than German and never once has THAT ever been mentioned!  But it's way more interesting I think.  Also, it's going to make it a lot more fun digging into the family lineage.

Speaking of digging into the family lineage, I was looking up someone today and found their Christening records.  The father's last name is Peters and this was the first time I had seen the mother's maiden name and I about burst out laughing when I saw her name was Pieper. Annie Pieper Peters.  God bless her!

Hi, My Name is LisaPie

And all you 12-steppers just said "Hi Lisa Pie" in your heads, didn't you?  I am a self-professed recovering codependent person.  If you had told me 10 years ago that I was codependent I would have laughed at you and shown you the door.  If you had suggested to me that my way of handling things wasn't working and I need to learn a new way, I would have told you that my way was just right and it was all those OTHER jack wagons who were impeding the progress I had so carefully laid out.

Fear and a need to try and control things in your life and around you and in your loved ones' lives is a full-time job.  A full-time job with no benefits and lots of heart ache and resentment.  And it will suck the life right out of you and leave you with sadness and sometimes bad health due to focusing so much on fixing others and ignoring your own self.  That is after you damn near kill your alcoholic/addict with kindness trying to handle everything for them.

If I were to list here all the completely crazy things I have done that made perfect sense to me at the time your own head might explode.  You might start to wonder how I am able to get up every day and walk around like I have good sense.  And this was all back when I thought I only had one addict in my life.

You know how they say that you are given a lesson over and over again until you get it right?  Just recently I was listening to what is called a "speaker tape" even though it is now on CD rather than tape.  And it was a man speaking to a gathering of AA and Al-Anon members.  What he said was so perfectly in tune with my life he could have been speaking directly to me and about me.  And it was as if a light had been turned on in a dark corner of my brain where I was keeping all the files that would show me how codependent I really am.  Now in order for that particular analogy to make any sense you should know that I picture my brain much like an old, old library with nothing but card catalog file drawers.  And all my thoughts, memories, etc are all in there.  So of course, as I have gotten older and older I get more and more file drawers for all of these things.  That's why it sometimes takes me a while to find the right drawer and rifle through it for the exact thought I am looking for.  This is my story and I am sticking with it.

So what happened when that light was turned on was this:  I was suddenly aware of all the times I had chosen the addicted person, the alcoholic, the person with the most stuff to work on to be attracted to. I can pick out a person with an addictive personality at 20 paces.  Now to be fair, they tend to be funny, inviting, smart, interesting people.  But there is something in me that is drawn to them like a moth to a flame, or you could say like an alcoholic to a bottle of vodka.  And I mean friends, boyfriends, lovers, all people. There before me was this long list of people that I had to look at and take stock of.  What is the deal that I never saw this before?  The speaker on the tape/CD said this "if you are ever questioning whether you think you might be an alcoholic and want an answer here is a surefire way to find out:  just come up to me and ask "do you find me attractive?" and  that is exactly what I do!

How did I get to be 55 years of age before I was aware of this about myself?  I can't answer that. And here's a better question:  how is it that my chemical makeup is such that I am drawn to the addictive person rather than to the drugs or the alcohol?  I mean, I have used alcohol and cigarettes and some drugs in my life, but I could always quit.  And I have.  I quit smoking cigarettes 35 years ago.  I quit taking drugs/smoking pot not long after that.  And I have gradually cut back on my alcohol consumption to the point where I might have 6 or 8 drinks a year.  That has come about due to having arthritis and other health issues that require medication and I don't want to overload my liver with the meds and the alcohol.  It's just not a big deal for me.  Not like eggplant parmigiana.  Now, that is a big deal to give up.  I am certainly not trying to make light of people who have an addiction that they are struggling with. I am only pointing out that this is one way I can see that I am not a member of that tribe.  Anyhoo, I don't know how I could NOT see this as a pattern in my life except to say that it sure is easy to walk around with blinders on and not notice the big obvious elephant in the room.

I am now a loud and proud member of the struggling to improve codependent crew.  This will be a life-long endeavor for me.  Reading books, doing some step work, going to meetings are a part of my life.  I want to be better.  I want to be a healthy example of what you can be if you are willing to take the hard looks at yourself and face up to what you have done and what you can do differently.  And I will most likely be a glaring example of how to fuck things up occasionally.  But I am trying and learning and growing.  And I am here if you ever need to talk or need something because that is part of who I am; I am a nurturer and a care-giver.  As one of my friends from the meetings said "I never thought I was controlling, I always thought I was just being helpful!"

And just to be a little bit more helpful here is a list of some books that are outstanding:

 

Actually, if you go to Melody Beattie's website you can read all about her and all her great books.  These are just 2 of hers that have been really helpful to me.  The one by Sarah Hepola is new and very good.  I was surprised at how many things she wrote about that applied to me.  And the Daily Meditation one by Misti B I just got and am just starting it.  She is taking a humorous approach to the daily meditations that are usually quite serious.  I am loving what I am reading so far.

Hope you have a great day out there!