Lexi's Latest Jam: I Get So Emotional

Now that our Lexi is teething (again- will this ever end?), I can only describe her demeanor lately as emotional.  She's not a fussy baby and she literally never cries, so I have zero room to complain. She's just a little on the emotional side while these latest teeth are trying to make their way through.      

And I know that as soon as they pop through, life will be back to normal once again.  Until then, sing it, Whitney.  You have provided us with our latest theme song.  And I mean it- it's on constant rotation on the old iPad.  Lexi really does like this one.  :)

I've been hearing your heartbeat inside of me

I keep your photo right beside my bed

Livin' in a world of fantasies

I can't get you out of my head

I've been waiting for the phone to ring all night

Why you want to make me feel so good

I got a love of my own

Shouldn't get so hung up on you

I remember the way that we touched I wish I didn't like it so much

I get so emotional, baby

Every time I think of you

I get so emotional, baby

Ain't it shocking what love can do

Ain't it shocking what love can do

I gotta watch you walk in the room, baby

I gotta watch you walk out

I like the animal way you move

And when you talk I just watch your mouth

I remember the way that we touched I wish I didn't like it so much

I get so emotional, baby

Every time I think of you

I get so emotional, baby

My Fair Lady: Remembering Mama

Her name was Dorothy - Dorothy Jean to be exact.  Daddy often called her Dorothy Jane just to get a rise out of her.  Many of her friends called her Dottie or Dot.  Mostly, she just went by Dorothy. But we just called her "Mama".

She was many things to many people; she wore a lot of hats to be sure.  Daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend, coworker.  Mama was always the first up each day and the last one to bed each night. She worked outside the home 8 - 5 each day, came home and cooked dinner EVERY night, cleaned the dishes, started the laundry, checked homework, and the list just went on and on and on.  She never sat down.  She never missed a PTA meeting, school play, awards ceremony, or parent teacher conference, and with the three of us, there were many of those to attend.  I still don't know how she did it all.  She worked hard, but she never complained.  She loved us girls and it showed. 

But above all else, when I think of Mama, I always remember what a lady she was.

• She never wore pants- only dresses or skirts.  She only owned one pair of jeans and she despised them.  I shudder to think what she would think of yoga pants. 

• She wore makeup every day - NO MATTER WHAT.  But looking back now  I think she just had naturally beautiful skin.  She only wore blush, mascara, and lipstick.  Nothing more. 

• She had really fair skin, a trait she passed on to all the Harris Sisters.  Her skin was so pretty that it glowed.  No wrinkles either.  She did have freckles that she didn't care for very much. She passed those on to me only.  I used to not like them either, but I do now.  They are a constant reminder of her. 

• Mama always wore perfume - usually Avon.  She never left the house without it. 

• She wore pantyhose every single day.  She didn't even own a pair of socks.  When she would occasionally don the pair of jeans to work in the yard, she would wear pantyhose underneath. Now that's dedication. 

• Mama always wore high heels.  She hated flats - thought they made her feet look bigger.  She was 6 feet tall to start with, but would rather be taller with the heels than have her feet look too big.

• She always wore a necklace.  She had several favorites and switched them out daily, but never left the house without one. 

• Her nails were always polished. And they were never chipped.  She used a Revlon polish- usually in a shimmery rose color.  I can still see it now.  She often sat up late at night working on her nails and would fall asleep on the couch waiting for them to dry.  No quick drying polish back then.

• She wore aprons every day.  She would put one on while cooking dinner and would wear it around the house all night.

• At night, she always wore a full length night gown, a robe, and slippers. No sloppy pj's for her. She called her slippers her "bedroom shoes" and her robe her "house coat".

There were so many other wonderful things about Mama too.

• Her laugh was beyond wonderful.  It was infectious, as anyone would tell you.  She would laugh so hard she couldn't talk or hardly breathe, and when she tried to explain what she was laughing at, she would just laugh harder.  Misty has that same laugh today. Donna has her smile.  I have her disposition.   I think we all have her sense of humor. When something is funny to one of the Harris Sisters, it is usually funny to all of us- even if no one else knows what the heck we are laughing at.

• She would tell you she wasn't a good cook.  But I still make some of her recipes today.  We all do.  I miss her homemade biscuits that she made once a year on Thanksgiving Day.  They were the best.

• She took her coffee with cream only, no sugar.  Me too.  She also used to let us have milk with coffee in it when we were kids.  Now that was a treat.  I'll bet it's still good, note to self- must try this again soon.  

• She was a lefty.  Harris Sister, Misty, is too.  And now, Misty's daughter, Charlotte is also a southpaw.  She had beautiful handwriting.  She and Misty always sat together on one side of the table so they wouldn't bump elbows with the rest of us who were all righties.

• Even though she was left-handed, she did so many things with her right hand that many people considered her ambidextrous. For example, she would iron clothes right-handed. And those aforementioned painted fingernails? Well, those were always salon perfect on BOTH hands! But perhaps her most unusual talent was that she could flawlessly write her name forward with her right hand while simultaneously writing it backward (mirror image) with her left hand. It was a fascinating parlor trick that we girls often tried to duplicate, but we never quite managed. 

• She took us to church on Sundays, and helped us say our prayers at night.  She taught us right from wrong.

• Mama always taught us the importance of knowledge, education, and learning.  She was a smart lady and wanted to be sure we were too. She taught us things like how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism, one of the longest words in the English language, when we were in second grade. We Harris Sisters have all inherited her love of knowledge in our own special ways. I will be the FIRST to tell you that I was the only Harris Sister to ever actually win a Spelling Bee, Misty currently homeschools her two daughters in all subject areas, and Donna turned her love of grammar into a career as a copy editor and proofreader at a well-known publisher.

• She would probably hate the picture I used of her above.  I hope she will forgive me, but I love it.  Beautiful smile, cute pose, forever young.  That's Mama. 

Above all else, you were a good mom - the best.  You taught us how to be good mothers too. So on this Mother's Day - and always, Mama, we remember you, we miss you, we love you, and we will see you again.

Love, 

Donna, Deanna, and Misty

Restoration Project: Kitchen Table and Chairs

The time has come.  It is time to finally say goodbye to our counter-height kitchen table and chairs that we have used in our kitchen for many years. Every single niece and nephew who has come to visit us has fallen out of those chairs at some point or other over the years.  John has been ready to replace that set with a standard height table and chairs for a while now.   

So, without further ado, I give you our "new" kitchen set...

Although it certainly didn't start out looking this way, we actually purchased this table and chairs in it's original oak condition from a little junk shop we visit from time to time.  I loved the press back chairs and the table has working gears built into it to allow the table to open for the leaf.  We had a vision for this set, even though we knew it would require a little work.  Enter my handy husband, and this project was completed in a weekend!

We knew we wanted to paint the chairs and base of the table, and stain the table top, but had to settle on colors first.  We decided on black chalk paint with cream colored details showing through, and a dark wood finish for the table top.  Thankfully, painted furniture has become so popular lately that there are a ton of resources out there to guide you on your way, and a ton of stores sell the chalk paint now too. 

Here's a look at the the original base of the table.  Funny story- the table we bought didn't have those nice claw feet, but I wanted them.  About a week after we bought our table, we found a shop selling just a table base with those wonderful feet.  We paid a whopping $20 for that find, and finished off our table base. 

 Here's a closer look at the claw feet.  

...And the original detail on the press back chairs.  Incidentally, this is the only chair with the rounded top so it sits at my spot at the table now.  See the keyhole too?  I love this chair!

All the rest are this style. 

So the work began with a nice coat of cream colored chalk paint as the base coat for the chairs.  The good thing about chalk paint is that you don't have to sand your furniture before you start.  You just start painting.  And in this case, you don't have to be too careful.  We wanted to be sure to get this coat into the detail really well, but knew that we were applying another color over top so it didn't have to be perfect.   Here's hubby hard at work. 

And here's a look at the completed first step.  Notice that he only skimmed over the seat.  Most of that will be covered with the next coat of paint, without a ton of the white showing through. 

Here's another look at the chair in it's first coat of paint.  Oh, and if you only want one color, you could stop here.  Chalk paint doesn't take multiple coats.  But we wanted the white to show through the next coat, so we kept going to the next step. 

This is the chalk paint we used- Annie Sloan's Graphite- to create the black top coat. 

And here is the top coat being applied.  Hubby used a light touch to skim over top of the white, letting it show through in many places, especially all that detail on the press backs. 

It's better to paint it on thinly at this point.  You can always add more to create your desired look, but it's much harder to take it away. 

Same thing as he started painted on the spindles- letting a fair amount of that base coat shine through. 

You can see he also left a few splotched areas on the seat to make it look like it has seen some wear.  

At this point, you can add more of your top coat if you feel you have any areas with too much base coat showing through.  We did that on almost all the chairs until we got it just how we wanted it. 

Here's a closer look at how the chair back turned out. 

Repeat the process for all the chairs and the base of the table.   Easier said than done- not a hard process, but a little detailed. 

The table top was last.  Hubby stained it in cherry and black walnut, and cleared coated all of the pieces several times with a satin polyurethane to add some durability since we will be using this furniture daily.  FYI, most chalk painted pieces also have a coat of wax applied to finish them, but since we clear coated this set, we did not need to complete that step.  Finally, he attached the table top to the base once everything was dry.  

So here's a closer look at the completed project.  He actually didn't sand any of the paint away, although you certainly could to achieve a more distressed look.  Our look is more a product of multiple shades of paint strategically showing through. 

 Here's how those lovely claw feet turned out. 

 Hubby really did a great job!!

So there you have it!  Voila- the finished product- a labor of love.  And we are indeed in love with it.  

And the nice thing about painted furniture is that if you decide you want a different color down the road, you just paint over it.  How's that for options?