refurbished desk

I'm slowly tackling the projects in my home that I've promised myself I will do. My latest completed project is redoing my childhood desk. Here is a before picture so you can understand what I was working with.

This is a piece that my Great-Grandfather made sometime during my Grandmother's childhood. One handle had lost a screw and another handle somehow rusted out before the others. A walk around a couple of modern stores informed me that they don't make "two-screw" handles that would fit in the existing  holes. With all of the modern handles, the screws are father apart. So, I purchased some wood putty to fill the holes, and my helpful husband filled the holes while I sanded the desk. Originally I had imagined staining the desk a dark brown to match the classy china cabinet and bookcase we already have, but since they will never live in the same room together {unless we end up in a studio apartment or a one room cabin someday... or a hut...} I figured I would try to reflect my personality more. My personality = less classy, more whimsical. So I chose a beautiful bright teal. This was a several day project. Basically, I'm almost tired of paint. The whole desk took like five coats {possible exaggeration} of primer and five more coats of paint. Even though I am aware you aren't supposed to "paint" the desk to perfection with the primer, I basically can't help myself. While I was going through the process I found some neat little reminders that my mother and I are more similar then I sometimes give us credit. When the top, middle drawer is removed there is a small note.

Two years before I was born my mother wrote that. It makes me feel connected to her, because I too doodled on the desk. I was careful not to paint over it. When we went to buy the drawer pulls, I was undecided on what style I wanted. Round, for sure. I'm not a square person. But did I want wooden, twine, typography, damask, pink glass, floral, or paisley? Um, yes. To all of the above. I was a woman divided. Matthew piped up. "Do they have to match?" Why didn't I think of that? I think sometimes I try too hard to be an adult. So I walked out with nine of my favorite knobs. After a small mishap with the glass knob {basically, he over tightened it until it exploded}, we were finished.  The finished product is exactly what I was hoping for. Whimsical, cheery, and almost childish. The kind of desk you want to do art projects on, or sew on. Both of those are good ideas. So here it is. {Sitting in the middle of our living room, where it does not belong}.

I still can't decide which knob I like the best. I was going to name off a few, but it was going to be like seven out of nine, so I decided not to. I was going to put up pictures of the knobs, but that's nine pictures and that seemed like over-kill. So here's what your stuck with. My decisions on what this post should be like. :) Here's one final {non-over-kill} picture of my {almost} week long project.

office chair

For a few days now I have been remaking my childhood desk, but that's another post. In related news, however, the chair that has always been with my childhood desk somehow got left behind in Virginia Beach during the move. Instead of remaining attached to a chair that is falling apart I made the brave decision to buy a new chair. There is a thrift store literally across the street from our apartment, and for some reason, I began this journey sure that that was where I would buy it. Saturday morning I walked into the store looking for a sturdy, clean lined, slightly rounded {I hate the boxy look} chair, and walked out $3 later with exactly that. The seat of the chair was a dark brown {probably faux} leather, and while not unattractive, needed some life.

Matt and I jumped into the car and drove the five minutes to Lowes where we picked up the paint chip for the color we had chosen for the desk, and then walked next door to Hobby Lobby where we bought nine drawer pulls and a yard of fabric that matched the paint chip. {Here's the fabric on the top of the desk}

The yard of fabric was a grand total of $4. A firm kick from the husband to release the seat from the chair, and a couple of staples from the wife.... Waalaa! :) We have a new office chair. Perfectly reflective of my taste, and it matches my {almost finished} desk. So, $7 and a half an hour of my time = my new office chair. 

atlanta

This past weekend we visited our good friend Amelia at her Aunt's house right outside of Atlanta (Yes, this is the same girl we visited at her Grandmother's house in Chattanooga). We spent the first day playing board games, watching Sense and Sensibility (still unsure how I feel about such dramatic movies), and swimming in their fantastic pool.

The next day we spent quite differently. We began by climbing a mountain. Whether Amelia properly informed us of said climbing is debatable, but regardless, I was not prepared. I'd be lying if I said I didn't almost die climbing it. Was it really that bad? No, probably not. But I haven't attempted to do anything quite that adventurous in a good long while. Anyways, here was the view.

Next, we went to some adorable park-like square with food, dessert, eclectic, and antique shops. We had lunch at a delicious little cafe, and then moved on to another shop for ice cream. My favorite stop {as you can imagine} was the large antique mall. We wandered through the entire store, and while I loved many things, I managed to not commit myself to any of them. Truth be told, I was on a mission. I was looking for a pot {or vase, or bowl} to house the chocolate mint plant that my husband had purchased for me. The first trip through, though long and thorough {wow, that sentence was kinda a tongue twister for the eyeballs} yielded no such pot. I was rather disappointed, but we started to head slowly back toward the front of the store. As with all good stories, this one has a happy ending. As we neared the door, I noticed a beautiful little teapot that was clothed in a color somewhere between blue and green. It was unassuming and missing its top. A teapot missing its top is not much good for making tea, however it is the perfect substitute for a boring pot. The only wall to conquer now was the price. I hesitantly flipped over the price tag. $7.00. This teapot and I were going to be friends. :) 

It was only a two day trip, but it was relaxing. I'll end this post with a picture of the fountain in the middle of the square. It has a sort of "thank you for coming" presence and seems fitting.

fireworks

There's something magical about the Fourth of July. The big band music entertains, the watermelon drips, the hamburgers sizzle, and the fireworks explode. We participated in all said activities, but my favorite part (as always) was the fireworks. I thought I would share just a minute's worth of what we got to see. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday. Pray that God will continue to bless America!

chalked hippopotamus

Most of you know I watch children for a living. I call myself a nanny because I think it sounds better than "I babysit every day for five hours". For the past two years I have been nannying for the same family. The eldest's name is Lauren, and she has a shirt with a hippopotamus on it.

This hippopotamus lives in a hot air balloon and spends most of his time counting the clouds. One, two, three. Same age as Lauren. Yesterday, Lauren greeted me at the door bubbling over with excitement about how she had found a baby spider in the playroom and she needed me to come see it. As soon as that thrilling adventure was over, she informed me that she had received chalk over the weekend. Lauren can't tell time yet, but she knows her numbers. She knows that her baby sister Caroline goes to sleep at 3:00, and that we do not go outside until Caroline is asleep. When the first number on the digital clock is a 3, Caroline must immediately be put to sleep, so that we can begin our grown up adventuring.

Caroline was in bed by 3:01, and Lauren and I put on our shoes, sandals without socks (that makes Lauren happy because "my feet can breathe better when they aren't wearing their hippo socks."), and headed out to their monstrous driveway. First we were just doodling. Me drawing hearts, her drawing squares, which she named "My buttercream roses". Quite imaginative, really. But I decided we needed to do something more significant. I started to chalk Lauren's hippopotamus.

I chalked it, and Lauren helped to make the patterns on the balloon. When we were finished it wasn't personal enough. "Miss Amanda, can you write 'Lauren' up by this hippopotamus? L-A-U-R-E-N. Right up here." We would hate for someone to think that this hippopotamus belongs to Caroline. I understood, and so I wrote L-A-U-R-E-N big enough to see out the window of a passing airplane. When I finished, we colored them in. I drew hearts inside of each letter and she connected the hearts with lines. It was quite charming really. I know this is a seemingly insignificant story, but Lauren said, "I liked this day." and sometimes it's the insignificant stories that mean the most in the end.

raspberry jam

The  day started like most days, with a filling breakfast and a little blogging about the night before. After some editing on my husband's latest home video, we decided to don our bathing suits and find a body of water. So my brother, his girlfriend, my husband, and I set out to the neighborhood pool of a friend. The pool was over crowded. People of all sizes and nakedness were sardined into an area and almost disproving Pauli's exclusion principle. Needless to say, we weren't staying. I jumped on the Google Maps iPhone app and found the nearest lake. Forty-five minutes away. We were all decked out in our swim wear and weren't going to let a measly forty-five minute drive stand between us and water. When we arrived at the lake we saw the boat docks, but not the "I don't have a boat, but still want to get in the water" dock. I'm still not sure it even existed. We continued up the mountain road until we saw a sign for a fishing hole. I'm a smart enough cookie. Fishing hole = water. After a poison ivy avoiding trek through the woods, we found ourselves at the side of a beautiful lake. There was a large boulder that we could jump off (after checking the depth and safety of the water), and no one for a hundred yards. It was our own little haven. I lamented not bringing my camera, but my brother reminded me that when you don't have pictures you can remember it exactly as you wish to. Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination.

At this point you're wondering, why did she title this post "Raspberry Jam"? Give me a minute. I'm getting there. After satisfying our water urge, we got back into the car to start our trip back. Just a minute later we saw some women on the side of the road picking berries. Wishful thoughts were spoken, followed by the confirmation of a clean bucket in the car, and that began our second adventure. We pulled over, and the four of us tackled the surrounding bushes. Before we got back into the car we had picked four cups of raspberries. On the way home my iPhone assisted in picking the recipe we would use, and we stopped to pick up some jelly jars.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Mash the berries and boil them.

2. Add the pre-warmed (a tip I got elsewhere on the web) sugar.

3. Move into sterilized jars and let the jam become more jam like.

4. Spread on homemade biscuits and enjoy!

Four cups of sugar made four and a half jars of jam, and my brother Chris liked it so much that he insisted on paying us for a jar. It was delicious!

downtown knoxville

After a riverside walk last night, we settled on the pier beside an assortment of overly friendly birds. While we tossed them cracker bits, I leaned against my husband. My husband. :) I have all I've ever wanted. I understand that I am still a "newlywed", and at this point I should still be remarkably happy, but it's bigger than that. God has given abundantly. All of my daydreams have become my reality.

 When the horizon swallowed the sun, we listened to the live band playing at Calhoun's, and I found myself humming the tune of the Plain White T's song "Rhythm of Love".

"I love the view from up here, warm sun and wind in my ear. We'll watch the world from above as it turns to the rhythm of love."

Something about moving water and moonlight brings out the happiest in people. Remember to take in the little joys in life.