"hello there, neighbor!"

Last night, Colton found an old friend of mine. In the garage, it looks like we have a child held captive, but alas, it's just the doll I grew up with ... Neighbor Amber. My parents bought me Amber when I was 3, I think. They asked me what I would like to name her. I said, "Neighbor!" My Mom helped me decide that Amber would be a better name for Neighbor. So, Amber was my little friend for many years. Then she became my guinea pig, as I washed and cut her hair. Since my Jr. High years, she has lived in various storage units, basements, and garages. I admit, if you step back to the street and look into our garage, it looks like we have punished a small child by standing her amongst the boxes in the garage. Colton discovered her last night, and he was thrilled to have a friend! He gave her kisses and knocked her over several times--since she is so light, one brush and she crashes to the ground. I'm glad to see Colton likes her. Though I know he will grow weary of her quickly, I imagine Sissy Wally will be thrilled to have Amber as a playmate ... much like I did nearly 27 years ago. Meeting Amber ...
Going in for the kiss ...
BIG smooch!

As I made dinner last night, I needed to grab some olive oil to coat the pan for my stir fry. I grabbed the oil, and it slipped right out of my hand and hit the floor. Here's the mess that grew and grew as the oil spread across my kitchen floor ... under the fridge ... under the oven. I had to move everything to clean it all up! It was a mess!

Today, I got into the refinishing spirit. I went into the garage and took out a chair my parents refinished for me when I was little. It's a had a little accident since then. When we moved into this house, I put a garbage bag with "empty" paint cans, paint rags, and a little bit of trash. Anyway, it leaked onto the chair in the garage. I didn't realize it ... we didn't live in the house yet. We were still painting and had a few weeks to move in. Once we did move in, I saw what had happened. Over the course of the month, the bagged leaked and maggots were all over the chair! I was SO grossed out. I moved the chair down to the trash for the garbage man to pick up. Billy saw it out by the road, and he asked me why I was throwing it away. I told him what happened, and he convinced me that I might be really upset if I got rid of the chair. I moved it back into the garage after I sprayed it with the hose. Now that I am having a little girl, I'm so thankful that I kept that old chair of mine. I am going to refinish it for her. I went into the garage today, and I took all of the furniture pins (I guess that's what you call them) out and ripped off the old cushion. I also found that my Mom was very good with the staple gun. I pulled out a million staples, and I'm not quite done with that either! I am looking forward to finding some fabric that I really like to put on this chair. I'm not necessarily going to match her crib bedding ... since that won't last forever, but I hope this chair will. It's already gone at least 30 years ... who knows who had this chair before me (I do know that it was blue). Here's the chair before, and I wish I had a really nice picture of the chair ... you know, before I ruined it!

This is the pulling out of the furniture pins process. It was tough! They were really stuck in there.

All I have left now is the cushion! Easy, right? Not so much, thanks to the staples. Finished with the demo ... well, most of the staples are out! I'm excited to see what it will turn out to look like!

So, I love this cream called "Arnica"! It's for bumps, bruises, scrapes, and I use it for bug bites. Colton was running to go out to the backyard with me this morning. We had just put on his shoes, and he was headed to the back door when ... BAM! He tripped, and his face smashed into the tile floor. Luckily, he just bumped his forehead, but he was pretty upset. After he calmed down, I put Arnica on the bump, and it's nowhere to be seen! It really helps keep the bumps and bruises from lingering around. Have I mentioned I hate tile floor with kids around!?!

Well, here comes Colton with book number 4. I have stopped three times to read to him. I guess I should probably sign-off.