Flea finds

I love to walk around and browse our local flea market, The Queen of Hearts, every now and then. You never know what you'll find at a Flea and there are so many interesting things to see.

So many of the vendors seem to over value their own junk "antiques", something has to be the right price for me to buy. Walking down the aisles I came upon this:

rusty and iron and right up my alleyWe never seem to light our fireplace anymore. Once they deregulated gas in Georgia the price went sky high and when we'd burn the gas logs I'd just see $$$'s going up the flue. One season, I even had my husband take the gas logs out and we burned real wood. It had to be the perfect weather though, or we'd smell the wood burning throughout the house. We set off the smoke alarm one too many times, so... we put the gas logs back in.
I saw this as an alternative. A fireside glow for the cost of a few candles. Candles that are half off at Hobby Lobby this week.
I like it, it's a bit different from the others I've seen. Can't wait to light it!
But maybe I'll wait until it drops below 90 degrees. ;-)

chair rehab progress

Here's the chair frame from my last post, remember... the upholstery demolition?

Well... not too much progress this weekend as we played more than we worked. GradGirl was home for a visit with her new Pup Greyson. He's a MinPin-Chihuahua mix and only about 4.5 lbs at the moment.

I did start in on sanding the chair and giving it 2 coats of paint so far. I can see another 2 coats are needed! We also cut a piece of MDF for the seat base with our trusty jig saw. This is instead of the rope and springs.

And... I cut a piece of foam for the seat cushion, very tricky with a scissor since I don't have one of those old electric meat carving knives.Here's the color, Martha Stewart "persimmon red", with the fabric just to get the picture, because we all need our final inspiration to work on, right?!

Today I will continue, I hope to anyway. I love the fabric with the coral paint color, so fun! What do you think?

Have you ever opened Pandora's box?

I just did...

This chair is over 100 years old, a real antique! It was Great Grandma Edith's, and we actually have 2 of them. Grad Girl has the other one at her condo. It's in much better shape than this one, having been brought out of storage and recovered already years ago. The plan is to recover them both to match her new decor.

So dirty from being in the attic when they re-roofed the house 2 years ago.

It has such pretty carved detail doesn't it?!

So today I started the demolition...
who knew this chair had previously been recovered 3 times. I guess that's not bad for 100 years. Funny though, the upper fabric was dirty but not water stained like the bottom two fabrics.

The tacks were all rusty which had me thinking... hmm, when was my last tetanus shot?

That's just the beginning, but there were definitely enough rusty tacks for 3 layers of fabric.

Underneath the 3 layers was a layer of cotton batting , a layer of horse hair and a layer of rotted burlap that turned to dust when you touched it. Yuck! Oh, and of course the comfy springs tied with rotted rope.

I had gone this far so I figured I would just go all the way and strip it down completely to the wooden frame.

So... now I have a chair frame. I guess I'll have to build a seat before I can recover it, right?! Where's the Jig saw?

We plan to repaint the chairs a shade of coral, Martha Stewart's " Persimmon red", and then reupholster them in this fun fabric:

Then both chairs will match. Hopefully, as far as I can remember, Grad Girls chair is not in as bad of shape as this one and we can actually just paint it and recover it. I hope. Fingers crossed.

They should look great in her dining room and add an additional pop of color!

I'll be sure to post the "after" when we're done... which may not be as soon as I originally had planned!

alone time with Baby C

Now that Carter is 4 months old he's able to go longer between "meals" and that gives him and his Momma a bit more freedom. Occasionally, it's just he and I, while Kelly is off at an appointment or a tennis match.
We both love our playtime together!

He is teething and loves having something to chew on, fingers are the best!

Sometimes he even finds his thumb.

We just got a new toy for him to enjoy at Poppy and Hatties house...
a walker. Safe here on the one level with no stairs.

He's a bit short for it at the moment, even on the lowest setting.
But watch out Puppies, soon he'll be chasing you all over the house!

After all that playtime, this little guy needs a rest. He lets me know when he's tired, so we put the toys away and snuggle with his blanket.

He loves rockin' in our cozy chair!

Shhh.... the baby's sleeping!

personnal best and Gal Pal fun!

It's been H&H here in Hotlanta, but not hot enough to keep us off the course. Friday afternoon, hubby and I hit the links after my doctors appointment. I don't know why, maybe we both needed to release some tension, but we both played really well. He shot a 35, a PB for him for 9 holes, and I a 48. My PB for 9 is a 47 shot last April. He continued to shoot a record round of 75! I on the other hand succumbed to the heat of the afternoon and ended up with a 103 for 18. How can I golf my best when I'd go down to eye a putt and come up dizzy from the heat?! I was drinking water and iced tea like a fish and even wearing a cold wet towel on my neck between shots! We finished just in the nick of time as the skies let loose after putting out on 18.

Hubby thanks you for waiting Golf Gods!!!

We hurried home to shower and make myself beautiful to get back in time for Member Appreciation night. It was held inside b/c of the storms but that didn't stop the fun!

The Gal Pals have a good time no matter the venue!

We celebrated G's birthday,
and were the last 4 couples to leave for the night.

love my gal pals!

early communication

this video always brings a smile to my face...



Turn up the volume and hear what Baby C has to say. I especially love how he describes his visit to the doctor. He sure has a lot to tell us!

lovin' that grandbaby!

Carter sings along with Auntie Alex

black and white and gray

I was a science major, B.S. in Biology degree, so I do find all this interesting. I was also a certified Cytotechnologist working in the Pathology Department, diagnosing cancer, mostly from Pap smears. Identifying HPV before most of you had even heard of Human Papilloma Virus or a vaccine for it. There is a lot of "gray" area in medical diagnosis. Fitting cells into what they most closely resemble. I had always hoped they were wrong on my original diagnosis, just maybe it was something benign that appeared malignant. But when my first lung metastasis was diagnosed the same Sarcoma as my original retroperitoneal tumor, I realized they must have been right. This is my scan... so the reality sets in. This growing nodule is in my upper lobe, close to the blood vessels that come into my lung. Conventional surgery would mean taking out the upper lobe, completely. I don't want to lose my upper lobe, or any lobe at all. I've been researching alternatives.... "Cyberknife", a radiation technology, utilizing robotics. I think it's the way to go for me. I'll have the Doctor "zap" the tumor, all Star Wars and all, because it is a war... a war against cancer. And I'm going to win.

"You gain

strength, courage and confidence

by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.

You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror.

I can take the next thing that comes along.'

You must do the thing

you think you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

quote from my cancer surviving friend at "my half-glassed life"

fighting back

remember jumping rope as a kid?

Well... watch these talented young girls take jumping rope to a new level! They are amazing!

your emotional brain

Thank you Z-pack! Last week I was fighting off a sinus infection... a cold germ I thought I had beaten weeks ago but it came back and decided to reside in my head. It seems when your stress level is up your immune system is unfortunately down, just when you need it the most. I've been worried, anxious and stressed ever since my last scan. I know it's not good for me, not good for my defenses, so I'm trying to fight back. I'm reading a book called "Instinct to Heal" by David Servan-Schreiber, MD, PhD. It's about fighting anxiety, stress and depression by using diet, exercise, heart coherence (sort of like meditation) and even acupuncture. Hmm... not sure I'd go there, but I'm okay with needles so maybe someday. It's about keeping your "emotional brain" healthy and thereby boosting your overall health.

Did you know that 20 minutes of aerobic exercise, like running, swimming or tennis, three times a week actually lowers anxiety and stress and keeps your emotional brain and your immune system healthier. That's not much effort for the worthwhile benefit. My exercise yesterday was morning golf and my lunch was grilled salmon and salad... yummy, healthy and delicious.

There's a lot you need to know about our "western" diet. I for one need to do a bit more research on diet and Omega 3's vs. Omega 6's. While googling I came across this article in the Huffington Post (click the link) that puts food guidelines into simple and easy to follow "rules" for your everyday diet. Basically... don't eat anything white, but please read the link!

I'm golfing again this morning... good for my head to be with my Gal Pals and a bit of exercise to lower my stress level. My 3 month scan is scheduled for Monday. The big reveal. What's been going on in my lungs since April 19th? I've been praying for it all to just disappear...

Gotta go, can't be late for my tee time!

Happy belated 4th, we've been busy celebrating and I hope you were too!

Our very own American poster child Carter turned 4 months old this past 5th of July. We had a fabulous family weekend out at the lake with gorgeous summer weather. After a heat wave in the 90's and humidity to go with it, we had a much welcomed break over the holiday weekend with temps in the 80's and no humidity. It.was.lovely.

We got to spend 5 days with the bub... enjoying his smiles and coo's and laughter. What a joy!

just have to share this cuteness!

Drew & I and Kelly & Carter exerting ourselves on the 3rd before the evening festivities

Grad Girl and her new Pup Greyson (min-pin-chihuahua mix)

Here we are enjoying the fireworks show put on by the Ritz Carton Lake Oconee. If you want to celebrate the 4th in style, I highly recommend it. Next year... make a reservation!
We came by boat, one of ~ 600 in attendance on the lake for the festivities!We even had apple pie, so yummy... it was a fabulous weekend!
Hope you had a great time too!

God bless America!