2 days...

We got home at 11:30 Saturday night and we leave again tomorrow at 4:30 in the morning. I WISH I had time to download pictures and make an amazing post of our Oregon trip - but, I'm lacking in time and effort. So...this what you get.

• Balderdash - I learned some amazing words.
• Boogie Boarding - the water was amazingly warm, and the waves were HUGEmungous!
• Sun - I fried the last day.
• Crabbing - wasn't good at all, but we caught and ate one crab Friday night :)
• Laughing - that goes with all good family vacations.
• Pacific City - sand dunes that were so wet it was like climbing stairs.
• Astoria - climbed the column and flew a kite.
  
• Pinochle - enough said....
• Food - we eat more food at the coast than any other time of year - and it's all SOOO delicious!

Awww how I love the beach - I promise to post pictures of Oregon when I get home from Chicago and I PROMISE to post Chicago pictures - more to come - please don't be too board without pictures :)

~~Erin

PROJECT TIME!!!

Where to begin? Well, I bought the fabric to cover my couch over a month ago. I decided with the limited time I had home this summer, if I didn’t start, I’d never finish. So…for my anniversary, I started ripping the couch apart. It took 2 long evenings to finish it. I couldn’t believe how many staples there were!!! Furniture is not made to come apart. But, in this tearing apart, I realized how little sewing there is involved. It’s mostly just cutting, stretching tight and stapling. Well….I should be able to do that!!!

Mom was my biggest godsend. With her sewing expertise, she magically made the first arm fit. Let me elaborate. We put more foam in the arms (as you remember, the one was coming apart and the foam was sticking out the arm) which made it look more like an overstuffed couch. This creates a problem when you’re using the old material as the pattern. But like I said, Mom’s magic. She created a new pattern, sewed it together and it went on like a glove. The 2nd arm wasn’t quite as simple, but not bad. It just had a few baggy spots we filled in with extra foam.

Highlights of the project:
· Having no idea how to use a staple gun
· Rachel reminding me again “Erin’s using the staple gun upside down again”
· Mom scolding me for buying a piece of stretchy polyester for the back (oops)
· Anthony coming home to show me how to hammer in brads
o I was trying to hammer them into a metal plate
· Sirus helping every step of the way
· Running out of fabric (oh don’t worry, it’s so much cooler now)
· Finding classroom fabric while waiting at the fabric store (new project!)
· Oh….and…it turned out perfect

With lots of patience and some fantastic help from my family, this chair/couch turned out even better than I imagined!!! I’m so happy to see it sitting in my family room now!

TaDa!!!!

It's perfect - and reversible. The bottom cushion is brown and the back of the top cushion is blue :) We can change it up whenever!