Walk the Line

I put off watching Walk the Line for years. I didn’t want to watch it knowing that the marriage of John and June came out of an affair. It is just not something I want to watch. On Saturday, there was nothing on that Dean wanted to watch. I am not sure why there were no shows about bidding wars or car remodeling on that day, but there seems to have been a dry spell for his favorite kinds of shows.  We watched a couple of Hallmark movies in the afternoon (be still my heart!)  and then Walk the Line in the evening.

While I was watching it, it really made me do some heavy duty thinking. I also did some research on line.

Johnny Cash’s first hit was I Walk the Line. He wrote it in 1955 when he was stationed in Germany. He was not yet married to Vivian, his first wife. While he was there, the two of them wrote hundreds of pages of love letters to one another. They married when he came home.

Here are the words to Walk the Line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

I find it very, very easy to be true
I find myself alone when each day is through
Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you
Because you're mine, I walk the line

As sure as night is dark and day is light
I keep you on my mind both day and night
And happiness I've known proves that it's right
Because you're mine, I walk the line

You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/j/johnnycashlyrics/iwalkthelinelyrics.html

Above are the words to the song. If you read them, you can tell he had a good plan – in fact, a really, really good plan.  He just didn’t follow it very well. I am sure he meant to, but instead, he walked another line - a very thin line between honoring his marriage and crossing the line into a relationship with someone else.

Watching the movie was interesting. A couple of posts ago, I wrote about Dr. Harley’s Book His Needs Her Needs. In it, he talks about building an affair proof marriage. This movie really brought home so many things that he talks about in his book.  Johnny is away too much. He spends too much time with a woman who is not his wife. He puts himself into a dangerous position over and over. Even before the time they actually spend the night together, they have been involved emotionally. An emotional affair is just as much of an affair as a one night stand. It carries so much implication because of the emotional attachment.

What can we do not to cross that line that each of us walks? Here are a few suggestions based on the guidelines of the book:

Guard your heart. Do not share personal things with people of the opposite sex with whom you are not married. This means via text, email, chat, skype, telephone or in person. This means the person that you were attached to in high school and have now connected via facebook. This means your coworker with whom you share an office space. I am sure you can think of other people who become close to you in a work or social setting. .  In an age where almost everyone of us at least one of our own personal communication devices, it is very easy for us to be sucked into communicating in a manner that is private. Do not smudge the line by discussing things about your marriage relationship with persons of the opposite sex. It is way too easy for that person to take on a role of confidant. The line becomes thinner and lighter, making it that much easier to cross. By the time the emotional attachment has formed, the line has been crossed.

 Be an open book. Tell your spouse where you are and who you are with. Those personal communication devices? Let your spouse have access to each and every account – chat, email, text, facebook, etc. At any  time, your spouse should be able to open your account and see any communication. Don’t do anything you wouldn’t want your spouse to see!

 Make Your Relationship a Priority. That one is pretty self explanatory. Remember that your relationship is meant to be lasting. Just as you maintain your car or your home, maintain your relationship! I suggest purchasing the book, His Needs, Her Need, take the needs inventory test and make a daily practice of meeting the needs of your spouse. You’ll be so glad you did.

It will make it much harder to cross the line.

Blessings!

Am I Plan 'B'ing God?

This blog post is a little scattered- much like my thoughts. I started it last night:
Thursday is Bible Study Day for me. I started this post this afternoon and saved a space in this post for something about Bible Study. I didn't realize I was going to end up deleting the post and starting over. This week's lessons had been speaking to me all week long.  James 1 is an interesting chapter. It starts out talking about being joyful about your trials because it builds perseverance. James also talks about not being double minded.
One thing he says is that if you ask and don't believe you are double minded and can't expect God to do anything for you! Tonight, that was really brought home with something Debbie said about a Plan B. It sort of knocked me right between the eyes.

Let me give you a little background:
Today I had a headache most of the day. A friend asked if I was under stress. Um, let me think about that...yes! Things here are so tight financially. Not only is Dean making a lot less money, but it is more expensive to live here. Right now, I don't feel like I am contributing anything at all. This is an odd feeling. Since this blog is about rockin' the empty nest, I do understand the importance of making the house a home for the two of us. I also know that I can and should be contributing financially - especially when things are so hard.

When the kids were home and I didn't work outside the home, I still felt like I was contributing. Except for the time in El Paso at the church, I haven't had a full-time job since before Eric was born- and that was more then 25 years ago! I was still contributing because I was mom. As much as the dogs like having me home, they don't need mothering. Most of the time, I had part-time jobs that brought in a little money. For the last several years, I have had income from photography. Here, that isn't happening. It is not from lack of trying. I have passed out several hundred cards and made tons of contacts. Nothing is coming from it.

Now for the tie-in with the Bible Study and Plan B.
I mentioned above that it James says in chapter one says to believe and not doubt when you ask God. I keep asking - asking for wisdom to know how to increase the business, wisdom to know who to talk to, wisdom to find the right niche for this area. I ask and then what do I do? I make a Plan B - I start sending out resumes for jobs that have nothing to do with photography. Today, I talked with someone about, I guess, a Plan C. That plan could possible offer me a good amount of money doing something I have absolutely no desire to do. By making a Plan B and a Plan C am I being double minded? Am I not trusting God?

After thinking about this all the way home, after I started writing, I started doubting again.

All of the above was written last night.

When I got into bed last night, I talked to Dean. He says whatever you want to do it fine - just not plan C. Well that still leaves plan A where I wait on God and just focus on photography. Or Plan B, where I apply for some part time jobs to supplement until such a time that photography picks up.

This morning I went to the gym for water aerobics. I have one more class left on my membership. To be honest, I just can't afford to pay for the next quarter. Anyway, while I was there I received a call back from one of the places where I had applied. It is a part time job in retail - some sales, some planning events for the store. Both things I enjoy. I am going to an interview. There is no guarantee I will get a job offer, so it may be a non-issue. Please pray for me/with me that I will make the right decision - that I will trust God and not doubt.

His Needs, Her Needs

Before Joy Anna was born, Dean and I got involved with our church's marriage retreat ministry.We went first as a participant and got so much out of it, we went back several times as hosts. We even went to Belize to host a marriage retreat for pastors and their wives there.

These were based on a wonderful book called His Needs, Her Needs by Dr. Willard Harley.  I highly recommend it to every married couple - from newlywed (or about to be wed) to empty nest - this book is an awesome book. Don't let the subtitle of "Building an Affair Proof Marriage" scare you away. Most people don't want to even think about an affair being part of their marriage. Don't bury your head in the sand and say it can't ever happen to you - it effects so many relationships. A lot of these are not affairs where there is sexual contact, but they are still things that come between the husband and wife. You don't want that.

This book talks about the ten major needs - There are the top five for women and the top five for men.
This article The Most Important Emotional Needs discusses the concepts in the book as well as linking to the basic needs. Check it out!

One of the needs is "Sexual Fulfillment" Any guesses on whether it is the man or woman who has that in their top 5?

Today, I was catching up on my favorite shows on my DVR. Parenthood is one I really enjoy. All the relationships are in different life stages. One of the couples has a new baby, a son with Asperger's, and a daughter that just left for college. Not exactly empty nest, but they are on the journey to the empty nest just as we were a few years ago. Part of the discussion was they schedule time for sex - they call it "Going to Funkytown" To his younger brother who is a newlywed, this seems silly. To those of us who have been busy with kids and other things, sometimes scheduling is a good thing. If you aren't making time for sex, then maybe you need to get out your calendar and schedule that.

I have been thinking about this post for a few days. I am doing Beth Moore's study of James, and it is taking a lot of time. Part of the series is to memorize the book of James. In fact, it may slow down the blog for a few weeks. But, I digress.

While mulling this over, I read an article by Tim Challies. It is certainly worth your time to read it.
 Compromising God's Standards for Sexuality.
His blog posts always make me think. This one was no different, and it went right along with this subject.

Now for you married women who are no longer interested in sex, let me encourage you to go see your doctor. There could be a physical problem. Hormones play a huge part in the the marriage bed. If yours are off, this can really cause a problem. Talk to your doctor. If they are not willing to help you, find another one.

It may not be physical, but it is better to rule that out. There are lots of books and articles on sex withing marriage. Not all of them are written by Christians and often suggest things that we know to be out of God's plan for sexual intimacy in marriage. This is a great book to read - Sheet Music by Dr. Kevin Lehman. It's subtitle is "Uncovering the Sexual Intimacy in Marriage."

Sexual intimacy in marriage was designed by God. What a wonderful Creator to plan something that would be such a wonderful thing for His children! I hope if this is something you have an issue with, you'll talk to your spouse and your doctor. If you need to see a professional counselor, look for one who is a Christian and understands God's plan for sexual intimacy.  Let's not mess up the beauty of that with all the world is throwing at us.

It is okay to miss them!

Just because we are enjoying our 'empty nest' doesn't mean we don't miss our children. Today was one of those days where I missed them. This morning, we had breakfast at Le Madeline. This has always been a favorite of our children. When my picky eater Eric would only eat veggies if they were fried -okra and zucchini (not typical kid far, I know) - he would eat the tomato-basil soup at Le Madeline. Joy Anna has always loved their strawberries with brandy cream sauce. Sure, I still like to eat there, but man it made me a little homesick for the kids. For dinner tonight, we had chicken fried steak. Another favorite of our kids.

Now, we didn't spend the whole day sitting around moping and missing the kids. Nope. After breakfast, we stopped by the nursery for some mums. I like the bronzey-burgandy-ish ones. You know the ones I mean. :) Just beautiful! After setting them in the yard where we thought they needed to go, we realized we needed a little extra color in the large bed. The house was landscaped just before we moved in. I don't know the landscaper, but I can tell you they didn't do anything we would have picked out on our own. The main elements are several large rosemary plants and two tall and very skinny cedars. There is a really interesting palm-like plant, but it is sort of buried amongst the rosemary. We headed down to Lowes to look for some more color. We ended up with another shrub that will certainly add some color withe vibrant yellow, green and orange leaves. Dean and his mom both picked out a hanging basket that is a blooming moss. We bought hooks to hang them from the front of the house. I think as the seasons change, we will find lanterns to go there.

The yard is looking great! I was waiting until I made a wreath for the front door to take a photo, but after pricing supplies at hobby lobby tonight, we will be going a different direction with seasonal decor. I will be deciding what to refurbish and/or repurpose to make something interesting for the door.

I see a lot of future blog posts with some of those projects!

I will photograph the yard tomorrow if it is not raining. We are going to visit a young lady who grew up around the corner from Dean. She lives here now and is the mommy of a little girl. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Every Empty Nest Has to Start Somewhere

With school having just started back, there is a lot of talk about the empty nest. Everyone knows the empty nest begins when the last little chick leaves the nest. A few months before that child leaves, they start worrying about it and focusing on what in their world it is going to be like when they are all alone with just their spouse.

Have you ever noticed how many marriages seem to fall apart when the last child leaves? Have you thought about why that happens?

Many, many years ago, I attended a women's conference. One of the sessions talked about this - at least I guess that was the subject. That is certainly what I got out of it! I wish I could remember the speaker, so I could credit her here. She reminded us that you started out as a couple and you would hopefully end up as a couple.

She cautioned us about putting the children in such a prominent place in the relationship that the couple relationship suffered. Have you ever seen couple who are so wrapped up with their children and their children's activities that they don't seem to have a relationship anymore? Mom goes one way and Dad goes another. They might back up late at night when they are tired from work, housework, and playing taxi driver, coach, sponsor . . . and the list goes on.

She encouraged us to keep the couple relationship first after your relationship with God. I have a question for all of you married couples with kids still at home. Do you go out on dates with your spouse? Do you talk about things other than your children on those dates? This is one thing we tried to do regularly. When our church offered childcare, we took advantage of that to date. If that was not an option, we often bartered babysitting with our friends. While on these dates, we made a conscious effort not to talk about the kids. Maybe this is something you need to implement - a date night to focus on just the two of you. Count these dates as good practice for the empty nest.

Maintaining your marriage relationship as a priority is beneficial to your children. I hope that it will help our children build stronger marriages as they follow in our footsteps. I think it teaches them to be less selfish - to know that your world doesn't revolve around them.

As the blog continues, I hope to offer some sound guidance for those who are on the journey to the empty nest as well as for those are experiencing it as we are. I hope you are Rocking' Your Empty Nest, too!

Here is a little history about our nest and the journey to being empty.

Dean and I met at church in 1979. The first time I saw him, I told my mom he was who I was going to marry (even though we had yet to be introduced.)  I was the newbie in the crowd. He was already at college, so he wasn't around a whole lot. When he was, he was dating someone else from the church ;)   I just patiently waited. Those that know me, know I am not always patient. In November of 1980, he was home for the weekend, and we met up at a Friday night skating party. We had our first date in December. That was 32 years ago.

 This is us sometime before we got married - notice the senior ring on the necklace and the high wasted jeans. And yes, we both have our names on our belts :)


We married on June 5, 1982.

We lived in 5 different houses over the next year until he graduated from Louisiana Tech. After he graduated, we moved to Tyler, TX. We were in the Tyler area for about ten years.

While we were there, we had Eric in 1987

and Joy Anna in 1992.

Ten years after the wedding, our nest was officially full - at least the way the world sees it.

Stick around for more on the journey!

I Remember

I think everyone over the age of 18 remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. I had taken Joy Anna to school and was back home. I didn't have the television or radio because I was having my quiet time and praying. This was when the kids were exceptionally busy, and I prayed over our calendar every morning along with my quiet time.

Dean called and told me to turn on the television. Something had come across on the internet.  I sat stunned with the rest of the world as the 2nd plane hit the tower, the Pentagon was hit, and the plane crashed in PA.

Just as the song says, it seemed the world had stopped turning.

Of course as a mother, one of the first things we worry about is our children. Eric was in high school. They were watching the coverage in their classes. I knew he was aware of what was going on. I called Joy Anna's elementary. The teachers knew what was going on, but the children did not. Her elementary had a great deal of parent involvement. Any day you chose to go visit at lunch, there would be several parents there having lunch with their student. No lunch day was like this one. Parents were everywhere, yet it was eerily quiet. Every conversation was hushed. Even Joy Anna remembers all of the parents being there and how nothing seemed normal.

Of course once we picked them up from school there was a lot of explaining to do. I am so thankful that the school allowed the parents the opportunity to tell our own children.

I remember that night at church. So many people. So many of them I had never seen at Mobberly before, but everyone was joined together in prayer. I am thankful to live in a country where we are free to meet and worship and pray together.

This morning Louie Giglio tweeted the phrase "Out of the ashes we rise"  How true - we did rise out of the ashes. It seemed at the time, we were all joined together as a country that was proud of our country, proud of our legacy. It seemed that Believers joined together in a way that we had not recently been. We were rising together out of the ashes.

Here are the words to Chris Tomlin's "Our God" It really fits today as we remember.

Water You turned into wine
Open the eyes of the blind
There's no one like You
None like You

Into the darkness You shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There's no one like You
None like You

CHORUS
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we Rise
There's no One like You
None like You.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...
Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome and power
Our God, Our God...
And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

A Stranger in the House

I don't know who wrote this, so I can't give credit. It wasn't me. My father-in-law sent it to me in an email. I think it is well worth reading. 


A few years after I was born, my Dad met a stranger who was new to our small town. From the beginning, Dad was fascinated with this enchanting newcomer and soon invited him to live with our family. The stranger was quickly accepted and was around from then on.

As I grew up, I never questioned his plac

e in my family. In my young mind, he had a special niche. My parents were complementary instructors: Mom taught me good from evil, and Dad taught me to obey. But the stranger... He was our storyteller. He would keep us spellbound for hours on end with adventures, mysteries and comedies.

If I wanted to know anything about politics, history or science, he always knew the answers about the past, understood the present and even seemed able to predict the future! He took my family to the first major league ball game. He made me laugh, and he made me cry. The stranger never stopped talking, but Dad didn't seem to mind.

Sometimes, Mom would get up quietly while the rest of us were shushing each other to listen to what he had to say, and she would go to the kitchen for peace and quiet.
(I wonder now if she ever prayed for the stranger to leave.)

Dad ruled our household with certain moral convictions, but the stranger never felt obligated to honor them. Profanity, for example, was not allowed in our home - not from us, our friends or any visitors. After our long time visitor stayed longer he became more daring however, and even got away with four-letter words that burned my ears and made my dad squirm and my mother blush. My Dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol but the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly, and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, sometimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing..

I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked... And NEVER asked to leave.

More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents' den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures.

His name?....

We just call him 'TV.'
Note: This should be required reading for every household!)
He has a wife now....we call her 'Computer.'
Their first child is "Cell Phone".
Second child "I Pod "

OH MY----HOW TRUE THIS IS!!!

Central Texas Market Days

The weather today was glorious! Thank you, God, for cooling breezes!

To celebrate the beautiful day, we loaded up Razzle & Dazzle and headed to Market Day in Georgetown. We enjoyed walking around the square and looking the products. The weather was perfect. The dogs behaved. If you have ever been anywhere with us with them, you'll know what I mean. They aren't bad - just vocal! Very vocal. Not a bark, but this really loud, really high, really irritating sound.

It didn't take long to get by all the booths. I came up with some possibilities for Christmas gifts for my girls - Joy Anna & Ashley - not the dogs. It is just so much easier to come up with good ideas for the girls instead of the boys. After Georgetown, we went for an icee and then went to Hutto for their Market Day. We like these Central Texas Festivals. Hutto's was rather disappointing. We still had fun walking around. I got one photo for the day.

This might be a hand-made Christmas. I like those. Pinterst is motivating me to make more things. As I make Christmas gifts,  I won't be able to post them here. I guess I will have some major posting to do after Christmas!

Tomorrow we have a big day. We are going to officially join First Baptist in Pflugerville. Tomorrow night, we get to meet our good friends Rick and Suzy for dinner and not at Texas Road House. They are in San Antonio, so we get to see them! If you look at our facebook check-ins, you would see that the four of us have had many, many dinners together in El Paso. We had a few favorites - Texas Road House, Carino's, AJ's Diner and Kiki's.  Today I was checking www.meetways.com for a half way place for us to meet for dinner. I couldn't stop laughing - #1 on the half way point was Texas Road House! #2? You guessed it - Carino's! There was no AJ's or Kiki's, but it did make me laugh. We wouldn't even need a menu!

Looking forward to a wonderful day tomorrow!

My old Bible

I started the Beth Moore Bible study on James last night. Mercy Triumphs is the name of the study. I have been using a beautiful Bible my sister gave me. It is pretty - all the way to text on the page which is a pale teal. As I have gotten older, it is harder to see the teal. The room we were in last night was a little dark during the video (makes the video much easier to see, so no complaint) making it even harder to see. Also it is not NIV. It seems she uses NIV for a a lot of her quotes. I pulled out the trusty iPhone and clicked into Blue Letter Bible - really like that app! I use it on Sunday mornings to take notes when Bro. Steve is preaching. I like having ny notes where I don't lose them. I am awful about taking notes, sticking them in my Bible, and then losing them. I do like having a notebook to keep my notes in. My handwriting is just sloppy. But, I really digressed there :)

For some reason flipping through the scriptures in the iPhone just doesn't have the same feeling as flipping the pages in the Bible. I was pretty sure my old NIV was upstairs in the shelves. I went up to get it to today. It surely is worn. It is my 2nd one just like this. I got the first on in high school. I remember getting it. I felt like such a rebel getting an NIV instead of a King James! Goodness, that was in 1978! Can it really have been that long ago?

I used that Bible through high school and up until we got married and Dean gave me a King James for Christmas the year before - in fact, I carried that Bible in my wedding. Do people do that anymore?

I confess to not using the KJV much and went back to my NIV. I used it until it was so tattered, it was not hardly useable. I'm not sure what happened - maybe I blocked it out, but it got wet. Soaked. Ruined. I was so sad. years and years of notes, quotes, and memories were in there.

After that, I bought a new one. Just like the first one. It was even the same color leather. I used it until Carolyn gifted me the new one a few years ago. I went upstairs and pulled it out. It just feels right in my hands. The leather isn't quite as supple, but it still feels right.  It reads right, too. As I flip through the familiar scriptures, the way I memorized so many verses is right there. It felt like sitting down with an old friend. Flipping through it surely did bring back memories of that one that was ruined. Maybe I will go back to this one, take notes in the margins like I used to. Fill the flypages with notes. Make more memories.

Wall art - finally!

It took forever to choose the photos. I was super excited that I got in on a great sale. I signed up with a new lab that was having a sale. Because I didn't order right away, they sent me a $25.00 gift card. Score! That means I got all 5 30x40s for less than $150.00!

Next we had to find a way to display them. We knew we wanted them on black.We also wanted them away from the wall.  I searched pinterest like crazy to find the perfect way to mount them inexpensively. I found a lot of good idea, but Dean nixed everyone of them. I am sure no one is surprised about that one :) We ended up at hobby lobby with them mounted on black foam core, but that was not thick enough. We ended up going to the wood section and finding wooden squares. We painted them black and mounted 6 on the back of each print. On the top two, we mounted photo hangers. We glued them to the back several inches in from the sides. This gives the illusion that they are floating on the wall.

Next we had to hang them - oh my what an ordeal. Thankfully, Dean has a great ladder that works on the stairs. We had to get the wall marked first because it had to be perfectly laid out. We tried several things including paper taped the wall. That didn't work either. It finally ended up being a math puzzle for Dean. He had to measure everything out and mark all the corners. He started with the ones on the end and then used a measuring tape to find the center of the diagonal. It took longer to place them on the wall than it did to hang them. 

 

So here is the finished product!

After we got them all done, we decided they looked fairly small. We are considering adding some 16x20s in the blank spots. We are thinking about it.

We really like the look and it so fun thinking about the wonderful trip we had.

Our Loft - or our Memory Room

This is a special room for me. It makes me feel so close to so many people. I can look at any shelf or photo and am reminded of someone special. I love going up there. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

 The wall past the window has all the old black and white photos. Yes, I see there are a couple of blank spaces. We left those to allow for some photos from Dean's side of the family. His mom brought me some, but I haven't had time to choose, print and frame them. I will get that done soon.

This side has the color photos. Yes, I see a frame missing three photos. Oops. Dean hung the frames and I ordered prints for them, but I forgot those three. I will get them on the next order.

This room is not finished to me. I think it needs a craft table where I can work while seeing the tv over the railing - must convince Dean that is the best plan :)

a little rocking chair

I have my rocker from when I was a little girl- yep, that means it is getting old! It is the same one that everyone born in the early 60s had - turned wood arms and a little skirt.

 The fabric would have probably been considered 'early American' print.

When Eric was a baby, I redid the chair in the baby blue that is in the first photo. That was 25 years ago, so even that was getting pretty ratty. The arm has never stayed on well. In fact, it spent the last several years in a drawer. I was determined to get it looking much better this time around.

Dean and I went to the store to find fabric. I wanted something cute that could sort of go with the lovely gold on the walls. We narrowed it down to a couple of colors and came up with this wonderful brown background and cute, colorful dots. With the sale on fabric and the coupon from Hobby Lobby, for the foam, I ended up with a great deal. I ended up with a 4x8 piece of foam (lots of plans for that!) and plenty of fabric. You'll see how I used part of it.

First off, Dean took all the old fabric off and pulled out all the old staples, something I didn't do the first time. I cleaned the wood and and made it shine.

Next was to use packing paper to make a pattern for the back and bottom cushions.

 The one above shows the bottom, but I did the back first. I made a pillow case and covered the foam.

I then made ties for the top. Ok, I should have sewn the ties in and then whip stitched the bottom, but I didn't. I added the ties to the open part of the casing. Then I had to stitch it closed by hand. It looks fine, but it would have been more finished had I done it the other way. If it was chair that was actually in a child's room, I would do that for sure.

And now for the tricky part. Remember I said the word Dean in the beginning? Well, every time he gets involved in the project, the project gets more involved. A lot of that is because we think on different levels of getting the job done. I do it and if it works and looks good - so be it. His thinking is it must be done right! Now, his idea of right is just that HIS idea (no, usually it is because he has the knowledge and often teh experience of having done something like this and wants to make sure I do it just right). But - it still makes me roll my eyes before proceeding.

The chair had a tack strip around it - it is a heavy cardboard piece that you use to fold the fabric over. It makes it create a very nice line over which the fabric falls. Great. I didn't use it last time because I sewed the skirt to the cushion. It worked fine, but that was not the way it was done originally. This time it had to be done correctly. And so the search began for tack strip or an appropriate and affordable alternative. Tack strip is expensive! Especially when you only need a few inches. We searched high and low at Jo Ann's for an alternative. We tired bias tape, heavy elastic and even considered poster board. None of them suited him. finally we ended up with plastic canvas. Not sure exactly the reasoning behind it, but we bought it. I cut it into strips that were almost exactly the height of the wood at the bottom of the chair. I cut and hemmed the fabric for the ruffle. I stapled it in a few places to hold it on, and then went back with the plastic over the tack line. I then folded the skirt over the plastic. A beautiful folded skirt for less than a dollar.

 

The above pic shows the ties after they were pressed and ready to sew. I just did them this way and did a cute zig zag to close them. It also shows the 'tack strip' and my wonderful new scissors that are just for fabric! I had forgotten the joy of having a special pair of scissors just for fabric. 

Presenting.... the finished product!

 

 I had extra fabric, so I created a little pillow for Joy Anna's Cracker Barrel Rocker. (yes, we always call it all of that!) 

 I stuffed it with recycled grocery bags. I tied it up like a nice big bow. 

Here they are in the loft with the kids' books behind them - all ready for kiddos to come for a visit with me!

Where have I been?

Just sent this link to a friend and realized I haven't posted in 3 weeks! Yikes! What happened to me?
I have been a tad busy doing the photography website, visiting salons in the area and networking.

I have had several things bouncing around in my head  to blog about -everything including the kitchen bathroom sink! I will put that on my to-do list.

This week, I am sitting glued to the tv watching a glamour photography workshop. 7 hours a day for 5 days is soooooo much tv! Our sweet neighbors had us over for portabella mushrooms sandwiches - one of my favorite sandwiches! Yummy! Thanks, Karla & Andy!

I do have a few after photos to post of the stairway. When we get a break today, I will try to get those uploaded.


I should have a lot to post about this coming weekend. JoyAnna, Jeremy & his family are coming for a visit! Super excited about it.

See you soon!