Wednesday, Sept. 15: What a difference a day makes

{lulu the storyteller, in an outfit of her own design}

Today, I was really productive around the house. It was a school day for Lucy and a home day for Phoebe. I decided to get out an do a few errands despite the horror-show of taking Phoebs into stores. First, I went to the local True Value hardware store, where I could literally shop ALL DAY. I mean, seriously, just so many cool things. I know I am a dork, but I would actually find it fun to look at all the little parts that go into a toilet. But anyway, with Phoebe in tow I needed to get in, get what I needed, and get out. And what I needed was spray paint to finish up a project. You see, I am obsessed with rescuing stray furniture from places like the side of the road and the dump. If I pass by furniture while driving that has a "free" sign on it, you can probably hear the sound of my brakes squeeling from a mile away as I whip my car around to inspect the object in question. My poor kids have ridden home with so much old crap wedged between their car seats...you don't even want to know. Jeff dreads each new arrival...each dirt-infested piece of old wood furniture or baby-crust-infused toy. He has learned to stop asking, "Did you clean that?" because he knows it throws me into a blind rage and result in answers like, "No, Jeff. I decided to give a toy to our kid straight from the dump." Nice, huh?

When I came home, I got to work on the project...a mid-century valet chair from a company called Pearl Wick. I got it at, yes, the dump. It was all brass and brown metal and naugahyde...but I saw its potential. My favorite part was the remnants of a sticker on it, which told me that clearly someone had tried to sell it at a yard sale and there were no takers. Until me. So with a bit of scrubbing (yes, Jeff, I cleaned it!), some paint, new fabric, and my trusty glue gun, it went from this:



To this:

VIVA LA DIFFERENCE!

At the dump, I also picked up a few books. One of them was called "365 tv-free activities to do with your kids" or something like that. Lucy was interested in this, so after she came home from school I picked out a little activity for her. It involved giving her a magazine and her finding a picture to tell a story about. She found a photo of a kitchen (a really nice kithchen!) with a head of lettuce sitting on a cutting board. And here was her story:

Once upon a time, there was a princess named Ariel and she was making a salad.

She burned her finger and it hurt and then she burned her other finger but it didn't hurt.

She wasn't a very good cook. But then she was a very good cook.

She and the prince lived happily ever after.

And then they had dinner.

Indeed.