Three Things 1.23.16: DIY Chair Progress, Wonderful Short Film, More Books Read

Happy Saturday!

What do you have on your schedule for the weekend? I’m looking forward to a quiet weekend with our daughter who’s visiting from college (it’s only 20 minutes away, but we’re all busy and don’t see each other much, so I cherish our time together!) and continuing on my KonMari list. I’m into the paperwork section and let me tell you that’s slow-going because: so. many. papers. They seem to be everywhere, ha! Most of the things I haven’t looked at for years, so it’s not really hard to get rid of, there’s just a lot of it to go through.

Oh, and of course we’ll be watching the football games – I think I may even make a batch of onion dip again because it was so good, along with hummus which I love with sweet peppers. I think that sounds like a good combo, don’t you?

On to this week’s three things (note: the links I provide are often affiliate links, though not always):

One part of me is super embarrassed to even talk about this DIY chair redo (check out the date on that article…) and the other part is SO happy that there is actual progress after so long. This is me keeping it real – while it might seem like I get a lot done, I have plenty of things that linger. And linger. Sigh.

It didn’t take me long to realize I bit off WAY more than I could chew with this set of ‘deal’ Craigslist chairs. I can slipcover, I can upholster chairs with separate seats and backs, but oh.my.goodness, full-on upholstery is out of my league. Once these are done (I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!) I can safely say I will never take on a full upholstery project again. This will go on my short list of ‘things to never do again’ along with tiling a floor and skiing (either water or snow).

There were (literally.) a million rusty, disintegrating staples that left dangerous spikes sticking out since they broke instead of pulling out cleanly. I had to wrestled them out individually with pliers (I know). Brian took pity on me and helped with the pulling and removal of the 1970s fabric (that had been painted, hence the rusted staples). What a blessing! Oh, and this tool turned out to be a lifesaver for the nails and staples that were intact:

It’s called a Tack Lifter (so I guess you could use it for that, too) but it’s the best staple puller around and works on the little black upholstery nails, too. If you have any type of upholstery to remove, don’t just think a flat screwdriver will work the same, this worked a lot better!

Anyway, having help gave me the push I needed to get them finished and they now are stripped and sport the first coat of paint on the frames. I need to layer more paint since I want the frames to be darker than the light fabric I’m using and then it’s time to staple on the new fabric. Cannot wait.

I stumbled upon this short film, The Ride: A Christmas Eve Parable, when searching through my Hoopla app. Since it’s only about 1/2 hour, we were able to watch it one night before Christmas and oh. my. gosh. All I can say to you guys is watch it. It doesn’t matter what time of year, either. Here’s the trailer to give you and idea:

We shared it with some of our family members after seeing it and it affected them the same way it did us. It is a slow, quiet little movie that has such an impact you will be thinking about it weeks later. Have the tissues ready – but for the best possible reason! (Note: if you don’t have library access, you can rent it for $2.99 on Amazon.)

I finished 2 more books last week, the first of which was Praying for Your Prodigal by Kyle Idleman. We have been going through some deep waters as a family and this short book had so many nuggets of hope, promise and encouragement. There are stories of real families and a look at the Prodigal Son parable as well as specific prayers that were perfect to add to my prayer journal.

I was especially moved by the author’s words about Elisha when he prayed for his servant’s eyes to be opened to God working among them when it seemed there was no hope:

Take heart that God is at work all around us in unseen ways. When you feel alone, may our Father open your heart to His presence. When you see nothing but darkness, may He open your eyes to a glimpse of His ability. – Kyle Idleman

The second book, Eleanor & Park, has been in my Kindle “to-read” stack for a few months after I saw it recommended by a ton of bloggers and commenters online. Hmmm, the heart of the story is sweet – two lonely teens find each other in a soft, slow way – but there was so many F-bombs, other nasty language and crude scenes, that were hard for me to get past. They were meant to show the reality of Eleanor’s life, I know, but it just left a bad residue, if you know what I mean. I just really don’t need that at this point in my life. To be honest, I feel like I’m bombarded with it everywhere and I kinda want a break from it in my reading. If bad language is minimal and easy to skip over (like The Martian) I can usually forgive it, but this was totally in your face and a couple times went on for pages.

So, what am I reading now? This is the current eBook I’m reading (a little out of my normal reading genre, but I love shows and movies in this topic and I’ve read a lot of good reviews on it – and I just saw it’s being made into a movie!), and my sister-in-law gave me this book I just started last night and I can already tell it’s going to be good.

Links To Check Out:

Takeout foods to make at home– these are some of my favs, looking forward to trying baked egg rolls!

Do you batch cook? Here’s a good article on how to start batch cooking.

Do you save pickle juice? Who knew!

I’m in love with these scientific plant printables!

For your gardening wish-list: tough hardy perennials.

 

Like these links? I’m always pinning these and lots more – follow me on Pinterest for more inspiration and ideas!

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