Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy Shop is LIVE...

(Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out)

I'm kinda nervous...but I finally did it.

Announcing...

(insert cliche' drumroll)

The opening of the Vintage Dutch Girl Etsy shop:













Feel free to stop on by any ole time...

A

Mrs. Goodwill Drab to Miss Sassy N. Fab Chair Revamp...

I've been feeling super inspired by all the thrifty crafty DIY and fabulous revamp blogs I've been reading. So I gathered up my spending cash (less than $20.00 - whoopadeedoo....can you buy ANYTHING anymore for less than twenty bucks?), pawned the kids off on my dear hubby, jumped in the car and headed to our local Goodwill store for some thrifting therapy.

I eagerly browsed around looking for something horrible and decrepit with a splash of potential.

There was one fabulous chair that I passed up because it was too expensive.

Y'all - Here I am, IN A GOODWILL STORE, turning my nose at a perfect revamp project because Mrs. Stinginess did not want to shell out $14.99! Ha! Told ya I was thrifty...or dutch, but whatever.

However, I'm glad I passed up the aforementioned overpriced chair because tucked in the back high up on a shelf I spotted this sad, forlorn and forgotten chair:

Goodness gracious, HELLO POTENTIAL!

I was muchly thrilled. And even better? The stingy dutch woman living inside of me (Hi, Mrs. Stinginess, I know you are in there) was pleased as punch to see a price tag of $3.99.

YOU BETCHA!

I picked this sucker up for less than a Starbucks Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte!



Can ya tell I was slightly ecstatic? I wheeled my chair-laden goodwill cart proudly, wondering if the other patrons were kicking themselves for passing up my treasure.

The seat fabric? Detestable. Fuzzy orange with shiny gold stripes:

Blech!

I unloaded that thing into my garage and took Bessie to it:

Yeah, I named my cowtastic screwdriver Bessie.

Yanked that seat off, threw the fabric DIRECTLY into the garbage, then sanded, primed and spray painted that chair to gorgeousness:

I added a bunch of batting layers to the squashed seat pad:

Stapled on some fantastic new fabric (that cost more than the chair), Bessie reattached the seat and voila!

Meet Mrs. Previously Goodwill Drab, now known as Miss Sassy N. FAB:

LOVE the lines of Lil Miss Sassy...properly distressed, of course.

I have a slight obsession with green. I actually gasped OUT LOUD in the fabric store when I saw this bit o green gloriousness.

Before and after shot, from DRAB to FAB! :

Check out more DIY projects over at : A Soft Place To Land, the Shabby Chic Cottage and Thrifty Decor Chick...

A

Shirt Smoothers Unite!

I'm proud to be a shirt smoother.

That is, if I eventually remember the sad little load left in the dryer for the past three or seven hours (days). Why does that sad little load get forgotten every single time? It really shouldn't be THIS difficult, should it? Having an archaic dryer that takes more than a few hours to dry one measly load doesn't help matters any.

However, once I actually retrieve the forgotten load from the dryer I immediately smooth the shirts.

I usually employ the back of whichever sofa or love seat is closest to me (or the TV *ahem*) and one by one lay the shirts across the back of it and use my hands to smooth all the shirts out nice and neat.

That way, when I get around to actually hanging up the smoothed shirts (which may or may not be in the next two to seven days) they are relatively wrinkle-free.

Hand ironed if you will.

Which may explain why my one and only iron has officially been designated for craft use and is currently suffering from a bad case of adhesive stick-ums residue.

I must confess that I tend to steal clean shirts from the smoothed-out shirt pile before hanging them up in the closet. I also tend to have multiple stolen from smoothed-out shirt piles scattered about the house.

Today I managed to hang up my THREE stolen from smoothed-out shirt piles. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and pride of self.

But guess what I just found in my dryer?

A sad forgotten little load...

A

She Works Hard For The Money...Or Not...*Updated!*

Here's what REALLY happened today:

• Go see the opening of boat day here in Seattle with Lance and Bubbalu. *It rained so we quickly bagged that idea.
  
  
• Put away laundry from yesterday (*ahem* Tuesday). *OK, so LANCE put away Tuesday's laundry...we folded yesterday's laundry, and now it will sit on my bed until I go to bed tonight, at which time I will transfer it to the floor, where it will stay until the NEXT time I do laundry and decide I need the laundry basket.
  
  
• Fold and put away the laundry still in the dryer. *Folded, not put away!
  
  
• Make a roast in the crock pot. *LANCE made the crock pot roast, while I yelled directions from the couch. I was watching a REALLY good show. I don't remember what it was, but it MUST have been good.
  
  
• Pre-make cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast. *Haven't done this one yet, and I may still have time. The jury's out on this one.
  
  
• Maybe go to REI to pick out some gifts for Hubby. *Hey! Lookey there, I actually did something on my list! Woot woot for me! Actually, Woot Woot! for Lance, he got the newest TOPO and map printer paper. Not on the top of my list for a gift, but he's smiling!
  
  
• Probably clean the house. *Like I even have to say...
  
  

Did anyone else ditch their Saturday chores or was it just me? At least I worked out, that's gotta count for something. I washed my hair! I also took a nap around noon because I had woken up early expecting to go to work.

So clearly, I had a hard day...

A

She Works Hard For The Money...Or Not...

Well, I was unexpectedly cancelled from work today, yippee! So here's my to do list:

• Go see the opening of boat day here in Seattle with Lance and Bubbalu.
• Put away laundry from yesterday (*ahem* Tuesday).
• Fold and put away the laundry still in the dryer.
• Make a roast in the crock pot.
• Pre-make cinnamon rolls for Sunday morning breakfast.
• Maybe go to REI to pick out some gifts for Hubby.
• Probably clean the house.
  

Good ole Saturdays...

A

Coming To You LIVE From Work...

Relax, it's OK, I didn't abandon any laboring or delivering Mama's K? Sheesh, ya think I'm that cold-hearted? I'm on a legit break.

So, I'll sit here and type and occasionally stuff my mouth with my neatly tupperware packaged meal of bayou cajun chicken, peas and baked potato.

I've been disgruntled about the weather lately. How bout you? Ever since my cruising ( yes, plural) I've been itching for some good ole sunlight. We live in the glorious Pacific Northwest, resplendent with natural beauty and accompanied by rain. I am feeling ready for some summer. I've updated the summer wardrobe, and I am ready for days of flip-flops, sunscreen and kiddie pools.

But who am I kidding? We've still got plenty of months left of dreariness and rain. I think I'm gonna need these cuteso boots to get through the rainy dreariness for a few more months.

( insert HINT HINT NUDGE NUDGE)

Whatddyall do to keep the rainy season blahs away? I'm up for suggestions.

That, and I'm out of break time, so this post is ending.

Epidurals, pitocin, magnesium and monitoring, here I come...


A

Freedom & Sleeping Boys

I'm just hanging out at home today having an unexpected reprieve from work. Apparently not enough laboring ladies today. It's always kind of sad how excited I get when the phone rings at 6 AM on the day I am scheduled to work.
I see my hospital unit on the front of my cell phone and my heart starts to pound.

"Hello?"

"Hi Amanda? We don't need you today, do you want to be on call?"

"OK!"

The day stretches ahead of me with possibilities.

Here's what we did: unpacked from being gone for two weeks, did six loads of laundry (washed, dried, folded AND put away!), went through our mail inbox pile (ginormous), cleaned the main living room, did the dishes, fed Bubbalu, caught up on bills, went through receipts and have much more planned.

Bubbalu is currently napping and Lance fell asleep on the couch after a lovely lunch of leftovers.

Mama finished a book during lunch, is catching up on the blog, and will go out for a run soon.

Life is good.

A