RED!!

We decided that it was time to paint our white walls and actually decorate our new home. I was leaning towards a simple tan color but my husband really wanted to be bold and suggested red. We gave a sample a try and thought that it wasn't all that bad. But as "Big Mike" at the paint store was mixing a gallon's worth "Spice" my heart began pounding. I felt that I could possibly be making a huge mistake.

With the encouragement of my friends and family I decided that it was time to step out of my element and make a statement.

We painted the first coat and it started to look pretty good. Day two the second coat was down and our accent wall began to give real character to the room. But we got carried away and chose to paint the other three walls that tan I dreamed of earlier. We went to the paint company's website because their designers had suggestions for colors that would complement their accents. For the record, I suggest not trusting the website of paint companies because a few hours later we painted the wall and it turned out PEACH. Yes, peach---which although a lovely summer fruit reminded me of the Golden Girls decor a bit too much and we had do something about it. Husband and I decided to call the wall James until we knew what to do next.

This time around, we nixed the website's suggestions and just went with our own tastes and choose "toasted Chestnut" in hopes that James would, going forward, be a mere memory. It worked and we love it! We got through two walls and are hoping to finish the last two tomorrow. At the end of the day, we took a risk and despite our mistakes were able to fix up our room just as we like it. I'm glad we did it.

Cooking

So I have a new sidekick in my cooking its called Allrecipes.com. Really, in my house I am the Sous Chef and my husband is the Chef--because lets face it, raw meat is gross. BUT, the Sous Chef has a pretty important role if I say so myself, I create the menu (and make the drinks/desserts).

Anyway, I am such a big fan of this website that even though I don't get paid to say this, I (and 4 out of 5 aspiring cooks) recommend it to my friends. The greatest thing about Allrecipes is that it helps me pick my meals, saves the recipe, and posts reviews of each recipe. And lets face it, if the recipe doesn't get 50 5-star reviews its either too hard to do it right, or its just a bad recipe.

Just last week, I was creating my grocery list and thinking about making something with chicken. And since I am a busy working woman I needed an easy-to-prepare, easy to store, inexpensive, and tasty dish. Well, all I did was click on quick chicken recipes and there it was, my Tuesday night meal. This website even made me the rock star at a friend's get together (my younger, hip brother would call it a "kickback") with its "Sangria Sangria! recipe." Which, if you were at that get together here is the secret recipe source.

I work with some amazing women that throughout their lives had to walk the line in the age old work versus family predicament and they generously share their experiences and advice with me, a newlywed. Here's their take on cooking: Don't feel like you have to cook everyday and if you do, make it an easy meal.

Negative Reinforcement

Today I have a headache because I am squinting to see the computer screen. I have the proper prescription for my contact lenses however they are monthly lenses and I remember to change them every other month when the power seems to deteriorate.

Now the reality IS that I really do know better. I've worn contacts since I was 12 years old and they've always been the kind that you have to throw away every month but I have never heeded to the instructions on the box. I could have avoided this pounding headache if I learned from this in months past but not me. Unlike Pavlov's dogs, I apparently do not respond well to negative reinforcement. Now positive reinforcement such as chocolate or jewelry may do the trick ::Wink, Wink, to the husband::

Now I'm not sure about YOU, reader, but I don't understand why we (people) often ignore the directions on the box. (Or the directions from our parents, schoolbooks, or pastors for that matter). WHY? My guess is that the average person, although submissive to the rules of society, needs to rebel in some way... by ignoring the obvious we, in our white picket fenced world, are able to stand up to big brother, break the rules, and live on the wild side. The only problem is that at the end of the day we still have to deal with the headache.

Onto the inside: Chairs

Now, as I mentioned earlier, our new home is really quite beautiful. We are so very blessed to have found a home that has no requirements for repair but the challenge is now to decorate. If you've spent much time with me, you know that I lack any sort of creative bug. As such, when I stopped sulking about it, I thought to myself, "How do you learn how to be creative?" the answer was books! So off I went to the library and only 2 weeks later did I start my first project---re-upholstering the dining room chairs. I came to the conclusion that this would be a good first project because you only need a staple gun (provided my my friend Maggie) and fabric which was on sale at Hancock Fabrics. I picked the color orange because I want the room to appear warm. Mom-in-law suggested that I keep some to sew a table runner. That will be another project...
These chairs have seen better days. Although they were very pretty at first, they have collected a few years of sauces, pop, and just about anything else that fell off the dining table. The thing about chairs is that you can't really wash them---you just replace!








First step, remove the cover from the chair with an electric screwdriver.
Step two, pry out old staples so you can replace old cover with new cover and stick it on with a staple gun. (to the right). For this step, I needed my husband to help me pull the fabric so it was taught on the seat.




Voila! Done. Now I have newly covered chairs that I think will really serve as a nice accent to the room.