Finally! New Desk Chair

I've almost lost count how many chairs I've had at my computer desk here in my craft room.  Most ended up being horribly uncomfortable.  And I don't even sit at the computer for long periods of time.  Admittedly, I've been cheap when it came to buying a desk chair.  That, and I really didn't want some big, dark, faux leather, clunky thing in here.  I really wanted a wood banker's chair type, but didn't want to pay the price.

Of course, I loved Pottery Barn's wooden swivel banker's style chair, but at $399 plus $15 in shipping, I just couldn't do it.

Pottery Barn

Home Decorator's Collection has their Oxford Office chair at $199 plus $30 shipping.  

Not too bad, but I was hoping to do a bit better.

Home Decorator's Collection

Walmart to the rescue!

On their site, I found just what I was looking for.  Their wood banker's chair is $139 and shipping is free if you pick up at the store.  As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure it's the same exact chair HDC was selling at $199.

The chair arrived very quickly, less then a week, and it was very easy to put together.  It's comfortable, height adjustable, swivels and tilts, and the casters roll very easily on my pink shaggy rug I have in here.

I'm super-pleased with this chair.

While I was in here taking pics of the chair, thought I'd share the new counter skirt and window valance I made.  I love the black and white print with the green apple walls, along with the pink shaggy rug I grabbed up at Lowes for a steal - twenty bucks on clearance.  

I may use some of the left over fabric to make a chair pad for my new banker's chair.  

Add it to the list! ;o)

Puppy Update

The new member of the family, Xena, is keeping us busy for sure.  We're still working on housebreaking her, and so far we've only had one day accident free since we brought her home.  Oh, it's driving me nuts!  We try to take her out every couple hours, but she still has accidents.  We can't seem to read her signals all the time.  

She seems to be getting leash training down.  I've been adamant about that.  Our last dog was terrible on the leash, which I'm sure is our fault for not training her properly.  On the subject of training, The Dog Whisperer is now my favorite show.  I DVR it and watch at least a couple episodes a day until I get caught up to the current season.  I really like his philosophies on dog training. Watching his show has also made me understand more about dogs and how they think, so-to-speak.  I feel myself being much more calm with Xena then I was with our first Boxer, Coco.

Another problem I'm having with Xena is getting her to "come" on command.  When I take her out to do her business on the leash, as a reward I unleash her and let her chase a frisbee.  She loves to retrieve it bring it back to me.  But when it's time to go in, she won't come.  I think she thinks it's a game to come close then dart off when I get near her to put leash her.  This morning, after we danced around the back yard for about 20 minutes or more,  I had to quick grab her and wrestle her to the ground to get the leash back on her.  GRRRRRR!!!!  That just will not do!  I think we need to work on the come command a lot more in the house.

See that white thing there on her collar?  It's a very cool device.  It's a GPS tracker.  Hubby found it at Amazon.  It's called
Tagg the Pet Tracker
and the cool thing is there's an app for that . . . hehe.  You download the app to your iPhone, iPad, smart phone, computer, etc., and if the the dog leaves your yard perimeter you can use the app on your device to track her location no matter where you are, with directions if needed.  It will even send you a text that the dog has broken the perimeter.  

Pretty cool!

As you can see, she's starting to love her crate . . . her space.  Unfortunately, that big, ugly cage is in my family room.  I have a small quilt draped over the top cause ya know they like to feel like their in their own den, but the quilt's just not working for me.  I've already purchased a painter's drop cloth and I plan on making a more fitted, hopefully attractive crate cover.  

Other then those few issues, I think she's a terrific dog.  And when we get those worked out, she'll be the perfect pet!

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Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way!

In only 2-1/2 weeks.  Can you believe it?!

So, naturally, I had put a few Eastery do-dads here and there.  A little late, I guess, by blogdom time, but the house needed some Eastery/springy freshness for sure.

A cute, easy sparkly egg garland made using those glittery eggs on a stick from the DT.  

Super quick.  Super easy.   Super cute!

Now, I know you've seen these guys at lots and lots of blogs, but they're so darn sweet!

From Pier 1 they are, and I bought the tubby one on the right last year.

  I was pleased to see Pier 1 had them again this year, so I couldn't resist adding to the family by snagging up "dad", on the left, and that cute little baby bunny there in the middle.

Of course, Eastering up the place wouldn't be complete without tossing around the fabric carrots I made last year.  

I debuted them last year in this blog entry.

And in case you'd like to knock out a bushel of your own fresh fabric carrots, Clare, from 

Clare's Craftroom 

generously shared a  tutorial for you to make your very own.

Can I just say, when I purchased those vases below at Ikea a couple years ago, I used I would bought a case!  They were so cheap.  Maybe $1.99 a piece, if that.  They may have been only $0.99.  Anyway, I think they sold out of them a while back. 

I just love 'em!!!  

I even had someone email some months ago because she was searching for them for her wedding centerpieces, Googled them, and my blog came up and she offered to buy them from me double what I paid! I know . . . how mean.  I should have sold them to her.  But then I'd have none!

I just love that vintage Easter postcard.  What a work of art.  

The snowdrop flowers really convey an Eastery/springy feeling. 

That WalMart BH&G fall tray being put to good use again.  I always feel like I have to ground tablescapes with either a tray, a mini quilt, a platter . . . something.  Is that weird?  Maybe it's a bit of that OCD I think I have showing up! LOL  A feeling that I have to compartmentalize everything.

Another Pier 1 purchase that's been seen all over blogdom in many forms,

the moss bunny on a stick.

I obviously wasn't nearly as creative as so many others.  Rather boring, actually.  How uninspired is it just sticking that guy in a potted plant? 

I think he's cute in there anyway!

And I just love how this pot has become all craggily and pitted.  Not sure how that happened.  Probably from the weather, I guess, but I think it looks neat.

Inspirational faux stones.  I showed you how to make your own in this blog entry.

Quick way to dress up a boring pillar candle.  A faux stone and some jute twine.  How simple is that?

Before we know it, we'll all be showing off our fun 4th of July goodies!  :o)

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More Burlap Goodness

Do ya think ya'll can stand one more blogger's burlap stocking pictorial???  

I couldn't help myself.  

I just had to whip up some burlap stockings to hang from the hangy hook thing in the powder room.  Seems silly to have a hangy hook thing with no thingys hanging from it.  

Say that ten times fast ;o)

"What to do?" I thought.  

"Why, I'll sew up some burlap stockings, and use some of the same line of curtain fabric to embellish them."  

Funny thing, when I purchased that hangy hook thing at Pier 1 about a year ago, I didn't even realize it coordinated perfectly with the fabric I used to make the valance in the powder room.  Don't ya just love when stuff like that happens.  

Serendipitous!

They look so darn cute in there, I'm thinking they may have found a permanent home.

They're not the only bit of burlap in the powder room.  Back in the summer I added some burlap inside a frame and slapped a starfish in there with some hot glue.  

It's staying too.  

And just to stay consistent with the starfish and burlap bit, I added yet more burlap and more starfishes in among those Christmas balls and greens.  

And the best part, this whole arrangement will carry through the whole winter.  

One less change I'll have to make after Christmas.

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Hoot for Owl Cupcakes

As mentioned a few posts back, I was making a batch of surprise cupcakes for Son No. 3's girlfriend's birthday.  I had to keep it hush hush, though, so as not to spoil the surprise.  

We were invited to her house this past Sunday evening for a small family gathering to celebrate her 21st.  Her whole family is so nice, and always makes us feel so welcome.  To include us in a small, intimate gathering really made us feel like part of the family.  Quite frankly, I think we'll all be family someday.  Those two are pretty committed to one another.

Anyway, she loved the cupcakes! Owls are so popular right now, and she's into them.  They weren't difficult to make at all.  A little time-consuming, but once I got all the components ready, I worked on them in an assembly-line fashion. 

Duncan Hines' website has pretty good instructions on how to put them together.  You can find them here.  The best tip, I felt, was microwaving the Oreos a few seconds to soften them so they would separate easier.  When I separated them, however, I wasn't entirely successful in keeping all, or even most, of the cream on one side.  I used a small off-set spatula to carefully scrape the cream off one side of the cookie and put it on the other side that had the majority of the cream filling.  Then, using that spatula (having the small off-set spatula ~ you know, the kind for smoothing frosting on cakes, cupcakes ~ really made this job easy) I smoothed the cream as best as possible.  

Another thing I did that wasn't mentioned in the DH's instructions was when it came time to push the Junior Mints into the cream to create the center of the eye, I put the Oreos back in the micro for a few seconds again so the cream was soft and would allow the candies to be pushed down into the cream to stay put better.

I also found the above baking cup helped in building these owls.  It's Wilton's ruffled baking cup. I made two batches of cupcakes, chocolate and vanilla.  One batch I backed in regular, decorative cups, and the other in the ruffled.   Because of the little edge all around, it held the eyes and ears up a little better.  I really wished I'd used this type of baking cup for all of them.

To go along with the "owl" theme, I also created a little owl softie using a free tutorial I searched for online.  You can find that tutorial here.  As I mentioned, she's into owls, and had pinned the cutest owls at Pinterest.  So I took that idea and went with it.  She turned out so cute.  I had a blast making her.  

 Actually, I found quite a few different and cute free patterns online for all kinds of owls.  

One of the best things about getting together to celebrate Shannon's birthday with her family, besides the fun and great company, is that her Aunt's family owns an orchard in Bridgeton, New Jersey,

  Sunny Slope, 

and they kindly send us home with an assortment peck of their delicious, crunchy, crisp apples and a gallon of the best apple cider you've ever tasted.

To me,  that's a gorgeous site.  All those wonderful apples piled high in my Hubby's Grandmother's huge blue-banded yellow ware bowl we inherited.  Besides just enjoying munching on those delicious apples,  I'll be busy making apple crisp, apple pie, apple butter . . . 

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