Another Visit to Lowe's

I am sad to say that I had to spend a little bit more money. The stain just wasn't going to work for the furniture, so I had to get some paint. Hopefully someone else can eventually use the stain. Or maybe I will find something else for which it would be appropriate. The total cost was $47.30. I ended up purchasing a gallon of Valspar paint, another can of primer spray, a Valspar sample size of paint, a paint can opener (tired of using the flathead screwdriver), another drop cloth (probably unnecessary, but the least of my expenses), a set of hobby brushes, and a mini paint roller.

I have to say, though, that those should be the last of the purchased items. I remain very pleased with a price of approximately $85.00 a nightstand. I have still seen much more expensive and substantially less quality pieces for double the price. Plus, it gives me something to look forward to and something to do with my time. The hobby brushes and sample size of paint are for the finishing details. My friend Emily is going to help me use the brown paint, "bark" to be exact, around the trim with a dry brush. In fact, she was over today and said she has several brushes she could bring. She has a vision for these things, and her excitement was contagious and now I am excited.

It was officially baby shower weekend this past weekend. Went to one on Friday and had one myself here on Sunday. I love events like these. Friday night we played several fun games. One was a "guess that tune" sort of thing. Every song that was played had baby or a version of that word in the title. We had to guess the song and the artist. I won't go through all the games, but they were fun and different. The woman who had the shower had her mother in town for the event. It's strange how even just having someone else's family member visit makes me feel at home and at ease. I have especially noticed this to be true with moms. A mom just seems to set the tempo for comfort and relaxation. The other thing I find almost equally comforting is a good fall candle. The scent of cinnamon pumpkin reminds me of moms and clean houses and Sunday naps.

Tonight I was in the garage, finishing up the last little bit of painting. I turned my head sidways to get a better view of the underside of the drawer I was working on (yes, inconveniently enough, the drawers don't come all the way out). When I was upright again, I felt something drip down. Illogical thought #1 "It is raining". Illogical thought #2 "I am bleeding". Third time was the charm...ding, ding, ding, it is paint. My hair was pulled back, however, it is so layered that a large chunk from the top landed itself right in the paint can that I had setting oh so close to me. The worst part really is that my favorite gas station t-shirt from Florida has paint on it now. Maybe it will come out in the wash. Really I just liked it that I thought it was raining. I even stopped what I was doing to listen for it.

Just thought I would also let you know that I continue to prove sewing is not my forte. I wanted so desparately to make a beautiful baby blanket for my friend's shower today. I planned to work on it Saturday because I expected that sewing two pieces of material together would probably only take about 30 minutes maximum. From the time I woke up that morning until about 8 o'clock at night I attempted just to make something presentable. How could a person make this sort of task so difficult? I still have no idea. My only excuse I will allow myself is that one of the materials was thicker and a little bit slick. There were many choice words, moments of just stretching out on the floor and closing my eyes, a time where I told Jacob he needed to leave the house, and many fuzzy red pieces stuck in the carpet after four times of cutting off the parts I had sewn. There were also tears. A couple of times. There is no greater frustration than not being able to master a skill.

Humbled, humbled, humbled, until the day was done. I was exhausted, but I was not going to give up. And I finally told myself, this is something you wanted to do, something you wanted the baby to have and love. Quit putting all your pity and anger vibes into this blanket (my friend Anne Marie, whom the blanket was for, knows a lot about vibes). So, I finished it up with a little bit of patience and the most loving attitude I could muster at that point in the day. Today I was proud to give it to her, but I wish I had known it wasn't going to turn out closer to perfect. I would have definitely gone the store route and saved the craftiness for a rainy day and a project that wasn't a gift.