Okay, the out of town packages were shipped yesterday! They should make it in time but, to be honest, I'm done sweating (and swearing) over it. Humbug and onward!
We're having 25 folks over for Christmas dinner and I refuse to freak out. I made a run to IKEA yesterday and it was surprisingly calm there. And a lot of stuff is half off so I was able to get some napkins, cups, etc. at a good price. I'm making good progress in my kitchen spruce up and have been busy with chair recovering, which I actually enjoy.
Here it is before. Ew. I remember how excited I was to get that fabric for 4.00 a yard. I don't hate it yet but it's time for a change.
I kept the same paint color because I really like this shade of mustardy yellow. It made it so much easier to paint because I didn't have to primer everything first (and I'm in a hurry here). In case you were wondering, I always cover my chair fabric with plastic. No, I'm not Italian, it's just that I have 5 kids and don't want to cry over spilled milk (or spaghetti sauce, or anything). Doesn't this look great?! I recover my chairs about every 3 years because the plastic eventually gets ripped but by that time I'm ready for a change.
I did these too! And only have a few glue gun blisters. The old ones were so gross and dusty I'm too embarrassed to show them. But aren't these fun and fresh? Joey picked the shades up at Lowe's for me (4.00 each I think). Home Depot no longer carrys them (boogers) and JoAnn's charges about 8 bucks each (crazy!) for theirs. Now the 8 dollar ones are the peel and stick kind but I wasn't about to pay 40 bucks to re-do my cheap little IKEA chandelier.
And here's where it really gets going. Joey's been making candy (divinity and candied orange peeels) and Olivia made these cookies yesterday. The recipe is posted here. These are a hugely popular cookie around these parts and the only reason I have any left is the fact that my mom has had 3 of my kids for the past 3 days (which is why I'm getting so much done around here!). Must go find a cookie hiding place before they return.
Be sure to run over to Blue Nickel Studios because Scott is having a massive (seriously, tons of stuff) give-away to celebrate his 200th post and he even has a sneak peek of Jennifer Paganelli's newest fabric collection (he always gets to play with them first, lucky guy!).
3 more days until Christmas! Keep Calm and Carry On!!