Dining set redo

So my family is notoriously hard on furniture. We went through two dining sets in the first 6 years of marriage. I asked my mom to be on the lookout for a sturdy set when she went yard saling, and boy did she ever! She found a very sturdy set that had been residing in someone's barn for a decade or two.  I had every plan to refinish it at some point. And that point has finally come, 8 years later lol.

Years of daily use!

Before pic, notice the chipped polyurethane on the seat? All of them look like that, and have paint dribbles and whatnot.

So I asked some friends how hard it would be to refinish, and one said chalk paint was the perfect answer! It adheres to almost anything, dries quickly and most importantly - you don't have to strip the old varnish and stain off! I LOVE the lazy way out =D  So I asked around and got a homemade chalk paint recipe from a friend who refinishes furniture. (much cheaper than the $30+ per can for the premade stuff)  I started my little wheels turning on what colors I'd like my set to be. And decided on lots of colors!

These are the paint chips I finally settled on.

So I picked my colors and waited for payday. And waited, and waited, and waited. I decided waiting isn't my strong suit, and jumped in with the paints I had on hand!

1st chair!

This is the color of my son's bedroom. First coat of paint applied!

I called in the reinforcements.

Started the second chair!

I feel the need to inform you that orange does not cover as well as green. Green took 2 coats and a couple touchups. Orange took 4, plus the touch ups.

And this is where we stand today. Now I really have to wait for payday. I want to paint the table turquoise and the last chair yellow, and I don't own either of those colors. I also need to buy wax to give them a protective finish. I've read that waxing it makes the colors darker, but I'm wondering if I should buy a colored wax to tone down those bright colors just a bit.  I'll have that figured out by friday!

Vegetative rambles

My fluffy tomato plant

my pruned tomato plant

I have no clue what the heck this is.

So I'm attempting a garden! I made a keyhole garden. It's supposedly drought resistant, and includes it's own compost pile which should be feeding the plants and assisting in the watering.  My tomato is confounding me.

I was advised to prune it, and prune it I did! there's only half of the plant left. I'm rather zealous in my endeavors.  But now the leaves are all curly and this weird egg pile was on one of the leaves.

So how long do you think till the whole plant is dead? I'm gonna give her two weeks I think.  It's a long slow drawn out death. I'll be the tomato hospice worker, and I will bury my sorrow in my squash yield.

Speaking of, it's squash for dinner again! I should go cook it.


Pinterest don't fail me now!

Zoodles!

 

First

I wonder...
Say you walk into a room, on a table is a beautiful delicious looking cupcake. Nobody is around. What keeps you from eating it? Is it fear of punishment? Someone is going to catch you and punish you for eating it?

I have a healthy fear of punishment, which started me stealing sweets oddly enough. At some point in my young life someone had eaten the icing my mom was planning on using to frost a cake. No child would admit to having eaten it. So my dad lined us up and started swatting us. I was the oldest so I went first. I was outraged! My siblings both got whacked in turn, then it was my turn again. I was shaking with anger and crying, and it was decided that since I had the strongest reaction I must have been the one to do it.  I wasn't allowed to express anger, that was disrespectful. But guess who started snitching icing after that? If I was going to be punished for something I was darn well determined to do that thing before I paid the price.

 I still refrain from eating someone else's cupcake. But it's not because I think my butt will burn if I do. So what's my motivation?