Uh Oh... Guess What Day It Is?

It might be Hump Day in every other corner of the world, but in my world it's something even better. It's Over The Hump Day!

 Yessiree, I'm finally here  to announce that I'm 

over the hump.  

Actually, it's even better than that. I'm over two humps.  I'll talk about the bigger one in a day or two. Today, I'm just stopping in to yak about the first hump, the big old camel that has been camping out in my living room for over two decades.  

Meet Cindy the camel back. 

Don't judge me...

Back in the day, she was downright stylish. Anybody out there remember? Back when we had big patterns to go with our big hair... 

Waverly wannabe florals...

In jewel tones, no less. 

No, young Cindy wasn't  unattractive. (Trust me, youngsters. You can check it out in your historical design books from the last century.)  It's just that  young Cindy was impractical and trendy.  Cindy the Sofa stayed in style for about 7.2 seconds before the jewel tones gave way to Tuscan orange and large florals became geometrics or some such thing. I don't remember what it was. I missed it completely. 

Now, that might have been OK

 if I had actually loved Cindy to begin with. 

 I didn't. 

The jewel toned big hair florals might have been the rage, but they were never, ever,  Debbie. They were... Cindy,  the very aggressive former friend who convinced me to buy that sofa... and a chair to match...and to paint half the homestead to go along with them. 

The sofa outlasted that toxic friendship by over a decade. 

We had other rooms to decorate and daughters to raise and put through college. Decorating stuff took a back seat to the better stuff. 

But it's Over the Hump Day!

Ain't she a beaut?

Please say yes because I'm probably going to have this sofa for the next two decades. That's the way we roll around here.  Besides, I very truly happen to love her. She is very, very, Debbie. 

Of course, I haven't named her Debbie. Who names a sofa after herself?  Even I'm not that goofy. 

Her name is Poppins...

Mary Poppins. 

'Cause she's practically perfect in every way. 

(Too bad I can't say the same for the lighting today...)

And that's all I have time for today. I'll be back soon to yak about the other hump. It's a huge one, too. At least for me, it is. The climbing of it has been keeping me out of Blog Land and in Crazy Land for two weeks now. Yes, I can get that obsessed. (Wait. Wasn't 2014 supposed to be the Year of Balance?) 

Happy Over the Hump Day!

*****

By the way, if you're wondering what I did with Cindy the Sofa,

 I offered it up to Miss Whimsy for her first apartment. 

She said, "Ummmmm... thank you?"

An Officer and a Gentleman: Tablescape Challenge

When Cuisine Kathleen first announced her wedding pattern tablescape challenge, we were absolutely certain that we wanted to join.  We just didn't know which wedding china we wanted to use. We've had a lot of weddings around here, after all,  and we have the china to prove it.  We have some beautiful patterns, too, ones bursting with color and  tablescape fodder.

But we chose this one instead.

It's the wedding pattern of the (not so) Newlywed Niece
Pearl Platinum by Lenox

Plain white. 

Trimmed in more white. 

That's OK.  We didn't choose it for the color anyway.

 We chose it in honor of a significant occasion which is taking place this week.  

No, it's not their anniversary. 

They tied the knot on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Not that we weren't all thankful for him, but that isn't the reason that they chose the date. Actually, the date chose them instead. The groom is a military man, you see, and that's the first day that Uncle Sam said he might be available.

Uncle Sam has been pretty much intruding on their lives ever since.  In  nearly five years of marriage, they have shared only two anniversaries together. They won't be spending it together this year either.

Tomorrow, the Army Man heads to Afghanistan.  

He'll be there for the next year. 

His wife will  be home on the farm...

 tying yellow ribbons. 

So we took this table out by an old oak tree

 and tied some yellow ribbons too. 

 Then we filled the empty spaces  with daisies 

because they're just a daisy kind of couple.

She loves him...she loves him not...she loves him... she loves him not...

She loves him. 

Yes, I realize that proper table ladies do not scatter teacups willy-nilly on a table.  

They probably don't stick random daisies on saucers either, but I did it anyway. 

I'm pretty sure the rules are relaxed for pretend tables set for invisible people. 

(I hope so because I kept rearranging that stemware to suit my photo op notions.) 

Their crystal pattern is Marquis by Waterford

I love the simplicity of it.

Their flatware is Melon Bud by Gorham. 

And there you have it:

Tying Yellow Ribbons 'Round the Old Oak Tree...   

.... which, according to my husband, is actually a sweet gum tree.  

Well, oops. 

Regardless, I have had that song stuck in my head all day. 

And yes... I do indeed sound exactly like Tony Orlando. 

Admit it.  You knew I was going to say that...

But can we be serious for just a minute?

Please don't let the the dish playing and song singing fool you.

We're all pretty nervous around here right now.

We won't tell a lie.

But we're covering him in prayer for a safe trip home, and for once in our lives

  hoping that time actually does fly.  

We would deeply appreciate all your prayers as well.

May God hold you in His mighty hand, Captain McNephew. 

We'll be saving a place for you at the table. 

*****

Sharing with Let's Dish
and Tablescape Thursday

Smarter Than The Av-er-age Bear

As I mentioned yesterday, we had cause for a celebration around here this weekend.  It was a big one, too, big enough to lure a Practical One all the way from Capitol Hill.  It wasn't a Mothers Day celebration, either.  The fact that it happened to fall on that weekend was just a God thing. 

(Thanks, God.)   

No, big sister came home for a celebration of different sort. 

It was an auspicious occasion.    

Care to guess what it was?

Well, it's May... 

and it took place at Mercer University...

and somebody was wearing a funny hat...

... which according to all the smarty pants business majors in the family

 is bedecked with a tassel of "drab".  

Drab? Seriously?

Maybe to the rest of the world, it's drab. 

I choose to call it taupe instead. 

There was nothing whatsoever drab about our celebration.

There's nothing drab about our girl, either.
She's our Miss Whimsy, the little girl most likely to dance in the rain.

The girl who was just graduating from high school when I started writing this blog.

 Didn't we just move her and that zebra print bedding into the freshman dorm yesterday?

Yeah, I think so too.

One final chat with Jesse Mercer

Then it was time to step out and join
the rest of the Mercer graduates in the family.

What we lack in creativity, we make up for in loyalty.


Congratulations  Miss Whimsy...

You did it!

The sky's the limit.

Now go follow the rest of your dreams.

And as they say in Mercer Land....

We love you and are so proud of you!

It's An Auspicious Occasion!

Remember a few weeks ago when I talked about my empty nest Easter?

Remember how I said that The Practical One didn't come home for that holiday

 because she was coming home in a few weeks for another

auspicious occasion?

Remember that?
Anyone?

Well, guess what happened this 

Mother's Day weekend...

An auspicious occasion. 

And even though the weather didn't cooperate one iota for the pictures...

Wellllll.... I. guess. you'll. say...

What can make me feel that way? 

In my head, I sound just like The Temptations.

You'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear all about the auspicious occasion.

I'm busy today, gathering the moments with the two little girls
whose very presence in my life make every day a reason to celebrate.

Happy Mother's Day
from one happy mom! 

*****

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A Wing and a Prayer...Chair

If I've ever told you that I'm praying for you,  I really do pray, 

and here's the chair where I sit to do it.

 It's a worn old wing back in the corner of my living room. I call it my prayer chair.  Actually, it's one of two chairs because Sir Lotsa Hair has one to match.  I pray in mine; he prays in his. Most of the time, though, we pray there together.

I know they're outdated. We've had them for nearly twenty years now, and they weren't even new when we got them. My father had them in his den way back in the 20th century.

Old things have a history, though. They've seen stuff. Ours have watched us raise our family, one prayer at a time. They've run the gamut from the highest highs to the lowest lows.

From praise and thanksgiving

to petition and confession. 

From job's lost

to job's found

. (and lost again... and found.again.)

From college scholarships

to college graduation.

You can see why the choice of  a replacement for them posed a bit of a problem. It wasn't just the sentimentality of it, either. There was another reason why I was having trouble deciding on a replacement.  It's about the style.

Here's the thing: I don't really care what's in and trendy anymore. Two and a half years ago, I decided that I was too 50  for that.  I just want to surround myself with stuff that I love, and I love wing back chairs.  I love the lines of them... and the height of them... and the historical look of them that works and plays so well with my old family pieces.

They still sell wing backs, of course. You just don't see them all that much in the showrooms 'cause they're not really hip. The newer ones are larger and more overstuffed. They tend to come with a grumpy little price tag, too, at least all the ones that I liked.

And then, there's the head thing.

I had a notion stuck in my Debbie head of  exactly what I wanted  them to look like. Unfortunately, it's a well known fact that random Debbie- head notions simply do not exist in the physical realm

Never. 

Ever, ever. ever, ever... 

Between all of that and the unfortunate carpet incident, I finally decided to shuck the new chair idea and reupholster my trusty old prayer chairs instead.  I had a notion in my head about fabric, too. What I wanted was the look of cotton ticking without the fabric actually being cotton ticking. I wanted something more upholster-y and a teeny bit dressier.

 Something like this:

Thankfully,  it's easier to find a piece of fabric living in your head than it is to find a piece of furniture. I found mine at  Peachtree Fabrics Direct. for ten bucks a yard.  It compliments the sofa swatch exactly the way I want it to, and the fabric was here in two days.

Want to see my prayer chair now?

Please ignore the wall color. It's going to be painted.
The saga of Debbie and the Paint Chips is a post all it's own.

And there's this  pillow fabric to consider...

Sure, I haven't actually made the pillows yet,

 but...

 One  living room decorating decision down,
 4,728 to go...