we're losing it around here

a couple of weeks ago it happened.  

whitney finally lost her first tooth.

she'd been waiting her whole life for this moment.

her toothless grin in all its gloriousness.

it's perfect

then over the next couple of days max and nikki each lost a tooth,

and all three of them have another loose tooth.

we've had a dry spell of falling-out teeth,

now it's like a flood.

we're going to bankrupt our tooth fairy.

harsh accusations

at cost plus today, after checking out and preparing myself for the grand ol' haul-em-out-of-the-store act,

i cheerfully encouraged my girls out of the shopping cart with a 

"let's go, boogers!"

to which my little devan replied, after a very tween-ish jaw drop, gasp and head snap,

"mom!  why would you call us FOOD?  it's because you don't love us anymore and want to eat us!"

first of all, i consider "boogers" to be a term of endearment.

period.

second of all, the fact that my daughter classifies boogers as belonging to some sort of food group is just wrong and disgusting.

i guess we know how she spends her spare time.

and how in the world did the situation escalate from a playful nudge out of the store to me being a bad mother who cares so little for her children that she would rather eat them (if i were in the habit of eating boogers) than take care of them?

such drama.

and then after a cute old man carried on a sweet "conversation" with gwen, for his own entertainment, whitney looked at me with a big question mark.

"mom, what village is he from?"

i thought that was really funny, for some reason.

craigslist and cookie dough

my garage is full of things that should have been sold on craigslist months ago.  while i tell my neighbor how "easy it is" to sell stuff on the sight, i secretly need to bite the bullet myself and create listings for i don't know how many things in total.  enough that my garage would feel instantly less congested, and my wallet more so, after making these sure-fire sales.

hmmmmm.

maybe i could pay my sister-in-law to list everything for me.  she's good at that kind of stuff.

and when i say "pay"  maybe that could be in the form of under-salted cookies, since, because it's fund-raising season, i now find myself with two giant tubs of dough that i was guilted into buying (by my husband, not my neighborhood kids) exactly two days after i threw last year's tub away because it produced very lardy, under-salted cookies.

  

if i know anything, i know how cookies should taste.

and their primary flavor should not be under-salted lard.

i'd much rather a salted lard taste.

at least i might imagine them to be chunks of bacon instead of a poor excuse for chocolate chunk peanut butter.

come on!

when you tell my i'm about to eat peanut butter and chocolate in combination i get excited.

so, obviously, when i threw the 3/4-full tub  in the trash, i had very good cause.

maybe the oatmeal raisin and cranberry shortbread versions will be more acceptable.  i doubt it.

tubs of cookie dough are for people who don't like to bake cookies,

not for people whose life mission it is to find the ultimate best version of each of the major cookie groups.

you've got food groups, i've got cookie groups.

and since i've only checked off one of my cookie groups as having found the ultimate best, and since i'm not getting any younger,

clearly i don't have time, or freezer space, to waste on this mass produced frozen crap.

oh well, i'll just count it as my good turn for the day,

even though every time i see them in my freezer, wasting precious space, i'll be reminded that $15 (times two tubs)  could have gotten me something much more satisfying.

why couldn't they have been selling wrapping paper? 

does that still count as a good deed, though?

i didn't think so.

but you know what would count?

if my sister-in-law sold all the crap in my garage for me.

i wouldn't even make her eat the cookies. 

a little change-up and an adventure in thrifting : gilded mirror

so i have this bench.  it's fine. nothing special,

but it's the perfect size for this weird nook by the stairs, and it's really well constructed.

and comfortable.

but it's all too much ho-hum,

if you ask me.

plus, a solid, light velvet shows all those 

curiously-placed sings of children,

like boogers and drool and snot and ear wax and jellied-fingers,

that a print hides so much better.

plus, it's a lot more boring.

and then there's this mirror.

scored at the g-dub.

i tried to talk them down, but they wouldn't budge on this one.

i think they could see it in my eyes, how i was going to buy it either way.

still, it's doesn't hurt to ask.  

only gives you more practice for when something really 

haggle-worthy comes along. 

but it was too much shimmer what with the gaudy gilded frame and the shiny mirror.  

i wanted to tone it down, and i didn't need another mirror.

so i turned it into a chalkboard.

why do i need a chalkboard?

i don't.  i just needed that frame on center stage, but not the mirror.

i brushed on about 4 coats of magnetic paint (right on top of the mirror.  not really the best, but i was too impatient to cut a piece of wood) and then a couple coats of chalkboard paint.

i wanted a really textured finish, so i used a brush, but use a roller if you want a smooth one.

exactly two seconds after i hung the mirror chalkboard,

a little devil thought it'd be great fun to scratch off the paint.

who was that?

i'll let you guess.

it's an easy one.

SHA-ZAM!!!

how you like me now?!

that's much, MUCH better, if i do say so myself.

i unscrewed the seat and did a quick re-cover.

i didn't remove the velvet, just stapled the ikat right over it.

that way it'll be easy to change when i get tired of it again.

and i will some day, i'm sure.

but right now i love it.