A first for me

Today I put the cookie down.  I am quite proud of myself because I have always been one who has not met a cookie she didn't eat.  I am trying to work here on possibly improving my eating habits.  My weight has gone up a ton and it needs to stop.  So yes I may be bragging a bit and it may be a whole "Woopty doo you didn't eat a cookie blah blah blah" but hey you know what?!  It is a big deal for me and sometimes you do need to toot your own horn a bit.  So patting myself on the back as I didn't eat the cookie!

Adventures in Chair-refab

A few weeks ago my husband and I adopted a few poor, abandoned, and broken chairs.  At first I was not too thrilled about the new additions to our family but they have grown on me.  Yesterday I decided I needed to clean them up so they would be presentable for Thanksgiving.  In the beginning this is what they looked like...

I decided to just start my experiment with one so that way if I messed up...no harm, no foul.  As you can see the plastic was pretty oxidized and was sluffing off on top.  The top parts of the chair backing were cracked and broken in two places.  I was able to find a plastic glue made for this type of plastic at Lowe's.  I did the gluing last night so it would be dry for my priming and painting today.  

I first took a stiff scrub brush and brushed off as much of the loose dust that I could.  I found that wetting it down helped a lot.  That way the dust would not get in my face and you could really see where it needed it more.  Once I was done with the scrubbing I rinsed it off with the hose.  

Once the chair had fully dried.  I waited a few hours to be sure. Plus I kind of forgot about it! Sushh don't tell anyone!  Once it was dry I used a clear primer made especially for painting on plastic.  I did two coats of primer with a half an hour break between coats.  The above picture is how it looked after the primer.  

After one coat of purple spray paint I now have a chair I am proud of.  I LOVE purple so it was a logical color for me to choose.  The chair is not fully dry yet so it has not been tested for color fastness.  I am still trying to figure out if I should put a sealant on top or not.  Guess I will find that out once it dries.  

This picture does not give the color justice.  In the real world this is a much deeper color of purple...here it looks more blue :(

Psycho Soccer

So I am a reluctant soccer mom.  My youngest son decided this year he wanted to play soccer for the first time. I have for the most part been anti-soccer for my own reasons.  The main reason is I did not want to become one of those crazy mothers who lives through their children yelling at them and expecting them to be a superstar.  My first experiences being a soccer mom came about 8 years ago.  This was when my oldest was about 4 and started soccer.  He was playing for the local Y and was (as any 4 year old would be) learning the fundamentals of the game.  My thrill with soccer came to an abrupt end when another mother yelled at my son for kicking the ball into the wrong goal.  Then she proceeded to insist he be removed from the game.  He was 4...


This type of behavior is ugly in my opinion.  Yes it was my son and yes I was offended, and probably a bit biased as he is mine.  I do not care I would have felt the same way if anyone would have chided a child of 4 in this manner.

Back to reality and the present.  Things have not really changed much in the land of soccer I have found out.  Had a rude awakening with this today when my youngest played against a very aggressive team.  The coach yelled and hollered so much at his team, I was about to cry from being yelled at.  I understand some cheering and yelling a few instructions, but when the game is dominated by one coach yelling across the field, the game goes from fun to chore very quickly.  I felt bad for these boys on the opposing team.  They did play well but in the end did not win.  Goes to show that yelling and acting up does not win a game.