Where the hell have I been?

Where the hell have I been you have been asking...
Here is the answer.

I have been nursing 3 lovely little ladies back to health from the Chicken Pox.
I have been finishing my crazy upholstery class.
I have been digging my way out of way to much "stuff". (Not the good kinda stuff - the bad kind)
Craigs listing that stuff.
Laundry.
Turning the garage into my workshop.
Remodeling our office into my youngest daughters room.
Making life altering decisions with my husband.  (Good life altering - not bad)
Planning a 2 year old birthday party.
Laundry.
Sending my oldest two to go camping with their school.
Driving to dance classes and piano classes.
Laundry.
Helping rehearse the middle one for her school play.
Going to Target.
Deciding if our dog should have surgery or not.
Sewing as often as I can in between all of these things.
Grocery shopping and cooking, and cooking, and cooking.
Then doing the dishes, dishes, dishes.
Laundry.
Setting up a photo shoot with fabulous friend photographer. (Maggie the stool is modeling now!)
Shopping at garage sales.
Picking up Sampson's poop. (Sampson is my dog)
Spent 1 day at the spa for Mothers Day. (I love my family!)
Painting chairs.
Buying fabric.
Laundry.
Getting the family passport photos and passports.
Helping with homework.
Making Sonia the bench for my sisters birthday. (photos will follow)
Moving furniture around the house and then moving it back.
Getting my haircut again after saying I was growing it out.
Changing diapers.
Laundry.
Planning summer trips.
Kissing my husbands lips.
And laughing my ass off the whole time.
All is well and I will be up and running soon.
BIG LOVE
Lenny

Make it Happy

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Abraham Lincoln

 We all know things can't possibly ALWAYS be great, in fact there are just some down right difficult things to handle that life throws at you every now and again.  So, if you add little spots of sunshine whenever and wherever you can, you can have a life filled with great MOST of the time.

I think that is pretty cool. 

 And I do my best (with help from my adorable little family) to 

"Make it Happy" everyday. 

 What the heck is this chick talking about?  I know that is what some of you are thinking.

So let me explain what I am trying to say.

In a very small specific kind of way.

Here are three happy making examples.

We all have our daily business to get to.  Appointments, school functions, business meetings...

 blah, blah, blah  and yes most of us have an iPhone or some sort of organizing device.  All good.

Keeps you sane and organized, all a part of being happy.  

However remember the good ol' fashioned calendar?

You could write everything down, doodle on it, write down the exact moment your 2nd child said her first word.  It used to reside in the kitchen on the fridge.  I was feeling the need to have that again but wanted it to be a better version... a more fun, bigger and cooler version then the store bought kind. (Don't get insulted, those are good too, just not for me.)

Well here is what I came up with...

A wall sized calendar!  Definitely bigger.  

Just in case you want to know how I made this, I will do my best to describe...

- 2 sheets of newsprint paper off of a pad

- colored string or yarn

- push pins

- Then I printed on brown butcher paper in various fonts the months

I needed as well as the numbers.

- I had my husband measure out the graph of the calendar,

and I created the spaces accordingly.

You can make this as big or as small as you want!

 The thing is, this space was just a big empty space.

We walked by it daily, no biggy.

HUGE BIGGY! 

 Now walking by this documentation of life evokes a smile.

A quick moment of emotion that didn't exist before.   

I didn't have, nor did I want a giant painting for this wall at the top of the stairs.

As soon as this went up, it just changed the space from Meh to Yeah!

Taking a daily ritual or a life ritual and making it into something more.

Something meaningful.  I am making up my mind a little every day. 

(Remember the quote from Abe.)

The more happy thoughts I have, the more happy ideas are formed in my brain,

the more happiness I see in my family, which makes even more happy thoughts.

It comes full circle people.

Let's talk more about the little creatures in our lives that bring bountiful amounts

of pure joy.  Don't you just want to reciprocate to these little ones.

In any moment,  I ask myself how can I make it just a little better.

I am always trying for that purest smile when they are just in their moment of good life.

I had this thought when a tooth fell out.

 What a lucky fairy to get that precious tooth.

How could she ever repay her.

Take a life moment... every one of them, and make it more.

Make it a memory, so the days don't just roll by one after another.

THIS WAS A GREAT DAY!

THE TOOTH FAIRY CAME TO OUR HOUSE!

YAHOO!

Now what about the outside world.  Nothing much to do about that now is there?

OR

Is there?

The preschool bathroom of my kids preschool was NOT a happy place.

It was a run in, do what you gotta do, and get out as quick as you can kinda place.

Felt a little germier then necessary.

You certainly did not want to take the extra 2 minutes to sing the ABC song while washing your hands.

It was cold and gray and yucky.

I saw an opportunity to shine a ray of light and make not only my kids'

day a little sweeter but many kids' in the years to come.

Come on fabulous artist husband, we got a job to do. 

Let's get these kids to enjoy the potty.

Let's get 'em to wash up when needed.

I even heard someone say

"Now it's fun to go in there and go poo poo"

I mean really.

What more could you want.

Our work is done.

I just think you get back exactly what you put in.
Smile more, give people compliments, laugh hard, don't be afraid to be silly with your kids,
especially in public, sing loud and proud, offer someone who looks stressed and in a rush cuts in line, really look at yourself in the mirror every morning and make the decision to have a great day.
 Even if someone steals your parking spot.
Just smile and wave and wish them more happiness in their lives so they won't feel the need to do that to the next person.
I'm not trying to sound preachy.

I am just discovering the point of my existence and I am really excited about it.

I will leave you now with another quote I happen to agree with.

Happiness is not something ready made.  It comes from your own actions.

Dalai Lama

Good luck out there!

Choose HAPPY and we will change the world.

Catching you up...

     So, before I knew I was going to start a blog, I was still doing the same thing... finding trash on the side of the road and finding a way to make something quite nice out of it. If I dare say so myself.  Which I am.  Quite nice actually! So in this post and probably some in the future, I will "catch you up" on the process of how it became what it is now.  I think I will need to do this from time to time because, well heck, I am the mother of three girls.  Not only do I love these girls, I like these girls, so I get torn between working on furniture and hanging with them and my cutie pie husband.  They pretty much always win, and I squeeze the projects in when I can.  But don't worry, I have plenty of past projects to share with you all.  Whoever you all are.  Now again, keep in mind this is pre-blog so my pix are less than stellar, however they get the point across. 

      First up we have this sad little table.  Pretty scratched and neglected.  I found it at a yard sale for $10.00 having no idea where the heck it would go or even what the heck I would do with it.  It needed a whole new vibe.  It had a tiny copper pull on the drawer.

I sanded, and sanded, and sanded a little more... and then the idea hit me.  It kinda happens like that each time... I start working on it with no idea of what to do, and then BAM!  I think the piece 

kinda lets me know as I hang out with it a while.

I really dig this piece!  I was originally planning to sell this one, but it's just not going to happen.

 This is the back, so it can hang out in the middle of the party and look good from all angles.

Unfortunately, she lives all wrapped up in my garage/workshop of the rental we are currently living in awaiting her place of prominence in my dream home. (Coming soon!)

And second we have this crazy ugly ottoman, and I mean ottoMAN! Nothing feminine about this one, folks.  It had a puncture, dry cracked leather, and was just plain ol' ugly.  This one, my friends, I almost gave away!  WHAT? You heard me... it was that bad, these pictures do not do it's ugliness justice.

But then I sat on it one last time a little sentimental and sad.  It had supported my ridiculous

sized legs during my 3rd pregnancy, and I was just going to give it away just like that. 

But then she cried out, "Save me.  If you don't do it,  I'll end up at the dump for sure."  

What was wrong with me?  

I had to do it, she needed me.  I was starting upholstery class.  I was needing a 1st trial project to learn on.  Couldn't we save each other? 

Into my brain we went and into the workshop at school we went.

And this is what she told me...We had things in common.  

We were both a little tired, we were both a little chubby, and we both loved pink!

Now... she is sassy and sweet.  She has embraced those cute chubby legs of hers.

She is renewed enough to support again and is excited to start a new chapter of life.

Even through change and growth we still had things in common!

  

This one was my first sale.  She has a new home living in the room of two young sisters.

With her scraps I made a cute new pillow to tie her into the room a little more so she really feels like she belongs.  She was happy, and I was happy, and I thought, "Hey, I think I may have something here!"

Maggie: The Vanity Stool

I saw her there on the side of the road, amidst other garbage.  Loved her legs.  Long and delicate, but badly bruised.  How could someone just abandon her like this?  Look at the shape, the size.  There is something there hiding behind all the blemishes.  She needs the movie moment where she removes her ponytail and glasses and becomes the gorgeous siren she has really always been...

  

Ok...Reality check...I need to get this stool in the car quick before someone else sees it.

This is a major score.   Freebee on the side of the road!  Another project for me and another good deed toward Earth.   I get a really freaking cool new stool for the vanity I found earlier and I keep another piece of furniture out of our land fill.  YAY ME!

So, this is kinda how my hobby all started.  I can't believe the things people throw away.  I mean don't get me wrong there is a lot of yucky stuff that you just can't fix out there.  But while digging through the murk and muck eventually you will find a treasure.

Ladies and Gentlemen... I introduce you to MAGGIE: THE VANITY STOOL