Wrinkle Free

The quest for not ugly household items continues....

Vintage $10 ironing board before:Another View (note the cute doggie on the couch):





Vintage $10 Ironing board post attack with a hammer and some yellow strawberry fabric:

A close up of the militant strawberries:


Cool, yes?

-Katie

Down by the Bay....

So the jaunt to Grandma's continues...

Yesterday and today I spent some time with N, my cousin, who is 14. Some background.. yes? She's the youngest cousin and the last possible hope of stealing my position as the shortest family member under age 90. I was really hoping.... it didn't happen. After some careful measurement (the back to back test) she has about a half an inch on me, and I have 8 years on her. Such is life.

N and I caused all sorts of noise on our adventures. We walked all over creation looking for pink ribbon in a small town on a Sunday, ate icecream twice (re: last post about the increased consumption of ice cream in the summer), went canoing, recycled cans, attended violin lessons, and (attempted) to take a nap in the park.

A few higlights:

1. Yesterday, I got icecream all over me, and today N was pretty messy, even getting some in her hair.

2. We had such a BALL canoing. We borrowed a canoe from S (an avid reader of my blog) and his roomate. N and I carry this canoe down to the river not far from Grandma's house. While the owners of the canoe stand, watch and laugh. Thanks, guys. We get down to the water and begin to decide the seating arrangements for this expedition. N explains that the person who sits in the back steer. I don't know how to steer a canoe... seriously.. luckily she had half a clue and, although it was interesting, we managed not to run into everything. Not long after, we decided that canoing was an activity that required singing. The song of choice was "Down by the Bay" by Raffi. This was all fine except for that we didn't know all the words. No such thing would stop us. We just made them up. Basically, amazing. Ask if you'd like to know the "remix"


3. Naping = failure. We go to the park, find the right spot for the blanket, dog poop-free, and start to set it down. As I make a final check for anything offensive here comes this snake slithering his way up to me. I scream, she screams, we go inside. FAILURE.

I don't know if you read my blog, chicky, but I had so much fun with you. Can't wait to see you again!

Airplane Friends

Summer, in my opinion, is amazing. I don't know if you feel this way, but I think summer is a really happy time of the year... people are outside, some of us are out of school, tans deepen and the consumption of ice cream increases.. pretty much my favorite time of year (especially the ice cream part).

Along with the icecream, summer also often sends families and friends on trips. This week is vacation week for my parents and I. We're in the booming metroplex (not) of Potsdam, NY. They may not have things like, oh, Target, but you can't beat the scenery. Basically, it's everything that Texas isn't... hilly, green, zero humidity, you know.

Getting to Grandmas is an all day adventure. I wish it were as easy as "over the river and through the woods..." Anyway, after two flights, and a two hour drive, we made it!

One of my favorite things to do while traveling by air, well anytime really, is make new friends. Usually, the people I sit next to on airplanes are sub-par, but every once and a while you hit the jackpot! I mean, why not be friendly... you're going to be sharing germs for two hours.

This trip I made a good airplane friend. I'm not sure what his name is, but that's alright. On one of our flights I was assigned to an isle seat and a lady (another really lovely airplane friend) occupied the window seat. We wondered who (on our flight that was oversold by 10 people) was going to be sitting between us. Well, he showed up. I tried to find his face, but I had to keep looking up... he was REALLY tall. So this giant sits in the middle seat while my shrimpy self, who could curl up in an airplane seat, was livin' the good life on the isle. I watched him sit down, his knees crammed up against the seat in front of him, and I couldn't help but be sympathetic. I asked him if he wanted to switch. He seemed shocked. Seriously, though, I have a conscience, I'm not going to see that poor kid all sardine-like for hours when I would be just as comfortable in the middle as I would on the isle.

Obviously, he took me up on my offer.

He did, however, try to return the favor. At one point during my airplane nap he offered his shoulder in addition to my really uncomfortable airplane pillow. For some unknown reason, it wasn't creepy at all. I didn't take him up on his offer... i was able to sleep fine without.

Toasty!

I'm settling into my new place nicely. The couch comes from the consignment store tomorrow, and on the agenda for tonight is arranging my awkward make-shift pantry.

Here are some likes and dislikes about the new place:

Likes..
MUCH CHEAPER!
I have my own, formerly junky, revamped furniture (pictures at some point)
I love Alicia Fuhrman
We might get the style network
It's close enough to school that I don't have to buy a parking sticker/can bike to the grocery store
Happy can live with me
No parking permits/limited visitor parking so people can come over and have a place to park
Did I mention I love Alicia?

Dislikes...
I killed a cockroach in my BATHTUB last night
My neighbors fight really loudly (nothing new, however)
Coin laundry
Ugly 70's kitchen cabinets
No pantry

Now to the point... i didn't own a toaster, and i wasn't going to spend money on an ugly toaster. I refuse to buy something ugly that I will have to look at every morning when I eat breakfast. The only halfway decent ones were 10 fillion million dollars, so I decided I would be toasting in my oven until THE toaster was revealed to me. Today, I found it. The coolest toaster on the planet. I found it on clearance at Tuesday Morning. It was 15 buckaroos. Not bad for the coolest toaster in the world. Here is a picture of said toaster. MSRP $95.Isn't she beautiful?

-- KMW