Slipcover Love

Yesterday morning I came downstairs (the RD was already up and drinking his coffee) and the scene in my living room was enough to inspire another Grey Garden's movie.

The throw which is supposed to cover the old worn green upholstery on the couch, was bunched up and hanging off the side of the couch.  The CO Boy's action figure toys were strewn all over the 1950's ranch burger designed coffee table (pictures of that will come later). And Mercer was sitting on the head portion of the couch, looking out the open back door, waiting for someone to walk by so he could run and bark.  Right about at this moment, Gershwin took his entire 13 pounds and bounded up the sofa to go for the body slam, sending the two pups off the side of the couch.

If a normal person without a boy, without three dogs, without a husband who could care less about a clean house, had seen this...they'd think my house had been abandoned and wild dogs were using it as a hang out.  Sigh.

But back to the sofa.  I love this sofa.  It was given to us by the RD's dead aunt (well she didn't give it to us but her daughter did.  She was dead already...).  The shape is pretty and for a while the upholstery was in pristine condition.  Dead Aunt was one of those folks who had plastic over her furniture in the formal living room.  You know what I'm talkin' about?  But alas, the years have passed, the couch has suffered trauma from two pups who like to romp on it, one old "pup" who thinks she's sneaky when she gets up on it at night, and then the CO Boy who does high falls off of it.

So I need a slipcover, people.  That's what I need.  What do you think of these ideas?

From Houzz.com (I think)
The pink is a bit much to commit to, I think.  But the colors in the photo were appealing to me.  Can you imagine light pink slipcovers with the pups?  Me neither.

From Mustard Seed Creations

I love everything she does on her blog.  But I really like these pretty pleats at the bottom of the sofa.  But I know how long it takes to make those pretty pleats, and I'd like a slipcover before I'm 80.

 From LJC Style

A compromise on the pleats - they're bigger.  Not as cute.  But bigger.  Doesn't this look so comfy?  Makes me want to dive into those pillows which is exactly what CO Boy would do.  Glad we talked all of this out beforehand.

I also saw an article in the Mary Jane magazine that showed how you could use drop cloths for fabric.  Mucho savings because cotton duck cloth is a pretty penny per yard and my couch is not small.  So perhaps a trip to Home Depot is in order?



Summer with the CO Boy

The CO Boy has kicked off his summer vacation with friends sleeping over, movie night in our neighborhood, and spending the days out at the stables. 

Do you remember what it was like when you were a kid and you thought summer would never end?  Well that's where he is right now.  It's all pretty joyful to him.

He asked me if I had summer vacation.  Sadly...no.  But I enjoyed my Memorial Day out at the stables with him.  Maybe I'll ask my boss about that whole summer vacation thing-:).

Six in the Morning, Pushups and Me

Photos were not allowed as Laura and I wanted zero evidence of our wimpiness. 

This is a re-enactment of sorts - just picture two women lying face down in the grass.

Today was our first Bootcamp at 6 am!  We are, how shall I put it, out of shape??  Yeah, that'd be it.  Laura and I decided we needed a little kick in the pants, you know, a push.  Well we got pushed and kicked all over the park in my neighborhood.  Thank goodness it was early so our humiliation was only seen by the few early commuters.

Seriously, it was hard (never used a 10lb weighted ball before. Ouch.), but it was really great.  We were worn out by the end but it felt good and we managed to do everything the trainer asked of us, even if we did it slowly with grunts and groans.  So every Thursday morning during the month of June, we'll be at it.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post a photo of a pup bounding through the air by the last week!  Yeah.  That'll be us...bounding!

A fight for the CO Boy's musical soul

Well, maybe not his musical soul, but something close to it-:).

The CO Boy takes guitar lessons and his reference for guitar is The Roping Dummy and the western music he plays.  So he has learned to sing and accompany himself on "The Old Chisholm Trail," and "Don't Fence Me In" is next.

BUT he has recently been listening to my ipod which has selections from the late 70's and early 80's.  He loves it, and in particular, he's a big fan of Hall & Oates, just like his mama!  He likes this one song called, "Wait for Me."  Now for die hard fans, the song is a favorite but the average listener wouldn't probably remember the song.  Here's Mr. Hall doing a live version which is actually better than the pop version.

And then we have "Don't Fence Me In," as sung by Roy Rogers.  It IS a Cole Porter tune, so can't argue with that.  AND Trigger is quite the amazing equine.  But I dunno....

So the battle is on!

This is the voice, or why Arlene just wants to be Blossom Dearie

I love music.  Everybody knows that.  And I listen to a variety of styles.  But I always go back to certain types of artists and I'm in one of those periods right now.

This morning I was on youtube (can't you just spend way too much time on that site??) and watched this video of Blossom Dearie.  She is older in this video but still has the same voice I love and plays the piano with such magic.  Her song selections are always a treat to hear.  Side Note:  After I watched this video, the CO Boy woke up and we had to watch "Unpack your Adjectives", the old Schoolhouse Rock video in which Blossom's voice is featured.  See.  Everyone loves Blossom.  Here she is with Billy Taylor.  The lyrics to this song make me laugh.

Then fast forward to about a decade ago when I found Stacy Kent.  Her phrasing is so deceptively simple...and gorgeous.  Her song selections are wonderful and her recent LP is in French with some French standards as well as some current compositions.  But one standard that makes it into my all-time Top 10 is "You Are There", written by Dave Frishberg.  She has a wonderful recording of this song.  Unfortunately no video, but you MUST listen to the song below.  Just close your eyes and listen to her the beautiful song. Interestingly enough, Blossom recorded this song but I can't find a video of it either.

And then there's the jazz that is more tinged with Brazilian rhythms.  I love Gretchen Parloto.  She is so free in her singing but yet she knows exactly where she is.  She's singing "Flor de Lis," in this video.

Fast forward to just today and I stumbled upon Jules Day.  She and the Roping Dummy are FB friends.  They have a lot of mutual jazz musician friends from the Los Angeles days.  Her songs are original compositions, and for the most part I like them very much.  She looks like Diana Krall just a bit, but not nearly as annoying with an almost-dead delay in vocal delivery (sorry, DK - you're a fab pianist, but listening to you sing brings out such anxiety as I wait for you to get the words out).  Jules is a blend of jazz, pop and bossa.  I'm diggin' it.

So I'm just gonna samba my way upstairs for the night and sing softly like these ladies, albeit not as beautifully.

National Clean Up Your Room Day

Berenstain Bears

Today is the day, people!

Who knew there was a National Clean Up Your Room Day? 

This could be cause for a celebration (read: task) at our house tonight.

Snoopy is Real

At least to me he is.  He's always been real.  And now the CO Boy is sharing in my laughter of the beagle's antics.  He'd seen the holiday shows, but he'd never seen, "Snoopy Come Home," which is my favorite.  So I rented it and he and I have laughed until we hurt.

Because of the CO Boy's interest in the canine, I printed out some snoopy pictures with the idea that he could draw them during our Peaceful Time (as he calls our nights in bed when we draw).  He loved it.  But to back track a bit:  Last week he was frustrated because he couldn't draw the airplane the way he wanted to.  What he was doing was drawing it from an overhead view but he was looking at it from a side view.  We had a whole discussion about drawing what you see and how the mind wants to impose what it knows on to the page, but you must draw what you see to make it look as you would like.  Well he did it and was so happy with himself.  So when he drew his Snoopy and Woodstock picture I was quite impressed. 

He was going to draw it for his Tia Bel, but he liked it so much he couldn't part with it.  So we're working on a piece that might be suitable to send to Tia Bel.

I just love how he gets so engrossed in drawing and really seems to enjoy it.  As I've said before, he's a lot like his dad, but there's a little bit of me in him too.  That would be the Pajama Days and Peaceful Time-:).