Having a day off is not always good...

So, I had my usual Wednesday off work, I sooo look forward to Wednesdays, and sleeping in, and a late shower, and taking time for a yummy breakfast. I normally don't have a lot planned, so I wind up cleaning, watching tv, surfin' the net, and keeping my 3 year old from injuring himself in a way that requires a trip to the ambulatory care center. If it only needs a band-aid, sweet.

At some point yesterday I decided that my home needs to look like a Pottery Barn catalog. This is difficult for 2 major reasons: 1. I have a 2 bedroom, just under 1000 sq ft home. It's hard to make it look like anything other than sardines in a can. 2. I had a day off. Hence, I cannot afford Pottery Barn. lol But I got a new catalog, and a new PB Kids catalog, so of COURSE, I spend my time scouring them cover to cover and making a wishlist. I also looked up some past holiday items on EBAY. And THAT'S when I started feeling crafty.

Have you ever seen the little chair-backers they make, or used to make? Yes, Kate had them on a Valentines episode of J&K+8, and I VOWED that if she can have cute things like that with 8 kids, surely I can manage with (soon to be) 2.

I do not sew.
I do not do anything that requires much thought, really.
I DO reallllly love it though when I make the cutest cookies in the class for preschool parties, or spend 10 hours on a Pablo- replica Backyardigans birthday cake and sigh modestly and smile when people say "You MADE that?!?". Or when people walk into our birthday parties and say "Wow."
And I DO really like it when I go above and beyond in ways other parents just don't see a point in doing, because MY kid had something theirs didn't. So sue me. (My mom-guilt, I'm sure will be discussed in a future posting.)

But I love it so much because I never felt like that as a child. My mom never went above & beyond, well, ANYTHING, to make me feel like I had or was something special. She was the one that on the class party sign up sheet, said to put her down for cups. I'm the mom that stands there analyzing what is the most possibly HARDEST, TIME-CONSUMING, and EXPENSIVE thing on the list. And that is what I sign up for.

But I digress.
I saw on ebay someone selling PBK chairbackers- spiders, for halloween, for $35 a piece. And my lightbulb went off and I was like "Phheeesssshhhh. I can make those for under $20." So when the hubby came home, I explained my idea and he gave me a blank look and said

"So you're telling me, there's going to be bags hanging off the chairs, filled with candy, all the time?"

"No. Focus. FOCUSSSSS. There will be a cute, HOLIDAY bag on the chair for a DAY. ONE DAY. WHATEVER HOLIDAY IT IS THAT I MAKE THE BAG FOR. To make our children happy. And it doesn't have to be candy. It can be a book or some dumb little toy. Whatever. Just don't worry about it, I'll show you when I'm done. And I can't AFFORD the Pottery Barn ones and I don't think it'll be hard to make them."

"Oh. You're so thrifty. And your boobs look HUGE today."

Men.

So I took my happy ass off to Hobby Lobby, excited I actually had something to...hobby. I got all my supplies, for $13, and texted my friend, who IS crafty (she even sewed her own diapers. that's dedication.) and quickly explained my idea and that I would be in need of some simple sewing skills. So we made plans for today.

Well, apparently, God did not want me making spider chair backers today, because her sewing machine broke and my demon child tried bringing her kids to the "other side". It ended in lots of tears, spankings, and yelling. And that's just what demon child did to ME. It ended when I came home, took all the toys from his room and found them new homes in other areas of the house (i.e. my dining room) and daddy came home and we all sat down and talked about being nice to each other and why we were all mad. And then read The Cat in the Hat.

As I looked at the new positions of the toy bins/box, I thought, my home looks sooooo much better when these toys are not in here for everyone to see. Way closer to Pottery Barn.

So, my chairbackers are still in pieces waiting to be sewn. I'll let you know how that goes.