My Dream Linen 80's house

Today I got my restoration Hardware catalog. 300 pages of linen covered bliss. and some very oddly scaled ceiling lights but they weren't linen so who cares about them.

In all seriousness I want a linen couch. This one. Or rather I did when I saw it at the outlet for really cheap but not so much now that it would cost me more than 3,000.00 dollars. Who doesn't need a fancy couch for their house. The best part? This one is comfortable and- covered with linen. Linen. The new luxury fabric.

The other day I was thinking- How could I make my whole home a sort of "Linen" color.
Restoration Hardware came to my rescue. Now I can have a couch, pillows, coffee table, chairs, drapes and furniture all the color of linen. Those Cart Tables really have sort of a linen color to them. So trendy right now and in just the right color! Or I could just get one covered In Linen. I am so excited that my outside table can be linen colored and my chairs and my dining table and all the chairs around it could be linen.

I was hoping to find some peculiar looking chairs- like an egg chair just like one I saw in a museum- only in Linen instead of another fabric. They have one with Burlap on the back. What a wild ride that would be. Linen+Burlap= the best ever.



people are always saying that architectural elements are good for a house. So I thought my 80s house could use a few columns here and there. I could put my kids on top of them for time out. No more wandering out of time out now! Or I could put a stone sphere on them. The best part? Both the color of linen.

Then for the table I might branch out to an almost duck cloth color. Although I could never do those plants- hello green was not in my color scheme! One thing I never realized before was that Antlers are close to the color of linen! So I thought about getting together all my hunting trophies and crafting them into a massive light fixture of death. Hopefully I'm good at cleaning things- right? But then I realized that Restoration Hardware had that Linen lighting Covered! I won't even need to bust out my linen lamp shades.

Or Will I?

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Marriage Excellence: Chairs

Well once we got gifted Chairs from John's dad.
Then we forgot to take them with us when we moved to PA.
Then John's dad gave them to someone else because he figured we didn't want them if we didn't take them.
This reminds me of something a friend of mine talked about in marriage counseling: You don't get to decide how people spend their money.
But how unrealistic can that possibly be? Who hasn't been mad at their parents for getting a sibling a better birthday present or an expensive wedding? We need coping mechanisms.

Marriage Excellence tells us that we can't be responsible for how other people spend their money- Like if your in laws buy one person a house and not your spouse. Or a car or a set of furniture. Everyone has a right to spend their money how they want, so if you complain about it you are acting entitled to it, which is incorrect. To help with this, the Excellence plan has a few coping mechanisms.
1. You can criticize the item everyone else got all you want.
2. You could probably also criticize the people who got the item but that's dangerous. It's not their fault they are the favorites- you are lucky they don't laugh in your face about it. Unless they do.
3. You can make yourself a free shirt on Vista Print that says "I am my in laws least favorite."
4. You can talk about how you knew your mom was holding out on you because she wanted to give it to your other sister.
5. Finally- you can shop online and pretend to make bills and send them to your family.


I really think two of these chairs from Horchow would be such a bold choice for the front room- don't you? Total Bill $3,645.00

or this couch would look great :

Do you have any suggestions for Chairs? I wonder how hard it is to learn how to make Chairs.
During the Marriage excellence exercise you don't have to try to find the least expensive chairs so your family doesn't feel like you are trying to get them to spend a ridiculous amount of money on you. Just find the ones that are actually your favorite.

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The Road Trip Tryout.

I know you might want to go on a road trip with me and my children. Just the other day I volunteered to drive to Colorado with a friend.

oddly enough, she is no longer interested in road tripping with me.

I don't know why- all we did was drive to the outlets in Lancaster together. Baby Mark cried the whole time. Literally almost the entire 2.5 hour drive in the car he was crying. I tried to time it so he could sleep over his nap time but he had other ideas.

also Danielle fussed about her neck hurting.

and about someone pretending her new bedding was a towel.

and about her headphones getting wrapped up in her hair.

and about being hungry.

and about being thirsty.

she didn't really cry about sharing her game, which I was happy about. Or maybe I just forgot that part.

the girls did try to unbuckle and climb around the car.

and we moved the seats around

and we filled the car too full really.

and Danielle peed her pants in the middle of a store.

Mark finally fell asleep after 12 hours of sleeping- he learned to self soothe from all that great sleep training people recommended to us. I guess Danielle's new big girl seat is too big for her since the seat belt gave her a cut on her neck. I felt terrible when I realized what had happened, just like the whole time the children were crying or complaining I wanted to stop driving and help them. I guess I just don't press on very well, which is probably why it took us 7 hours to drive to New Jersey the other day even though it should have taken 3.5.

I guess if you really want to get somewhere you have to keep driving.

Nichole said I could have warned her.

You can imagine that I was non-plussed, is this not one of the greatest joys of parenting? Don't all children have a constant stream of screaming or complaints in the car?

Danielle, with the help of one dear salesman, learned what Jibbets were, and is now the proud owner of a some which were placed on her new crocs that I bought to replace the urine soaked shoes she had with her. I knew I should have brought along an extra outfit- confirming my faith that my mother's intuition is indeed growing. Also for all you parents if you are buying one light up fairy you should really buy one for each foot or your child will drive you nuts with stomping.

Nichole claims that children like Mark should be able to stay asleep when they fall asleep in the car.

I suppose next she will think it is inappropriate to climb all over furniture at restaurants and try to crawl all over the floor with the baby. I don't know how people ever leave their homes with children. Maybe they have Alien children like Darla that are really good.

Nichole has two girls aged three and two (the three year old is almost four) and they didn't seem to contribute at all to the complaining.

But I think it's important to contribute. I guess I'll be searching for a new friend for road trips with children.

Do you have any road trips planned?

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Cheap

Once again I found some things I want. The first is a pair of shoes that is on sale for only 329.99. Too bad it is only in size 6.5. Oh wait, that doesn't really make a difference. But they are beautiful.
the second is a book that my sister in law Carlie sent me a link to. The Author was featured on NPR. It looks really interesting. here is a quote from the NRP site:
"In the world of Cheap, "design" has become a stand-in for quality. Companies such as Target, H & M, and Zara offer consumers the look they love at a price they can live with — but at what true cost? I n Sweden we visit IKEA, the global furniture retailer made famous and fabulously successful by a scheme of designing not just for low price but to low price. The consequences of this are both obvious and subtle. IKEA makes furniture available to all at a low price, which means college students, young couples, and others on a budget can furnish their homes in style. But IKEA does not overly concern itself with what Homer Simpson calls "fall-apart." The company designs for easy construction, uniformity, cheap production, and transportability around the globe. Ultimately, what it markets is disposable, with everything that implies. The genius of IKEA and other cheap-chic purveyors is that they have made fashionable, desirable, and even lovable objects nearly devoid of craftsmanship. The environmental and social implications of this are insidious and alarming."
There is an interview with the author on NPR that you can listen to. I thought of this because I finally caved in and bought some of those adjustable height table legs at Ikea. They were 25 dollars for each side of the table and can be tall enough that Danielle can't get them. Also maybe parents of toddler's need some disposable furniture? Danielle and her friend have convinced me that all furniture should be subjected to crayon tests before purchasing. Why is it so easy for kids to learn bad habits from other kids? Her friend can also say a lot more than Danielle but that's not what she picked up- send her into a room and no matter where it is, this duo will find a pair of crayons. Even if you already went through and tried to remove all of them. I remember having lots of cheap bookcases when we first got married. Then we moved to pennsylvania and didn't take the bookcases with us since they were broken in some way. Now we just don't have bookcases. Sometimes I miss the cheapies with their broken handles and shelves and drawers you had to use a spatula to open. My boycot of crappy furniture has also meant that Danielle doesn't have a dresser, which has been interesting. Her clothes which should be in their bins frequently end up on the floor.

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