The Eyes Have It!

~Mothers and daughters....So different yet so alike. I came across this photo of myself and my three daughters recently and couldn't stop looking at it. We all are so different, but so much alike. Visually. It's in the eyes. Hazel it is...the four of us. And, I think it's in our smiles. Big, toothy grins, always. Happy faces. Happy souls.


~Couldn't help but compare the photo of my girls and me to one of the few pictures I have of my own mother with her two sisters and my grandmother. I never knew my grandmother but Mom always said she was a sweetheart. I just know I would have loved her. My mother is the one on the left. The three sisters resemble each other somewhat, at least in the photo. I only knew one of them personally and she looked a lot like my mother...especially in the eyes.

~Our son has the eyes, too. Tiger eyes, we call them. Big like his father's and hazel like his mother's. In the little Connecticut town where our kids grew up, people could always identify them as a family member by their eyes. The eyes have it! Yes, they do. The eyes have it.

Isn't envy one of the seven deadly sins?

My gut reaction each time I read Teresa Porter's blog, www.cherrycheckers.blogspot.com, is envy. Teresa does the most extraordinary things with her hands and her sewing machine. I first discovered her when she painted her kitchen floor in a black and white diamond pattern that looks absolutely divine. The perfection of Teresa's work is evident in everything she does. Her curtains and slipcover projects, are done with such expertise, you can see it even in a photograph. Teresa is the official seamstress for www.theletteredcottage.blogspot.com, which remains one of the top ten lifestyle blogs on the net with thousands of hits per day.
Once I get over my envy at Teresa's talents, I become inspired. I can sew up an apron with efficiency...or a blouse, or even a pair of curtains. But attempting a slip cover frightens the heck out of me. Yet, when I look at the lovely projects Teresa has done, I am so inspired that "I think I can...I think I can."
Here in sunny Florida, we have a smallish barrel chair that swivels. It's very comfortable and doesn't take up a lot of room so it works well here in our modest little condo. However, it's white! White doesn't stay clean for long, especially in a place where the newspaper is well read. Every notice how newspaper ink seems to find its way around the house? On the
walls, the phone, and in our case, the arms of the white swivel chair. As luck would have it, I found some beautiful, off-white cotton duck fabric that was inexpensive enough to buy several yards of the stuff. (I had no idea how much I would need.) I draped, and pinned and cut and sewed. Swore, and grimaced and pouted and sewed. Finally ended up with a slipcover that does the job, although I'm not sure I should admit to anyone that I made it. The good part is that it comes off easily and can be washed when the newspaper ink builds up on the arms. The little pillows I added can be turned around to get double wear. And the chair looks clean for the first time in a long time.
So...thanks Teresa, for the inspiration. You told me I could do it and I did it. But...don't look too close. I don't think it can pass the test of scrutiny. Maybe I'll get better with time. Hmmm, let's see what else I can cover.

~It's cold in Florida too!~



~I'm not feeling particularly prolific the past few days. There's always so much to do trying to settle in when we get to our place here in Florida. I hate unpacking just as much as I hate packing. But we do have a "real" closet here with lots of room...unlike the one free-standing wardrobe thingy we have back at home. It's just that everything looks wrinkled and forlorn after its been in the car for four days.~

~Hubby carted along his inversion table this year so he could "decompress" while here in sunny Florida. I'm quite impressed at the way he has taken a severely debilitating back condition and single handedly corrected it to the point that he can now walk again and do most of the things he always did. Faithfully doing his PT exercises, riding his bike and hanging upside down several times a day seems to have healed areas of his spine that were in line for surgery just last March. Just look at him...isn't that impressive? It always pays to try and do everything you can before having back surgery, but self help remedies don't always solve the problem. In his case, they seem to have worked. However, bottom line is that we have a huge piece of equipment sitting in the living room. But...some inconveniences are worth the trouble.~

~You all probably know that the temps here are chilly. However, it's a good week for us to get everything cleaned and in order without working up a sweat. Today, it's raining, but I need to grocery shop and do a Walmart run anyway. We always enjoy our home no matter where we are, so we'll probably take advantage of the weather this afternoon and read, blog or play on the computer...comfortably nestled in with no threat of snow!~