Confessions of a Bench Warmer

My husband and I used to have an 1893 Schubert upright cabinet grand piano, which we were given for free. It was gorgeous, nice wood carvings and overlays. It didn't keep in tune very well, but you could still play it without wincing overly much. At some point in its existence before it made its way to us, though, someone had dropped the sucker and busted the feet off the front. Inexplicably, no one had ever replaced them, so the keys and woodwork on the front were just sort of...hanging...off the piano.

Over time and subsequent moves before we got it, gravity caused the front to drop even further, and this started to push out the sides of the piano. Once in our possession, Z and I were interested in restoring it, so we contacted several people about doing just that. We were advised by a man who does business refinishing and restoring old pianos not to even invest in the thing, unless it had some sort of sentimental family value. It would cost far too much to bring it back to its former glory, and we could buy a new piano for less than it would take to fix everything wrong with this one. We appreciated his candor, and enjoyed the piano "as-was" for several years.

The thing was monstrously heavy; it was made of solid thick slabs of oak, and weighed somewhere between 650 and 1000 pounds, we never did find out for sure. It took six full grown men with skids and wheels to move the piano into the house; the day it suddenly gave a little more and my infant daughter was sitting right under the keyboard was the day that my husband and I, with my bum hip, moved it out to the porch by ourselves. We didn't want it to squash our kids. That was the death knell for the instrument -- one side had nearly completely separated by that point.

Being the industrious wench that I am, I set to it with screwdrivers -- on my back porch, in January, in Maryland -- and harvested some parts before it was dragged to the elephant graveyard. Bear in mind that this piano was built in the days before Phillips head screws, and over 100 years of aging had cemented those flathead screws in place. My drill did not work, the torque was breaking off the screws in the wood if I set it high enough to actually move the old screws. I had to do it all by hand so I could feel the breaking point. I actually broke a couple of screwdrivers!

We sold the ivory and ebony keys on E-Bay, and kept the wood from the top and front of the cabinet for a future project. I wanted to build a bench out of it, I just thought that would be really neat. Two years passed....

And, spurred by the prospect of 7 extra people in our house for over a week this year, decided we needed some extra seating. So it got built on Thanksgiving day, prior to our family's arrival two days later on Saturday. Here's the finished project:





It fits absolutely perfectly as a window seat -- no cutting required! We did have to do some adjustments for the sides, though, because of the existing windowsill and a non-working electric baseboard heater that runs along the wall. The top is hinged, so we can store toys, blankets, whatever in the narrow space between the wall and the front of the bench. The back half of the bench is over the windowsill, and screwed down using the existing screwholes in the top of the piano.

The kids absolutely LOVE it -- they actually fight over who gets to sit in the windowseat, although in truth they can both fit in there at the same time just fine. A loves to climb up with a blanket, and just lay there and look at the cars going by, or the cows across the street.

I'm not a big floral-y person normally, but this fabric actually works with the walls, curtains, and other furniture in the living room -- and the red hallway that connects to the living room. It suits the look of the old wood, too.

But here's where the "confession" comes into play: I am a horrid seamstress. It takes me hours to do the simplest tasks, sewing is just not one of my talents -- with a machine or by hand. Knowing that family was arriving the next day, by the time I bought the foam and fabric -- I had less than a day. And this would probably take me at least a week to complete properly, allowing time to swear (internally) and rip out seams as necessary. (Since the bench was built on Thanksgiving, I bought the cushion materials on Black Friday. Yikes. I actually crossed myself before leaving the house and heading to JoAnn Fabrics. Having worked retail this time of year, I usually try to avoid shopping the two days after Thanksgiving at all costs, I just do not enjoy being shoved, elbowed, etc.)

So here's what I came up with:



I wrapped the foam up like a present and safety-pinned the bottom all the way down, and the ends, and then put that side down against the wood. It worked out just fine, and there were no bad words involved at all! And no one ever suspected. : )

Festive Home

This year, we're still learning our new house. And we have also learned about the apparent wind problems that knocked over my pot of poinsettias (fake) and ripped the wreath off the front door, depositing it rather rudely on the frozen flowerbed. So no outdoor shots, for now. I may post something later, but with my hectic schedule I'd hedge my bets on "no" rather than "yes".

We are going with simple this year. For a variety of reasons, one of which is that the season tends to get so hectic I like to come home to a little serenity.

We love going for a drive to look at Christmas decorations most years. Inflatable lawn decorations and enough lights on your roof to signal the astronauts are all very nice, and we do enjoy looking at them -- right across the street, actually -- but we're not personally going that route this year. If the kids make noise in subsequent years, I'll probably get out there, freeze my buns off, and mutter angrily at the frozen ground while I'm fighting the ever-present wind, trying desparately to stake something down -- but this is not that year.

The fireplace, with (edited) stockings -- names changed to protect the innocent and all that:



I love just piling some ornaments into a festive container, letting them fall as they may:



Tree, with dog. Don't you just love our "office" ceiling?



And without dog (or ambient lights):



My glass reindeer I acquired somewhere along the line. I never know where to put him. This year he's by the front door:



Doesn't every toilet need a reindeer to stand watch while you do your business?



More Christmas balls, on the counter. We have a tropical fish shower curtain (for the kids, who are into "Finding Nemo" and fish in general), and it's mostly blues and greens with some very vibrant-colored fish in the mix. Next year I think I'll look for some orange and blue ornaments to add, just because.



Santa's watching from the medicine cabinet to make sure you really wash your hands:



And finally, the kitchen, crowded countertop and all. I figured since the pasta container was empty anyway, it would be a perfect place for, yup, more ornaments. And the kids can't reach these:



And lastly, but not leastly, my kitchen windowsill was looking a bit bland, so I shoved some florist's tingting in a pot. It works. Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Today We...

Today we got some measurable snow, although it's still not much.




K was soooo excited! She had been watching the snow since about 9 this morning, and was walking around the house wearing her stocking hat and her mittens. She would sit in our big picture window and talk about it, saying how pretty it was, and that it was falling from the sky outside her window, yada yada. Finally, she looks at me, exasperated, and says, "Mommy, I want to touch it!"

Unfortunately, the snow didn't start to stick until after we took A up to the bus stop at 11. We went out to play a couple of hours later, after it had time to pile up for a little bit -- and boy, was she happy! It started to come down as freezing rain shortly after we ventured outdoors (even though it was 30 degrees), so we hightailed it back inside. Daddy taught Miss K how to make snowballs. It didn't take her long to get the hang of it!

December? Already?

OHM'GOSH is it really December 13th? Already?

My youngest brother is getting married today. Across the country, in California. They are going to have the big ceremony in June, but decided to go ahead and get married now for a myriad of reasons (and no, she's not pregnant). His fiancee has no health insurance, and this way she can be covered. Apparently she had a sinus infection last month and her doctor's bills were nearly $400 by the time they ran all the tests and she got her medications.

So we will be listening by cell phone to the ceremony that's on the west coast, here on the East Coast. And we plan to be out there in June for the big to-do.

We have been absolutely slammed since Z's surgery, with guests in the house, holiday things with friends, church activities and projects, and life in general.

Of course, the activities and general pandemonium are nowhere close to being finished, our last guests that are staying with us arrive in a week and will leave just after the New Year (with another one arriving and leaving in the middle). Every single day we have had someone at the house, sometimes two different sets of people -- one in the morning and one in the evening. And they aren't always planned for ~ one of my other projects, painting the deer, bunnies, and stars in the church nursery has been delayed for a couple of weeks now because every time I start to head up there, someone else shows up at the house! But at least the bear, lamb, and duck pond are finished. Z's sister came up to help and she did the duck pond. It is absolutely fantastic, and all the babies want to try to pet the duckies on the wall.

Today is the first "breathing day" I've had since the beginning of November -- and it's only because my husband is out playing music with another guy this afternoon at a concert. I don't have a car, so I'm not going anywhere, and so far no one has knocked on our door. I probably shouldn't jinx myself, eh?

Don't get me wrong; I love having people over -- and somehow the house has managed to stay pretty straight even with all the unexpected guests, which really is a small miracle for me because I'm nowhere close to attaining my domestic goddess status -- but today's little break is also nice. We had some of Z's family come up and stay with us -- 7 extra people, for 8 days. There were 5 kids total, ages 5,4,3,2, and 1, so noise was a huge factor in the week. It was pure chaos, but we loved every minute of having mothers and sisters and cousins and dads all mixed in our little house. Luckily, we survived with only two chairs and a table that broke, and an air mattress with a slow leak. The picture window, aquariums, and glass front to the fireplace miraculously survived intact.

Let's see; what has happened since, well October, really? A is doing very well. He is in a "normal" pre-school class that has 21 kids in it. A still has difficulties in the areas of communication and fine motor skills. But academically, A is ahead of all the other kids! He can read, knows his letters, numbers, colors, shapes, what the weather is, etc. The biggest problem we have is that he doesn't always want to sit down and do what the other kids are doing. We just have to figure out if it's because of boredom, or because he's sitting down for too long at a time and needs to get up and move around. It is a delight to see the teacher realize our son isn't an idiot, he's actually a pretty smart guy -- he just has a hard time expressing himself.

A is also doing very well with all the upheaval in the house. He took some time off by himself when all of Z's family came up, for a couple of days, but by the end of the week was OK with it and actually trying to engage the other kids to play with him! Z had the brilliant idea of putting up the Christmas tree the day his family left, to take advantage of the already altered routine in the house. It worked! Last year when we put up the tree, A was in a funk for over a week because we moved a desk, thus changing his set routine and "normal" surroundings. This year, since everything was out of whack anyway, he seemed to just take it in stride.

Likewise with all of the friends stopping in unexpectedly -- A does still occasionally need some time off to himself, in the quiet, but he's getting used to it. Excessive noise still bothers him, but Z tried taking A to the mall with one of his cousins and Z's dad while they were up here. A did fine, he loved the huge train they had set up around the holiday decorations, and didn't seem to freak over all the people. Granted, it was the middle of the day on a weekday, so there weren't so many people about anyway, but this is still progress!

Having so many people his size (and K's size) in the house was also beneficial in the potty-training arena. K stayed dry most of yesterday, with only one accident, so we're getting there! Yay! And A has actually gone in the bathroom, taken off his dirty pants, and put on clean ones. By himself.

I'll have to post some pictures of the house soon. When I have a moment....