leder legends

We have decided on a cost-cutting measure for our Toppers. We send out a LOT of fliers or menus during the year...probably 100,000 pieces of mail. Up until now, the printing company has done the printing AND the mailing. If we did the mailing ourselves it would save us a substantial amount of $$. Decision made, assignment given to XXX and the company is fine with that but OOPS the fliers have been printed with their code or permit or whatever ...so they could print us labels and all we would have to do (just this first time I'm happy to say) is attach labels,  XXX thinks "that's easy" and "let's do it" and the fun begins! 31 boxes arrive plus two boxes of labels!  It still sounds / seems pretty doable, right? NOT!! These are done. All set to go The trouble is if I work hard ...while watching TV ..I can do one box in two hours.  Do the math!  Mailing them ourselves turns out to be easy and we are happy to do it in order to sav...

The large magnet was painted black and pictures were glued on. I need to find a way to attach the pictures so they can be removed easily. I painted it black because otherwise the pictures had to be really close together in order for them to  cover all the print. This way I have a nice black background and edging for the pictures.

I painted the large magnet board with chalk paint Turned out really well. Plus the fridge door opening hand cavity holds the chalk. One chalkboard magnet and one holding a large placement with pictures of my favorite little people.  

Let's see what I can do with these. I received 1 small, 3 medium and 3 large magnet sheets with lots of writing on one side. These stick  really well  to the fridge.   So I sprayed one with spray adhesive (by the way, if you have never used this stuff I highly recommend it ) and applied a large placemat (with adorable pictures on it) and voila! I no longer need to use individual magnets to keep it on the fridge. I then had another aha  moment and took a medium and a large one downstairs and painted one with black paint (remember my chairs?) and one with black chalkboard paint. Time to wait and see. The black one now is a great background for pictures...which I glued on. The chalkboard is going to be used as a reminder board since I always forget things.

WHAT A BUST! Pickles, brie, filo dough. eggs, good bread crumbs...a winning combination I thought. With supplies in hand and a GNO in progress, I began. They looked wonderful but tasted pretty much like nothing...no pickles, no brie..etc  Perhaps a few spices would have helped. At this point I don't really care. I have decided that my tried and true sources for recipes is where I'll go when I get adventurous in the kitchen.  My husband eats ANYTHING!  He threw these in the trash! That's how bad they were! One of the girls brought the fixins for Reuben sandwiches...otherwise we would have starved. Good friends, good food , good beer, good wine...good night!!

I gathered up my courage and my supplies, I mixed the paint and went to town. The paint mixed with the medium and water looked very grey / blue ...scary! All 6 chairs have the first coat. I am determined not to look at them until them are dry but they are looking a shade or two darker.  I love the fact that the pattern of the fabric still shows through the paint. Here is one shot of after the deed was done but not yet dry. It will need another coat. Before pictures: The sun really changed the color... patchy but getting better.. After coat number two: I'm happy!

Snow day...truth be told it never bothered me hearing those words on a winter morning.  There were hills close by! Today was one of those days!  Lots of snow and mighty wind gusts that made me rue the decision to leave the hat and scarf at home. I was in and out of the car so it wasn't too bad.  The world looks very clean today! I'm planning a culinary adventure---puff pastry dough, crumbs, cored-out pickles and brie. I went wild and bought all the ingredients today.  I'm also planning a home-improvement project that will probably get adventure status---black paint, fabric medium and a paintbrush.  Both should be fun but alas, I have to wait until tomorrow to start because I have to go to Bible study tonight.  Life!!

Happy Sunday!  L ast night--               The Grand Rapids symphony was great .   We did not win the powerball ( but I hear no one else did either lol)              We did not get 2-7 inches of snow! (although it is cold!) Good day to huddle by the fire!

Happy Birthday to Andy! son-in-law extraordinaire! I wish we were there to celebrate with him and Sarah. He goes back-country skiing and loves all outdoorsy things.  He takes great pictures! I also wish I could be in AK to babysit the grandkids for a few days!  Nathania is off to Martinique for a holiday with two friends to enjoy beaches and sunshine!! I hope they have wonderful weather since I know that while they do have beaches and sunshine in and around Anchorage they are not so enjoyable without the warmer temperatures ...and that's even in the summer! A friend of mine was complaining of boredom the other day and I am about to join her, unless I can come up with some 'exciting' alternatives to cleaning, cooking, baking and laundry!!!!!   We might go to the GR symphony tonight. We might win the powerball lottery tonight. (Arie bought two tickets hahahahahahaha). and we are going to see Jeff Dunham next Thursday. It's something but not enough. ...

It's a new year...four days gone already!  What happened during those four days in your world? New Year's Day was very quiet over here. I think it was a good way to recover from all the busyness. A couple of days with Ava also helped us to unwind!  Decorations are down ...and the house looks forlorn.  The diet continues and the exercise begins. We walked in the mall this morning...everyone was slow-at least in our group. and yet there are many things to look forward to in 2016, not the least of which is Arie's retirement and his 70th birthday.  Wow!! 70 years! I talked to a gentleman at church who is 94 and still going quite strong.  So the question might be -What are we going to do during the next 24 years? To everything there is a season...looking forward ...this season should be good.  (the new fence is not up...yet  but the old one still stood strong during the winds we had last week)