Friday, not too freaky

It rained and rained yesterday. Then today was dry and clear...right up to the point where I got home and started out on our walk. It was cloudy, and then the lighting and thunder started...at which point I hightailed it home.
I want those little dogs to get their walk, but I'm not going to be outdoors in a storm to make it happen. Then the rain started and it's been pretty steady for the last three-four hours. Not heavy, but just a continuous rain. Thomas, listening to this as he lay on the bed with shivering dogs (scared of thunder), said sourly, "They said it wasn't going to rain today. This isn't supposed to be happening."
My replay was that it doesn't really matter what "they" said, because all the evidence was that it was happening. He gave up and went to bed early, lights off at about 9. I am still up. I've unpacked some more boxes and put things away upstairs, setting up my sewing table so I can get back to work on my next quilt.
I've been watching youtube videos on how to do upholstery. If it was just a matter of redoing a seat cushion, I might give it a shot, but I am not going to have my first project be a large one like a rocking chair. That way lies too many tears...and madness.
I have a plan for tomorrow that involves going to pick up my new chair and taking it to the uphosterer for an estimate. If the price is right I'll make an appointment to drop it back off. Then it's home to paint it. Then I have to do some baking for a get-together tomorrow night. After that I'll probably need to rest.

This chair is making me anxious.

I am buying this from craigslist:

 

It is a "comfortable vintage rocker," to quote the craigslist ad. It was cheap. I decided to buy it on the spur of the moment. I have a wild hare (something my mother always said about impulse decisions) to paint the frame with Annie Sloan chalk paint and then have it reupholstered to go in my newly re-painted living room.

Now that I've made this insane decision, I have so many questions. I have never in my life had anything reupholstered and I am a nervous wreck. How does one know if one is being charged fairly for new upholstery? What if I get ripped off? What fabric should I choose? Who supplies the fabric - me or the upholsterer? Do upholsterers have books of fabric for me to look at and choose from (like wallpaper books at the decorators?) or am I supposed to source it myself and provide it? If so, how in the world am I supposed to know how much fabric this chair will take? What if I make a bad fabric choice? Why have I done this to myself?

I also have to decide what color to paint it. I've been haunting websites about using the ASCP and there are a couple of colors that look like they would go with the new paint (Sherwin Williams Quietude) and I keep coming back to the crazy idea of painting the chair the bright Orange and using some kind of brown or linen like fabric. Is that crazy? Maybe I should go quieter? Or heck, maybe I should go big or go home?

I also need to start on a new quilt to hang in my newly repainted living room because the red, blue, green, and ivory one I had in there before Does Not Go At All. 

I should have known that once you start redecorating, it's hard to stop.

I promise that my personal tragedy will not affect my ability to do hair

Today was one of those days. The days where from the moment you get up things are just...off. Not good. First I got up and walked the dogs and it was misty and foggy and th roads were filthy and wet. Ginger was all over the place and didn't want to get off the road and kept walking down the center line and people honked at me, and finally I lost it a little and yelled at her and jerked on her chain. And then I felt like both a mean person and a bad, guilty person. She is a jerk, but that doesn't excuse me from being a jerk too.

Then I went to the podiatrist for another stupid shot. My foot had been feeling better up until Monday night at yoga when I got a bad case of the shooting pains. Now I'm back to where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I got to work and guess what day it was? Flu shot day! Yep, I got my second shot of the day before 10 am. Did not expect that!

After work I came home and dived into my favorite thing - cleaning off shelves so the painters can paint the walls behind them. Cleaning is not on my list of top 100 things I like to do. I think it's higher on my list than getting shots, but only by a tiny margin. I have been reading my book about decluttering, so this sort of works in with my desire to streamline the house/my life.

Anyway, we are almost done with the cleaning and tidying. I identified things to be thrown away, donated to the church yard sale, donated to the guild's fabric sale, and things to be returned to the people who lent them to me. All that goes in today's small WIN column.

I found out that my aunt (mom's sister) who has been very ill has been diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. That was one of the diseases we used to fear (from ticks) when I was a little kid, but this is the first time I've ever heard of someone actually having it. I'm glad they got a diagnosis and that it is treatable. I know my cousin has been very worried about her. Another WIN.

I may not stay up for the debate tonight. Unlike all the fence-sitting Undecideds, I know who I'm voting for and the strain and stress on my nerves from listen to politicians talk probably isn't a great idea. As Stephen Dubner told Kai Ryssdahl on Marketplace tonight, "One things politicians are always good at is making promises they have no way of keeping." Ugh.