Fatherhood

A very happy Father's Day to the dads in our lives

Recess

I did let them out to play a bit while they were here. 

 ...even if mama bejos ended up with a bruised hip and papa could only hang on with one hand

Project Chair, part 3

As you can tell by the pictures it was the figurative "we" who completed this project. It was mama bejos who measured, cut, and sewed. It was papa bejos, who single-handedly stretch and pulled the material to re-dress the naked chair - and I mean that  literally as he is still recovering from hand surgery and doesn't have full range of motion with his left hand. I was there to help with him with this, as I wasn't about to sit back and let them do all the work, but mostly my job was to wield this pneumatic staple gun and remove misplaced staples when we didn't figure things out on the first try. I tried to be all Buddhist about it "thank you for the opportunity to practice using this tool" but that part was just plain old annoying.

And with just one night left we had to take the chair inside to finish up the work. I worked them hard - there is no doubt about that from anyone. I mean check out the bad lighting. They could report me to OSHA.

Project Chair, part 2

And then the deconstruction began, which sounds easier than it really is. There are an incredible amount of staples and tacks underneath all that cushioning of a chair. Each and every one must be removed. 

This tool was a well used instrument that we got lots of practice with.

 

Quite unlike construction demolition projects I have participating in before (hello Courtney!) this project requires careful prying, peeling, ripping, labeling and documentation for the rebuilding process. This work was much, much slower than I imagined it would be. Just to be clear, when I say "we" I really mean mama and papa bejos because they are in fact responsible for about 90% of this project.

Project Chair, part 1

I bought this chair a good 4 years ago to solve a chair shortage we were experiencing in our then new house. Chair shortage!? LOL - that couldn't be further from the truth these days. But I digress...

This lovely was a steal for a mere $15.

I love the shape but, as you may be able to tell, it was far from clean and sported a few scars from a life well lived. I then learned that the art of reupholstering involves BIG bucks, getting estimates ranging from $400-$600. And so it has lived, as-is, in our living room for 4 long years.

I then stumbled upon a smoking deal on fabric at the very same thrift store, and was determined to  reupholster this bad guy myself. And that too sat in the garage for a good long time. Luckily my mama & papa bejos are more ambitious than me and took on a reupholster project this spring that built enough confidence in them to haul their equipment out here to tackle my chair.

Stay tuned!

Reboot

Mr. bejos and I hit the trail recently for the first backpacking trip that we have been on since bejos boy came into our lives. Thank you mama and papa bejos!! After much debating we finally settled on a trail. We knew we wanted a not-to-long trail, water, and warmer weather to avoid the situation we had last time we tented. Have you noticed the patterns of decision making difficulties that we have endured around these parts recently...jees, make up your mind already bejos clan.

It started out a very hot and dry hike, but we knew that there was water just a mere 4 miles down the trail. 

And the oasis below made it well worth the trip.

A good dose of dis-connecting, sweating in the desert heat, and swimming in the hidden gems of Arizona wilderness make mr. and mrs. bejos happy people.

bejos boy

I have been trying to get a good shot of this busy body forever but he doesn't exactly sit still for very long. Don't you just dig that hair??