We made it to Florida from North Carolina, but the question is... Where next?
We are staying in my mom's little cottage. Little being the operative world. It is only about 650 square feet. Cozy I guess you could call it.
I never thought I would see myself back in Pensacola, but now that we are here it is not too bad... just a little bad. The grandma's helping with the wee man are nice I have to admit.
Also the housing prices here are nice too. So maybe, just maybe we'll stick around for a while.
I love you dear hunny bunny. It has been a blissful 9 years and I look forward to many, many more.
We have had lot going on in the last few weeks with packing and looking for a new place (for those of you who do not know, we have sold our house), that this day has almost passed us by. Though we did not buy each other a trinket of love, this is what I send to you...
So that was an interesting challenge on Episode 2 .
Letting the models do the shopping. Who thought of that idea? I thought it was hilarious to see these girls running around buying 1 yard of this and 1 yard of that. I know they are thin, but whew! Hold on, I have to get a tissue to wipe away the tears I was laughing so hard.
Okay. Okay. So Suede won the competition, but what an idiot. Poor thing. Trying to look cool talking about himself in the third person to everyone else but the judges because he knows how absolutely retarded he sounds.
Good-bye dear Wesley. We never really got to know you. So I have nothing good or bad to say about you.
We have a contract on the house, again. This one looks like it will stick. We had the inspection yesterday. Things went well. Now we are just waiting for the go ahead from the buyers to start our packing process.
Oh wait... but where are we going? We have no idea.
We have been to Asheville. Twice. No luck on finding a home. Or rental.
We have been to Pensacola. It was hot. Very hot. There is however a family house that we can stay in until we get our bearings together. And figure out... where next.
My vote was Maine. Hunny bunny said, "No. Too cold."
Then I said, "Austin. Chicago, Peoria, Charlotte..."
Hunny bunny said, "Hmmm."
That is the problem with him working from home. We can live anywhere. Too many options.
For now. I guess it is Florida. Why not. At least we have a place to put our things. A very small place to put our things. Well, most of our things. Some things I think will have to go to storage.
But wait. We will not be in Florida for that long before having to come back to Greensboro for our month long little working vacation in Europe.
Wow. Stress. I know Europe should be fun, but what timing.
Dear hunny bunny and I have never been huge television fans, but with TIVO... TV is made easy. I have wasted more time watching commercial free television then sewing lately. Uh-oh. Maybe we should not renew our contract and cancel our cable.
Okay.
So I had high expectations for Jerry Tam, but he was "out" in the very first episode.
The first package I received was a couple of crafty booklets that I had been admiring for sometime now. I could not find them local, so I had to order them through Ebay.
So I belong to this swap group on Flickr called "A little fabric, a little chocolate."
I received my package today and whoa boy did junienone go all out! Here is a photo of the 'goods' she sent me.
You may be asking yourself, but where is the chocolate? In my profile I mention I am not a huge chocolate fan and she sent me the wonderful chewy sweet tarts (my favorite, how did she know) and chewy sprees (also close to the top of favs).
What a great way to start a day!
She is also a wonderful quilt maker. Check out her Etsy shop here and be sure to support makers of handmade goodies!
Ken may laugh that I will spend a good part of the day (at least once a week) at the local 'junk shops', but hey... you just never know what you will find.
Like this drum kit for instance.
$10 bucks and Ben loves it... so it makes it all worth while.
Oh. Ben was not sweating like a rock star, it was a pop-icey explosion!
Mary, Mary, quite contrary... How does your garden grow?
Why?
By the square foot of course!
Dear hunny bunny built me two great planters and two wonderful compost bins over the Memorial holiday weekend. They are great, very economical, and earth friendly.
I hope this works. I was really getting excited after reading his book that I purchased from the thrift store for ten cents.
Here are a few photos for your entertainment.
And of course, Ruby has the new job of keeping squirrels out! She is taking this job very seriously.
Now I just have to figure out what I want to use in between the beds and as a buffer into the yard to make that area a little more aesthetically pleasing (bark, paving stones).
Happy Mother's Days to all you crafty and non-crafty mamas out there in blogland.
Surprise, surprise!!! Dear hunny bunny not only listened to me, but got me something I had been wanting for sometime now... a bigger rotary cutting mat!
As a child, I never had a Barbie (okay, I had one Barbie, but I cut off all of her hair and threw her away a week later) or played with dolls or tea sets, etc. You see where this is going. I was not the average 'little girl' growing up. I was very much a "tom boy" and liked to run around outside every chance I got.
Anyhow, last year I saw her. Blythe was her name, or her manufacturer. Whatever you want to call it. I saw her and thought to myself, I could change my ways. I am a little older, a lot wiser, and a lot more crafty. I feel like at this stage in my life, "I could play with dolls."
So I spent countless hours online, after Ben would go to sleep, searching for 'the perfect girl' for me. I finally found her and 'Tailor Gibson' is her name (or her 'given' name I should say, once we hang out and sew for a bit she will tell me who she really is).
Seen here with her 'hootie' friends, courtesy of Sibi!. Thank you Sibi!
The previous owner shipped her to me in the original box, the only thing she did was trim her bangs. She is cute, but I have an idea that one day she will want to change a little more than her bangs.
Wow! How lucky can one girl get? I can tell you right now, that I am one lucky lady.
After buying my first Gocco last year, I have made a few small runs of gocco'd cards, etc.
Mainly robots. I love robots.
However, I was always scared to 'flash' too many screens. Mainly because the bulbs are so expensive and hard to find. Well, I started doing a little research and found out that in the early 1990's Riso (Gocco's parent company) produced a series of machines that would flash a screen without the use of disposable bulbs. Yep. You heard me correctly. This crazy contraption does not require the toxic, costly, earth hating bulbs!
It does however, take a xenon lamp (like you would find in a thermal imager). Those are a little costly (about $70 beans) in and of themselves, but you can produce over 200 screens with the use of a single (okay dual) bulbs. Well worth it in my opinion.
Okay, okay... so back to the luck factor!
I have been all over the internet in search of this Riso screenfax (that is what they are technically called). I placed ads in Craigslist.com in the cities where I had friends or family who would ship it to me. I even went as far as placing an ad on Ebay's 'want it now' forum.
Well as you know, luck would have it and I found one for sale on Craigslist in Atlanta and the man wanted $150 bucks for it. Eureka! I struck gold!!! Roadtrip here I come. Well the day I am getting ready to drive and pick it up and the man emails me back and said, "Nevermind." What?!? Nevermind?!? How can that be...? I will tell you how that can be. Someone offered him more money and he decided to sell it to the highest bidder, but this is America and he has that right. All I can say is, "JACKA$$!"
After months and months, I had finally given up hope that I would ever see or own one of these beautiful machines.
Then one day, my birthday of all days, I get an email from an Angel. This Angel's name is Andrea. Her email says, "I have a Riso. Are you still looking for one?"
Yes! Yes! I am still looking for one!
I emailed her back immediately. She responded just as quickly. And a deal was made.
She sold it to me for her purchase price from 10+ years ago + shipping. She was just glad to be rid of it as it was taking up space in her studio apartment and she never used it. Her husband was also glad to be rid of it as he has moved it to 4 different states. I guess we will see how my dear hunny bunny feels about it when we have to move it to Florida (if we ever sell this house in NC.)
Today, well today the 'beast' arrived (as Andrea so lovingly called it). I unwrapped it, blew off a little (okay alot) of dust and plugged it in and by George she works! She does need a new pad, but NEHOC has them in stock and one is on its way to me as I type this post.
So, drum roll please....
Here she is... my RISO SP-265! I will call her... I will call her... oh shoot. I do not know what I will call her.
Any suggestions?
Yeah. Now once my new pad arrives, watch out Gocco world. I may just have to brave up and show you what I can do with this bad girl!
Okay. Time for bed. I know what I will be dreaming of tonight.
Well tonight I have decided to break out the old 1950's Columbia turntable and an old Brazilian bossa nova LP to set the mood while I finish some projects.
Little did I know the music would attract some 'company.' Not only did I get a little company, but I also got a show. The music was such a hit that we listened to it for hours. (I guess Ben likes bossa nova.)
It was cute. As soon as the record was over, Ben would jump up and sign, 'more! more! more!'
If you like you could watch a bit of this action on you tube.
Well a few hours later, I was able to finish this sweet little bag for my girlfriend in Seattle. Now I just need to get off of my duff and mail it to her. Because I am sure she is wondering where it is. (Sorry it's so late, but you see what I am dealing with here!)
Also started a little pair of pirate pants for Benjamin (you can see the scraps of fabric around his neck... we have decided to call it his 'business tie'). Actually, I finished the pants, but they were a wee bit big so I will need to fix them another day.
Well another year has past and it has been good to me. I have been told that the older you get the better the years get as well. If that is the case, then bring them on... who am I to argue with that logic?
We kept our celebration very low key. I spent my time at home with my wonderful husband and son.
Benjamin drew me that fantastic card you see. Since Ruby could not sign the card, Ben decided to draw her picture on it for me. ^_^
Talk about love.
I love my husband, I love my son, and I love my dog.
I still have no voice (oh, I did not tell you about that. No worries, it is a dull tale). The weather has turned cold, again. The house is still not clean.
I started with coffee (the breakfast of champions), some cleaning, had a little visit with a neighbor, and more cleaning, then a little sewing, and then more cleaning. When nightfall came the wee man went to bed and dear hunny bunny and I sat down to watch Juno.
What a great movie. Much better than I expected.
My day/night started to look up as twilight was nearing, but the icing on the cake was when Benjamin started crying and I put him in the bed with me. Now many of you may say, "Wha???" Let's just say he was sleepy eyed and giving out love, hugs, and kisses that we may not see the older he gets.
Well, we have been waiting for this moment for a long time. The upstairs bathroom renovation is complete.
Here are some before photos...
Here is a during renovation shot...
This is what was found inside the wall during renovation... could explain why some idiot cut through the beams on the floor.
Drum roll please....
Our finished bathroom!!!
Now some of you may ask... "That was a pretty cool bathroom to start. Why renovate it?"
All I can say is... "Please refer to the 'Blatz' beer can." Looks like someone was drinking on the job and cut through the floor supports on the second floor of the house when they were doing the plumbing and the floor was quickly sinking in.
However, we still have a fabulous and somewhat new bathroom (we kept the original tub and had it refinished). We tried to keep with the feel of the home and I think we achieved that goal pretty well.
Thank you to our wonderful carpenter. (You know who you are)
It turned out to be a wonderful day. I woke up to the most beautiful sight.
When the wee man got up, we got him dressed to play in the snow. He and Ruby had a blast and played for hours. It was cute seeing them chase each other around and around and around.
And check out this cute wee booty in the snow bib!
The snow we had today was my kind of snow. We woke up to its beauty, played until it was time to have some homemade hot cocoa, and it was all melted in time for the wee man's afternoon nap. Oh yeah, and it did not interfere with hunny bunny taking me to a nice Thai dinner and a romp through Home Depot.
The family took a nice long walk around downtown (very, very windy day for a walk), we had lunch at Fincastles (mediocre burgers, but wow did I have two of the best looking guys in the joint sitting at my table), and we topped it all off with a very fun visit to the Greensboro Children's Museum (I got to do the hokie pokie... yee haw).
Why? you ask... because I'm sugar fee of course. My dear hunny bunny and wee man are in the mountains of North Carolina playing in the snow and I... I am here all by my lonesome... YEAH!!!
First break in two years. Do I sound excited? I am. Well, and a little sad. I miss them when they are not here, but on the other hand I can get so much done.
Well I know I have been gone a while, but I am never far away.
We are getting ready to have our upstairs bathroom gutted to the studs and remodeled. This will be our last big project and our home will practically be new. Last year we remodeled the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, this year will be the upstairs bathroom and maybe a central air conditioner (I hope)!
As the demolition and construction come along I will be sure and blog about it.
Other new stuff news:
My wee man had his second birthday this past Saturday. I know, I know... I am a bad mommy as I have no photos of the party to share, but hey... I was behind the scenes making sure everything was running smoothly.
Well, I do have one I can share. The little man got some sweet cash for his birthday from one of the g-ma's down in Florida. So mom, this one's for you.
Also, found a great artist (new to me), and purchased one of her adorable prints.
My other new find was this great pottery piece. Found it at the Goodwill for .99 cents... what a score. It is completely original as it has a little signature in the clay on the bottom. It is probably worthless, but soo cool.
Right now I am using it for a pencil holder, but that may change... hmmm...
Well so much for the "storm of the century". I woke up this morning, looked out my craft room window and was quite disappointed by what I saw. To top it all off... it started to rain and what little snow we did get was washed away by lunchtime.
No love lost however, I was still stocked up and ready to cook something warm and tasty.
I know, I know. I'm sure someone is saying, "It's already a week into the new year and you're just now starting to think about your resolutions."
I'm a procrastinator. What can I say??? As you can see, I've started my list, but have not gotten very far as to what my resolutions will be.
I like writing lists. It keeps me organized and "on track", however when it comes to my resolutions I never know where to begin. That's when I keep it all in my head.
My number one goal for the year: ORGANIZE!
As you can see my crafting space is lacking organization. (Here is a secret... so is the rest of the house.) That one little corner is the happiest "dark space" in my room. I'm just not brave enough to show you the rest. Maybe I'll show you once it is ORGANIZED! ^_^
