Big Girl Bedding

Hello :)

Just a quick post today. I won't have time to do a lot this week. I'm working 7 shifts in a row. Totally pumped for it. But I know I won't have time to do anything. Didn't want you to think I'm abandoning you :)

Story got a new quilt! It was a late birthday present from Nina. Story loves it. She went into her room and said, "Oh wow! It's beautiful bedding. What sweet birdies!"

We still have a few things to get for the bed. I have a bird pillow somewhere. It will match perfectly.

So, that's all for now. I hope to be able to craft in the next 2 weeks.

::::::: Fixing update:::::::::

Got the heating element for the dryer. But the thermostat is broken as well. So, we'll be ordering that soon... Also, we are getting our car fixed tomorrow. There is something wrong with the tires, or something.

Living Room Style

I've been browsing Pinterest lately. And it's gotten me thinking about what I want to change in our house. It's bitter sweet. There are soooo many things that I would like to do, but I have to limit myself, mostly because I don't know how long we're going to be here. I would LOVE to get a 3 bedroom place. Or even something with a den, or a dining room, or a garage. We just need one extra room. Just one... If I knew we were going to be here for a long time I would convert the sunroom into an office. So much wasted space. But, for now we're here, and we're not changing anything.

A girl can still dream though :)

Here is a look at what I would like to do to the living room. Nothing too drastic. We have a green striped couch and a different shade green chair. Slip covers are way too expensive. And I'm pretty much terrible at sewing. (Just as JP to show you my pillow)

Don't mind the mad baby

This is terrible picture quality, but I've learned a little since then. This is an older layout we had.

Our living room is essentially divided up into 3 spaces. One corner is "family area". Another corner is "JP". And the a random wall is "dining". We NEVER use our little dinette set. I should probably get rid of it...

It's super cute. But it doesn't fit us. We took the chair away so it only seats 2, and not comfortably. We very rarely have company over. And if we did, we don't have room for a real table. Something to consider now.

Back to what I was saying.

Because we have green furniture I'm trying to bring in more color. I have the yellow sofa table but I need more. I really like the curtains. I think they'll look great in the "newish" room.

So, let me know what you all think. Any suggestions are appreciated :) :)

Coffee Love

Our coffee machine broke about a week ago. It's made for very stressful times. We finally went to the Habitat ReStore in Matthews and picked up a (new to us) one. It was on sale so we paid $5.00 for it. Not too bad :) It's smaller than our old one. And I think it looks nicer too.

Before we moved, I had a really nice little black one that I loved. But when we had to move my entire 2 bedroom house in 8 hours, I wasn't able to clean the coffee out. And then it sat in storage for another 6 months. Um, yuck. Luckily Jordan had one that he brought with him, and that's what we've been using for the past 10 months. We're sad to see it go but I'm very delighted with the new one.

So now we have a nice little coffee maker!

The list of broken items to be replaced has shortened. :) :)

---- Side note :: We have ordered the heating element for our dryer. It's been shipped. So I hope we get it really soon!!!! So tired of drying our clothes on random objects around the house.----

Sometimes It's Hard

We've all had hard times. Some more than others. When we are at our lowest it's nice to know there are some who will always be there for you.

I love you all. Thank you for being there for me, no matter what. Family isn't about blood. It's about love.

Story's Big Girl Room Redo

I decided to turn Story's closet into a book nook.

The closet had ended up being a catch all (remember, I shove everything in the closets) for loose toys, things taken away, and clothes. It's not a very big closet and I was having a hard time getting to the clothes. I hate laundry enough as it is...

So, I thought it would be a simple change. All I had to do was take everything out, clean it, put the bookcase in there and plug in a lamp. Simple enough. Ha

Got everything out. Realized there was a LOT of stuff in there.

My trusted helper. She kept telling me where to put things.

This was what I was going to put in the closet. I thought it would be a perfect fit. Naturally, it was about a 1/4 in too big. I did wanted to scream. I pushed on though. I was too far gone in the project.

I took the door off the closet. That way Story can't shut herself in. It was actually really hard to do. The joints had been painted at least 7 times. I had to scrape off all the gunk to get to the pin. Story kept telling me I was doing it wrong. Of course she had her own screw driver, digging around in there as well.


I don't have any in-between pictures. Mostly because I was pulling my hair out at the time. And I didn't finish in the time I thought I would. I started the project right after nap time and didn't stop for the night until an hour after bed time. Then I started first thing in the morning and managed to finally finish (almost) before work.

 

Here it is! I have a little lamp in the corner. I will get a smaller book case next month. That way it can face opposite the chair. The TV isn't plugged in yet either. I plan on putting curtains over the door way. I want her to have a bit of privacy.

I moved things around about 10 times. The room is just so tiny, and Story has so MUCH stuff.

I was able to make her a dress up corner. It's her favorite spot now. She wants to be a fire fighter girl. She has a little helmet that she'll put on.


So, here is a look at what I've done.

 

Before

After

Attic....... Um Yuck

I braved cleaning the attic today. I got as much done as I could before the sweat was too much to bear. It had to have been close to a 100 degrees up there.

But up there I went. I didn't get a chance to go through everything. But I did manage to make a path through all of that junk. I started making piles of things I wanted to get rid of. I was only able to get to the really obvious stuff. Stuff that I has sort of sorted when I put it all up there. So what I'm trying to say, is that it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be. At some point I will do a better job, where I actually do through all of the boxes. That will probably happen when we are getting ready to move.

This is all of our junk. Most of it is baby stuff. It's amazing how much kids grow! I bagged up a ton of Story's clothes around Christmas, and I should do it again. Most of the stuff she has is too little. And the toys! I continue to get rid of stuff, but her room is ALWAYS full of toys. I don't know what to do with it all. I would love for her room to look clean and picked up with everything organized. But I can't seem to make that happen, no matter how often I pick it all up. (twice a day, every day)

Other than all the baby stuff we have a few home good items. Most of the stuff is from other people. They gave us the stuff that they didn't want, and since we never wanted it in the first place, we are passing it along to other people, who probably don't really want it either.

I know, I know, I have a bad attitude about the whole thing. I'm just so sick of being cluttered. We don't have that much stuff, not really. It's just all out all the time. And I get tired of looking at it all.


Enough about me ranting on and on about junk and clutter. Lots of other things have been happening.

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We got a dryer. D&SM (dad and step mom) got one for us. They found it at the Habitat ReStore in Monroe.

It's great. We're thankful. It's just what we wanted.

Except it doesn't work.

Yep. We went through all of the trouble of finding someone with a truck, hauling it here (about a half hour away) and then installing it, to find out that the P.O.C. doesn't even work! It's been a very frustrating experience. So, Jordan took this one apart (and put it back together) to find that the heating element is broken. Get this, we're going to have to order a new one. Which will take forever. So we still wouldn't have a dryer. We're thinking about just taking it back. They offer a 30 day warranty. Don't see the point in spending any more money on something when we can just trade it in for a different one. We'll just have to find another truck... Gah!!!!!! All I want is to do my laundry, in my own house!

Aside from the dryer, we are fixing other things around the house. (I swear, if it's not one thing it's another. Or 4 things at once, which is how we roll)

This baby was in my desktop. Um, yuck.

So, to tell the whole story ::: 

My laptop broke about 2 months ago (told you everything breaks around here) There was no way to fix it, but Jordan was able to recover all of the data. Which is amazing, 'cause I had A LOT of stuff one there. But I had a desktop that I was going to use. It wasn't in the best of shape but JP knew how to fix it. Before he could work on it, his computer broke. ((( This is the biggest problem ever. His computer was brand new. A very nice, very expensive one, that shouldn't have a failed hard drive. So about a month and several hundred dollars later, his computer was back to good))) Now that all of THAT is behind us, he has been working on mine.

A small look of the living room

Jordan is the best. He took this entire thing apart, cleaned it, and then put it back together. He bought all the parts it needed and then re-installed windows. Once the parts get in that baby is going to be awesome! And I will finally have my own space back. Yay!!!!!!!! That way I can compute in peace :) :) Ahhhh.......

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This has been our week. I really hope the next one is slightly better. I will leave you with this awesome little thing I found.

Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But seriously. Someone made this. No, I didn't buy it. But I couldn't resist taking a picture to share with you all. Hope it gave you all a laugh. I know I chuckled all through the store. :) :)

Green With Envy

 

I decided this evening that I was finally going to start a project I've been thinking about for days now. Since the sofa table is finished, as much as I can without spending a whole bunch of money decorating it, I wanted to try something new.  Remember the shelf stand we have in the bathroom? I've been trying really hard to make it look nice, and sturdy. I finally came up with a solution :: Fabric and cardboard! :)

And it worked

 

Unfortunately this project required me to go into the dreaded attic.

It is SUCH a mess up there. If you look really closely you can see a layer of dirt on everything. Ugh... This is really the only storage place we have (no garage) so everything we don't want to mess with goes up here. I will note that about half of the boxes are empty. We save all we can so that the next time we move (hopefully soon) we'll have what we need. It was a smart idea at the time, but now we're over run with boxes. But that's what I went up there for.

This is all I used for my project. Total cost $10.95. I found the fabric at our local Hobby Lobby. Nope, I don't know the name of it. But Hobby Lobby, I went in, not having any idea what I was doing. I asked the lady in the sewing department what I could use, because I hate really don't like sewing. I suggested the no sew hemming tape, and all she said was yeah. I guessed when it came to picking out what kind to get. I mean, it's not like there are 7 different types or anything...

 I cut the boxes into 3 pieces.

 

Then I measured out the fabric. I made it a little big so that I would have extra.

 

I then taped the cardboard to the shelves. I know they're too short, but whatever, it's what I had. After that I wrapped the fabric around the shelves and secured it with the no sew hemming tape. It was a huge pain to use. Kept getting stuck to the scissors and then not to the fabric. After about 45 minutes of messing around I finally got the fabric all into place. And this is what I ended up with.

I think the fabric goes great with the new vibe I'm trying to give the bathroom. It matches really well with the rug without clashing and brings in the green. I broke my vase too... You can see it now has a heart shape at the top. At least it was a pretty break. It's staying for now.

Just a reminder of the rug

I also found those neat canisters and that basket. Got the basket at Michael's for 40% off!! Steal! The canisters I found at Habitat ReStore in Matthews. Yep, we have one 4 blocks away :)

Just a little project I finally decided to start. And luckily finished in one evening!

Next, we look for a dryer :)


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Mello Yellow Sofa Table

Here it is! This is the project it has taken me way to long to complete. I found this little baby at Habitat ReStore in Monroe. It wasn't in the best shape but I got it for a pretty good deal. I decided to paint it yellow because it would tie in the rest of the colors in the living room. And no, I will not post pictures of the living room. It is no where near ready to be seen. It's a disaster... But you can see the couch. :) Also, the sofa table is not done. I'm going to put some backing on it, probably white. And the things on it are just stuff I had laying around. Whenever I get into the attic I'm sure I have a ton of stuff to use. If not, it's off to the thrift stores :) Or Ikea.... :) :) :)

Here is what I started with. It was really rickety, so I tried fixing it up a bit. It's still really unstable but I couldn't help but paint it, now.

 

After the sanding.  I didn't do the best job, but that's because I knew I was going to prime it.

Primed and ready. I used spray paint this time. This was a first for me. Usually I just get a can of paint and jump right in. But I wanted to get better at spray painting.

Here we have it. Kitty doesn't like the smell of it. Haha :)

It's not the greatest sofa table, but it works for us. And it fit into our budget. It's really narrow, which is great because we have like NO room in the living room. I look forward to getting it completely finished and then decorated. I will have an updated picture when I post about the living room. Which is not anywhere in the near future. There is so much that needs to be done in here that it's no where near the top of my list.

Thanks for checking it out! Let me know what you think of the color or what I could put on it :)




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Project In The Works

Hey all!!! I've been working really hard on a project that I can't wait to show you! Between the weather and my work schedule, it's taking a lot longer than I would have hoped. I should be done tomorrow. That's just a little sneak peek :) And the kitty. Even though she's back inside she spends most of her time on the front porch. Silly kitty.

So I thought I would take this time to show you a few other things that are going on.

First off : : : :

Aren't they lovely?!?!?!  I came home to them yesterday after work. Jordan remembered when I said I wanted more plants. We have 3 small ones that sit on the window sill in the kitchen but we didn't have any to go outside or on the porch. Now we do :) I don't know the name of the plant. I hope to get it into the planter tomorrow. It's been a busy day today.

Jordan also got me the plant on the right. It's called a money tree.

The roots are really awesome looking. It's in the bathroom right now, but I'm not sure if it will stay there. There might not be enough light. On the left you can see the moss tree I picked up at a thrift store. I'm really getting into moss. I think it'll look good in the bathroom. It will help bring in the green.

I have a huge list of things that need to get done! It's almost overwhelming. On top of it all I'm trying to pick up more shifts, or possibly a second job. Lots of things are breaking. But that's just the life.

I really need to tackle the attic. When they re-roofed the house they forgot to mention to us that they would destroy the attic in the process. So all of our stuff is covered in dirt and shingle pieces. It's going to be a really big job... and it's sooooooooo hot up there... :( :( :( Not looking forward to it. But on the bright side, it will give me a chance to go through EVERYTHING and make a pile for the yard sale. We have to do it at my Dad's house. People will get hurt if we do it at our place. I'm serious. Major injuries will occur.

On a different note : : My step-brother is home for a 5 day leave. He just finished a 6 week boot camp for the Coast Guard.  My Dad and step- Mom brought him back. We were really bummed that we missed his graduation, but we had too much going on with work and all. Congrats Andrew!

Not much more has been going on here. Thanks for stopping by! And be sure to come back so you can see the finished project! :) :)

Goodbye Dear Friend

Our dryer broke... It's been a sad few days in our household. It broke about 3 days ago. Jordan tried to fix it today. It didn't go very well. He took it all apart, and then couldn't get it back together again. (This sort of thing NEVER happens. He is always able to at least put things back together, even if he can't fix them) So, he called a few repair places. Turns out it's going to cost us more to fix the old dryer than it would be to buy a new (new to us) one. We're trying to figure out what to do with the old one now, and how to get the new one here. The old one is out back. I think I'm going to get crafty with it, maybe turn it into a plant holder or something. The drum is really neat looking. I might spray paint it and turn it into a stool, or table, or something.

See? Isn't it cool?? It has potential.

Tomorrow we are going to start shopping around. But before we do that, we have to do some laundry. I have work clothes that need to be done, like yesterday. I feel so out of it, not having the dryer there. There is a big empty space in the kitchen now. Story keeps walking by it and shaking her head. I bet I'm doing the same thing.
Because we have this unexpected expense, all shopping trips are off. It's been a really sad day... I'm going to just have to get crafty with the things that I have.


On a different note : : : Kitty is back inside!!!!! She had been out on the screened-in front porch for a little over a month now. We had fleas. We had fleas really bad. I still have nightmares.... But they're gone, for now. And kitty gets to be inside, for now.

 

Wish us luck on dryer buying :) :) 

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