Our New House-Main Living Area's Before photos

Here are photos of the main living areas to the new house. As you can tell, the house is in great shape and the previous owners (our friends, Papa & Mama Johnston) took great care of it and did quite a few upgrades. It was a basic tract home and they had added granite countertops, tile floors, backsplashes, new sinks, and many other things. Now there is nothing wrong with the house and it is move-in ready. We just wanted to make it more "us". So we are undergoing a "small" remodel. It started with ripping up the carpets to install hardwood. Somehow it is morphing to a whole new level. I think my husband and his dad are glad to have a house to work on again. As custom home builders by trade, who are not practicing their trade currently, they miss the thrill of a hammer and the smell of sawdust. I'm just happy to have my own house again. It will be 3 years since we've owned a home, and I can't wait to move in. We are in our current lease for a few more months, so this gives us time to do the remodel, plus our landlord is willing to let us out of our lease early provided he finds a new tenant. The house is only a few blocks away from where we currently live, so it's nice and close to keep and eye on everything. I will post more photos soon.

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth!

 

I guess I qualify for a "bad blogger" award. Since my last post so much has happened in our lives.

• We moved to another town close by. Moving is always an ordeal, its always when I realize that I have too much stuff. But how do you let go of all the treasures we accumulate through our lives?
• We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary.

• We went back to Washington to visit my family. I get to go again this May for the Ruffles and Rust show. I'm so excited.

• I reduced my work hours from 50hrs per week to 30hrs per week. This way I still get benefits.
• With all my "free time" I am joining my husband in devoting approximately 15-20 hrs per week to missionary/charity work and helping people understand the Bible better. Between my husband and myself, we currently studying the Bible with 9 people. This is hard work, but extremely rewarding.

• We finally found a house to buy. Our friends unfortunately had to leave to go to another state to help their family, so we were able to get their house. It is just a few blocks away from where we are currently living so it won't be a far move. (Have I told you how much I hate moving?)

• We visited San Diego for an extra long weekend. Had a blast in the Artist's community at Balboa Park. Probably our favorite part in the park. I loved watching the painters and glass blowers. I'm so envious of their skills and cute little studios that they get to work out of.

• Been dealing with my usual health related issues, but added kidney stones to the mix. Not so much fun but I can deal with it.

• Starting to redo said house we bought. I will post before, during and after photos soon. The house is cute and fine the way it is, we just want to make it more "us". Carpet is being replaced with hardwood floors, walls repainted and wainscott added, built in media center, new doors, new trim, bathroom remodels, and hopefully kitchen cabinet change out. I'm just not a fan of oak. It's too 80's and I prefer either lighter or darker cabinets.

• Contemplating a further employment change. I want to start my own business finally. I'm researching how to brand yourself, dealing with customers, creating a business plan, photographing my work, creating descriptions, opening an Etsy shop, and setting up a booth at a farmer's market. My dad has generously offered to take both my jewelry and my mom's paintings down to their local farmer's market on Whidbey Island and sell for us. This is something I will gladly let him do. He is quite the salesman and knows how to talk to people. Not my strongest suit, as I'm an introvert by nature.
  
  I'm sure there has been more going on, but these are the highlights. Hope everything is peachy in your life! My goal is to be more present in what is going on and not just dreaming of the future.

Vintage Tea Collection/Giveaway from Jennifer Rizzo

http://www.jenniferrizzo.com/2011/10/welcome-to-vintage-tea-collection-and.html

Please visit her website for an amazing giveaway. Her Tea Towels and In Flight pillows are darling. Her design sense is beautiful and I am glad I stumbled onto her blog.

She is giving away $400 worth of merchandise from her store plus an extra $100 gift certificate for jewelry.

The Winter Nesting Giveaway includes a vintage picnic basket filled to the brim with goodies. The winner will receive:

1- in flight pillow cover

1-white linen La Parisien pillow cover

3-number towels

3-french inspired tea towels

3-tea time tea towels

1-set of vintage inspired cloth napkins

1-hat and fingerless glove set

1-set (4) of tea plates

1-set(2) of vintage ironstone mugs

1-vintage book

organic tea

lavender sugar

Duplicating Your Designs?

Do you? As an "artist" do you duplicate your own designs? If you make something you really love, but don't keep it, are you tempted to replicate the design? Small tweaks but essentially the same or do you completely change it up? Or are you ok with replicating your designs even if that means they are no longer "one of a kind"?

This is my dilemma. I gave my mom a necklace that I took with me to Washington because she really loved it. I really loved how nice and chunky it was. It was comfortable to wear and provided an interesting focal for plain t-shirts. I am contemplating redoing one for myself...any opinions?

Updates...

It's amazing to me that time gets away from us so fast anymore. Here is what we have been up to for the last few months:

• We started to look for a house to buy. Viewed probably 50-60, offers in on 10, no dice. Financing is in place, pre-approved, but with all the short-sales and bank owned houses in the areas we are look at, it's usually 2-3 people bidding on the same house. We keep missing the deals by 1 hour, 1 day, we are 2nd or 3rd highest (because you are told to bid your best price offer and it's a gamble as to what the other people are bidding).



• The buying not working out, we have started to look to rent again. We are doing excessive traveling to stay where we are at, plus it is about 2-3x's cheaper if we move. We may have just found a place and they may want to sell in a year, so this may be the deal we are looking for. We are waiting for the application to be approved as we speak.



• Our current lease is up at the end of this month, so I've been packing up the house. I have too much stuff! I've spent 2 full days in my "craft studio" and I'm still most likely another day or so to finish packing in there. This does NOT include my bead supplies. Those have spilled over into our bedroom office nook.



• I quit working full time and I now work 2 10-hour days in the office and 1 10-hour day at home. This way I can keep my benefits.
  


• I have dedicated 20 hours a week to my already busy life to charity work and helping teach people about the bible. My husband has been able to work his schedule to do this for the last 2.5 years and this has been a wonderful experience for him. I finally have the circumstances to be able to join him!



• We just got back from visiting my family back in Washington State. It was my parents 41st Anniversary, my Aunt and Uncle's 9th Anniversary, and my brother and sis-in-law's 11th Anniversary!
  


• We celebrated my husband's parents 40th Anniversary with them (they live here in AZ near us).


• Some dear friends of ours are moving to Florida for health reasons. Their kids are like our own, in fact their little girl calls us "half-mom" and "half-dad". We are going to miss them sorely.
  

I'm sure there is more, but these are the highlights. I might be missing in action for a bit longer as I finish packing/moving/unpacking/settling in. This always takes time! I seriously hate moving.

I thought I would share some of the fun stuff that I aquired in Washington. My dear husband toted me to Shipwreck Beads (my first time) and to Fusion Beads (my second time). He didn't even squak (much) about how much I overspent;). I found some pretty beads that I haven't found in AZ or they were priced very good. I also found some Humblebeads spacers, urchin pendants, and dandilion pendant, Diane Hawkey ceramic locks! Very fun stuff, I can't wait to create, but I think I will have to wait until after the move.

Cocktail Ring

Just wanted to share really quick this fun ring I made last night. C-Koop enamelled flowers with a beautiful lampworked bead by Lara Lutrick.

http://www.artfire.com/users/lutrick

Pardon the old lady hands, I just turned 37! When I realized not too long ago that technically I could be a grandma by now, I want to sit down and knit. I still feel 20ish inside, I wonder if that ever goes away? When I am 75, will I still feel like I'm in my 20's in my head?

The Mother Lode!

Sorry I've been non-existent on my blog, but don't take that to mean that nothing is happening and I don't have anything to share. Quite the opposite, we have been so busy that I just haven't been able to work in a post.

So today I will share with you two awesome surprises that have happened over the last two weekends.

The first one was a friend of mine was unloading her "scrapbook supplies". I thought she was just bringing my some excess paper...Never realizing that she was bringing over what amounted to a small store that ended up in my entry way. I went through and gleaned what I could you, added some items that I no longer wanted from my own small-medium "store". There are now 6 large paper boxes in the entry to let my other friends shop for items they can use.

And as if that wasn't wonderful enough, I just received a "care package" from my mom and dad. So what do you think it was?

Well, here is the background of how it came about. My dad had a hip replacement this last winter and was bored. Bored and can't move too much I might add. So what does a person in this predicament do to amuse themselves? You can only watch so much TV before your brain is mush! He already knew about the wonderful world of E-Bay, however he only previously bought "man stuff". He didn't need anything else, so he thought he would buy a few beads for my mom. She likes all things crystal. So he bids on a few items, get hundreds of bi-cones for about $0.75, so he thinks that this is pretty fun. Now mind you, he is under heavy pain medication at this point. He finally understands the term "RETAIL THERAPY".

He is blinded with E-Bay madness and starts to tell me each day the items he bids on and wins. To his credit, his frugalness kicks in and he will only bid on items with free shipping and no more than a few dollars for the lot, so everything he bought was well under wholesale prices. He starts to ask me what kind of beads I like, since he is bored with crystals by this point. I have a penchant for gemstones and larger bead sizes, so I give him a few names and colors to look for.

Well after getting in most of his haul (I think he has a few items still in the mail), he sent me home a package. Now mind you this is about 1/4 of what he bought. My aunt got a 1/4, and my mom 1/2. So you can only imagine just how many beads he bought. By the way, those strands are the 14 inch strands, just so you can get a perspective.

And he's my DADDY, and no I don't want to share!