Happy Home Progress

I didn't end up having as much time to stitch as I would have liked on Thursday. Isn't that always how it goes? I did make a little progress on my Happy Home Sampler, working on the alphabet some more and starting the green vine below it.

It's prettier in real life! I swear!

My week has gotten off to a slow start due to a headache and overall cruddy feeling. I think I just wore myself out over the weekend. I need to not do that, LOL!

We are planning on going to the local county fair sometime this week, probably tomorrow evening. I'm looking forward to seeing what's been entered in the cross stitch category of the home arts competition! Then there's a flea market I want to visit on Sunday. Should be fun!

We've been meeting with builders and contractors concerning our next steps with the house at the lake. Our plan was to leave the existing house standing (making it a huge remodeling project) and build an addition onto it. Turns out the structure isn't as sound as we thought it was and it's been recommended by several people that we just tear it down and start fresh. We got some quotes, mulled over our options, and made the decision to go ahead with the demolition. The crew we hired said they could probably get to it next week, so sometime soon we need to get over there and rescue anything we want to keep!

I'm going to have some amazing before and after pictures next week, haha!

This & That

I've been working on the Fixer-Upper almost every day, but I did find a little time to stitch and made some progress on Spring Has Come by Prairie Schooler.I'm really feeling the need for a stitchy break! We're planning to grill hamburgers out at the lake for dinner tomorrow night so maybe I'll just take the whole day off!

Because I've been working so hard at the house, I treated myself to a Vera Bradley laptop case. This color (Mesa Red) is being retired so the case was 25% off. Gotta love a sale!
You wouldn't believe the HUGE box this was shipped in! I was hoping I'd won some secret Vera Bradley lottery, but nope, just the one bag. Drats!

We've been finding odd things in the house as we're tearing it apart. This envelope fell out of the bathroom cabinet when we tore it down...It says it's made of real human hair. Now isn't that just creepy? And no, I haven't opened the envelope to take a look!
We found this in the kitchen...Quite dirty, but way less creepy than the hair net, IMO! It reads: These coupons can be exchanged for handsome imported China premiums like samples on exhibition. Think it's still valid? Should I go get my china?

Hope everyone is having a great week and finding plenty of time to stitch!

I Believe

Believe by Lizzie Kate
stitched on 32-count linen with WDW and GAST
Seven down, five to go! Here's what the whole thing looks like so far...

Hello, It's Me!

At last! I have settled on a stitching spot in this teeny tiny house! This teeny tiny house that has only seven electric outlets! I never realized just how dependent on electricity we are! Or how many things we have that need to be plugged in or charged! We are constantly asking each other questions like, "Do you need to charge your phone, or can we have the lamp on tonight?" "Are you done with the curling iron so I can finish charging my toothbrush?" We're using those splitter things in three places but I'm afraid we'll blow a fuse or something worse just because I wanted the fan on while I was drying my hair!

So my stitching spot is at the kitchen table. My Ott Lite shares an outlet with two laptop chargers, the iron, and a fan. There's a big window over the table and usually a kitty or two will be sitting on the sill, watching the birds hopping around in the neighbor's yard. My daughter will sit across the table from me, tapping away on her laptop, while mine is tuned in to KLUV in Dallas. With our IM's blooping and familiar voices on the 'radio', we don't feel so far from home.

I've been working on my LK Double Flip piece. This month is "Believe". It's a bit rumpled and the picture is dark, but here is my progress so far...
You finally get to see "Learn" from last month, too, since I never posted a picture of that finish!

We've been busy working on House #2 aka The Fixer-Upper. The kids and I spent a day over there cleaning up cobwebs and all sorts of dust and crud. Next on the list, we're completely re-doing the bathroom, ripping out all the fixtures and tearing out walls to open it up a bit more. The before pictures are on my other computer or I'd show you why it had to be gutted, LOL! I'd also show you the floor tile that's been glued to the kitchen counter and the "popcorn" texture that was sprayed on the walls as well as the ceiling. Most of it I can only stare at, completely bewildered. Who were these people and what were they thinking??? I may have to devote a whole other blog to this project!

Other than working on the house and doing the "plug shuffle", we've been spending some time out at the lake. The Fourth of July was amazing, with tons of fireworks being set off. It was quite a show and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Jim (my sweetie) spoiled them with a generous assortment of things that went BOOM!

Yesterday morning we ventured out to a local U-Pick farm and filled up several buckets with fat, juicy blueberries. It was a gorgeous day, and we couldn't have found a more perfect way to spend it.

Yummy!

Me? Act normal? Never!

Before and After

Our 26' Penske rental was packed to the gills. The good news is I didn't have to leave behind one bit of stash! I even packed my orts!
Six of us worked for about four hours to get everything unloaded. It was a bumpy trip and a few things were damaged in transit, but my Ott Lite made it through unharmed! Woohoo! Now, if I could find my stitching bag I'd be in good shape!

We're slowly settling into a routine here. I found a fabric shop during one of our explores and there's a Michael's a couple of towns north of us, but I'll need to check online to see if there are any needlework shops nearby. Keeping my fingers crossed that there is something not too too far away since gas is over $4.00/gallon here.

Our internet was hooked up this morning so I'll be catching up on my blog reading over the next couple of days. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on lately!