Dang it!

This morning Bray had an ortho appt., so to fill the time, I typed up a whole blog and thought the little computer would save it ~ it didn't!

I used all my creative juices on that one, so this will be boring and short :~)

Brayton:
Sent out B-day invites to his friends and family. Can't believe he's 8 already! Seems like just yesterday they gave me too much morphine and they told Chris to watch me to make sure I didn't quit breathing. . .

Got the appliance out today ~ YEAH!!! Now, it's just a thin wire that is shaped kind of like a 'U' that he has to keep in for about a year (that will be a nice Birthday present for next year!)

Chris:
The grill he got for his birthday didn't heat up well at all! Returned it yesterday. New plan: fix our old grill (he added pieces of leftover shed tin to block some of the many air vents and tried to scrape off the porcelain that is covering the cast iron grate, but it only comes off when it wants, apparently!) ~ so far so good! Old grill heats up to 400 degrees in 10 minutes ~ Chris is excited hehe

Taite:
Got in trouble at school on Friday for hitting another boy in the stomach ~ it was a forearm to the stomach and the other kid instigated the whole thing. We didn't feel bad for Taite's reaction (we did discuss not hitting him until they are in the corner of the playground ~ JUST KIDDING!!!) and he knows he has to try and control that (up until Friday, he only hit his brother when he got mad). Taite being Taite, he was most upset because he thought he was going to ruin his dad's birthday. So much so that he even told the Principal and his teacher his concerns. We celebrated as planned, but Taite was still concerned about going to school today because he is sure that the Spanish teacher doesn't like him anymore. He cried a little before leaving today, made me sad, but Chris told him if he feels so badly about it, he needs to apologize to Mrs. Romence for misbehaving in her classroom.
Me:
Nothing much new ~ still working on the MIL purse and I have to say (I know, I say this often) that I'm quite proud of how it's turning out! The back of the purse is patchwork squares and the front is a monogrammed 'J' and then I did some fancy stitching around it and it's oh, so pretty. I just hope Randy likes it (she's the one who's ordering it for her mother-in-law)! Maybe I should email her pictures to make sure she likes it before I finish the whole thing!

It's Chris' Birthday!

Today is Chris' birthday and I did end up getting him a grill for it! We happened to be in Kohl's on Wednesday and found a little Cuisinart tabletop grill that has the thermometer on it and the cast iron grate he wanted for like $125! It's going to be too small when the boys are in high school, but at least we won't have spent close to 3 times the price for something that rusts out and we have to replace in that time too. Chris was just disappointed that it didn't come with the fish tray because some reviews on the Internet said it did. Oh well, maybe we'll get him that for Father's Day ~ hehe :D

While Bray and I were waiting for Chris to come out of the bedroom (we were going to sing 'Happy Birthday') Brayton wrote him a song:

"Happy Birthday to me,

I'm 103,

I still go to Preschool,

and I miss my daddy!"

OMG ~ can you believe it? I can't hardly write a poem when I have all day to and he wrote this in a few minutes ~ too funny!!!

He also wrote Chris a little note yesterday and gave him a sucker he had, but left it on my side of the bed (he did all this while he was getting ready for school!). Then as we were waiting for the bus, he asked "are you going to make your bed today?" (this has been kind of an issue with him as he likes how our bed looks because we make the bed now every day and he was going to sleep on top of his covers so his bed looked like ours every day LOL) so I thought nothing of his question until I went and saw his little note:

Happy B-day

I hope you have the best one ever!

Love, Brayton (how sweet???)

Taite just came upstairs this morning and was surprised the grill was sitting in the box on the island because he thought we were still trying keep it a secret from Chris and then he remembered it was his Birthday today! It was funny because he was kind of speechless as he stood there and stared at the box ~ I don't know if he was trying to figure out how to hide it or deciding if I'd lost my mind. . .

Yesterday mom & I went on my first (her second) Quilt Shop Hop. It's where you get a card to have stamped at the participating quilt shops and we thought they'd have specials. What they did have was either chocolates or cookies at each shop and if you weren't going to make the quilt they all had packs of strips for then you just had to hope you won the final drawing prize at the end of the 3 days. It was kind of disappointing, but we did share a bunch of laughs and it was not rainy and gloomy (it was blustery) so still not a wasted day! Besides, my mom got to spend some quality time with her favorite daughter (hehehe!) We did get to pick out and buy the fabric for finishing the quilts for the quilt block of the month we are participating in. OH, and I forgot, I bought (well mom and I shared the $2 price) for a new bag pattern! It's super cute and I got fabric for that too, but have to finish the MIL purse (as it's been tagged) I'm working on first! The cool thing about this new bag pattern is that it's made from "oil cloth" I think they called it. The one side is kind of shiny and plasticy, but not stiff like plastic. It's a perfect take anywhere bag because you can wipe off the outside! I'll post pics when I finish it!

Well, I can't think of what else you've been missing in our lives, so I'll sign off and will let you know if I think of something!

Okay, I just had to post this picture. This is the '2' shirt I made for Taite's 1st Grade Teacher's son (follow me there?), Liam. I wanted to have a picture of someone who it would fit, wearing it. She said he loves his new shirt and walked around all day pointing to it saying "2, 2!" Don't you just love his little fingers in this picture? You can almost hear him saying it. . . LOL I did start on another '2' shirt that is green, but I keep jumping back and forth between projects and just need to finish one sometime! LOL

(Love the drool on the shirt too ~ oh, how I remember those days!!)

KOHL'S
Before I forget, I got 30% at Kohl's. For those of you without a Kohl's charge, this won't matter, but for those of us who do ~~~ YAHOO!!! :~) Remember if you spend $75 your shipping is free (even if you return most of that $75 worth of merchandise. . . ) So, here is the code for online shopping ~ SAVE30KC

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous ~ well Saturday could've been a little warmer but yesterday was beautiful and I think this is the earliest I have ever cut away the dead flowers from the year before! That's a debatable thing ~ do you leave the foliage on the plants to protect them over the winter or not. I do and I hate this time of year every year. . . It was nice though that the boys can help with some of it now. In fact, Brayton said he would do "anything" if we could have a garden. . . I just might put him up to that! We could get some black dirt and do a smaller raised garden, but we wouldn't be able to use the tractor which is okay with me because that is how the gardens tend to get out of hand :~) (size-wise). While I was cleaning out plants, Chris cleaned out the shed ~ the lady bugs seemed to like the shed for their final resting place. It was so nice yesterday (speaking of bugs) that when I had burned all the dead stuff and was relaxing on our outdoor swing, I could hear a fly buzzing around! Sheesh, we can't even enjoy one nice day bug-free! It felt so good to be swinging with the afternoon sun on my face, so warm and cozy, with the smell of campfire coming my way every now and then. . . hehe Brayton just couldn't get over that Taite was in the house on such a beautiful day! We aren't sure what he was doing all by himself, but we could hear him hooting & hollering through the patio door every once in awhile, so we were a little afraid to check on him! LOL

The Grill
For Chris' birthday I was going to surprise him with a new grill. I was so proud of myself for thinking of this (the last birthday gift I gave him that I did all this research on was a HIT! If you ever need to get your special someone a cordless drill, go with a Panasonic! It's yellow, not as many volts as some, but will hold it's own and has been around our house/projects for about 5 years or so now!), but after checking with some other grill aficionados I know and doing some online research, I had NO IDEA what to get!!! Did you know you can spend up to $8000 on a grill??? Not that I was going to, but then that poses the question, how much do I have to spend to get a "good" grill. . . I had already told the boys that we were going to get Chris a grill for his birthday and that us 3 (Taite, Bray and I) were going to go shopping for it this last weekend. I also told them if they told their dad I would have to kill them (of COURSE they knew I was joking because we were laughing and talking about it in the van on Friday, but Brayton must've thought there was some truth to it). On Saturday we decided to get some returns and shopping done (for whatever reason, a bunch of our recessed lights burned out recently, so we desperately needed those). :~) We were all in Menards looking at grills when Brayton discretely tapped my side and started to walk away. I turned and looked at him and asked him where he was going and he said "no where" and then he did it again. What the heck?? So, Chris moved onto some grills in the next aisle and I moved down in the aisle we were in when Brayton carefully leaned towards me and whispered "I thought we were going to get dad a grill for his birthday" (kind of talking out of the side of his mouth ~ hehe). I explained that I had already told Chris my idea because I really had no idea which one to get and was completely confused. . . He understood, but it was just too funny at the time!

The House
It's so nice that the boys are getting older and we can have the house all picked up and clean for a week now! I know, that is embarrassing to admit, but you know how the island will pile up with papers and mostly junk mail, the living room will have discarded sweatshirts and a sock or two, but we have had the house clean for over a week now and it feels so good! The boys are really doing their part too, which is nice because it takes the pressure off of Chris and I. The only thing is that I feel like this is the calm before the storm because with summer coming (I know, we just officially started spring) we are going to be very busy outside and keeping the inside of the house clean will be a challenge. I'm so excited to get our yard going though on the fire pit and landscaping. The trouble is that most of what we plan on doing is going to be in the backyard.

I don't normally read the news. . .

As those who know me well, I don't read the news. It's just too depressing so I usually get all my news from Chris. Today, for whatever reason, I decided to check MSN instead of checking my email. The only story that caught my eye (I passed over the one about the woman trying to be the fattest woman in the Book of World Records ~ seriously??? bet her kids are proud!) was about Sandra Bullock. She is one of my favorite actresses! Well, you could probably say, she is my favorite. I haven't seen all her movies, but she's the only one I get excited about if they have a new movie coming out (can't WAIT for Blind Side to come out on DVD next week!). The story that I read, was not a happy one, though. Her husband had cheated on her when she was filming the Blind Side. I don't know why this bothers me so because this is how Hollywood marriages go, right? Chris is making fun of me, but I still feel badly that she is dealing with these private issues so publicly!

A Funny Story (or at least I thought it was!)

So, last Friday night was the first night we officially got to sleep in our new bed! Of course, as we are just settling down, Chris mentions the height again and I tell him (again) if I can't get into it then I am too fat or too old! My nightstand is a little smaller than I am used to (like the alarm clock takes up a lot of it ~ hehe) and I knocked off our little thing for turning the house alarm on. We were still talking so Chris didn't hear it fall on the floor, but noticed that my voice was lower. He asked what happened, did I fall out of bed (as if the height of our bed would determine if I can stay in it!) so I said 'yes'. "SERIOUSLY?! YOU FELL OUT OF BED?? DID YOU REALLY FALL OUT OF BED?" Okay, at this point I am laughing so hard I can hardly talk while I am trying to get back into bed. . . He thinks I'm hurt is why I sound like I do and am trying to catch my breath. . . Aahhhh, I think I'll laugh about this one for a looonnnggg time! :D

Yesterday Chris had to run to Office Max for a few office supplies and since Saver's is right next to Office Max, I went with him. I wanted to find the boys some spring coats so when they play football in our muddy backyard, I don't have to hurry up and wash their school coats by the next morning! I did find them each a jacket that is fleece lined and kind of wind proof on the outside, so I think they'll be perfect. I also found some pillow shams for our bed! In case you couldn't tell, in the pictures, we were just using solid colored pillow cases from our sheet sets. I found 2 khaki, kind of microfiber pillow shams from The Company Store and one off-white colored . . .(it's the front one in the picture ~ I know, it looks a lot like the one I had on there, except that one was white and you could see the pillow through it so I had to make sure the pillow had a brand new cover on it, this one has it's own "lining", PLUS it was only $.99 with 20% off ~ yes, I use my Saver's coupons when I go there!) I think I'm more excited about my bedroom additions than I am the boys' coats! :~)

Yesterday Taite got the invite in the mail to attend the special summer class for one week the end of June. . . Class runs from June 21 - 25 ~ we leave for Japan on June 26! I was in a little panic until I confirmed when we leave for Japan because Taite was so excited about this that he talked about nothing else last night! I'm so glad it's working out for him! Now, we'll have to squeeze our swimming lessons in there before we go and our summer will be set :~) Oh, wait, did I mention that Chris is already talking about our landscape plans???? YIPEE!!!

So, sewing can't be my whole life, which is why I'm okay with charging what I do. Tonight, for example, Brayton wanted to read with me. I didn't have time to read, but he just wanted to sit with me on our bed (now it seems to be the hot spot ~ not sure if it's just because of the height or what. . . ) so I organized our receipts for the credit card which I hadn't done in 2 months! Normally I schedule the online payment and then check my receipts to make sure they match up with the statement which makes it easier to find the receipt later if we have returns or something. My husband is being supportive and called today to find out about insurance. I want to be eternally optimistic, but he's the realist because yes, someone could trip over a purse of mine and sue me (I've heard of many frivolous lawsuits like that!) and we were happy to learn that the cost was about 1/2 of what he was estimating! I think the plus is that we wouldn't be having anyone to our house to "shop" or pick up purses because they would be shipped out makes the rate lower. He even found out how to "acquire" the name Lisa & Stitch for a business name for something like $35. That is not including the ad you have to run in two consecutive editions of the paper in the county that the business will be in (who thinks up these things???). And if no one contests your choice of name, you get to "keep" it! hehe ~ no trading sheep or donkeys or anything (doesn't this sound like one of those laws that's been on the books since wayyyy back when?)

I got started on the "dog" purse. The main fabric I had showed a few different dog "scenes" and I was anxious to get started on my "vision". Here it is:

This is only one side of the bag and I think it is TOTALLY ADORABLE!!! The woman who ordered it thinks so too! Now I just have to get the ambition to sew tonight. . .

I had to drop off our taxes today at the accountants office, make a return at Target and make a return at JoAnn's. It was not my day (thank goodness I only had 3 stops). The first stop went well (all I had to do was drop off the envelope and tell the receptionist it went to "Lance" ~ as far as I know it all went well ~ I'm not asking!). Then I went to Target to return a dress that I'd ordered online. This should be a lesson to never put things in a "cart" online and then come back weeks later and buy it. When the dress showed up, it was not at all what I thought I'd ordered. It was okay when on, but there is something about a halter dress with big ties in the back of my neck. I took all the paperwork that came with the dress (of course it had no tags) and printed off my order confirmation with me to Target. Well, none of that was worth anything. I was pointed in the direction of some generic computers and told they well prompt you through it. The very first screen wanted to know if I wanted to shop Target.com, look up registry's, update my registry, etc. Nothing about printing a receipt from my online order. I finally got frustrated enough that I asked the lady again where I was supposed to go ~ shopping at target.com (NOT what I wanted, but anyway). I tapped on that (it was a touch screen) and of course it takes me to a girls bike! Needless to say (more huffing. . . from me) I was hitting the screen and trying to find something that looked like it would get me to receipts (yes, I did a search on the Target.com website and nothing) and finally found the "help" button. It brought up "print a receipt for my online order" ~ YEA!!! Noooo. . . It wanted me to log-in on Target.com, but if you can't remember your password, it wants you to reset it! UGH! I don't know that info! I've only ordered like twice on Target.com. I finally went back to the customer service desk and asked the lady where was the station that I could print my receipt with the credit card I used!!! They have a big sign for that right when you come in. Well, guess what. . . SHE DOES THAT!!!! She couldn't think to ask me that before??? It was an online order so a credit card and a gift card were my only options!! She is just lucky she was on the other side of the big red counter. . .

For supper, we were supposed to grill something (Taite's teacher sent out a list of "homework" for the night and throwing a ball to your child(ren), grilling something, picking up dog poo, were just a few of the things :D ~ basically to enjoy the beautiful weather!) so I picked up hamburger, onion, tomato, lettuce, and buns. On the radio today they kept advertising these tomatoes that are locally grown and now available at Target ~ they are picked when they are ripe, not when they are green and ripen as they are transported! How good does that sound??? How BAD does $4 for 3 small tomatoes sound?? Lucky me, I accidentally picked up these advertised tomatoes that were laying in the wrong place so instead of $2.99 for 3 tomatoes, I paid $3.99 for the ones that are grown only an hour away. . .

Now, onto my return at JoAnn's (things can't get any worse, can they??) Oh, yeah, they can! What I was returning was a whole bolt of the interfacing that I use inside my purses ~ I had a 40% off coupon and figured this will last, so I might as well get a bunch and then I don't have to run to the fabric store every few purses. The "computer" (not the cashier who was hitting buttons. . . ) took the discounted amount (that I should've been returned) and subtracted the discount amount again and only refunded that last number (ex: $58 was sale price after the 40% off, $38 was the discounted amount from $97 minus some change, so today my total refund was $19 ~ 58-38) I was glad I only had those two returns because my blood pressure was about a bazillion over a trillion! On my way to pick up wine at Apollo (YES, I needed it!) I even passed a car going 15 mph on the frontage road! I made it home in one piece, the burgers were tremendous! I do have to admit the tomatoes were very tasty and the ketchup and mustard all over my hands was good too. So, to relax, I sat with Brayton on our bed, while he read. I could spend all my time sewing, but why? I can sew less, make a little money and still spend time with our family ~ life is good. . .

Updates & Reveal!

Okay, so Taite's 1st Grade teacher had inspired me to create a shirt for her little boy that I could use as a demo (creating "firsts" is very important to work out the "bugs"). This one turned out cute, I just wish the "I'm" was more noticeable and I wish it was easier to get the embroidery straight when I want it straight (the "warning" isn't supposed to be at an angle, but the "I'm" is). It still turned out to be cute, I think! The best part is Walmart has Garanimals (only solid t's I could find!) for $3.50!

Here is my new spring/summer bag! I love the colors, hate the zipper. I wanted to try putting one in this style of bag because some people prefer them, but they are just such a pain in the butt and don't turn out very nice! I LOVE the fabrics on this one and the cute details I put on the pockets :D Again, another reason why I try these things on my own stuff. . .

I also shrunk down this pattern a little and used a shorter handle (only because I wanted to use a specific piece of fabric, but it all worked out).

I purchased fabric for some bag orders that I have from my aunt's co-workers. One lady was very specific in what she wanted ~ floral for an older lady, not modern, no magnetic snap ~ only Velcro, and a tag saying it was made by me. WOW! I have to do some searching to find a place that makes labels because I've never had that request before, but I'm thinking I like "sewing Designs by Lisa Heinz" ~ I even have it figured out how I want the layout, but I'm not sure it can be done ("sewing" will be lower case in the upper left, "DESIGNS" will be centered and "by Lisa Heinz" will be smaller on the lower right ~ sounds cute, huh?)
Here are the fabrics I came up with for this bag. My mom said the white on white is too bright, but I kind of like it. I had a HECK of a time finding anything that goes with the shade of tan used! You'd think there would be lots of brown options, but there weren't!

Another lady wants dogs on her purse. I found this material and she loved it! What I'm going to do is cut out the dog "scenes" and then "frame" them individually with strips of fabric, kind of how I have it laid out on in the picture. They had the cutest doggie footprint material to go with this dog fabric. I'll for sure have to post pics of the finished products!

Now, for the bedroom update!!! First, I thought this was cute :D These are the brackets for the closet rods and they looked like smiling faces! I lined them up and told Chris they were cheering him on.

Here is the bed in our bedroom. We had to build a "frame" for the box springs to sit on since our mattress is fairly new and cost a bit, we didn't want to void the warranty or anything because we didn't use the box spring. I, for whatever reason, wanted the bottom of the bed to be 10" off the ground. . . it ended up being very tall!

Here is the framing under that bed.

(Chris is known for "over" constructing things).

Here is a picture of the spacing he made so the box springs can't "go" anywhere and stay exactly where they should ~ I would've never thought of that!

Under the bed ~ this spacing actually works out okay because we can get to the outlets that way. As long as we don't gain too much wait, we can belly slide under the bed. The boys play hide & seek more lately and utilize this space :~) (Please ignore the dust on the floor ~ I was snapping pictures as we went and thought I had the floor pretty clean)

Ta-Da!! I don't have the quilt done for the bed (obviously, it's only been a week!) but we had this king size quilt downstairs and since we don't have a flowery border in here anymore, this orange/brown/tan color scheme works! We also don't have any pillow shams to match, but plain pillowcases work okay for now. The table you see is a corner shelf that Chris is using for a night stand and the berries on top I stole from downstairs. I tried to give the bed the worn look, but the sanding thing was a lot more difficult than I thought! If I did much wood working, I would definitely have to buy a "girl-sized" palm sander. Sometimes it was all I could do to hang onto the dumb thing and then it would get out of control and put a black streak across my white paint! Speaking of the paint ~ it's called Lambswool White. I think I like the name as much as I like the color! hehe

The wall that used to have our dresser on was kind of bare, so I moved this table from the living room and it fits in very nicely! Even Chris is so impressed with how our room turned out AND he likes the laminate floor too! I don't even have "wooly" rugs for either side of the bed yet! His only complaint is that we don't have any pictures hung yet. I want to get that "just right" before we do any hanging. I have an idea of what I want to do, but haven't tackled things yet. We still don't even have pictures in the living room and that's not because we haven't tried. . . We can't find anything to match our wall color!! Who would've thought?

And here is how our closet turned out ~ we have corner shelves in both corners and a TON more storage than before! We even have some shelves with nothing on them (and one long tote is full of stuff to get rid of ~ Chris didn't know that and just put it on the top shelf.

Seriously!

We have our closet done and are getting our clothes back to being organized. Except, we are thinning out our "stash". I bet we have like 400 clothes hangers not being used! I'm dead serious! So, if you need/want any of them, PLEASE let me know! We'll probably be running to Savers with a load soon. We even have plastic or metal ones to choose from. Prefer the paper in the middle of the metal ones? Like when they come from the dry cleaners? We have those too! :D Please help us out TAKE SOME!!

Short & Sweet and NOT in order :~)

Because of the weekend and Monday I've had, this is going to be abbreviated:
Note: Thursday afternoon, master bedroom set picked up and gone
This is our master closet ~ not how I wanted it.

Master BR after furniture gone and before makeover.

Spare bedroom after furniture gone ~ had to clean off so we could start master BR makeover.

Another shot of spare BR, different angle ~ we need to make a trip to Savers (to get rid of some things!)

Master BR cleaned out and carpet all vacuumed.

Friday night had to finish the purse for my aunt (it's my favorite of all time!). She works in a law firm and loved my purse so I made her one and she can do some advertising for me, but we still can't get past the little hiccup ~ price. I'm thinking $60-$65? What do you think??? Meeting w/Monica soon to set up a blog and maybe make some business cards. Already have 4 on order from Cheryl's firm!!!

Thursday Brayton found out that on March 29th he'll get the "appliance" out of his mouth and it will be replaced with a much thinner piece of plastic, I think he said (the orthodontist, not Bray). The gap between his front teeth is very noticeable now, but there are small fibers in his mouth that will start to pull those front teeth back together (amazing!)

Painting in the closet (this is just the paint we had leftover from the upstairs paint job, thinned out with 2 gallons of white).

Paint in master BR

Brayton posing on the laminate we put in on Saturday. The boys were so patient all day ~ they wanted to go to Toys R Us and we kept saying, after we get the floor done. . . We went to town at 6 pm! Then we did some more shopping for the closet organizing system.

Chris putting the trim back up after the floor was completed.

This is a video of the mess we had all over the master BR and spare bedroom during this project. We aren't done, but are getting there. Tonight we put together some of the closet pieces and were able to clear the floor so we could get our bed out of the master bath. It's been rather mixed up around here.

Yesterday we got the wood for the farmhouse bed from Knockoffwood.com and built it. Today Chris sanded and filled some holes so tomorrow we should be able to paint it a couple of times and we are well on our way to finishing this project up. As usual, we aren't doing anything slowly. . . We had to get the corner shelves for our closet from Menards even though they don't match the set we bought from Home Depot because we couldn't wait until the 10th when Home Depot would have 2 in stock. It's no wonder I'm having vivid dreams at night (the other night I woke Chris up and he had a full conversation with me before he realized I was still sleeping) ~ last night I dreamed that the clothes chute was full to the top and we still weren't done with our project! With that said, I'm going to bed!! Night!

Oh yea, Chris is trying to figure out how to shut down the Knockoffwood website :D AND do not go by her pricing for making this bed. . . Ours was WAYYYY over the $200 mark and we used cheap pine!

It's good to laugh!

Sunday Taite informed me that he is the student of the week, but forgot the binder at school with all the info in it . . . (that's our Taite!)

So, on Monday night we were trying to gather the items he needed and one thing was about 10 pictures of friends and family. We looked on my computer and I came across the picture of my arm after I had cut it with the rotary cutter. Taite was grossed out and didn't want to look at it and then he says "Ooohhh, aren't you tough? Getting injured sewing!" (little brat) ;~)


Last night I had a "Bullet Baked Beans" moment. What is a "Bullet Baked Bean"? Well, when I was growing up, one supper, my mom had made baked beans and I'm not sure if she soaked the beans before hand (these were wayyyy from scratch) or if the recipe didn't call for soaking, but they somewhat resembled bullets! Of course we laugh about it now (not sure if we did then or not, but what else could you do??). Wellllll, last night I wanted to have the Cheddar wurst that I'd picked up at the grocery store and I had to make the buns in about 45 minutes. Apparently, it's not a good idea to try and get your buns to rise in a 350 degree oven (just trying to speed things along). They were quite flat, short and hard. Brayton had to skip the bun altogether, but the rest of us pretended we were eating the turkey from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation (head jerks and all) because, really, what more could we do?? :~) I heard stories of other cooks who get mad when something they make flops and others comment on it only to have the whole works end up in the yard. I'm sure if the moment were just so, that might happen at our house, but until then, I'm content to just laugh about it!

Here we are. . .

We went from this:

(master bedroom)

(spare bedroom)

. . . to this:

clothes baskets of stuff in the bathroom (now in the shower so it's out of sight)

clothes baskets on the floor in our bedroom where the dresser was

baskets of books and decorations in the office

a TV with no place to go (the dresser it sat on is gone)

But, we have a plan and when the weather warms up, we can get to work on it. Of course Chris said that if the camper was gone, we could have a wonderful little shop in the shed for wood making and he claims that he'd make all kinds of furniture (I'd believe that one when I saw it. . .) We are going with the farmhouse bed (found on knockoffwood.com) and will be getting some organization things for the closet (I've been trying to get Chris to go with this idea for years!!!). For the spare bedroom, we are still deciding. . . In any case, I would NOT recommend advertising your furniture on CL before having something to replace them because your husband will NOT be happy with your plan to build it!!!

Until then, I am going to try selling some things on Ebay again (I'm not a big fan just because of the stress of getting a bad review!)

Here are some things that are going to Savers, but if you see something you want, go ahead and let me know ~ I'll save it for you! These are all purses.

Need a wallet? I have almost every shape/size/color. . .

These are a size 8 and I think I've worn them 2 or 3 times. Chris was going to give them to Taite, but I assured him that they look like women's so others would know!