I'm Still Here

Hey friends!  I know it's been a while since I've posted and I apologize.  I've been busy- moving again, working, and spending time with my big sis.  And visiting family and friends.

Let me clarify on the "moving again."  I moved into a new apartment about ten minutes from the first one.  I also transferred to a new Starbucks- the other was not what I had hoped.  My new apartment is much nicer than the previous.  I love the area and the apartment is great.  I have a small balcony, however a couple hundred feet from a railroad track.  But interestingly enough, you do get used to it.

I have been crafting a little.  Here are some things I've been doing:

The bird pillow was quite time-consuming but so worth it!

I also have some photos I took with my phone:

I visited my good friend, Sunnie, in Ohio and she and I went antique shopping in Amish Country.  These are my treasures.  I also found a cool metal coat tree.

My craft corner in my living room.  It actually looks a little different right now.  I moved my dining room table over there for my sewing (it's a small table).  Then that silly shelf kept falling so it was replaced by a smaller one.

Cookie Dough Truffles.  Yum!

 

I found this table in my sister's basement.  I believe it came from my dad.  It was broken.  I fixed it and now I have a small coffee table... for free.  Score!

I made a couple of pillows the other day.  There will be more of these soon.  I love beds covered in pillows.

So, anyway.  I've got a lot going on.  I need to start taking more photos of my projects so I can share them with you guys.  I'm going to start some posts about how to decorate an apartment, since I've been looking for months for some helpful tips and haven't been able to find much.  I think more and more people are moving into apartments and need some tips.

Oh, and I just signed up for Craftaholics Anonymous Summer 2013 Handmade Gift Exchange!  So, that craft will be posted soon as well.

Until next time,
Sarah

My Aparment!

Well, now that I have my own place, I've been decorating like crazy.  I've been buying things here and there.  Mostly at Goodwill, antique stores, and Target.  And some things I've made.

Here are some photos of the highlights (when a room is completely finished I will post pictures):

Nice and mostly organized pantry {more on that later}.

This cabinet was at my dad and step-mom's house and was passed down from my dad's side of the family.  It holds "junk" in the top drawer, table linens in the second, and more of grandma's china in the bottom.

The cabinet above was dug out of my grandparents' basement and it will soon be turned into a bar cabinet.  The sign was from a bar my dad used to go to in Florida- it had a large ear of corn drawn on it and took about 2 hours to get off.

 

 



My sister had left a couple of the plastic bins in the linen closet and a bunch of her leftover "extreme couponing" purchases, so I went and got a couple more bins and chalk wrote on them perfectly.

 

 

Free dresser from Aunt Sandy!

 

Curtains made from a twin flat sheet dyed pink.  Cheap mirror on the left with coffee filter flowers.  And the painting by ME!

{sorry for the blurry-ness} I got this library stool from the Derby City Antique Mall.  I can't decide if I actually like it with books on it like this, but we'll see if I can figure out how to change things around.

Craft corner decor.

 

Well, there is your sneek peak.  I will post more as I finish each room.

Not much crafting right now

With all the packing I've been doing I don't have a lot of time for crafting or baking.  However, I have crocheted a few things, mostly small.  Most of my supplies, though are in boxes and most of my yarn and fabric are in vacuum bags.

Anyway, I follow a blog called Under the Sycamore.  Not sure if anyone of you do as well.  But, just recently Ashley and her husband added a new little one to their family of 6.  Ashley calls her Little One.  She's from China.  She's SO cute!  She also has a cleft palette.  Ashley has written quite a bit about the whole process of adoption and the projects she supports for other children that have cleft palettes.  But yesterday she posted about her experience with other people out in public- people staring, pointing, whispering.  I instantly thought of my friend, Andrea.  She has a prosthetic leg.

She's beautiful.  When these photos were taken, we were in LA.

We went to Disneyland for a couple of days and she was such a trooper.  Her prosthesis is all the way up to her hip so she gets tired after a while because walking takes a lot of effort.  But she didn't complain.  Her twin sister, Amanda, and I were more concerned with her than she was.  For me, it was my first time going out into such a public and crowded place with Andrea.  A lot of people stared.  I got a little angry.  But, honestly, because I'm so used to Andrea's "walk" it took me a while to even notice that people were staring.  Then I did and I wanted to yell at them.  But I refrained because Andrea didn't even seem to notice.  I asked Amanda about it, and she said they've gotten used to it.  Andrea's had the prosthesis since she was a baby.

It's funny how self-conscious I get about the scar on my throat sometimes- from my thyroid surgery.  But when I ask people if it's really obvious, no one even knows it's there.  I think sometimes people are staring at it when they're talking to me, but no one is.  And then there are people like Andrea or Ashley's Little One that are born with deformities and the like, and they are just used to it- and don't even notice stares and whispers.

I think that's confidence- when you don't notice anyone else around you talking about you or staring at you.

The Best Woman I Know

I was reading my Google Reader and saw a post from Joy the Baker about her mom, and I was inspired.

I'm moving in less than three weeks far away from my mom.  The furthest we've ever lived from each other for any length of time.  Twenty-five years of being in the same household.  And over sixteen years with my step-dad, Donyvan.

 

They are the cutest and I strive to find a love like theirs.

 

She's my best friend in the whole wide world.  I've never kept secrets from her because even if I don't tell her right away, I feel guilty about not telling her and eventually I confess all.  But she doesn't judge, she does, however, tell it like it is.

 

Things I've learned from my mama:

+ Music should be listened to at high volumes, and the words should speak to you.  It tells a story and a song can mean a lot, and take you back to a great place and time.

+ Be positive.  Now, neither of us always live up to this, but we try really hard.

+ Have fun.  But not too much fun.

+ Spank your kids.  I know this sounds harsh, and a lot of people won't agree with this, but in my family this is how we got punished and it worked.  She didn't beat us, but we got the point.

+ Work hard.  I don't think I've ever met someone who works as hard as my mom.  When she and my dad got divorced when I was about four, she had to go to work full-time.  She has been in construction for well over twenty years and she continues to kick butt at it.

+ Wear comfortable clothes.  My mom hates to be uncomfortable.  I think her closet is half-full of clothes my sister or I encouraged her to buy that she just isn't comfortable in.

+ Don't hoard anything.  When I was about ten we had a house fire, and ever since then we don't hoard anything.  That helped us to see that there are a lot of material things that we just don't need.  And when it came to our clothes every six months we had to go through our closet and get rid of things we didn't wear, and donate them- I still do this.

+ Be independant.  There's nothing wrong with relying on people for certain things, but my mom has always been independant and she taught me to do the same thing.  (sometimes too much to where I'm like "I don't need anyone," which isn't always true)

+ Don't be jealous.  Ever since she and my step-dad got married she's struggled with this and she doesn't want the same for me.

+ Be happy!  That's all she ever wants for me.

+ Be goofy.  Who cares who's watching.

 

Love them!

 

Thanks Mom for the lessons!

Moving Progress

The move is coming along nicely.  The only snags I've come across is my loving, yet over-concerned, friends telling me moving by myself might not be a good idea, and listing all the bad things that could happen.  Yes, I know it is loving concern.  But this girl is ready to spread her wings and take that leap of faith.  No regrets, right?!

Anyway, I've been packing.  Mostly so I can go through things and figure out what I want to sell at our garage sale at the end of this month.

There is storage space above my closet and it's filling up.

I cleared out an under-the-bed box and a plastic crate, and cleared off my bookcase.  Working at Starbucks, boxes are not in short supply.  However, some of them are awkward sizes, but I just pick the best ones.  When we moved to California from Tucson, we use primarily Starbucks boxes.  This time I discovered the boxes from the breakfast sandwiches- they are the perfect size for heavy things like books, china, etc.

I have my paternal grandmother's china.  My dad sent it to her from the Phillipines when he was in the Navy.  Then she gave it to my sister and I to split.  Well, I ended up with all of it somehow and it's just been sitting in boxes, collecting dust.  I'm going to try to figure out some way to display it, or store it nicely, when I move.  But, for now, it's in a box, or two or three.  It was in two boxes- one small and one large- then I had to split it up for ease of moving.

This box weighed a ton.  (When I got it out of our outdoor storage closet by myself, I almost died)

Isn't the china simple and pretty?!

Now, it's in these small boxes.  It makes me happy.  I can carry it more easily.  That other box it going to house something light in the move.

So, now I have two large plastic bins, seven small boxes (like the ones above), and that large box in my room.  I also have two boxes in my closet with nothing in them yet.

I'm hoping our garage sale at the end of the month gets rid of most of my furniture and the crap I really don't need to pack ever again.  That is going to make this all seem like much more of a reality.

I also was on the net looking at printables for my Home Organization Binder and found a Moving Kit from Pinch a Little Save-A-Lot.  I am now obsessed with printables to keep me organized.  And I'm making a Home Organizer for my sister.

Well, until next time.

DIY Home Organization Binder

I got this idea the other day, probably from something I saw on Pinterest, to make a Home Organization Binder.  I mostly wanted it to see a budget on paper, instead of jotted on a small calendar or spread out through various websites and emails from the bills.  Then I kept digging and I came up with quite a bit.  I'll list as many links as I can at the bottom of this post if you want to grab some of the printables yourself.

I covered the outside of a crappy old binder by, first, covering it with light colored paper (a large sheet kind of like tissue but thicker) so the black of the binder wouldn't show through.  Then I spray glued on the fabric.  Then glued on the ribbon.

In covering the inside with fabric, and then paper I covered up the pocket where I had put the pens, so I had to fix that.  I have a black pen, a pencil, a highlighter, and a colored pen.  And I glued on a clip for extra paper.

I didn't have any tab pages, so I just printed some plain titles for each page and put them in page covers.  First tab- schedule.

Second- finances.

My budget pages will seriously come in handy.

Third- shopping.

Four- housework.  Yes, I needed a schedule.  I'm terrible.

Fifth- lists.  This includes "to-do lists" and a media inventory list, which I filled out today and I have 70 DVDs, who knew?!

I perforated my "to-do lists" so I can easily tear them off.

Sixth- food.  I have a stock-pile list, and then some recipe pages.

Seventh- Medical for Dr's names, addresses, and numbers.  And space for notes in case I need it.

Eigth- Etsy.  It's an online income list for my store.

Ninth- WWW.  It's a list of all my usernames and passwords for various websites.

Tenth- ideas.  A sheet to list ideas and supplies needed for them.

Eleventh- Blog.  I found these printables to plan out my block each week.

I'm hoping this will help me stay organized, especially with the important things.  Let me know if you make one of your own with any cool ideas.  I'd love to see them!

Links:
Cleaning Schedule @ Evelyn Kate Designs
Blog Calendar @ Living Locurto
I got most of the tab ideas @ DIY Home Sweet Home
Stockpile List and What's In Season Calendars (schedule tab) @ About.com Frugal Living

 

Contact Info page for Medical @ I Love it All
Media Inventory List @ Pinch a Little Save a Lot
Monthly Budget @ SissyPrint
Binder Covering Tutorial @ The Creative Place
Blank Checklist (shopping list) and Online Shop Inventory List @ The Nest Effect

I think that's it!  I makes for quite the hodge podge of designs on the pages, but printing them from someone else saved me a lot of time.

Enjoy!

I'm Moving!

Like I said in a previous post, I'm moving.

November 1st my mom and I will be driving across the southern United States to the great state of Kentucky.  Yes, we're taking the southern route because I've never really been to the South and I figure I can start crossing those off the list.

I want to stop at all those cheesy monuments and tourist spots.

First, we'll stop in Tucson to visit friends and stay the night there.  Then we'll stay in Houston, TX, and then Mobile, AL.  It wouldn't take that long if we didn't stop in Tucson, but I have to see my friends.

I think I'm more excited for the road trip than the move itself.

All my furniture has to go.  Moving trucks are not cheap.  And yes, that means my apartment will be mostly unfurnished for a while.  I say mostly because my sister and brother-in-law are leaving their couch, coffee table, and dining room table.

Leaving them? you ask.  Why, yes.  The apartment I will move into will have been theirs for the past 8 months or so.  They bought a house and are moving into it the middle of next month, but the lease on their apartment isn't up until February, so it seems to work out perfectly to leave it empty for a month and a half until I get there in order for them to keep from terminating their lease early.  It takes a HUGE load off of me to try to find a place from 2,000 miles away.  I may be moving there sight-unseen.  Did I mention that?  Yeah, I know, crazy.

That's me: crazy.

I'm not really sure I care, though.  I welcome the challenge and the adventure.

I called a Starbucks there.  The manager wasn't in.  Then he called back.  I told him I wanted to transfer there.  He said yes.  He didn't even care it's going to be a couple of months.  He said put in the transfer form and it's a done deal.  He has a thick southern accent.  I couldn't understand him.  He's nice.  I'm excited!  Oh, and it's 1/4 mile from my apartment.  I could walk there.  I probably won't.  Ever.

Here's the apartment (pictures taken by my sister, with her phone):

That couch is staying.

That tiny dining room table is staying (possibly).

My sister does extreme couponing, that pantry will be full when I move in.

The shelf in the above closet is evidence of extreme couponing.

Now this is what I strive to make the apartment look like:

I'm going to do this in the hallway.  My grandma gave me my great-grandma's wedding dress from when she married her second husband.  And I'm going to hang pictures of all the great women in my life :)

Clearly, from comparing these photos I grabbed from Pinterest to the ones of the apartment currently, you can tell my sister and I have a little different decorating tastes (and that I don't have a man in my life to weigh in on decisions).

So, let's hope I can achieve some of this in my new place.  I will keep you all posted.

Check out my Pinteres board "my first apartment" for more ideas I have.