A long story...

So, a lot has happened to me in the last couple of weeks. I won't go into too many details right now, but I will say that in the last month I've lost my job and found another one. As a consequence (in addition to taking a pay cut), I am now commuting about 2 hours each day to my new job. My husband commutes about 1 hour each day. We may have to eventually sell our house and move closer to both our jobs.

I'm not looking forward to this. I love our house. I finally feel like this is my home. I feel like this town is my town. I'm slightly angry about the whole thing, but I realize that I am lucky that I found another position so quickly. It's just that after 7 years of schooling and always knowing that the place I lived was not permanent, I thought I had finally found that permanence I craved in this community. Growing up, I lived in one house my whole life. My parents live in the same community they grew up in. I come from an environment of always knowing that family is a couple of miles away. I thought I was starting to make that environment for my daughter.

I am thankful that I have a job in this economy. Eventually I'll get over any move and make the next house feel like home, and the next community my community. In the meantime, I'm not putting any of my plans for this home on hold. My husband and I decided to wait with any decision on the house until spring. I'm still planning on decorating how I want and making (albeit small) improvements. I'm not going to make any of those decisions based on staging the house for sale (at least not yet).

I'm sharing this information with you because I know the economy is bad. I know I'm not the only one in a position like this. I know that there are far more people who are in a position much worse than mine. I don't have any answers on what happened or any innovative solutions but I do know that any time I hear or read someone's story, I feel a little bit better to know that I'm not the only one.

Cold Beer on a Friday Night

Happiness is enjoying a cold one on the deck on a lovely Friday night while your hubby serenades you with the guitar.

Don't forget to light a torch to keep the bugs at bay!

*Sigh* I love weekends at home. They rarely happen for us. It's so nice to relax. Too bad it was back to work today!

Happy Crafting!

More Good News

The good news keeps rolling out today! In the midst of having a baby this last month, D and I were contacted by the sellers of the house we were going to buy before the rug got pulled out from under us by the bank. It turns out they are desperate to sell this house to us. So, long story short, we negotiated with them to purchase the home on a Contract for Deed. (I'm a lawyer, so I know what that means, but here's the best quickie definition I've found for it.) In a nutshell, it means we are getting a house! :) I'm so happy. Because I can't resist, here's two very bad quality pics from the listing:

Front:
Back:I guess this will be another happy chapter to add to Through the Wringer! Although looking back, I guess it's been more like up and down the roller coaster! ;)

I never got too much done to spruce up our rental home due to having the baby. And now, as of May 21st, I will be busy sprucing up our new home. I can't wait. I need to go start picking out paint colors and buying rugs for the bedrooms ( all 3 have hardwood floors!). I'll be sharing stuff as we go. We probably won't tackle any big projects (like finishing the basement or rearranging the kitchen) this first year, but those are things that are on our list to do in the future.

Be prepared to see some inspiration boards worked up very soon!

Happy Crafting!

My Latest Project

So...in case you haven't noticed, I've been absent for awhile (you know, like a month!) The reason for this is that I've been extremely busy with my latest project. Here she is:

That's my little pumpkin shortly after arriving.

Here's a slightly more recent pic of our family:
Here's the stats for those that are interested. She was born on April 5th at 4:00 a.m. She weighted 8 lbs 0.8 oz and was 20 inches long. We are so excited to have her finally here! I've been off for the last month on maternity leave. I've been enjoying her so much I've barely put in any time on the internet. I apologize for the lack of posting, but some things are just more important to me, and spending as much time with my pumpkin is one of them. I am hoping to get back on track with a schedule now once again. Thanks for hanging in there! I will be posting with some more good news hopefully later today.

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringer: The Finale

First off, I want to apologize for doing these segments so sporadically. The baby is due any day now and it’s been increasingly hard to do things. On with the story!

I had retaken the bar and was not so patiently for the results. Finally, April came around. It was the big day. I took the morning off. The office had planned a big lunch celebration (no pressure!). D took the day off so he could be with me when we found out. The list came up. I had my number in my hand. I was too afraid to look, but couldn’t look away. D slowly scrolled down the screen until he got to where my number should be…and it was there! I passed the bar! D and I hugged each other and started crying. The office waited about 15 minutes after they knew scores were posted to call me. This time, I had happy news to share.

I felt like things were finally going to be all right for D and I. We both had jobs. I had finally passed the bar. We were starting to settle into our town and our lives together. D had a scare at work. They let a bunch of people go. Luckily, D was not one of them. A few months later, they let D’s boss go. D is now the only one with an engineering degree left at the company (it’s a small company). Realistically, this means D finally has pretty good job security. D has been working there for almost three years now.

D and I are now expecting our first child. The baby is due on April 3rd (as I said, any day now!). We started looking at houses. We looked at a lot of houses. And then, we looked at some more houses. We finally found one that we like a lot. We had previously been given verbal pre-approval at the bank. We put in an offer. After a little negotiation, we accepted a counter-offer. We sent the purchase agreement on to the bank. Then the bottom dropped out.

Apparently, the federal standards had changed from our previous discussions with the banker. Our credit scores were now too low according to the new standard (but not the previous one). It didn’t matter that we had 10% to put down on the house. At this point, it looks like the dream of owning a house will have to wait. We have one “hail Mary pass” so to speak out there, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’re not going to be able to get a house right now.

On top of all this, one of the attorneys in my office informed me that “they weren’t sure if they were keeping me yet.” So, I may have to find another job in this economy. I’m not looking forward to that. So, it may be for the best that we weren’t able to get the house. All the sea of uncertainty has been hard on D and I during the 9th month of my pregnancy.

Despite all this, I feel like we’ve been through worse. All the job losses, taking the bar twice, etc. makes me feel like D and I are prepared for whatever comes next. We have always been able to turn things around and they have always worked out for us. Every time life gives us a blow, it seems like it isn’t long before we are back on top. D and I have been through the wringer several times, but the only way to squeeze out the extra water is to do so. And it does feel nice to get rid of all the extra water weight!

I hope you enjoyed our story. It feels good to share it with all of you.

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringer: Part VII

*D doing his best explorer pose on our honeymoon in Key West.

D and I were finally married….and living with his parents. I love D’s parents dearly, but the fact of the matter is I was still living with my in-laws. D and I started looking for places to live in a nearby community. It was a great community near where his parents lived and D’s drive to work would be virtually the same. We found an apartment, and after about a week of living with his parents, we moved.

While looking for places to live, I was also applying for jobs. There wasn’t anything actually listed as a job opening for an attorney nearby, so I began sending out letters and resumes. One contact in Redwood seemed promising. D’s dad asked his friend’s brother (an attorney in town) if they had any openings. It turned out that an attorney had just left their office.

I set up an interview. The interview seemed to go well. Less than a week later, they hired me! Now that I had a job, I became even more nervous about the bar exam. I still hadn’t heard if I passed or not. In fact, I had to wait until October to find out. That was over a month away.

I started work right away. I did work for the other attorneys in the office until I knew if I passed the bar or not. The big day finally came. I took the day off, knowing I didn’t want to find out at work with everyone there. D went to work as usual, but planned to call me at the time the passing exam numbers were posted. D called a few minutes before the list was posted. We both had my exam number in front of us. I began frantically searching the list as it came up. I looked three times, but my number wasn’t there. I was devastated.

I began to cry as I realized I didn’t pass. What was I going to do now? I had a job, one that depended on my passing the bar. Over half of the people who graduated in my class didn’t have jobs yet, and I was going to lose mine before they even had one.

D realized how upset I was and asked if I wanted him to come home. At first, I thought I would tough it out, but quickly realized I didn’t want to be alone. D took the rest of the day off and drove the 20 minutes home. When he got there, all I could do was cry. He held me in his arms while I sobbed.

A few hours later, work called. They knew I was finding out today if I passed or not. I had the really hard task of telling them I had not passed. They told me to take it easy for the day and the firm would talk about the consequences later. I was sure I was going to lose my job. I began to doubt myself. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be an attorney. Maybe I didn’t study hard enough. Maybe it was too much to take on the bar and a wedding in such a short amount of time.

Going to work the next day was agonizing. I was convinced they were going to ask me to pack my things and leave. Instead, the firm decided to give me another shot. They were pretty clear about what would happen if I didn’t pass. I was given the option to keep working for a few months, and then take some time off to study for the next bar in February. I took it.

I began studying during none busy moments at work. Starting in December, I began working only half days, working in the morning and studying in the afternoon. In January, I took the whole month off to take a live review class. In February, I took the bar. Then I had to wait until April to find out if I passed or not. This time, I felt more confident after I took the test. But I didn’t know if that confidence was due to the fact that I actually did better or if it was just wishful thinking.

Did I actually pass the bar this time? Find out tomorrow in Part VIII.

Through the Wringer: Part VI

On the Cracker Jack box was written the words, “Will you marry me?” Immediately, tears sprang to my eyes and my hands started shaking. I opened the box. Instead of Cracker Jacks, there was tissue and a ring. I didn’t even say a word. I put on the ring and nodded my head. D and I hugged and kissed.
*D and I right after geting engaged!

The whole time this was happening, I had no idea what was going on around me. I was totally engrossed in the moment. When D and I finally pulled apart, I looked around the room. My entire family was crying. My parents, my brother, my grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins were all there.

Okay, I know what some of you are thinking. Why a Cracker Jack box? During the time I was pressuring D to get engaged, D would often say we just didn’t have the money for that right now (he was right). My pouty reply was always, “I don’t care if the ring comes out of a Cracker Jack box!” D remembered that phrase and turned it into a wonderful proposal.

I had no idea that D was planning to propose. After D had his new job, I figured it would take awhile before he could save up enough money for a ring. I just assumed that he was more likely to propose around graduation time.

My last semester of law school happened in a whirlwind. All of a sudden, it was graduation. I had applied to take the Minnesota bar. D and I were planning a wedding, and I had no idea where I was going to find a job.

*I made it! Law School Graduation

I spent the summer studying for the bar. I split my time between my parents’ house and D’s parents’. Luckily, they were only an hour and a half apart. The bar was set for mid July. D and I had decided to get married in August. (Yeah, I know, I didn’t leave much time there did I?) So in between studying for the bar, my mom and I made a lot of wedding decorations.

I took the bar exam. I had no idea how I did. In some ways I felt like I did well, in others, not as much. For the next two weeks, I threw myself into last minute wedding preparations. When the big day came, I was ready to be married. The only things still weighing on my mind was whether or not I passed the bar and finding a job.

Our wedding was a huge success. D and I had a wonderful time. The day was warm, but not ridiculously hot. We saw so many people and for the most part, everything ran smoothly. I was so happy to be finally marrying the love of my life.

The only problem was now what? D and I didn’t have a clue where we would live or where I would find a job.

Where did we go? Check out Part VII tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringerl: Part V

D called me at work with terrible news. He had lost his job for the second summer in a row. We were both devastated. We had gone through this very problem last summer and had survived only to be right back in the same position. D began the hard search for a new job.

It wasn’t very long into that search that we had to sit down and decide something very tough. There was not a lot available for D in his field where we were currently located. That was added with the fact that I only had one year left of law school before I would be graduating. D and I went back and forth on this awhile. I finally told D he needed to apply to any job he could find that would be in his field, no matter where that job might be.

Things became stressful in our relationship. D was depressed about the job situation. I was trying to finish law school. During this time (and prior to D’s job loss), I was also adding to the stress by putting pressure on D to get engaged. Looking back, it was clearly not the time to be thinking of getting married, but I couldn’t seem to help myself from adding that pressure.

D continued filling out job applications and going to interviews. One interview occurred at a small company in a small town in Minnesota. We knew the job prospects for D were better in his home state of Minnesota. The only effect it had was whether or not I would take the bar exam in South Dakota or Minnesota.

D ended up getting the job in Minnesota. Late that fall, D had to move. Luckily, the job was close enough to his parents’ house that he could live with them for awhile to save money. D worried about me staying the apartment by myself (partially because he was worried about me being alone, and partially because he was worried about the financial aspect).

Thankfully, a fellow law student had a house with an extra bedroom that he was willing to rent out to me. The last semester of law school, I moved in with him and another law student. It was a bit of a challenge getting along with “roommates” again, but it worked out fairly well.

That year, D and I were both looking forward to Christmas. We had already been living apart for a month and a half. It was a struggle after being together for so long. D and I were at my grandparents’ house celebrating with my Dad’s side of the family. We were opening presents and laughing as usual.

Suddenly, D brings out a present for me. “I thought we were going to open ours later. I didn’t bring your gift with,” I told him. “That’s okay,” he said, “I wanted to give you yours now.” Thinking nothing of it, I began to open the present. On the top was a book I had asked for. I lifted the book out of the box and turned to say thank you. When I looked over at D, He was down on his knees smiling. I couldn’t believe it! I threw the book on the floor and looked back at the box. There was more in the bottom. Inside, was a Cracker Jack box. On the box, there were words written in sharpie.

What did the box say? Check it out tomorrow in Part VI!

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringer Part IV

D had just lost his job. I couldn’t believe it. It was less than a year after he had started that job. So, D began the job search all over again. He mostly looked in our area, but there were a few he applied to that were quite a distance. We didn’t know if he would be able to stay in the same town or not. Luckily, about a month later, D got offered another job, just minutes from where his old one was located. We both breathed a sigh of relief that D would be able to stay in the same town as me.

D and I ended up moving to a different apartment when our year lease was up. This apartment had a balcony/deck. I could at least plant pots outside. I was thrilled! I even dug up a small patch of dirt underneath the deck. It had clearly been a garden once upon a time, but was sorely neglected with big, tall weeds. It took me hours to clear it out and replant it, but it was worth it in the end.


I began my second year of law school that fall. There is a saying about law school. “The first year they scare you to death, the second year they work you do death, and the third year they bore you to death.” That saying was certainly true for me. Second year was a lot of hard work (not that the rest wasn’t, it just seemed like second year there was more of it).

D and I grew closer through our struggles (his job loss and my second year). We of course still had our ups and downs, but overall, it felt like we belonged together. We had friends over frequently, barbecuing on the deck, taking impromptu fishing trips, etc.



The school year flew by, and it wasn’t long before summer came again. That summer, I had an internship (albeit unpaid) at a law firm in a neighboring town. I got school credits and therefore qualified for summer student loan money. D continued working.



I loved my internship. I was working under a great mentor who taught me so much. That summer, I truly felt for the first time that being a lawyer was what I wanted to do. My internship allowed me to actually get in the courtroom and question witnesses, make arguments, draft briefs, etc.



It was towards the end of my internship and summer was winding down. D called me while I was at work. He was very upset. He told me something that neither of us saw coming…



What did D say? Stay tuned on Monday* for Part V of “Through the Wringer”



Happy Crafting!

*Yes, I am taking the weekend off, as I will be out of town. Sorry for the delay in the story that will cause.

Through the Wringer: Part III

Posting two parts today to make up for missing yesterday. Here's Part III:

D had just had an interview near where I was going to law school. He called me a few days later with news. He had gotten the job! We were so excited. Not only was the job close enough that we could live in the same town, but it was finally a job that utilized D’s degree. Once again, just a few weeks after we thought we were going to have to be apart, we were together again.

Since we had lived together all summer and neither one of us could really afford to live on our own, D moved into the two bedroom apartment with me. It felt like we were playing house for awhile, with D going to work every day and me going to school.

I admit law school was a struggle for me. I really never had to put much effort into studying before. I did minimal work (a.k.a. usually just reading) and would get decent grades from high school all the way through college. Law school was work! Classes required at least an hour of reading before each one and that didn’t include any note taking or briefing you did so you could remember the cases for class the next day. The two week stretch of finals every semester required long hours upon hours of studying.

Through all this, D and I had our ups and downs. Law school was stressful. As such, I was already stressed out. On top of that, law school culture is one of drinking. Large amounts of your classmates go out several times a week. D had a regular job, so it just wasn’t feasible for him to do so. There are times I went out with the girls, or a group of friends sans D. After awhile, this did put a strain on our relationship. Looking back, I wasn’t being very respectful of D or even myself at times. Add to the fact that anytime we visited either D’s family or mine, it was a three and a half hour drive. This was not something we were used to.

We managed to get through all the relationship ups and downs together to survive my first year of law school. Summer was fast approaching. I tried to get a job at a few places. I’ll admit that I was picky in pursuing a job. I got a little egotistical and felt it was too low to take a job at a fast food joint (slightly in my defense, I had never worked fast food in my life). I’m sure D was frustrated with me and only living on one source of income that summer, but he kept that to himself.

I did babysit for D’s sister for a week when she didn’t have daycare. During that time, I got a call that they were offering me a job at telemarketing firm I had interviewed at. Unfortunately, they weren’t offering any new training classes until the end of the summer and I would only end up working for a few weeks before school started. I knew there was no way I could work during the semester, so it just seemed pointless.

If I had known was about to happen, I might have taken the job. Unexpectedly, D called me in the middle of the day. The news was not good…D had been laid off.

What did D and I do next? Stop by tomorrow for Part IV.

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringer: Part II

I apologize that this post did not appear yesterday. I had set it to auto post, but apparently blogger had other ideas. Without further ado, Part II:

D had left only a week before, when he called with news. He had a job interview in town. D came into town and interviewed. We spend a couple of days hanging out with each other like D had never left. During this time, D got the call saying he got the job!

That’s how less than two weeks after he left, D moved back into town and into my life. Our first “official” date was Valentine’s Day. D gave me flowers and took me out to a fabulous steak dinner. I think we watched a movie at his place after that.

Things fell naturally into place after that. D and I began a relationship. My previous relationships had been serious. I had thought at the time, that both were headed for marriage. But my relationships before were nothing compared with what I had with D. We could talk about anything. I finally felt like I had someone I could share virtually all my thoughts and feelings with. I had never had that before. I also felt that for the first time, I had a relationship that was give and take. Of my previous two relationships, both had felt like it was me doing all the giving.


Then, in the spring, came the letter. It was from USD. I was scared to open it. Luckily for me, it was good news. I had been accepted to law school. I finally knew what I was going to do after I graduated from SDSU! I was ecstatic, but I think my parents were even more excited than I was.

Graduation came way too fast and I realized that by the end of May, I wouldn’t have a place to live. I had started a job in April working the front desk at a hotel and didn’t really want to move until the end of the summer. That’s how D and I ended up living together. For all intensive purposes, we spent most nights together anyway. D was living in a house the size of a postage stamp at the time. It seemed like the perfect solution for the time being.

That summer was idyllic. We both worked. We played in the summer softball league. We had friends over to barbecue. D would mow the lawn and I planted flowers in a tiny garden next to the house. But, the summer was coming to an end. I was going to have to move almost two hours away to go to law school. D was looking for another job closer to where I was going to school. His current job was not something that involved his degree anyway. We were preparing for a long distance relationship.

D went with me to look at apartments in my new town. We found one that seemed decent. D and my mom helped me move down to start law school. I was to have a week of orientation and then start classes. I muddled my way through orientation week, feeling utterly overwhelmed.
Toward the end of the week, D called. He was interviewing next week at a company about 20 minutes away from where I was going to school. It seemed too good to be true. I also met some great friends toward the end of that first week in school. D came down for the weekend and I introduced him to my new friends.

D had his big interview and then went back to work the next week. A few days later, D called with news again…

Did D get the job? Find out tomorrow for Part III of “Through the Wringer”

Happy Crafting!

Through the Wringer: Part I

I've been struggling for awhile now on whether or not I want to do this, but I finally decided I would do it. What is the "it" I'm referring to? Well, I'm going to share with you a little bit of my back story. The events I feel led me to this place in my life. Feel free to skip this if it's boring, and I promise I'll have a tutorial posted sometime this week. If you're interested, here's the first part of what I'm calling "Through the Wringer"

I'll give you a little info on my childhood first. I grew up on a farm near a small town in South Dakota. I loved reading, school, and having mini make believe adventures in the grove or "woods" as I called them. Looking back, I'm glad I grew up in that environment and I wouldn't have it any other way. In high school, I went the geek route. I was involved in band, choir, debate, oral interp, FFA, and vast other activities I can't quite remember. By the time I got to college, I was burned out on participating in a lot of these types of activities.

I went to college at SDSU (and that stands for South Dakota State University, not San Diego State!) Go Jacks! I loved the atmosphere of college, being surrounded by friends constantly, the spontaneous road trips, and feeding entire neighborhoods (at least that's what I did!). I had always loved history as a subject and majored in that. After I had taken a few political science classes, I became hooked on that and decided to double major. Originally, I thought I would be a history teacher, but the closer it came to taking the teaching classes, the more I realized I did not want to do that.

I was two semesters away from graduating and I had no idea what I was going to do with my history and political science majors. It was then that my political science advisor, Dr. Robert Burns, said to me, "Why don't you go to law school?" Huh? I mean, somewhere in my dreams during the high school debate years I had thought it would be great, but I didn't have the stuff to really go to law school, did I? Sure I had taken Dr. Burns' law classes and loved them, but I never really considered law school as an option. Dr Burns gave me the best advice ever when he told me, "Take the LSAT and see how you do. If your scores are good enough, apply to a few schools and see what happens."

I took Dr. Burns' advice and took the LSAT. My score was decent, so I applied. I only applied to one school, the only law school in the state, the University of South Dakota. I figured that there was no way I could afford to pay out of state tuition elsewhere.

In the meantime, my personal life had it's ups and downs. I had a couple of serious relationships during the college years. The first with a high school boyfriend who was semi-controlling and needed to spend every waking moment with me. I broke that off. Then I began a relationship with a guy who had many of the same interests as me. He was into the political science and history vibes, he planned on going to law school right away. We were pretty serious, but he would rather read or play computer games than hang out with me. I had gone from one relationship extreme to the other. I broke it off.

During my last relationship, I made some awesome friends. A, would eventually become my best girl friend and still is. Ironically, she was friends with boyfriend number 2 first. He introduced us. And then there was D. D was a guy that A introduced me to at karaoke. D and I kept running into each other at karaoke, softball, etc. We eventually became friends and started hanging out, especially after the end of my last relationship.

*D and I at karaoke

D and I would talk for hours on end. We would have these long talks after getting home from karaoke often until 4 in the morning. D and I were just to the point of starting a relationship, when D's internship in town ended. D had graduated the semester before, and decided he needed to move back home with his parents to save money while looking for a job. We said a tearfull (on my part) goodbye knowing that he was going to be two hours away and it probably wasn't best to start a relationship that way.

A week later D called...

Want to know what news D had? Tune in tomorrow for Part II of "Through the wringer"

Happy Crafting!

Christmas Success!

Overall, Christmas was a success! (Despite not finishing everything I wanted to.) We made it to my parent's house in South Dakota before the big storm really hit too hard. We got snowed in on Christmas day, when we were supposed to go to my grandparent's house. But that turned out just fine. We were lazy all day, eating junk and watching movies. Saturday we slowly made the trip to Hubby's folks. Roads were icy, but otherwise travel wasn't too bad (just slow!)

Here's what it looked like outside on Christmas Day:

Also, in case you were wondering, here's how I finally finished my personalized ornaments (the ones with the epsom salt on the bottom):

I wrote each family name on there with fabric puffy paint. Then I added some cute stickers and ribbon to hang them.

Aren't they super cute hanging on the tree?

I thought I'd give you a generic preview of what's coming with the new year here on Hindrance. 1 word: Tutorials!!! I plan on doing more tutorials this year. I am still planning on participating in the various blog parties I've have in the past. But on top of that, I plan on having some blog parties of my own! Stay tuned in late January for the first Hindrance blog party and giveaway! I can't wait!

Now that I've given you my "New Year's Resolutions" (at least for the blog!), have you made any resolutions? What are they? Please share!

Happy Crafting!

The Big Storm??

Of course, we are all set to travel over the holidays and it's supposed to storm. Bad. From tonight through Christmas Day. That's 2-3 days of storm. Hubby and I were supposed to leave tomorrow around noon to travel to my parent's farm a few hours away. Now, hubby and I are leaving tonight (if it's not already storming too bad!). My office has decided that it will not be open tomorrow due to the coming storm. All this has me wondering. Is it really gonna get that bad? I've lived my entire life in the Midwest. I know it can get bad. But will it this time? I really hope that it won't be, at least not tonight. *sigh* I was thinking eventually it would be nice not to have to travel for the holidays, but not this year. I was thinking more like once the baby comes.

Is it storming where you are?

Is it supposed to?

What are your holiday travel plans?

Happy Crafting!

*Pic taken by me at my parent's farm

Behind Again!

I know, I know. I've promised a couple of tutorials and have yet to deliver. I actually was all set up to do one the other night. I started to take pics with my camera...no flash. What the heck? Maybe it's not charged enough. Nope, that's not it. Maybe the card's too full. Nope, not it either. I have no idea what went wrong with it, but with no flash, my pics are turning out ridiculously awful. They're so bad I don't even want to show you. Hubby ordered a new camera online today (Hurray for Cyber Monday!). It will be arriving sometime between December 3rd -9th. (Hopefully sooner rather than later!) In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to take pics with the old one (or maybe even *gasp* my cell phone.) If I can get any that look half way decent, I will be making tutorials like mad! I have a couple of fun ones lined up that I can't wait to show you. On the plus side, I started decorating the house for Christmas last night. I will be posting pics of the decorations, despite the fact that they will probably be bad.

Happy Crafting!

Recent Accomplishments

No, I didn't win any prestigious awards or an Oscar or anything. But I do feel like I have finally been able to accomplish some things at home that make me happy. For instance, the messy craft porch is almost (not quite done yet!) finally all organized and put away. I have one or two small areas to work on before I rearrange the layout of the room. Hurray! Because my craft supplies have been more organized, I've been able to get a couple of small projects done. Amazing! What have I been working on? The above pic is a preview. I'm writing a tutorial for it that I'll hopefully get done by the end of the week. Now I just need to clean the dreaded office room (dun, dun, dun!) and my house will actually start looking sort of clean.

Don't forget! You have until Today at 5pm to enter the giveaway!

Happy Crafting!

Big Announcement

Okay, so I have a big announcement that I've been holding back for awhile now. I've alluded to it before in several posts. What is it you say? I'll give you a hint:

Figure it out yet? My hubby and I are expecting our first child in April of next year. It has been a little harder for me to fit in the crafting latley as I have been tired and a little sick. I'm hoping that I am better now for the most part (fingers crossed). Other than that, being preggers shouldn't slow down my crafting much (except the spraypainting inside!) I am pretty sure that it will, however, influence the type of crafts I do. In other words people, expect to see some baby crafts mixed in with the regular stuff. Can't wait to start making adorable onesies! :)

Happy Crafting!

*Image from TheGraphicsFairy.

I passed!

Hey all! I just thought I'd drop a quick post to say I got word today that I passed the bar exam! Hooray! So now I just have to be sworn in a couple of weeks from now and I will be officially an attorney. I am pretty excited and am off now to throw together a bbq/celebration party this evening.

Happy Crafting!

Despite Myself

So, despite last week's post about using up my stash, I went shopping this weekend. I visited my sister-in-law who lives near a much bigger town. Of course, we went to Crafts Direct. That store is amazing! I ended up spending way more than I should have! I got some really cute stuff for pretty cheap, as they were having great sales on everything. Oh well. The good part is that after a day of shopping, we went back to sister-in-law's and crafted. So I did get some new jewelry made up. I also finished my needle-felted lion. I am undecided on how well that came out. I will post pics later today to show some of my booty and new pieces.