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!

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!

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.

Funky Find Friday: Art

I have always wished I had the talent to paint and draw. My father has that talent, as does my brother, but somehow it skipped over me. As such, I admire those who can do those things and I thought I would show you some art I've come across both on Etsy and Craftster.org that I especially thought was great.

First is this painting of mailboxes in Peacock Garden's shop.

I love the rual setting and the colors in this one.

I love, love, love the watercolor sailors by Kat Martin. This is one of my favorites.

Her Etsy shop Weigh Anchor is closed right now while she's moving, but you can check out more of her artwork on Craftster.org.

Does any one else have an unnatural obsession with Bob Ross and his happy trees? No, um..okay. Wait a minute...bonesaw over at Craftster.org just painted a Bob Ross inspired delight

Look at all those happy trees for the happy little squirels and birds to live in. *sigh* Check out bonesaw's original post (link above) for some great in progresss shots!

For a medium that's a bit different, milesapart714 painted Alice in Wonderland inspired clothing right on pages from the book!

Check out the post to see all the other great clothing she painted! Plus check out more artwork in her etsy shop, Limette.

Got some great art you'd like to share? Contact me through my profile on the right

Happy Crafting!

One man's trash...

My 7 yr. old niece asked me several weeks ago to "please sew my net back together." The net in question is a cute green butterfly net that lives at their lake cabin. The same lake cabin where she catches frogs, moths, worms, fish, and every other imaginable creature she can and then tries to keep them. Of course, being the good auntie that I am, I said I would fix it and bring it back to her next week. This was four weeks ago. She asked me again last week if I had fixed it yet. I had forgotten all about it. I forgot about it as soon as I got home again, too. I thought of it today only because hubby and I are going up to see our nieces and nephew tonight. I realized I better get cracking if I am to get this "sewn back together." So I pulled out my needle and thanked the lucky stars even though I don't embroider and I haven't cross stictched in years, I have embroidery floss. I pick green to match the net. (Although one of my other nieces (8 yr. old) would tell me that it doesn't match because it's not exactly the same shade of green.) So, I managed to get the net all sewn up over lunch break.

During these last few weeks, I thought about telling my niece I couldn't fix the net, and then buy her a new one. But I realized two things. First, that it wouldn't be the same to her. Second, that maybe it's good to teach kids that not everything needs to be thrown away the second it gets broken. That maybe things can be fixed or reused in a different purpose. It's never too early to teach "reduce, recycle, reuse." Especially if you're teaching it in a practical way that's easily understood by all ages.

Happy Crafting!