After a short stop for the kids and I to see my Dad and brothers (and of course, the cute nephews!) we came back home. We did a quilt shop hop (stopping at 22 shops – out of 57, we didn’t even stop at half of them!) that was really fun. The kids did pretty good too considering we took them to all the stores with us! Actually it was a ton of fun because not only did Mom and I each get a packet that contained pieces for a quilt block, but the kids each got to pick a piece of four inch fabric. Their fabric is all random stuff, which they don’t mind, and we’ll probably end up making doll blankets or something with.

We went to all those stores and I bet we spent less then $400 total (together I mean). I only spent cash and had money left after four days of shopping! For the first three days we matches fabrics to the projects we were already working on, then the last one (three shops on that last day) we got fabric for our stashes. OH! And I found Navy girl (okay it’s really military girl I know) fabric that I was looking for forever! I need to get a picture of it.

This week is a busy one – Alice is taking a Pioneer Crafts Class at the local community college, it is three days long and already after one day she brought home strawberry jam, butter, a cornhusk doll, and learned to finger crochet. There is a kids craft show at the library at the end of July that I am going to sign her up for. It’s only kids selling things and anything you sell can’t be more then $4. Perfect for her and Jake!

My nephew is taking a camp from the Boys and Girls club so that leaves Jake and I do wander around and find stuff to do. Yesterday it was the library, lunch and a quick shopping trip – today we are doing the library for a longer amount of time, lunch and then who knows. I have found a few more things for the kids to do – and am also amazed at how expensive some camps are. No way am I paying $165 per kid to go to a day camp from 9-3 and still have to take them lunch!

Post from: me being crafty

What brand and model do you have? Brother Innovis NX-450

How long have you had it? since December 2008

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? Mine cost approximately $700 from a Singer Sewing Center, I didn’t look anywhere else to compare prices. The price included a year warranty through the store as well as a free cleaning within a year of purchase.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? So far I have sewn quilt tops as well at machine quilted a few quilts and I’ve made a couple of purses. I’m working on mainly blankets and quilts for a family event so that’ll be what I make for the next few months.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? I sew at least every other day. There will be times when I sew every day and then times when I don’t sew at all (during our vacation). I did use it just about every day for three months getting the secret quilt projects ready. Since we were moving I wanted to take advantage of the free cleaning from the store I purchased it from, who said since I only had it for a few months it wasn’t necessary. However, the needle threader quit working so I had them look at that and do the cleaning. It was an easy fix (which I didn’t pay for) and they also did the cleaning. I do notice when something happens with the thread you need to take the bobbin out and put it back in, and since I do so much sewing I do change the needle fairly often. 

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? I really like my machine! I’m sure I will love it once I use more of the functions. I have used some of the decorative stitches when I do the edge of the quilt (just decorative on the binding) but I really haven’t done a lot of them. I really want to use more of the stitches just because they are so cute! I also have a couple of styles of the alphabet available and want to use them for something. Maybe the signing of a quilt! Definitely passionate about it! And no, no name yet.

What features does your machine have that work well for you? I do love the needle threader as well as the cutting function – okay the cutting function is awesome! The machine just in general works really well. I also love how quiet it is.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? It can be annoying when I am starting sewing something and the beginning edge of that fabric is pulled down into the – whatever that area is called that the needle goes into. But it doesn’t happen too often.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! When I got this machine I walked into the store and looked at three models before picking this one. It was our anniversary and we were heading off to dinner! I needed a new machine desperately because I had so many projects I was working on. I didn’t take too long to buy this and despite not having done any research beforehand, I am very happy with it. It took me maybe 15 minutes to pick it out and purchase, we got to the store right before it was closing that evening.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? I would! I think this is a great machine because it is about mid-level as far as pricing. I think you do need to spend a little more so you will get a machine that will last. I had my previous two machines for a very short amount of time before they broke.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? Functions – if you use a certain thing over and over or are used to having it, your new machine would need this function as well. The price of course. How heavy it is can be a deciding factor for some people.

Do you have a dream machine? At this point, I don’t. I am happy with my machine!

Post from: me being crafty

After our quick stop in San Antonio turned into a two day event, we had to change plans. What was to be San Antonio – Albuquerque – Las Vegas – San Diego – San Francisco – Seattle turned into kicking Las Vegas out of the lineup. Which was disappointing because we had planned on meeting friends for a day or two.

We didn’t spend very long in any place until we got to San Diego – where we spent a very busy week – and then another week in San Francisco. We stopped in Oregon to have a fantastic dinner with friends and then made it to Seattle the next night, where we had another awesome dinner.

Considering Chris has been in the military for over ten years, the few places we’ve lived and the handful plus of times we’ve moved you’d think we’ve been on vacation before. But we just never had the time! We had to meet our stuff (HHG or household goods for those not in the military) or we only had a matter of days to report somewhere, and a vacation just never made the list.

So this time we did. We stopped at more then a dozen places along the way and while I thought we did such a great job at not spending a lot of money, looking back I can see other ways to save. I’ll be sharing my tips as I share our adventures.

Technorati Tags: vacation tips, travel

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I should have bought it last week when it was a bit cheaper! As it is, the countdown has started. He’ll be leaving soon and then a new countdown will begin – of course the new one won’t really have a purpose. We don’t know what happens next – how long he’ll be gone or if we’ll be able to live together soon.

I have so much to share! The typical vacation season is almost here and I have so many tips for people traveling to San Diego!

For now we are just about settled in. We’ve unpacked most of what we have here with us and will need to get more from the storage units. With luck we’ll be down to one unit by the time Chris leaves. I don’t need a lot but we packed the pantry and my fabric and that didn’t make it to the house.

I’ve missed reading blogs and finding out what my online friends have been up to. It’s been a long month.

Post from: me being crafty

Today is the last day in southern TX! I can’t say TX because we aren’t going that far away tonight and who knows if we’ll leave early enough tomorrow to actually get out of the state. It has been fantastic living in a hotel. No cable bill, no electric bill, no internet bill (and yay, the internet is fairly fast!), and sure we are eating out a lot but we also have a fridge so have veggies to snack on to keep me sane. Oh and the best plus about being away from the stress ball that was military housing – clear skin! Seriously folks, if you live in an environment that crazy (I know I haven’t said much about it, but I will) moving away is awesome for your skin!

We are planning a crazy awesome vacation. Chris is getting a huge amount of leave – which you can look at a couple of different ways. I decided to be positive and happy about the fact that we get to take this crazy amount of leave now despite all the years of never getting to take leave in the past. I guess it all worked out? Yeah.

First stop, San Antonio. If you know where we are, you are laughing because we are a mere couple of hours away from SA. That’s okay, at least we are getting started and will be on the move! We leave tonight after Chris gets off work. On Thurday the plan is to do a walking tour of the Missions and maybe a Riverwalk boat ride and then leave, heading for New Mexico. We have much more planned along the way and I’ll share pictures as we go.

For now, I’m going to attempt to go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

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Living in a hotel room makes me realize how much trash tv there is! Oh how I miss my DVR.

• Rock of Love Bus – Seriously? I didn’t realize this was time number 3 as I don’t watch the show. I like that they are showing the preview of him saying he’s tired of this and that’s why he has a ring. I’ve only seen two (maybe three) episodes of this but I hope he picks Mindy. I felt bad for the girl who ended up being the third girl, I can’t remember her name. She was sort of crying and saying she loved him and he dumped her on tv but she hoped they could be friends and hang out. Weird.

• For the Love of Ray J – Um, okay. Well I’m not sure who I hope he picks. The girls seem nice enough but damn catty to each other. Why would you want a woman who is that rude! That’s crazy to me. You can’t say oh it’s a game when the outcome is supposed to be a relationship. Sure it’s tv and whatever relationship comes out of it probably isn’t going to last, but at least try to be real, just a little. And if they are that catty and rude even off the show, dang. Actually I hope he picks Cocktail, real name Joanna.

• I Love Money 2 – Okay this show is hilarious. I never watched the Flavor of Love shows or whatever else the rest of the cast came from, but putting them all together to fight for money does get good laughs. The lady who only ever wears a bikini and loves the pretty boy – funny! It’s funny watching it because you know what is being said and you know what is going to happen, but in the moment the people don’t. There are a lot of people left so I can’t say who I want to win.

I think the Rock of Love Bus finale is tonight, but the others have a bit to go. I’m sure I’ll catch who won on a rerun!

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Tricare is the health insurance we have in the military and so far, in the seven plus years we’ve been married I have had few (as in maybe one) issue with them. I had a great doctor when pregnant with Alice and after she was born, another great doctor with Jake and after he was born. We had an immediate transfer to a specialist when our issues with George first came up and fantastic doctors after that. I’ve had a doctor here or there who didn’t fit with me, which I either complained about (in one case) or didn’t go see again (in the other case).

But this. This is crazy! And it’s not a doctor complaint, but really more like a process complaint.

Chris got a referral for equipment he needs and gave me a phone number to call so they would get our updated address. Since we moved out of housing we do have a forwarding address and so while we will eventually get our mail, that won’t happen for a few weeks. I called the number he gave me three times and left messages, all I wanted to do was verify they got the new address.

I got a call back this morning and the woman I spoke with apologized because she was away due to an emergency – which I completely understand, but why wouldn’t the system offer you a way to get a secretary or someone else in that case?

She was able to give me a copy of his referral and even stayed after the office closed in order to give it to me. I had a couple of other errands to run and figured the medical equipment office would be open until 5 so I could still call them this afternoon.

Then I call the number and it was disconnected. I thought I dialed wrong, but nope, it was disconnected. A call to Google 411 found me the same answer. Okay fine, I’ll drive over quickly and talk to them in person. Except the address on the paperwork was for a local car dealership.

So what do we have – no phone number and no office. Luckily for me, I have a Blackberry. I did a search for the company name and the town – nothing. Then I did a search for the name and neighboring town since that one is bigger and found an office. I called and talked to someone. I was under the impression that we just needed the piece of paper and we could walk into the office, pick up what we needed and walk right out.

Yeah, right. Chris needs an appointment on a day when a clinician can see him. And it will need to be about an hour long appointment. Put that together with 16 hour days and us wanting to leave right when leave starts and you have a frustrated me!

Now I have to make another call at 8AM on Monday, hope that office will fax paperwork quickly, then the medical supply office has to fax something else to the dr after the first office faxes. Then once that is done I have to hope the dr will sign the paper quickly so Chris can get an appointment as soon as possible. He said maybe he’ll be able to take an hour and a half off to get to the dr Tuesday – but he can only go on Tuesday if the paperwork is all complete.

Why did they (medical in this case) make it seem like we just take that paper in and we could walk right out?

And the wrong number and address?! That is just unacceptable. I am going to call on Monday and let them know, maybe they just have the wrong info in the system. Whatever the case is, I knew it needed to be done so I made the calls I had to. I know Chris doesn’t have the patience to deal with figuring it all out. I can’t imagine that others would either.

This is the worst experience we’ve had – which really isn’t anything that bad to have to deal with in the grand scheme of things. And I am so glad she called me back today – if we didn’t get a chance to take care of it until we were gone from TX we would have had to start about half way over.

Post from: me being crafty

I’m reading Indian Killer right now. I’ve had the book for years and had to have read it before, but in reading it I’m not recognizing, so it’s new to me. Which is just sad, Sherman Alexie is such a fantastic author. I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian recently too.

I’m trying to save my books for when we are on the road but it’s not working. I devoured the Sookie Stackhouse series (True Blood is based on these books) in a matter of days, while we were still in base housing even! If you are interested in … *thinking what Chris’ BFF called them*… erotic vampire writing (haha, but it’s true) then they are good books. I like her writing actually – I appreciate an author who doesn’t repeat a bunch from the previous book to remind me the characters or setting or whatever like so many others do *cough* P.C. Cast *cough*. I’ve had my fill of books meant for teenager – though in the PC Cast ones it is a girl/young woman as the main character and I do like her.

Sidenote: I wonder why so many of the vampire stories also have Native American ties? In the Twilight books Natives are prominant, in the PC Cast books the girl’s Grandma is Native (thus she is too), in the Sookie books I don’t remember anything like it but her characters are a whole mess of craziness. Maybe I should write a book about Native Americans and see what I could tie in that you wouldn’t think of. Haha

Chris and I get along so great now I am worried about what being apart for who knows how long will be. Sure it isn’t like when we were on submarines and had zero communication for two months, or one month, or however long it went til we could get a piece of mail (no email or phone calls). Now they’ll have the internet and email and the phone and more then likely even will have video chat capabilities. And I’ll be able to maybe visit during a port call. But I’m still worried.

I wonder how the kids will react this time. He hasn’t been on deployment in so long. Jake was going through a thing when we were still in South Carolina where he would be upset about Chris being on the night shift, and when we got here he was upset when Chris had duty. I’m hoping being with my Mom will help. I’m looking into schools for them now and like what I’m finding, we just need to decide if private school now is the way to go. We are going to end up moving so often…

Jon Stewart can make just about anything better, so enjoy!

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• Speaking of vacation – I think we are going to have an awesome time! I’d like to stop in Albuqurque and Las Vegas before going to San Diego. I think a day in each area would be so fun. I love the southwest and haven’t been to New Mexico in about seven years. And we have the chance to meet an online friend there and an old friend in Vegas. It’s always fun when you can hang out with someone you know along the way.

• We’ll probably have a really busy schedule in San Diego. I’ve never been to SD before so I’d like to do a few things and we have family there who we’d like to (and need to!) visit.

• We hung out at Barnes & Noble for a few hours the other day and it was fantastic. I browsed and found some great books, found an instant wedding planner for my niece, grabbed a new magazine and had a snack at the Starbucks they have smack in the middle of it. I actually thought “hhmm, I wouldn’t mind working at Barnes & Noble” – course, my second thought was “I wonder what the discount would be?”

• No Easter plans for us! I’m sure restaurants are open but we don’t have that many around here. It’s sad not to have an easter egg hunt or a big meal with family or friends. I don’t even have the kids Easter baskets as those are now in storage!

• Speaking of storage – phase one of moving is finished! Our stuff is now in a storage unit and waiting. I’m both nervous and excited about moving in with my Mom.

• I really want the kids to go to a Montessori school. Which is basically a private school. Which means cha-ching. Or more like CHA-ching. Yeah, it’s that rough. Getting a good education is really important to Chris so I know he will find a way for it to work, but I don’t know. I actually don’t feel bad about it and am sure it’ll work out. I need to do more research.

• I also need to finish planning our vacation so I better end here or my random thoughts may seriously never end.

Post from: me being crafty

We decided to wait for Chris to take leave before leaving here. For one, the kitchenette room we have is fairly inepensive (staying here is cheaper then staying in housing) and it would either be a hotel here or a hotel in CA. We nixed the plans to go to South Dakota after the third snowstorm in two weeks made its way through the area. Sure I don’t mind being snowed in there, but Chris has plans and when his plans don’t get to happen when he wants them to, let’s just say he really doesn’t like that. So him and snowed in in SD wouldn’t be a fun combo! We’ll get to SD soon enough – I have two nephews graduating high school and we’ll go back for that.

So here we are in the hotel for a bit longer! We took in the aquarium yesterday and did laundry and some grocery shopping today. Being in a hotel room for very long is never all that fun so we are thinking of things to do each day. Tomorrow we are going shopping and I’m sure we’ll spend a bit of time at the park too.

Chris is gone right now but will be back soon enough. I got a quick text message earlier tonight, which came at the right time because the first few days of him being gone are always the hardest, regardless of how long he’ll be gone. Or I say that now, but we are coming up on a long separation so we’ll see how I do getting through that.

How was your weekend?

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What is your favorite home memory?

which made me laugh because about a week or so ago Chris, Shannon and I were sitting outside visiting and we talked briefly about this. Now that we are out of the house and living in a hotel I’ve been thinking about my favorite memory here.

When we were sitting in the front of the house, there were cats walking around (we have *way* too many strays and outside cats for my liking here) and humongous bugs were walking on the street. At one point there were two huge bugs not too far away from us and a truck drove by – it went over the bug and the bug popped. Yes, popped. Gross!

Chris said that was definitely one of his favorite memories of the place. He’s odd that way. Me – I loved our get togethers! We had several toward the end of ‘08, it seemed like every weekend people were over and we’d have food, drinks and a great time. I love hanging out with friends and those times made me not completely dislike this place. I remember feeling exhausted at the end of the day on Sunday because we had people over Saturday and Sunday, or Friday night and Saturday. But it was a fun, awesome exhausted. Being surrounded by friends at a place that you don’t particularly love, or a place where one person makes your fun times hard to have, is the best. It’s your friends that get you through the rough moments.

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby brother! Okay not the baby baby, but he’s younger then me so he’s one of them. He’s 29 today!

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2. that cash cab is funny and educational.

3. they now think that wife swap is a good show to watch – I swear I only watched two episodes of the show and not even the entire episode of either!

4. that throwing pillows is a fantastic game.

5. how many coins make either .75 or .95 (the cost of the snacks in the vending machine)

6. how to prop a door open with a trash can (okay, doesn’t take a lot to know this, but when do you need that knowledge otherwise?)

7. playing nintendo ds under the bed in the complete dark is the awesomest thing ever.

Post from: me being crafty

2. I had a dream our property manager found us a place in Japan and insisted we would love it. He kept saying we would love living “on the economy” (why is this the phrase people use when saying you need to live in town?) and had some crazy, cool 3d model thing to show us. Weird.

3. We finally got passports for Chris and Alice – I’m going to fill out mine today or tomorrow and can’t find Jake’s birth certificate so his will have to wait until we get to Washington and I order a new one! I mean I am ordering a new one and we aren’t doing the paperwork til we get there. I have no idea where his bc went either, I keep fairly good files.

4. We have renters in South Carolina! Yeah yeah, let’s not get into the whole real estate talk and how us owning these houses is crazy. Cause it kind of is, but we are okay. We are doing it right, as far as we can tell. And we have been lucky enough to have renters in; I know others haven’t been as lucky.

5. The weather is really bad on the plains and I’m not sure if we will leave tomorrow afternoon as previously planned. However, is this me doing some avoiding? I’ve already said I don’t want to go back because since I’ve been away, my grieving for my Grandma has been isolated. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live there, I would have been living next door to her empty (but for my cousin) house. As it stands I was figuring we would get there late Friday night, stay for the weekend and then leave Monday morning. Everyone works anyway, and it would just be strange to be there all day with nothing to do, since before the day was spent hanging out with Grandma. I’m pretty much convinced myself that we are staying here, but I haven’t told the hotel yet. The storm seems it’ll be Sat and Sun so maybe we’ll leave Monday? I’m still thinking about it, convinced myself or not.

6. We had lunch on the ship today and gave the guys their secret projects! Here’s the deal – back in January I decided I wanted to make Chris a quilt to take with him. Then I talked to a few other wives who thought it was a good idea too so I said I’d help them with theirs. After a little talking, we decided to make quilts or blankets for all the officers on board (easy cause we only have 11 officers). The married guys got quilts (except two because there wasn’t enough time once we decided what we were doing) and the single guys got fleece tie blankets. My Mom and K’s Mom helped and each made two of the fleece blankets too. I didn’t get pictures of those, but here are others:

Chris’ quilt – this is when I was basting it. I still have to do the binding before it’s finished!

Auburn quilt for Brian – I added a border to this too. And I never want to see the color orange again. LOL

K’s quilt for her husband.

K working on quilting her quilt!

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We don’t have as much stuff to bring along as I thought we would. Of course we aren’t packing for six months like we were last time either! I have a few projects with me, but will be dropping them off along the way of our trip. Somehow we did end up bringing along three clothes baskets.

I’ve managed to finish the secret project for Chris but for the binding (totally giving it away here!) and am almost done with another one I’m making for a friend. K is totally done with hers! And L is almost done with hers. We are having lunch tomorrow on the ship to give everything to everyone, which I am very excited about. I need to remember to bring my camera with me!

Chris has duty (stay overnight at work) tonight and the kids and I are hanging out in the room while I sew, then tonight is Alice’s soccer teams end of season party as well as a final FRG meeting. I think we will be electing a new VP and since I’m going to be late I hope I don’t miss out on voting!

We’d like to go swimming but have so many other things to take care of first! I need to cancel our phone line at the house, call the electric company and tell them we moved out and still need to get a storage unit for our stuff to be dropped off to. How’s your week lining up?

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~ There is nothing like having a friend help you pack! My friend K has come over twice to help and I feel like we got a lot done in a shorter amount of time (which of course makes sense) and it’s like any other boring chore, having a friend help makes it fun. Okay packing isn’t fun, but you know what I mean. I like being on the phone when I clean – usually it’s the dishes, cleaning the bathroom or sweeping. I’d vacuum if I could but that’s just mean.

~ It’s nice when others realize you are moving. I don’t mean those in your every day lives, obviously they know you are moving. I am talking about online friends. When someone pops up on twitter or facebook and says “wow you are moving again” or “where to this time” I don’t take it in a bad way – I appreciate that they pay enough attention and value my friendship enough to see that yes, we are moving again.

~ Waking up at 3:42 AM then taking a nap at 3:55PM until 6:42PM can really mess with you. That happened yesterday and my day from 6:42 on just felt off. It didn’t help that I missed a rainstorm and when I woke up, I though the clock said 8:42 and I was happy to be awake before 9 – thinking it was AM and not PM. Then I realized it was 6:42PM and thought ugh, I slept for how long?

~ My day is packed. I’d like to pack the bathroom (easy), more of the clothes (also easy, just takes time) but also have to get move boxes from Uhaul, drop Chris’ uniforms on base so they can do one patch on each, pick up the Penske truck, have the truck weighed, then leave after dinner to pick up a friend at the airport.

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photo credit: juverna

We got a Penske truck the last time we moved and will never use another company again! They are that good and their trucks are so much nicer.

I feel like I’ve been packing and nothing else! I resolved to do no sewing (other then on Chris’ uniforms) until we are out of housing. Well I only have a few more days to wait! I have my work cut out for me once we get to the hotel too – I have to finish one of the secret projects, though the one I’m giving to my DH doesn’t necessarily have to be finished, I can finish it later. The other, yeah that has to be done!

Our travel plans! I’m happy with them. We still have to get the moving truck, load it, clean the house when that’s done, etc. It’s hard to get too excited when you have to finish packing and then clean a house! We did decide that the kids and I would go to South Dakota for a quick visit and then on to Montana.

I called my Aunt and Uncle to tell them we’d be coming through and we will be staying with them once we get that way. I’m undecided as to how many days I’ll stay in the area – sure I have my entire family (minus Mom, Dad, brothers & their families) there, but my Grandma isn’t. Of course things would change once she died, but it is all just so different now. My Aunt tried saying I need to stop and stay for a bit, and I agree on stopping but not the staying. I’d much rather go see my Dad and brothers – and all the nephews, which includes a five month old! (He’s so chubby, he looks just like my brother when he was a baby.)

So we leave housing this weekend, we leave TX next week, we’ll leave Montana a couple of weeks after that and then we’ll have a fantastic family vacation. We wanted to plan our vacation but just haven’t had time!

I just realized we’ll be hitting just about every western state there is. Maybe we should try to hit those other few too? Haha

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So for the updates! K is almost done with hers – two more small steps and she’s finished. L is almost done with hers, she will be done soon though. I’m just about done with one I am making and not nearly as close to being done with another. C came by last week and we made one while she was here and she’s making another at her own house. I have been taking pictures along the way and will share them once we are finished!

We even had my Mom and K’s Mom in on the fun! We figured out who is getting what but still aren’t sure when the giving will happen. For sure it will be by the time I leave, which is coming up very soon.

In other craft news, Shannon and I took a quilt class a couple of weeks ago! It was called Flowing Ribbons and even though I messed up a section of my material, I still really like the pattern. I love the fabrics I picked out! I still need to sew together strips to make another piece of fabric but that will be later – after the secret projects and finished, but really more like after I’m settled somewhere.

Here are some pictures:

This is my quilt. The class teacher had many design boards (pieces of fleece) hung up so each of us could lay our fabric out to see what it would end up looking like. I had more pieces up but they kept falling down. I took a picture because the point of the class was to learn how to sew the curves! So I wanted to make sure I remembered how I wanted it to look (a great tip I am going to remember from now on – take pictures!). This is a project I am either going to make sure it with me while we are traveling (more on that soon!) or have it in a box to be delivered to the house vs the storage unit.

Here is Shannon working on a curve with her awesome Janome machine!

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There is a new blog for us military spouses of the liberal persuasion! Check out Left Face – lots of great people are contributing and a few posts are up already. Come on over and check it out!

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I have a lot of magazines to go through. I want to take the time to read them so I’m debating taking them with me or packing them to be dropped off at the house (vs being in storage). Actually, dropping them at the house sounds like a fantastic idea.

The rental truck is reserved, we have movers hired to help us load it up, still need to find a hotel to stay at but that won’t take but a few minutes. I have plenty of boxes to pack the house and if I need more, they are but a short car ride away at Barnes and Noble.

I’m so ready to be out of housing. Our experience here has not been the best by far. What started off good quickly went downhill with just a few choice words. After not letting one person ruin my time here, things have been better, but I’m still ready to be gone.

I managed to talk housing into letting me leave early! Okay it’s only a day, but that makes a difference when you are making plans.

Post from: me being crafty

Here’s how our plans went – the most recent ones anyway. We were to move in month A to place A. But no, we’d move in month B to place A. Then it was moving to place B but we don’t know when. Then it went back to place A and we weren’t sure when. That one lasted for a bit longer then the rest. Next it was moving to place A in month D, for sure. For sure!

Then within the past few weeks it’s been place A, for real this time, in month E. Last minute changes due to noones fault – well someones fault but noone immediately close to us – changed it to month F, which is before month E. Confusing? Just a little.

But our plans in the bigger pictures – unchanged. Our move dates were not affected, it actually worked out a little better. Oh and wives and families are all moving to places somewhere else on the alphabet. Kids and I, back to living with Mom – which I seriously love. I’m very close with my Mom, we have a wonderful relationship and I don’t have any issues of living with her. We lived with my Dad last spring and it went really well too.

Maybe in month K or L we’ll be able to move to place A, hopefully we can! I’m interested in moving there and I always say I didn’t sign up to raise my kids alone.

So as of today, we leave in about a month – with the last week or even two spent in one of those hotels where you can stay for a week and it has a kitchenette, what are those called? – and Chris gets to take leave which means we get a family vacation! I’m so excited about that! We’ve never done a family vacation – and growing up we went somewhere for two weeks every summer so you can imagine how hard it’s been to think of moving as your vacation. Nevermind fighting to get to take leave. This time, we do it right. We are going to plan where we want to go and luckily for us, we’ll have family at almost every stop of the way to stay with!

Today though, we have a soccer game to get to. Jake’s was called off cause the littlest kids don’t like to play outside when it’s cold and rainy. I’m not sure if Alice’s will get canceled and if it does we’ll just be able to get that much more done around the house. Oh, while not touching DH and washing clothes because he got a vaccine. Fun.

What are your weekend plans?

Post from: me being crafty

The week started off fairly slow with friends coming over and soccer practice – then each day got more and more busy. I got a haircut (love it, mostly), did a preinspection with housing so we can move out in a month, had dinner out with friends, went to a family readiness group (FRG) meeting, more soccer practice, quilt class (so fun!), hail/farewell (when an officer leaves or comes to the ship this is done), then more friends visiting.

It’s not like when friends come over we are sitting around doing nothing – we’ve all been working on secret projects! One friend just started hers today and got everything done to move on to the next step, another  friend is almost done with the entire thing, I am on the final lap for mine. We are movng right along! The project was supposed to be bigger but it didn’t end up that way so it’s okay.

Soccer practice is still fun – Alice’s coach has been challenging them more each week and I love when he does that. The kids seem scared to kick the ball really hard during a game, and actually during practice too. Alice isn’t afraid to get in there and get the ball moving, which I love about her. Jake’s team is all so tiny – I think he’s the only five year old on the team, the rest are four and tiny four year olds at that! Their games are really cute to watch. Once Jake kicked the ball at the start – he kicked it from the center of the field all the way into the goal.

We have the second to last soccer games in the morning – it’s fairly cold here right now, in the 40s/50s and raining so I’m not sure if we’ll actually have the games. Next week is spring break for the local schools and though we homeschool I have a free week too. It’s definitely welcome – I plan on working on the quilt I started in class yesterday and packing more!

How was your week?

Post from: me being crafty

Now when I turn the camera on I have to set the date and time. And if I give the camera to the kids to take a picture of me, it either turns off of the screen gets a bunch of lines on it and won’t take a picture.

So now what. Now I have to figure out a new camera to buy. And of course this happens when the kids are in soccer and I want/need pictures of them playing! Plus with the move I’d like some pictures of this place, not that many but a few.

I’ve asked a couple of friends what they use – I’d like a DSLR but not right now. Right now I want (need!) a point and click camera. I want one that will focus quickly/easily and works well indoors. With the camera I was using, there were many, many times it wouldn’t focus. I’d push the button half down and it would beep madly at me and I’d have to try again. You just can’t have that when you want to take pictures of kids that move all the time!

What is your recommendation? I also need a camera for Chris to take with him and we’ll either buy two of the same or two different, whatever works.

Post from: me being crafty

What she sent me literally had me so excited I dropped my camera. Haha! Really I took a couple of pictures then dropped it on the floor – picking it up I noticed it rattled and now it’s broken and not working very well at all.

But my excitement!

I *love* the teapot she gave me! I never did tell this story ~My Dad asked what I wanted for Christmas back in November or December. I usually say I don’t know (because I really don’t) and he sends something for the kids. This year he asked more then once and I said “I’d really like a Kitchen Aid mixer but they are expensive – so I want a teapot.” My Dad is the king of pawn/thrift store shopping so I figured he’d find me some cool antique teapot.

Then he asks which Kitchen Aid I wanted. And we talked about the price of them, the colors, and how it would get to me. Then one day I got a call for him wanting my address because he was Fed Ex’ing me the mixer.

It took me a while to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Of course this meant I didn’t have a teapot. Until Sam sent me one. And it’s perfect because it is just for me! Noone else in my house drinks tea, well maybe the kids would but I don’t make it for them, and this has a cool drop in tea holder.

She also sent me this great little book (blank pages to take notes), a note on a cute card, tea, perfume samples (oh my gosh I love perfume samples, I’m indecisive that way) and a pocket zen reader. The blank book and zen reader went into my purse immediately and I’ve jotted a few things down.

I love participating in swaps and hope to again, after we move of course. Unless you want to swap moving boxes for something I have, I’m all over that!

Post from: me being crafty

Remind me that I said I feel good just knowing in about a month when I’m freaking out from having to move so soon.

What I should have said was “Remind me that I said I feel good just knowing in about a month when I’m freaking out from having to move that day.”

Yep, it’s a month and we are out of here! I called last week about getting out of our lease and after we talked this weekend, our plans are more or less solid. I have to pack (packing two bookcases took ten boxes, omg how many boxes is it going to take!), I have to clean, I have to repair nail holes from where I hung mirrors and pictures because I want my house to look like a home and not like a box with furniture in it.

We are bringing a friend of Chris’ down to help with the driving again. He helped when we moved to Charleston and it was great – which I can say now that the years have passed and I’m not mad about he and Chris ditching me the morning our stuff arrived (the nay vee moved us that time and we just drove the two cars). I have to remember to mark boxes for storage or for the house since we are staying with Mom at first – and then we’ll pack the truck and drive the 2500+ miles.

Just because our plans are solid, doesn’t mean it can’t change. We know the leave dates, but Chris will be gone up until practically the last second. So his friend B and I get to load the moving truck ourselves (really we will probably hire a few guys we know) and we’ll leave before Chris comes back. Then Chris is going to fly and meet us and we are going on vacation (not B, he’s just hired help! Haha).

I’m going to rewrite my todo lists today, let’s see what I can get done between now and tomorrow!

Post from: me being crafty

Jake – a game a couple of weeks ago

I do love watching them play. I love being able to see kids change – to see when something clicks for them or see when they get just that much better. Since the first practice until yesterday’s game, the improvement in all the players is huge! It’s amazing to watch. This is the first time either of the kids have played an organized sport and they are having so much fun. Alice plays goalie a lot and she’s really good at blocking the other team. A couple of the parents commented on how tough she was because she fell down during one game but still kept the ball out of the goal.

The wind actually made me tired. I watched part of a movie and wanted to cover up on the couch to finish it, but ended up taking a three hour-ish nap in the afternoon instead! The kids slept too, giving up on their addiction to pbskids.org and watching shows online. The nap was good, I figured it was okay since I woke up at 5:30AM due to forgetting to turn an alarm off!

I watched The Lucky Ones which was a good story. I like the actors, Tim Robbins, Michael Pena and Rachel McAdams, and the story wasn’t overblown or crazy, it just was. I’m sure we know people just like the characters – wandering, trying to find their way, figuring out what to do now that they are back. We have several friends who are no longer in the military who took a bit to figure out their place.

How was your weekend?

Post from: me being crafty

I feel kind of cheated. I feel like we already spent most of last year apart – now we have to spend even more time apart. It isn’t fair. Ha, life in the nay vee isn’t meant to be fair! I spend my time talking with friends that are new wives and new to the military – talking about how it isn’t fair and how it works and how I’m sorry they just got married and all these things are so different ~ different from expectations or from what they were told. After being married for eight years and Chris being in for ten, I have my fair share of knowledge to share.

I know it’s not supposed to be fair, but sometimes life gets overwhelming.

We do know when we are moving and plan on staying with family so we don’t have to worry about finding a place to live right away. A part of me does feel good just knowing. I am such a planner – well now I can plan! I can plan the trip and organize the house and purge and donate.

Remind me that I said I feel good just knowing in about a month when I’m freaking out from having to move so soon.

New Vera Bradley purse – a steal at $15 after it was on sale then on clearance!

Post from: me being crafty

Angelic Quilts screenshot

I find that its the fabric that talks to me. I love looking at fat quarters, they are neatly folded and stacked together. Sure the bolts are also neat and stacked, but fat quarters are even better because you can see so many together at once.

I used to think and say that I had an eye for color. Sure my favorite colors (dark blue, maroon and forest green) have been my favorite for over ten years now, but I can put jewelry together well and have always enjoyed picking out beads for a bracelet or necklace.

A few years ago I took a quilt class with my Mom and when we went to pick the fabric I picked a handful of really bright colors. I know my Mom thought I was a little crazy for picking that way, and looking back on it I can understand her feeling that way! The quilt turned out nice, I liked it, but man, it was practically neon it was so bright! Not so great on picking the colors then. (Mom still has that quilt I made, she took it with her to finish because all I had done was the top, I wonder if she ever finished it?)

I still think I have an eye for color, I’m just slightly out of practice. How do you feel about color?

Post from: me being crafty

She picked the fabric from my stash and we cut and started sewing in a few minutes. I showed her how to hold the fabric to guide it through the machine, showed her how to line the fabric up (we didn’t pin anything – note to self, she’s only 7, pin it!) and set the speed setting close to the slowest one. She loves her new handmade babydoll sling!

I know I found the pattern on a crafty blog and it is lost forever in my bookmarks or stumble page or something. If you recognize this, please let me know so I can link it!

Alice & baby in a new sling

A short time later and she was done! I didn’t have any rings like the pattern calls for, so she cleverly found an elastic hair band and wrapped the ends together. Her baby didn’t complain and stayed tucked in just fine.

Post from: me being crafty

We went to Golden Needles & Quilts of Rockport, got on the ferry to go to lunch at the Port Aransas Brewing Company, to Kalico and Keepsakes of Port Aransas, stopped at the hospital to see a friend who just had a baby, to the The Quilt Cottage in Corpus Christi, then finally to the new quilt shop, Heirloom Elegance.We left early in the morning and didn’t get home until dinner time! It was a really long, long day.

Alice & I on the ferry

Golden Needles is a favorite shop – we’ve been there a few times and the shop is very nice. She also has classroom space and depending on the schedules of friends we may rent it for an afternoon for our own get togethers! That may not end up happening but I like that the option is available (and really, I hope it happens at least once!). They had door prizes while we were there but none of us won anything. The free gift they gave was a cute felt pincushion and a fat eighth of fabric, I let Alice pick mine out which she thought I meant it was hers so now she has her own pincushion!

We lucked out on the ferry! We drove up and were second in line for the next ferry to leave – at least 15 minutes, if not a longer wait. But then they waved on the person in front of us and we thought “awesome, we’ll be first!” – only to have them wave us on too! During day one of the shop hop others had talked about the long wait for the ferry due to issues they were having so being able to jump right on was fantastic.

The Port A Brewing Co is a great place to eat! They brew their own beer though we haven’t been back to try any, I’m sure we’ll go before we move.

Kalico and Keepsakes is a small quilt shop and of course I managed to find a few things I loved. She had more fabrics in a line that I have been collecting (collecting is what it has to be, I have no plans for it yet!) and also had a door prize drawing and gave you a fat quarter just for stopping by. I thought it was particularly nice that she let each of the kids grab their own fat quarter!

We stopped to see a friends brand new baby – she was born on Thursday night and we had been getting text message updates throughout day one of shop hopping. It was good to see her but we didn’t stay for too long. I forget (or did I even know?) that kids aren’t allowed in to see babies (and why is that anyway?).

The Quilt Cottage is a regular shop we visit so it was nice to stop in and look at her fabric again. I signed up for a couple of quilt classes at Golden Needles and ended up finding fabric for one of them at the QC! We’ll see if I stick with that fabric in the end. They also gave away door prizes and all of us won something! I won a book, which is awesome, and their free gift for coming in was a pincushion kit. I sewed it together the other day so I’ll share that too.

The last shop, Heirloom Elegance, was having a really great sale on fabric – 25% off *everything*. It was really hard to even be in there with those prices! It was like they read my mind and stocked their shelves with every fabric I’ve ever liked. I bought a few things and wanted to go back the next day (the last day of their sale) but didn’t because I really bought a lot in those two days.

Whew! What was day three of the shop hop turned into a hang out and rest day for me. I sorted my fabric and put it with the rest of my stash or into project bags. It was also a few days into a short time with Chris at work so it was a day to clean up the house a bit before he would get home!

Have you survived my blog post? Have you ever done a shop hop?

Post from: me being crafty

More state signs in our future!

Yep, we are out of here! The dates are hanging out in jello right now (translation: wiggly and subject to slight changes) but they are there. The kids and I are going back to Washington! I am trying not to use twelve million exclamation points but it’s really hard! I’m *so* excited to be going back. We aren’t going to the same town we were in before – we are going to where my Mom is! It is going to be super fantastic to be near family, as in in the same house near and then hopefully on the same street near.

Such is life in the nay vee that this means we will have to be away from Chris for who knows how long. Well we do basically know, also hanging out in jello next to our move dates. I spent a few days being very sad and borderline depressed before moving into my “oh my gosh we have to move I have to plan that where is paper and a pencil so I can write a list and what exactly can I send with him or send to him hhmmm do I know how to password protect a blog so he can keep up with all that we will do while he’s gone” mode. The sad days were good for me, got them out of my system and all, and I’ve really been in planning and making mode sense.

The move dates have changed but it doesn’t really affect us since it’s still a couple of months away. I’m still working and working on various projects (secret projects!) and the kids are both in soccer! I’ve been keeping a calendar more now then I have in the past just to remember everything that’s going on. But that’s a good thing as while Texas isn’t the most horrible thing I’ve ever been though, it’s up there.

Post from: me being crafty