Anyone want an update?

Well, I thought it might be a good time for an update! So much has happened in the last month and a half since I updated last. We've packed up the entire house, cleaned it all (passing inspection with flying colors!), moved to the other side of the country, visited friends and family along the way, found a great house to rent (more on that story), had all our household goods delivered, cried over some pieces that were ruined, unpacked boxes and am currently busy trying to find a place for everything and make this place ito our home! whew... I'm tired just after writing all that! Living out of a suitcase for over a month is not for me!!

I don't have pictures of the house yet, but I promise they will be up shortly so today I will tell you about how we got this house!

On our way here, we stopped in Ohio to visit my mom and Papa O. We ended up leaving the kids with them (what a huge blessing) while Jason and I took off for VA to find us a house. We had already filled out all the paperwork for on post housing, but all the places told us the wait list was 6 to 12 - - remember that in 6 months Jason is supposed to deploy - - so waiting was not an option for us, we wanted to be in a home and settled by the time he has to leave. We got to VA late Monday night. We knew that on Tuesday, we had to go to the housing office and check in with them before we could start really looking for a house. On Monday night, we searched the internet for homes for rent in the DC area... we had a list of about 20 potential homes and we started calling that evening to try to set up times to see the homes. No one answered except for about 3 or 4 people who all told us that the homes had already been rented out. Tuesday we went into the city to check in at the post and talk to the housing office. We finished there about noon and we were on our way to trying to find a house.

We called on a few more homes on our list and either did not get an answer, or they had already rented it out. Finally we decided to just enter some of the addresses into our GPS and see the neighborhoods and houses and then we would know if we were even interested. We drove to the first house we entered and knew instantly that it was not for us. So we headed to the second address. when we pulled into the subdivision we knew this was a good possibility... We found the house that was listed and imediatly called on it - - - someone answered - a good sign! It was the realestate agent who promptly told us that the house had already rented...darn! As we were driving out of the subdivision we were looking at street sign and I saw one I recognized. I looked on our list and there was a home listed for rent on that street. We immediately called. Someone answered (oh happy day!). It was the owner she told us that the previous people had just moved out the day before. When Jason asked her if we could see it, she said it would take her about an hour to get there but we could see it. Woohoo! then someone actually called us back and told us we could come and look at their home at 3. We went and grabbed some lunch, then headed back to the first house to see the inside. we walked in and it was spacious, clean, new (only 3 years old), and a great location. The only negative was it was going to cost us all of our housing money and we would still have to pay utilities out of our pocket. We told the landlord that we were really interested, but we had another house to look at that had 5 bedrooms and was a lot less per month. She asked us how much. We told her and she said - - I will give it to you for that, but you will have to mow your own lawn. I know our jaws hit the ground! We told her that we would give her a call back after we looked at the other home...

The next home was not the one for us at all - - wallpaper and all green trim - - that's all I am going to say... we called the original landlord back immediately and told her we wanted it! Just like that - - we only looked at two homes and we had our house. Everyone told us to take our time and not make any quick decisions, but we just knew this was right. Turns out that the lady who works in the cubicle next to Jason lives just 5 houses down, so he was able to jump in on their carpool right away.

Oh - - - and did I mention that we now live only 5 minutes from the mall, Target and Ikea? I live in civilization again!!

I promise pictures will be on here soon!!

Before and After!

I thought I would show some before and afters of some of the projects I have been working on. It is crunch time around here trying to finish up everyone's projects before the packers show up to pack everything for moving.

This first chair is your typical Army office waiting room chair. My friend Sandi just wanted some extra seating in her house when friends are over. She found 2 of these chairs for $5 each and decided they would be a great option. Once I took them apart and started re-upholstering them, I realized they had great potential. What if they don't go back in the typical waiting room frame, but instead got 4 legs attached to the bottom? Whala! Two great slipper chairs!

Before
What I envision they could look like (my inspiration if you will)

Here is the chair part re-upholstered but not back in the frame. Are you seeing what I am seeing? Potential! Notice, I have used a storage crate as my "legs" for the picture. What do you think? Put them back in the frame or add legs?

Here is a second before and after....Just for you Kristi! Kristi is gone on vacation with her family so this will be her first peek at her chair also! This is Kristi's chair before the re-do. It was your typical late 70's early 80's orange corderoy chair. The chair has been primed, painted and re-upholstered. I think I'm in love!

Before

Here the chair is after... what do you think? Big change! I think it looks great!

Now that I have had my little break from all the moving excitement, it's now time for me to get back to organizing and deciding what is going into my garage sale - - -this Saturday. Ugh! If you live around here (and you obviously know who you are!) then stop on by on Saturday and get my trash to make it into your treasures!!

Disney

Here is a sneak peak at our time at Disney! We had a great time as a family, getting away from all the stress of moving and just enjoying some time with just the four of us. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks away from the entrance to Disney, so we parked our van at the hotel when we got there and never moved it again!! It was great, we walked there every morning when the parks opened, and walked back to our room for lunch and swimming at the pool, then we would walk back for an evening of fun at the park. It was great. The kids were the perfect age to take, not too little to have to struggle with a stroller and naps and not too old that it wasn't cool anymore! Enjoy the picures. It't time for us to get back to the real world again and contiue preparing for the big move. Only two more rooms to paint back to white and we are done! Then packers, movers, inspections, and final goodbyes - - - but oh yeah, we still need orders before we can get everything done. Oh the sweet sweet life of the military!

It's Time to Update!!

Well, it has definately been awhile since I have posted. And let me tell you, life has been CRAZY!! I haven't posted since Mom's wedding, and so much has happened since then! We found out that Jason would be deploying to Afganistan in June. We decided that the best thing for our family would be for the kids and I to move back to Ohio and live by my Mom and Olan. Up until last week, we were going back and forth with the army trying to figure out if they were going to put our stuff in storage or if we were going to have to stay here. We were going in circles. Then last week, as I was sitting in the salon getting my hair done, Jason walked in and told me that he had just gotten off the phone with higher ups and that all plans had changed. The new plan.... (drumroll please) Jason is not deploying until January and we are all moving to Washington DC. - - huh? Didn't see that one coming! So, in just two weeks time, we have to get everything ready to move. That includes, organizing (getting rid of kids clothes that don't fit and things we don't use or need to move with us anymore), having a garage sale, repainting the entire house, finishing up everyone else's projects, closing out accounts, packing up stuff to take in the van with us, and figuring out what we are doing for housing once we get there! AAAGH! I am very excited about us moving and of course I am excited about Jason not deploying right away, but wow - - we have so much to do! In light of everything that we have to do before moving, it is very important for us to make sure we make it to Disneyland before we move! We can't live this close and not go - - so here I am sitting up at midnight typing out a post and waiting for my laundry to finish so I can finish packing us up, so we can leave early in the morning! Woohoo! The kids are very excited and I am like a little kid, I am so excited. Hopefully i will post some pictures, but knowing what the next two weeks hold, I am not promising!

Momma's Wedding

Last weekend my Mom got married... woohoo! It was a great time for us to get together as a family and celebrate. Thankfully for us, the wedding was in San Diego, so we only had a 3 hour drive to get there. We had lots of fun and although the time was short, I was just thankful to be able to be there with Mom and Olan - or Poppa O as the kids call him! I don't have any pictures to post of the wedding, for two reasons: 1. My camera remained in the trunk of the car the entire weekend - - not one single picture taken and 2. My computer is completely dead - flatlined. Oh what a sad, sad day. This my friends, is why you should back up your pictures that are stored on your computer. I have now officially lost 5 years of pictures. Charise is only 6, so that means I have lost pictures of 80% of her life :(

But, on to happier things, I might not have pictures, but my cousin - Shari- who has her own photography buisness and a great blog was there taking pictures the whole weekend! So, check out the pictures here and check out some of her other great pictures while you are on her blog. She is in the San Diego area, so if you are ever headed that way and want some great pictures, you can check her work out - - I think she does a fabulous job!!

White Slipcover

I'm linking up!


I reupholstered this chair for one of my customers a few months back, but since then, she has moved the chair into a different room. She didn't want the chair reupholstered again, but instead asked me to do a simple white slipcover with some nice details. Here is the before picture...

And the after! Ta da!

I needed a way to keep the slipcover tight around the arms of the chair, so I sewed some white grossgrain ribbon to the slipcover at the bottom edge near the arm opening and now it can be tightened and tied shut with a romantic bow. Notice the adorable pleated "short skirt" that goes all the way around, I am just in love with this little detail.

Keeping the slipcover tight around the back required that I pull it tight at the seam and then have buttons to keep it together. The seam right above the buttons, at the edge of the chair is velcroed (I'm not sure that is a word) together from under the arm to just below the buttoned flap.

And the best and most exciting part - - ok for me at least - - I got my labels! I'm so professional now! This is the first one that I got to put on any of my projects. It makes me feel official!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!! You all need to go here and check out all of her great sewing projects! Talk about inspiration, I wish I could sew clothes like she does! I really would love to win this dress that she is giving away, I would like to think that I could attemp to make one similar, but I'm pretty sure it would just end up being a half finished project!!

By the way, don't miss my post from earlier today... big news in the Franklin family!