Scavenger Photo Hunt, August 📷

Oh my, this has certainly been a wet month. But for the moment, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining once again.
It's almost the end of the month and that means it's time for Katie and her I live, I love, I craft, I am me ... scavenger photo hunt.

The words for August are...

Moving...
Ah, moving into my craft room in our new house, although it's been almost six years now. It's also where I do a lot of making!

Boxes...
Now if you have a cat and a box, you're going to have a cat in a box!
Here's Maximus saying don't forget me when we moved.

And here he is helping pack up Ming!

One more, Monster Max in a box.

Starts with a D...
Demolition.
This was our old house being taken down to build our new one. The chimney was the last to go, it kept us warm for many years.

Breakfast...
The breakfast of champions! This is Spike and Scotch, they made Nathan breakfast one morning in December. For some reason, he wasn't very hungry. We know Buddy the Elf would have loved it.

Making...
And here's Nathan when he was little, helping me make Welsh cakes for St. David's Day.

These are some of the masks I made for DH. Now I need to make some for the boys to wear at school.

My own choice...
"Are you sure I'm not allowed in the kitchen?"

And there you have August, please go take a look and see what others have posted for this month!

Clean up, clean up! And stitching

Nathan's toy area in the basement, a total mess. Although this isn't as bad as it was before this picture. I don't think the floor had been vacuumed in over a year!

Some things put away, but Lego pieces were everywhere! He was not a happy camper when I made him pick them all up.

He actually donated some toys and we stored some things in a closet (planning ahead for grandchildren!) So much better, he just needs to clean up the table.

Next project, his room. 😧

As for stitching, I bought a HAED pattern years ago but stopped because I didn't like the way it looked.
I started in the middle on 22 count. I tried using one, then two strands and it didn't matter.

Last week I bought 30 count and restarted it, starting in the upper left corner this time. This fabric is much stiffer, which I think has helped.

I am liking this so much better! So far I've only used two colours, so it's been pretty easy. I don't quite know what I'm going to do when it gets really busy, but I'm not too keen on parking.

I have a bigger one, but thought I would start "small" and see how it goes! Any suggestions on stitching a HAED would be greatly appreciated!

And I'm behind again on my replies and blog reading, sorry!

Gasp, another finish!

I finally finished Mary's Sampler by Plum Street Samplers!  I really should have finished it Christmas 2013, but I got lazy with the stars.  I decided not to add the flowers around the border, it was too much for me.  Now I just need to frame it and then it will be ready to give to my Mom THIS Christmas!

How cool is this bedspread?!

My MIL had it made for us by an Amish woman in Pennsylvania.  She picked out the colours and chose the design.  I think it looks 3D in the picture, but not while actually looking at it.  It really is beautiful and such a wonderful surprise.

 Unfortunately, it's in the guest room at the moment until we get our bedroom furniture - it's too big for our bed without a bed frame.

My craft room is somewhat organized, this is one corner of it.  Once we get a new kitchen table, I'll be able to put our old one in here.  I'm hoping the old couch will fit in here too once we get a new one, but that might be pushing it.

My stand is just waiting for my HAED piece to be placed in it, hopefully soon.  I still have to put away the Christmas decorations!

Why Demo?

Why did we demo the house?  Many reasons - 

It was paid for several years ago, so it saved us buying a piece of property.

We like the lot and the location, but we've outgrown it.  Garrett had a makeshift "bedroom" in the basement, but no bathroom there.

The family room and front room were way too narrow.

It needed work, like a new roof to start with.

I had originally suggested adding to it, but DH was tired of the old, used brick and wanted to start new - how can I argue with that?!

We had some wonderful times and memories there, with lots of pictures to prove it!  The gmen were only six months old when we moved in, hard to believe they'll be 16 next month.  

I was the only one of the family that watched it come down, I took pictures and recorded it for DH and the boys.  My best friend growing up, Tara, was sweet enough to come and join me to keep me company.  My wonderful neighbour, Margo, joined us for a little bit too.  It was exciting, but scary and sad at the same time.  It didn't really hit me until that evening after I got home.  I was emotionally, mentally, and physically drained.  I didn't think it would hit me that hard, but it did.  DH and the boys?  Destruction, they were excited!  

My girlfriend, Kari, wrote this beautifully - 

"Just think of all the new memories you will make in your brand new home! :)  And also you must remember that your home is wherever Paul and your 3 boys are... the old home although having lots of wonderful memories for you is only the shell that you and your family made those memories in.  I know it is emotional and of course you have the emotional connections to the old house, but just try to remember this time is just a stepping stone for the next wonderful memories that will be made!  Love you!"

Thank you, dear Kari, I really needed that.

As of Tuesday, we finally received our building permit!

If you'd like to follow our journey, please let me know so I can send you an invite to a private "blog". 

Zipline Footage and Moving Fun

Finally, here it is, the Travel Channel Ziprider at Icy Strait Point. 

 

Check us out at 00:15 minutes, we're the ones going down into the clouds!

 

Then check us out at 1:22 minutes, we're standing at the back of the line, I'm wearing my pink hooded jacket and the gmen are in front of me.  Not sure why this one came later, we were in line waiting to go down!



Pic of us going downnnnnn

The reason I haven't been reading blogs, writing blogs or stitching?  We FINALLY moved!
Nothing like having friends come over to help pack and move us out.  I think these two were having way too much fun, all I heard was laughing!

 

Two of the gmen's friends helped us too, doesn't hurt to have four football players moving furniture and boxes! 

Caravan of vehicles full of our goodies.

Now the rest of the fun begins, unloading.


We've settled in, but still have lots some boxes to go through.  We've even had a visitor come say hello.

Ming wishing she could go out and play.

 

I've actually been able to stitch in the evening while watching Army Wives on Netflix on my phone.  We moved in on the 1st and Comcast was scheduled to come that afternoon.  They actually came early and ready to set us up, only to find out that the house wasn't wired for Comcast, only Verizon.  Bummer!  To make a long story short, Comcast came and put the wires in and then didn't come back when they told me they were coming.  I found out we were never scheduled and someone would call me back ASAP.  That was Thursday early afternoon and I'm still waiting.  In the meantime, Verizon came today and set us up which was great, but then found out we don't get BBC America.  WHAT?!  We would get it only if we downgrade and lose channels or upgrade and pay more.  Not a happy camper at the moment.  Really wish there was a third option, both of their customer service sucks!  And that was the shortened version!

Testing, testing

Ok, I'm testing this out because I don't want it on the Internet for all to see since it has to do with our house.  I don't know if it will work the way I want to it to, so please let me know.

 

If you'd like to follow us on our house building journey, (I know a few of you have from when I tried before) please email me.
  

From Brick to Stone

 

 

The joys of house hunting

We're finally getting close to hiring a builder and officially start the process of building our new house, which means we need to find a place to rent.  Can I just tell you what a PITA it is already?!  I've only looked at three places so far and one is a possibility, but still unsure.

The first place we saw was a house that was bought in April, as is.  I think the only thing they did to spruce it up was clean and/or vacuum the front room and dining room.  The "wood" floors were very creaky and one of the bedrooms had a sliding door to the master bedroom - hello Nathan!  It has six acres, but only a portion of it needs to be taken care of.  The worst part was that it had a pool.  Not a nice outdoor pool, this one was in the basement separated only by a door.  Besides the fact that the basement was VERY damp and stinky, the pool still had some water in it and it was N.A.S.T.Y!  DH actually told me later that it gave him the heebie jeebies.  I asked him if he meant like "haunted" heebie jeebies, thinking oh my, there's a ghost in the house!  But no, he said it was just a feeling that a pool like that shouldn't be "inside" a house AND it was disgusting.  (I googled the house just in case but didn't find anything.)  So between the pool and it being a little farther out than we wanted, it was a no.  I won't even tell you about the bathrooms, totally outdated (which I could live with) but I was not happy about the thought of having to clean them, another nasty area!

The second place was a townhouse and it actually wasn't too bad.  It had three bedrooms and even though the gmen said they would be okay sharing a room, they weren't too happy about it.  We could put one of them in the basement, but it had a basement door that would have been very temping for someone to sneak out at night and walk to the shopping area.  Not that any of our boys would EVER think about doing that! ;) 

The third place was also a townhouse, and it seemed a bit bigger than the previous one even though it had less square footage.  I actually liked it except for the fact that it was one of those weird townhouses with the garage in the back of the house and the front door was in a courtyard.  I got lost getting there and couldn't imagine trying to tell friends how to find it, let alone where to park!  Bummer, that could have worked.  BTW, if you ever put your house on the market to sell or rent, please remember to put your dirty laundry basket, with your dirty underwear on top, somewhere where no one can see it!

 

I'm hoping there will be more houses going on the market soon since school is almost out, we shall see. 
 

 

February Fun and a WIPacolypse

Nothing like winning orange rice crispy treats at Bingo, with sprinkles too!  He spied those when we arrived and was lucky enough to hold a winning baked goods ticket.  The gmen won too, Nathan helped Garrett pick iced brownies - now that's what I'm talking about!  BTW, he does actually brush his teeth, they aren't normally green!  Silly ring pop.

I'm just a little bit further along with One Nation, still a long way to go!  DJ and I are doing a SAL with this and I think I've fallen a bit behind.

 

I'm almost finished with my Trick or Treat Fairy and if I just sat down long enough with it, I could be done!  DJ is coming over on Friday to stitch/talk/laugh, so I think I'll make the effort to finish it then.

 

Taken at o'dark thirty in the morning! 

 The best news for February was that our perc plan for the new house has finally been approved!  This adventure will be on a different "blog" and if you're interested in following it, just let me know by commenting here or sending me an email. 

 

Hurricane Irene & a Wedding

 
Our friends got married in the midst of Hurricane Irene and survived!  
They were married at Sequoia, located at the Georgetown Waterfront.  This is the view from the restaurant, looking at the Kennedy Center.

 

 You can see the rain in the background and thankfully it didn't flood there like it did in April!

Here they are with just to show Irene that she didn't spoil their wonderful evening!

So I had to drive home from Georgetown at midnight, fun, fun!  It was raining and very windy with some tree limbs down along the way, but overall it was fine.  It took a little longer, only because I was driving slow to avoid hitting anything in the road.

At 2am, I was jolted out of bed by having this tree limb fall right over our bedroom.  Luckily it wasn't as bad as I thought and there doesn't seem to be any damage.  Paul had celebrated during the reception, so he slept right through it!

And here we have a huge tree limb that fell just down the road from us.  This side of the road still has power, but I don't think the other side does!  This was taken in the  morning and we just walked down this evening and it's still the same.

The gmen were supposed to start school tomorrow, but we found out that schools are closed.  Oh well, it was only 1/2 day anyway!  

We are very thankful that we didn't lose power and that the storm wasn't as bad as it could have been.

Buzz Inn at Deep Creek Lake

 

Welcome to Buzz Inn, named for Paul's college mascot, Buzz, from Georgia Tech.

 

Paul's Mom bought this house the second year we were dating, way back in 1991.  Since then, it's been painted at least once and the deck stained once - but the wood has been rotting away and needed some kind of facelift.

One weekend last September, we packed up the house and moved everything out into two storage pods that were placed on the driveway. 

 So here we have the removal of the old wooden siding.  I think it only took a couple of days to take it all off.  It looks so naked!

The roof was raised and three rooms and one bathroom were added to the upstairs.  The boys have their own bedroom now - it has two double bunk beds!  The middle room/great room will be for games and more relaxing.  I'm hoping to accomplish a lot of stitching in that room - maybe even this weekend after the furniture is moved in!




This is the finished house, they are just working on finishing up the deck and adding the stairs.  We are here with the extended family to enjoy a blessed Easter together, even my parents will join us on Sunday.

1987? Mailbox

Found one I forgot about at my parents house.  I think I made this soon after they moved to Western MD.

1996 Hometown

Surprise, this one is for my parents too!  Very fitting since they just sold their winter house in Arizona to stay permanently in LaVale.