Sanding and Squirrels

So, I made my weekly Thursday pilgrimage to Lyndonville to work on the new house. Usually, I'll drive up on Thursday, work on the house all day, spend Thursday night at our friends' house (since I'm not allowed to sleep at the house before we close), then work more on Friday, then go home Friday afternoon. But today was just a one-day thing since CJ and I worked there on Monday, we're going back on Saturday, and I have a prior commitment on Friday.

Some friends of mine were requesting to see some pictures of me workin' the safety goggles...

Today I worked on sanding/painting the door and windows in the bathroom. I was going to move on to the second floor windows after that, but I had an inturruption.

While I was moving my sanding/painting supplies upstairs I heard a SQUIRREL in our WALLS! AHHHHH!!! SQUIRREL!!!

I banged on the wall with a pole, and just heard more skittering. I didn't know how to flush it out, and I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I called CJ, and he said to just pack up and come home early and he'd drive up when he got out of work to set a trap. It was mostly for Luna's sake that he wanted me to come home early. Although I'm confident that Luna could probably take a squirrel (dachshunds were originally bred to hunt badgers! "Dachshund" actually means "badger-hound" in German), we didn't want her to get hurt or bitten on the off chance the squirrel has rabies or something.

We're pretty sure it's the squirrel we saw when we walked in the house on Monday. We thought it got scared off and made it out of the house...but I think we were wrong. The going theory is that it never did get out of the house, but simply found refuge in the walls. We're hoping that when we go back on Saturday, there will be a trapped squirrel.

I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get to stay as long as I was planning today. I as planning on getting a lot more done. Stupid squirrel.

Missie's Wedding

I went to my high school best friend's wedding yesterday!

She looked absolutely gorgeous and the wedding was simple and beautiful. And it was a beautiful day to have an outside wedding! The only thing that happened that wasn't according to plan was that one of the groomsmen fainted! I felt kind of bad that I was really quite amused when everyone else was so concerned, but one of my bridesmaids fainted at my wedding...so I just kind of thought it was funny that it actually happened at someone else's wedding. Fainting during a wedding is one of those things that you hear about and you get warnings about not locking your knees (eating breakfast/lunch helps too), but you never really expect to happen. So when it does happen, I'm just amused!

CJ and I were at the same table as this couple, Katie and Michael. I met them once at Missie's bridal shower/birthday party. CJ and I got along great with them. And I guess they live in our neighborhood! They were fun people to hang out with. Michael is a ballroom dance instructor and gave me a mini-lesson on swing dancing.

Congratulations Missie! God bless you and your new husband!

Painting At the New House

We got a lot done at the house Thursday and Friday.
All the windows on the first floor (except for the bathroom) have at least a first coat of paint (painting brown over white requires 2 coats). The kitchen window, door and baseboards have 2 coats, and the living room windows have 2 coats on the windows. We're switching to white paint for the bathroom and for upstairs so we will only need to do one coat instead of two.

I worked diligently doing the first coat on the windows on Thursday and on the front door and second coat for some of the windows on Friday.

CJ did a second coat on the kitchen cabinets and first/second coat on the baseboards.
And here's how Luna spent her time while we were painting...

(Ugh...that wallpaper SO needs to go.)

Parkway Pulloff Tree

CJ and I take the Ontario Parkway at least once a week... on Sunday for church, then sometimes again later in the week for going out to work on our new house. There is a little spot on the Parkway where there is a dirt/gravel pulloff right by the lake. And at this pulloff, there is a tree. I've started a little tradition for myself of taking a picture of the tree every time we stop (some weeks we stop, some weeks we don't). I love seeing the changes and variations in the water and sky...and more recently in the tree itself. I'm reminded of Monet's series he would do of the same subject at different times of day or different times of the year.

March 22nd, 2009

April 5th, 2009

April 19th, 2009

May 14th, 2009

May 21st, 2009

Summer is coming!

Painting At the New House Tomorrow

Well, off to the "new" house tomorrow to do some more painting! Oh...did I tell all of you on the blogosphere that the hubby and I are buying our first house? (anyone who knows me in real life knows already) It's about an hour from where I live now, and it's out in the country. I'm excited! The estimated closing date isn't until the end of July though. But we have an agreement to have us work on the house before then (for reasons of inspection and an agreement we have with the owners...we deal with the work that needs to be done in order for us to close since we're getting the hosue for a really low price).

One of the things we have to do to pass inspection is to sand and re-paint any chipping, peeling, or cracked paint...which is almost everywhere. So we are just repainting all the trim, windows, and doors. Basically all the woodwork. This is the progress I made last week.

I was going to post a "before" picture, but realized all the pics I took of the kitchen were from the other angle! Just imagine that all the white (the trim, and the doors) is brown now. And the cabinets are a khaki color. I'll have to take some pics tomorrow while I'm there to post later.

*EDIT* Here's how the kitchen looks now...

Wedding Nubbins

These wedding Nubbins are going to my friend Melissa (yup...Melissa again!) and are going to be gifts for her ring bearer and flower girl.

Next time I make some Wedding Nubbins, I want to try to put a bow tie on the Groom Nubbin. There's nothing to really distinguish him as a groom...where the Bride Nubbin has a veil to distinguish her. But Melissa should be happy with these, since these are the specifications she gave me.

I realize I've been talking a lot about weddings lately...but that's because Melissa's is Saturday, and my friend Kasey's wedding is in June. I'm hoping to post some pictures of my bridesmaid dress when I get around to picking it up.

Bridal Shower "Bow-quet"

I went to my friend Kasey's bridal shower this past Saturday. And as one of her bridesmaids (and apparantly voted the craftiest bridesmaid), I was elected to make her "bow-quet" out of the bows that were on her gifts.

I'd never been to a bridal shower that's done this tradition before (unless someone just saved the bows and did it later). Apparantly someone make a bouquet out of all the bows from the bridal shower gifts and a paper plate, and then the bride is supposed to use this "bow-quet" during the wedding rehersal in place of her real bouquet.

Me working diligently to make the bow-quet while Kasey opens her gifts...

Group shot of the bridesmaids, bride, and flower girl. (I snatched this picture from her wedding blog) .

Speaking of crafty bouquets..go check out Princess Lasertron's blog. She makes awesome bouquets out of felt and buttons. And they look much better (and much more coordinated) than my makeshift bouquet out of bows!

Acessorized Nubbin...

This made me laugh. I just got this picture in an email from my friend Melissa (who is getting married on Saturday!!!). If you remember, I gave her this pigtailed Nubbin for her bridal shower/birthday...

"my friends decided my nubbin needed a plumeria :P"

Chain Mail Earrings

As promised, here's a picture of the "chain mail" earrings I gave to my mom for Mother's Day...

They were made by Lolly Pitts of "The Lolly Shoppe". I got them at Moonflower (of course!).

A Small Rant About Movies & Book Covers...

So...I hate it when...
A book gets turned into a movie and all of a sudden, the new copies of the book no longer sport the originally-published cover image, but rather have been replaced with the movie poster image.

I don't know if it's just that I like the design better or what...but when I get around to buying Twilight, I want to make a point to buy the original cover...if I can still find it. But maybe they'll keep the original cover around since it goes with the other covers of the other books in the series that haven't been turned into movies yet.

I remember being happy that I was able to get a copy of Memoirs of a Geisha with the original cover after the movie came out and every copy in the bookstores had the movie poster cover (I got my copy at Goodwill). I also have the original cover for Wicked (also obtained at Goodwill), as opposed to the one I saw at the store today, which is the poster for the Broadway show...

Not that I don't like the design of the movie poster image for either of those books...I like the designs. But it bugs me for some reason that as soon as something gets "big" that they insist on changing it. I know...that's the nature of marketing...it's just the way it goes. It still bugs me though. Stupid...I know. Maybe it's because I imagine if I was the one who designed the original cover...I'd be ticked off that my design got shoved aside for some shiny new movie poster image.

With as much as I love movies (and movie posters) how ridiculous is it that that this is something that irks me?


By the way...currently reading Twilight (I finally found it at the library!) and I am LOVING it! (as I also loved the movie).
I literally find myself swooning and sighing as I'm reading it (I am such a GIRL!) Oddly enough, it makes me swoon and sigh partly because (no joke) it makes me think of my husband. Don't ask me why...it's something in the character's personality and the relationship dynamic...not in the physical description (my hubby doesn't have honey colored eyes, super pale skin or a Greek god physique). And plus...vampires are just hot. Especially when they are protecting you rather than eating you. (I'm such a GEEK girl!)

Oh my gosh...I just said that "vampires are just hot". My friends (and my mom) who read this blog are going to think I'm so weird! But they should have known that already. ;P

I am following my pattern of reading the book after I've seen the movie so I feel like I'm getting something extra...being more impressed with the book instead of reading the book first and being disappointed with the movie because it "didn't live up to the book". Let me tell you...FEW movies ever completely live up to the books they are from. But I still find movies that are based on books enjoyable...because then I get to go out and read the book and get the "extra" bits and insights of the story!

New Baby...

Congratulations to my friends Amy & Brian on the birth of their new daughter (and fourth child) Lula Mae...born Wednesday May 6th, 2008. She'll be a week old tomorrow.

Miscellanious Moonflower

If you are into buying handmade and buying local, please go visit Moonflower Handcrafted Gallery at 330 West Commercial Street, East Rochester, NY (Across from the PianoWorks Mall).

Support your local artisans!

My monsters now have their own suitcase display! The shop owner rearranges the store every once in awhile, and I like what she did with my monsters recently. Definitely loving the suitcase.

I went to Moonflower last week for their the Mother's Day event to drop off and swap out some monsters (as well as buy my mom some chain mail earrings for Mother's Day...I'll try to remember to take a picture of them sometime so I can show you what they look like). It was a little slow at first, and there were not a lot of people there besides the shop owners and a couple of the artisans. But once we got out the "art table" and started painting, people miraculously started to show up! I think it helps for people coming into the shop to see artists creating...it makes them want to support those artists by buying something! (I did sell one of my recycled denim Earth Day Nubbins that night).

I took some pictures of some of the other artisans' work while I was there. I love how one artist does paintings on "junk". This painting is done on a ceiling fan blade. You can find her Etsy shop here.

I like the applique` on this shirt. I took this picture as a reference for making one for myself. I'd buy this one, but it's not in my size.

I love this crazy, big-eyed, snail!

And this cute...owl?...or cat? I'm not really sure what it is, but it's cute!

The woman who does the applique` kids' clothes has her Etsy shop here (although it is empty as of now).

Happy Mother's Day to my Crafty Mommy!

I get my initial craftyness (and craft schitzophrenia) from my mother.

We each have our specialties (she's the Cardmaking Queen, I'm the "Monster Gal"), but both of us love dabbling in different crafts.

Scrapbooking...

Rubber stamping & cardmaking...(her first love in crafts)

Sewing... (even though she says she "doesn't sew")

General oddball crafts...

And she shares my love of buttons! I love you Mommy! Thanks for making me so crafty!

Recycled Earth Day Nubbins

So...here's some Earth Day Nubbins that are made out of some more appropriate, repurposed materials, rather than store-bought fleece.

If you like them, let me know and I can make some more, but these particular Nubbins are already spoken for.

This green Nubbin is made out of inside-out sweatshirt material, with denim and green khaki material for the earth. I think the nubby green material makes it look like he's mossy.

Now, just to be clear I'm no eco-warrior or anything. "Going Green" is not my purpose in life. I'm not all about"honoring Mother Earth". I believe that the Earth is all going to pass away and burn up someday, and no amount of recycling is going to change that. This world is not my home and I look forward to a greater kingdom.

BUT I do believe in being a good steward and taking care what God has given us, not being wasteful, and appreciating and respecting His creation. Because His creation is beautiful...but I'm not going to worship it. I worship the Creator.

More Pigtailed Nubbins...

I made some more pigtailed Nubbins last night. They look very country to me. I think it's the pattern of the fabric I used for the hearts combined with the pigtails. They just remind me of cute little country girls.

And a purple leopard print Nubbin...