House hunting: day 3!

Yesterday, not as entertaining..but that's a good thing, right?

We saw 3 houses, all of which I had picked to see from the listings because they looked like they at least had some potential. All 3 were simple little ranch styles from the 90s, in varying prices and conditions.

House 1: The first one had clearly been rented out...it wasn't awful, but it desperately needed a paint job and some little fixes here and there..and carpet, although a carpet cleaning probably would've made it at least liveable. It was listed at 155. Overall, it had potential and easy fixes for the most part. Ooo, but we noticed a potential roof problem before we left. It was better than the first 3 houses we'd seen, but still not quite what I was looking for.

House 2: The second house was another delirious owner house. Listed at $159900 (sadly, had been lowered from $166,500), it needed the most work of the 3 we saw...so much work, that I wouldn't even consider it. That, and it belonged to smokers. My eyes were bloodshot and itchy by the time we left and I had a pounding headache and stuffy nose. Ick. (Note to self: bring allergy spray today)

Let's admire some pictures, shall we?

~The windows needed to be replaced. EVERY window. I don't know if you can tell here, but there was condensation in between the 2 panes in every window in the living room and dining room and it took all 3 of us to finally get that sliding back door open:


~This house was FILLED with ugly flooring. Crappy linoleum in the kitchen dining area and remember the brown "brain" carpet from Saturday's house? Yup. This house had it in blue..except it was so filthy and worn it was disgusting. No way would I walk on that barefoot. As our realtor said, I felt dirty walking on it with shoes!


~There was some mystery stain in the master....gross gross.


House 3: Actually, this one was really nice. Beautiful, updated carpet and flooring. They had fixed things up so that you barely even noticed what *was* outdated. The house was nice, the yard was nice, but not private by any means...and the house was situated in a weird spot. It looked like you were pulling into a driveway (*slightly* wider), but it was a small cul de sac with 4 houses on it...it was also kind of a busy part of town. But, it was priced at 153,00 , the lowest of the prices and nicest house by far. It was in good condition, with a 32' deep 2 car garage. They also were already including the fridge and a 1 year home warranty.

So...all in all, these were better than the first day...but I'm still leaning toward new construction. I know I'm going to have to give up some things I'd ideally like..but that's ok.

What I've learned while house hunting...

Although we've only seen a handful of houses so far (we're going out again tonight and tomorrow after work), we've already learned quite a bit...

Things I have learned so far while house hunting: people get creative with their listings. I'm sure that they think that they'll entice you in and maybe you'll just fall in love with their house, but I seriously wonder if some of these are just plain delusional.

For instance:
1)What they said: "Newly updated!!
What they meant: "newly updated" = they painted. Period. The tub and toilet were a lovely harvest gold color and I believe the countertops were bright orange in the master.


Check out these groovy counters!


2)What they said: "New carpet in master!"
What they meant:
The new carpet? Well, it was a rental and I'm assuming that the carpet in the master was destroyed for one reason or another, but I swear to you, the carpet was older than me.


The carpet looks so much nicer in pictures. It was that weird bumpy stuff and it looked like marbled chocolate milk, except more of a dated grayish brown. The master was a slightly different color, but the same icky style...and there was a 3rd kind of carpet in the teeny tiny closets. Goooo figure.

3) What they said: "No backyard neighbors!"
What they meant: "Unless you count cars...but cars can't be neighbors, right?" Yeah...the last one we looked at backed up to the highway. Granted, there was a church parking lot between you and the highway, so the noise wasn't quite as bad, but you could see cars flying over the overpass! Hello, no privacy! :P

I'm sure there will be other insights...but we've only seen a few houses. I'm beginning to think that only crazy people are selling here.

Big news!!

I know I've been quiet lately, but I didn't want to jinx things.

We applied for a home loan last week and we found out today that we are approved!!! Wheeee! We are so very excited to start looking for our first home! :D

What I've been up to...

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I'm grumpy and ready for spring and I'm trying not to spread my bad attitude. ;)

Instead of actual productive things, I've been dinking around mostly.

I made another grocery bag:



Note to self: Jeans with stretch in them are a pain in the butt to stitch down as a straight accent piece:



Here's a blurry shot of the actual bag:



And I've been working on beaded ornaments. All. The. Time. It's mindless, and that's what I need right now.



Here's an idea of my progress. LOL. I'm too lazy to dip the ornaments, so I'm just throwing them in a vase for now:

Crafty Weekend: Project #2

Ok, so this is more like a finally finished project...but whatever. I'd had it cut out and some of it stitched together, but now it's ready to be used. This is the tote version of my grocery bags. I don't like it as much as the other style, but I already had it cut out so...

I decided it was too plain, so I added a flower out of ribbon, scrap of an old pair of jeans and some buttons:


Here's the bag. Fruit punch colored broadcloth, reinforced with iron on interfacing, gussets are a seersucker print and handles are from an old pair of jeans.



Oh, and here's the lining. It's a lime-y green floral on a white background. The flowers have the same pink center as the outside fabric.



Sorry the pictures aren't too great. It's really overcast and starting to get dark.

Silly Crafting

The hubby's out of town, so I'm declaring this my crafty weekend to help pass the time.

Project #1: Melted Crayon Hearts (do you remember doing these as a kid?)



And here's a shot of the one in the window:



They're so silly, but fun to make!

First, you start with some old crayons (or new ones, whatever. *shrugs*.

Lay down a sheet of waxed paper (however big you'd like)...I did all of this on the back of a cookie sheet. It provided the stability needed, but didn't cause any problems with the ironing.



Using a cheapo pencil sharpener, sharpen your crayons and sprinkle the shavings evenly all over the waxed paper. (You don't have to go too crazy. Remember that the shavings will spread some as they melt).

Lay a second sheet of waxed paper over top once you're happy with how it looks.

Now comes the fun part! Take your iron (I used my old one from college) and put it on the lowest setting. Iron over the sheets until the crayons melt and run into each other. (The wax paper may stick to the iron a little at first because of the static, but keep going!)



Set it aside to cool down.

Once cooled, I laid cookie cutter shapes on the paper and traced around them with a pencil, then cut them out.



After you've got your shapes, you can hang them! I used crochet thread and a needle to thread them together into garlands and then taped them up!



A crappy picture, but you can see it all together here:



Oh, and a closeup...look what Pyper's mommy gave me yesterday! She said it was to keep me company this weekend and an early valentine's gift. Awww...

I'm so behind in posting, but here are some silly pictures of us, just for fun!

I'm slowly going through the pictures I took while we were home for Christmas.

We went to a wedding in Columbia, MO for one of Jeff's high school friends. She actually got married in August in Yellowstone (or Jellystone, as her dj called it), and this was the reception. It was nice to see Bina again and I got to meet her sister Prity (I think that's how it's spelled?). They're both hilarious and super sweet, and I really enjoyed their parents as well. :)

Here we are with the happy couple:


And here's what happens when we start acting like idiots with my camera (and no, we weren't drunk...just being goofy):

Baby it's cold outside!

Ok, so I know it's not Christmas anymore, but it's still cold out so snowflakes are ok. Right? Right! :P



Sorry for the less than stellar lighting. I was trying to get these pictures last night before the sun went down.
All together:


Yes, I'm a little addicted....but I'm trying to get some stock together to sell next Christmas. I figure I might as well make them as long as I feel like doing so!


In case you haven't noticed, I'm trying to do some "series" using certain color combinations and varying the design.


The blue in these is kind of a denim color, but it doesn't want to photograph oh so well.


I think this series is my favorite. There's something very "vintage Christmas" about the shade of red and green with the white accents. I think the white looks kind of lacey. :)

Annies on Parade!

Finally posting pictures of the Raggedy Anns that I made for Christmas. For reference, the pink and orange ones were for the girls I nanny for and the green one is for my niece.





This one is a different pattern. All of the Annies have embroidered hearts (the girls say "Love you"...I forgot to put that on this one before she was stuffed!

Eek! A naked Annie!


With her dress:



Striking a pose in the car!



A few more pictures here.

I'm Back!

Sorry for the hiatus. We went back to Missouri for Christmas and it was a wild trip. I'm just starting to recover. Our 5 hour flight there took 12, we drove over 1000 miles and went everywhere from Southeast MO to St. Louis and Columbia and back again. No wonder we're exhausted! Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year! We thoroughly enjoyed time with our families....just wish we could get back more often.

Anyway...Yesterday we woke up to snow. Pretty snow, especially since we didn't have to leave the house. As always, you can click on the pictures to see a larger version:

(taken from the far left side of the property, so you can't quite see my sewing room peeking out):


I bundled up and went outside. I wanted to make a snowman, but it was too dry to stick properly. I took pictures anyway because...well, I can't resist playing with my camera.

Here's a shot just to show how much snow was left when I was out (it had started melting, and it was around 11:00 by the time I went out, so I don't know how much there was originally):



And this one is my favorite. Clearly, I was having some fun with the photo editing software:



The rest are here in the album, but I don't have time to edit them right now.

Of course, it's been snowing most of today too and it's supposed to snow every day between now and Friday. I think I'm over it. ;)