Great Weekend

I have a homemade biscuit and gravy date with one of my girlfriends early tomorrow so I know I wont have time to post.

Hope Everyone had a Great weekend! Simple Rundown of Ours:

Friday I killed my shrimp. Colin asked the dogs if I also forgot to feed them, as if that is why the shrimp died. I check the nitrate levels every other day so I don't know what went wrong.

Saturday we went to Best Buy, Barnes & Nobles, and a wonderful bonfire for dinner.

Sunday we relaxed while the dogs played with their buddy Jack and then we went to a birthday dinner for our friend Kelsey. We ate steak and shrimp :( Talk about trying to make me feel guilty!

Other than my shrimp this weekend was wonderful and spent with great friends. What else can you ask for?

A few more items online

I have been working the last few days to get more of my stock online. I hate to say it but I always get distracted making new items. I need to make a rule that for every 5 items posted I can make something new or nothing is ever going to get uploaded. Because I can't seem to follow my own rules I made a new set consisting of a button bracelet and earrings. They both use many of the buttons I have been pondering what to do with. These buttons are from all over the U.S. and haven't worked in any of my current designs. Yeah! for Upcycling discarded vintage buttons! :)

Things are pretty low key here this weekend as Colin plans on relaxing and I hope to get some more things posted and made.

Friday Fabric and Buttons

Well I still haven't fixed that whole HTML issue. I know we are all blessed with different talents and that may just be one I should leave alone. I have enough things bouncing around my head without adding more.

I slept in this morning to make up for staying up all night Wednesday. The dogs also slept in but now they are bouncing off the walls....so I kicked them outside. What a bad parent I am.

I need to head over to my sewing machine to whip up a clutch for a birthday gift. I will share as soon as its finished. I have picked out a huge silver vintage button to top it off. Buttons and fun fabrics, what a great way to spend the day. :)

Hope you have a great weekend! Enjoy!

Check! Check! Fail!

Tonight has been a productive use of my time since I cant seem to sleep.

I completed two major things on the running list in my head.

1. Figure out how to change blog address without losing everything. Check! If you notice the web address is different. :)

2. Fix the comments function since it wont let anyone leave a comment. Check!

3. And the last thing I have been wanting to complete is figure out the HTML code to link my blog on my website. That I am still failing at. It looks easy but I can't seem to get rid of the errors and I only know enough of that "language" to get myself in trouble.

We have a full weekend ahead of us. A bonfire party Saturday and a bowling party Sunday. I better try to go back to sleep so I can get some work done for my upcoming SALE party.

New Products

I just posted a few new items on Handmade Obsessions and a few new sale items. Check them out! My sale of an additional 10% off continues until January 31st. Use the code GOPEN to receive 10% off.

At a Loss in many ways...Praying in many more ways.

I haven't been creating much but I have been clearing out things we don't need and donating them for others. Somehow I managed to break a kitchen glass, a glass jar, a vase, and a glass trophy (which I was debating about continuing to haul around). I guess I found my answer.

I am at a loss for a Valentines gift this year....usually I try to think of a new creative idea. This year I have none. Last year I did a family gift as Colin's parents and brother were here. I bought Colin a Blueray, popcorn, several kinds of candy and pop. I had straws and red and white popcorn boxes. The year before I bought several pilsners and a box of beer from around the world (by the way this got rave reviews). The last year and our last move wasn't kind to the pilsners so I could do that again, but we also cut our cable tv and our netflix account to save more money for a house. I hate to reuse those ideas but they both are something Colin would like and fairly inexpensive. Any ideas? I'm stumped :(

Bad news: we have been saving for a house as anyone that reads this blog might know. We were been planning on buying a house in the Denver area since that is where they most likely will send us next. Due to time frame we thought we would make it to utilize this first time home buyers credit. Right now neither of us are sure if we will and Colin's company had more layoffs Friday :( If we move back to Denver in the time frame for the credit is it really smart of us to buy a house? Neither of us think so...which makes both of us sad. We are so tired of moving and they usually only move those that don't own a house. There are several factors which can still make our house a reality but right now they are not anything we can count until they absolutely happen.

So right now we are discussing putting most of our things in storage and renting a tiny apartment to save more money when we move. I am all for the saving money but wherever we live is our home and I don't want to live in a tiny box (Our current house has been small enough). It doesn't even take me 3 days to get our boxes unpacked after each move because I cant stand the temporary feel. I am at a loss right now for what our best decision is. I guess I will just keep hoping for the best and that those factors line up that make Colin's job secure. I feel sad about this but even sadder for our friends that have lost their jobs. I am praying that they find others and that things improve.

On the upside if they don't notify Colin by this Friday we know we will be living in Spokane the entire month of February. That gives me relief so I can make appointments here instead of wondering where we will be. The poor puppy that I house sit/check on everyday will be glad if we don't move.

Finished Dog Dish

Here is the completed 3 bowl dog dish that Colin and I made. I really like it, so far it looks a little fancy compared to the old placemat on the floor with 2 green plastic bowls. A definite improvement to our kitchen.

The last two days have been fantastic as we have had NO rain. :) Yesterday I went for a run and walked our friends puppy back to our house to play. A mile and a half was a little far of a walk for the poor little guy, he was beat by the time he got to play with our dogs. Since I am letting him out during the day and sometimes bringing him home to play Max and Gunther have been in coma's at night.

Except that Max seems to like to play inside his crate, maybe he is trying to tell me he wants a nap. Not much else is going on here other than playing with the silly dogs.

Our Custom 3 Bowl Dog Dish

Colin has been slowly working on the 3 bowl dog dish I mentioned last weekend. We needed to buy some new clamps to hold it in place, etc. He had to make sure he did everything right, and he did a beautiful job. Just like the one I could have bought...but ours cost more after getting new tools. Figures, why does that happen with most projects? Now we have an orbital sander, six new large clamps and a custom dog dish. The sander wasn't essential but there have been so many projects I would have loved to have it for previously so it was a good addition to our tools.

Finished 3 Bowl Dog Dish with no stain.

Side view all sanded beautiful!
First coat of Stain, I decided to go with my Minwax stain mixed with poly. Currently I think I will go at least 3 coats of this and then at least 3 coats of just poly so the dogs don't damage our hard work.

Most of our furniture is espresso in color but since I couldn't get my samples quite right I am going with a more natural color so they don't clash. I always could have bought another stain but I already have a few too many for this move.


Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We stayed inside as it is still raining. :(

Slacker is the word of the day

Slacker is my middle name today, well not really. I have been lounging thinking about cleaning just like every other day. Do houses get dirtier faster if they are smaller just like fish tanks? I feel like our house here in Spokane gets dirty SO much faster than any other house we have lived in.

The rain is driving me batty as our yard doesn't look like several lakes it is now one fluid body of water. Hopefully it stops soon as the ground is beyond saturated. This spring it should be nice and green though :)

Last night I got to have a pound of delicious crab legs and a tour of the hotel Colin's company has been building here. I was VERY impressed! One of the suites we looked at even had a baby grand piano in it!

Life here is good, still no word on moving. I am starting to wonder if they will keep us here as long as possible....sounds like that may be until June. :( We are just glad we are safe at the moment and praying for the people of Haiti.

Our Weekend in Pictures

The lovely start of a project I created for Colin...it involved a trip to Sears which he always likes. We bought some clamps and a new orbital sander. I think that might have been for me but it works awesome. Thanks to Aunt Robin for the joint giftcard.
This is my intended finished project. Colin so far only has the holes cut out and I have sanded it. It will be about 4-5" tall so the dogs stop pushing the food bowls all over the kitchen. I am currently testing all of my stains and paint colors, right now I really don't like any of them. I am NOT buying another can of paint/stain though. I guess I just need to pick out the one I dislike the least. The photo above was from merlinsbarkproducts on Etsy but was $60. Since I have a talented husband I chose him instead.

These were our dinner Friday night and are Chicken Crustinis from the Pampered Chef $1, 2009 cookbook. They were really easy to make and delicious.
Here is Maximus, he is growing like a weed and is as big as Gunther already.

Gunther looking like he is a relative to Cousin It.....he got a haircut this morning. He keeps burying his head, probably because he hasn't been able to see light for quite awhile.

Life in our house has been pretty laid back and nice. There is still no word on when we are leaving Spokane but we are expecting it any day. I just really would like to know....limbo is definitely not a stress reliever.

Snow is a beautiful thing :)

This morning I let the dogs out to a beautiful sight, Snow! We haven't received anymore today but what we woke up to this morning is still all there. It makes me happy to not see the dull brown landscape filled with water.

I have been on a reading frenzy this week due to the generosity of Yvonne our landlady. She and her husband love to read and have shared numerous novels with me as well as hiking books for Colin and I. She is a wonderful person and I pray that she continues to be strong with the loss of her husband. Thanksgiving and Christmas have been very hard on her.

This week I read: Water for Elephants, Prisoner of Tehran, and "Eat, Pray, Love". All three have been amazing books that I would recommend to anyone though "Eat, Pray Love" requires a lot of thought and self reflection. Prisoner of Tehran was heartbreaking yet enlightening and informative, and Water for Elephants was the same yet on a very very different level.

I may need to hold off on reading at all next week since I get nothing done when I have a book. Next week I am working full force to get some of my new projects online. I was hoping to get them all completed today but they are still not quite ready to share.

We are who we are I guess, and I am always trying to do too many projects at once. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Happy Anniversary!

I have tons of new items to post here as well as on my website. Later this week should be appropriate though as HandmadeObsessions is getting a major makeover from SimpleAspen. I am very impressed with them. They are very reasonable and have been so quick, as well as their communication the last few days has been amazing. I am so relieved to have after the last debacle. Check them out on Etsy.

Today I am bribing the dogs with treats and making my husband a card as it is our 3 year anniversary. We are going to dinner at a extremely nice restaurant over the Spokane River. Since we are saving for a house we haven't been out to eat much, especially at a nice restaurant. I probably wont get flowers again this year as I still haven't stopped teasing him about lighting my flowers on fire our first anniversary. To his benefit he was trying to be a gentleman and light candles to go with the dinner I had made, he truly is not a pyro. Wait maybe he is.... :)

Hope everyone else is having as wonderful a week as I am.

Rain Rain PLEASE Go Away

It is still raining up here in Spokane. We have so much water that there are small ponds all over the yard and you can see the water sitting on top of the grass everywhere. Needless to say I am staring at our floor debating if it is worth moping again or I should just wait. I am running out of my microfiber mop cloths that I made for our swiffer. I could go buy a box of real swiffer mop cloths but they take up space, are bad for the environment, and moving companies wont move them. If Harbour Freight wasn't so far away I would go pick up another package of microfiber cloths. You can get them for around $3 for a package of 4 verses about $10 at Walmart or Target. I have a spray swiffer and the microfiber cloths actually work better and are much cheaper especially when you are endlessly moping due to rain.

Straying away from that random topic I found a web designer on Etsy that I feel confident has a similar style to myself. They are a husband/wife team and they have began creating a new look for my website. Look forward to an improvement! I am excited as they were very reasonable and so far have had EXCELLENT communication.

No news on the moving situation but we are still hoping Denver will be the location. Colin has been looking at homes online for prices and areas. We are still crossing our fingers that everything is soon so we can utilize the first time home buyer credit.

So today I am enjoying some spiced tea and starting on a few books our Landlady loaned me. This week I have: Prisoner of Tehran, Water for Elephants, and "Eat, Pray, Love". She has another stack waiting for me once I am finished with these. We have met such wonderful people here in WA.

Mud and More

There are a few new items on my website as of this weekend. Not quite as many as I would have liked to upload but a few new items. Almost everything is on sale and you can use my discount code of RFAMILY to receive an 8% discount. We enjoyed a warm wet weekend and took a nice long hike today. We all came home covered in mud and the dogs both received baths. I picked up a few pieces of WA nature to add to a project I hopefully can reveal next week.

Tomorrow I will be be working on designing a few new items and upload more sale items.

Have a great Week!

Happy New Year! Lots of New Sale Items

I am a little late posting today as we had a late night. It was nice and relaxing evening spent with great people. The 7 of us shared a "Lovers Boat" of sushi (minus Colin) and played wii the rest of the evening. I have to say my husband has mad singing skills, it might be in his favor that the rest of us should bury our heads in the sand instead of sing.

Today we have been relaxing, our nice little family of 4 was all taking a nap on the couch. Alas I have been working as well trying to get a few new items on my website since it has been neglected due to custom orders over the holidays. I have updated it slightly and am marking down other items just for YOU!

Please use my DISCOUNT CODE RFAMILY to receive 8% off your order at handmadeobsessions.com! And PLEASE share with ANYONE you want!

Look forward to more updates this week since Colin will be home the next 2 days and he can give me a break from using my eagle eyes on the new puppy.

Next week I am going to spend some time working out the few items I want added to my website that I am unable to do. Right now I have a fairly good idea of what needs added and Colin is on board that it needs done for my site to be more successful.

My resolution is to get my website updated (aesthetics wise) and not stress out about moving or life in general. I can only control myself! Hope you had a wonderful New Years Eve!