Zero Sleep and a Sick Pup

I need to vent about why I really need to sleep. It involves Gunther again, of course.

I haven't written about him being sick since that first major attack. Needless to say he has been sick since then. We had to initially continue the antibiotics for 2 weeks longer than the vet would have liked since he was so bad. After that he gained some weight back plus a little and was the heaviest ever in his short 4+ years. That didn't last long as late last week I had to cut him off from food again to prevent an attack. That equated into ONE single night of uninterrupted sleep. Since then it has gotten worse. Last night he woke me up 11+ times (I lost track at 11) between 10:40pm and 5:48 this morning. There was a fire at 6:18 down the street so I was woken up again by sirens. :(

Today is my poor husbands birthday as well and he also got very little sleep. :( I felt like just saying "birthday" because "happy" didn't seem appropriate. At least he laughed when I told him that, but he agreed with me which is sad.

I am frustrated in so many ways about this. First of all Gunther is my baby, we love him to death even when he is a pain. On the other side of that love neither of us wants him to suffer and that is hurting us because we know he is. He is getting increasingly crabbier and snappy with our puppy as well as me. I want to stress that even as a puppy he wasn't mouthy and never bit, he is so uncomfortable he snapped at me for picking him up. Very unlike him and its getting worse.

The frustration tops off with us finally moving, I have to go through all of the explanation with new vets again. Which is even more frustrating than a normal move because of the point we are at. I at least am switching to my parents vet until we find a house in Denver. She is a great vet and she took care of and put down my last dog as well as my cat. She has taken care of numerous animals my family has owned and I trust her. I am still sad about our vet here, if she is in the neighborhood she just stops by to check on Gunther for no cost. She is awesome!

I really wish this would go away and he would be like a "normal" dog with pancreatitis and it be very rare and caused by him eating something bad etc. instead of just being a constant. He is our constant when we move, that loyal friend that is always there. It gives me a feeling of sadness that I know we are closer to making a decision I dread.

Sorry this was so down in the dumps and probably doesn't make any sense, more so than my normal rantings. I am just so tired and depressed about this I can't help it.

Fantastic Monday and the last Few Days

So I have to share a very small tidbit of info. This is so far has been the BEST last few days.

1) The whole moving plan/buying a house. (See my last post and the last few months if you need to know why.)

2) An email about writing patterns for textile designer.

Since I haven't written about #2 and the details are limited due to her publisher etc. I will explain briefly. Basically I can use my skills that I acquired during college and over the years from sewing. It would be doing technical design from her ideas basically writing and drawing out the directions and plans for different items. Then making sure my directions work. Similar to what I sent to manufactures while working at Cabela's, only I have to also make the item. I know I am a bit rusty using my software but since I am home I have time to refresh. Yeah! I am excited to see what she has designed that needs my help but also to be using my degree. Bonus is it will pay slightly and I will get credited for my technical work in her upcoming book. I knew there was a reason I started following blogs and spending endless hours checking out numerous sites!

Anyways I am aligning a few things on my end to make sure I can complete everything she needs in the time constraint for the publisher before I commit. Either way it gave me a boost of excitement and pride that I am still useful in something that I really miss. This Monday ranks at the top of all Mondays!

Happy Birthday Jenifer... Moving News!

So first off I want to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful mother in law. I know lots of people that have issues with theirs but I couldn't have asked for a better one. And no I am not just saying that, she is pretty cool. :)

This is a busy weekend for us. Colin is working on a project for me that I have been begging him to do for over a year. It involves our poor old oak entertainment center he made years ago. Since it doesn't fit our new flat screen TV I had to find a use for it. Colin needless to say wouldn't get rid of it and wouldn't let me change it. I finally talked him into it and he added a back and is putting the doors that have always lived in one closet or another. Yeah! My own craft wardrobe to hide a small portion of my beads and packing supplies. Of course I forgot to take a picture before he started. So here is a preview of my new ribbon hanger and one door taped on for looks. I am debating painting it white in the future since it has some dings from moving ? # of times (8 that I know of). That wont happen until after this next move. After the move I will also be adding cork board panels in the doors covered in a fun fabric to use as a bulletin board.

Enough about my silly cabinet and on to the good news. :)

Colin emailed his head boss (the one in Denver not here in Spokane) Friday just asking if he would like us to give notice when we pay rent this month. We need a minimum of 30 days notice for our landlady. He said yes and that they should need Colin back in Denver around the middle to end of April. Double yeah! That means we should have time to get in on the first time home buyer credit. We should get written confirmation Monday or Tuesday so we can get planning. Without confirmation I cant do any scheduling. :( So today I am packing up my beads because I don't want the movers doing it and clearing out junk to get ready. We called my Uncle in Denver this morning to talk about dates we can come and look for houses. I am so excited that we will be out of the limbo our lives have been in the last few weeks/months.

Yeah for spring! Oh and if we have a house I might actually be able to plant a real garden this year! I feel like jumping up and down I am so excited!

Chunky Funky Button Bracelet

I am going to share a few terrible photos of a new style button bracelet. It is a "sample" of the jewelry my sister would like for her bridesmaids. She wanted chunky and vintage and of course I have an overload of buttons. :) First she wanted teal shades but has switched to "Horizon Blue" (Check out Davids Bridal to see that color). I am not terribly fond of the blue as I wore it in a wedding last October, but I will oblige. I kind of prefer this teal combo she originally chose.Please note I have very FEW buttons in that color and it is a rare shade to find. If you own any or see any I would forever be grateful if you would gift, sell, tell me where they are, or whatever to me.

So here are the gorgeous....cough cough hack photos of the bracelet. Maybe I should have taken the time to go downstairs and use my light booth. :)

An upcoming DIY Upholstery Job

This is a project I have been putting off since we moved to Spokane...well over a year. Partially I have been afraid to take it apart thinking I wont be able to put it back together. The sad thing is my mother gave it to me to practice upholstering something more complicated than a dining room chair. The right arm/side looks awful from her cat clawing it (if the cat hadn't been my grandfathers I am not sure poor Tu-Tu would be alive).

(Lots and lots of welting, this is my biggest fear!)

I finally got the guts to start seriously thinking about what this process will entail. As of right now pulling lots and lots of staples. I have read and re-read the Upholstery book I bought months ago. It is a great book, easy to read and wonderful photos. Its called Simply Upholstery published by Sunset. I think I bought it off Amazon for around $12. I need one more tool, tack strips, a bunch more staples and the right fabric. Still not so inexpensive as fabric alone is costly.

So here is my problem, I can't pick a fabric. First problem is I love bright patterns (I don't want our house looking like a circus), second problem is I can't pick a room for it to live in(that screws up picking a color combo), third problem is I want to spend less than $15 a yard (preferably less than $10 since this will be a trial).

We don't have enough seating in our family room and I think it will still be awhile until I can get the couch we have been saving for. So I think I might do the chair in a white/black fabric with black welting to coordinate with our other side chair. Maybe a fabric like this. This fabric is even under $10 a yard. :)

(Underside where I have began tearing it apart)

I am hoping that it is possible to stay under $100 for this entire project. Though I don't have any clue what tack strips cost. I will be reusing the zippers on the cushions to save. Tomorrow and the next few days I am going to spend my time taking the chair apart. Once I have that completed then I will purchase the supplies I need. Hopefully I get this done before we move so I don't have a giant mess. Wish me luck!

New Upcycled Ottoman and Pillows

Thought I would share our weekend project of turning our old glass top coffee table into an ottoman with storage.

Side View

Table before makeover, Colin also cut off 3 inches of the legs. Personally I think it was too tall before hand. The new top has a frame inside so it lifts right up and we can still use the glass if we ever want.

Two pillows that I recovered. I loved the old ones but the fabric was wearing thin on the corners and getting holes. :(
I had enough scraps left that I made Colin a small back pillow for the chair. I don't know what I will do with it once we get a new sofa since this chair doesn't coordinate with much. I probably will just recover this as well.
My new tea towels to cheer up the kitchen.

What did you do this weekend? Hope your Saturday went as well as ours. :)

I just linked this to Kimbas DIY day, check her out at: http://asoftplace.net

Freshening up the house with Happy Items!

What do you do when your brain is on overload? You make things! :) I decided I would like some new tea towels in the kitchen so I put together some of my coordinating scraps and am making a new set of towels. Note: Now I think I have a new wedding/housewarming gift idea. I am not normally a fan of pink but when I bought these fabrics they just grabbed me. I definitely buy most fabrics on impulse, yet I still like them later which is good.

Here is our coffee table...I got an awesome deal on it when I worked at a furniture store while we lived in MI. I only paid $50 and it cost over $300 at the store. :) I still like it because it has great storage but don't really enjoy cleaning the glass top or worrying about it breaking every time we move. So I asked Colin if he was up for a remodel. We were going to wait until we moved to transform it but now it is our weekend project to keep our minds busy. We are turning it into an ottoman. :)

This isn't a great photo of the fabric I chose and it looks darker in person. It coordinates with our current black couch but will also go great with the tan/golden one I am saving for.

I find extras when I buy vintage buttons and the shells to make your own fabric buttons show up every once in awhile. I have quite a few different sizes! I am gearing towards the quarter size but Colin really likes the larger ones. ????? I need to buy 2 more since I only have 4 of each size. I think the smaller ones will be easier to cover as well while keeping the stripes straight.

So later today I am headed to the fabric store to use my coupons and get my supplies. Tomorrow Colin is going to cut the board to fit the top of the table and I will start applying the cushion and upholstering it. Then Colin plans on cutting the legs shorter to compensate the extra height. Yeah! And bonus I get to use my new staple gun his parents got me for Christmas! Colin is more excited about using the new saw we picked out for his early birthday present.

Hope you have a good weekend as well! I will post pictures as soon as we finish.

Frustrating Update

Not much of an update but we still have no date on moving. I am frustrated and stressed because we would really like a time frame. Moving earlier than expected (which is usually normal) is not my favorite activity but knowing you are moving but not exactly when and much later than it should be is much worse.

I have several new projects I would really like to start both jewelry related and sewing related. I am holding off starting new things because that means getting supplies out and I have been trying to be good and keep things put away. Sigh, what can you do. :(

I just posted a new double sided Bib and Burp Cloth set that I think is pretty cute for those with musical talents.

Sorry for the downer mood I seem to be in lately I am just ready to get on with our lives and know which direction we are going.

Hi my name is Kerrie

Thought I would check in and say HELLO since I have been away for so long. I planned on posting some new items on HandmadeObsessions and a post several days ago but life took over.

The puppy I puppy sit during the week left us this morning. :( His owner, a friend that works with Colin was asked to move back to Denver Friday. Super fast! So I am selling his furniture on Craigslist since he didn't want to move it. We will miss them but are glad they got to move back. I am crossing my fingers that we get similar good news shortly as the VP from Colin's company flies up here tomorrow.

We are so ready to move closer to home! And definitely buy a house so we hopefully aren't on the traveling team next time they have a job out of state. Both Colin and I can't wait to have that opportunity as all of his hobbies require a garage.

I had a huge pile of coupons to JoAnn fabrics that I really didn't want to waste so I took myself fabric shopping this morning. That turned into also going to Burlington Coat Factory....they had a lot of shirts for $4.99. It was great retail therapy and now I have some summer shirts as well as some fabric and patterns to make some.


Since I have been away for so long here is a new Rocker Baby bib and burp cloth set I will be posting shortly.