Packing….

That’s my life currently.  Packing. We have had an unusually long closing period and still have a few weeks to go before we officially close on the house.  With the extra time we’ve been able pack slowly and keep the house neat while we’ve been doing it, keeping the house orderly has really helped my stress level!  Also, since the new home we are moving to will stay on the market we have been able to pack and label things we don’t need to store for a while while we live there temporarily. 

**A little back story on our moving….skip if you know already.  It is a very unusual situation and when I tell people, most of them just don’t get it, so I will explain.  We purchased land several years ago and developed into a 43 lot neighborhood.  We are trying to sell lots to builders and homeowners.  The current economy has really put a damper on the speed of selling so last year we decided to take another leap and build the first house in the neighborhood to create interest, starting the first phase of the neighborhood.  We have created a lot more interest among homeowners that may want to build in the future but we have yet to sell that first house.  All of this was the reason we sold our house.  We needed to sell our  in order to pay for the new house.  Once the first house sales we will build another.  This has been a very difficult process for me in that I want a more permanent living situation and to be able to create a beautiful home for us but I have to see the bigger picture….we need to sale lots so we may have to live strangely for a while in order to sale lots/homes. 

**A side note, when I started this blog I was starting to really put an effort into creating more beautiful spaces in our current home…a few months later we decided to build the first house so we felt a major money crunch and it was pretty hard to have projects all around the house while having it on the market.  This will be the same when we move.  I will still blog about things we do to that house while we are there and I am really itching to paint some furniture again…especially after packing these up…

This whole process is quite the adventure!  I have a feeling things will keep changing with our living arrangements for a bit. 

In the midst of it all we had a vacation planned for June so we have just a few more things to pack before the movers arrive.  We go on vacation first and then move right after.  It will be a bittersweet move, because we love this house and yard and more than that our neighbors but the move is in the right direction to get things moving for the neighborhood. 

So stay tuned for all the craziness of my life right now.  :)

April

Succulents

Hello!!!  It has been too long!  I have been knee deep in packing and cleaning for the past two weekends.  Not much to blog about when that is your weekend project. 

Today I noticed that my pot of succulents had died since I left them out all winter on the porch.  Sorry no before photo.  My little cactus from Sedona, AZ was still alive so I went to Lowes and picked up a few more to refresh this pot.

That really prickly one is from Arizona.  I can’t believe it lived all through the winter outside.  My hands faired much worse while repotting, ouch!  Also a spider had made a nice home for itself in there, protected by all those pricks.  I had to clean the web off with a toothpick.  I added another aloe plant because those are always nice to have on hand.  Really wish I’d had that earlier this week when I burnt my arm with the curling iron!

Love how Abbie snuck into this picture  :)

In other gardening news, take a look at this picture….

This photo makes me  a little sad about moving.  I love our current yard and I worked hard getting the plants in front of our house looking good.  This particular area is just what I like with plants, it is thick with varying heights.  My peony looked so pretty just a week ago but still you get the point.  It took 6 years to look like this!  It is the one thing I dread about moving to a new construction house, the yard looks so dull for years. 

Then after all the hard work, you wake up one Spring and it looks like this :)

Happy Gardening!  Hope you are making the most of your Springtime planting I really miss it this year. 

Now back to packing….we have a month to pack everything up and get our minor repairs done around here! Busy Busy Busy!

April

Yard Sale

I finally had a yard sale this past weekend!  I say finally because I’ve been hoarding stuff in my garage for almost a year and I was really ready for some Spring weather to sale off some of the stuff.  I think it was the coldest day we’ve had since Febuary :) but we still had a great turn out. 

My brother and my friend Amanda joined me and my neighbors threw in some stuff too.  I made $304.  I think in total between all of us we made just under $600.  Not bad for a days work.

This picture was about 1/2 way through the sale.

Afterwards I loaded up the car and took all the small stuff to Goodwill, I had planned to have a second yard sale in a few more weeks but I kept noticing that people were picking over the same stuff and not noticing some stuff at all so I didn’t think it would make a huge difference.  Plus I have a lot I need to do with my free time to start packing up to move. 

Here is what was left minus my buffet and shelves in the dining room I’m trying to sale.

I would be happy to use any of these things still but thought I would sale if I could, so I guess I’ll be keeping.  I know I can find a good home for them when we move.  I was disappointed that I did not sale any furniture the day of the sale.  I’m thinking I should reconsider my dreams of rehabbing furniture to sale :(. 

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend.  Happy yard sale buying to all you out looking, tis the season!

April 

Birthday Cake

Well yesterday was my birthday and my Mom surprised me with a Pinterest inspired birthday cake! 

It was so good and I loved it being all purple which is my favorite color.  She also cooked my favorite meal, Country Style Steak & Gravy.  My Mema (grandmother) helped with the cake and made my favorite side dish, mashed potatoes.  It was a great night and I enjoyed spending with family. 

I just had to share this cake with you, It was so pretty!  I had another slice for breakfast this morning.

Also, I had planned to have a yard sale this morning and share with you but I cancelled a few days ago because I came down with a cold.  Glad I cancelled because 1. it rained and 2. I have completely lost my voice! 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend. 

April 

We Have…..

An Offer!! 

This is such a relief!  We have a little wait in the actual closing so fingers crossed that everything stays the course and we have no issues.  We will be busy over the next few months moving so I will be sharing more of that and less decorating for now. We are not sure where we will move yet, still hoping the new house in the Glen Iris subdivision sales but we can always move there if it doesn’t.  Our closing date is scheduled for July 15th.  So sit back and enjoy the journey with me :)

I have been busy this week pulling together lots of yard sale items for a big one I am having this weekend.  I cleaned out a lot of spaces once we listed the house and I’ve just been waiting for warmer weather to get rid of it all.  Stay tuned for details on that after Saturday.

Thanks for hanging in there with me and keeping up with this blog even though I am not wowing you with any fun projects at the moment.  This land development, house selling, not knowing where I will live business has been a real adventure for me.  Especially since I don’t take change well.   I think in the end it will make me a better person by teaching me you can’t plan everything, life happens.  I do pray alot more now :)  I believe God talks to me in lots of ways but especially visually and today I had a long prayer about these changes and later I saw a sign in front of a a church that had the following quote on it…

“Worry pulls tomorrow’s cloud over today.”

I need to learn to live this way, it is so true…I am by nature a worrier and I hope I can change that. 

April

Spring Apothecary Jars

I thought I'd share this post from the past again with you.  I brought out these vases again as part of my Spring decorating and they are so lovely.

I purchased my supplies at Micheal's craft store. I got all the supplies for $30 for 3 jars plus I have left overs if I want to make more later.

Here are some of the supplies....

I picked up a few sticks and acorns from the yard to add. I just used a hot glue gun to place a few pieces together, some are just layered in the jar. It took me about an hour to finish and viola, a fresh new spring/summer vase filler.

Here are some close up pictures looking down into the jars...

Easy Easy Easy!

April 

Spring Apothecary Jars

I thought I'd share this post from the past again with you.  I brought out these vases again as part of my Spring decorating and they are so lovely.  I made these last year and stored them away off season.

I purchased my supplies at Micheal's craft store. I got all the supplies for $30 for 3 jars plus I have left overs if I want to make more later.

Here are some of the supplies....

I picked up a few sticks and acorns from the yard to add. I just used a hot glue gun to place a few pieces together, some are just layered in the jar. It took me about an hour to finish and viola, a fresh new spring/summer vase filler.

Here are some close up pictures looking down into the jars...

Easy Easy Easy!

 

April