Hectic Beginnings

Sorry I haven't posted a legitimate post in a while. Things have been a little hectic around here. Not that we thought it wouldn't be but when life gets hectic sometimes you are surprised. I have no idea why? I think every one's lives are hectic these days. Of course because we make them hectic. That's a whole 'nother story. Anyway, I'll try to cover why things have been hectic in as short a post as possible. Yeah, I know, you are all laughing out loud from that.

Okay, so Roger had to work the first weekend we moved into the new house. Monthly server maintenance is usually on the last Friday night of every month. Then he had to work this past weekend also because his company was finally merging networks/systems with the company that bought them last year. Or it was something like that. I'm sure I'm getting it wrong, but that's basically what they did. And he has been working late a lot lately because he was off those two days of packing and moving and it's a busy time for his company. So he hasn't been able to spend as much time doing stuff around the house as he would like and he's feeling a little disconnected to the new house. Hopefully things will slow down enough for him to spend more time at home and do some things around the house so he feels "home". Nothing makes you feel more at home than honey do lists and yard maintenance.

During that week, we also hosted our first guests. Yes, we hosted a friend the first weekend we moved in the new house. But it was easy. Now that we have a dedicated guest bedroom, we don't have to do anything for guests. So you know what this means, come visit us! We hosted our friend Kyla from Nashville for a few days. She was in Texas for her brother's graduation from Air Force basic training in San Antonio and used it as an excuse to catch up with friends that moved to Austin. Then my mom came to visit this past weekend. She helped me make 10 reversible place mats Friday night for our new dining table that was delivered Friday. She was given boxes and boxes of material from a friend so the place mats didn't cost me anything except I had to buy fusible interfacing to give the place mats a crisp shape and so they hold up after multiple washings. We started out sewing in the second bedroom while Roger slept to get ready to go to work Friday night. The second bedroom is still a catch all room right now, but will change once I get everything out of it and get a sewing/craft table. Once he left we moved into the living room and kitchen so we could get our Friday night HGTV shows in while we worked. We are still missing one chair and Roger's living room chair and ottoman. They will be delivered as soon as they come in as I will be calling them every Friday to ensure they don't arrive in the warehouse and sit there forever.

We also had a few friends over for Super Bowl. For a while it seemed like we weren't going to have anyone over for Super Bowl which would have been a first in a long time for us. But at the last minute some friends asked us what our plans were and we told them to come on over. The house layout was perfect for the Super Bowl. We had food spread out all over the island. It is nice to have so many electrical outlets around the island. Makes it easy to plug in crock pots of yummy queso. Everyone sat around the island and in the living room. There wasn't a bad seat in the house. This is the main reason we picked this floor plan. It's exactly how we live and entertain.

I'm still doing lots of little things around the house to make it more of a home. Last week we got the office set up and even put together a bookcase, chair and ottoman from IKEA in the office. Last week was also filled with lots of little things and pretty much all the unpacking was completed. We had some contractors come out to give us a few more estimates for a deck and pergola. Hopefully that will be done soon after we get approval from the home owner's association. This week I will hang pictures, paintings, drapery rods and drapes, shelves, and all those other things that make a house a home. I also have at least one new painting in my plans for the dining room. I can't wait to get started on it. I plan out every step of my paintings, which techniques I will use, what order, etc. Layering is key in painting so I have to plan them out to completion so I don't get things out of order and can't do what I planned. And I have decided to use one technique I haven't used in years on part of the painting in one layer. That technique is crackling. I have seen some paintings recently around town that have inspired me to pull the crackle medium out of my tub of painting supplies. Of course, before I start I'll have to make sure it isn't dried up.

I had to do that recently with my mod podge for a craft I was doing for my dining table center piece. And thank goodness my mod podge was still usable. I'm all about buying as little as possible for, well, everything. I was still researching the center piece for the dining table because I wanted to get the scale right. In my runnings as my mom would say, I knew something would jump out at me either for inspiration or as the actual piece. She and I stopped by a consignment store, Goodbye Hello, on Manchaca Road in our runnings this weekend and found the perfect piece. It's a "boat" of sorts and I thought it would look cool with some big, white decorative spheres in them. I'm not usually a decorative sphere kind of gal but it was just perfect. I searched a few stores and online and I was not about to pay $8 a ball. So I went to Hobby Lobby with coupons in hand and bought all the supplies I needed to cover and decorate styrofoam spheres. I was able to make them for around $3.50 each. I felt so satisfied knowing I saved $4.50 a ball. I'm still working on two, one covered with white yarn and another I will decoupage with white paper.

I know this turned out to be longer than I wanted. But that's what happens when you don't post for a long time. I will try to post more frequently. Hope everyone is doing well. Love you all!