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!

Weekend Update

Well, the Super Bowl is over. I feel like it was disappointing considering all the hype. The game itself was boring for a majority of it. The commercials were ho-hum. Nothing stood out as hilarious or awesome to me. Of course the PepsiCo American Sign Language-Deaf commercial was played during the pre-game festivities so I'm sure many people missed it. I didn't pay attention to who the performers would be this year and was surprised that the half time performance was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I can't believe it wasn't Alicia Keys or some other pop star. It was a great performance but I wish they could have played more than just their four most popular songs. I watched the big game this year at my parents' house with my brother and his family. I went there on Saturday because we went to see A Ride With Bob, an historical tribute to Bob Wills, the king of Western Swing at Texas A&M's Rudder Theatre. Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel made up a majority of the cast. It was very good. And after it was over, Asleep at the Wheel and a few other cast members gave us a short concert. We thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd love to see it again.

While I was at my parents', I hit my mom up for a refresher sewing course. I actually bought a dress kit and I wanted to sew it in her presence in case there were sewing terms and procedures I forgot. And there were, darts (six in all) and bias binding. Whew! The dress kit said it came with all pieces pre-cut and instructions. I was so glad my mom was there because the instructions, which I thought would resemble a pattern, weren't as helpful as I imagined. But we got it done just about the time the game started. And I have to say it was easy in the end and I am very proud of accomplishing it. But this will be the last time I use a kit. It would have been a lot easier to just buy a pattern and my own material. And cost a lot less. I am going to email the dress kit maker with the pros and cons of her dress kit and instructions. She is trying to mass market it and I think she'd appreciate any criticisms, good and bad. But I've posted some pictures of it. Once I get it pressed completely, I'll take a final picture in it with appropriate accessories and shoes so you can get a better idea of the finished product. By the way, the material is not red, but burgundy. I think the flash made it more red than it truly is. And I didn't put the bow on it. I'm not a bow kind of girl. Now I know I'm ready to tackle some more sewing projects. It had been 15 years since I sewed apparel. I've sewn drapes and headboard covers, etc, but needed an easy clothing project so I could assess where my clothing sewing skills were. I'm very happy with my skills. I'm going to try to talk my mom into letting me take back the 1969 Singer sewing machine she gave me a few years ago that I gave to her when I moved to Virginia since I knew I wasn't going to be sewing in our apartment up there. She has a few others so I'm sure she won't mind. My next project is to tackle a little bit more involved sheath dress pattern with cap sleeves. But I'm in no rush. I have a few more things at home to do first.

MRI Monday Feb 4

First, for those of you that get the blog emailed to you, something happened to the service this past weekend and plogs that were written late last week were not emailed at all. I made the system email them to you just a bit ago. Sorry about that... if you want to get the blog emailed to you, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the webpage to sign up... its free!

I have another three month MRI Monday afternoon at 5pm ET to see how things are up there. Please continue to pray that the tumor is still gone and that healing is continuing. I meet with my Rad/Onc Tuesday morning to review the results. I'll let you know how it goes.

This week is going to be a busy one... I finally have an appt with the VA to have my physical by them for my VA disability claim. And I have a meeting with my pro-bono attorney to prepare for my hearing on Feb 13 to appeal my initial disability rating from the Army. Yes, I will get a disability rating from the Army and the VA. I'll have to explain that at a different time. I'll try to get you caught up on the lowdown this week.

Oh - and what an awesome game tonight. Personally, I was glad to see the Giants get the win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The Manning brothers get back to back rings. How cool is that?

-Roger