It's aaaaliiiiive!!

That's right - I am back!! Happy Halloween to you all!!
 It's been almost two weeks since I updated about the house - wow! Has is really been that long? I feel like not much has changed - but it has!! Lemme see if I can go back a few days.... The 19th and the 20th Scott and I came out to the house and painted. We had gone back and bought the most expensive Valspar at Lowes- primer and paint and I still had to do two coats!! It must be the paint on the walls - wont let me put new paint on there. With the primer in the paint - it's like putting glue on the walls, much harder. I am sure my hand will never work right again. When I stitch my hand starts to tingle a few stitches in and I have to stretch it out and wiggle my fingers to get it to go away. *sigh*
Sunday they delivered my stove. The delivery guy would not plug it in - seems the plug is cracked and he said it was for a dryer plug anyway. Didn't I already say that one thing leads to another with this house?

That is the backyard - see the deer?

love the colors!!

 Monday I was sick. I had a fever and tender abdomen. I really don't have time to be sickly. I bet it's paint poisoning HAHA
Tuesday we had an exterminator come out - we were sure we had a mouse problem. He said we did not - wouldn't charge us but left some traps. He said we could put out traps the same as he could and it wouldn't cost us if we did it ourselves. We put out traps - only thing we caught was a cricket. No more droppings and when we slept downstairs we heard not one mouse noise!! I am guessing that it was because the house was empty for a year and a half. Anyway, good to know and nice of him not to charge us. 
Wednesday the plumber came out. He had to replace the water heater, softener, replace the plug for the oven and install my dishwasher. I painted while he was working. The dishwasher caused an issue - the water would not shut off, the old one was hooked up to drain wrong, the mouse nest under it - made me shudder, yuck!! Luckily the floors in this house are all concrete slab - yep over a basement!! So clean-up wasn't so bad. No more mouse ick in this house!! I've been under every appliance.
Thursday I did some errands and had lunch with Scott - that was nice! I went out to the house and mopped the wood floor so we could move into the living room. I also cleaned all the bathrooms.
Friday I cleaned the kitchen  - top to bottom and put liner in the drawers.
Saturday Scott and I rented a moving truck and moved everything from the apartment into the house - our first night here!! It was weird - house is so empty and echos. Cat had to be put in his travel box while we slept because we don't let him sleep with us and there is no door on the living room. He woke us up early.

the living room we are living in!!

our first cooked meal - nice table huh?!?!

Sunday we went to the storage unit - we had THREE!! We pulled out anything that wasn't in a box and was small and not very heavy.
Monday we had movers go empty out the storage units - and bring it to the house. We don't have carpet yet and the painting is STILL not done!!! So they had to put everything in the garage or the basement. We had them put our lovely wonderful bed that I have missed since July - up in the master suite because I am sure I couldn't help move it. Our headboard will have to be taken apart to get it up there - grrr. Plus, the fridge I brought from Colorado (not even a year old french door Whirlpool) wont fit in the fridge spot grrr We will have to take the wall down and the cabinet - so for now it it plugged in - in the dining room.
We finally got to sleep in our wonderful bed in our master suite. I expected to have the best sleep since July (We have a king Temperpedic  - Scott had bought a queen pillow top for the apartment - too small when you are used to a king and nowhere near as comfortable!!)   The damn cat,,,,,, yep he wandered through the echoey house and yowled  - started at about 2am. So I put him in his box and into the laundry room he went. Next night I put him in there when I went to bed - thought I would sleep good. Nope, my razor fell off the shower wall onto the floor with a loud echoey bang. *sigh* So last night was the first night we slept well - finally - and it was wonderful!! It is so quiet out here - and dark at night yikes!!
We were suppose to get carpet yesterday but the painting is not done - seriously - I think I have died and this is my hell with the never-ending painting. I started painting doors and trim - guess what? It will need two coats. Scott will spend this weekend taping and finishing the trim!!(I will help even though I am so totally OVER painting!!)
I unpacked the kitchen - have done countless loads of laundry. Scott owns over 50 t shirts - he gets them at all the diners and places we visit. The apartment made them all smell like cigarette smoke so they all had to be washed. He likes them to be hung up to dry - so that takes awhile. I only have 6 more to wash!! I had to wash every piece of clothing - blankets and towels that came out of there!! I like my new washer and dryer. I also like my new stove and dishwasher!!  We found the crock pot - oh, what a fool I was to pack that!! It has been great to have it out this week!! I even baked some pumpkin muffins. I can't bake - the stuff tastes good but never looks like it's suppose to. I even BRUSHED oil on with a brush and floured the pan as per instructions.....

they wont come out!!

drizzle is even ugly but delicious - cream cheese and butter mmmmm

Oh well, at least they taste good!!
Today the internet/phone guy came out and hooked us up!! Tomorrow it's the Dish guy - woo hoo!! This weekend we are getting the painting DONE!!! Tuesday the carpet guys come and the chimney sweep. Then.....then I can really move in!! I can move the boxes from the garage into the rooms they go in and start unpacking!! As soon as the carpet goes in I will post before and after pictures so you can see the evil paint er the lovely paint and carpet we got! It will be awhile before I have any of the rooms done.

Halloween has been cancelled - it's raining here today. In Colorado you go trick-or-treating when you want on the 31st. I don't EVER remember it raining this late in the year plus it's in the 60's here today - too warm!! Here every town tells you what day you can trick-or-treat and even what time!! So, because of the rain it will be tomorrow night - I don't remember the times but I will be handing out candy. Maybe get to meet some of my new neighbors!!

I managed to get a finish in during all this madness. I try to stitch a little every day - kind of a nice break from all the work that needs done.

Little House Needleworks

I changed the pattern a little. I took out the 1+1=2. I repeated the stem. I made the heart red. This one is really cute!! I am now caught up!! I ordered Kindness and should get it next week!! It's really cute with the black birds!! While I wait for that I decided to start Orchard Valley Quilting Bee - same designer (bottom of the link page). I've done so many small projects this year that I decided I needed a bigger one - this should do it!!
Well, I think that is it - all updated!! I've really enjoyed keeping up with the blogs I follow - even if I don't comment!!
Hope you have a safe and fun Halloween!!
PS - welcome to my new follower!!

Close

We don't have internet yet so this wil be brief. My husband, cat, stitching and teapot are in the new house - that means I live here! Just in two rooms though because there is still no carpet. Slowly but surely!
I was going to post a picture but my phone won't let me. Grrrr. Hope you are all well!

Ohhhhhhh

 Look at the beautiful give away Victorian Sampler is doing!

O.....M....G

Hello!
Wow - what a week. I had planned on doing a post every day - day one -  day two - that sort of thing but it just didn't work out. Who knew these house fixing things could be so exhausting and painful? I didn't - that's for sure. Paint? No problem. Pull staples? No problem. HAAA think again!!

So, we signed for the house on Friday Oct 11th. First fly in the ointment.... no water. I had called earlier in the week to get gas, electric and water switched to our names. First sign of a small town is the water guy made me call back to talk to Tiffy - because she is the one who handles this and she only works until 3(all in a Southern accent). Unfortunate delay. So when I call back she says first that the current person owes money so no switching for me and that the water has been off there for over a year. Another delay.  Water was on every time I was at that house before signing. The other party goes and pays the bill - they switch it to our names. Now it is Friday. So I tell her that the water has been on every time I've been there - she says nope it's off. OK, fine I am not going to argue. Soonest they can now come is Monday to "turn it on" haha whatever, I still think the water is on so no big deal. We sign on the house aaaannndddd the water is off - so the contractor we bought this house from clearly figured a way to turn the water on and turned if off before I took possession and since I am not having it turned on until Monday - no work can be done. Ok, fine. We go pick out carpet - it will be a few days before they can send a guy to measure. We go pick out 3 or the 4 appliances we need. We were talking about having a gas line brought into the kitchen so we could get a gas stove - more on that later - so we didn't want to pick the stove yet. We ordered the washer, dryer and dishwasher - a few days before they can deliver. We pick out paint - historic colors, we are trying to stick with an Arts and Crafts style

We ended up at a Wild Birds Unlimited store - turns out they were having a raptor presentation

screech owl - blind in one eye

barn owl - missing a wing

red shoulder hawk - head injury

 

Kestrel

Very cool presentation. They only keep birds that are injured - that is why I put what injury - can't remember the last one though. The man in the picture is the founder of the store - neat. When we were headed home we saw a Trader Joe's - never been in one and have always wanted to so we stopped. What a fun store!! I bought a few things - hummas, spiced cider, chips - fun things!! I asked the cashier if there were any more in Indiana - hoping there would be one in Bloomington. She said yes - 7 miles from this store on the same street. Well that is dumb. We got a bottle of their well known wine - two buck chuck which is now four bucks I think Ü

lobster ravioli I bought at Trader

Day two: Sunday we went out to the house. Scott decided we would pull the carpet and padding - if they do it they charge you. Scott used to lay carpet  - they are only charging $97 for installation so it is not worth having Scott do it - lots of carpet and he works all day. He pulled it out all up and we drug it to the garage

That was a lot of carpet to carry down - first day of soreness!! We did find a few treasures....

hardwood steps

one room with hardwood floor

wood banisters

I was hoping for more hardwood but I'll take what we got!! The guy painted over ever damn thing ugh

Day three: Monday Scott had to work so I went out to the house alone. Water guy came and turned on the water. I started removing staples from the steps - not as easy as it sounds. Plus there were about 50 per step. You have to remember when you are a few steps off that if you pull hard and it releases - and you were not ready - you might fall down the stairs - ack!! I did not fall - whew!  I started cleaning the paint off the banister. When I got bored with that I went upstairs and removed staples from the master suite floor. I could hardly walk the next morning! You may think it sounds easy - like I did - but try squatting around the perimeter of your room with pliers - yanking out staples. 

staple free

Day four: Tuesday I started taping rooms to paint and had to be there for the carpet measuring guy and plumber - we needed the sump pump checked - not working. The water heater checked - needs replaced. Water softener checked - not working. and the gas line? They would have to dig a trench so it will be 2500 for everything YIKES (not including the pump) We will wait until we remodel the kitchen in a year or so to do the gas line. Plus, now I need him to put in my dishwasher - more on that later. I left to go do laundry - still at the laundromat pththt.
Day five: Wednesday I went out  and started painting - not the room I taped, of course. I am doing big sections and Scott will edge. Started in the master suite - big room - with the brown. Guess what? We bought mid-grade paint so it should be good - nope needs two coats. I bought a big damn house I can not paint every room twice. OMG!!! Luckily we only bought 3 gallons. I painted the master suite and one of the smaller bedrooms - used all the paint.

before

pretty right? - nice view too

out the window

 That took all day - by the end of it the roller must have weighed 10 pounds - or maybe I was just tired. New muscles to be sore yay We went to Lowes to buy a water heater, a softener and a stove - nope did not happen. They want to put the stove on the card with the carpet but since we haven't gotten the carpet quote yet...blah blah blah. Plus the guy who - the night before - said "you can install your own softener no problem - just bring me a picture and I will tell you which hoses to use" was not at work - he's off for the next two days and none of the people on duty are plumbers. *sigh* So we bought high grade brown paint for the rest of the rooms and one gallon of the crap one so Scott can edge the two rooms I painted and went home.Another delay the chimney people can't come out until November - this is the busy time for them. I need that thing cleaned!

a little mist rising

Day six: Thursday we have our three appliances delivered. The dippy girl at Best Buy did not mention we had to have a different person come install the dishwasher - she said "it will all be delivered and installed" even sold us the proper hoses to install it. The delivery guys get there - park at the bottom of the steep driveway HA Ü

makes the room look much smaller

Delivery guys says - we don't install dishwashers. Plus, the contractor installed the flooring in front of the current washer so even if we had someone from their company come out - they would not touch it. What? Really? Great. Lucky for us - we didn't think it was great when we figured it out but.... the contractor did not bolt the counter top down. I asked the plumber if he would do it - yes. whew. One funny thing he said though - (he also has that Southern accent. I asked him where he is from - so many people in my new town have this accent. He was born and raised in Martinsville - they all have accents - really? It's Indiana - weird) I said the house previously had mice - was he ok with that and he said "well they only bite if you lay on them" HAHAHA!! Biting was not my concern - but ok. Yes, there used to be mice - I've cleaned and have had no more droppings and no sightings. When I pulled up one morning....

 These two may be living under my porch. Plus a fox or something big (bigger than a coon - according to the water guy - I could look and see if there was any poke berries in it - no thanks) has been pooping on my porch - at least we hope it's not the neighbors ha ha Ü I hope that is the reason for the mice being absent.
On the way home that day I saw three turkey vultures eating a possum - I called Scott and said "where the hell am I?"  Anyway I painted our guest room green

not really that bright

The paint samples at the top show it's truer shade. It's pretty - also the mid-grade two-coat paint so look at the top - I had done two coats around the top. I also started the dining room - it will be an office until our kitchen remodel. We had planned for 6 months to a year but now we found out carpet will be about 8000 (and that is with us doing the removal yikes) and the additional waterheater etc  it may take us awhile to pay all these things down. Anyway, dining room was this...

We will paint the grey part -  red and the upper part brown. The accents will be the cream color ...

that is a concrete floor! There is a basement under that!!!

The red really shows paint strokes and is also two-coat. It is also not that bright - again the paint sample shows truer. I then removed all the tack strip from the stairs and the room with the wood floor - omg was  I sore by the time I got done. Have to squat down - hammer the prybar under the nail and then pull it up. It has a nail every three inches or so all the way around the room  - plus they put two strips around the fire place. So after the first week I don't think there is a muscle that doesn't ache. I still have three rooms, two hallways and the rest of the dining/office to paint. I still have a hall and three rooms to pull staples in. I need to clean the kitchen - including inside cabinets and put down liner. Plumber comes next week. I hope we get our stove ordered for delivery. Tonight we go look at out carpet estimate - may be two more weeks before that happens. I didn't think it would be this hard or take this long - all we needed was carpet, paint and appliances. Today would be day seven but this weekend Scott will be able to go with me. We will be there ALL weekend and I needed a day off to rest my aches. I wanted to stitch but I don't know if I will get to it. I am going to cook some things so we don't have to eat out. That is ALL I am doing!!! Oh wait - we have to go to Lowes. drat.
I hope the rest of this goes off without a hitch - wishful thinking. Hope you all have a muscle-ache free weekend!

baaaaa

Another sheep finish. The one on the right is a mess. I was watching World War Z - yikes - and made an error in the tree which turned into a cascading error - there is now an error in the book and every row of the border. Ugh!! It looks fine - nobody but me will know (and now you but I know you wont tell a soul) but still....

I have to do "Friendship" and I am CAUGHT UP!!! Of course I have a house to clean, paint and move so I'm sure I will be behind again in no time! This one may be my favorite so far - although I have not seen the others in months.
Leaving soon to sign on the house - geez is this ever gonna happen? I feel even better today - slept 11 hours or something crazy - and now just have a little sore throat - much better!
I wont be posting house pictures yet - I want to do one before I paint - one after I paint so it may be a week or so.
Thanks for stopping by - have a lovely day!

Your mission

If you choose to accept it.... Anybody heard of  L'Atelier Perdu. I somehow came up with the website and a blog but I can not find their stuff ANYWHERE else!!! I mean you can buy it from there - IF it is in stock. It is super frustrating that they have stuff for sale and when they run out they don't have it anymore, even thought they PRINT it for you - obviously because you can request English directions...... So - they don't keep the patterns in stock no matter how stinkin' cute they are!! I would love to have Winter Flakes Plus, you would think someone somewhere would want to sell the patterns when they are done with them? Haven't seen it anywhere!! I WAAAAANTTTT ITTTT!!! Yeah, I am whining -  I have a cold - I feel horrible - actually better today than yesterday!! Anyway, there is a pattern called The Magic that is available until Oct 25th I might be able to sneak an international order in but not the day before we close - Scott would strangle me!! I AM getting a new house - and yes I am still whining about patterns - I am a horrible hateful person (or a die hard crafter that NEEEEDS new patterns - you pick!!)Plus, he is taking me to dinner since I am wretched - I am the luckiest girl - ever.  I just wish someone here carried them - or someone wanted to sell theirs because they already made it - or something (HINT HINT) I feel like there are very few people who have heard of them though...... I did find a cute blog while searching The Grey Tail!
We get to sign on the house tomorrow - YEAH!!! I can't wait. We have so much to do before we can move in though! I can hardly wait!! We have to buy some appliances - paint - shelf liners - things to clean with!! We are trying to decide on if we should get hard wood on the main floor and carpet upstairs - or carpet all over.... so many fun things to decide. I looked at the Homeowners Association - the clubhouse was built by and lived in by the guy who came up with Barbasol - the first brushless shaving cream!! He was born in 1884 and died in his 60's because he fell down the stairs! He paid 350,000 in 1934 to build that house  - it has 9 bedrooms and 11 bathrooms!! He gifted it to Indiana to use for the governor's summer home when he died but they turned the gift down - they said it wasn't in the right county so it could not be used and it would cost too much to maintain 727 acres. It went back to the heirs and they sold it. It was eventually sold to a developer. It is now the clubhouse! They have holiday parties - pool parties - chili cook-offs and wine tasting. There is even a restaurant that is open "most Fridays" HA!
Last night I made skillet Mexican zucchini   It may be my favorite zucchini recipe!! I used jalapenos from Scott's garden hat he cooked on the grill and then froze - it was spicy!! She calls for pickled jalapenos.

I'm this close I~I to having another sheep finish *grumble grumble*  I will post it - maybe tomorrow!!
Have a lovely evening - hope you are all HEALTHY!! uhhhhhhh

sooo close

Good morning
This morning we went to do our final inspection on the house.....I'm dyin' here - can't wait to get in there!!!

on the way  - little foggy today

lake half a mile or so from the house!

my house - on Friday!!

I can hardly wait!! Not much else going on. It was stormy here this weekend -

as the storm cleared out

near Martinsville IN

 I was really in need of some hot chocolate. What irritates me is so many of them - the big names - put partially hydrogenated oil in their hot chocolate - stupid!! I decided to try this...

It is delicious!! Hardly any ingredients - which is the way hot chocolate should be!! It does call for 3 heaping tablespoons per 8oz of milk which was too much - in my opinion. It can be bought at Kroger or King Soopers. I think it is fabulous!!
I hope you all have a lovely week - I hope to be a home owner by the time I post again!!

Triple C

Hello!
I have three things to show you - crooked, colorful and cute - today has been brought to you by the letter "C"!!
I have a finish to post - it's crooked ...

I freaked when I saw how crooked that one is - but then I remembered I will be foldong it to make it into a pillow - whew! I don't even know how that happened!!
I made the new recipe by Skinny Taste that is colorful (link to the left in my favorites....neat huh) As with enchiladas - I don't roll, I made it into a lasagna - it's spinach and butternut so the colors..... weird....

The picture doesn't even show how bright green the spinach is - yikes!! Tasted good though - I love butternut squash!!
And the cutest little face ever...

He meowed and looked at me when my cell made the camera noise - guess I woke his lazy butt up - darn! Looks like we are closing on the house 3 days early on the 11th!! Woo hooo!!!
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Forgetful!

Good morning!!
I keep meaning to post about my license plates... and something else but I can't think of it. I hope I remember by the time I get to the bottom of this post! So, I finally got my plates, driver's license and a library card!! It's official - I live in Indiana!! Remember I was going to get personalized plates "Crewel" for my trail name  (letterboxing) in Colorado. I finally got them ordered and by the time they got there I was moving. It would have cost me $400 or so to put the Crewel plates on and then I would have had to get new plates here - so I didn't do it! Well, I was going to get them here - personalized plates have been suspended for the now. WHAT?? Geez.
I joined the Stitchers' Village. Turns out it's much more of a community than most cross stitch boards. I've added the link to it and a few other of my favorite places in my brand spankin' new "my favorite Links" section of this blog (on the left) sadly you can't make it open with a new page, so when you click - you go away!! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
 Taylor (our daughter) turned 23 yesterday. She is still in Colorado. I ordered a gift for her a few weeks ago and it had to be made when ordered so, of course, it's late. We did have a cake delivered to her - Susan's Bakery delivered a 6 inch "Pot of Gold" cake!

birthday girl!!

ganache frosting

FUN!!

Scott found this bakery when he ordered a cake for my birthday!  Ryder (our son) went to Longmont and took her and her friends to dinner - what a nice guy. I hope she had a good birthday!
Well, here I am at the end and can't think of the other thing I wanted to talk about.... blasted!
Hope you all have a lovely fall day!!