So this is Houston

Or I guess it is really more like this was Houston yesterday since it is steadily melting away at the moment.

That's us - the yellow two-story.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Haven't been here since turkey day because I have been doing that thing I said I wasn't going to do - unpacking Christmas decorations. Since they are all in the garage and needed to be sorted before making an effort to get them into the attic, I figured I might as well unpack some of it. I (personally) won't be putting anything in the attic here - that will be the hubby's job. Not only is it a small attic space, but the door to get in the attic is super tiny. Nope, I won't be going in there! (I do miss my huge, overstuffed, walk-in attic storage space).

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thought I would take a minute to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. I don't have a whole lot of fall decor but I did put out what I came across as I was unpacking (I didn't go looking for any - I just used what I found, but I don't think I have much more anyway)


I put most of it here together to make it look like more!
I know I haven't been posting much this year (and when I do it is usually some complaint - sorry) but I'm shooting for a new start with the new year. That isn't to say I won't post before then - just that I hope to be back on more of a regular schedule by then.
This would normally be my weekend to put up Christmas decor, but I'm undecided as to how much, if any, I'm going to do this year. I've hit 'box burnout' and I'm not sure I can face unpacking more stuff! Maybe when some of the neighborhood gets started it will get me motivated. The neighbors have warned us they go all out so we will see!
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday boy

Today is baby boy's birthday
Some of these pictures are repeats - but they are some of my favorites and I'm a mom, what can I say?

In some ways, it seems like this was just yesterday


Don't ya love the shades?

First day of school - we had to see the backpack!

always cool

I have no idea why you were on top of the garage talking on the phone

Still in shades

A high school graduate

and a married man

Still painting your face :)

Serious?

A college graduate - how time flies.

You brought us a lovely daughter-in-law (sorry I missed posting on your birthday Ashley)

Now living so far away.

Happy birthday to both of you.
Miss you both.

Love,

Mom

Denied

Well, our application for approval to keep the 'wood and glass structure' on the front porch was denied. Since we have no patio in the back we moved inside. (well, I guess technically we have a patio but nothing more than a door mat will fit on it)

I still say it is not a 'structure' but what do I know.
(I know whoever is making these decisions wouldn't know 'cottage' if it bit them on the backside).

I mean, could it scream 'cottage' any louder?
Here is what I replaced it with

How's that for 'cottage'?
(my little cottage 'structure' is now parked in my bedroom - it is currently empty, any ideas for decorating it for inside?)

Murphy's Law

So - remember those picture hangers I couldn't find? Yesterday I went and bought some new ones and hung a few pictures downstairs. (no pictures yet - the camera was upstairs and I am lazy) This morning I hung my baby dress in the red/white/blue room and while I was in there I thought I would open the box that had been sitting on the floor for weeks. Yes, weeks.

The box was labeled 'batteries'. Now, of course you know what was in the box along with the batteries

yep - two bags of hangers. I knew they were here somewhere but of course I was looking in things like the tool box, along with every basket and box that is piled up on the table downstairs. I guess now I can think about where to hang everything else. I haven't painted anything yet but I figure if I decide to hang something somewhere different, I can just fill the holes when I paint since I will eventually paint every wall in the house. It may be spring before I get started but I will get them painted. I just can't stand having all this stuff piled up waiting for me to paint so I'm hanging it now and if I decide I don't like it, I'll fix it later. Won't be the first time I've changed my mind!

The last little birdie

Is now feathering his own nest.
When we sold the house the oldest moved into an apartment (he had already lived on his own before so we just had to get his stuff moved out of storage - we had already done the shopping thing with him when he moved to Illinois) Of course baby boy and his bride are in Minnesota (we won't talk about how many times they have moved - or when they will move again!) The middle child had never ventured out on his own. Nothing wrong with that, the right opportunity just hadn't come along yet. When we moved out of the house at the end of August he put his stuff in storage and moved in with friends until he knew exactly what he wanted to do. (I think he aleady had an idea, he just wasn't ready to share yet) We spent last week moving him to the Dallas area. He accepted a job at a church there doing basically the same thing he has been doing at our church for the last ... ?... years. (he has been doing it so long, first as a volunteer, then as a part time job and full time for the past couple of years so I really don't know when it became an 'official' job) Anyway - his 'title' is Director of Technology, but I imagine it will be pretty much like the old job (and living at home with us) -and he will answer to 'Timothy, fix it'.

It was a long few days and I didn't get a lot of pictures. Either I was moving something, cleaning something or just too tired and the camera didn't come out much but here is what I have of his new 'nest'. He is maybe a half mile from his new job.


See that balcony way up there on the right - that's the one, on the THIRD floor - and it is a walk up! Whew.

His living/dining area

that door goes out to his balcony

he also has a little storage room on the balcony

nice size kitchen

that door over by the fridge is to his utility room. He has hookups for a washer/dryer but they don't come with the apartment so he bought himself a set. (and had them delivered!) He shopped around and got a pretty good deal on a good set that should last him a long time.

See - it's a long way down - or up depending on which end you are on at the time. That's hubby at the back of the U-haul - Timothy is probably inside in charge of what comes out next. That's my dad getting stuff out of Timothy's truck. Daddy and Brian went with us on Monday but just for the day - hubby and I stayed until Wednesday night. They were a lot of help though and we managed to get the trailer unloaded and returned on Monday.

See that one chair - that's pretty much it for the living room! (the pink pillows are mine, not his) He thought he should buy the washer/dryer before he went looking for a sofa. He had a chair to sit in and if he waited on the w/d he would have to go find the laundry room on the property. He could never sit still long enough to do laundry and just wait for it.

His bedroom is a nice size. You can kind of see the corner of the table he has in there with his computers. If you remember pictures from his bedroom at home, he had two six foot tables in his room but he only has one set up in here. He always has several computers he is using for spare parts! He also has a nice size walk in closet.

We gave him the table and chairs from our kitchen so he has a place to eat, in addition to the one chair he brought from his old room. He also bought himself a desk chair - mean old mom wouldn't let him keep hers. :)

Anyway - that's all the pics I have. You notice the kidlet isn't in any of those pictures - that is because he doesn't slow down long enough to let you take one! (also he hates having his picture taken - takes after his mom) They did have him come down to the front of the church at the end of his last service. He is a 'behind the scenes' kind of guy and was perfectly happy doing his job out of the eyes of the public. I haven't had a chance to ask him if they introduced him at the new church yesterday. Hubby and I couldn't stay that long but we did get a tour of the church and meet a lot of the staff before we left.

Well - that is about it for now. If I could find the other baggie with my picture hangers in it, I could hang some more stuff on the walls. I refuse to go buy any because I know I kept all of them when I was taking pictures down to pack. I found a bunch of small ones but I need a couple of big ones to hang a heavy mirror. Argh. Don't you just hate it when you KNOW you have something but can't find it?

Hope you all have a great week!

Hung a few pictures

I couldn't stand all the blank walls any longer so I hung a few pictures. So what if I only hung them in the bathrooms! At least I have something hanging somewhere!

These pieces were all hanging in the master bath in our other house (along with a few others) I'm still debating where and if I want to hang any more in here. Trust me, I have plenty of things to hang on the walls so it is more likely I'll run out of wall space before I run out of things to hang! (11 years working in a custom frame shop - I wonder if I actually made any money or if I spent more than I made?)

So, I have a question - how do you feel about windows in the bathroom? I'm a window person so I like lots of windows, but I have a problem with uncovered windows in the bathroom. This is the only window in the house that didn't have (faux) wood blinds. Yes, it is a frosted window but it still bothered me with nothing over it. Right outside the window is the fence that divides the neighbors yard from ours. The house next door is only one story so there is no way they could see in even if the window wasn't frosted unless they were hanging on the fence looking over. Since it bothers me and I have no idea what I want to do there, I just stuck a tension rod up and used some clips to hang a vintage sheet. I kinda like it and all it cost me was the few bucks for the tension rod. Makes me feel better anyway!

I have another question. I'm thinking of starting another blog. The little fella on one shoulder says I don't update this one often enough to warrant two but on the other hand, there just hasn't been much stitching going on around here lately so I was thinking, new house, new blog. I would keep this one and if I ever get around to actually having a stitching update of course it would get posted here. I would imagine the majority of my posts will continue to be about the house or just life in general at least for the near future and should someone stumble upon this blog expecting to see stitching they would be greatly disappointed. Would the few of you that do visit here visit another blog? Just a thought I'm throwing around in my head so I thought I would throw the question out and see what happens.