Fall Buffet

Seeing as how Christmas is upon us, I thought it was time to show you the only decorating I have done in my house in the last 3 months. I actually have the Christmas boxes in the house and I plan to change this up this afternoon, so I will show you what it’s looked like for the last couple of months.

Excuse the cell phone picture. This was actually taken with one of those little wide-angle lenses you can attach to an iPhone. I’m hoping Santa will bring me a wide-angle lens for Christmas this year for my Canon. That little triangle of blue you see in the bottom right of the picture is a closet that makes taking a full on shot of this area next to impossible. Please, Santa, bring me a wide-angle lens. I’ve been a good girl this year!

I actually bought that buffet, and a matching hutch, back in late February this year. They are still on my To Do list and if look closely at the bottom, you can see that there are some dings that I will need to fix. Wait, here’s a better close up.

I’m actually glad I never got around to doing this at the old house because I have come to realize that my old dining room plan will not work in this new house and so I’m patiently waiting for inspiration to strike. In the meantime, I’m not hating the wood.

There are a few things on the buffet that I really love. For one, even though I’m sure the bird craze has long since been declared dead, I still love all my birds.

I bought these two birds with the idea that I was going to do a metallic finish on them. I put them out the first year I got them and I liked their colors, so I decided to keep them “as is.” They haven’t held up over the last two years, though, so I’m thinking I may spruce them up for next year. I can’t remember the exact cost, but I’m sure these birds didn’t cost more than a buck or two.

The same is true for these funky little ceramic birds. I bought them from a craft store that was going out of business for about $1. I intended to repaint them, but I keep these out all year and tuck them into my plants. The pop of color is a fun surprise in the plants.

The moss covered bird and the doorknob plate birdhouse I picked up at a local antique store. I think I paid about $15 for the two of them.

If you missed the story of the lanterns and how I discovered my husband was obsessed with them, you can read about it in my “Color Me Shocked” post. Still, the lanterns are adorbs and I love to use them in my decorating when I can.

I love my little glass lovebirds. I told the story of my scary trip into an estate sale to score these little birds in my Thrift Finds #1 post. Don’t bother looking for any other Thrifty Finds posts. It was an idea I thought I would run with, but never did. But, I do tell you about the coffee urn in that post. That’s the handle of the urn in this next picture.

I like to fill the coffee urn with different flower arrangements. I put together this arrangement last year and really loved it. I found the burgundy flowers at a thrift store for $1 and added them this year.

Maybe the name of this post should be “Things Suesan Buys for $1.” It’s true, but I hate spending a lot of money for things and I’ve been very lucky to find things I like for just a few bucks. Such as this cardinal, which is also in my Thrifty Finds post and also, $1! At least I’m consistent.

The little metal box is one of the things we got from Hubs parents when we were cleaning out their house. I keep the plants and the birds in it year-round. The galvanized birds are ones that were on some wire cloches I also picked up from the going-out-of-business craft store. They just screwed off the cloche and I use them in different places from time to time.

The shutters were some we found in the barn loft when we moved in. I liked them and thought they made a good backdrop on this shelf. Nearly every room in our house has one of these weird shelves in it. I plan to pull them all out, but since it acts a bit like a mantle for me above the buffet, I’m leaving it alone for now.

Both the tin and this weird little do-dad were found at garage sales for, you guessed it, $1. Does anyone have any idea what that metal thing is? I just thought it was cool and I call it a Liahona, which is a Mormon thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what it actually is.

I have several of these Paint-By-The-Number pieces that Hubs’ grandmother painted in her later years. I love them, but they confuse the heck out of me. His grandmother was actually an amazing artist and I have two beautiful water colors that she painted. It seems weird that she would go from that to paint-by-numbers, but I’m glad I have them.

The mirror and the yellow bowl are also family heirloom pieces. The mirror used to hang above the piano and it got cracked in our move to Ohio. I took it to a glass shop and had them cut it down and I use it on top of my buffet.

So, there you have it. My one shot at decorating for the last 3 months. I am getting the Christmas stuff out today and hopefully it won’t take me another 3 months to show you what I’m doing for Christmas.

Our Thanksgiving was a quiet one this year, which I really didn’t mind. I’m still feeling sick, which is going on a month with the world’s longest cold. I will feel better for a couple of days and then have a bit of a relapse. I do feel like I’m on the upswing and I’m hoping that December is a healthy month for me and mine.

While I know I have been saying this for awhile now, I’m still finishing up the piano and hope to have that show to you next week. Once that is done, I will break out more of my decorations and make an effort to start making this house feel like our home.

Suesan

Sew what?!

 

After my last sad sack of a post, I’m happy to report that life is returning to normal and we are moving towards getting settled into our new home. The daughter has left the building. She is off on her mission adventure. During the last three weeks, I was either in bed trying to shake the world’s worst flu bug or I was hunched over my sewing machine, making skirts for her mission.

Ryley showed me this skirt from Pinterest.

Source: shop.mango.com via Ryley on Pinterest

 

She wanted me to make that for her. I was less than enthusiastic. For as good of a seamstress as I seem to be, you would think that I would enjoy it more. You’d be wrong. I really don’t enjoy it that much, so with all I had to do around my house, doing a bunch of sewing wasn’t something I wanted to add to my To Do list.

However, we live in a small town with not a lot of shopping venues. My girl is tall and has hips that do not lie. She ranges over several sizes which makes it hard to find things that fit well. Add to the fact that we live in the Hoochie zone and apparently the only skirts they can legally sell in this area are “totes inapprope” as she would say.

I went to JoAnn’s and picked up this pattern.

Baby Girl was less than impressed. She did not see how the pattern could end up looking like the inspiration picture. However, I liked the waistband and the pockets of this skirt and I didn’t want to try to cobble together my own pattern for those two things.

With a few modifications to the skirt and with a made up pattern for the flap on the pocket, this is what I ended up with.

Yes, it needs to be ironed and it was cold in the house that day so Rye tried it on with sweatpants and wool socks on underneath. The button on the waistband is just decoration. Originally, I was going to make the skirt open at the pockets, but I ended up putting a zipper in the back. She will probably end up taking the big button off. She was extremely happy with how the skirt turned out. I think I nailed this one.

Another skirt she wanted me to make was this one, again from her Pinterest board.

Source: indulgy.com via Ryley on Pinterest

 

She pinned a ton of skirts that were pleated, but I wasn’t interested in messing with pleats. I simply took 2 yards of fabric, tore it in half, then tore one of the half sections in half again. The fourth section pieces were the back pieces of the skirt. The larger section was the front. Again, I used the waistband and the pockets from my pattern. I gathered the sections and, after they were sewn on the waistband and ironed, they kind of pleated up.

I used a linen fabric which is a nice fabric for the skirt. This is the only picture I have of her in this skirt and it’s stolen from a video my brother-in-law took for me as she was entering the MTC yesterday. It’s a really bad picture. If they send me a better one, I will update it. Again, I nailed it and she was very happy with the skirt.

I also ended up converting two dresses into skirts. One was a maxi-dress that had a ton of elastic gathering below the bust line. I cut off the top the dress and put in a narrow hem at the cut line. I then hemmed the skirt to mid-calf length. Here she is on her day at the temple.

By the way, that cute bag she is holding is a temple bag that was a gift from my mom. If you are interested in checking out these awesome bags, you can find them at MyTagBag.com. Thanks, Mom!

Finally, I reworked a navy satin dress into a skirt, but I don’t have any pictures of that. Again, she was happy with the end result and I’m happy knowing she will be able to wear things that are modest and fit her and that her Momma made for her.

Eventually, I plan to set up an area out in the loft for all my sewing. For now, I commandeered the dining room table, but I’m very ready to pack up my machine for the season. Usually, I like to do my sewing in the colder months and my painting and furniture restoration during the warmer months. However, that’s not going to happen this year. I have too much painting to do to wait for spring to arrive.

Up first is finishing the piano. Ryley started painting it as a project while she was home, but she ran out of time and energy before she left. I sanded down some drips yesterday and repainted and sealed it today. I hope to have a completed post in the next day or two.

There you have it. My sewing chronicles for the months of October and November. I did not include the skirt I added lace to or the shirt I replaced the zipper on or the temple dress I took in and repaired the zipper on. I’ll be ready to look at my machine in a few months. For now, give me a paint brush. I’ve got a house to fix up!

Suesan

What’s up? Chicken Butt.

Sheesh. A girl moves to a new house and the next thing you know, she ups and disappears on you. So, you may or may not have wondered where I disappeared to.  If  you haven’t wondered, well, I’m going to tell you anyway. Allow me to sum up. Here’s what I’ve been up to for the last couple of months.

1. I moved into a new home.

If you are a regular follower this is not news. If you are new to these parts, let me just say that 21 houses in 24.5 years of marriage takes its toll. I still have boxes everywhere and have yet to figure out where I am going to put things.

I do not have a working living room area. When we were buying the house, the floor wasn’t finished in the living room and I was not excited about the laminate flooring the previous owner was about to install. I asked if he would not install it as I wanted something different, but I failed to negotiate a credit for the cost of the flooring. Hard wood is expensive, people! I’m saving up for it, but in the meantime, the Daja and I thought it would be a good time to start a project.

Ryley is cleaning the piano in preparation for the paint. I’ve never liked blonde wood and this piano has been on my To Do list for a couple of years. Since it is actually the girl’s piano and I’m just housing it for her until she has her own home, I let her decide how we were going to paint it. It was an ambitious project and it is still waiting to be completed. It’s going to have to wait a little longer.

My kitchen is a disaster zone, but that’s my fault for ripping it apart. All I really wanted to do was tear down the wallpaper and get rid of the carpet in the kitchen. Is that too much to ask? Is it? Apparently, it is. It was soon obvious that those two tasks would not be as easy as I’d hoped.

I have lovingly taken to calling our new home the Hydra house. If you recall your Greek mythology, the Hydra was a creature that grew two heads every time one was cut off.

That pretty much describes our house. For every problem we solve, two more pop up in its place.

On the up side, we have a new water heater, dehumidifier and a chicken coop. The ladies are all settled back into their new home, although Hubs has been working to make a heated water bucket for them. He excitedly showed me the chicken nipples he received yesterday for the bucket. Yeah. We’re weird like that.

2. I am driving my life away. Literally.

Since the beginning of summer, I have put 8,000 miles on my car. That’s 8 THOUSAND miles in the last 5 months! I wish I were joking. A thousand of those miles were spent on our family trip to Washington DC.  The rest of the miles can almost all be attributed to this kid.

Some of our miles were clocked running him back and forth to the Boy Scout Camp (1 hour north of us) a couple of times a week because Buddy worked up at the camp as a lifeguard. Some of the miles came from his band activities. Buddy was the drum major for the high school marching band. Parades and games and band camp meant more driving.

By the way, Katie, my sister-in-law with Down Syndrome who lives with us, absolutely ADORES Buddy’s band stuff. She gets super excited for any and all band performances. Here, she is demonstrating her mad skills with the mace.

It is completely adorable how thrilled she gets for the band stuff. It is one of her few happy places. Katie’s default mode runs toward the surly, so any time we can find something that brings out a smile, we are more than willing to spend time on those things.

Kiddo is also in the band, but he joined too late to march this year. He is learning to play the tuba, though, and will join the band next year. Katie will be beside herself with glee.

The main driving activity that has sucked the very life out of me has been school. Buddy is doing a college program for his junior and senior year. It is a dual program that will give him both high school and college credit. He will graduate from high school with an Associates degree in electromechanical engineering. The problem is that Buddy doesn’t drive yet and the college is a 30 minute drive from our house. To add to that, Kiddo is still attending school in our old district, which is another 20 minutes in the car to pick him up from school each day.

Seriously. I need to figure out a way to work on my home and do projects while I am driving. I’ll let you know if I come up with anything, but right now it’s super hard to get involved in a project only to have to stop and go pick someone up or drop them off somewhere.

3. I’m Sick and Tired.

Again, I mean this literally. Excuse me for sharing, because I really don’t like to air all my aches and pains for fear of sounding like one of those old people who tells you about the quality of their bowel movements when you ask how they are. But, since this post is all about excuses, this is one of mine.

The month of August (yeah, the same month we were moving) my body decided that would be a swell time to try and pass a kidney stone. It really wasn’t. A good time, that is. Nor, do I think I actually fully passed the stone. I think it’s still in there waiting to flare up at another super inconvenient time. I haven’t wanted to go to the doctor to figure it out.

I don’t like my doctor. He’s a jerk. His bedside manner is non-existent and he HATES it if I make any kind of the tiniest suggestion that I might have some idea what is going on with my body. It’s almost as if he will actually try to disprove what I think is going on. So, if I went to him and said I think I have a kidney stone (I’ve had 3 of them already so I’m pretty familiar with the symptoms) he’d probably try to convince me it’s arthritis.

If you are wondering why I just don’t change doctors, trust me, I have strongly considered it. But if  you’ve never lived in a small town, let me tell you that quality doctors are not exactly thick on the ground. And ones that accept new patients are even more difficult to find. He does actually listen to me on occasion and I’m learning the right way to talk to him to get better results.

After we moved, I had a flare up of the ol’ depression. Big surprise considering all the life changes and the sickness and the lack of projects to take the edge off.

It was one of those bouts of depression that is sneakier than the rest. This actually sums it up quite well.

Source: forum.baby-gaga.com via FrouFruGal on Pinterest

 

It often takes me a while to figure out when I am excessively tired that it is depression. However, I heard a psychiatrist once say that when excessive fatigue is interfering with the normal routine of your life, then it is depression. Not that I haven’t had plenty of reasons to be tired, but I have been on the depression bandwagon long enough to recognize the signs for me. It just always takes me longer when my depression manifests as fatigue instead of sadness or the other ways I have discussed in the past.

Suffice it to say, that there has been a lot of this going on.

Source: Uploaded by user via FrouFruGal on Pinterest

Source: imgfave.com via FrouFruGal on Pinterest

Source: findinghappiness12.blogspot.ca via FrouFruGal on Pinterest

 

I also discovered I have two bulging discs in my neck, as well as carpal tunnel which is causing my right hand to go numb All. The. Time. It’s hugely annoying. I’m waiting for a referral to figure out what my options are. I currently spend a great deal of my time trying to find a position for my hand/arm that doesn’t cause constant tingling in my fingers.

4. My Baby Girl is Going on a Mission

If you don’t know, my family belongs to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka the Mormon church. My daughter decided a few months ago that she wanted to go on a mission. She received her mission call in August and was called to serve in the Sacramento, California mission. She will be speaking Spanish on her mission. She goes into the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah on November 14th. We are so proud of her, but I am going to miss that girl like crazy.

She has been living in Provo for the last few years, and I’ve only gotten to see her in the Spring and at holidays during that time, but she and I text or talk on the phone multiple times a week. She is not only my daughter, but also my friend.

One of the rules of the mission life is that you can not call your family. You can write a letter once a week, but no texting or Facebook or Skype or calls. She will be gone for 18 months and I will only get a phone call on Mother’s day and Christmas. She will be in the MTC this Christmas, but I actually won’t get to speak to her then, since there are just too many missionaries to be able to let them all call home.

She came home from Provo in mid-September to be with us until it is time for her mission. Since I have such a short time with her, I have been trying to just enjoy our time together and not bog myself down with projects that distract me from her. She is such a delightful daughter and I am so proud of the beautiful woman she is becoming.

She is a sneak-thief, though. While running errands for me one day, she came across a lady giving away kittens at a gas station. She could not resist and ended up bringing home a kitten. She happened to have my credit card on her at the time so she was able to buy all the kitten supplies she needed. She successfully hid the cat from us for a week before we figured out we had a new family member. Good thing he’s cute and Katie loves him. Otherwise, he’d be outta here.

Remember how I said we tend to go with things that makes Katie smile? Well, she not only smiles, but also talks to the kitty. It’s rare for her to initiate conversation of any kind, but she becomes very animated around him and is so playful and happy with the kitty that it looks like we have new family member.

Katie calls the kitten Tiger, but Ryley actually named him Adam Levine, so she can say funny things like, “I just snuggled with Adam Levine for two hours!” or “Adam Levine, stop licking my face!” That girl cracks me up.

Both of my fur children decided I need their love on my feet the other night. I am currently sick, again. I have a bad cold and they must have figured I needed the extra love.

So, there you have it. My essay on why I haven’t been blogging. I have managed a project or two here and there. I did decorate my dining room, which is the only room to have received any kind of attention. I was in a mood and needed some pretty in my life. We are working on some sewing projects for Miss Ryley’s mission, so it’s kind of destroyed again.

*Sigh* One day, soon, I will not be driving thither and yon or playing with my girl or sleeping or recovering from one illness or another. And on THAT day, I promise you, I will have a tool in my hand and a project will ensue. I swear it.

Suesan