Moving Stress

We're counting down the days until our big move to California.

It's been a mess getting to this point! We've rescheduled our move
twice already but I believe we're all set now. The movers will
be here on Monday to pack, Tuesday to move everything out

of the house and we'll get on the road on Wednesday.

Tuesday will be Kennedy's last day of school. :(
This is going to be very hard for her.

On a good note, we SOLD THE CAR!! Woohoo!

The stress is really starting to hit me... mainly about our
housing situation when we get to California. We'll check into
a hotel, and when Trey checks into his unit we will go to base housing

and check in there. As of now, the on base housing is packed
full and the wait is a few months. Not worth it for us since
we'll only be there for 9 months. They do however have off base housing
available, but these are small and don't have a garage.

That's a problem. We have a lot of stuff.

My Christmas decorations alone take up my entire storage shed!
I also have enough photography

equipment and props to fill up a small room.

*Sigh*

Renting is an option, but Cole needs central AC due to his
previous lung complications. Most of the housing in
Twentynine Palms have swamp coolers. Don't know what that is?
Well, it's a big unit on top of your house that holds water and blows air

through your house. It does not cool the air. In fact, it
makes the house hotter when it rains and humidity kicks in.

It's a nightmare.
Whoever thought that was a good idea in the desert should be smacked.

The houses for rent that do have central air are
either out of our price range or too far away.

*Sigh*

I love the military and I'm so thankful for everything
we have but it's really hard not knowing where you're going to
live next week! I know in the end it's all going to work out, it always does.

Just say a little prayer that we get there safely and find a nice place to live!

With that said, I'll be MIA for a while. It's time to start

priming walls and cleaning to get out of here....

See ya on the other side!

Will I get in trouble if I slap him?

As most of you know, for about a month now we've been going through

hell to obtain a copy of the title to my husbands car so we can sell

it before we move. We were supposed to be moving from NY to CA tomorrow.

We had to postpone our move until the end of the month so we could get the title and sell

the car.

Long story short, after multiple trips to the post office to overnight things, (my husband

sent it off without the necessary information and it got sent back), after multiple

calls to the DMV and waiting on hold forever each time, and $150 later...

my husband finds the title.....

In his locker at work.

Sigh of relief that we have the title. Another good thing is we have a buyer

and she's picking it up tomorrow.

But, all of this mess could have been avoided, all of the stress it's put on me

and having to delay our move could have been avoided if my husband

would have CLEANED out his locker like he told me he did.

Another thing, WTH was it doing in hisr locker? lol He doesn't have an answer to this.

Seriously, I love this man with all my heart and soul but sometimes I just wanna smack him!! LOL

(FYI- I do not abuse my husband...lol)

Beautiful Photo Clock Tutorial....

Good evening ladies...

ever since I saw this tutorial, I've been dying to give it a try!

Luckily, my beautiful friend Carrie had a perfect picture for this project

so I wanted to surprise her with this (her anniversary is this week too!)

You can find the tutorial at the website I linked above... but I can also explain it pretty quickly here!

You will need the following;

MDF board cut to size (did a 12x12) I also used the 1/2 thick board,

the other site used the 1/8 inch board, but I thought it would look nice on a thick board,

and I'm glad I paid a little more for the thick board!

Mod Podge

Paint that matches your photo (I used craft paint)

Clock Parts (I couldn't find black, so I had to paint them :( Made me sad)

A photo you wish to use

(FYI- this cost me less than $20 to make the one clock, I spent

a little more than that but I have extra MDF board for more projects!)

Ok, so I started by taking the photo I was using and edited it in Photoshop Elements to

put the clock numbers on the photo. This took a while because I wanted

them perfect. From what the other site says about this, you

can use picnik to edit it as well or you can use vinyl numbers and put them on your photo.

There were some clock parts that came with numbering as well.

I sent my edited photo to Costco to have it printed and picked it up in an hour!

Next, I lightly sanded the sides of my board and then painted around the

edges and sides of the board.

After the paint is completely dry, put a layer of Mod Podge on the whole board

and place your picture on it. I used my forearms to flatten the photo from the

middle out. I also painted the sides with the Mod Podge.

When it dried, I flipped it over and used an exacto knife to cut off any extra
photo hanging over the edges.

Next, paint a layer of Mod Podge over the photo!

It's going to look like you've ruined your photo, but Mod Podge dries clear so no

worries! This is what it looks like when it's still wet on the photo...

When this is completely dry, find the exact center of your photo and mark it.

I measured from corner to corner in an "x" shape on the photo.

I then stuck a sewing pin in the middle to mark my place and jabbed

it with a ball point pen to make a little indention.

So professional, right?

Take a drill bit and drill baby, drill!! (Yup, I'm a Sarah Palin fan!!)

Put your clock parts together in the clock!

VIOLA!

One other thing I did was I sprayed it with a matte finish shellac.

I tested it on another photo first to make sure it wouldn't ruin it and it didn't.

Whose Awesome? I'm Awesome!!! LOL

Well ladies, I have never sewed clothing before so I

decided to start with a simple pattern;

I worked on this all day and got this!

I did have to go down to a neighbors and have her help me a little...

 but once she explained it, it was so easy.

I was making it much more complicated than it was.

I did make the little cover up a little too big, but I

did it on purpose since it's for the summer.

I love sewing.



Reusable Cloth Lunch Bag Tutorial

I've seen so many of these tutorials around and decided to make one myself! I used the dimensions from a tutorial (don't remember where) and just wing-ed it with the rest!

No more paper bags for K! She will be doing her part to be "green" at school!

You will need-

2- 13x9.5 inch panels of fabric

Coordinating thread

A small bit of velcro

Decorative button

Start by cutting two panels of fabric that are 13 inches by 9 1/2 inches.

I used regular quilting fabric.

Next, hem the top of the lunch sack panels by folding and ironing the edge over twice, so the cut edge of the fabric is not exposed. Sew it down, making sure to back stitch at each end.

Next, place both panels right sides together and stitch them together.

Make sure to backstitch at the beginning and end.

(don't stitch the top that you just hemmed... duh...lol. That is something I'd do not paying attention!)

After that, lay the bag flat, so that the two long seams are touching and you

can form a diamond at the bottom of the bag. Iron the bag flat and then

measure the top and bottom points of the diamond 3 inches across and mark.

Next, sew along the lines you just drew and then cut the ends

off, leaving about 1/2 inch from the seams.

Now, I don't have a serger, so I did a zig zag stitch along all the

raw ends of the fabric to give them a finished look.

Next, turn the bag inside right and fold the top over to see where you'd like it. I then sewed velcro on to keep the top of the bag secure and hand sewed a decorative button on!

Viola...seriously easy! I'm not the best seamstress and I finished this in less than an hour.

Then I ironed all the creases in and got a picture of it laying down since it isn't that stiff

and doesn't stand up like I want it to for a picture!

If you wanted it to be thicker, you could use an interfacing and

a coordinating color for the inside as well. You could even use oilcloth

but I think you'd have to put it together a different way with oilcloth.

One tidbit of information...

don't try and sew velcro with a sticky back with your sewing machine

unless you're willing to throw out a perfectly good needle cause you can't get the goo off.

Yeah, I did that.

I thought, oh perfect, I don't even have to pin it down! (Lazy huh?)

I'll just stick it down and then sew it down to secure.

Have fun, and if you make one let me see!

Awh Shucks....Lil Ole' Me?!

Last night, I was awarded the Stylish Blogger Award by a blog I love to follow!

What a nice compliment. :)

Thanks Heather from Teens and a Toddler!!

So, there are some rules to this award and they are as follows;



1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself. 
3. Award 15 other bloggers. (I changed mine to 8 newer bloggers. See below for reasons.)
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.

Ok, 7 things about me...

I'm a military wife (Duh, my blog name gives that away, right? lol)

I'm an in the closet, fist pumping, guido loving Jersey Shore fan!

I insisted on expensive hair extensions for my birthday (clip in real hair) and I don't like them.

(Shhh my husband will kill me if he finds out!)

I'm turning 27 next week.

I have fake boobies (Yup, and I love them!)

I watch all the teeny bopping TV shows (Vampire Diaries, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl etc.)

I say "lol" a lot, no, I'm not psychotically sitting at my computer laughing from every other word I type.

Ok and for the reasons as to why I'm awarding only 8 bloggers the award... well,

I just think 15 is a lot! I'm awarding to newer blogs that have less than 250 followers.

Let's face it, if you have more than 250 followers, you already know you're the bomb diggity and you don't need me, a newb, telling you your blog rocks! Plus, you've probably gotten this award a gazillion times.

 I also awarded to blogs that are personal...

I mean, I love giveaways just like the rest of us, and a nice mixture
of giveaways and personal stuff is awesome! I get quite annoyed with blogs
that are only for giveaways. It just clogs my blog

feed up and I don't care for it... then I miss all the awesomeness
from my other blogs! (Like Teens and a Toddler!!)

So... for the blogs I believe deserve this award.... (Drum roll please.......)

A Little Something

The Brownings

She’s Kinda Crafty
Just Add Whine

Not Just an Army Wife

Our Crazy Bunch

Dragonfly Designs

Rosy Red Buttons

52 Weeks of Healthy Habits?

A friend of mine is doing something called 52 weeks of healthy habits.

It's an awesome idea... you choose a small healthy habit you'd like to

have in your life and work on them that week.

I'm totally going to be a copycat now.

Now, I'm not even sure if I can think of 52 things to change.

I mean, I'm not a healthy eater and there are many things I could change....

but I'm not so good at thinking. :-P

Umm... my first one could be remembering to take my "happy pills" each day?

LOL

Kidding again.

Anywho, my first healthy habit I'd like to adopt this week (although the week is nearly over!)

is going to be eating at least one vegetable a day.

I hate veggies.

Anyone care to join me? It would be nice, because then I can steal your habits

when I can't think of one of my own!! And I also need someone to come yell

at me when I forget to post a weekly habit. Which will probably happen, I don't know,

next week? Yeah, I'm not so good with keeping up with things!

Only time will tell my lovies.....

Ever just want to smack someone?

If I didn't think I'd go to jail... I would just maybe smack the crap out of a few people!

I would like to start by saying, I've lived in many states, but NY is by far the worst

when it comes to people and their hospitality, manners and home training.

Need to turn left from the right hand lane while driving?

Sure! Just go right in front of me, nearly making me hit you.

Need a lane to pass someone when one doesn't exist?

Sure! Just make your own!!

I got cut off by a school bus today. Seriously? Come on now.

I hate when cashiers don't greet the customer. I'm a friendly person, so when I come up

to a cashier no matter where I am, I greet them. Only in NY

will you be ignored or get a quick, nasty "hi" like you are bothering them.

I'm sorry, did I bother you while you were, um, working?

Why are you working in customer service when your an asshole?

Please tell me, please?

For instance here is a convo between me and the cashier at Walmart as I'm checking out...

Me- "Hi, how are you?"

Her- "Ok." (She snaps it quickly with a smirk on her face. She didn't even look up at me)

(She then rings everything up, points to the total on the screen and just looks at me, saying nothing)

Me- "Having a bad day?"

Her- "No."

Me- "Well, it seems like it."

Her- Speechless

Believe me, I'm not thrilled about standing in a mile long line (which they always are here)

and now I'm looking at your ugly mug and dealing with your nasty attitude (your breath stunk too).

But, I'm polite to you... until you are nasty to me.

And while I'm ranting... can I just comment on one more thing?

I hate, hate, hate when military wives try and wear their husbands rank!

If I meet you at my child's bus stop, I do not need you to inform me in every other

sentence out of your mouth that your husband is a staff sergeant. Big deal.

Do I care what your husbands rank is? No.

Should I treat you any differently because of your husbands rank? No.

I treat everyone with respect, I don't give a flip what your husbands

rank is, it's his, not yours.

I seriously met someone who repeatedly said, "My husband, the staff sergeant."

This was after she asked my husbands rank and then went on to tell me her husband outranked mine.

Am I a smaller, less important person because my husband is "just a sergeant?" No.

Um, your husband has been in five more years than my husband... of course he outranks him.

Can I slap you now? Please?

Someone shoot me.... please?

Ok, not really... but I'm feeling the stress lately!

We were supposed to move to California on the 15th of January, but as you know, we're having issues obtaining a duplicate copy of the title to our second car so we can sell it. We lost the first one. (Someone can smack me for that one though!) Well, we had to postpone our move until the end of January. January 29th to be exact. My hubby overnighted the necessary paperwork to the DMV in North Carolina last week, and as I was cleaning off the kitchen counter I saw the release of lien letter from the bank. This needed to be in the paperwork hubby mailed!    I almost killed him.

Who doesn't love Stewie? lol

Long story short....I contacted the DMV to see if they would hold the paperwork and we could overnight the release of lien. Of course not, they said as soon as it's opened and the person sees it doesn't have all the necessary paperwork they automatically send it back to us. We're still waiting to receive it back so we can then turn around and  overnight it again. Then there is a mandatory 15 day wait until they will print the title and mail it to us (so add in some mail time too!).

We're looking at having the title the day before we move, if all goes well.

Um, that's not enough time to sell a car.

Hopefully we can find a buyer who is willing to wait for the car. I do have a woman who is interested now and said she had no problems waiting for the car and wants us to meet at her mechanics so he can check it out. Hopefully we'll do that soon and she said if it all checks out she will put a deposit down for the car. Please cross your fingers that this works out!

We really can't push the move off too much further because Trey has to report to 29 Palms no later than February 13th and we're driving from NY to CA.

Can I just say, ahhhhhh?!

Happy New Year!

Just wanted to pop in and wish you all a happy new year!

I've been scarce around the blogisphere because my in-laws are in town and we've been busy

having a blast with them! And tomorrow is K's 9th birthday!!

So, our black eyed peas will be cooking soon and my cut cabbage is in the window sill in the kitchen!

Bring it on 2011!

And for those of you who don't know what that's for (apparently it's a southern thing)

the black eyed peas are for good luck and the cabbage is supposed to bring money into the new year!