Ch-ch-changes...

There is no way I can recap everything that has happened since I stopped posting regularly, so I am not even going to try. Some bullet points:

• I lost my job in early April 2012
• J moved out at the end of April
• I decided I liked being unemployed and proceeded to remain that way until August
• I ran out of savings and began working as a temp at the end of August
• I met a new man in September

That's pretty much it. I still have Gidget and Dozer, but no longer live in my house. There is no way I could afford the payments comfortably on my own. The dogs and I live with my boyfriend, let's call him K for now, in his house.

Not a great picture, but the only one I can locate at the moment. It's a nice house, but not my style. He's been great at compromising and my stuff has been slowly but surely taking over! lol

His daughter, her boyfriend, and their nine-year-old daughter are renting my house. That's right, I technically have a nine-year-old step-granddaughter! Hahahaha! Yes, it's a bit weird, but K is actually 5 years younger than G, so it's not too odd for me.

My life has been turned upside down in the past 14 months, but I am the happiest I think I have ever been. Let's hope I stay that way this time. :)

I've been working on getting things organized around the house. We just finished moving my stuff like two weeks ago and it's a mess of boxes and trinkets and wall decor... It's like my house exploded inside his. It's a disaster, but I'm trudging along.

I've been working on a few small projects here and there, also, that I'm going to share.

Update

So. Since March everything has changed. I have a new job, a new boyfriend, basically a new life. I am still in MY house, you know, cause it's actually mine. I still have the puppies. Things are really good, but very different.

Until I have time to sit down and figure out where to start, feast your eyes on the furbabies:

 



Me from A - Z

 I haven't been very good at keeping up with blogging or reading lately. Work is still beyond crazy and doesn't appear to be getting any better anytime soon. Plus, the guy I've been with for a year now recently told me that he loves me, but he's not sure I'm "the one". Yet we're still together and exclusive and I'm afraid to push the issue, so I'm letting it ride for now. Long story short, shit's been stressful and while projects and blogging and chatting and strengthening friendships should be what I focus on to take me out of my day to day crap, I just haven't been able to find the energy. I just saw this over at The Happy Home Blog, so I thought I'd snag it and maybe it will inspire me somehow.


A. Age: 29, as of January.

B. Bed size: Queen. Not quite big enough for two people and two dogs, but the bedroom is small...

C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning. oh, and painting, but that's not really a chore.

D. Dogs: Two Pits, Gidget and Dozer.

E. Essential start to your day: A shower. It gets me motivated, even if I'm just going to get dirty again.

F. Favorite color: All of them, really. But I despise beige. And brown.

G. Gold or Silver: Both. And I love rose gold, too. I'm equal opportunity for shiny prettiness.

H. Height: 5'4", but I always wear heels or platforms.

I. Instruments you play: Nada. I'm not very musical. I used to play the Clarinet, though. Apparently I was pretty good.

J. Job title: Officially I'm "just the Receptionist", however I've been waiting for a job title promotion to HR Administrator for about five months now...

K. Kids: None. Probably never.

L. Live: Saint Louis, Missouri. Affton specifically.

M. Mother’s name: Her real first name is Karin, but she goes by Heidi. Her parents wanted her to be named Heidi, but Heidi Karin sounded silly, so...

N. Nicknames: None.

O. Overnight hospital stays: Once to get my tonsils out when I was 18 and once to have my jaw reconstructed when my ex-fiance (not G) punched me in the face when I was... um... 22 I think. 

P. Pet peeves: People who talk to me when they know I am busy doing whatever. I have a temp at work right now who is answering the phones while my new boss and I try to catch up on years of HR backlog and she talks to me constantly. Reeeeeaaaaaallllly bugs me. Oh, and people who don't use their blinkers.

Q. Quote from a movie: "She's a full-on Monet"

R. Right- or left-handed: Right

S. Siblings: One. A brother who's 8 years older.

T. Tattoos & Piercings: Lots. Where to start? Let's start at the top, shall we? Piercings: I have a barbell in my right eyebrow, three holes in my left ear, two in my right, my septum, both nipples and my belly button. All of which are at least 8 years old. Tattoos: I have angel wings on my backs that stretch from the tops of my shoulders to my thighs, a heart with a keyhole on my chest, a tiny heart with batwings on my wrist, a large tribal with two roses (one of which covers my first tattoo, a winking Care Bear star, lol) that stretches from hip to hip and navel to pubic bone, and a bad tribal on my lower back, which I would love to have removed, but I can't see it and I hear it's painful, so I ignore it.

U. Underwear: Any type, as long as they don't cause VPL.

V. Vegetable(s) you hate: Bell Peppers, blech.

W. What makes you run late: Anything and everything.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: ? Lots. I was a crazy kid. I broke every finger at one point or another. I broke my foot and a few toes on the balance beam. I was born without four of my grown-up teeth, so many, many, many for braces, titanium implants, more surgeries, etc. When I had to have my jaw put back together...

Y. Yummy food that you make: Almost anything. I'm a good cook.

Z. Zoo animal: Lemurs, monkeys, tapirs, warthogs... I like animals, so pretty much all of them.

Monkey Love

This makes it slightly difficult to get thigs done...

Here's to a more productive 2012...

I didn't get too much accomplished around the new house in 2011. I had big plans, but lacked the drive and energy to get anything major done. I'm not going to make any "resolutions", because I suck at follow through. I am the least competitive person you will ever meet and that extends to personal competition or challenges. I will say that I need to look a few pounds, move more, eat better, and follow-through on projects. I believe these are basically the same things I said last year, but there were a lot of changes in my life in 2011. Hopefully now that my personal life, home life, and work life are seemingly stabilized, I can focus more on myself and the beauty of the small things around me.

I did start the year off on high note, though. Back in June, I talked about a little trip to World Market where I bought napkins to turn into kitchen curtains. I needed eight to cover both windows in the kitchen, but only bought four, in case I changed my mind. Then they immediately discontinued that particular pattern (Tree of Life) and neither store in St. Louis, nor the website had four more napkins. They did however have a 60" x 90" tablecloth, which I snapped up, with the thought I could use the napkins I already owned to make pillow covers for the living room. It all then sat in my "project box" for, ooohhhh, six months. I even bought teal pom-pom trim from Joann's to make the curtains more "curtainey" and to tie the colors in with the dining room more. For some reason, projects involving precise measurements and cutting fabric are very intimidating for me.

Anywho, I finally turned the napkins into pillow covers today.

It was a super-easy, super quick project. I didn't use a tutorial; I simply cut one of the napkins in half, slightly overlapped the pre-sewn edges with the cut sides to the outside, placed the pretty side of the cut pieces against the pretty side of the non-cut napkin, pinned, then sewed up the edges.

Ta-Da.

Only problem?

They overlap completely, but only about an inch and after a teensy bit they start to pull open. I need to get a couple of buttons that coordinate and learn how to use the button-holer on my sewing machine. Maybe I'll get that taken care of by next January... lol

I'm linking up my pillow project over at Loribeth's blog Small Moments. Come check out the other "Shared Moments" posted.

Have you made pillows out of napkins? Do you prefer to use a zipper when you make pillows? Have you gotten any projects out of the way this year, yet? What resolutions do you have this year?

Christmas 2011

Things at work are still insanely crazy. I went from being "just the Receptionist", where I had about four hours of free time a day, to working eight to ten hours of overtime a week. All because my boss, who was the HR Manager and Event Coordinator, got fired (through no fault of her own). We had our annual Holiday Party last Friday, which I ended up coordinating from start to finish. Doesn't it just burn your biscuit when everybody wants their opinions heard and their finger in the pie and to be "kept in the loop", but no one actually wants to raise one of those fingers to help out? Pisses me the hell off. Grr.

Now we've got our annual Holiday Potluck, which (again) has all fallen on me. Where's my raise, people?!

I did manage to get the house all dolled up for Christmas, but feeling motivated enough to to post the pictures is another story. I basically just used all the decorations from last year, with the exception of my new wreath and a few ornaments to match the new color scheme.

LIVING ROOM 

 

DINING ROOM

I didn't do much in the rest of the house... But maybe next year I'll decorate the shelves J is building for me in the kitchen! I also wanted to make Christmas/Winter themed curtains for the kitchen, but didn't get around to it.

I'm just glad the Holidays are over this year. Between work and attempting to reach a Holiday event family balance with a new beau, I am worn out. Here's to a more productive 2012.

Dare to... Deck the Halls

I'm joining up at Kim's Dare to... Deck the Halls over at Newly Woodwards!

I've always wanted a lovely white feather wreath, but I never wanted to shell out the cash to buy one... Last year I decided I'd make one, then Michael's and Hobby Lobby were both out of white feather boas when I went to buy them! Tragedy.

This year I decided to beat the crowds and bought my boas back in October.

I love it! I still HATE the color of the front door, but I love the white feathers! So pretty... One of these days I'll get around to painting the door. Some day. I'd LOVE to buy a new, beautiful, heavy wooden door with a pretty little window in it that actually matches the style of the house and lets me see who's on the porch... But I just shelled out three grand on tuckpointing and seeing as it's actually MY house and not OUR house, that made quite a painful dent in my savings account. Boo. Sometimes being a grown-up blows.

Okay, enough bitching, time for gratuitous close-ups and an unnecessary, and fairly useless, tutorial! Yay!

Oooohh... Feathers...

I added a glittery, little clip-on bird I found in the holiday section at Hobby Lobby. His beak is funny, but he's cute.

I used the largest Styrofoam wreath Hobby Lobby had (50% off, of course).

4 feather boas, also from Hobby Lobby (Not 50% off unfortunately. Those bastards are expeeensive!)

Then I found an end, and used three straight pins to keep it in place.

Wrap, Rinse, Repeat 4 times. And you have a fluffy, fun wreath! Hooray!

This is what the dogs were up to while I was busy wrapping boas.

Must be nice.

What have you made this year? This is it for me... Have you joined in at NewlyWoodwards? If not, go now!