Fabric from Grandma

I just happen to be blessed with two sewing grandmothers,
one of whom sewed wedding dresses for vogue in Chicago!
So, needless to say, there is no shortage of scraps and patterns for me
to fiddle around with, and the best part is,
because they come from grandma-it's vintage.

I like this one ^...It would make a cute skirt

Some cute Christmas fabric (it also has squirrels and geese too),
just enough to make a sweet pair of stockings

This is what I'm most excited about.
Can you say "Cutest kitchen fabric ever" or
"Wow that's a whole lot of cute kitchen fabric" ?
What could go better with red kitchen accessories than apples!

This one isn't fabric, but I just had to share. I walked out from my test
on thursday to this sweet little note on my car. It's from my brother.
He's the best.

DIY home inspection

Here's a little glimpse at our future home!






We've been told that the house is pretty much a done deal, the bank accepted our offer and everything's good to go! We should be hearing from the escrow company soon! God willing we'll close in about 30 days or so.

I am so excited to clean it up and make it our own! I wanted to start scrubbing the floors today. It's amazing how dirty the place is. My favorite things about the house are the good size kitchen, new windows, master bedroom, and yard. We realized today the "kids" bedrooms are a little smaller than we had hoped, but it'll be cozy. We explored the back yard a bit more today and found that it has several plum trees, a fig tree, pomegranate tree, a very mature looking grape vine (which I've always wanted-can you believe it takes three years for them to mature before they even begin to bear fruit!) and several citrus trees, one of which is sporting something orange. The only trick will be to revive them. They have been so starved of water and good soil that most don't even have leaves, let alone fruit. I snapped off a few of their branches and was delighted to find soft green centers so hopefully they'll come around next summer with some tlc. Pray for us!

On the wishlist:

Warning: they will be everywhere

Maybe Macy

living room (nice fern a')

kitchen-with oven mitt and bread box

master bedroom, opens out to patio

master bath

cute mini pergola

pretty vines over patio

the backyard is kind of a "pie shaped" parcel, so here's just another corner

a pretty cool side yard, already fenced to keep
miss emma out of the garden and away from
my chicken coop

another corner of the lot...with couch :P

I've been putting off posting about this place for almost a week now...I think because I really love it and I felt like if I said anything too early I might tempt fate. Anyway, here it is, our hopefully future home. It's in a quiet neighborhood at the end of a quaint little cul-de-sac. As you can see it has major cuteness potential (I know there's no picture of the front-that story later), 4 bedrooms, three car garage, and a huge garden-able yard! Oh and did I mention I'm already in love with one of our neighbors!!!! (More on that story later too) It needs some work, but if we do get it, we'll be buying it for an amazing price, and even gain some equity right away. (The best news, we'll still have money left for paint and carpet, and maybe even to replace most of the furniture we sold so we could fit into our storage unit and/or groceries!!! ;)

May it be God's will!

The last few days ....

Perks of being a nanny...

New reading

Maybe I'll get to them

Baby quilt in progress

Squares

I'd agree sometimes

We need a new price range

I really don't want to know

Weird

I think Colonel Mustard, did it in the living room, with the window siding!

Why wouldn't she be on the table?

Delayed Gratification

Today I got beat by my own security question. I just called Kaiser to get my password and ID for their online medical managing service. It's actually pretty cool because you can send email to your providers, view all of your medical records and test results (and hopefully print them), and make appointments. Anyway I got beat by this question:

What is your maternal grandfathers name?

Me: "Larry Houser"

Her: "No"

Me: "Really"

Her: "Does she have another Dad?"

Me: "Well yeah, John Lamme"

Her: "No, sorry"

Me: "Really?"

Her: "Yeah you don't get any more chances"

I kind of felt like I was answering questions on who wants to be a millionaire or something. I think I kind of broke a sweat too. I really don't know what else I would have put down as the answer. How dumb. Now the identity thief that called her has to wait 3-7 working days to get the password. Hope he/she's an expert in the art of delayed gratification...

Oh and turns out we didn't get the bowling alley :)

Three (hopeful) cheers for the starter house

Last Saturday we placed an offer on this house. The house was listed at around 13,000 dollars above our price range...so we offered less. I guess we'll see what happens. The house is 3 bedrooms-2 bath and sits on a 1/4 acre and comes with a grapefruit tree, grapes, apple tree, fig tree (we think?), some other fruit tree, a pomegranate tree, a something-orange tree, a mulberry tree (fruit bearing per Mr. Kruse), and another fruit tree. Or in other words, more fruit than we could ever eat by ourselves. There's plenty of room for chickens, my sister and chris, a goat and the dogs, and a garden too. The house is in really great shape and has new paint and new carpet. The kitchen will work for now but would need to be updated someday along with the bathrooms. But, everything is very livable!!! and that's what matters. A few downsides, the house is on a a semi busy street and faces the back of a donut shop, chinese food place, pizza place, and a mexican market. Oh well, at least we know we won't starve. Oh and dont be jealous but those are bowling balls on the fence, and wagon wheels. They're all chained to the fence though so don't get any ideas. Wish us luck!