Guest Bathroom is ready

Today my neighbor and I went to my favorite store, she admitted she had never been there before. Pier One!!! Love that store. I was looking for a bathmat to match my fishy shower curtain and towels. Well, I found the perfect mat, it had sea shells on it. Then the manager knew he had a sucker in tow and showed me a package of real sea shells. To make it even more perfect, I had bought a set of seashell cup, soap holder and waste basket just the other day at Lowes and have a candy dish I bought for someone one year for Christmas and never sent to her and although I can't find my phone, I have found that silly dish so sea shells went into the dish when I got home. The fish bowl with soap in it is a bowl we bought one time with a beta fish in it. The fish died but I really wanted the bowl which is why we bought him (although I did feel bad when he died). I collected a bunch of hand made soap at one time thinking I was going to knit soap on a rope thingys to sell at the Mill in SC but never did because I loved the soap in the fish bowl.

I also wanted to get a cushion for my wicker chair that used to be on my screened in porch but now is in my living room and I thought a nice reddish color would be good to sort of offset all the brown. I didn't realize I had so much brown furniture until I got here. Anyway, Pier One had a sale on cushions. I got a brown set for the chair thats in the bedroom and red for the living room chair. Also got a pillow that has reds and browns in it. So I'm all set, 1 bathroom and 1 living room finished!

Still haven't found the phone although I did find the fish shower curtain that I embroidered quite a few years ago. Still love it and even though the shower has glass doors, who says I can't have a shower curtain on it as well? What do you think?

New House Shaping Up

Today I took it easy after working hard to find all my stuff. Still can't find phone and comforter for bed but maybe tomorrow. I tried to just open boxes today and look in them for the missing stuff but no luck.

I got a new electric range today. One more appliance is coming and then the new countertops. Here's what I have so far, a fridge, range and microwave. Dishwasher comes next week. Here's my kitchen so far:
And my living room and dining room is coming together. I need curtains on the 2 corner windows in the living room and want to change the curtains in the dining room but they're OK for now, I'm not sure what I want to do with that bay window. Initially I thought I wanted drapes but now I'm thinking maybe not.



Forgot to put up a picture of my garage, this is after I've unpacked what seems like a ton of boxes, keep in mind this is a 2 car garage.

Traverse City and Area

Today I have to go register the dog at the County Treasurer's. Hopefully my GPS will find the place. Then I'm off to search for curtain rods and curtains for my new house.

Tomorrow the fridge and microwave arrive. My son says I should be able to move once they're there since I never cook with a stove anyway NOT moving yet Mike, I want my bed and some furniture to sit on first.

Yesterday we went to Cedar, MI which is really right up the road about 20 miles. Inish Knits Yarn - Needles - Spinning Wheels - Patterns and Books - Open Knitting and Spinning Nights - 9031 S. Kasson - Cedar, Michigan 49621

I really was interested in the quilt shop too because my friend Sammie just showed me a crazy quilt that is done in the hoop on the embroidery machine. Doggone her, I don't need another hobby I'm thinking I could make a wall hanging instead
of a full quilt but who knows what this will lead to. (not going there).
Who can resist that hummingbird?

Meanwhile, I'm dreaming of the day my sewing machine comes and I can make my first project, a herb clock for the kitchen.

Almost Moved In

Darn, I wish I would have taken a picture of the tile on the kitchen backsplash. It is a beige color but what I love it the occasional tile with a picture of a herb and its name on it. Perfect! I have an embroidery design pack with herbs and their names. As soon as the movers bring my embroidery machine I'm going to embroider a clock to put over the sink (no windows in the kitchen). Then I'm going to embroider myself some flower sack towels with herbs on them.

This weekend we went shopping at Home Depot. Got a nice new brushed nickel light fixture for the dining room (just off the kitchen) and a new ceiling fan that will go between dining room and living room. Got them up yesterday. They don't look all that spectacular yet but when the new stainless appliances I bought come they will be great since the kitchen and dining room are so close together. New fan and light are on the right.

There's really nothing wrong with the old fan, its nice but the new fan is the brushed nickel and we thought it would go better with the dining room light fixture.
The fan is replacing a dark fan in the sewing room since the sewing room is all white, I thought it would look super there, besides it has a remote that must have cost a few pennies, the old fan in sewing room doesn't. I'll put the old fan in the garage along with the tiffany lamp that left the dining room. Maybe some day Tiffany lamps will come back in style - or I think I remember the church I just joined is asking for items for a garage sale they are having, if they want big items I'll donate them.

Wednesday my new refrigerator is coming along with the microwave. The range and dishwasher won't be here until around the 16th darn it. Never cook anyway so range isn't any big deal but dishwasher would be nice to have. Once they all get in place I'll have new countertops put in but don't want to order them until the appliances are in place so that everything will fit nice and snug together. I've got a price on a countertop, granite with bits of blue and green and white in its depths, depending on which way you stand and how the light hits it. Would like to replace the 2 sinks and countertops in the 2 bathrooms too but that might have to wait until later.

Meanwhile, I ordered new carpeting for the 2 bedrooms. The lady had put in new carpet in the house except for the bedrooms. The store where I ordered it was super. I went in around 4:l5 in the afternoon and picked up 3 samples, ran them back to the house to check against the new carpeting that's in place in the rest of the house. Ran back to the store (all within about 15 minutes time) and the girl called the supplier to make sure they had enough based on measurements we had made earlier.
They did have enough of it so the girl ran to the back of the store and asked her boss if he could run measure the rooms with me quickly. We jumped in the car and drove back to the house, he measured. While I was on my way home the guy called, gave me a final price and told me they'd be there Thurs afternoon or Friday to install the carpet. How's that for service. All done within an hour. Now, that's my kind of store.

Meanwhile, cable company isn't doing so hot. They will install phone between 3 and 5 on Thursday and the TV cable between 5 and 7. ? They can't do it all at once? Apparently not. To beat all annoyances, they've called me at least 5 times on my cell phone when I'm in a store trying to buy something else...just to confirm I did order the doggone cable. I finally asked the girl if they were going to call me again, please don't, take my word for it, I DID ORDER IT.

So that's my saga for today. I'm going over to measure windows, there's 2 in the spare bedroom that have some sad pink blinds. I'm going to replace the pink (pepto-bismo) blinds with something thats a better color. Saw some interesting ones at Home Depot yesterday but think I'll go to Lowes and maybe Penny's today for another perspective. Can't let Home Depot have all my money.

I'll close with some cute pictures of Biscuit. My son Mike got him running around the yard the other night and managed to capture some cute pictures. When Biscuit starts running, he goes in circles and honestly, you'd think there's a G-Force the way his hair and ears fly..see what you think.

The Courtyard

Yesterday we drove by the condo to show my grandaughters the potential new home for g'ma. They took pictures of the little courtyard for me. Each house has its own fenced in courtyard that you can decorate any way you wish.

This is where you come in from the street to get to the front door.


This is the front corner, which I'll see from the living room and front porch. There's a brick wall in the front of it which has an iron gate.



So yes there's some work to be done. I want to get some flagstone pavers to make a small patio for myself. Also some edgers and more pavers to make a walk from front to back so I don't have to walk to the back through damp grass. Other than that, I'll probably wait till spring to do too much since we all know what happens here in the winter....SNOW!

I do like the idea that I won't have to shovel and mow and do all the work outside that I've had to do the last couple years but there'll be a little bit to do of course, enough to keep myself busy but not so much I won't have time to knit and weave and all the things I prefer to do.

Maybe I found my new nest

We've been house shopping in Traverse City (MI) for a couple days now. DIL and I loved one of the condos I looked at, it is a stand-alone house in a group of alike-houses but most of them are attached to each other. This one has (gulp) a sewing room so of course it called to me. Today I took my son Mike over to look at it with the realtor. We also looked at 3 others that had the same sq footage and this one really did shine out above the others. One had 3 bedrooms which would be nice for company but that took away from the living room space. One had a huge mirror in the dining room (actually the whole wall was a mirror. Apparently lots of them have this huge mirror which I thought was hideous but probably made the place look bigger unless, like the one we looked at, actually was so cluttered with huge dark furniture nothing was going to make it look bigger. ANYWAY! each little house has its own small courtyard which people decorate to their own taste. Some were cluttered with plants and some were mostly stones and walking paths. The one I liked was grass and a border of flowers, a birdhouse and weather vane and that's it. At the end of it was a small brick sitting area. The front porch had room for a chair if one wanted one there.
I went ahead and made an offer on the place, we haven't heard back but the realtor thoughT we'd hear back fairly soon, then if we all agree on price I'll have 2 weeks to get inspections and all that stuff done. I want to get new kitchen appliances and perhaps paint the kitchen cabinets. We liked the 2 we saw where the cabinets were painted white, it really brightened up the place. I also want new appliances although the washer and dryer are new, if they weren't I'd get apartment size ones so I could use the space beside them as clothes hanging-drying space but...these are too new to replace. The existing fridge will go in the double garage as exta freezer space (or beer, as the realtor told me). Carpeting throughout looks new, its a light colored berber and although I wanted wood floors, I can live with carpet, especially since I may freeze the first year here after living in SC.

Here's the pictures:
Front Door, actually isn't colored, it just looks that way..

Living Room

Kitchen

Sewing Room

1392 sq feet, 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage. Appliances include refrig, oven/range, disposal, dishwasher, microwave, washer/dryer, 4 skylights that actualy give off so much light we kept wanting to turn them off before we left. Cathedral ceilings, cable TV available. Huge pantry in the garage, handicap equipped, natural Gas heat. The kitchen floor is nice tile that I'll keep. The place has all ages living in it so it's not a 55+ but after driving through some of the 55+'s this is good. There is a building in the center of the place that has a heated pool and huge community room where they have parties and that sort of thing OR you can rent it for your own personal group meetings (knitting?)

My plan is, if I buy the house, to make the master bedroom a sitting room with a TV and couch that can be made into a bed or something similar to that. The master bedroom has french doors that lead into the sewing room so you know what's going to happen to the master bedroom--it will be my weaving/knitting room as well as sitting room. The place is 2 miles from my son's home, not too far but far enough. If I need help, my grandaughter can drive and of course, so can DIL and DS. I've met a couple of the people who live in the place and they are around my age. Doggies are allowed and actually, the gate to my courtyard already has a extra wire under it to keep the dog from escaping if he should desire to crawl under the gate. He has plenty of room to run out and play and people were out walking their dogs so all is well. The association takes care of the outer yard and the exterior of the house, I take care of the inside. There is a 1 year maintenance agreement on the house.

There's a ferry that can get me to Wisconsin to visit Natalie in 1 1/2 hours. Yaaay, car goes on it of course. Dogs have to stay in their crate or in the car (I dislike that idea but crate is ok, and I have one, he won't like it for 1 1/2 hours he'll live through it).

DIL took me to a yarn shop and introduced me as her MIL "who is a master knitter" YIKES! The woman asked for help with a sock she was knitting and luckily I could help. They also had an EZ Baby Surprise Jacket on display and I immediately picked it up and said...WOW, you have a Surprise Jacket made up...so at least the owner knows I can knit I did buy a ball of yarn to make the Drops Domino Socks, hopefully I can make the socks and bring them back to show off. I am also hoping I can figure out how to make them by machine but we'll see about that. I'm anxious to get my machines out and keep them out once again.

I see no reason that I would be unhappy here. The town is small enough to learn my way around reasonably fast. I have my GPS to keep me from getting lost. There's more going on than I want to do but isn't that a good thing? Who knows, after sitting around for 4 or so years because I couldn't go anywhere, I just may venture out more now that I can.

SO MUCH TO DO--SO LITTLE TIME!

Moving to ??

Yes, its been a long time since I've posted anything but the reason is...finally I'm moving. I was sort of thinking I'd go ahead and move this Fall anyway. I wanted to find a place, settle in and get busy living again. Suddenly--along came a couple looking for a house with trees, water (pond) and all the other things my house has. YAAAY! It went fast. I remember the last time I walked down the road with Biscuit, I stopped and talked to a neighbor and told her "no, no one has bought my house yet" and now, here it is a couple weeks later and I'm moving!

So how can I move when I don't know where I'm going? Easy! Things are going in storage in Greenville (SC) until I find the perfect place. I'm looking at duplexes, so that I'll have a yard for me and the dog, close to town...I'm really tired of driving 30 minutes to get a gallon of milk. Close to parks and events and all the stuff one has close to them when they live in a city! I would like a kitchen with lots of cabinets, fairly new if not new...new stainless appliances, wood or laminate floors (hate carpeting, its just too much work to keep clean). 2-car garage so I have room to store stuff. 2 bedrooms so I'll have a working room as well as a bedroom. Most 2 bedrooms these days have 1 1/2 bath which would be nice. Decent size living room. A dining room isn't important if the kitchen has room but small DR would be ok. Ability to put my own touches in it would be good too, sometimes a new light feature or paint or something like that would make all the difference in your house vs their house.

So I'm not asking for a lot I think. I've lived in a lot of places in my married life, some good, some pretty crappy. This one hopefully will be the last place I live in so I want it to be right. Luckily I don't have a husband who always looks for "cheap" if you know what I mean. He was happy in a "cheap" motel, "make-do" house, etc. Not that this house is a "make-do" but this is his dream house, I didn't have a lot to do with the details and had to fight for what I got, the rest wasn't worth a divorce so I kept my mouth shut. Building a house together, I've heard can definitely lead to a divorce I know why. This time I get to do what I want. Yaaay!

Best-Best of it all, I'll have cable computer internet...WOW! You don't know what a treat that will be.

Pictures above show the work I did last week. I can't say I did it all alone though. Saturday a friend called me early in the morning and asked me how I was doing and did I need help. I BEGGED her to hurry over and over she came. She even brought lunch. We worked all day, finishing up the kitchen, dining room, and starting upstairs but by around 3:00 I was totally pooped, although she would have continued. We stopped and agreed to continue Sunday. So Sunday she came back and another friend came over with her husband, daughter and daughter's significant other. The guys went upstairs and hauled down all the heavy boxes for me. I gave the daughter my dining room table and a glider rocker I had that I was going to take to the dump simply because I didn't think it would survive a move and the table is a bit too big for what I have in mind. I had 2 of the gliders at one time and when one fell apart, beyond repair I took the cushions and put them on the porch chair outside. I loved that chair with the cushions and wanted the other chair's cushions for my new front porch (add front porch/and/or deck to my "want" list above). Their hard work made the rest of the day an easy one. We sort of finished up the loft and quit for the day. I had bought us a veggie Kashi pizza for dinner, we ate dinner among the boxes and yesterday was finished.

This week I'm going to clean up the house, vacuum and all the stuff one has to do when the furniture leaves. If it dries up outside I'll mow the lawn, if not I won't but it really needs to be done. Am going to go around and label the light switches for the new folks if I get time and leave them some notes about the yard. Other than that, I'm finished.

Friday the movers come, Saturday my son and grandaughter are flying in to help me finish up, Sunday we should be able to relax a bit and Monday we close on the house. After the closing, we hit the road. If we can get on the road fairly early we can make it to at least Kentucky before we have to crash. We'll go to Traverse City and then later I'll go over to Wisconsin. So that's it for now. I'll post again when I get time. Final picture shows a tired dog this morning, among the boxes. Lucky for him I left him some room on the bay window ledge which is his favorite spot anyway.