He lives in a pineapple under the sea

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS!!

Paul decided to dress as SpongeBob this year for Halloween and it came out very good. All it took was a trip to the Army surplus store for the foam and then many, many cans of yellow spray paint to make this realistic looking costume. Apparently he awed some little kids at a party this weekend so much that they kept staring at SpongeBob even after he took of the costume!

Elvis has left the building...

Those of you who knew me in my apartment days probably remember the Elvis chair, so named because that is the name that someone scribbled on the label before I bought it. This giant purple chair served me well when living in an apartment but since moving into the house and then having my 2 brothers move in I really haven't been able to find a spot for it, so last weekend it made the trip to Goodwill. Goodbye Elvis chair! I hope you make someone else very happy!

First Diaper bag

I completed the first diaper bag and changing pad today. It comes with pockets for diapers, wipes, bottles, cell phone and keys and the changing pad fits either on the bottom or propped onto the side. Not being a mom myself, I'm looking forward to Raquel's opinion of how this will work out as a diaper bag.

Resurrection

After ~5 years, the guest bathroom is finally functional. We ran into a little issue when installing the toilet where neither Paul nor I could contort ourselves in such a way to tighten the back screw holding the tank to the base. Skinny Ammon saved the day and was able to fix it in less than 5 minutes. What would I do without a skinny brother?

Weekend Accomplishments

This weekend I painted and tiled the half bath the is off my living room. Many people who have been to my house may not even know this bathroom exists since it was closed off for the last few years. I closed it off after the toilet started leaking since the tank parts were non-standard and couldn't be found at any local stores (like everything else in this house it seems). All that is left to do in this room is install the toilet.

I also spent a good deal of time and not as much money as I expected at IKEA this weekend getting furniture for my new sewing area. I had a temporary setup that worked pretty well when I was only sewing 2-3 times a year but now that I am sewing almost every night I think this will work much better.

And finally I got this surprise in the mail on Saturday. Mom sent me a handmade dish towel for Halloween. Thanks Mom!

I'm at a place called vertigo...

Ok so I shamelessly stole some U2 lyrics for my post but it does very accurately describe how I've been feeling lately. One of the withdrawal side effects is vertigo and I've had it for the past 4 or 5 days now. I'm actually feeling alot better today after a good night's sleep without any pages waking me up in the middle of the night. The lack of sleep must have been contributing to my fuzzy-headedness (is that a word?) so today I feel pretty normal other than the vertigo.

Of course most of the guys at work have no idea why I feel dizzy so they think its funny to either a) ask me if I'm pregnant (no possibility of that) or b) spin around in their chairs and other annoying things to make it worse. I came pretty close to throwing up in the morning meeting today when someone came up behind me and spun my chair.

I didn't do anything crafty last night unless you count going to Joann's to get some jeans thread and jeans needles for my sewing machine. This is the first Joann's purchase in a long time that wasn't for purses but rather supplies I need to hem some of the stinky boys jeans.

Brown and Blue

This weekend I finished Raquel's coffee purse (which I hope she likes!) and the brown paisley purse.

The brown paisley purse is available for sale, email me if you are interested in purchasing this purse.

The rest of the weekend was spent answering pages from work, cleaning and reorganizing the living room and kitchen, and getting my car fixed.

The battery dummy light came on on Saturday which has never happened before even though I've replaced the battery at least 5 times. It turns out the alternator finally went bad and had to be replaced. The car is getting old and starting to break down but it is still cheaper than getting a new one.

And finally I spent the weekend fighting the blues. About 2 weeks ago I started slow withdrawal from anti-depressants (after discussing with my Dr. of course) after 12 years of taking the stuff and this weekend was the first where I didn't take anything at all The side effects suck but they should be over soon. Jim has been especially helpful at keeping my spirits up. Thanks Jim!

Master bedroom remodel

I took a little time off of work to finally remodel my bedroom. Thursday was dismantling and 1st coat of paint; Friday was 2nd coat of pain and start of tiling; Saturday was more tiling and the start of grouting; Sunday was more tiling, more grouting, and installation of the new toilet; Monday was finishing the grout, installing the new ceiling fan and putting all the furniture back in the room.

The stinky boys helped dismantle the room

All of the stuff from my room lived in the living room for a few days making the house a real mess. With lots of help from the stinky boys and Jim, I was able to complete everything but tiling in the closet in 5 days. The stinky boys helped paint, install the new toilet and move furniture. Jim helped me tile and even learned how to grout!

Here's how my room looks now!

The new throne room complete with Big Bird yellow paint (the can says the color is Mellow Yellow but I think Big Bird is a better description)

And finally the new furniture arrangement which actually allows me to open both doors all the way and have some room to move around.

My sewing machine is supposed to be back from the repair shop by Wednesday (I broke a pin off in it) so I will get back to making bags soon. In the queue I have 2 bags for Raquel and a bookbag for Tiffany.