Monday Night Lights & Resolution Update

We had our first celebrity encounter last night while we were in line to get into Avatar. First, let me say that it is totally ridiculous to stand in line for over an hour to get into a movie...when you already have tickets!!! But it was made so much better because we were waiting in line with Scott Porter of Friday Night Lights (TV) fame!!! He is the nicest guy--he visited with Markley while I was driving to the theater and took this pic with us and even signed Markley's hat. Dude, it was like totally cool and thank goodness b/c the movie wasn't! Trust me, if you have seen Dances with Wolves, you have seen this movie. I know I promised pics of the house, but I haven't taken them yet, so here's my cube. I have a new addition to my mini work village this year (the little house on the left). I got it at the last Canyon garage sale we went to with my sister Carla the day we left with the U-Haul truck.

Some of you might be asking about the cube when you saw pics of an office...this is our temporary location. We moved to campus in June to the John Peace Library while they are renovating University Heights where we normally office. We hope to be back in March with all of Disbursements and the Controller. If not, it will be to another temporary location then b/c the JPL is to undergo more renovations for re-accreditation.

Here's a pic of the house with my new, expanded village. Most of the buildings are my Moma's. She had 9: 6 businesses, 1 church, and 2 houses. I added Christy's Restaurant a few years ago but asked for some new HOUSES this year b/c I decided those two families were having a hard time supported all those businesses! Markley got me 4 new houses and a craft shop. The craft shop is the one on the far right; the church is next to it; and the next four are the houses from Markley. I call the blue one the Hudspeth House.

And now, for those resolutions:

1. decorate for Christmas done!

2. finish Mary's Christmas quilt working on; will be done tomorrow!

3. write budget down and determine total of monthly expenses next week

4. get all of the San Antonio bills drafting automatically from the bank account done

5. get a daily/weekly routine down and stick to it still in progress

6. work out every weekday that I'm home done

7. make/take tea to work to drink instead of Dr Pepper check with me in January

8. fix both breakfast and lunch to take to work--no more fast food ditto the January thing

9. finish wedding cross-stitch (yes, my 1998 wedding) almost done

10. finish Christmas stocking cross-stitch haven't touched, but there is that 7 hour car-ride home...

I think I have done pretty good considering this is me we're talking about!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL!

C :)

'Tis the Season for...

December Resolutions!

I know that sounds strange, but I haven't been getting much done here and it's time to put a stop to that. So, I thought I would do the resolution thing early, and with a shorter time frame. So here we go:

1. decorate for Christmas
2. finish Mary's Christmas quilt (you know, like before Christmas 2009!)
3. write budget down and determine total of monthly expenses (yep, we're on the Dave Ramsey band-wagon!)
4. get all of the San Antonio bills drafting automatically from the bank account (almost done, thanks Markley!)
5. get a daily/weekly routine down and stick to it
6. work out every weekday that I'm home (done!)
7. make/take tea to work to drink instead of Dr Pepper
8. fix both breakfast and lunch to take to work--no more fast food (really want to use that nice big kitchen)
9. finish wedding cross-stitch (yes, my 1998 wedding)
10. finish Christmas stocking cross-stitch

I have 25 day to do this. I'll let you know how it's going and get a new list together for January.

Markley and I went home this last weekend for his birthday. He's now 3 dozen. We left after work Friday evening and got in between 1and 2am Saturday morning; but we did get to sleep until 10am. That was nice! Then it was off to get the oil changed in Tekky. Markley, Sandy, and Lonnie headed to the Big Texan for his free birthday lunch and I headed to Carla's to stamp.

I decided to crank out some snowflakes on the Big Shot. If it won't snow for real (and stick) here in San Antonio, I'll make my own snowflakes. I'll post pics of those this week. Angela and Cynthia came also and it was a lot of fun! Markley and Sandy came back by after their lunch and helped with the snowflakes. It was a real blizzard upstairs.

For dinner, we went to La Fiesta on Coulter at 7pm and met with lots of friends and we had a great time and leftovers. You know, leftovers make the best breakfast.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

C :)

Things ARE bigger in Texas

Things really are bigger in Texas--like cinnamon rolls.

Markley took me to the Cowboys game for Thanksgiving. We drove home after and got home about 1am. Sandy and Lonnie drove down from back home and got there just a little before us--you know, for turkey and shopping. We all got up at 5am and were at Office Depot at 6am. We did Thanksgiving Friday shopping--which is so much easier in a big city--for 13 hours!

When we got home, it was turkey time. Tom was beautiful if I do say so myself. They settled down to board games, I took a nap. That's where the cinnamon roll comes in. They went to Lulu's at 11pm on Friday night to get it, they were hot our of the oven then. Notice I said they. Yep, they just left me asleep on the couch. It took the four of us two days to eat it.

Saturday was to be board games day, but Angel (our kitty) had emergency surgery for a blocked gland in an uncomfortable place. But she's all better now thanks to Dr. Anne James.

Merry Christmas everyone!

C :)

New Quilting Table

Let me start by telling you that I have the BEST husband in the world! Since the garage sales are not the easiest to find here, each Saturday morning we go to Sally's (the Salvation Army Family Store) to check things out. We have the best one just down the road from our house.

Last Saturday, we found the perfect quilting table for my craft room. I was wanting a better second table for my friend Regina to use when she comes over to craft and if we could find one that was counter-height, bonus! I prefer to cut my fabric at counter height b/c it doesn't hurt my back at all.

We didn't get the table last week since we just replaced the gas tank on Tekky--we were trying to be good. But when it was there again this week, we got it. It was a good price and it's solid wood. It holds my cutting mat, ruler, and rotary cutter perfectly PLUS my fabric and my sewing organizer all at one time with no problem!

But as you can see, my dining chairs are a little small. We are looking for a couple of tall chairs or maybe a tall task chair that rolls and turns for Christmas. I still need to hang my curtains and better organize my stuff. It's coming along and I LOVE having a room where I can leave my projects out and where I can work on them while being close to Markley. I know that sounds silly, but I do still like him and like to be able to talk to him w/o having to stop what I'm doing. And we talk a lot! Have a happy thanksgiving!

C :)

Sisters' Shop Hop

WARNING: LOTS OF WORDS AND LOTS OF PICS

So, tell me, what are sisters to do when one moves 500 miles away? They create their own shop hop! In April, Carla drove down to see me and we did the Bluebonnet Patchwork Trail Shop Hop. And we had a blast--12 shops. What more could you ask for?

So, we decided that we would keep the tradition of going to the October Affair of the Heart craft show in Oklahoma City alive. I flew back home 10/21 and we headed out early Thursday morning for Arkansas. Now that only makes sense if you know me, but follow along and everyone will understand. I promise.

Our first stop on the Sisters' Shop Hop was the Cordell, OK Alko. The fabric hasn't been very good, but the baskets were great--and on sale! I was able to get the four I needed to hold all of the DVDs on the new entertainment center. YEA!
The second stop was K's Quilting Studio in El Reno, OK. This quilt could become my tablecloth in my crafting room. I need to make one to cover the green card table that works perfectly as a quilting table but doesn't match the decor. I was able to get most of my fat qtrs on this trip too!

The next stop was a real cute scrapbook store in OKC called Just 4 Keeps. Lots of great ideas and lots of vacation supplies. I loaded up.

Then we hit our favorite quilt shop: the Oklahoma City Quiltworks. Yummy! But you know, I just can't get away from home, even in OK:
This pattern is a fav. I bought it here in San Antonio along with 9 prints (can you say crazy 9-patch) from the fabric line. I just love this line b/c it's brown, blue, and green and matches my living room perfectly!

And now, the explaniation of the whole Arkansas thing: Country Corner Quiltworks in Harrison, AR. This is where Carla and I send our quilts to be quilted. These very talented ladies take my scraps of sewn together fabric and make them into beautiful quilts. It was so nice to meet some of these ladies and to see the machines that do the magic!

This is one of the machines. I literally hugged it. It is my friend. You can see how the quilt top, batting, and backing are rolled up tight and stretched; not pins necessary. I will post a very short video next so you can see it in action. It is so cool!

We hit the season just right--all of the trees in AR were so beautiful and all of the fields were still green. Very beautiful! I'm glad Carla was driving so I could just look. We also drove trough Eureka Springs, AR. It was a very cute little town. Key word: little.
The best scrapbooking store EVER is in Rogers, AR: Signed, Sealed, Delivered. They had so much cute stuff and so many Christmas trees. This one is my favorite except for that money. I don't like sock moneys! But I love the bright colors...even the orange! They had a Santa tree that was all red, white, and black. No green at all.

The Rabbit's Lair was the final quilt shop. It was in an old bank that still had it's vault in the basement. It was very quaint. Carla really liked it.

Our last stop was the Scrapbook Bug in Pryor, OK. Very cute shop in a very cute building. She kept her ribbon in mason jars with fabric on the lids; just pull!

As for the craft show: no parking, too many people. We are going to switch it up next year and try for the February AofH and SA shop hopping in October.

Have a great weekend!

C :)

Back Home for Homecoming

Yea, I know that sounds funny. It should be home for homecoming but I have had to learn new words since I moved away. Home is where I go after work everyday (San Antonio). Back home is where we just moved from (Canyon). My home town is where I was born and where I lived with my parents when I was growing up (Amarillo). Confusing, huh? My friend, Julie, used to talk about going home on the weekends and it was confusing b/c it she was talking about going back to see her parents and I was like where do you go at the end of every work day?

This is the lighthouse at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the largest canyon in Texas and the second largest canyon in the US. It is the prettiest place to visit in the Panhandle.


Okay, so I leave San Antonio and go back home to Canyon for homecoming and we visit the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and guess what the traveling exhibition at the museum featured? Home! Visit it here.

And then we went back to campus and took pics of all of the buffaloes. This one will always be my favorite b/c he's named after my favorite university president, Dr. Russell C. Long!

This is Thunder X, the live buffalo mascot. When full-grown, this is the largest live mascot in all of sports. The running of Thunder, Jack, and Sadie were my favorite part of any football game!

And the Buffs did win the game! The wagon wheel stays with the Buffs for possibly the last meeting again ENMU. The final record is 12 Wins for the Buffs, 11 for the Greyhounds. On, on Buffaloes!

C :)

Do we really have too much stuff?

I never really thought so until we moved. We have garage sales every summer to get rid of things we no longer use and toss broken things. But with my first major move behind me (moving from my parents house in Amarillo to Canyon doesn't really count), I'm beginning to think we do. Maybe it's the WE?
This is the 10' X 10' storage unit we rented, filled to the roof, that did NOT hold everything. Several items went to my apartment--you saw those pics. Let's just say that crafting completely stopped once all the stuff showed up. And we are not going to talk about the fact that the bill box was in the back under everything and we had to have it for the mortgage application. Thank goodness this unit was air conditioned!

Notice the pile of unpacked boxes behind the couch? We are making progress!

And I tell you what, Christina and Mary know how to pack a kitchen! This pile is all the newspaper that was used to safely transport my dishes, glasses, china, and other kitchen stuff. In the upper left-hand corner, you can see the bubble wrap. And not one thing broke--you ladies are good!

This is the formal dining room (my craft room).

This is the formal living room (the other end of my craft room). I unpacked it this last weekend. Markley built my desk the weekend before and my Canyon dining table is my new work surface.

This is the manroom. I left it for Markley to carry in since I didn't want to leave him out on the fun! haha Also, the manroom is upstairs.

I am not going to the Cowboys game this weekend, so I will be able to put some cleaning/organizing into our new house and take some nice pics! All SEVEN boxes of the entertainment center I ordered from Crate & Barrel finally showed up and Markley was able to assemble it--it looks sharp! He also built my desk, like I said. He had the dishwasher installed, and after a major fiasco with the dish people, had the dish set up. I went w/o TV for two weeks! (understand why I got so much done now?).

Have a happy weekend and it should be back to crafting soon!

C :)

New House Pics...Finally!

I promised new house pics like two weeks ago. First, there was no Internet at the new house. And then, AFR is now, so that is an ever-present "distraction". And the moving in of boxes, unpacking of boxes, etc. So, now for pics! These were taken the day it was inspected. We are almost completely out of boxes. It is now cleaning and organizing time (come on Container Store job!!). I will post more pics when it is a little further along.

This is the den (family room). The pics are from left to right (in all of the rooms); here, I am standing in the kitchen.
This is the kitchen and breakfast nook. We will use the nook for the actual dining room--it's big enough and you can see the TV from there.

This is the formal dining and living room; I call it my craft room. And that is the front door. I wanted my craft room down stairs, close to the den, so Markley and I were close enough to still talk.

This is the garage (duh). The rails are on either side of the steps down into it. The freezer will fit on the right, so it will be real close to the door.

This is our master bedroom and boy, is it BIG! Finally, a room big enough for all that furniture I bought. We also added a burgundy wing-back chair to sit in when you put your shoes on. It's nice! It has his-n-hers closets so our clothes still don't have to live together, but I don't have to go to the guest room to get dressed!

The master bath is all mine! Markley has claimed the guest bath for the Dallas Cowboys. The tub is a garden tub--that makes for a nice shower in the morning. It has a water closet which I still don't quite get, but oh, well.

And this is the Dallas Cowboys bath of Markley's. It is a nice size too. But no storage. He's going to build out the corner with a locker similar to the actual Dallas Cowboys. It will be nice.

Finally, the other spaces. The first two pics are down the staircase from upstairs. We have a nice landing half way up and a very nice one at the top. Room for the curio cabinet I sold--oh, well. The room with the ceiling fan is the guest room with my white French provincial furniture and pink quilt (already had Markley's Mom and Lonnie as guests!). The second room is totally extra, so we are calling it the museum and we are going to display our collections--Chevron cars, M&M's, Dr Pepper, Crayola, Garth, and Ty. The last pic is Markley's much improved Manroom. His Troy Aikman fathead is already hanging on the wall!

All of the rooms have walk-in closets with lights, so there is very nice storage. Even my Christmas tree is finally in the house! We are very blessed to have this house--I wish you could all see it in person! Believe me, we have room, so come on down!

Miss you all muches!

C :)

IT'S OURS!!!

Just a quick post to let y’all know that…IT’S OURS!!! Markley is on his way to get the keys now and start moving the boxes. Everything else from the apartment and the storage unit will move tomorrow with the help of a U-Haul and B&B Movers. Yea! More pics Sunday, I promise!

Also, Markley has a phone interview Tuesday for a position here in San Antonio, so please pray for him.

C :)

No New Purchases...well....

Markley had to work this last weekend, so we didn't buy anything. haha! But I did do some window shopping for the new house. I'm started with some shopping for my craft room. It will be (in Stampin' Up! colors) real red, tempting turquoise, regal rose, and Bermuda bay.



First up is new curtains, and yes, these are shower curtains (very cute and very affordable). And they are the perfect colors. The first one is white with colored tabs and I'm thinking it's the winner.



Next up is pillows and storage bins. I don't have a sofa or any chairs, but I do like and want these pillows. My purchase was five of these storage bins. I'm thinking they will be perfect on a leaning bookcase shelf in white from Crate & Barrel (seen here).

And finally, stuff for the den. My colors (Stampin' Up! again) are Pacific point, wild wasabi, Sahara sand, and baja breeze. I know the colors are very beachy, but there will be no sea shells and no light houses. Just color influences.

So, tell me everyone, what do you think so far!!

By the way, the house inspection went well and the appraisal has been ordered. We are set to close 08/28/09!!

C :)

Guess What We Did?

Markley and I really need to quit hanging our together! The last time we were together, we bought him a Chrysler Sebring convertible. This last weekend when he flew down to San Antonio, we put a contract on this:

Can you believe it?? It two-story, and it has four bedrooms, two and a half baths, two living & two dining rooms. It was priced wonderfully low ($68 a square foot). It was the second house we looked at and it just felt like home. Especially to Markley.

I'm really scared as to what we might buy the next time I see him!

C :)

The Big Move

So, like I've been missing for three weeks...and here's why:


We finally sold the house in Canyon. YEA! I flew back home (all the new phrases you have to learn) and helped Markley finish packing. We rented a 26' U-Haul truck of all of our stuff. It wouldn't even fit in the driveway! We didn't fill it up, but it was nice to have all the room. We left Canyon on Saturday morning after one last garage sale romp with my sister Carla (what fun!) and were on our way back to San Antonio. You know, driving one of those isn't easy...especially when you never have, when it doesn't have cruise control, and when you have a cat that just will not let the medication work!

We got home (San Antonio) early enough to start putting some things in storage, just enough to realize that we couldn't do it ourselves. So, early Sunday morning we hired B&B Movers, who were WONDERFUL to help with the big stuff. They also helped get the furniture that came to my apartment up the stairs.

This is what my apartment looked like before and after the move:

The bad part is that Markley had to fly back to Canyon before we could get all the boxes arranged/unpacked at the apartment. The good part is that I am no longer sleeping on the Aztek's air mattress, but on my select comfort mattress on my real bed! And Angel is with me. She is adjusting well, but she does want to go outside and we have decided that since we are still in an apartment, that's it just not a good idea. I do love having her to come home to everyday. Now, I'm not talking to myself!

C :)

My Big Shot!

It finally came in, but I didn't have time to play with it last night. So like a big stamping nerd, I brought it to work today to play with at lunch. And I love it! It is so cool! I used all of my new dies except the pennants b/c I forgot to bring fulls sheets of card stock...or mono adhesive. But in a pinch, scotch tape works.

It's snowing in San Antonio in July!

Have fun stampin' this weekend for me while I'm packing in Canyon and bringing it back to San Antonio!

C :)

A Finished Scrapbook...Sorta

Remember in my first post that I mentioned that I finished a scrapbook? Well, I did...sorta. It was intended to be Markley's tenth anniversary present (that was 06/25/08). I had the album (6X6) and page protectors at home, picked out and printed all of the pics, bought the paper, and even had the stamp sets figured out. All of those Stampin' Up! ones with the kids are perfect for us!

The Cubs were on TV on a Sunday afternoon...how perfect? I would have been had it not been the Sunday just before our anniversary. Note to self: it takes more than one afternoon to scrapbook 14 years. I got several pages done, but not all of them. So, he got it with most of the pics just slid into the page protectors. I think he enjoyed it, but I was disappointed. But now, It is finished! I say finished because I have all of the pics from when we met in 1994 until 2008 on cute pages, embellished, journaled, and everything. I also say sorta because this will always be a work-in-progress because I want to add a couple of pics every year.

*Note: if you do this with your spouse, remember to have someone take your pic together. I have so many pics of Markley and so many of me, but very few of us together until I put this scrapbook together.*

C :)

So, Where Did I Start?

My first crafting was crochet and simple sewing taught to me by my Grannie. And she could sew! She could just look at a store-bought doll dress and whip one up. And not just a plain one. She always added fancy stitches and some kind of lace or ribbon. But never buttons or snaps. I'm not sure why.

Next, I moved to counted cross-stitch--7th grade homemaking. Guess who that first cross-stitch was made for? My sister, Carla, then bought me my first Precious Moments cross-stitch book and even had my first PM project, We Are God's Workmanship, framed. It hangs in my guest room still.

This began my love for crafting. So much so that my first job was at Ben Franklin Crafts. And with that first paycheck I bought pink aida cloth. I still remember it. I made these six cross-stitches in college for my future house. I loved the country style of them. But now, that's not quite my style. So what to do?

At Sisters' Scraps, they have a wonderful quilt with hand embroidery patches in it. BINGO! I know what to do now! But to work these sizes into that quilt...but then while on vacation last month in Alaska I found the perfect pattern:
All I need to do is put in cross-stitches where the animals are and change the colors to country (eek, I know) and I will have it.

C :)

My Perfect Crafty Space

It does exits! I have found it!

Is that not the most perfect setup ever? The idea is courtesy of YooRees Mom on Two Peas in a Bucket. I have the dining table to use for the desk (the one in Canyon now). I need a credenza and a hutch to go behind to hold my supplies and I found the perfect one at Office Depot.

I have had the colors picked out for a while. The colors are real red, bermuda bay, regal rose, and tempting turquoise. The color swatches come from Stampin' Up! card stock, but they are inspired by my favorite blog, Allsorts and Jenny's studio pictured here: http://http://allsorts.typepad.com/allsorts/2009/02/index.html. In fact, she had done so many wonderful things with vintage color and fabrics that I actually fell in love with vintage fabrics--the reds, yellows, aquas, turquoises, blues. Can you believe it?

Now, all I need is the house...

C :)