This and that

Hanging door stopper from Martha Stewart. I looked and looked but couldn't find the original pattern online and since my stuff is all packed up I couldn't scan in the one I printed out. I made this years ago so Emily wouldn't smash her fingers in the door. I used cotton velvet and organza ribbon. Next time I would use something else for the ribbon since this is so thin it makes a good tight not if you're not careful!

I took these photos as the movers were packing our stuff so they are a little blurry and not so pretty but you can get the idea of what it is.

Below is some of the fabric I got at Joann's while on vacation.
Below is Swiss dot (joann's calls it a flocked dot) in yellow, blue and pink dots. I love this stuff! I wanted to get all the blue they had to make curtains for the girls room but at the time I had no idea what kind of windows we'd have in or new place or if the blue dots even match the baby blue velvet curtains they already have.

Below is a woven plaid.

Below is a rayon I think. It's like a chiffon or Georgette. Thin and flowey and beautiful! I saw it at one Joann's but didn't buy and then couldn't stop thinking about it so I had to go back and get it!

Two more plaids below but these have stretch and are solely to make pj shorts for myself.

Some pom pom trim in two yummy colors.

So we are moved into our new place and just received government furniture today in the old place right after this picture was taken.

Old place above,
New place below.

I am so in love with the new place. We live behind one of the bases so I could walk to it if I wanted. I changed the rooms I had designated for the sewing room and master bedroom. I started thinking about our master bedroom window having parking spaces below it and people scraping ice or snow or shutting doors in the morning and I'm such a light sleeper. So I switched and I'm so glad I did.

Either we have a lot of kitchen stuff or the storage space in the new place is small becasue I filled all the cabinets and we haven't even brought over the food yet! I'll have to get another shelf to house the cans and boxes of foods.

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Below is Emily & Emilee exchanging photo albums they made for each other. Emilee and her family also moved at the same time we did but they went back to the states. We will miss them something awful!

They are really cute and both girls did a really good job!

I'm itching to get our new place situated but we still have stuff to do in our old place. Jon is steam cleaning the carpets as I write this. Ava has been sick through this whole move and now I have a cold.

We Got Keys!

Today we drove to Schweinfurt to check it out. We got our new mail box address and unexpectedly an apartment!! We got key's!!! We are off post but in government leased housing. This means that the U.S. government has leased these houses (apartment complexes) from the Germans and then "rents" them to us. So no landlord to bother us and when we have maintenance that needs to be done, we call the maintenance people on base just like if we lived on base.

I have to point out that this is not our furniture and it will be gone by the time our stuff arrives! It's government furniture that any one who has lived over here will recognize! Our furniture will be there on Thursday of this week! Ya whoooooooooo!
click to enlarge
The complex has 6 American families. We are on the 1st floor (score!) and have a huge yard. It's 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms (a total of 2 showers, 2 toilets, 1 bath and 3 sinks). Our laundry room is in the basement but we're on the 1st floor so who cares???

The above is the huge bathroom. It has a tub and a stall, a toilet and two sinks.

All the rooms look way smaller than they actually are. I need to take pictures with a wide angle lens. The above is the "master bedroom" which will be the girls room.

Above is our room.

The 2nd bathroom with a shower stall.

And my sewing room!! Finally a room all my own! It's been about 5 years since I've had my own sewing room.. and damn it, I deserve one! This apartment is about 110 sq. meters (1184 sq. feet) and our current place is about 80-85 sq meters (860-915 sq feet) so it's a lot bigger:)

The back yard! I pieced two photos together so you can see just how big. This is our unit on the corner and our yard is all the way from the left to the divider on the right. I'm going to have to get some kind of temporary fencing. I'm not into sharing my yard with neighbor kids and I'm not into my kids sharing other people's yards especially when there is a swing set next door that will be tempting!
So far I love this apartment. I'm closing my eyes to a number of things (the linoleum flooring, the laundry being in the basement, etc) and we're trying to not think about how dirty the entry and stairwell were. Or how dirty the laundry room was. Or the trash can area.... or the patio next door..

please oh please let us not have "douche bag neighbors" as Jon said earlier.
We are 10 minutes away by car from Jon's work, Emily's school, the PX, Commissary and everything else! Emily may ride the bus to school.

Above is a new line of fabrics we just got in. It's called Pure by Moda. It might have more than that in the name but I'm not sure. I can totally see a quilt for a master bedroom for a guy or a couple where the guy cares if there is flowery stuff in his room. I am in love with the tiny polka dots and tiny stripes.

And Emily after school the other day. Wearing her Johnny Appleseed pot hat. She's wearing a pot hat...it's an upside down pot (you can't see the handle from this angle). I've been looking forward to her bringing her art and other projects home.

Ocean Beach Pier

Click on pictures to enlarge
Emily & Ava with their Cousin Bird (Jon's niece) and Aunt Jessica (Jon's sister, Bird's mom) at the Ocean Beach Pier.

Below is Bird and her friend Jennifer.

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I forgot to post about these little memo pads I had made months and months ago. They are from artscow.com

I had them made when they were having a $1.99 each including shipping sale. The only crap part is they aren't sticky and I had some made with photos of the girls and if you don't get the transparency just right your photo can be so washed out on the pad that you can barely see it.

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See what this car is called?

I would want it except it looks like a short bus.

Emily the other day on the way to school.

I tried to squeeze in some sewing between cleaning but only got a little done.

I can find time to blog and cruise the Internet though.

San Diego Zoo

I got my hair cut and colored with highlights while in the states! Do you know how long it has been since I've had my hair done in a nice salon and paid lotso $$ for it? 7 years! I had it done (almost just like this) the week before I moved here. My friend Mary H had been cutting my hair for a couple of years now but since we're moving I decided to get it done in the states and then I'll go to a salon in Schweinfurt for upkeep...hopefully...I'm kind of lazy when it comes to my hair..

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Sorry if the photo is kind of creepy. I don't really like photos of people looking at the camera, kind of creeps me out (doesn't apply to all pictures of people's faces, just some) but I wanted to show my new do! I made it small so as not to scare:) This was taken the day it was done at my parents house.
I want I want I want!! I think though it would be better to buy it than make it. I'd only want to use wool felt and a big piece would be about $32 at a childsdream.com and it would only be 36"x36". This sells for $49 at Landofnod.com and the diameter is 48".

I LOVE these!

I so wish I had a cricuit or we had larger alphabet die cuts at the store.

This is so cute!
*all the above from landofnod.com

The World Famous San Diego Zoo.

I just wanted to say that.

hippo

grumpy looking hippo

Emily, my parents neighbor and my nephew Jevin at the Zoo.

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I wanted to show the chicken pot pies I made the other night. I finally used these weird shallow dishes I have had for years. They are perfect for pot pies becasue you get more crust and less filling! Below are the tiny ones I made. They are only about a 1 cup size. I froze these for later. And you know what made these all so good? No vegetables!!!!! I bought the wrong kind so oops! I couldn't use them. Awww, too bad.

Tschüß when you leave not when you enter

I'm writting this post only becasue it hit me today that I only have 3 weeks left in Stuttgart before we move to Schweinfurt (above). Stuttgart is all I know, meaning it feels like home and like I've been here forever not just 7 years. I'm scared and most of all I'm sad about leaving my friends. I currently have some people in my life who mean so much to me. Friends who are irreplaceable. Who have inspired me and make me happy and I love them to death. I had better stop before I start crying!

*embroidery from badbird on etsy
I have only been cleaning and getting rid of stuff so the crafting has been small. I've nothing to show...except some stuff I bought and some inspiration. I got the above and below embroidery pattern for my airplane ride home but sadly I was just so tired and worn out from Ava that I didn't do one bit of embroidery the whole 3 weeks.

*embroidery from polkaandbloom

I want these portraits below baaad. Except they would be of me, Jon, Emily & Ava. But I'm not so sure about one of Jon. He shaves his head. I can't imagine it looking good. All you would see is skin. I'm laughing just imagining it!

*Custom Silhouette Prints by ellothere on etsy

How cool is this soap?!

*soap from hellocrafty on etsy


I sooo wish I could wear headbands. Not only do they give me headaches but this particular kind (stretchy) won't stay on my head. I just don't have a big enough bump at the base of my skull to hold them on. I'm guessing that's why. This is so cute. I hope I can get Emily or Ava to wear headbands.

* headband from lindsayharmony on etsy

This shirt screams Nicolas Allen!! And Emily.

*shirt from rockrivertees on etsy
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Tschüss means "bye" in German. When I first got here, Jenny B was my first friend. She has 3 kids and her youngest would say Tschuss when we'd leave a store. I kept thinking she was just making a weird sound (like kids do) but it turns out it's really a word! Can you say Ra-Tard? But in my defense I had just moved to Germany! It reminds of this one time on Friends...when someone (who Kelly? Christina Appelgate, Rachels sister?) thought someone else was just making a weird sound when that person was actually saying Phoebe. Something like that. Does anyone remember that episode?Or did non of that makes sense?

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And just to clear up what my post title means (becasue i haven't already written enough and bored everyone to death) it has to do with my brother-in-law Steve. When he visited in 2008, we was saying tschüss when he'd enter a store. We didn't know he was doing this until we saw it once. It was so freaking funny telling him that you say it when you leave not as a greeting. It's like walking in to a store and saying to everyone "bye!". He said, "oh, that's why I was getting funny looks!". It can still make me laugh.
Anyone else experiance a language Faux pas that's either embarrasing or funny?