I’m here! I’m excited to hear about your trip!!! You continue to inspire me - you are awesome!
Hi! Following along on another trip report. Also for the healthy living updates.
Yay! I've been waiting for this report to pop up. I can't wait to read about your adventures.
I've been waiting for you to start this report. I can't wait to read all about it.
Liz
I’m here! And I was able to log in.
Good morning everyone and welcome! I am super excited to have you all here and following along!
As usual, life has been incredibly busy... I always thought that when the girls grew up - I'd have all of this extra time on my hands. I feel like I am more busy now than ever!
I thought I would take some time this morning to do a quick update.
We were in Europe for 3 weeks, we both came home and went right to work... Three days later Josh left to go fishing with his Dad for 5 days... And then I decided that my Sewing room needed and update - so we have been crazy busy with that. Thankfully, we are almost done. Quite honestly - between doing the actual work and researching what I want to do - that has consumed most of my time. It's definitely a process!
It all started with the "I would like to purchase a coverstitch machine"... Then, that turned into "where am I going to put it?"... Then "I better clean this place so I can make room"... Then "I have no where to put anything"... You see where this is going don't you??? LOL In the end, it turned into a massive sewing room reorganization and purge. Honestly - it was well overdue. With the addition to sewing more knits lately, my sewing room had turned into a disaster, because I had no place to put that extra fabric. Ikea to the rescue... We went and purchased several new shelves... A Kallax 4x4 and a 4x1 to stack (I really wanted a 5x5, but it just wouldn't fit) to hold all of my fabric (hopefully)... A bunch of photo frame rails in various sizes to hold my thread and ribbon... And several other organizing options. I've never been real big on Ikea - but I have to say, this worked perfectly for me!
Of course - I have pictures... I know many of you have seen these on FB already...
This is my Kallax unit... If you look closely, you can see the 1x4 stacked on the 4x4... All of the top Droma bins hold all of our Disney trip stuff... Our bags and our Ears/head gear. All of the open shelves have my quilting cottons. And the bottom bins hold all of my knit fabric... I will say that it
just fit... Like, I cannot buy anymore knit fabric at all - it was a chore to get it all in as it was.
Here's what's in a few of those bins...
On the very top of the cabinet are the black polka-dot bins... I have various miscellaneous items in there... Mostly incomplete projects (UFOs). Honestly - I just needed black/white dot bins and I would have found a use for them.
Overall, I am super happy to finally have this storage! I've been planning this exact thing in my sewing room for 7 years now, but I always put it off.
Then, over at my machine corner... We purchased a bunch of 48" photo rails. These work excellent for me to display all of my fun stuff + all of my embroidery threads. My old picture rails, I had outgrown them years ago... I had my thread stacked 2 deep and the rails themselves were warping. When I had originally purchased them - I purchased really cheap ones, because I wasn't sure if they would work for what I wanted. They were perfect! So, this time - I invested the $$ and got better quality... It looks a bit cluttered now though - so I may take some of the greeting cards off and put them in a little basket or something. But for now - it's much better!
Oh and I got a new chair too... I didn't spend a lot on it. I was having a sore back all the time, so I decided to swap out my chair to see if that would help. And it did. Quite honestly - I plan to ask for a much nicer one for Christmas... I just wanted to see if my chair was the issue, and it seems that it was.
Anyways - here's the overview of the entire wall on that side... V was sure to tell me, to tell you all, it was no easy feat for her to crawl up on to my counter top on the other side of the room to get (mostly) the whole wall in one picture. LOL
I also plan to make new curtains, machine covers, and possibly some other fun sewing accessories to match my updated space. I didn't want to paint though - I love my stripes still... so I kept the aqua.
So, that's it for now... My coverstitch machine has been ordered, it should be here next week. It was my goal to have all of this done before it arrives and I look to be right on schedule. I think I may save up for an upgraded serger next? I was going to sell my current one - as there is nothing wrong with it and it has been perfectly maintained... However, then I remembered that V loves to sew too... When she moves out, she already has her own machine to go with her. So, if I upgrade my serger, I will give my current one to her - and then she will be well on her way to having her own sewing space too.
We still have a bit of shelving , some organizing rails and new light fixtures to hang on my other wall. I did a bit of rearranging on that other counter top too (no photos of that wall yet)... Trying to see if this new set up flows well for me. I did take my embroidery machine off of my counter top - I wasn't using it enough to warrant the space it was taking up there. For the time being, it's on the floor under - however - I would like to find a small shelf to put it on, as I don't really like it sitting directly on the floor. I also plan to donate my giant ironing board - it was just taking up too much space in my tiny sewing room... I purchased a counter top one - but I am still not sure if this will work how I want it? For the time being it's working - but I still may make my own that is much more size friendly for what I need...
![scratch chin :scratchin :scratchin](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/scratchchin.gif)
Aside from these last 2 things - this side of the room *should* be done by the end of today... I hope.
The girls...
They are doing fantastic! I couldn't be more proud as a mom!
Allison has been busy working and saving. It looks like her and Gus will be moving out together in the coming months... Not
super thrilled about that, but at the same time, I am not upset either. I am excited to see her going off on her own. She has worked hard and I know that she is incredibly financially responsible - she will do well. While Josh and I were in Europe, she took all of her placement tests and enrolled in college. She starts in the fall, no major declared.
![Title :woohoo: :woohoo:](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/woohoo.gif)
I was so happy that she did it on her own! It was a big step for her.
Victoria is still working at the daycare, and she loves it so much. She has decided to go into Early Childhood Development, and is researching schools for the fall.
![Title :woohoo: :woohoo:](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/woohoo.gif)
She is picking up hours at the pizza restaurant as she can... Her car is a piece of crap - so she is saving madly for a new one... Her's will be going up for sale CHEAP just to get rid of it... There may be a period of time in the near future where we are sharing a car, while she is in between cars. She is still dating Carter, and they seem to be very happy. No real plans to move out yet, but I do see it coming.
Josh is doing well... busy... Between trying to stay caught up at work, home and take all of his scheduled vacation time... He is just a busy guy. LOL And I am also keeping his "honey-do" list quite long with hanging and building shelving for my sewing room... I know he will be thrilled when that project is finished. LOL
Dad is doing OK... Honestly, he hasn't been the nicest person lately. He has been mostly fine with me, but incredibly grumpy when the girls visit... To the point where they don't really enjoy visiting him anymore.
![Frown :( :(](http://www.disboards.com/data/smilies/frown.gif)
Since we have been home - he has had some dental issues pop up.... So, I've had to make several trips with him to the dentist - an hour away - which is a feat unto itself, to get all of this work done. It looks like we only have one more appointment to do, and we will be done for a while. Otherwise he has been mostly good and stable.
I have also been very busy with my brother... I've been working on paperwork for the last year to become his "co-guardian" along side of Dad - as he isn't ready to give up guardianship yet... Last week, I had my final court appearance for that, and I am now my brother's co-guardian. This is a monumental step in this situation, as inevitably, when Dad passes, it will be much easier for me to slide in as Jonathan's sole guardian - it's a matter of a bit of paperwork, but no court appearances, when the time comes. It's a relief to have this over, as it has been causing a LOT of anxiety in my life, and a lot of worry that it wouldn't get done on time. In the end, we ended up hiring an attorney - as I was just lost. It was $$ well spent.
Puppies... They are doing very well. They didn't enjoy having Josh and I gone for so long, but they did good and the girls did very well taking care of them. They were happy to have us home though.
![love struck :lovestruc :lovestruc](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/lovestruck.gif)
And we missed them so much.
As you all noticed, I've been off of the Dis for quite some time, and it has taken me a while to start this TR... My apologies for that... As you see above - we have been quite busy. On top of that, I was having issues choosing a photo hosting site. I used to subscribe to Photobucket's premium service to host my photos for $29/year... Well, last fall, Photobucket made a very large error - taking everyone's photos hostage (except for those of us who subscribed to their premium service - as we were "grandfathered in") and charging and exorbitant $400/year for image hosting with the availability to hot link (what's needed to see pictures here)!!!! It was insanity, and a VERY stupid business move on their part. I *get* prices going up and I have no problem with that, but this was insanity at it's best. Because I was grandfathered in - my photos were fine until December 2018... I decided to wait it out. The issue is, if I didn't pay PB the $400/yearly - I would lose all of my PTRs and TRs here - after all - what good is a TR without pictures? I was pretty gutted about it (as were many others in the same situation). Over the last few weeks - I have been agonizing on whether to start this TR, as what good is it to have a TR where photos would only be good for a few months? That's a lot of work for me to put in for very little enjoyment by others.
![yes ::yes:: ::yes::](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/yes.gif)
Many of my readers have contacted me and begged me to write this TR... So I began researching other photo hosting sites and options... In that research - I discovered that PB has realized their error... Done away with the $400/year debacle... and come back with a much more reasonable price increase - while it's still more than double of what I was paying at $79/year - in my eyes - that is worth it (for me) to keep all of my past PTRs and TRs intact. I talked it over with Josh last night - and he agreed... We understand - especially in Josh's line of work - storage is not free, it is expensive to maintain and there is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into keeping it operational... I had been paying the $29/yearly for YEARS now, without a price increase - so I *get* it. I will be paying it. And you all will continue to enjoy my PTRs and TRs, past - present - future.
![love struck :lovestruc :lovestruc](http://www.wdwinfo.com/images/smilies/lovestruck.gif)
After-all - my friendships here mean the world to me... and I was truly heartbroken to lose you all.
Anyways... Sending you all prayers and Pixie Dust... I missed you all and I am happy to be back!
D~