Reality

Moving is hard.
It's not just the physical element of rearranging and finding places for everything, it's the new EVERYTHING.
I know it will get easier as time passes, but tonight I'm feeling a little extra displaced and out of my element.
Sigh.

(How's that for reality?)

Cards Galore

In the midst of my move, I've found minutes here and there to squeeze cardmaking in.
It's been a great outlet for my frustrations and stress levels in the midst of this move.
Here are some of my creations over the past few months:

This card is much more sparkly in person. Crystal effects+glitter=shiny, sparkly effects. The stamp set and paper set match...I love that!


This shows a little more of the "matching paper" to the stamp set above.
Stampin' Up! just got the full heart punch too...and I wanted to play with that.

This was the card I gave my girls on Valentine's Day.

I had a friend (Rachelle Allen) ask if we could make cards for our kids that week, and I was happy to oblige.

I really needed a day "off" just to decompress.

This was the card that my boys got on Valentine's Day.

This card shows a "texturz plate" run through the Big Shot die-cutting machine.

The roses are raised...not stamped, and then run through ink.

It's very cool to see in person, and even looks really good without ink on it.

I LOVE these little corduroy buttons.

There is a faint pink stamped all over the white...even when you see it in person it's a subtle effect.

I opened a "Simply Sent" card kit that come with everything you need to make 9 cards...it was fun to pump out a lot of cards all in one sitting.

I finished making the cards I had left from this "Simply Sent" card kit I had opened and used part of before.
This little brad in the corner is what I wanted to show on this card.

I love this quote too.

It reminds me of my dear friend Susan who always said, "Life too short. Don't wait to...."

Now that she's passed away, I work hard to make sure I'm enjoying the present.

This card uses the new eyelet border punch...which I love.

Pat got a card like this on Valentine's day.

I'll be back again soon with a non-card blog, and in the future, I'll put my cards on my stamping blog.

See you around!

Sigh...

We've fought the flu...and WON!

All 9 of us ended up with the coughing, aching, stuffy head crud.
It was a relatively short, but intense sickness as far as running through the whole family.
There have been times it has taken us 9 weeks to run throught the flu cycle with one person in the family getting sick each week.
This time we had multiple kids sick at the same time, and Pat and I sick the majority of the time together.
It's not exciting, and I haven't unpacked a box for over a week, but we're on the mend, and I'll head back to my regularly scheduled unpacking and settling.

Purging

I made the decision early on in the moving process that I would carefully purge everything that we were moving.
I further vowed that not only would I purge as I packed, but also I would purge as I unpacked.

I've now been in my home for two weeks (hallelujah!), and there are still a myriad of boxes to be unpacked.
Yesterday, as I was moving the boxes in my bedroom for the 3rd time (once to organize them after the movers, once for painting, and again to the outer walls so we could walk easily into the room), I had the thought, "Why don't I rip all of these boxes open, dump everything into a pile and just be done "unpacking"?"
The thought was tempting.
It would be a great feeling to have every box unpacked.
However, I know that I would shuffle portions of that huge pile off into recessed corners, closet tops and hidden areas of my home, and I don't want to live in disorder again.

I have without hesitating, thrown away (or marked for give-away) 2 trash bags (and sometimes more) from each room that I have unpacked.
It feels so good to keep only what I love and what is special to me and my family.
It has already been a positive enough experience, that despite the fleeting thoughts, I am still committed to unpacking in a way that is orderly and measured, in a way that will result in the end result that I truly desire.

When I am finished, I want to be able to say, "I have 'organized myself; prepared every needful thing; and established a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God' (reference to D&C 88:119)"
It is a grand goal, and much of that goal will not be apparent today or tomorrow, or even in months to come.
However, without the goal, there will be no striving to better myself, and truly, I need to be bettered (as do we all).

Here's to unpacking...and here's to purging!

Hiking and Painting

On MLK day (Civil Rights Day), we all went on a hike into the San Tan Mountains near our new home in Queen Creek.
It was a beautiful for January, and even though the kids complained a good part of the way up, they were all glad we hiked on the way down.I snapped this picture as we were walking back to the car.
I thought it was beautiful.

Last Saturday, we spent the day painting 4 of the 7 rooms we want to get painted.

We had LOTS of help from my sister's friends (Thanks to ALL of you who came), and a sister from our ward came and helped out too.

I was VERY touched that so many people were willing to come and help out people they have just met.

What a blessing to get so much done.

This picture captures how I spent a lot of my day (multi-tasking). And...what happened when I sat down in a soft chair upstairs late that afternoon.

We're In!

Finally.

We slept in our new home Wednesday night, thanks to a wonderful group of men from our ward who helped us move our temporary items from our rental house.
Yesterday, the movers delivered all of our things from the Silver City house.
It is putting it mildly to say that I am up to my armpits in boxes.
The process of unpacking starts early next week after we have painted a portion of our home.
Thank goodness we have the vital items we need already unpacked due to the fact we brought them with us when we made our initial trip to AZ.

We're sleeping in our own beds...and making this house our new home.

Moving Limbo

We're in AZ, the kids are in school but we are in a short term rental house in Queen Creek while we wait for our home to close.
We are to sign papers tomorrow...but will still be waiting to close for about another week.
Any prayers on our behalf would be welcome.

The kids are settling in, getting used to a new routine.
We're all ready to be really settled.

Moving limbo is a challenge.
But we're here.