upgrades at the hostel

After waking up this morning feeling like I got jumped by 100 angry trolls, I knew I had to do something about this sleeping arrangement. When you are moving out of military quarters in Hawaii, you have the option to get something called Aloha furniture that you can borrow when you have no furniture. It usually takes around six weeks to get your household goods from Hawaii to and from the mainland U.S.A, so at some point you are going to be without your furniture. I decided to opt out of the furniture because with all of the painting and cleaning that is going on, it would just be one more thing that is getting in the way.

I forgot to put out the comforters before the packers packed them up, so I was just going to rough it on my little spot on the floor.

location of the attack



At first I thought it was cool to go minimalist, but soon realized that some basic essentials are needed to sustain healthy living, namely a comfortable place to sleep



I also started on the on the walls downstairs. I spatter a few rolls on each of the walls so it looks less intimidating, while I am busy with the others.



I also found another use for the leftover flower pot.



sweet fabric that is I have been collecting by Tina Givens

more sweet fabric by Amy Butler

The day had started off pretty stressful, but was much relieved by awesome neighbors watching my children for me while I painted, letting me do some laundry at their house, and bringing over extra comforters and pillows...

oh, and for this picture, I guess this is just the kind of thing you need to keep life interesting...


                                                                           Happy Monday!!

problems and solutions

Today was my first day of painting the house back to prison classic white.  I was going to hire someone to do it, but they were going to charge big $$, I decided that I will just do it myself, and with my earnings buy a super sweet camera.



The woodland forrest before




The paint to cover the fury creatures up




I found another use for all of the paper the packers left yesterday.




I am a chaotic painter

 

                                        


I ran into a problem at the end. I could not reach the top of the wall, and my ladder has gone with my household goods.. I guess I could have just asked a neighbor for a ladder, but my prideful  ingenious self decided that I could just turn a leftover large flowerpot upside down and stand on that, problem #1 solved...

The second issue I ran into today is that our one remaining $5.00 walmart gate to keep the children contained in one room broke.

  


problem #2

 I knew I needed to come up with a solution to keep my children contained, while most of the walls were covered in wet paint, so here is what I came up with

problem solved (tape box boundaries)

Okay, this really did not work. The majority of the morning, my 4 year old kept the younger one's in line while the baby slept. I put this together at the end of the day when their cabin fever hit it's max. It generally worked with reminding the kids where they should be, but shortly after this picture was snapped my baby( seen lunging toward the DVD player) went into his mega saucer that was left behind.

Happy Monday!

 

When life gives you lemons...

you make lemonade, right? Well, when life leaves you paper, moving boxes, tape, an empty house, an artsy mama, and four little children....



pile of things I stumbled upon in the master bedroom after the movers left

  You make paper space princesses, caped  hero's and a cardboard castle, right??



rockin the paper fashion

 



Benjamin checking out how his suit is put together

 




the dashing princess Naomi, she looks good in paper, right??

 





playing in the castle (yes that is baby feet making their way through the entrance at the bottom)

  

I wish I could say that this was all their idea, but it was not. I think it was a result of me sitting in an isolated room for two days while the packers did their packing. Even though my sewing machine is packed up, I see that it is possible to still make clothing (though I would think no one in their right mind would ever purchase something like this)

Happy Friday!!

current state of packing out...

Today is day #2 of the packers being here. Yesterday  Benjamin climbed in the moving truck, and proceeded to use the ramp as a ramp for his toy truck. That is when I realized I need to lock up the children and myself in a room upstairs. They should be finishing up today, and I forgot to set out SO many things that I should have left out, but it will all work out. I kind of feel like that movie "Flowers in the Attic" being trapped upstairs (minus all the family drama that movie involved). The kids are doing great for the most part finding things to entertain themselves, and I am having fun testing out my new camera...


Audrey on the laptop





showing little brother the springy door stop is good for playing

 



sweet Naomi turning crayons into action figures




this picture does not really need a caption



I also managed to annoy the packers with in the first 20 min of them arriving by asking them to change their "baby making music" that really was the lyrics. We made up though, and I bought them pizza. I am so glad that I don't have to be the one who packs up the house because that would have been a disaster. I am trying to maintain my happy place throughout the entire process. Everything was not totally organized, but as long as my stuff gets from here to there we are all good.



bye, bye household goods see you in 6 weeks.



if you thought those were bad!!

So, right now my 3 and 4 year old daughters take pictures for my store. I think they do an amazing job for
their ages...I thought I would share some of them that did not make the cut :-))

 

 I have also been tossing the idea around about getting a new camera rather than my point and shoot one. I was leaning towards no, but yesterday my son (2) found my camera and thought it would be a good idea to put it in a cup of water. Good thing I got a warranty on that. It looks like I may be getting a new camera after all :-)

Customer appreciation

Well now that I am officially closed,  again, I am spending some time in reflection of the first two months selling on ETSY.  In two months I made 14 sales,  and I am very happy with that. I have gotten feedback from most of the people that I have sold too, and they are all very happy. One customer sent me some pictures of a dress she bought for her daughter, and was thrilled with it. I asked her permission to post the pictures on here, and was very happy to help in any way :-)))

                                                      Here is the dress that was/is listed

                                                             and here is what she said

"Hi Rachel! I would like to send you a picture of my daughter, BeBe, in the pumpkin patch wearing your creation! We've received many compliments. Thanks for making her photo shoot so special!

Doesn't she look perfect? I am especially happy because she is a sweet little baby, and anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE sweet little babies...

I have also received other very positive feedback, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to minister to people through making them beautiful clothing.

                            

getting the house ready.

There are a lot of things to do when you move out of military quarters. Especially when you have painted accent walls and murals all over the house.


The playroom was a woodland forrest

 

 

     

 I was going to attempt to be superwomen and do all of the cleaning and painting myself, but have decided that the money, and peace of mind  of paying someone else to do it is money well spent. Today we are shipping out our car, and this week they are taking all of our furniture out to be shipped. The girls already gave their beds away (since they will be getting bunk beds), and let me tell you, they are so excited to sleep on the floor. They think it is the coolest things since sliced bread. It just dawned on me that I am going to be sleeping on the floor too, and I am NOT excited about that. It is going to be rough without my cozy bed for 6 weeks. Oh, and not having a washer or dryer...that is going to be will definatly complicate things.
Being a military wife sure provides a lot of opportunity for adventure, but I would not have it any other way.