again...

I was looking through our Christmas card poems from the last couple years. One constant is Joe and his ever changing job...
Last year, our Christmas card poem was a joke - making fun of certain things about ourselves. Rather than saying what we have been up to, it just listed off things we hope to be able to say "next year" (this year)...

One of those things was having Joe stay at the same occupation.

Well.
Joe gave his 2 weeks notice at Dr Pepper last Friday. He will be starting A NEW JOB in UTAH the day after Thanksgiving.
WHAT????
ya.

Seriously, we just bought this house (11 months ago). I just spent the last 3 months painting it and making it feel like "home". I had just gotten my family history wall up (complete with pictures of parents, grand parents, great grandparents and even great great grandparents).

Anyways, 2 weeks ago, Joe came home saying he thought Utah was beautiful, and there was a job opportunity there. In my head, I thought "whatever! enjoy your free trip to UT" (blowing it off as an impossibility)... but apparently, he was serious. We are now relocating!

So, last week, I kicked it into high gear to finish up all my projects (the ones Joe was calling disastrous). I finished painting the trim in the kids' bedrooms. I painted Charity's walls. I made drapes for the kids rooms. I cleaned out and staged all the closets. I finished painting the bathroom cabinets. I made "artwork". We built a "headboard". We cleaned out the flowerbeds and planted flowers. Thanks to my mom and dad and Cherry who came over Saturday to hang a million pictures and help clean and organize and help!!! 2 hours of their time saved me a week of stress and labor!!! THANKS!!!

Now, I must say I am pretty proud of the way the house turned out. I only hope someone comes and sees it and then wants to buy it!!!
This was the house when we bought it... built-in appliances were ripped out. Lighting was ripped out. The colors were ALL WRONG!!! Now, in a lot of homes, this color scheme (tan trim/white walls) works... but not here - notice orange tile. Also notice the brown carpet throughout the home. The trim gave off a pink reflection - it was really WRONG. Would have been nice if I knew I was going to move though... I would have left the bad color scheme for someone else to deal with.
I never got the landscaping I wanted... good thing. I was this close to laying stone around and getting more bushes and trees... oh well. At least it looks presentable.
This is my pretty entry. I hired some people to paint the walls and trim of the whole house. They got the unreachable parts (some required 3 levels of scaffolding) but then, unfortunately, I had to fire them (4 days of them only working 4 hrs a day... dripping paint everywhere... ruining my wood floor). I was left to paint all the rest of the walls and trim... 2 staircases... all the baseboards. 29 doors... nightmare.
I DO love the 13' ceilings in my piano room. We had to put in the lighting (that was ripped out), and I painted the walls and trim.
This is my music picture - a collage of all my favorite songs. It broke a while ago... now it doesn't have glass. But it still works!!! Cost? 0$. The frame was inherited from some other ugly picture. I printed out my favorite songs on regular printer paper, crumpled them up, put leftover wood stain on it (from the home made kitchen bench) then glued them all together. I had this in my old house. But, I still love it!
My kitchen... the color is a slate... trying to tone down the ORANGE tile/brown carpet combo. Does it work? ;) It looks so much better than the pink khaki trim in that mix...
Before and after of the family room.
Oh, here's another free art project. Leftover plywood from the headboard. I printed out a photoshop brush and then essentially copied it in larger form with white acrylic paint (all paint I had lying around). Then, I stapled an old bed skirt to cover the ugly plywood edge. Free. Ugly, but it fills the niche, and did I mention I spent all of 20 mins on it and it was free?
Upstairs bathroom - notice nice brown cabinets... fun story... I'll post it sometime.

Office. We painted it BYU blue. Then they lost. Still, it is a nice man cave (where I am welcome to park my laptop so long as I don't leave too much of a mess). I am already breaking rules - notice cups, papers, and my daughter's art project cluttering up the desk?
Here is the 37$ king size headboard. 11$ on plywood. 6$ on 1x2s. 20$ batting. The quilt we used came with the bed in a bag (sunk cost when we bought the bed last year)... my kids got some crazy stain on the bottom of it... so, it was the perfect thing to use! ;)
The room really is big... and it looks so much better with out the pink khaki trim clashing with the brown carpet. It also looks great with a light in the ceiling rather than a gaping hole where someone lovingly ripped the old fixture out.
I never got around to painting these cabinets or walls. I dont think I will.

Guest room. Simple. Our office used to be down here, but it is nicer to see a nice bed rather than a dirty office when you walk into my house.
This is the bathroom off the kitchen/guest room BEFORE and AFTER. Dark cabinets make all the difference.


This WAS my family history wall. I had pictures of all of my grandparents and great grandparents. I also had Joe's side represented - even with a photos dating to 1897. I LOVED this wall. I got it done only 3 weeks before Joe came home and told me we were moving. The realtor told me to take it down. I just printed off pictures of flowers and beaches (on my home black and white printer on regular cheap copy paper). That works right? ;) Again - free project. I couldn't print an 11x14, so I just printed out strips on velum and put those together on top of scrapbook paper. I couldn't think of a better quote to put in it. I dont think it matters. I'm just sad I had to hide the great pictures of my family.
Before and after... Home made valences. Home made table and bench. I painted the stairs and the walls. Joe put the lights in.
Charity wanted her room painted green. Glad I never got around to doing that! I did paint her walls the house color and her trim... The previous owner left lots of nice fingernail polish marks all over...
Her window treatment cost 5$ for the rod from walmart, and $3.75 in fabric (3 yards of toole). The material behind it is leftover scrap of bed skirt (very useful that old bedskirt!!!) and the ribbons were left over from a project in my old house. Total cost? 8.75$
This room was even easier than Charity's room. I didn't paint their walls, but I painted their trim. The fabric was on sale at Joann's and I spent 6$ total on 2 yards. (I could have bought less, but I have enough to make throw pillows now). They had a broken curtain rod already installed in their room (courtesy of the previous owner). I took the 1 remaining finial off and pushed the fabric all the way to the wall... 6$ window... perfect! ;)
Yummy chocolate bathroom cabinets... Charity's bathroom looks the same...