Home Sweet Home

Well, here's my house! Our house, I guess. We looked at 9 houses before picking this one. It just felt right and my husband said it was his favorite before we were even in the front door (which we fixed up and painted a pretty blue). It has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. There is an attic on the 3rd floor that has been converted into a family room, which is nice. It is heated and with the new carpet we put in it's going to be great in the winter time. 

It's a old house (built in 1924-1926) and the previous owners didn't do too much upkeep on it so there has been a lot of work to do. My husband and father-in-law rebuilt the stairs to the attic, they put in new lighting in the basement, they basically re-did the downstairs bathroom and there has been lots of smaller projects in between. Next we are going to start a kitchen remodel (yikes!) since the current kitchen was last updated in about 1969 with it's faux wood countertops, faux tin ceiling and faux brick backsplash. Classy. The kitchen will be a lot of work and money but will be well worth it when it is done. We really love this house and it feels like home even though we've only been here a few months.

And here's a picture my husband took of the water tower in our town. Yep, apparently Boonton isn't in NJ at all. It's in the U.S.A. What an odd town...

Just starting out...

Since this is the first post on my new blog I thought I'd talk about some other new things that are going on in my life. We just bought a house in April, our first one, so that is very new, scary and exciting. I'm also starting to really focus on my jewelry business. Up until now it's been mostly a hobby but I'd really like to spend more time on it and really get things moving. Unfortunately it seems that I spend more time promoting my shop and taking photos and uploading items than I am actually beading. I've also had to learn about and get involved in lots of new things including promoting my shops on forums, flickr, facebook and of course this blog. Sometimes it can be overwhelming and also very scary but also very exciting and I'm hopeful that it will be worth the trouble.

Now for the other new thing that is also scary but not at all fun and exciting. My little sister who is a 1LT in the US Army was deployed last week. She's excited and it's a great move for her career but I am feeling a little apprehensive. A year is a very long time and I hate that I won't be able to see her. And once she's actually overseas (she's training in the US now) she won't be able to call or communicate as often as she can now and I hate that. Who am I supposed to call when my husband does something stupid and I need to vent? Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly proud of her and I know she is ready for this and I know she can handle this. She proved it to me when I went down to Maryland for her Yellow Ribbon Ceremony.



At the Ceremony I saw a side of her that I hadn't seen. She was tough and organized. Stern when people were out of line but not too much as to scare the soldiers working underneath her. All in all, very professional. I was very impressed with her and know that the war on terror is once step closer to being won with her fighting for us. And when she comes back next summer, I am going to throw her the biggest party ever (at my new house) to celebrate her strength, dedication and sacrifice. A year is a long time to put your life on hold but I know that she'll get through it and be better for the experience. I, however, will probably be a wreck for the next year.

So that's my life at the moment. New house and online selling ventures to keep my mind off of my sister going to war. Pretty transparent but hey, you do what works. Good luck, Sam, I love you and miss you. Now I'm off to make a necklace before I get all teary eyed.