I have been wanting to work harder at sewing throughout the year for some craft fairs and also to make gifts I thought people might appreciate. I made another of the larger tote bags two days ago for my best-friend's birthday. It had more blue in it. They were a little smaller than I realized, but very easy to make with a small amount of fabric. I got the pattern here. I probably will make different sizes by just scaling up the fabric size.
I also tried to make the Buttercup bag by Rae twice. The first time is on the right, which looks cute but is very very flimsy. The fabric I chose wasn't thick enough. A little girl would love it though, and it closes with a small magnetic closure, which means things will definitely fall out. The second one I made without a strap, but it has a zipper closure. First try with a zipper on a purse, it is not as easy as it looks and her tutorial didn't include instructions so I tried my best. I also don't really need a light-tan purse, but it was the only thicker fabric at the store that I liked. These extras will go in the pile for sale/gift ideas.

Okay, so I finished the attic project last weekend with the help of my sister, Katie. And a little help from my dad. Here is the picture of more notable items that we found:
The tallest item is a floor scrubber...I checked it and it still worked! The blue "Gas can" type item is actually a foam fire extinguishing tub. It was empty. I also pulled down a ton of trash, chairs, and other items not in the picture, but notice on the right the white thing? It is a meat slicer!!! OMG!

DH and I went to Epcot for our Valentine's treat to each other, courtesy of two FREE tix I got for singing in Candlelight this Christmas. It was really fun, we had dinner at China, and dessert in Paris.

Here is what I got with my 20 $5 Kohl's Coupons:
Dr. Seuss Plush 5.00*2
Candle .59*3 (saved 2.40 on clearance each)
Easter Towel 4.99 (saved 5.00)
Easter Hand towel 2.99*2 (saved 5.00 each)
White wash cloths 3.99*2 (saved 4.00 each)
White hand towels 4.99*2 (saved 5.00 each)
Pillow 4.99 (saved 5.00)
Pillow 3.99*3 (saved 6.00 each)
Green Bath towel 6.74 (saved 8.25)
Green Bath towel 6.99*3 (saved 8 each)
Green wash cloths 4.49*4 (saved 4.50 each)
Kitchen Scissors for Knife Block 8.24 (saved 2.75)

My mom also got 3 bath mats for 5.00 each after tax approximately, which are usually 24.99 before taxes

Total merchandise regular price: 298.74
Total savings (I did lose a few receipts): 249.64
Total out-of-pocket: 49.10
Savings: 83.5%!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!

It could be that it is my luck. But I think that it is weird when people sell you a house and leave piles of items inside it. Not to mention that (which we took care of before we moved in) but now the attic is on my to-do list because of this:

I know it is hard to understand why people would leave such beautiful and useful items, like:
1968 wall paper, a golf bag with the clubs, and a piece of multicolored blue/red/orange carpet. Wish the carpet had been bigger, I could have gotten it bound! Do you have people that left stuff at your house? What have you found in your attic? I have a long ways to go before this project is over!

Very awesome experience. I'm glad I killed myself getting out there. There was a guy at church yesterday who had room in his car to go onto the base and see it as close as you can get. So I did that. We met at 12:15 am and got back home at 5:15 am. Worth it!!! We were in Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island, FL.

Now, because of Tropical Storm Fay, not only did our dock get submerged, but we also had some bush damage. We had a very very large bouganvillea that was quite beautiful. So beautiful I decided to pose in an ugly bathing suit the first month we lived in our house, with my nephew.
Well, Tropical Storm Fay actually pushed this over, till it hit the dock pilings, which are behind me in the above photo. It was leaning at a 45 degree angle. This won't do, Gidget!
See above for how the bush landed after the storm. Next step was to cut down the bush, which I ended up doing to ground level. Behind it, the bush had destroyed the chain link fence, so I employed my father, who nicely came and helped me with this part. We saved the links, and got the connectors and bars at Home Depot. I still have to spray paint to keep it from rusting further.
You can see above what is left of the bouganvillea, which is a stump, and new growth that I'll have to make stay smaller than what was there before. Nice job on the gates, huh? I know my dad is a genius.
We needed them replaced on both sides of the yard, so the above is the other side. Finally, we had a gate leading to the front yard that was not able to swing, so we had to cement in a new post and change out the hinges. Note the special piece on the right. My dad had that made in a machine shop. He is a mechanical engineer so he is good with these things (I'm only a lowly aerospace engineer.) Before it was just the pole on the left, which left a large enough space for a small child to creep through, which always worried me. Now it is impassable!

Gosh we didn't have much space on the left side of our house before. I realize now that it was because the sheds were much larger than I thought. The roofs were both damaged due to cutting down the tree above them. So we removed them completely. Before pictures here:

Here is what it looks like now that we have removed the shed walls (we have to pry up the shed floors after we remove the wood planks).Also note that in the picture above, I have removed all the pavers and rocks that were surrounding the air conditioning unit (they were up behind the unit about 6 inches, covering it...not good!). You can finally see the concrete it is sitting on. See the lovely shed floor below. Fun times. Also, they stored a biminy top frame behind one shed...it is stuck for now.

So I've been promising more pictures, and believe me, more are sure to come. Here is the dock before. It was really in sore shape. Notice the before pictures with the pilings that are leaning, and are rectangular (normally pilings are round). Some we could see through, of course I didn't get good pictures of that.And the dock was pretty small before. We definitely couldn't fit a table out there, and we were worried about falling in the canal all the time, since it was small. And of course, there was the time that the dock collapsed on one end and two people actually did end up in the salt-water.

Now, these are terrible, but it shows the old dock removed, and the new pilings going in.

Now here is a picture of all the pilings installed.
You can see it is getting much larger! This is the day they were starting to install the lift.
We changed the layout and now the boat faces the other way. But it gives us much easier access. Before it was a 2-person job to ease the boat out of the slip. We had to back out and make a turn at the same time. Now we can get straight out.
And here it is in all the glory...with our used lift we got for $2K :) -- thanks RoxyinRed!

Now it is also higher, so this doesn't happen again (Tropical Storm Fay Fall 2008):

I didn't need coffee this morning, not that I drink that anyways.

I didn't need coffee because I had a .....SNAKE.... in my kitchen! Whew! Wake up surprise!
Since I live by myself during the week, I had to get rid of it on my own! Got the swiffer out and the snake climbed aboard (not really) and I put him in the front yard. Whew.

We finished Fiddler on the Roof. I always forgot my camera, so I don't have any great pictures to show you right now, but I was a bottle dancer and it was a lot of fun.

I also worked more last weekend outside. My dad did most of the work, but we finally removed the sheds. I will be posting the shed/side of house project in pieces on the blog when I get a chance. It looks much larger with the sheds removed. So be sure to check back!

On a side note, I have been going to A Full Cup for a while now. It is similar to HotCouponWorld.com. It has coupons, forums on specific stores, deals, and can help you find help with almost anything coupon related. You can check it out through my banner on the right side of the blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Also, I am going to have to start planting for the side of the house once I get the pavers put in. If you have any ideas on great plants that would do well in Florida, and vary in height, that don't need a lot of any care, please comment below. I need help with tall, medium, and short.