Apartment Living

While we transitioned from our home in Arizona to where we are moving to in California, Little K and I spent nearly a month living in an apartment. Not actually an apartment, but one of those Extended Stay Hotels designed for temporary living.

It sounds like fun. A Furnished 2 Room suite with a kitchenette. Weekly Maid service. No yard work.



Our room was a pretty good size. Separate Bedroom. Sleeper Sofa. Furnished Kitchen. Private Bath. It reminded me of my Apartment in College. I remember having plenty of room to spread out back then.

This is going to be great - Right?

Much to my surprise - things have changed just a bit in the 20 (or so) years since I was in College. Now there is not only Me, but also Little K - and sweet Hubby who returns home on the weekends.

Add to that - the houseplants we'll be bringing with us to our new home. And the flammable items and paint that the movers wouldn't take. Painting and cleaning supplies to be used at the new house while our goods are in storage. Items to keep a 9 year old little girl occupied during the summer - and all the paperwork and important documents needed for the purchase and close of our old and new homes.

Oh yeah - and Pets. Did I mention 3 very needy pets that are not happy about having their living spaces downsized.

OK - so maybe it's not quite the adventure I expected. But it certainly is an adventure to remember.



The good news is - climbing up 3 flights of stairs several times a day, often with heavy groceries, has built up my calf muscles.



And the neighbor living next door is a fantastic cook. I can smell wonderful breakfast and dinner aromas wafting through the hall. I have to find out how they are doing all that cooking with just a microwave and a hot plate. Maybe they will invite us over for dinner.



With only 4 bowls (and one of them being used as the kitty's water dish), it doesn't take long to run out of dishes to use for breakfast cereal. In a pinch - the measuring cup will do just fine. Little K thought that was pretty fun.



It's also a great opportunity to have friends over and say our goodbye's. Always fun to have a jumbo Pool and Hot Tub in your backyard.



2 little monkey's jumping on the bed would never be allowed at home. But in the hotel - why not?



Having sleepovers - staying up late watching TV - reading teen magazines. It's all good.



Storage space is a little tight. Especially in the bathroom with two girls and all our "products". We resorted to using the kitchen drawers. Luckily - they are still within easy reach.



There's even an on site Pantry with drinks, frozen meals and fresh fruit. Much better than resorting to dinner out of a vending machine.



I'm pretty sure I could buy these things at the grocery store for less than half the price they charge, but sometimes convenience is worth the price.



Best of all. Huge Washers and Dryers. I can get all the laundry done at once.

Yes - this is indeed better than my first Apartment.



After the first week - even high strung Peanut Butter the cat settled in and relaxed. She's feeling quite at home on my bed.

We are now out of temporary living in Arizona and all moved in to our new home in California. It was a great option for us during the moving transition - but maybe just a few weeks too long.

I've been keeping busy - unpacking, organizing and making our new house feel like our Home. Can't wait to share it all with you.

Nancy Drew....What to Wear?

I had grand plans on making Little K a vintage style dress for her Nancy Drew Birthday Party. I found a pattern, and fabric, but as usual, ran out of time.

As luck would have it - we were able to pull together a pretty good looking outfit from things already in her closet, and a few key additional last minute finds.



Nancy was all about the knee socks - and loafers. As long as we had those covered, I though we were in good shape. Add a little plaid skirt and we're home free.



The Penny Loafers were found on clearance at Walmart, as was the turtleneck knit sweater. It had the sweetest 3/4 sleeves with turned up button cuffs.



The pin is made from stacked vintage buttons and an antique crochet flower.



The Nancy Drew Mystery Book of the moment - The Secret of Red Gate Farm.



My sweet little Nancy Drew - I think she played the part perfectly.


Other parts of her Fun Party included: Invitations, Sweets, Decorations, The Mystery Game, and and Old Fashioned Lunch Menu.

Sale Pending......

Well, it should really say SOLD! But, neither our Realtor or I wanted to jinx the sale, so she waited until the final days to put up the Sold sign. By then we had already moved out of our beloved home in Arizona and therefore I missed the SOLD sign photo opp.



Sale Pending made me just as happy! In a very tough Real Estate Market (from what the news reports say, Phoenix is one of the worst in the country) we were thrilled to be able to sell our home after being on the market for just over a month.

Don't get me wrong - this was in no way a profitable sale for us. We listed our home at a price that was almost 30% below what we purchased it for just 3 years ago. And we ended up selling it for even less than that. But in a time when many of our neighbors homes are going into Foreclosure or being listed as Short Sales, I am so thankful we were able to accept an offer that allowed us to move forward with our new life in California.

It's been a little crazy around here these past few months, and I've sadly neglected my blogging duties, but we're on the home stretch now, and I'm looking forward to getting back in touch.

Along with all the usual steps you take when selling your home - De-clutter, Clean, Neutralize and Stage - I'd like to think we did a few unique things that made a difference in getting it sold.




You know that binder that the Title Company provides that is filled with all the Plot and Survey information as well as Maps and Neighborhood Stats? It usually comes with an ugly blue or black plastic cover with basic tabs.

Our book started out Blue. My Kitchen is Green. They didn't match!
Solution: make a cute fabric binder cover to coordinate with the room.



I updated the inside tabs and added a few of my own to include Neighborhood News and Happenings as well as a personal letter from us telling what we love about the home and neighborhood.



Fresh Flowers always help sell a home and I was only too happy to splurge and buy a new bouquet each week. I might have to continue that little indulgence as a treat for myself once we're moved into our new home. They just make me happy.

Next - my agent suggested I find a way to highlight some of the unique details that could be easily overlooked.
Solution: make Tags with a brief description of the features and place them throughout the house.



I have an unnatural dislike for traditional medicine cabinets. I have yet to see one that I like (not even in the fancy design homes where I've drooled over and coveted so many other things) This is one of the ways I disguise them.



It's just a poster - decoupaged onto a board, framed, painted, distressed and then attached to a wood box made to fit inside the existing medicine cabinet space. OK - that sounds like a lot of work, but you could totally do the same thing with a ready made frame or picture.

I've seen lots of homes that still have these old intercom systems that no longer work. But ours still does, and even though it's not sleek or modern looking, I think it's really cool and we use it all the time.



Here's another "tagged" feature. Can you guess what's hiding behind this picture?



I sure hope the new owners like birds - because the framed picture is staying with the house.



Because it's also hinged and attached to a box that's attached to the wall.



Inside - are the thermostat and security alarm control box. The original builder should be shot for installing those controls smack dab in the middle of the main feature wall in the Living Room, effectively making the entire wall unusable and a complete eyesore. Even if the buyers don't like birds, they will probably think it's better than those unsightly controls.

Our yard is fairly large, and it can get pretty hot in Arizona, so I kept the outside mini fridge stocked with water bottles. With a "tag" on the fridge inviting house hunters to "Refresh Yourself".



Each of the bottles had a label with our home address - and a little reminder that "this could be Your New Home!"

When you look at dozens of homes, they all tend to blur together so I wanted to do everything I could to keep our home foremost in potential buyers minds.



Another shot of the tulips - because they are so pretty - and you know they make me happy.



Just to be sure we had all our bases covered. I had my dear friend Jo Ellen send me a St. Joseph statue to be buried upside down, facing the home that you want to sell. If you are not familiar with this tradition you can read about it here. For the record, I'm not Catholic, but I do believe in God and the power of Faith, and my Catholic friends assured me it was OK to partake in this Catholic belief.

Last week the movers came and packed and loaded up all our belongings to be put into storage. We spent the weekend spackling holes, painting and cleaning - getting the home ready for it's new owners. I driven by once since then - to pick up the mail, drop off the keys, and bring in the trash can. But it's no longer our home - it's now in the care of a another family. Our wish is that the new owners enjoy it as much as we did, and make their own wonderful memories there.

We have a few weeks before we move to our new home in California. I'm excited to get started painting, re-decorating and all the other fun stuff that comes along with the not so fun task of unpacking. I'll keep you posted.

Nancy Drew Birthday Party Sweets

Little K and I could not agree on what kind of sweet treats to make for her Nancy Drew Birthday Party.

I wanted to try out some of my fancy new piping tips and make a bunch of different cupcakes. Little K wanted her traditional fondant covered decorated cake (I think she's the only person in the world that actually likes the taste of fondant).

Rather than compromise (because that would be too easy) - I decided to make them both. Which quickly turned into an entire table devoted just to sweet treats.



Cupcakes, Lemon Bars, Tiered Cake and Blondies. Can you say "sugar overload".



Three different jumbo piping tips were used to frost and decorate each tier of cupcakes.



The cupcake toppers were made using clip art designs (footprints, #9 and Nancy herself) punched out with various size circle and scallop punches layered and glued to a popsicle stick.



Because the secret password to gain entry to the party was "Lemon Bar"....we had to make those as well.



The Birthday Cake was a two tier fondant covered mystery batter cake filled with butter cream frosting.



I couldn't find any chocolate fondant, so I added brown paste coloring to white fondant. I would have liked a darker, richer brown color, but it took a lot of coloring just to get it to this yummy shade.

Bands of pink fondant edge each layered tier, accented with lime green butter cream piped dots.



The Mystery Cake Batter is nothing more than vanilla, chocolate and strawberry batter dropped into the baking pan in sections (without mixing together).



The kids were told it was a "mystery" what kind of cake they would get - perfect for a Nancy Drew Mystery Party.



I thought about adding spy glasses, finger prints, footprints and other Nancy Drew images to decorate the cake, but in the end - I think a more simple plaid accent was in keeping with Nancys Classic Style.



As the party guests left - they were given sugar cookies to take with them.



Decorated with butter cream and fondant, and packaged in cellophane bags with a THANK YOU topper.

We had such a great time putting together all the elements of this Nancy Drew Mystery Birthday Party including invitations, decorations, food, the mystery game, and even the perfect Nancy Drew outfit.