Come Say Hello at The Farm Chicks Show!

I can't believe the big show is already days away!  Come see me in Bay 2 - Spaces 36 &37.  I still have to pinch myself for me to believe that I'm part of this incredible show!

It's Official! Our Home is on the Market...

After it seems like many hard weeks of never-ending projects, we've finally wrapped up all the loose ends and were able to list our house a few days ago. All we need now is someone to love our home and neighborhood as much as we have. Although we've lost some sleep over trying to sell a house in the current market conditions, we know that everything will eventually fall into place...hopefully.

Since the dust has settled and we finally have a completed home, I find myself sad to leave a home that has been with us since the beginning of our family.  Our first home has seen a family grow through happy times as well as painful moments.  Through blood, sweat, and tears, it has seen almost every square inch transformed from its former 70's self to something we are so proud to call home. 

When we purchased our home, a deck didn't exist.  All we had was an unsafe "apartment balcony"  that was hanging on the side of the house by a thread.  My husband built this two-story deck over three summers.  The bottom half is screened and it is relaxing to sit out and watch the kids play in the yard.

(upper story of deck)

You should have seen the kitchen & bath before we got a hold of it!

A part of me hopes that the next family that moves in has three girls too :)

 It isn't a fancy mansion, but it's been the best first home we could have asked for and I hope the next family enjoys it as much as we have.  

Lolo Boutique

Has anyone been to Lolo Boutique in downtown Spokane?  I think I could live in that store.  If you love Anthropologie, you'll love Lolo's.  It reminds me so much of all those great boutiques that I got to see on my recent Seattle trip.  I love seeing places like this in the area!

Needless to say, I was more than a little flattered when one of the owners of Lolo happened to notice some of my jewelry creations a few weeks back at The Funky Junk Show!  This is a first for me since I just started experimenting with jewelry, but I'm so excited to be making my bubble necklaces for Lolo's.  I just received my supplies yesterday, so besides getting the house ready to sell, I'll be burning the midnight oil and making these goodies. 

I had originally made just one of the initial necklaces, but there will be a wide range of these at Lolo's in the next few weeks!

Just Breathe...

“Just Breathe” is what I’m currently telling myself about a thousand times a day right now. It is so easy at times to get completely wrapped-up in the lists and details of the overwhelming task of preparing a home for sale…well, make that the Dobson home. You see, my husband and I are the absolute rulers of unfinished house projects, but to our defense, we have changed every square inch of our home in the past five years, had two of our three girls, and both had jobs in public accounting (which means VERY long hours), and of course, my little antiques hobby takes up some time as well. It’s quite natural in these circumstances that window and door trim doesn’t get painted and hung after new windows and doors are put in or that house numbers don’t get hung FOUR years after we painted the house! These little open-ended projects are just the tip of the iceberg and the mental and written lists of things to accomplish before we list our house in the next week are waking me up at night and making me swear that we’ll never remodel another house or sell another house, ever.
Yep, the Dobson’s are moving to Sandpoint, Idaho. After six years of working between 55-70 hours a week year-round at a job that has robbed our family of so many special times, moments, and holidays, we’ve said, “Enough is enough!” My husband accepted a wonderful job opportunity up in Sandpoint and we are working around the clock to get the house projects completed and the house Q-Tip clean (which lasts about 5 minutes before cereal is dumped all over the floor or the 9-month crawls to the front of the stove and licks the glass on the door).

I am so very excited for the adventure and the positive changes that I am certain the move will bring to our family. I honestly can’t imagine what it will be like to have my husband home for dinner more than a third of the year. I can’t wait to see the transformation in my husband as he will begin to have balance in life and I know this will all benefit the kids so much… as soon as we can all get up there!

By the way, as of yesterday, we now have house numbers on our house!

Mom's House - aka Angel's Attic

Just a couple more days until the Spring Open House at Angel's Attic!  We've been so busy setting everything and finishing all those last-minute projects.  I promise a few sneak peaks in the next day or so.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a little of the story behind the Angel's Attic sales.  You see, even though I may have started out being part of The Farm Chicks Shows the last couple of years, I've always said that my mom has more talent in her pinky than all of me.  As she's helped me out in the past couple of years at different shows, I've slowly convinced her of the fact that she should be doing this too.  I also was always telling her how perfect her house would be to set up our own sort of shop that could include the creative talents in all of our family including my seriously talented step-dad, Jon, and step-sister, Jessica Cobb.  It took a while, but she came around and last fall we had our first sale!

My mom's house and the little neighborhood on Mountain View Lane is such unexpected treasure on Spokane's northside.  It is hard to imagine a quaint little street lined with South Hill-esque homes right off Wall St. (just north of Country Homes Blvd), but sure enough, just up the hill and nestled against the Five Mile bluff, is a little slice of country life.  The houses on Mountain View are on large lots, many 3 acres or more, and it really feels like you are out of town, not five minutes from the "Y"!  It's been almost 10 years since my mom and I discovered this street as we followed the small red "For Sale by Owner" signs to this house...

Of course, we both thought it was adorable and at the time I had my oldest daughter and we practically squealed when we saw this playhouse off to the side...

It seemed like it was meant to be.  My mom had just had to sell our family farm in Chewelah after my dad passed away and moving into town would be an adjustment after having endless space on a farm.  The little house on Mountain View was perfect with it's country feel, but was close to everything.  Even though I think we all miss the farm at times, this house has been a wonderful substitute for our family gatherings and my girls love to go to "Grandma & Boppa's" every chance they get.  Now that we have our Angel's Attic sales from here, it seems even more perfect for our family!     

Funky Junk Fun!

Ok, I've finally located my camera with the few pictures that could snap before the battery on my camera died and the show was about to start.  I can finally share a few of the pics of the Angel's Attic booth that I participated in at the Funky Junk Show this past weekend.  First of all, I have to say that I had an absolute blast at this show!  Jennifer and Hollie were such great hosts and we couldn't have asked for anything.  The other vendors all had great "junk" and it was hard setting up our booth because I like to peek at all the goodies that everyone else has brought!  The shoppers that came out were awesome and it was a fun, crazy, whirlwind weekend.

Remember this chippy old door?

Next up, the Angel's Attic Spring Open House on April 24th! 

 

Easter Highlights

I realize that has already been a few days since Easter, but I left my camera at my mom's house (oops) until today.  I wanted to share some of the lovely Easter moments that we had.  Luckily, the sun made an appearance (after snowing the previous two days) and all the girls were able to make it outside for the egg hunt.  This seemed to be a particularly special Easter as both of my brothers were able to be in town.  My oldest brother lives in Atlanta and he doesn't usually make it to the Easter dinners, but happened to be in the area for work.  My husband was also able to be part of the festivities.  That may sound odd, but he's had to work on Easter quite a few times (he's a tax accountant).  It's a shame, but that's all about to change soon...stayed tuned!  

(My husband with our youngest girl, Summer)

(My little Easter bunny at 9 months!)

Instead of buying candy and filling Easter baskets for the older girls, we decorated cupcakes and put them in these cute little baskets.  Even the green grass is edible!

I love coming up with creative ways to dress a table.  My mom usually does the table decorations because the meals are at her house, but I wanted to plan this one just because I love spring!  Any excuse to decorate...

I hope everyone had a great Easter this year!