Thursday, December 27, 2012

Projects, projects, projects...



People typically wait until warmer weather to begin projects that require some outdoor time, sanding / painting furniture. Not me! I've decided to start working on the spare room in my home to turn it into my craft / sewing room and a place where I can wrap presents without having to tear apart my dining room to wrap. Most of the items used for either crafts or sewing are in the basement, my sewing machine is still in the box, stored in my office closet and only pulled out when I need to sew something. The wrapping paper, tape, bows and all that are in the basement, makes it a pain when I need to quickly wrap a gift.
The room I'm redoing was the room I set up for my niece and nephew when they come over but since they don't really spend the night that often I've decided to take over the room. So I've listed some furniture on a popular website for sale, created a list of projects I need to complete and the supplies I will need. Today my daughter and I spent the day running around from one place to another completing errands. In the middle of all that we visited 3 thrift stores so I could search for the table I had pictured in my mind to use for my sewing machine. We found it at the third store, thankfully, because I was beat! 
Well the table needs some love but I'm sure after sanding and painting it white, it'll be just adorable. I'm thinking about painting the legs and one of the "wings" a different color to add some interest. I figure this can be used as my sewing table and if I want to paint or hot glue something I can open a "wing" and use it then drop it when not in use. This will work...

I found a couple of ideas on Pinterest that I plan on putting into place in this room. Great way to save space and limit the amount of furniture in the room, considering the space I need to conserve all the space I can by utilizing the walls for storage. I found this great piece that can store my threads and am going to modify it slightly so it will work for my paints as well.
This is the most adorable, effective way I've found to store thread. It also adds a great bit of color to the room as well by simply displaying this way. This is also the piece I'm going to modify to fit my paints & brushes. This will eliminate a cabinet from being brought upstairs from the basement. Simplicity is key in this room because there will be enough going on in it without adding a bunch of clutter. I'll post pics as I progress.

Wish me luck! 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!!

Today is the day to enjoy time with your family and loved ones, people we choose as family. I hope everyone had a wonderful day filled with love and happy times.

I'll catch up again later in the week.

Merry Christmas to all!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Holiday stress with a moody teenager...





It's just me and my daughter at home (she's 16, three months shy of 17), you would think the house would stay clean or at the very least neat. Sometimes I just want to walk around with a giant vacuum and suck everything up so it's just gone.


Until last night my kitchen was the only clean part of my house, the living room is a mess and only made worse by my daughter  and her friend working on a physics project. Somewhere along the lines on Tuesday night they ate and left the dishes on a small table in there. I didn't notice because I had not stepped foot in the living room really since Monday. Yesterday all she had to do was clean up her mess including the water bottles (one shoved under the couch and another on top of the couch). Her laptop was tossed on one of the couches which drives me NUTS! That's no way to treat an expensive piece of equipment. 

She was told to do the dishes (left in the sink since Tuesday, today is now Thursday) last night. Her response, "I'll do them when I do them", oh boy did that cause a fight! Who did she think she was talking to me, her mother, like that?? I was so floored I told her she better come right home from school, "I'm not coming right home I'm staying after to work on my project so I don't screw up my junior year like you always tell me". Let's just say at this point I was ready to toss her out in the cold, I was not going to listen to this nor deal with the attitude. We both went to bed angry and I woke up that way this morning. All things piled up and now completely stressed, aggravated and done being the maid, alarm clock and personal bank. I wish as kids the one lesson they would learn (and wish I knew when I was a kid), just do what your told or asked right away, it saves a ton of grief in the long run.




All my rambling has a point...this time of year while normally the most wonderful time of year is also very stressful for all of us, kids included. They feed off their parents moods and often wind up being in a worse one than us. She had three projects due this week, her last week in school before Winter Break...that in itself is pure stress. I get it.

I'm stressed not because of work, the last two weeks before Christmas normally slow down for me, but because I'm trying to bake cookies for everyone (70 dozen or so), make sure I have the perfect Christmas presents for everyone in my family and of course keeping the house clean. Nothing worse than a messy house with a beautiful Christmas tree front and center. 

Step back, take a breath and remember this too shall pass.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all!







Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Life goes on...

It seems I'm back here in the same spot I was in last year questioning where to go and what to do. I promise myself I'd write more, go out more with friends just do more for me. As life gets busier and busier it seems I do less and less for me and just barely enough to keep my head above water. Life is busy, crazy and hectic this time of year. Not enough hours in the day, always tired...

Another draft but this one from earlier this month, seems like not much has changed in theme from one year to the next. Maybe it's time I start exploring what makes me happy in relation to my career. I recently watched a Christmas movie that was about the 2,000th take on Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol", this was a Hallmark movie called "It's Christmas, Carol". Great take on the classic actually, my point is, the one line that stuck with me the most is Work to Live, Don't Live to Work. I should enjoy what I'm doing not just going through the motions to make sure my bills are paid. Why can't I love what I do and pay my bills? I think that might be the question of the century and one I'll explore if the world doesn't end on Friday as the Mayan's seem to think it will.