Well, thank goodness I am up and at 'em earlier today. Pays to go to bed before the wee small hours of the morning!
Can you believe it's the last day of January? It has gone past pretty fast for me. That's a good thing. It's good to be busy enough that the day doesn't drag by.
So, what shall I do today to keep myself out of trouble?
On the design side, I need to do a couple more alphas for the my-all-time-favorite-colors kit. I've done 2, but I like to make sure I have alphas to coordinate with the various colors in the kit so I need more. With any luck at all, this kit will be done today. Please! I love it but I'm tired of looking at it. Does that make sense? If I manage that, I have alphas, alpha preview and details to do on the spring-ish kit too..... Then I can start something new.
Progress around here wasn't good yesterday, but it was better than nothing. I did not get done what I wanted to get done, but today brings a fresh start. I have decided I am going to have to add a time slot for desk in again. This desk just gets totally out of hand if I don't stop and pay special attention to it every day.
So, in this room, I cleared all the little stuff that didn't belong off the credenza last night. Today, I actually need to get it dusted. And, maybe in the time allotted, I can get the windowsill and maybe even the shelves in the corner. I also have a full box of office supplies that is ready to be moved to the junk room. Someday soon, I need to make those shelves go away. I think the first hurdle to that is cords. There are two cords actually fed through the shelf unit to something, maybe. I think at least one of the cords doesn't go anywhere anymore. I assembled that shelf unit and I know it has to be taken apart from the bottom up. Given the tiny bit of space there is to work in, that will be a real adventure. It was not assembled in that space. I put it together elsewhere and Joe lifted it into the corner. Now, where is he when I need it lifted out of the corner!
I need to make sure the bills I've received are paid and filed today during desk time. I also got an interest statement for some interest that Joe's life insurance paid me. I need to get that entered into my tax return.
I am looking at the exact same things that need done in the living room as needed done for the last couple of days--put those little H&B things away and dust. It just needs dusting even more than it did a few days ago......
Sorting clothes in the guest room and ironing in the "junk" room. I'm also going to have to rearrange some boxes in the closet in the junk room. That's where I've been stashing the boxes I've been carrying/pushing/shoving/dragging in there. And I didn't allow for the fact that once I put the second column of boxes in place, the doors are in the way of building another column. So, I'm going to have to dismantle the column, shove everything as far to the right as I can, and then there'll be room for more.
In the hall bath, my pumice stone is still calling to me. I still need to finish up that task in the bowl. Then it's into the hall where I could spend the better part of the morning if I had that kind of time. Laundry to sort, laundry to wash, laundry to fold, laundry to put away, hanging clothes to work on, and vacuuming. I am NOT going to get all that done today, LOL. I just don't have that kind of time to devote to it.
In the master bedroom, I need to get back to work on that closet. If I don't forget, maybe when I go in to get dressed for the day, I'll take the extra space heater in there and get it going. That would make me much more likely to try on some clothes. And, I NEED to try on some clothes and see what should be donated. I have some tank style tops that are going to bite the dust for sure. When I wore them, Joe made some not very complimentary comments about how I looked in them. I've been too self-conscious to wear them ever since, so I might as well donate them and get the tax deduction.......
The Master Bath looks pretty good. There are a few things on the counter I should put away and I think I might run a dry mop in there just to stay on top of the dog hair that accumulates.
Kitchen--well, I still need to finish that bottom shelf in the fridge. Then that thing is done. I think next I will crawl around with a bucket and a cleaning rag and see what I can wipe up around the edges of the room. That room is mopped pretty frequently, but the mop doesn't do a good job around the edges.
I have a box of keepers in the dining room that needs to move into that junk room closet. And, of course, another stack of books to go through. I found something kind of cute last night. Two study guides for AWANA. Joe used to take Erica to AWANA every week and these are her study guides that he kept all these years. I put them in her box. I thought they might make her smile, knowing her Daddy kept those all this time.
I think I am going to have to dedicate some daily time to computer work. My inbox for e-mail has crept up close to the 1700 mark again. I have scads of things to unzip, sort, organize, file, etc. If I don't set aside time on a daily basis for this kind of thing, it will only get worse. So....... I will find 10 minutes today for that. I am still doing backups in the background as well.
Well, now that that is out of the way and my thoughts about what needs done around here are all sorted, I think we should have some eye candy. Here's a sweet page from Nancy:

Nancy comments that her son just loves their cat. He loves to cuddle with her. Apparently, it is a family joke that the boy and the cat match, LOL. Nancy used some of our word art for this page. You can check that out above in the Saturday release post. Again, this layout is proof that this kit, with all its soft colors works well for a masculine page. You can leave a comment about Nancy's beautiful page here.
This page of utter gorgeousness is by Karen. Karen is the one who says she's learned so much from me and I just silently roll my eyes. This page will show you what I mean........

I saw this page and my jaw dropped about 4 feet. This is my stuff, but, being Karen, she took it all apart and did all sorts of things to it and this was the outcome. I can't imagine how much time and effort she put into this layout. Probably at least as much as I put into creating the papers for the kit! I am tempted to show you her notes on what she did to create this, but if you're not familiar with Photoshop, it would just make your eyes roll back in your head. If you want to read them, they're here. Please leave some praise for Karen's beautiful work and creativity!
Well, I am more gorgeous than usual this morning. The dogs are just in awe at all my gorgeousness. Remember I told you I found some "angel skin" nightgowns while I was sorting through clothes? So, I am all pink satin and lace and buttons on the outside and warm brushed cotton against my skin. My hair even cooperated last night and is not standing on end this morning. But, alas, I am not going to work all day in my gorgeous pink satin night gown. So, I have to go get ready for the day and ATTACK! YOU be BLESSED today!