I decided, even if it is early, I needed to take a break and eat something. I haven't done too bad so far today. I've either vacuumed 70% or 40% of the house. If you count the areas I have to vacuum, there are 10. And, 7 are vacuumed. If you count by square foot, the livingroom/diningroom and office take up about 50% of the square footage. They are not vacuumed yet and neither is the kitchen. Hence, 40%. In any case I worked up an appetite!
Fixed myself a piece of toast and two sunny side up eggs and they hit the spot.
Although the vacuuming is going well, I'm doing a more detailed vacuuming that I've been doing. It's simple. There's more floor visible and able to be vacuumed. First, I have completely cleaned up 90% of the floor in the sewing room. Crawled around and picked up all sorts of things I wouldn't want to feed to my vacuum. So, it was safe to do a decent job in there. Like most of the house, it still needs me to go around with the corner tool, but that will not be today. I also moved several boxes out of the guest room when I took all that stuff to DD. So that made more space in there to vacuum. I am celebrating being able to find a bit more of my floor!
I have run into a glitch with my design program. Somehow the techie guys stripped out my monitor calibration program. So the colors I see may be different, even wildly different, from what someone else sees on their monitor. Of course, there is always going to be variation from one monitor to another, but by calibrating the monitor, I can be assured that the colors I think I'm designing with are a whole lot closer to what they would be on someone else's monitor. I would hate to design a kit in colors that appear to clash or be questionable when someone else looks at them.
So, I am engaged in a search for a free or cheap calibration program. And until I find something, I am not sure I want to design anything! This is not good.........
I've been deleting e-mails off and on all morning. I get 70-100 a day. I know, it's crazy. I keep unsubscribing to stuff, but I can't afford to unsub to everything. Many of these are from design sites, and I need to look at this stuff to see what's going on in the design world. You can just imagine what 4 days of not having custody of my computer for the bulk of the day has done to my inbox! It's so bad it's depressing. No idea where I'll find the time to get it all looked at and dealt with. I still have 32 from today and more slapping into my inbox as the day marches on............ugh!
Well, I have eaten and a few minutes have passed. I think long enough for my blood sugar to rebound. I will get back to work now. Later.........
I have a gorgeous kit, newly released at DigiScrapBoutique this week. I want to give you a good look at it.
Here is the kit preview:
The kit is on special at 30% off for its debut. Don't miss the special price.
Here are the parts of the kit. You can buy just the elements, just the alphas, or just the papers if you wish. They, too, are on special at 30% off.
See, I told you. Beautiful stuff. If you want to see about 20 layouts my fabulous Creative Team artists created, be sure to check my morning posts below. Breathtaking. Truly breathtaking!
Today would have been Joe's 64th birthday. It's kinda goofy, I know, but I still leave him messages on his Facebook page. There, I said, that I guess it's still his 64th birthday. He's just celebrating it in heaven. I wish he were celebrating it here. I'd even come off the low carb lifestyle thing long enough to bake him a birthday cake and have a slice myself!
It is hard not to think how much better our lives would be if he were here. Well, I guess that's wrong. I often think how much better MY life would be if he were here. I'm sure he's enjoying a pretty good life in heaven. We would be in "fat city". He'd be working part time, I'd be doin' my thing and there'd be Social Security. By now all the debts would be paid and we'd be in a position to save.
Well, God is my husband now. I'm pretty sure I can count on Him to make up the difference, to replace what has been stolen from me. And, I am completely free to do my own thing now. It has its good points, this life of mine, among the not so good................
God seems to be giving me a little brother (at this late age) or a son. I'm really not old enough to be his mama but I knew her. She was a very special lady and, no doubt, even more special to her only son. If I'm his replacement for her, I'm flattered. In any case he is going through a very rough patch in his life and guess who he calls to talk about it? Yup, me. I know my purpose in this. I know I am supposed to keep reminding him that Jesus is the answer. He has only just stuck his toes into the deep waters of following God. I'm the lifebelt and the person who says "Come on in, the water's fine". I'll do my best and be grateful for the opportunity. He told me yesterday he was worried about me. Gee, that's pretty unusual. I don't have many folks in my life who worry about me.
Well, today is vacuuming day and clean the toilets day. Thankfully that goes faster than dusting day which was yesterday. I will perhaps have more time on projects, the big cleanup stuff I'm working on, than I did yesterday. I hope so. And I will have custody of my computer all day so I should be able to do some design work as well. Whoopee! I was beginning to worry about my design productivity for the week. I can't possibly make up for all the time lost with the computer repairs, but it will be good to accomplish something.
So, first up, vaccuum through the whole house, hard floors and all. I know that Thursday is wash the hard floors day and vacuuming them ahead of time really cuts down on the dog hair my mop encounters.
I will be spending a bit of time in the Sewing Room, but that room is more or less coming off priority rotation. It is not what I want it to be, but it's fully usable. My goal for that room now is to just keep working on the small areas that still need attention--details. I need to hunt down another light source for in there. The one light in the room is sufficient for big stuff like sorting and measuring fabric. However, I tried to do a little sewing in there the other night and discovered that the light really is not enough for sewing. I have some spare lamps in the garage, which if I can get to them will work. They badly need to be painted, but I'm not doing decor stuff now. For now, the fact that they plug into the wall, accomodate a light bulb, and yield light is all that's important.
I managed to pay the bills last night that were due immediately. However, the desk still needs attention. it will stay in the daily rotation. My goal is to have everything on this desk that shouldn't be sitting here looking at me sorted and put away or thrown away before February 1. I have all sorts of office supplies in this house. I pulled out an expandible folder and set up categories--to pay, to file, to do. The trash (envelopes, return envelopes, that sort of thing, is going into the trash can) and paperwork that needs saving is going into this expandible folder. That ought to help me get stuff off the desk. Tax season is coming and there will be people sitting here, opposite me. I don't want them to worry about their stuff getting shuffled in with mine.........
In the garage, it's just keep going. There are a couple of boxes that are in the way out there on which I have my eye. I'm going to see what's in them and see what I can do with it all today.
I'm declaring myself done, for now with about half the master bedroom closet. Dress blouses/shirts/tops are sorted and many many were donated. Over 20. Slacks are sorted. Not so many were donated, but definitely all the extra big ones are on their way out. Nighties, robes, and dresses are sorted. I just might take one more look at robes and see if I can't talk myself into donating a few more. I still have way more than I need. Next up? I'm arguing with myself over this one. I think it's the floor, but it might be jackets/2piece outfits which hang opposite the blouses. That rack is so full I struggle to hang anything on it, but the floor is a big problem too. I THINK if I go for the floor next, it will make the rest of the closet easier/safer to deal with.
I'm still supposed to be working on making covers for the Joseph's coat of many colors scrapbooks. I got nothing accomplished on that yesterday.
The dining room table has quite a pile of donate stuff to be listed out and bagged up for donation.
The kitchen is still full of stuff that needs to be moved to the garage now that I am finding space for things and beginning to say "grocery stuff goes here" and "plant stuff goes there".
So that is what lies ahead of me. I seriously doubt I'll get to all of it. But..........it's good to know what to work on next to move myself toward my goal.
We have a new release at DigiScrapBoutique this week and my CT ladies have just been amazing with the beautiful pages they're posting. I'm going to give you lots of eye candy today and throughout the rest of the week. The kit is a "Christmas kit", but wait til you see all the other things besides Christmas that they've used this kit for!
Here's what the kit looks like:
The papers are pretty generic, meaning not decorated with Christmas trees. So they can be used for anything. And there are plenty of elements that are not "Christmasy" which also makes them versatile. You'll see as we look at some gorgeous layouts:
This beauty was created by Karla. Karla seems to specialize in something close to "simple" layouts. The elements are beautifully arranged in that cluster beneath the photo. But the photo is definitely the star on this page, as it should be. Love how it's set off from the background with the white frame. The half circles of dotted paper make a lovely addition to the design of the page. Love this, Karla!
Christy did this page. You get a good look at the simple embossed edge on the solid paper. I LOVE the layers and layers of elements behind and around the photos. Christy is a former designer and created her own journaling block. Her journaling is always well written, poignant, and tells a story. Love this page, Christy!
This beauty is created by Sherry. I definitely want to be invited to a party at her house, don't you? This lady definitely knows how to set a table! The photos are fabulous, particularly since I'm betting they were taken in a low light situation! And I love that cluster of elements between the photos. There seems to be a LOT on which to feast the eye on this page. Excellent!
Here's another by Sherry (and that's my scrappy friend in the bottom right corner). I LOVE these photos taken in front of the tree! Wow, I'm betting the tree looks fabulous IRL. What do you think? Love how Sherry has layered the striped ribbon and the ric rak and used it from corner to corner to divide the page. That cluster in the top right corner is pretty fabulous too!
At Sherry's house, even the fur babies enjoy Christmas! In fact, according to the journaling, they were completely worn out. I love that you are getting to see a bit of the star paper. I created that paper so that the stars have a puffy appearance (as though they were puffy stickers applied to the paper). Again, we have good design, excellent photos, and that gorgeous cluster in the bottom right! Wow!
Well, I woke up early so I'd be able to get started on what needed done early. I guess I'd better get going and make the most of it. Come back tomorrow. I have at least 14 more beautiful pages to show you with this kit. Here's a link to the store in case you'd like to add it to your stash: http://www.digiscrapboutique.com/boutique/HotFlashDesigns/
YOU be BLESSED today! Tomorrow we get an "official" fresh start on the year, but right now you've got a fresh start on the day. Use it well!
Well, there's news from Tara today! First of all, the techies have given up on fixing my internal DVD drive. Honestly, I don't blame them. They've spent many many hours working on it. They did get the external DVD drive working so I can get along that way for a while. So, tomorrow, I get to have my computer for the whole day. How about that?
I saw my grandsons today. Back 2-3 weeks ago, I had tried to set up a time when I could deliver some stuff to DD. However I never got a response. Well, I really wanted it out of my house. It was sitting around here in boxes and black bags and I really felt like I needed to get all that stuff outta here, if only so I didn't have to walk around it. So, I worked for two days lugging boxes and bags to the van. It also happened to be the day I lugged all those boxes to the curb for the trash guy. I was exhausted at the end of all that. I finally just sent her an e-mail to let her know I would be showing up at her house today and an estimate of what time I'd be there. I got the van emptied out and got to see the 2 boys. I really do love those boys and it's always exciting for me when I see them.
I left there and headed back to my side of town, bent on acquiring a 13 x 13 pillow form at JoAnn. I even had a 40% off coupon with me. Guess what? Not a single one in the store. So, I came home empty handed. I may have to break down and make my own pillow form.........
Very early this morning I got my new release at DigiScrapBoutique into the store. It's a pretty Christmas kit. I know there are a lot of photos taken on Christmas Day that don't get scrapped til this time of the month or early January.
I tried again to renew my Tax Preparer ID # on the IRS website. That was a total bomb. Then I tried calling them for assistance. I ended up getting a recording saying "for reasons beyond our control we can't help you. Please go to our website." Well I wasn't going back there to waste more time. So, I filled out the required form and put it and my blood-money check in the mail. Estimated time for their response is 4-6 weeks. Could you all throw a prayer heavenward for 4 weeks, not 6? Please.........
I talked to my mom on the phone. I HAD to tell someone I'd gotten to see the boys. She's pretty unhappy about some things that are happening down there. I've tried to help her out and all it has gotten me is grief so I guess she'll have to live with decisions she has made. They were made at a time when she probably shouldn't have been making decisions, but some of them are irreversible now. Worse, they were made based on wrong thinking she's harbored for years and FEAR. The Bible tells us God is not the author of fear; well, if it isn't God, it has to be the other guy. And the decisions you make when you give in to him are always going to be bad.
I had intended to be out the front door on my way to DD's at noon. Instead I got a phone call that lasted 2 + hours at 11AM. I didn't actually make it back in the door here until almost 4PM. I have about worked myself into the ground, I think. What did I accomplish today?
Well, I stripped the bed yesterday and got the duvet cover washed. Today I washed the sheets and pillow cases and dried them and got the bed reassembled. I also ended up doing another load. I had some things that were going to be donated that I felt needed to be washed first. The only dirty clothes left in this house now are on me! And all the clean clothes are put away. I also dragged a bunch of trash out to the curb.
I dusted through the whole house. I could have done a better job in a couple of places. My dresser really needs to be wiped down with soapy water. I shined that on. I was bent on getting through the whole house and just didn't want to take the time for that this week. I don't think I can do that efficiently anyway til I am done with the closet. There are clothes everywhere in that room. Today's haul for charity was 2 robes, a dress, and a few other things. I will probably end up donating more robes--I checked them for style and the ones I knew I didn't like were donated (except for one I saved to turn into a pretty pink robe for my little DGD. Oh, and I'll be darned if I didn't find another robe! It won't be going anywhere though because it's the only light weight robe I own. It will be the one I reach for by the time late March or early April rolls around. I've got a pretty good pile on the dining room table that needs to be listed out and packed up for charitable deduction. And then, the unloading of the van at DD's. My oldest DGS was a big help with carrying everything into the house, but I ended up pulling it all out of the van. And, I finally had an opportunity to pay a few bills. I certainly would have liked to accomplish more, but I am pretty much exhausted. Even paying those bills was a PITA. The techies deleted ALL the cookies they found off my computer so no matter what website I visit, it's like starting all over.
Well, tomorrow is vacuuming day. That needs done badly. And, for today, I am done. I'm going to take a few pills, drink a bunch of water and crawl into my clean bed. I think I've earned it, even if I didn't get anything done on a lot or porjects that are in process. I'll try again tomorrow........
All that lifting and shoving and carrying resulted in an achy back. However, this morning it feels fine!
Well, I did two loads of laundry yesterday. Stripped my bed and washed the duvet cover and all the bed clothes. I ended up sleeping without sheets last night so that will be my first thing to rectify this morning.
There is a portable swamp cooler in my garage. It was sitting out in prime real estate on the workbench. I managed (with great difficulty) to get it shoved back against the wall. I stacked unused Tupperware on top of it. I have cupboards in the garage, leftover from the previous owner. The guy musta been 7 feet tall. The cupboards are more or less useless. They are set way too high and directly under them is this DEEP workbench. I have no hope of using those cupboards without climbing. And right now the area in front of the workbench is impassable. You couldn't sit a step stool or a ladder in front of that thing if you tried. Eventually, that Tupperware will move into the cupboards, but that's a long way down the road. So, for now, at least that stuff at least is stored in a manner that looks rational.
I guess I'll go back to picking at various areas on the left side of the garage today. I did have a pick up by Big Brothers and Big Sisters this past Saturday, but I have boxes and boxes of stuff that didn't make it to the front porch. Now that I've moved all those empty boxes out of the way, I'm going to designate a corner for more donate boxes and, if I can hold out that long, arrange for another pick up next month. I know there are a couple of boxes for donate stuff already sitting there. Problem is they're really heavy and Wednesday and Thursday of last week I spent mostly in bed with back problems. So, since the back is doing better, we'll tackle shoving those boxes around today.
I still have two dresses to try on in the master bedroom closet. I also want to wash a couple of robes, one of which just needs washed and another because it's going somewhere--either the trash or the recycle box. Then it's on to another area. I wish God would give me a revelation for a better way to store my sweat shirts. I have bazillion of them. Since that is what I live in all winter long, I hate to get rid of any. Sooner or later they will be too worn to wear, and having "spares" will be good. I have NO plans for spending money on clothes in the near future. But, in the meantime, I have too many and they are choking me and creating chaos in my closet. Maybe I should pack up a bunch and just store them til they're needed????
I have to go out this afternoon to take all that stuff that's loaded in the van to DD's house. I'm thinking I may stop at JoAnn's on the way back and get that pillowform I need. The one finished pillow is on the corner of the couch I can see from my desk. It looks nice. Almost like it was made for that spot, LOL. Well, actually it was! So, now to get a form to fill the other one like it. I am also going to move along with making those neckroll pillows I mentioned to you yesterday. I will need something to cover the rubber bands on the pillows. I am thinking either some chocolate brown satin ribbon or some tassels. I think I will like the contrast of the silky shiny ribbon/tassel surface against the rough fabric.
Today is dusting day. How far I get with that is a question for which I don't have an answer. Depends on how long I have to be gone delivering DD's stuff. But, I've skipped the last two dusting days, trying to push ahead on the projects so I have to do as much as I can. And, while the remaking of the bed is my priority in the house today, the rest of the projects will have to come after dusting.
On the design side, I can't count on any afternoon time for that because I have to give the computer back to the techie guys and they won't be off until either they find the problem or it's quittin time in NY which is 3:30 my time. But, I can get some stuff done in the late afternoon and evening. I'm working on a kit for the store for right after New Years, kind of slanted toward achieving our goals in fitness and health in 2014. I'm close to done but will need to accomplish more today than I've been able to do the last few days.
I had two separate problems with the computer. 1) The computer was hacked and I had no idea what might have been planted on it as a result. As far as anyone knows, that is fixed. 2) I have been unable to use my DVD drive. The DVD drive has been unable to detect when a disc is in it. First I tried swapping out various discs and that didn't help. No matter what disc was in there, the computer couldn't detect it. Then, knowing this computer is ancient, I thought maybe the disc drive itself had gone bad. To check that and kind of put a patch on it, I bought a cheap external drive. It used the same software as the internal drive and still couldn't detect a disc in either the internal or external drive. So, I am pretty certain we have a software problem. They put some free program on the machine and the external drive is now working. BUT, the internal one is not. So, they are combing through the contents of the software files to see if there's something there that is causing the problem.
I really winced at paying them to do this, but I felt it was necessary. I disconnected my cable for budgetary reasons. Here, if you don't have cable, you can kiss TV good bye. I survive on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and my DVDs. They provide my only company and my only entertainment. It is an absolute crazy-maker to go all day and all night with only the dogs and Jesus for company. I can read my Bible for a while. I can listen to sermons on the 'net for a while. I can pray for a while. I can talk to the dogs for a while. But eventually it's time to have some sort of "noise" in the background. Anyway, because I live on a tight budget, I did NOT want to pay for this service. However, I reasoned I could get part of my money back by returning the external DVD drive. Well, I have certainly been the winner in this deal in some ways. They have hours and hours and hours of time in on this thing. So many hours that what they are making is down to less per hour than a bookkeeper would make. And you know Tech Support would never work that cheaply. I'm actually starting to feel bad for them because they are working for a set price and ending up making so little per hour!
I know that while they are running scans on my machine they are also running scans on a bunch of other machines as well. So, it's not as bad as it looks, but still.........
Anyway, I have to call the IRS and deal with another website/computer problem. I've been putting that off by talking to you. Time to straighten up and do what I need to do. Later............. YOU be BLESSED today.
I am exhausted and my back is a big ball of "ache". I have learned, however, that if you can possibly do it, you'd better get it done because maybe tomorrow will be a "can't do it kind of day.
Six boxes with trash and other stuff are at the curb, all toted from the garage. I unearthed a treasure today. I used to have a client who imported high quality food products from Italy. I fired him somewhere around 2007. However, near the end of our business relationship, he was getting ready to close up the business and I asked him if I could have some Balsamic Vinegar. I expected him to bring me a bottle or two. He brought me a box of 10! Well, as far as I knew it was somehow used up. Nope, shoved against a wall behind some boxes I found 8 bottles, unopened! Wowee! I see some yummilicious salads in my near future.
I hand stitched the opening in that pillow I made closed and I didn't like it much. So, I worked real hard and managed to push the stuffing far enough away from the opening and pin it out of the way. I think now I can machine stitch the opening closed which will look better. I also pulled out another remnant, measured it, and decided I could make 2 of those neckroll style pillows out of it. It's a real loose weave fabric, kind of like a fancy burlap in appearance. I'm thinking a little fraying on the ends of the neckroll might look kinda cool. Anyway, I'll iron all the wrinkles out of that, stay stitch the edge (back a ways to allow for some fraying) and get started on those later tonight or tomorrow.
I dug in the closet for a few minutes. Found 4 dresses that I know are questionably large. One gets to go back in the closet. It's actually a denim jumper in an A-line cut. Who cares if that is oversized? I could run the side seams in some, but I don't really care about that. I will be wearing a tee shirt under the thing so I don't really care how deep the armholes are which is the major fit problem. I tried on another dress made of a stretchy brown velour. It's a really pretty shade but it hangs on me like a tent. I'd need shoulder pads like a football player to make it fit. I was going to donate it til I got the idea of cutting it to make a child's dress. I think that deep brown fabric with red and white accents might make a cute Christmas dress for someone. I have two more dresses to try on.
I definitely tagged 2 robes to go somewhere. They're both heavy fluffy chenille. And they're both wrap style which is not my fave. One will go to donation, and I'm thinking I know a little girl who is a pink fanatic that would just love a fluffy warm pink robe.......... There is one more that may bite the dust. The others will stick around for now, I guess.
I carted 4 boxes of DD's stuff to the van as well as a big black bag full of stuffed animals. I had sent her an e-mail trying to arrange some sort of date for me to transfer this stuff to her. I never got a response. So, I just started toting all of it to the van. I knew I wouldn't have enough energy to get it all out of the house and loaded up AND drive to the other side of town, but at least it's loaded up.
I did some other stuff, including stripping the bed and washing all the bedclothes, but all the carrying and lifting has been difficult. Just opening the garage door is challenge enough! I'm about to go lie down and rest my back a while. I would have loved to do that earlier, but the techies have had the computer for another 4 hours or more today. I didn't want to go lie down and then have them call and ask me to do one thing or another on the computer. They are in NY so they've gone home for the day and I have the computer back. One major problem they have still not been able to solve, but they've put a temporary patch on it. AND THEY DID MANAGE TO UNDO WHATEVER THEY DID THAT HAD ME BLOCKED FROM UPLOADING MY KIT SO THAT'S ON THE AGENDA, after the big old ugly ache in my back quiets down.
Well, in the past week I've experienced some heavy duty back pain which more or less sidelined me for two days. Shortly I have to turn the computer over to the techies which will mean no computer for the bulk of a third day. I've been unable to upload my kit for this week at DSB; since the going over by the techies, I can't connect to the server. I'm doing a hurry-up upload for my CT ladies for this coming week's kit in the background right now because, if I don't upload it now I don't know when I'll be able to do it. And, I need to renew my tax preparer ID before the end of the year and that website is still working like the ObummerCare website..........
I started work on renewing my PTIN last night. Could NOT remember my username. I remember when this program first started, I was beyond panic when I could not make the website work. I finally got help from some guy via the phone. However, we had to jerryrig a username to do it. Well, this site is the only site where this particular username is used, I only visit the website once a year, and it's a crazy derivation of something imaginary which I can't remember. So I asked to have the username e-mailed to me. It took over 3 hours for it to arrive. That was last night's bit.
So this morning, first thing, I reopened the e-mail from IRS and copied and pasted the given username into the website. Then I used that to ask them to e-mail me the password. Guess what? The username they gave me, copied and pasted into their website, comes back invalid and now I am locked out of the website for 24 hours. I guess tomorrow morning will start with a phone call to them.............. Absolutely no use to try calling them today--government employees don't work on weekends.........
So, today, let's pray for a catastrophe-free day. I think I'm due!
What will I do today? Well, I probably won't do any design work because I probably won't have access to the computer after about 10AM. So, it's back to working on the areas I've been working on. I'm getting tired of this!
I am still planning on moving a few things from the kitchen to the garage. I may take a look at the 2 alternate routes to where the Christmas stuff is stored to see if I think I can get at that stuff without breaking a leg. If I can, I'll pack some more of that up in the new bins. May even make a run to Lowe's to get a couple more bins. If I can dig down to the Christmas tree, which is all the way on the bottom of the pile, I will measure that center piece which is the longest part of it and see if it will fit in the under-the-bed storage box I have. If not, I'll be looking for something else that I can lay my hands on quickly. I bought that tree in 1975 and it has been stored in the same boxes since then. I'm betting, now that you know that little fact, you can guess what shape those boxes are in........... If I can't get to the Christmas boxes, I think I have found a way to make better use of the space on the workbench, to the right of the door from the kitchen. At least the part closest to the door. Working on the whole thing could be dangerous to my health--lots of stuff piled in front of it......... I'll start moving some things around on there.......
I'm going to drag those boxes that are empty out there to the curb. I don't care if trash day isn't until Tuesday. I need to get rid of the empty boxes just to have space to work.
I will definitely do a bit of ironing in the sewing room. If I iron a piece a day, the pile will come down. I do not wear things that need to be ironed all that often so not much will be added, and dealing with a piece a day will help. If I can, I'll make a run to JoAnn and get that pillow form I need so I can finish those pillows. If not, I can at least hand stitch the bottom of the one that has a pillow form in it. I tried to machine stitch it yesterday and it's such a tight fit that I can't fight the bulk of the pillow form well enough to keep it under the presser foot. So, hand stitching is a must.
I realize now that when I bought the fabric for throw pillows, I kind of screwed up. I bought remnants. They're beautiful fabric and I got them at the remnant price less 50% because they were having a sale. However, each piece is under a yard. And, I didn't realize that the manufacturers have reduced the width of even home dec fabrics. Higher prices/smaller sizes, just like coffee companies and other folks we deal with in the retail market these days. If I want the pillows to match (2 of each), which was my original intention, I just don't have enough fabric for that. I guess I'll make what I can sensibly make with what I have and when I've done that, perhaps I can buy some larger cuts of coordinating fabric with 50% off coupons or something. I can then use those larger cuts to make a set or two of matching pillows and just mix everything up and see how it looks. I think it SHOULD be okay with fabrics that coordinate well.
The next part of the closet in the Master Bedroom that I need to deal with is the small rack that holds nightgowns, bath robes, and dresses. I thought about packing away the short-sleeved light weight stuff, but there's not much of that. Even if I put nighties and dresses in the same box, I doubt I could fill a box. So, I may just pull out whatever I want to try on and possibly alter or donate and make decisions on that stuff and stop there.
I don't have any intention of getting rid of nightgowns. I sleep with two dogs and they love me no matter what I'm wearing, even if it's just my birthday suit. However, I counted last night and there are 7 robes in that closet. I think there's another one in the closet in the sewing room. Some of those are going to go bless someone else. What in the world can one woman do with 8 robes? Most of them were gifts and some are in styles I don't love, so decisions on those will be pretty easy.
I only have about half of the book covers done for the scrapbooks. So, I'll be working on those today as well. That is not a lot of fun because it requires bending. Basically, I've only been able to do one at a time and then I have had to rest my back. Hoping that goes better today.
And, then, there's still the desk. I should pay some bills pretty soon. But there's a lot of paper sorting and filing that can still be done without the use of the computer. I kind of started a new system yesterday. I really hope it works to help me keep this desktop clear of paper. At least I'm trying!
So, the last of the files for this coming week's kit just finished uploading. I'm going to stop this and work on getting links on that stuff out to the CT. YOU be BLESSED today!
The thing I most needed to do tonight I cannot do. I cannot connect to the server to upload my latest kit to the store's server. I've tried and tried. Weirdest thing. I can connect everywhere else I've tried, but not there.
I also need to update my preparer tax ID number. However, I remember we had to jerryrig the thing a couple of years ago when the PTIN program started, so I could not remember my user name. The website was supposed to send it to me around 8PM. It just got here. I wonder if the same company designed the PTIN website as the one that did the website for Obummercare. Probably not. 3 hours isn't much of a wait compared to the Obummer website. Even if most sites send you these types of e-mail within 15 seconds of hitting enter when you ask for it. I'm not foolin with that anymore tonight!
Besides trying to connect where I need to connect, I haven't accomplished too much more. I did stack up 3 more boxes to put out for the trash man on Monday, and got the 3 filled and labeled Christmas bins stacked up where I intend to keep them til I can get to the proper corner.
I decided to peer into that back corner and try to estimate how many more bins I would need to buy to replace cardboard stuff. I'm thinking 2-3 more. But the really wild thing is that I spotted yet ANOTHER MONITOR. And it's one of those big bulky old-style monitors that pretty much no one wants anymore. I've carted 2 old monitors to the curb already. What in the world was Joe doing? Maybe he was going to go into the used monitor business? This one is not in a box which means I can't just shove the box to the curb; I'm going to have to carry the thing. It's sitting on some kind of furniture. It occurs to me I have no clue what it's sitting on. I guess I'll investigate that tomorrow. And, the furniture is in front of the drawer where I store gift tags and ribbon and bows. And, guess what's left in a beaten up old box, waiting to go to it's home? Yup, a bunch of gift tags, ribbons, and bows. So, in order to put those away, I have to not only move that monitor but whatever that furniture is and whatever else is on it.
I am going to have to go back on Pinterest and look for ideas on storing wreaths. I know I saw one when I was on there the other day. But I just didn't pay much attention to it. NOW I wish I had.......... Now that I've unearthed a wreath AND the wreath hanger, I'd love to find a safe way to store them.
There are moments when I wish I had a man around the house. A guy could probably lift, tote, move this stuff around with ease. For me, it's work! And hard work at that. But, I think I'd rather grunt and moan and muck up my back than have to live with another person of the male persuasion. I don't have time to deal with what they dish out........
My back hung in today til somewhere around 2PM. It was really aching about that time so I had to resort to ibuprofen. I figured I'd rather take ibuprofen and stay upright than take a muscle relaxer and be knocked out for hours. The ibuprofen helped more than I thought it would so I'm not doing too bad right now. I do have some mini-spasms going on--right hip, left buttock. You could bounce quarters off either of those right now. I just keep hoping that the mini spasms 1) don't grow to full on spasms and 2) result in tighter muscles in those locations! I could use tight hips and a tighter bum.
Since I posted earlier, I sorted and put away more small stuff in the sewing room. At one point I had the surface of what will be my cutting table cleared off. Then, as I continued sorting, stuff landed on there. Well, this evening I got about half the stuff that was on there put away where it actually belongs. I promised myself I was going to go in there and iron at least one piece, but I couldn't face that. Pending ironing is pretty much the biggest "mess" in there now. I'll try to do some of that tomorrow.
I got another scrapbook lugged out to the dining room table, made a cover for it, and got it all set up in the bookshelves. I've been using my cutting tool I use for quilt stuff. At least I can get a fairly straight cut that way. However, it's difficult because the paper I'm using is so wide. Can't see the measurement markings on the cutting pad. I still think it's a better deal than scissors though.
And I picked my way through more paper on the desk. I probably worked through another 3 inches of paper. I have had no mail the last 2 days. I call that a blessing. Between collection letters, ads for additional services that are not in my budget (like cable TV--I seem to get about 3 of those a week), stuff addressed to Joe, and regular bills, there is a whole lot of trash that makes its way into this house in the name of "mail". I'd much rather have none than more to sort.
And, of course, with my computer not available to me the last two days, there is e-mail galore to sort and delete.
Well, I probably did more than that, but I'm too tired to think what it was. I'm headed to bed. I've had it. I may or may not be online in the AM. The techies want another chance at this computer......... So, don't think anything of it if you don't see a morning post. I'm pretty sure God isn't finished with me yet so chances are really good that I'll be alive but without access to my computer.
Have you missed me? Well, no need for concern. I've been in the clutches of tech support for more than 24 hours. My computer was hacked yesterday morning. At this point it is partially fixed but not fixed fixed. It's stuck together with chewing gum and bailing wire so that I don't have to sit here between now and tomorrow morning trying to figure out a new and different way to file my fingernails. I am also considerably poorer than I was and I wasn't flush in the first place. Just love how this stuff crops up in the months when I have the most oddball bills to pay.......
I have worked hard on household stuff during my absence. The Christmas stuff I've found in the garage is now all sorted into bins and the bins are labeled. The next step is to get rid of the cardboard boxes the stuff was in and stack the bins in their place.
I've worked in the sewing room. I've crawled around and picked up everything I could find on the floor that shouldn't be vacuumed. I've dealt with a couple more pieces of fabric. I've worked on making two pillows for the living room couch.
One pillow is ready to be stitched closed. The other needs a pillow form. I have a coupon for 50% off one regularly priced item at JoAnn so I guess I'll be buying a pillow form.
I've also continued work on sorting little stuff in the sewing room. Progress is slow but it's progress. Some buttons found and sorted. Knitting needles and crochet hooks found and sorted. And so on. I've used the label maker so much I had to make a run to buy batteries.........
Worked some in the closet. I've now sorted through all my dress blouses and all my dress pants. Everything is in the closet in ROYGBIV order. The stuff that was on crappy wire and plastic hangers has now been moved to those "velvet" hangers, the ones that stuff doesn't fall off of. I piddled around in the guestroom a bit and found a couple of outfits that should fit now. That made me happy. Next up will be sorting nightgowns and dresses. I don't care about the sizes of the nightgowns, but I do care whether they are for winter or summer. And, I do care about the sizes of the dresses. I don't have that many of these things so it ought to go pretty fast.
I've spent a good bit of time on the desk surface. I can see the difference though you probably would never guess. Still bills to pay and stuff to go through as well as stuff to file.
I've rearranged the clips in the bookcases and moved the shelves around. Made a good many covers for my Joseph's coat collection of scrapbook binders but a lot more to go. And, I've done some messy stuff in the kitchen and a lot of cleaning.
So, now, I can maybe get done what I thought I was going to do last night. I have to hurry because the techie gremlins will be taking control of the computer again in the morning, removing the chewing gum and bailing wire, hoping to make it work normally again. God bless 'em, they are computer hogs!
I didn't put out much in the way of Christmas decorations. I didn't even put up the tree; it's wedged into a far corner of the garage in an area I can't even get to--yet. Nevertheless, I did put out SOME stuff and I am determined that when I put it away, it will be stored carefully and sensibly.
To do my bit of "decorating" I rummaged through the 4 boxes I found on the "wrong" side of the garage and pulled out baskets and some basic ornaments. Primarily I used 3 baskets filled with ornaments as my "decor". I am now working on getting that stuff packed up and ready for storing. For now, til I can tunnel my way to the far corner of the garage, I'll stack up my storage boxes on the side of the garage that is more or less available--the "wrong" side. But, at least with the red and green color scheme, these bins will be easy to locate and move when I get to the far side. I am also labeling what's in the bins.
I went to Lowe's the other night and bought 4 of these (image is linked):
Most likely 4 won't be enough but I couldn't quite be sure in the store. And, the markdown on these isn't enough to sweat having to buy a few more at regular price. Anyway, these are marked down from $5.48 to $4.98 each. They're sturdy boxes and I'm glad they have a solid lid. Knowing I have to store things in the garage, I didn't want anything without a solid lid because I don't want to have to dust everything I pull out of there next year. These are the 20 gallon size. If you search you can find a 30 gallon size as well for only a bit more. I wanted the smaller size because me, myself and I will be responsible for stacking these things in the garage and I didn't want them so big that when I got them filled I couldn't lift them.
I am planning on one or two bins for ornaments (when I find the rest of the ornaments.....), one for lights and garland, and one or two for miscellaneous decor stuff and stockings.
Right now I am working on storing ornaments. You can buy fancy (and expensive) bins with separate compartments for each ornament. I thought those were pretty pricey. (And, on most of them have dividers for the compartments made out of lightweight cardboard. Those don't hold up worth spit.) So, I went on Pinterest and searched "Christmas Storage". Holy moley, some folks are so smart and creative. Can I share some ideas with you that I think are just over the top?
If I have the original box that the ornaments came in, I have used that. If I do not, I have always individually wrapped every ornament--in tissue paper, in paper towels, in newspaper. Something that I think would cushion the ornament in case of spills, bumps, load shift, whatever. Look at some clever ideas:
That's just a plain old egg carton, folks! Sorry, I couldn't find the original source on this pin to credit it. I love the idea of reusing what would otherwise go into a landfill to solve the problem!
Here's another idea I thought was SMART:
(I can't promise you the watermark on that photo is the original source.) Anyway, this is a piece of cardboard with plastic cups on top. I think I would hot glue the cups in place. You would just drop an ornament, or more than one if they're small, into the cups, and stack the cardboard/cup combinations in your storage bins. I REALLY like this idea, but then comes the problem of finding cardboard of an appropriate size. Of course, once you find it, it would be good for years and years to come. Certainly worth spending some time on!
I saw someone else using a variation on this idea. Instead of the red cups, they used those smaller plastic cups you might use to serve alcoholic drinks at a party.
Two other items that seem to be difficult to store successfully are Christmas lights and wrapping paper. For Christmas lights, I have my own system I've been using for years. I may have to alter it this year because I'm not sure what I've been doing will fit in the bins I bought. I use empty wrapping paper rolls. I tear a small slit at the top and work the light at the far end of the strand into it to hold things in place. Then I wind and wind and wind that strand of lights round and round the wrapping paper roll. I tear a small slit in the bottom of the roll and feed the plug in there. It's just wonderful not to have to untangle lights when it's time to put them on the tree! I have an empty under-the-bed storage box that I think might be perfect to hold these tubes if they won't fit in the new bins.
The trick with wrapping paper is to store it somehow so that it doesn't get all wrinkled and/or torn on the edges. Again, I've had this one solved for years and I like my method. When all the gifts for Christmas are wrapped, I remove the wrapping paper from the cardboard roll. I roll it back up slightly tighter than before and slide it INSIDE the roll. I can always stick my finger down inside that roll to see what's in there next year and every edge is protected. This also deals with the dust problem by keeping the wrapping paper covered. The cardboard roll may get dusty, but the wrapping paper is pristine.
Anyway, I just wanted to show you the nifty ideas I found on Pinterest for Christmas storage challenges. My next challenge is how best to store my artificial tree. It lives next to the water heater. I have faced the fact that someday, that water heater will leak. I've had that happen twice in my lifetime. And card board boxes cannot stand up to that! So, I will be looking for a waterproof storage solution. I have seen some big bins that might work. But I won't know for sure til I can measure the center post of the "tree". And that can't happen til I make a path to that corner of the garage...........sigh!
