Here I go again....

off onto the a different track......this time it is a purposeful side-track......

......have you ever just looked around and seen a couple of things out of place in each room you enter?  I am self aware enough to know that when I start to get that overwhelmed-crazy, out-of-sorts, something-is-amiss-but-I-don't-know-what feeling, it is because I need a good ole sort out and pick up session.  It is some kind of unconscious weight on my shoulders.  It started when I pulled out all the tubs for the fall decorations.  I know there will always be a mess  when changing out the decor from season to season.  But I just had to give myself with a firm talking to that I needed to 'pick up' before I launched yet-another-project.  You know, complete one task before you start another.   What a concept!  Those couple of things here and there quickly turned into what seemed to be half-a-hundred.

It's not that I don't straighten up and clean each week but I have been so bent on getting outside to enjoy the weather, the pool and yard I admit I have been maybe doing the minimum.  I needed to put the brakes on.    I told myself use what works - touch it once and handle and a half-hour tops.  I intended to just do my stitching area and stuff.  Somehow I moved to baseboards, ceiling fan blades, the stack of mail on my desk,  removed seat cushions and so on.   Threads and needles,  bits and bobs out of place, goldfish crackers and Fisher-Price little people under the cushions with a couple pairs of scissors, a pile of mail on the desk reviewed, so two hours later, I felt good.  Family room is cleaned and I can move onto something I want to do without guilt.  

For stitching I have put all my concentration on The Women of the Mayflower sampler by Brenda Gervais.  Today is Day 5 of 66.  This is such a fun SAL.   The premise is to stitch daily from September 6 to November 5, 2020 to commemorate the sailing of the Mayflower.  There are FB groups and Instagram groups and everyone is sharing and supportive.  Brenda has a great start-up video on the private FB group and was so adorable dressed up like a Pilgrim.   And she is sending out questions to answer for give-aways.     

Brenda encouraged us that while we are stitching on this sampler to think about what these women went through.   Imagine, sailing to the unknown, being able to only take along only what would fit in one trunk, (think carefully - no Amazon to order from once you arrive), knowing you will never see again the people you have left behind, being on the sea in cramped quarters......66 days and having no idea if you will make it or not.........surely no creature comforts.......I don't know if I could have ventured into the unknown as they did. It makes me even more grateful for everything I have within my reach even during a pandemic! 

My plan was to keep up by stitching 6 rows a day.  Operative word being 'plan'.  Day 2, I went amok. I saw where someone else did the border down to the waves, completed the waves and then would be working up from the waves for the ship.  Made sense to me so I changed my approach.

I am looking forward to fall weather so I can get back out in my yard and do some damage.   I have a lot I want to get cleared still and spring bulbs to get in.

And I almost forgot I got two pieces of  Happy Mail yesterday.   I did forget one was coming; and the other was a real surprise.   First I joined the Fat Quarter Shop Quarterly Cross Stitch Club way back at the end of May.    I joined too late for the last quarterly mailing and completely forgot it was time for the next quarter's mailing.  Like I need anything else but it is so fun to get mail.   Look how adorable this was packed in a fall themed stitching bag.  Inside it was full of all the goodies needed to complete the pattern.   The fabric provided is 10-ct Aida so this will stitch up into a nice pillow!  

The other was a Post Card from Germany from the CEO of the Company I worked for and I was excited about that one too!  It made me remember when I was in Germany.  I remember how clean the cities were and beautiful their gardens were.  Of course I am sure the tour only took us to the best places.  I did text her a reply but it is not the same as the effort someone puts in to real mail.  I will have to get a card in the mail to her maybe to some other friends as well to put a smile on their faces.  

I just love getting snail mail.

Thanks for stopping by.   Stay safe, stay healthy and keep on stitching.    

Remember of all the things you can be, be kind.  😊

Extreme Stash Shopping

You've all seen Extreme Couponing, well I have taken Extreme Stash Shopping to a different level. This is crazy....I have been on a mission to clean out a couple of drawers or closet shelves each week in an effort to declutter, downsize, sort and donate some of the STUFF.   Last night I took on the drawers in my walk-in closet.

I can lay now claim to -

• all single socks discarded - where do their mates go? or better yet, why do we keep the singles? do we think the mate will just return from a year long hiatus?

• enough dental floss, mini toothpaste tubes and mini mouthwash from the dentist to last 2 lifetimes or at least several vacations/retreats

• created new shower gels of Cucumber Melon/Plumeria and Plumeria/Vanilla Brown Sugar (I hope no one asks what the name of fragrances!)
• enough chapstick to last 3 winters or at least put one in every coat pocket and pocketbook
• created a rich body lotion of Eucerin/Gold Bond/Suave combo
• I didn't need to buy that new tube of concealer - I now know where three can be found
• several almost empty bottles of Covergirl and Clinique foundation make a lovely bottle 3/4 full of a the perfect winter shade of Clinique-Girl foundation
• two xerox boxes ready for Goodwill
• Q-Tips for the year
• half a recycling can full of empty tubes and bottles
• neat and orderly closet drawers

Shelves and drawers are getting cleaned, space is opening up, the wallet will be getting fatter.  This must be the flip side of the one-woman mission to stimulate the economy. Shopping the stash!

Closet Clean - out

Pardon the wrinkles.  Just popped this off the Q-snaps long enough to take a picture.

I stitched a bit this morning......I am over half way on my class piece.   Yeah!   I really hope to get this completed by mid-to-end of September.   Retreat is the first weekend of October and I already have a piece in mind I want to start!!   And then there is Grace Mason of course that I need to stitch on and then the stitch-a-long with guild....of my!  Too much to stitch and not enough hours in a day. As I stitched this morning, I was watching House of Cards (thanks Pat!!)  Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright and others....really quite excellent. Talk about corruption in government.   This show is really quite believable and frightening at the same time when you realize this probably only scratches the surface of the secrets, favors, personal agendas, wheelings and dealings that actually go on.    I understand there is a British version too for those folks on the other side of the pond! Anyway,  after three episodes I needed to get up and get moving so I could justify a good sit 'n stitch later today.

I decided I needed to tackle my closet today since it is a kind of showery, gray, misty sort of I don't want to be outside kind of day.    So to the closet I went........this is what the the floor usually looks like by the end of the week (the part I am willing to show you).

Mr. W. gets in bed at 8.   Heck, I
am mostly likely not even home yet or if I am, I am not inside yet, so it makes keeping the closet neat difficult.   By the time I decide to get undressed for the night he is in dreamland and I need to be quiet so I just kick off the shoes, etc., etc.  This of course has lead to a grand sort out of all things in the closet today.   It is kind of the August ritual that developed when I used to have to assess who had what and who needed what to start school....but enough.

More important, I  did just want to share this trick for cleaning and sorting out clothes in the closet.  I read this somewhere.....here's what you do......for one year every time you wear something you hang the hanger backwards on the rod.  At the end of one year, you know you have not worn the article of clothing in over a year and therefore, can chuck it!  I choose April Fools Day as my start date since I am foolish to think that I will even fit back into some of the things I 'save'.

On that note, happy stitching all......may your stitches be many and your frogs few and I will return to start sorting the drawers in the closet!

Squirrel!

Ever see a dog get distracted by a squirrel?   Well that is totally me.  I didn't work on my craft room yesterday as I had planned (and boy does it NEED it) but rather I just HAD to start putting everything back in my freshly painted closet.  On the left starting at the top: wrapping paper and ribbons with a couple 'emergency' hostess type gifts; next my hand weights and some of my children's childhood story books I just can seem to part with; yoga mat and yearbooks on the next shelf; and last on the floor, all the family photos and photo albums. 

Now to the right from the top down:  all the games; next some of my cardmaking and paper stamping supplies with some of my basket supplies; followed by two more shelves of basket supplies!  These shelves are two boxes deep!  OMGosh.....I could make a basket for every household in town.  It might look messy in the photo  but  trust me, in person, it is a glorious sight to behold.    All like things are together and organized!

I finished the room by wiping down baseboards and just generally cleaning the room.  Room is all ready for me to pull out that yoga mat and do some exercising or more than ready for a weekend visit from one of the kids.

My children are redeemed.   Below are the only things in the closet that were 

theirs with the exception of the games and some stuffed animals.  

This the stack o' stuff that I need to get to Goodwill or somewhere!   The boxes under the desk have been sorted and inventoried.   What is on the top is yet to be done.   I wish I knew someone with booth at a consignment shop because some of this is too good for a thrift store donation.  Mr. W. said put it on eBay or Craig's list but I don't want to add one more thing to my list of things to do.  Maybe  I will make some calls this weekend to see if the local consignment shop will make me on offer on the lot.   OK, one room down and 6 more to go (plus the attic and the two sheds)  I think I just signed up for 8 more three day weekends of work!  If one room neat and sorted makes you feel good; then a whole household sorted and decluttered will be a fabulous feeling. 

I did take a couple of time outs during the day to add some trees and finish the cabin on my Christmas Tree Farm sampler.   The cabin still gets some icicles using kreinik floss and beeds for christmas lights but I will wait to add them last.   I did run the snow across the bottom to the right to the end of the band so I am over halfway across the first band!  Yeah!

I ended by day with a fabulous dinner out in Old New Castle with my sister and brother at a 300 year old tavern.  Great atmosphere and delicious food and much laughter.  I think a 3-day weekend once a month should be a law!  

 I have my first class at the Apple store tomorrow at 8 a.m. so I am writing my questions down.  I am getting used to my new laptop but still have some blogger and website issues to ask about.

Stay warm and dry all and may your stitches be plenty and your frogs few.

Stitching and Cleaning

A quick post to show my progress.   I haven't had a lot of stitching hours this week but I am pleased the progress I have made.   Right now I am taking a break from the spring house cleaning!

 

This sampler calls for stitching from the bottom up.  Not my usually way but it is because of the painting of the linen where we placed the house.   The line under the letters is the half-way mark.   I love doing the letters!  They go so fast.   Sorry for the wrinkles and the long shadows cast by the early morning sunlight.   The table when I usually take my photos is still covered with freshly washed glassware that have not been arranged in display yet.

I have been following the lead of Susan from A Work in Progress and cleaning.  I am scrubbing walls, washing windows and sheers and cleaning glassware in my dining room.   OMG!  It is embassassing to admit I didn't remember the shades on the ceiling fan weren't frosted.   Back to the bucket o' vinegar water.

Brass Orchids!

Or rather brass and orchids.   Obviously, the orchids first.    I have wanted to try my hand at orchids for the last several years.   Ever since the House and Garden Tour in Wilmington and the hostess at one home insisted her orchids grew with neglect!  She assured us, once you find a place they like.....leave them.    Several of  ladies in my stitching group grow orchids and it got me thinking......why not!  The ladies in my group are so nice I know they will be able to give me sound advice if needed.  So off to Home Depot I go today and bought a couple.   Now I hope the horticultural affecianatoes of the orchid world  don't get all nerved out because I bought Home Depot orchids.   I am just testing the waters here.

OK, so now the brass part.    My father had a passion for antique brass candlesticks.    I remember each Christmas he would sit for hours polishing away until the brass shone almost white if that is possible.  I also remember road trips to some obscure antique shop where someone had told him a pair was for sale.    It was not just any brass candlesticks.   These are English, the beehive series and have push-ups.

   He also had the whole diamond series - my brother has those.  After both my parents passed away my brother, sister and split up the antiques.   On the table  is MY SHARE of the candlesticks! except for the couple of pairs I have already passed to one daughter.   You can't imagine how beautiful 3 times that many looked all gleaming with greens around them at the holidays.  I have to admit, I have neglected the polishing over the years.   For some unknown reason I have been missing my parents alot lately and with my father's birthday on the 26th it just seemed like something I had to do this weekend.....to polish the candlesticks.   It might of had something to do with rearranging furniture but anyway.    Some on the table are shined and some are yet to be polished.   

I tried to polish just one half of this one to show the difference.    Below are my cricket boxes.  If the candlesticks are getting polished so are the cricket boxes.   I can't believe how much the one on the right gleams!     

and my accomplice.......now back to complete the task and then scrub and scrub the hands and nails so I can get in some stitching time tonight.....

Finished the Kite Runner last night and have down loaded The Glass Castle and hope to get some reading time in too.

The white wine candles in my header photo are in recognition of my 35th wedding anniversary on Monday.   In my mind, I think I am 35! not married for 35 years.   I can't believe it.   Good times, bad times, and better times but that is what it is all about.   Working through those rough times together and not throwing in the towel.  It just makes the good times all that much better.   I told Mr. W early in February to not waste money on me for Valentines Day or our Anniversary.  I would be happy with one rose and not the gigantic bouquet like last year.  I said to put the money he would spend on the principal of the mortgage and give me the present of an earlier retirement!  He has become quite the gift giver in the last few years.  I'll let you know if he listened.   If I had it to do again........I would, maybe with a few changes along the way.  But, yes, I would marry Mr. Wonderful again!  Sappy I know.  After all this time we just kind of get each other.

Positve Posts

That's what I decided to do.   Since blogging and following blogs seems to be an obsession with me, I am thinking I need to put a spin on it to get benefits! so I will be posting the positive things that happen in the 24 hours (or week) proceeding......

Stitchie Stuff - Good progress made on Side Four of my Etui.   I am pleased with the compensation stitches so far.   Got my hour and a half in this morning and hope to stitch again this afternoon.  I am amazed (so far) at how fast I am working this up.  It is all about quality and not quantity!   I was spending so much time with my stitching in hand but not stitching......watching TV, being distracted, etc.

Family - Talked to me sister yesterday and made plans to lunch together today.   She is having such a time of it on her limited retirement funds and her need to have double knee replacement.   We need to resurect our monthly Saturday antique and junk shop crawls.    Problem is, they always lead to spending money and right now money is tight for her.

On a better note, my daugher made it home safely by 5:30 last night.   It is a 350 mile drive and I was happy to hear she was home and snuggling with her kitty and knitting on the sofa.    It was bittersweet to have her leave.  It always leaves a hole in my heart.   On the other hand, I am immensely proud that she could move that far away and not know a soul and not to mention to be doing so well at her job.   Yes, another promotion was announced in early December.   She has bought her first home - all by herself!!! - and I will be trekking to Massachusetts when she makes settlement to help with the move.

Cleaning/House - I managed to box up the wrapping papers, gift boxes and all the trappings of wrappings!   I have several boxes ready to go outside to the attic storage in the garage.  I also filled two yardsale boxes to go to the attic.   Better yet - I am thrilled with the sorting of my dressing table and everything from my scarves to socks in my walk in closet.   I am ashamed to say, before yesterday, you couldn't see the floor! but with the holiday rush, something has to give.  I also managed to sort a huge pile of mail and junk mail.   I have a larger stack of filing to take care of but that is not for today.   I need to pick a few week nights and sort the file cabinet and all the files in prep for the dreaded tax return time.   So much of what we do is electronic, I don't need a lot of the paper anymore.  Along with that is the binder of owner's manuals for items that have long since been out of here!   Yeah, this is a more than one night project but boy with it feel like the house is lighter when I am done.

Health/Exercise - I managed to maintain my vow to drink no soda.   I really paid attention to everything I ate yesterday and eliminated a lot of empty calories.    When I really put some thought into it, I eat when I am not hungry, I eat because I can.....which is the reason I have the 25 extra pounds that I'd like to shed.   I drank move water, ate smaller portions and did the treadmill TWICE yesterday.

As I sit and recall all I did yesteday, I don't know how I fit it all in one day.   What remains for today is to keep my kitchen clean!  It looks so nice without that stack of perpetual dishes and stuff cluttering up the counters.   I am off to the grocery store for a quick trip of what I need for the week.   I have two meetings this week and will push to get all my paperwork in place today and not wait til the night before when I am tired after a day at work.  And need to log in to work later to get a jump on the week ahead.  But I will do what I can, one day at a time, and not be overly critical of myself if I can't to it all!

Let's start at the very beginning

A very good place to start......can you tell I watched the Sound of Music last week?   Since Mr. Wonderful and I have never been ones to party on New Year's Eve.....I mean why relegate it to one night; party all year I say.....but I digress.   My New Year's tradition starts in my kitchen and has for the last dozen or more years.   I remove everything from the cabinets - especially the spice/flour/sugar one, the pots and pans and tupperware closet!  I sort and match and purge.  Life is so hectic that it is easier when you are in that mad rush that things are where they belong.   I scour and streamline the countertops and after the clutter of the holidays this is alway so refreshing.  After the cabinets, I will move to my Hoosier.  All my bowls and cook books and serving dishes are in my Hoosier and I need to think of a better layout.   Right now, I need to remove everthing off the front to get in and either get something or put something away.....which is why bowls stay stacked up outside the Hoosier waiting for me to go through all the manuevers. 

I hope to get upstairs and sort out the room I used as my staging area for presents and wrapping.   This is the smaller bedroom and last one to be painted.   My DinL will be helping me paint on Martin Luther King Weekend.   Money being tight for my son and his wife, I told them helping me paint a room or helping me weed the garden in the spring would be present enough!   Seems like a double prize to me.   I get a room painted and I get to spend the day with them as well.

What no crafting?   I did put in two hours of stitching with 3 cups of coffee this morning.  Well, the thing with us OCD people is that hours of cross stitch in the evening can be enjoyed much more when you don't have all these other things hanging over your head to be done. 

To my New Year's Resolution. The new year is like when you get a new planner or journal. All is pristine, crisp and clean and full of promise. I will forego the ....I need to loose weight, I need to execise more, etc., etc. because they go without saying. My resolution is to be more spontaneous and to be more structured. Sounds convaluted hey? Well, I have never been on to be able to be spontaneous. Everything is planned, Every detail is obsessed over. I have missed out on things because they don't fit in my little 'schedule'. Every possible tangent is thought about. Exhausting! Boring! Something I need to change. So for the structured part......well it seems I have identified that I get into an obsessed mode and can only work on one thing at a time. I am not talking WIP's because heaven knows I have a ton. I mean I become obsessed with stitching that I block out all the other things I should or need to be doing. I find myself walking in the door, talking off the high heels and panty hose, donning the sweats or pjs and plopping on the couch to stitch. Yes, it's a great life but other things don't get done. Things like filing tax papers, laundry, letter writing, updating websites, minutes for my Board Meeting.......stitching has always been my sanity, my santuary, my escape and I think I have been using to hide from things I need to do. When I stitch I don't have to think about any unsavor task like changing the litter box.

I am thinking that all I need is a better balance. I hope my my need to be more diligent it going to overwhelm my desire to be more spontaneous! I am thinking to be diligent on my tasks will allow me the freedom to be spontaneous! Like those things you told your kids that have come back to haunt you.....I always told them you have to "do your have-to's before your want-to's". Yes, I have eaten those words over the years. It is all good and now after writing this all down and having the therapeutic benefits of the thoughts flowing out of my body and onto paper (so to speak), I resolve to take one day at a time!

Nesting

I pulled out the junk door this morning or rather I should say I tried to pull it out.  Or course it would not open all the way and the decision was instantly made to drop all I was doing and have a grand sort out of the imfamous junk draw.   We all have one, some of us have more than one.   And my children will tell you the grand sort outs in our house never turn out well.   When the kids were younger the sort outs of their rooms took longer than the patience allowed. Unfortunately if your room was last you regretted it.

It is hard to imagine all the was crammed into this drawer.   It was a walk down memory lane.   Four lighters from the days of smoking; a beach tag from the summer of 1999 for Sea Isle City and the memories of that summer; paint chips with colors I chose to use and others that made me wonder what was I thinking; photographs; miniature little stop signs and traffic signs fit for matchbox cars; cup hooks, gum, candy, screws, toggle bolts, alan wrenches (5),  matchbooks and business cards from a needlework show or a from a friend with a new position. 

First I got rid of the trash - yes trash - candy wrappers, etc. and I must add the cabinet the houses the trash can in directly below the junk drawer.   Someone must have had only enough energy to open the drawer and was apparently not strong enough to open the cabinet and pull out the trash can.

I  separated all like things and proceeded to put all the nail clippers and files in the victorian flower tin in the bathroom that first housed these things in my mother's bathroom when I was a child and now has a place in my bath.  I put all the rubber bands on the magnetic hook on the side of the fridge; all the cough drops were relagated to the tupperware container in the pantry with all the others; and the extreme amount of change ~ not~ all 52 cents went into the rosewood bowl that sits on my dresser waiting for more change.   I now know where all the tape is (5 rolls); I have enough lip balm for the winter (5 tubes); and more safety pins then I knew were in my house.   I did leave one little compartment for the stray puzzle pieces, little green men and the extra dice for that critical time one is lost.

This got me going.  I set off to my walk in closet in my bedroom to switchout the summer and winter clothes; to make a mending pile; to sort like things; get rid of the hopelessly stained; and hopefully I will even part with things that I truly know in my heart that my fat a$$ will never fit into again but I keep because nothing is wrong with them but the fit of course. [Right now I am taking a time out from the mess I created.]

This must be a fall thing.  Last weekend I sorted the two cabinets housing canned goods, juices, pastas, and condiments and the other where the crackers, chips and cookies are.  I found I had three of the same jelly, a giant jar of peanut butter that without the kids are home I won't use in two years time; two boxes of   vanilla wafers among others things that I bagged up and sent home with my son.

There is just something about things being where they belong.   When Monday to Friday we are so busy with the rat race I need to be able to not waste time searching for things.  ....less time looking for things kind of equates to more time to stitch that way I see it.