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    T Tuesday: assembly edition

    October 7, 2019 - By 

    This week’s post is brought to you by IKEA…well, not officially. It’s just what the past three days and counting were all about. Building new pieces for the kids’ rooms. Truly not the entire time but it certainly felt like it. And I’m still at it!!

    My weekend actually started a day early. J was feeling really cruddy and just wanted to come home to rest. He caught the 6:45 am bus from college. I knew he was definitely ill when he voluntarily got up that early. I took the day off so I could meet the bus at MOA.

    It was good to see him a few weeks earlier than expected…just a bummer that he was so sick. Nasty virus. I didn’t even hug him until he was leaving….sad but true. He pretty much spent the weekend in bed or in a steaming hot shower trying to clear his congestion.

    So I mentioned IKEA…in the above picture if I had panned right 90° right, you’d see IKEA. Of course, at this moment in time, we hadn’t decided to purchase anything new. SO off to home we drove.

    The next morning we made the decision to buy two new dressers and a desk from IKEA…back across the city we went.  Mini-me and I started by putting together her new dresser. It went wonderfully. Then we open the desk box….DAMAGED GOODS! UGH!

    I was not about to drive back there again on the same day since we’d be heading back on Sunday to drop J off at the bus. When we returned we got a new desk and another storage unit. Yep…4 pieces of furniture to assemble. Oh goodie…

    This is the current state of things. I’m on the last piece. Four drawers left to assemble on J’s new dresser. I can tell you one thing…my body doesn’t like me sitting on the floor that long.

    I promise I’ll share photos of the new pieces…but for now. My water is empty and I need to shower because it’s picture day at school tomorrow! Remember the stress of picture day? It’s funny…not quite as stressful for me these days. I know for sure no picture I take can be as bad as the ones I took during my middle school years! LOL

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Art - Blog - Creativity

    T Tuesday: junk journal and more edition

    September 30, 2019 - By 

    Last Tuesday had me very introspective with my post. Throwing the words down and wading through them really helped me through what I was feeling. Your comments were also inspiring…so thank you for that!

    Mindset

    At school, we often talk about growth vs fixed mindset. I think perhaps those lessons are rubbing off on me as well. Setting goals, developing a plan and not giving up when life throws a curveball. Honestly, these are things I have done in the past but I didn’t think critically about them until now.

    So last week I talked myself through making a plan to set aside time to create. Guess what?  I did!

    I had the bones of this junk journal project set aside…I just needed the time, drive and a few little tidbits to make it happen. Now that it’s done…I love it.  I’m planning to use it for bits and piece from everyday life, quotes, thoughts, etc.  I want to do a flip through at some point. What I really need to do is figure out YouTube and publish videos there and embed them in my posts. I think it would honestly be easier than the way I’ve been doing it.

    In addition to making this junk journal, we had a flurry of activity on Saturday. Mini-me and I went to a local church rummage sale for bag day as we try to do each year. We spent a total of $16.50. Mini-me filled one reusable grocery bag mostly with clothes…$4. I filled one with clothes, craft supplies, and potential Halloween costumes…$4. The third bag was filled with books…$4.  In addition, we bought one super old arithmetic primer…$1 and a print for Mini-me’s room….$3.50

    I only took photos of my lovely new crafty items. Look at that amazing box of trims!!

    Saturday evening Mr. G’s brother messaged him saying that he was playing a gig in our neck of the woods. We quickly grabbed our things and headed out to hear him play the mandolin with the Roe Family Singers. It was a lovely but slightly chilly evening sitting on hay bales enjoying some bluegrass music.

    Their aging corgi, Daisey, even made the trip. A good time was had by all.

    We invited them back to our house after where I whipped together a few snacks and drinks since we haven’t seen them in a while. Sometimes the unplanned things are the most fun things!!

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today?
  • Blog

    T Tuesday: losing time edition

    September 24, 2019 - By 

    The days and weeks are flying by faster each day it seems. My creative energy burst from a few weeks ago has waned. The half-done projects remain just that – half done. Not enough progress to share.

    Finding balance

    I’m once again struggling with balance in life, work, home, and creativity. It happens every year. I should expect it, but here we are struggling. Questioning if I should take a blog break. Then questioning if I do – will I be more motivated later or less. Questioning if have enough interesting things to share so I’m not boring my audience week after week to the point of losing them.

    I have discovered something about myself recently. I am not a multitasker. I have always considered myself good at this…but I am not.

    This realization is a good thing. I just now need to figure out how to work with this new mindset. I’m thinking that I need to set certain days aside for certain things. Maybe not particular days such as Tuesday is sewing day and Wednesday is laundry day but penciling in time for the things I love as well as the things I must do.

    T stands for Tuesday is one of those things that I do love to do and is time-sensitive. I’ve never been one to pre-schedule posts…honestly, it’s only happened a handful of times over the last decade. I am not saying that there is one single thing wrong with scheduled posts…the most successful bloggers do precisely that. It just has never been my style…mainly because I always had the time. This photo (without preplanning it) demonstrates me being divided between home and work life.

    Moving forward

    No, I am not quitting blogging. Nor am I quitting creating…or my job. I could really do with the housework but that’s not happening anytime soon. On the bright side, I am getting more help with those pesky household chores.

    I am going to prioritize items on my need to/want to list. Figure out how to give time to each. Learn to let some things go. That even means some supplies. I have decided that I’m not making soap anymore.  I’ve reached out to a friend who has a friend that makes soap. I’m hoping we can reach a barter of sorts. Finished soap for supplies. Today I glanced and saw all the yarn I have pressed against the wall of the plastic tote in which it resides. I think that just may be my next supply purge.

    It’s all about the shoes

    You know I have a long-standing self-imposed rule about not sharing photos featuring faces of family on my blog. And no I am not breaking that rule…I have strategically blocked out Mini-me’s face because I have to show you her amazing outfit for the Homecoming dance at school.

    She was convinced by friends to go two days before the dance. She borrowed the dress which happened to fit her perfectly.

    Check out those shoes!!! We went shopping the morning of the dance to a local outlet store that carries high-end clothing and shoes at fabulous prices if you can find your size. Lucky for Mini-me…she has tiny feet. The selection is vast and varied. She first found a pair of rose gold sparkly heels that would have looked lovely…in fact we bought them, Then she found these beauties. Since the two pair together would only cost $42 we went for it. As we were talking accessories I told her that she could totally pull those bold shoes off with the right accessories. She was skeptical at first but then I made her think about the color wheel and that the teal and red-orange are complentary colors. She looked amazing. Have I overused the word amazing?!? Nope. Never.

    This week has me keepin’ on, keepin’ on. Working toward that elusive balance.

    T stands for Tuesday
    What are you doing today? Or this week?