Deja Vu
10 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
Is anyone else going as crazy as me right now?
Oh good, I’m not alone.
Er… I mean… I’m sorry you’re struggling too… ??
On top of the usual craziness around here, it’s (business) tax time again.
Enough said.
Catch y’all next week! Have a wonderful weekend!
Rain
09 May 2011 Leave a Comment
Even our dear pup, Murphy feels it. Just look at him hanging his head on the window sill, looking like he lost his best friend.
It’s gray and dreary and wet and it’s been going on for weeks now. We have several more rainy days forecasted too, so it’s hard to muster much enthusiasm each day. Continual rain really has a way of sucking the life out of you.
But I’m trying to look at is as an opportunity to tackle some projects. There sure are enough of them around here! I know that by the time June rolls around, we’ll have abundant sunshine and will be outside most of the time, so why not get the inside stuff done now… right?
That’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Anticipation
07 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Projects, Things I Like Tags: getting organized
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best – ”
and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called. – Winnie the Pooh
Spring.
It’s coming, I can feel it.
(Plus my calendar tells me it’s on its way.)
Doesn’t it feel GOOD? I love the seasons and the excitement for each part of the year. Winter is filled with coziness and fun in the snow, Fall brings perfect temperatures and beauty all around us, and Summer for our family screams “BEACH” and lots of other outside adventure. But I think Spring is my favourite season of all. It’s full of promise and projects and anticipation.
It’s an anticipation of renewal and I love it!
It was a beautiful 13 degrees yesterday (that’s about 55 F for my American friends). It was the first day I didn’t wear a coat to church, just a sweater. Oh, I love that.
And now the air has a new sweetness about it. The breeze carries no chill. The icy back yard is giving way to big grassy patches. I am noticing sounds of birds that have been absent for many months. It excites me!
With spring also comes a desire to just get your stuff in order. David and I have already talked at length about our intended purging, sorting, and cleaning. Over the summer, we hope to have two yard sales to rid ourselves of the massive amounts of ‘stuff’ that is strewn about our basement. I have a burning desire to build some furniture too. I’m part way through my first big project (I’ll post about it when I’m done) but I also want to do a cabinet for our tv (I hate looking at it), some built-in shelving, a window seat or two. We have landscape projects to wrap up outside (started last fall), a garden to plant, some painting to do. This year we’ll be tackling a new chimney and fireplace, new giant glass doors out to our deck and a tiny bit of reconfiguring of some small walls inside. It’s fun to talk about it all. Well, it’s fun for me anyway. Putting it in to practice is another thing, but I do so love the planning.
Since I’m a homeschooling mom and have multiple clients to take care of in addition to the usual home and family stuff, planning is really key for me. I think this week I’ll make a very detailed project list and plot it all out on a project calendar, because I want to make sure we have time and money for all these things and prioritize them if we don’t.
Plus, I’m planning kind of girl. That’s me. Sometimes I make lists just to make them.
Lists feed my anticipation. Pooh Bear was right.
Craft Time, Trina-style
25 Feb 2011 3 Comments
in Believing, Homeschooling, Projects Tags: crafts
…and by Trina-style, I mean simple and inexpensive.
If I wasn’t a homeschooler, I would still see the benefit of a cute little board like this one. But seriously, with my task of building character all day long, I really thought it would be wonderful to have an obvious, in-your-face place to write whatever relevant message or memory verse we needed to have for the day.
So, I found myself an old frame in the basement. It would have been the perfect little rectangular shape, but then it fell apart. Although I tried fixing it, I gave up quickly when it wasn’t going so well. Yes, I’m lazy like that.
Back in the basement, I found an old businessy certificate that used to hang on my office wall, back in the much easier days when I worked as a real career woman, with a briefcase and many frequent flyer miles. (Sidebar: Though there are some days when I long for the peace and quiet of my professional life, I really can say I don’t miss that life at ALL.) Anyhoo – the certificate was great in my office, but there was no way I was ever going to hang it again, so I did what any frugal and determined woman would do.
I tore it all apart.
I cleared a workspace in my dedicated craft room, and went to it.
Ahem … There is no craft room. There is, however, a kitchen counter.
Wow! Look at that - a hammer and a slotted spoon. What kind of two-bit operation is this? I guess there is no clear workspace either. I am the queen of doing multiple projects at once, so this ‘random tools all around me’ approach makes perfect sense for me. (And the professional organizers of the world collectively shudder…)
First I sanded. By ‘sanded’ I really mean I took about 18 seconds and wiped the frame with a piece of sandpaper. Elapsed time: 18 seconds.
Rather than head to the basement again for one of my nicer, more grown up brushes, I went right to the newly organized ’craft drawer’ where I knew I’d find a nice fat kids brush that could do the job swiftly, with fewer brush strokes.
Then I squeezed a little plop of paint right on the frame. I told you I was lazy.
I slapped it on. Elapsed time: 54 seconds (65 seconds if you count the time to take pictures)
I left the first coat to dry, right there in the middle of the messy counter. Elapsed time: 5 minutes 54 seconds (enough time to take Murphy out for a quick pee and say goodnight to Caleb)
When I came back, it was dry (enough for me) so I slapped on another coat. (Elapsed time: about 7 minutes.)
I snuck a couple scrapbooking pages from Caleb’s craft supplies. I broke out the vinegar to clean the glass and glued the pretty paper to the frame back. (Elapsed time: 8:45)
I used a chalk marker to write a verse. The first one (up above) was from our devotional that morning, so it came first to mind.
I found the chalk marker at a local fabric store in the wedding section. I guess it’s used to write JUST MARRIED on the back windshield of the car. I LOVE this thing and I’ve been on the hunt for a full colour set since Nester’s post about them. I haven’t been able to find them in any stores (not even Michael’s!), so it may have to be an online purchase, which I try to avoid where possible (carbon footprint/ supporting local and all). They’re pricey, but oh how I covet those markers.
So with 10 minutes and a tiny piece of counter in between the dirty dishes, I’ve got a lovely frame that we use every day. (I’m going to try some 3M hooks on my tile backsplash… I wonder if that will work?)
My point is this. If you have a desire to do something, it doesn’t need to be complicated or perfect. This frame is far from either of those things, but it makes me happy.
It’s sometimes scripture, or a good quote, and often just a reminder for a certain behaviour. A couple times it’s just been a love note to my family. It’s been a great addition to our daily life here at home.
You could say it’s a Finer Thing. Hop on over to see Amy’s sweet Finer Thing for today. You may watch it more than once. (I did!)
Uber-Fresh
21 Apr 2010 Leave a Comment
in Caring for Your Home, Enjoying, Projects Tags: getting organized
I washed our two favourite throws last week and they hung on the line for 2 straight days. They were there partly because I wanted that lovely spring uber-freshness to permeate them, and partly because I was just too lazy busy to bring them in.
But for several days now I’ve been taking deep cleansing breaths while in the general vicinity of the said throws. Sometimes I plunge my head into the back of the couch just so I can get a great big whiff of it. I just can’t get enough of that fresh air smell. Freshness REALLY works for me on Wednesdays, and on all days.
But it makes me think about all the other things in my life that could use a healthy dose of freshness. I’m not just talking about the kind you can smell and see, but the kind you can really feel when you walk into a room. I have some serious freshening to do! I’ve had a long-standing urge to get organized here at Casa-del-Chaos and those cozy little fresh air-smelling blankets are pushing me closer to accomplishment.
Sometime between now and Sunday, I will put together a plan. A real plan on real paper. A plan that brings more uber-freshness into my home — spring cleaning and then some. I’m going to recruit the kids and get them taking ownership in the uber-freshness too. I wonder if I can build a mini-unit around it for school…? For Earth Day tomorrow, we will be picking up garbage in the community so that’s a pretty fitting start.
Those throws and the accountability of this blog are wonderful tools.
I am excited. Oh yes.
Stay tuned. I will update the process next week. (See? There’s that accountability thing again.)
Happy Wednesday Everyone!
Paperwork, Schmaperwork
12 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in Projects, Simplifying Tags: paperwork
In front of me sits a massive mountain of paperwork. But it’s not just any paperwork, it’s taxes.
Even though my business is only part time, I collect a lot of receipts in my line of work as a design consultant. I’ve got receipts for tile, hardwood, furniture, faucets, lights, artwork, fabric, you name it. There are a lot of receipts. The good news is that I’m slowly making progress. The bad news is that I seem to look for every possible distraction during this time of year, and blogging is one of them.
So, I’ve decided to recognize my weakness for what it is. (My husband will be stunned when he hears this one!)
I’m going to have a blog-free week. I don’t just mean my own blog, I’m talking about all the blogs I follow, about a dozen of which I pop in on every day. I love having this blog and reading your comments, and hovering in the lives of all the moms out there with whom I have so much common. But I’m hoping that this self-imposed motivation will help me get through my paperwork quickly and efficiently, without the temptation of the blog distraction. And there is a lot of blog distraction!
Can I do it?
Only time will tell. One week, to be exact.
Or until my tax-related mountain gets passed along to my accountant for her part of the process – whichever comes first.
See you soon!
~T.
L♥vely Link: Knock-Off Wood
29 Mar 2010 2 Comments
in Lovely Links, Projects
I own a tool belt. The power saws in this house belong to me. Tools are frequently the gift of choice from my husband and my builder dad.
Yeah. It’s how I roll.
When I finish sorting and purging in my basement (one day… one day), I will have a dedicated workshop section where I can putter and spew sawdust and create and learn to improve. I’m not great at it, but I SOOOOOO enjoy it.
This is why I love Ana, creator of Knock-Off Wood.
She is a SAHM in Alaska. She is like me when it comes to loving this stuff, only she is exponentially better with her tools than I. But Knock-Off Wood isn’t just a clever name. She sees a lovely piece of furniture and designs plans to replicate it. And if you like projects like this and enjoy spending $200 on a piece of furniture instead of oh, say… $2200, she’s the girl for you! Best part? Her plans are FREE! She wants to encourage people to do things on their own. (Love that!) The only request is that you send her pics of your completed projects.
I look at her site and want to build it all right away. But funds and time are scarce these days so for now I will just hover over at Knock-Off Wood and make mental notes of the dozens of things I am going to build. I do plan to hope to tackle three things this year:
First up, an armoire for our tv. I can’t stand looking at it! It’s slightly too big for the other armoires we have in the house, so I can’t wait to build one and just close the doors on it!
Next, a recycling cabinet for some found space in my kitchen. (We’re closing up one of our back doors to allow for some storage in this old house with no closets!)
Then, a window seat/ storage bench in my bedroom. We have a perfect little alcove for it.
At some point, I want to add a wall of shelving and window seat on my landing.
And yeah, the same thing in my living room.
And a platform/ storage bed for us.
And maybe a daybed for my daughter.
And perhaps a new vanity for my powder room.
See what I mean? It doesn’t stop. I really could keep going…
For those of you who are feeling inspired, or even if you are not inspired but can appreciate some nice furniture eyecandy, here is a very small selection of the lovely projects:
I love this hutch.
And this armoire.
And this bench designed by Ana. (It even fits a laptop, which I love! Hmmm… perhaps I should make this as a coffee table in my sitting room…)
Or this one, that costs about 15 bucks and about an hour of time! Even if it took twice as long and cost twice as much due to all the bad cuts, a $30, 2 hour investment would be a great project for testing the waters…
What about a Bookcase?
Or a banked bookcase? They look so good two or three in a row.
Or a small bookshelf?
A playhouse loft bed? Are you kidding me? What kid wouldn’t love THAT?
And this is just a fraction of the pieces I love.
Her site also includes all kinds of tips on using mdf versus ply, what kind of nails, the actual measurements of lumber (what genius decided a 2×4 shouldn’t be 2×4?), finishes, etc.
As a huge plus, she also includes a cut list and most (all?) times a picture of the cut layout so you know exactly how to get the most out of your 4×8 sheet.
…I know. I’m gushing, right? This stuff just makes me drool.
Keep your eyes open for Ana. I’m sure that at some point soon you’ll be seeing her in bookstores and in all likelihood on tv too.
I’ll let you know when I complete my first project.
In the meantime, I will continue to drool.
