Thanksgiving on no sleep = fun!

Wednesday I was up, all night, still moving sewing room out of living room, and generally tidying up. Did not go to bed at all. Most of the to-do list got done, and we had a GREAT Thanksgiving. I didn't even fall asleep until everyone had gone home! And I was in a good mood, maybe a little giddy, even. It was fun!

The living room went from this...

to this...

in that time.

yup, serious amount of work there. (these after pics were taken the day after Thanksgiving, which is why you see my knitting and such instead of the other tables and food)

I'm still working on it, too. The organizing, that is. And some cleaning, like scrubbing floors and such.

I spent the past week forcing myself not to walk outdoors or downstairs or upstairs without something in my hands that needed to go that direction. So now, it's becoming habit. My watchword for the past week? Determined. I was determined to conquer the sewing room/living room, and determined to be in a good mood, no matter what happened, no matter what stage the house was in when folks arrived for dinner. And it worked.

My right hand suffered some kind of injury from overwork, and now it's hard to knit or crochet. Ouch. But I put heat on it at night, use the stress balls often during the day, and wear my hand-eze gloves when I do my needlework. It's getting better.

"Whoa, there's a lot of space in here"

quoted from Twin2's friend. He had last been a few weeks before, when the living room was still dominated by most of the contents of the sewing room. A condition that had been in force for a few months by that time. So this friend, I'm sure, had been thinking me one of those "hoarder" types.
Nope, I'm not one of those. Sometimes I feel like I must be, when I keep running across things I don't remember why I was keeping, or worse, a box of stuff I thought had been tossed - which also makes me wonder what I might have tossed instead, and was it important? Too late now!
No, I think I have "normal" levels of pack-rat tendencies. They come and go.
Open space is a good thing.

sewing temptations

It's all I can do to stay focused on organizing. All those projects seem to call out to me to work on them NOW.

I have a couple pairs of pajama pants that my brother would be tickled to get on Thanksgiving, and that would be two more things no longer in my sewing room. But I'd have to crawl over I don't even know what just to get to the machines. So I will discipline myself. I will organize first. And if I have time, when everything else is done, the pie baked, the tables set, the bathroom and kitchen cleaned, then I might let myself whip those out for him. Because that'd be more happy for both of us.

UPDATE: I didn't get time to sew them up until Friday. He came by running some errands, picking up things they forgot Thursday, and I surprised him by being almost done with them. He ran a few more errands, came back, and got to take them home. BAM. Two items no longer in my sewing room!

avoidance

Last night, first thing when I got home, I cleaned the fridge. Sure, it needed doing, overall, and specifically because I've got Thanksgiving at my house, and we'll need lots of space in there this week. But, I should have moved the loom, continued putting away sewing stuff. Instead, I spent over an hour in the fridge. On the inside, it looks like new.
Then, I installed a shelf in the hallway, intended for puzzles. I happened to have some leftover shelving just the right length. The puzzles vacated a shelf in the basement slated to hold painting stuff, so that was necessary. But then I proceeded to hang the mirror, put up some vinyl signs, a little shelf with hooks, etc. The corner/end of the hall looks great. But again, avoidance.
Finally, around 9:30, I moved the loom. Finishing all that comes with that took until past midnight. And there is still so much more to remove from the living room and organize in the sewing room.
Why do I do it? But hey, the fridge is sparkling!

sewing room progress

I'm getting there. Slowly. The book shelf is in, books and mags organized. The yarn shelving and tons of yarn are in and organized, sort of. A lot of stuff is in. A lot of stuff is disorganized.

The loom is still in the living room. Still. (can I have a fiber room and a sewing room? please?)

And there are way too many boxes of scraps. I REFUSE to take up space in my sewing room to store those. I don't know exactly where they will end up (garage? attic? furnace room?), but NOT in my sewing room, where space is precious. Okay, then, why keep them? Sometimes you need a little something. So I'll sort through, and segregate what I think I'll actually use, some of which might get to come in the sewing room, in neatly organized bins, someday. Not now.

On a more positive note, I have a HUGE bag of yarn and a good-sized stack of fabric to give away. Now that's progress.

new roof? please, no, not that!

I should have put a new roof on the house about 5 years ago, and I've been putting it off. Because it's expensive. But, lately, I've noticed "evidence of moisture" inside. No actual drips, just some peeling paint here and there upstairs. And truly, no moisture in the attic, so I've no clue where it's coming from. Plus, I know it wasn't a new roof when I moved in, over 20 years ago, so really, just how long did I think it would last?
If I just pray really hard, and think positive thoughts, do you think the roof will heal itself? No? Okay, then, I'll start getting estimates. If I must.

slow, but steady

The sewing room is coming together. Finally.

Last night, while organizing and moving furniture in there, it finally dawns on me that this room is larger in BOTH directions. I can put a cutting table down the middle of the room because it's wider. DUH.

I've been trying to hurry, because Thanksgiving is at my house again, but I also want to rid myself of any fabric or other stuff I really won't use, if at all possible. I also want it actually organized, not just fit in wherever it can fit. I'm struggling with that. Stuff went back out to the living room so I could have some room to move things, and I'm starting to worry I really won't manage to fit it all in that room. I need shelves. I need fewer doors and windows. I need to get rid of stuff.

(pictures later, when I get them off the camera...)

happy birthday to me!

I spent my birthday afternoon with a friend, going to a craft fair and having lunch together. And talking on the phone with another friend as I drove back home, after meeting my newest grand-niece (she's adorable).

I spent that evening (I arrived only 2 minutes late, even though I cut it close when I left Kaysville) at Maeser, watching Twin1 perform Extreme Theater. His character was a 30-something disgruntled manager of a teen clothing store in the mall. He was GREAT! And he managed to work into his lines, for me, "it's my mothers birthday..."

Nobody but me got it, I'm sure, but it was awful nice to be noticed.

stuffing!

lately I've been making tons of amigurumi, and somehow managed to use up my supposedly vast stores of stuffing. depressing, because a lot of the ami are closed up as you go, so I couldn't do them and stuff later, see?
but last night, I found some behind my knitting chair!
ahh, stuffing....I adore you.