Wordless Wednesday: One Wet Clown

Crafty Tuesday: Organization

Organizing is so not my strong point. I suck at it. I pull stuff out to organize it and end up looking through it, finding stuff I forgot I had and basicly just shuffeling it around. Welp, one of my New Year's Resolution was to get my craft stuff organized. I have begun the process. I even threw away a whole trashbag full of just junk. Throwing things away can be hard for me. I am part pack rat on both sides. My mom, although organized, has boxes of 'memorabilia' from I don't know when. She even inherited some of my Great Aunt's nearly 100 years worth of 'memorabilia'. My dad is the guy who finds it easier to go out and buy something new rather than try to find where that item is hidden. His stuff is not quite as sentimental as my mom's but it is no where near as organized. I, unfortunately, save memorabilia and then have no skills in keeping it in anything even close to an organized fashion.
I love to buy card stock and decorative papers. I have a thing for anything that looks like it belongs on a collage. After a couple of months I tend to forget what I have picked up here and there because it gets put on my shelving unit which, like my many organizational boxes and containers, was purchased to help get me and keep me together.
This is what it looked like:
No wonder I can never get anything done. I can't find ANYTHING! This is just the tip of the iceberg. I have stuff in boxes, bags and drawers. I make the claim that if I had my own space this wouldn't happen but deep down I know it would. After a couple of hours I was able to get it looking like this:Two shelves. Those two shelves contained a whole trash bag worth of crap! It is a work in progress but I think eventually I may get there. Last night I even worked towards getting my papers sorted out. Not sure how I am going to store them all but at least I'm starting to see what I have.
Wish me luck!

A Visit to the Doctor

Going to the doctor is not something that usually bothers me. After a couple of kids it just starts to feel like home. This visit, however, was different. I was nervous and miserable. I was depressed and scared. I was CONVINCED that this was the visit where I had gone all to hell in a hand basket. I turn 40 in a couple of months. I didn't think it was going to bother me but apparently it's got me thinkin'.
I was certain that my blood pressure would be sky high. I HATE the blood pressure cuff with a passion ever since I was pregnant with my second kid and had to go visit the 'special doctor for women who are both OLD and pregnant'. I like to refer to him as Doctor DOOM. My blood pressure was ALWAYS high when I'd go to see him and then fine at my regular OB. Anywho, I digress. I hate the cuff and was pretty convinced that that alone was going to send my BP through the roof. The nurse laughed when she told me what it was and, in a panic, I asked 'Is that high'. She reassured me that it was normal.
Everything went fine with the doctor as well. I didn't get any 'Now that you're getting older...' speeches. I did have to get my cholesterol checked but I'll have to wait on that result. I'm just glad it's over for another year. I suppose that next year I have the mammogram to look forward to. yay.

Writer's Workshop Thursday: Childhood memory time: Write about something you loved to do as a child

I know, I know... It's supposed to be 'Change Your Life Thursday' BUT... One of things I was going to change was writing more. Welp, as fate would have it, I stumbled upon this Blog through another Blogger I had stumbled across. My 'assignment' is this: Childhood memory time: Write about something you loved to do as a child. So here goes...

I grew up in Ohio. I am the oldest of 5 and our house WAS the Kool-aid house. All the kids on our street were often over in our yard or playing on our porch. One of things we would do is pretend that we were genius runaways. The front porch was our boat from which we did research, of course. The floor beds around the porch were the dolphin tanks that contained our extremely intelligent pet dolphins whom we would take out with us on exploring junkets ( I don't think we used the word junkets back then though). The grass: the ocean, duh. The sidewalks were the safe places to take our mini-boats (bikes). We had to make sure we avoided the sharks as well as the evil group that never really had a name but was always looking to take us back to the orphanage we had escaped from.
My mom had a climbing plant with pretty purple flowers that we picked to use as our experiments. We'd crush them and mix them with dirt and water, and once in a poorly designed move on my part, old perfume, to see what our results would be.
If it was hot out we could sit on the porch with the hose and squirt one another as we rode by. Not sure what that was supposed to represent in our make-believe world but we didn't care. Our game, our rules.
We could do this for hours! We were up and down the street. Everybody's yard had something to be discovered. We were in front yards and backyards. We climbed trees and swing sets. We left messages on the sidewalk with those chalky white rocks that lined everyone's flower beds and even some driveways. No one panicked when we got out of view or earshot. We were allowed to come and go as we pleased... As long as we didn't cross any busy roads and were home for lunch or dinner.
Gosh, that was fun. Did I mention that my brother and I also used to pretend we were combing a giant's hair when we raked the yard? Another story for another day.

I hope you'll check out other people's submissions at http://mamakatslosinit.com

Wordless Wednesday: Snow Fun!

Yep... It's Texas!

Don't forget to check out other people's Wordless Wednesday posts.
http://www.wordlesswednesday.com

Crafty Tuesday: Or Where Did the Time Go and What Have I done?

So, I have to admit that on this Crafty Tuesday, doubling as Fat Tuesday, I have nothing really new to offer. I will share something a bit older. Something I have done in the past. I hope this isn't cheating.
This is a birdhouse that was commissioned by a friend for her mom. It has pictures of her cute kids on either side of it. I made it from an old cigar box with a sliding lid. It's been decoupaged... Of course. I adhered glass beads and little silver dragonfly beads to it. I wrapped the perch in a red craft wire. It's probably not all that functional but I think it makes a cute decorative piece for the mantle or wherever.

I've also started a FaceBook group called 'Craft-Tacular'. It's nothin' too fancy. Just a place for crafters to get together and encourage one another. I'm hoping that people will share ideas, tips, blogs, favorite sites and constructive criticism. I'm currently running a contest on it for anyone who posts something, ANYTHING, about crafting. I will choose a name from the participants and let them choose one of my treasure boxes. It's open to crafters everywhere so I hope you'll check it out and share your gifts with us!

Change Your Life Thursday: Nothin' too drastic

Welp, this week I started eating more salads. I'm trying to have one a day... At least. I'm also trying to do more physical play with the kids. For instance... Today we had a snowball fight and built a snowman.
Yep, this is Texas...
Not sure how many calories I burn but it sure makes me feel better.
As for the other stuff... My friend Jen got the OK on our story time with the refugees. I'm pretty excited. I think it should be fun and I think it will really help me too figure out what I really want to do with my life.
Hope you're all taking baby steps to new and better lives!