so busy!

I've been running the last few days...

Saturday, we did our grocery shopping, bought a wedding gift, went to my cousin's reception, bought brake pads, and worked on projects. Another cousin was planning to visit, but she decided to visit today instead.

Sunday, I woke up sick, took a three hour nap, went to a get-together at a friend's house, and then went to my brother's house so he could change my brake pads. He left for Basic Training this week. It'll be weird to not see him until Christmas.

Monday, I worked on several projects around the house and did a little shopping and errand running. I've been thinking a lot about organizing projects and home decor ideas.

Yesterday, I didn't have to work, so I did some cleaning and organizing in my bedroom, arranged some flowers, cut out fabric for a quilt, conducted an experiment with paint to decide if I wanted to paint some furniture, and had second thoughts about the arrangement of fabrics for the quilt. I started organizing two of the closets in my house as well.

Today, I'm back to my routine. Work, boredom, and a headache. LOL. My cousin, Sarah, should be here this afternoon. I'm also trying to decide what pillows to make for my living room (size, color, texture, etc.)

buy homemade!

Today, the Nester is having a "handmade holiday" link party. I just had to join in the fun! Check out my Etsy shop to see my own homemade wares.

I'll post more info once I'm at work and have some free time... oh, the irony!

** I'm at work now, with ample free time to blog :) **
There's a certain thrill that can come only from buying homemade. Knowing that the item you just purchased was lovingly made, and possibly loved before it came to be yours. The homemade items seem to have so much more life and personality than the mass-produced things you can buy at a retail chain.

I've never been disappointed by a homemade purchase and I try my best to make sure that anyone buying from me can say the same. My items are lovingly created with great attention to detail. I often make two of each item - one for me and one to sell - because I fall in love with almost every piece I create.

Go. Buy homemade! To sweeten the deal, anyone that orders from my Etsy shop between now and 10/26/08 will get a free gift included with their purchase.

taking it easy

Tuesdays are becoming my least favorite day of the week. I don't exactly know why, either.

I spent some time organizing this weekend. I moved the games from the cabinet at the end of the hallway to the cupboard above the fridge. I also moved all my paints up there as well - spray and acrylic. I rearranged the pantry and freed up a lot of space. The hallway cabinet will soon store craft stuff, probably. I also have a deep, lidded basket that I'm going to store extra linens in, and that will go either in my bedroom or in the living room somewhere.

Steph and I asked our parents to buy us food storage for Christmas this year, so I've been trying to come up with places to store some. We want to buy a cabinet for the living room, but the empty shelf in the pantry and the storage available in the laundry room may be sufficient for the food storage.

I'm also trying to get rid of things I don't use. We have TONS of clothes, yet I wear the same 15-20 things over and over again. We have lots of shoes. Same story there! I need to just say goodbye and let things go. I also have a lot of crafty stuff, metal tins, random crap, etc. that I keep because "I'll need it some day" or "it's really cool." I'm feeling the urge to live more simply.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to get things done, but I just disappoint myself for things like coming home from a long day at work work and watching movies all afternoon or not having certain projects done within a certain time frame. I'm trying to go easier on myself. Maybe my expectations are too high. If I'm having a bad day, who cares if I watch feel-good movies until bedtime? Does anyone even know that I bought fabric to redecorate my bedroom in February and have yet to even cut it? (Well, anyone reading this knows now. LOL).

I scrapbooked yesterday and made a fun layout. I'll try to remember to share it soon!

inspired by:

I love houses. Love floorplans, decorating, home tours, I even love home-improvement stores. I considered being an architect and did a stint as an interior design major in college.

There are lots of things I'm interested in; scrapbooking, jewelry making, sewing, reading, etc. but houses are my true love. Seeing photos of a beautiful home will inspire me for weeks.

I love attending the Parade of Homes each year. It's better than Christmas! I actually get excited for the house tours... Sadly, I missed it this year. And last year. I haven't had much luck since they moved it to June. I'm definitely going next year - no matter what!

Anyway, I recently came upon a blog that makes me SO happy! Hooked on Houses is awesome!! She goes on home tours and shares photos. While there are some that are definitely not my style, most have something I can appreciate. *LOVE*

sick of the routine

I can't remember the last time I was really, really sick. It's be a few years, and for that I'm thankful. What happens instead is that some nasty bug will get passed around. I'll feel run down, have swollen glands, sore throat, headache, etc. and everyone around me will be full-on sick. I can tell you, my situation isn't better. It's not worse either, but I'm still sick even if I'm not coughing up a lung or something.

So, that's been my week. I haven't done anything. I'm also in a funk with my day-to-day. I want something different to happen just once in a while. I start to get a little stir-crazy when things are monotonous.

a quick update on nothing:

Last weekend, Stephanie spilled Pepsi on my brand new suede shoes. That was awesome. She felt bad for spilling in the car. I didn't care about the car... the floormats are grey and can be washed. The shoes are tan and SO cute AND comfy (how often does that happen?). Thankfully, they weren't expensive. I'm probably gonna buy a second pair anyway.

My nephew, Mason, was blessed on Sunday. My brother and sister-in-law planned on the first weekend in October without realizing it was Conference Weekend. Steve leaves for basic training in a few weeks, so Sunday was the only time available. It was nice and simple, in their living room, with their bishop, our family, and a few friends. Mason is so fun to snuggle.

My parents hung around all day Sunday. My dad made some delicious stew in the crockpot while my mom crocheted. Ben joined us later that day. We had a fun time chatting with the family. I think Ben's coming over some time this weekend too. I sure like that crazy kid!

Oh, I've ripped 3 contact lenses in 3 weeks. I'm not too happy about that! I've worn contacts for 13 years and I've never really had a problem with them. I think I got a bad box or something. It's been the right lens every time. The left have been just fine. It's so frustrating. I'm on my last right lens and I bought enough to get me through February. Grr! I guess I'll be ordering more soon.

I got a small bonus from work and I'm having a really hard time trying to decide what I want to buy with it. I'll probably buy a craft table and a lamp for my bedroom, or maybe the table and some bed sheets. I have everything I need and I try not to think about the things I want too much or I start to find myself dissatisfied with all that I don't have. It's a fine line... LOL.

Ok, I think that's all that's happened since I blogged last. My weekend starts in about 7.5 hours and I'm really excited! I NEED to be productive or I'm going to lose my mind. That is my least favorite part of being sick - the whole laying around, not doing anything part. LOL

wow

I've always said that I don't care to have a wedding cake when I get married. I must amend that... Now, the official word is: These are FREAKING AWESOME and if I came into enough money to justify it, I absolutely would! There are a couple pages of photos and it was worth the ten minutes I spent looking at them!

sunday!

I love General Conference Sundays! Maybe because I don't feel lazy for not getting my bum to church. LOL. I generally wake up early on GC Sundays, which I did today, and make an awesome breakfast. I didn't buy any breakfast foods this time around though. My brother and sister-in-law are having a brunch at their house later this morning.

Time is flying today! I've been busy in my Etsy shop this morning and I plan to work on some projects around the house. We're having fabulous weather today (I love storms!) so I'm as happy as can be! Hope everyone else is having a great Sunday as well!

scrappiness

I finally made time to scrapbook last night!! I'm such a SLOW scrapper. LOL. I was also trying to watch season 4 of House, so I was a little distracted. This first card uses papers from KI Memories for the stripe and maroon floral, the text is 7Gypsies, and the polka dots are by Making Memories. I also used a Hero Arts stamp, Versamark ink, and embossing powder. Nothing real groundbreaking, but I used only scraps and had fun anyway.
I thought the bird paper was so cute on this one, but it's not something I'd really find myself using on a layout. SEI makes that one, KI Memories again for stripe and 7Gypsies for the text paper (I'm not gonna lie... the black and white text papers and the polka dots are among my very favorite papers ever and I use them all the time). The 'thank you' is by Hero Arts and the flower stamp is Heidi Grace, I think... I'm not positive though. There's also a rubon from DCWV. Wish I'd just sewn instead of pulling out the rubon, but I was too lazy to change the white thread to black. Haha. I want to work on some layouts or mini-albums too, but I need to get some photos printed first...

I'm trying to decide if I'm gonna bother sending holiday cards this year. I sent "Happy New Year" cards in January, which was fun beacuse we could focus on what we wanted to do this year, rather than look back on last year - I have a hard time rememberring the fun things we did or what we accomplished that would be of any interest to the people receiving them.

I also want to do some scrap-shopping. The local scrapbook stores leave a lot to be desired. I have a great big list of things I want to buy... like more of these, and this, and this is sure pretty, and I could have fun with this... I could go on and on.

morning

I'm kinda bored today at work. I try to bring projects to work on when it's slow. Today, I didn't have anything set aside to bring with me. I've been here an hour and I'm going nuts! LOL. I've read the news and talked to my coworker that works the early shift with me. I've had 16oz of orange juice and ate my whole wheat bagel. I've even blog hopped. Sigh.

*Note to self: set out several projects tonight to avoid this feeling of boredom tomorrow*

In other news, I posted two new items in my shop yesterday and have photos of a bunch more that I'll be adding in the next week or so.

I'm REALLY in the mood to sew and scrapbook... perhaps I'll work on one of those things after work tonight.