I try to be thankful throughout the week, and more often than not, I forget what I was thankful for long before I get around to writing my Thursday blogpost. This week, though, I've managed to remember most of what I've been thankful for (yay!).
First, I'm thankful that J and I live in a community that places value on building sidewalks and walking trails. Yes, Lexington may have recently been named the most sedentary city in America, but the local government has put so much effort into developing a system of walking trails in recent years. On Saturday, J and I stepped out of our back gate for a quick walk on our local trail. About 3/4 of a mile into the walk (typically 2.5 miles around the trail and back to our gate), J mentioned that he was kind of hungry. I suggested we call in an order to a local barbeque place. He (or I...we're not sure) suggested we walk there to pick it up. We cut across the grounds of the Christian school next to our park and walked on a nice, wide sidewalk to another walking trail about a mile from ours. At the edge of that trail, J crossed the street to the restaurant while I waited and walked a little more with Zep. Then, we found our way home a different way, but always on nice sidewalks. Total walk: 4 miles, maybe a quarter of a mile of it 'off-road'. For a city that hasn't always been friendly to walkers, we were pretty impressed. Tuesday, we followed our trek up by walking to our local polling place to vote before work. Total walk that day: 2.5 miles, all on a walking trail.
Secondly, I'm thankful for my brother, my dad, my grandfathers, and everyone in our country who've given up their own lives to give the rest of us the freedom to pursue our own version of happiness. Happy Veterans Day tomorrow!
Finally, I had the longest day yesterday. In fact, I divided it into sections in my mind and gave J updates as each section was accomplished. I started the day at a 7:00 a.m. meeting and didn't finish until I'd finished a 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. decorating shift for the Holly Day Market. In between, I got to share Stella & Dot with some folks, I got to spend a couple hours at work, I got to speak to a DAR chapter about our DAR Schools, and I got to be crafty and creative. At some point, I think around 10:30 or so, I was tired and ready to call in the rest of the day and just take a nap. But then I realized--I get to do all of these things today. Every single bit of my crazy busy day is something I've chosen to do. And I have crafted such a life for myself (and J has supported me in crafting such a life) that I didn't have to worry about taking a day off or asking anyone permission to make it all happy. It's in moments like that one that I realize how very blessed I am, and I remember to be thankful for those many blessings.
What are you thankful for this week?
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
What's your favorite color, baby?
UK fans will recognize this post's title as the start to a UK cheer and promptly respond "Blue and White!" Though I have to say, last Wednesday, there was a heavy dose of crimson-loving in Rupp Arena, even among those of us decked out in UK blue. Here's a shot of J and me at the UK-Transy game:
Monday, November 7, 2011
Craft Room Update
So last week I told you about the changes I'm making to my craft room to accomodate my new daybed, and yesterday I mentioned a little more. Now, I'm ready to show you a close-up of where my daybed has been placed. There is definitely still work to be done on the room, but I'm pleased with the progress so far!
First, I definitely decided to put the daybed under the window at the end of the room, instead of along the wall just inside the door. I also decided to slide the bookshelf down into the spot I'd initially picked out for the daybed. I'm not sure what should go into the place where it was, but I'm sure something will find its way there. Here is the view from my desk (please ignore the mess on the desk--I'm not ready to deal with that, yet):
It's almost funny to me that I'd never considered this layout, since I love how symmetrical and orderly it is now. You can't tell, but there is a space between the desk and the bed so you can walk through. One of the things I love about my desk is how you could walk around it (this is more useful when I'm using it as a craft table...not so much when I use it as a catchall), so I'm glad that the daybed actually makes use of that space, too.
I plan, someday, to recover the daybed, but since it is an upholstered mattress rather than just a covered cushion, I think it will be some time before I am crazy enough to take on that project (or smart enough to hire it out). In the meantime, the soft gold fabric works for me.
First, I definitely decided to put the daybed under the window at the end of the room, instead of along the wall just inside the door. I also decided to slide the bookshelf down into the spot I'd initially picked out for the daybed. I'm not sure what should go into the place where it was, but I'm sure something will find its way there. Here is the view from my desk (please ignore the mess on the desk--I'm not ready to deal with that, yet):
It's almost funny to me that I'd never considered this layout, since I love how symmetrical and orderly it is now. You can't tell, but there is a space between the desk and the bed so you can walk through. One of the things I love about my desk is how you could walk around it (this is more useful when I'm using it as a craft table...not so much when I use it as a catchall), so I'm glad that the daybed actually makes use of that space, too.
I plan, someday, to recover the daybed, but since it is an upholstered mattress rather than just a covered cushion, I think it will be some time before I am crazy enough to take on that project (or smart enough to hire it out). In the meantime, the soft gold fabric works for me.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Plan B
So last weekend my mom and I worked on my craft room. We straightened and organized and mostly cleared out the spot I had in mind for my new daybed. In fact, all that was really left to clear out was a full trash bag (that I filled when I cleaned out my old car in...um...May 2008) and a box in the corner (and a few things stacked on top of the box). Not much at all, and I figured I could get through it all pretty quickly.
In general, I was right. I have a general system when it comes to organizing, which is to say take my first pile (or bag, or box) and make several piles out of it. A pile to keep (which may be seperated into several different piles), a pile to donate and a pile to throw away (I learned this system from an old TLC show). Now, this is only a partly successsful system for me, because I generally don't do anything with the "keep" pile; I just push it together into its own new pile and go about my business feeling good about having a smaller pile (because I can guarantee that 2008 JE kept a bunch of stuff in her car that was ready for the trash can or Goodwill). So clearing out the trashbag and other small bags/boxes went pretty well. I had a great donate pile, a full bag of trash, and a medium sized pile of things to save (most of which wouldn't pass J's "save" test, but pass mine in the name of baby steps).
Feeling pretty good about myself, I moved on to the box. Now, the box was labeled "Kitchen/Pictures" so I suspected that it might have been packed when I moved out of my apartment in 2007, but that more likely it had been emptied and re-packed a few years ago when my mom and I tackled the craft room during one of her visits. I was wrong. It was packed up four years ago, deposited by the movers in this corner, and left. I found four binders full of grad school notes, several framed items, my old toaster oven and the crock pot that I was sure must have been donated to Goodwill on accident back in '07.
Now, the toaster went straight to the Goodwill pile. I'm not so certain about the crock pot (Side note: this was a pretty nice crock pot and as a result, I didn't register for one when we got married. When I couldn't find it, I decided to suck it up and deal with using J's old crock pot, until we finally bought one for ourselves a couple years ago. Now, because I adhere to the 'you can never have too many crock pots' mentality, I hung on to J's 'just in case'. I finally convinced myself to let go of it last week. So I'm pretty sure this is the universe's way of telling me that I was right, and that only by letting go of the old crock pot could I be brought back together with my first crock pot. So I can't just take this one off to Goodwill. Can I?).
The framed items are another story: several pictures of me with my sisters, a couple of cross-stitch ADPi pieces my mom made, an old mirror--all things that should probably find a home on the walls in my craft room. Oh, and a framed picture of me with an old boyfriend. Not quite sure what to do with that. WHAT?, you're thinking. Why would you hang on to that? Well, here's the thing. This is a picture from 2003 (I think), and he's wearing a tee-shirt that says "Plan B". Now, I'm a girl who looks for purpose and signs and reasons to make things work (see previous paragraph on why I shouldn't throw out a crock pot I lived without for four years). I know I looked at that picture a thousand times, and I know that it was looked at by an awful lot of people since it sat on my desk at work for at least a year. I don't recall ever noticing or explaining his tee-shirt. (For the record, he belonged to a game group called Plan B, and they had tee-shirts made up. But no one knew that.) To the outsider (or me, when I glanced at it today), it kind of looks like he was proclaiming to be my Plan B. Like those "I'm with stupid" tee-shirts that suggest everyone is in on the joke, we were walking around with a giant neon sign declaring that we weren't anything lasting. How on earth did I miss that sign? I'm not sure, but I suspect it is that I wasn't looking for it. Just like I wasn't yet looking for my Plan A, the guy snoozing on my couch downstairs pretending to watch football. I'm kind of tempted to keep the picture out as a reminder to me. Or maybe to tuck it in another box to pull out in another four or five years.
Oh, and I've decided not to put the daybed where I thought, so the bookshelf is now in the spot I just cleaned. And I've moved on to Plan B in the craft room. With luck, you'll see a picture of that tomorrow.
In general, I was right. I have a general system when it comes to organizing, which is to say take my first pile (or bag, or box) and make several piles out of it. A pile to keep (which may be seperated into several different piles), a pile to donate and a pile to throw away (I learned this system from an old TLC show). Now, this is only a partly successsful system for me, because I generally don't do anything with the "keep" pile; I just push it together into its own new pile and go about my business feeling good about having a smaller pile (because I can guarantee that 2008 JE kept a bunch of stuff in her car that was ready for the trash can or Goodwill). So clearing out the trashbag and other small bags/boxes went pretty well. I had a great donate pile, a full bag of trash, and a medium sized pile of things to save (most of which wouldn't pass J's "save" test, but pass mine in the name of baby steps).
Feeling pretty good about myself, I moved on to the box. Now, the box was labeled "Kitchen/Pictures" so I suspected that it might have been packed when I moved out of my apartment in 2007, but that more likely it had been emptied and re-packed a few years ago when my mom and I tackled the craft room during one of her visits. I was wrong. It was packed up four years ago, deposited by the movers in this corner, and left. I found four binders full of grad school notes, several framed items, my old toaster oven and the crock pot that I was sure must have been donated to Goodwill on accident back in '07.
Now, the toaster went straight to the Goodwill pile. I'm not so certain about the crock pot (Side note: this was a pretty nice crock pot and as a result, I didn't register for one when we got married. When I couldn't find it, I decided to suck it up and deal with using J's old crock pot, until we finally bought one for ourselves a couple years ago. Now, because I adhere to the 'you can never have too many crock pots' mentality, I hung on to J's 'just in case'. I finally convinced myself to let go of it last week. So I'm pretty sure this is the universe's way of telling me that I was right, and that only by letting go of the old crock pot could I be brought back together with my first crock pot. So I can't just take this one off to Goodwill. Can I?).
The framed items are another story: several pictures of me with my sisters, a couple of cross-stitch ADPi pieces my mom made, an old mirror--all things that should probably find a home on the walls in my craft room. Oh, and a framed picture of me with an old boyfriend. Not quite sure what to do with that. WHAT?, you're thinking. Why would you hang on to that? Well, here's the thing. This is a picture from 2003 (I think), and he's wearing a tee-shirt that says "Plan B". Now, I'm a girl who looks for purpose and signs and reasons to make things work (see previous paragraph on why I shouldn't throw out a crock pot I lived without for four years). I know I looked at that picture a thousand times, and I know that it was looked at by an awful lot of people since it sat on my desk at work for at least a year. I don't recall ever noticing or explaining his tee-shirt. (For the record, he belonged to a game group called Plan B, and they had tee-shirts made up. But no one knew that.) To the outsider (or me, when I glanced at it today), it kind of looks like he was proclaiming to be my Plan B. Like those "I'm with stupid" tee-shirts that suggest everyone is in on the joke, we were walking around with a giant neon sign declaring that we weren't anything lasting. How on earth did I miss that sign? I'm not sure, but I suspect it is that I wasn't looking for it. Just like I wasn't yet looking for my Plan A, the guy snoozing on my couch downstairs pretending to watch football. I'm kind of tempted to keep the picture out as a reminder to me. Or maybe to tuck it in another box to pull out in another four or five years.
Oh, and I've decided not to put the daybed where I thought, so the bookshelf is now in the spot I just cleaned. And I've moved on to Plan B in the craft room. With luck, you'll see a picture of that tomorrow.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Thankful Thursday--November 3
This week, I'm especially thankful for the DAR lady who made it possible for me to buy my dream daybed, for my mom who helped me rearrange my craft room so it will fit, and the good friend who is taking me to pick it up tomorrow (thank goodness for husbands with pickup trucks!)
I'm thankful, too, for the partner at J's office who gave us his tickets to the UK-Transy game last night. I think we've gotten tickets to an exhibition gave from him every year for the last four or five years, and last night's was particularly special since J is both a Transylvania grad and a UK grad. Transy actually came out in front and hung in the game for most of the first half, and it was really fun to cheer for both sides!
Finally, I'm thankful for my jobs, all three of them. Each has had a pretty cool shining moment this week, and as a result, I've been reminded to appreciate each in its own way. Kind of a cool thing.
What are you thankful for this week?
I'm thankful, too, for the partner at J's office who gave us his tickets to the UK-Transy game last night. I think we've gotten tickets to an exhibition gave from him every year for the last four or five years, and last night's was particularly special since J is both a Transylvania grad and a UK grad. Transy actually came out in front and hung in the game for most of the first half, and it was really fun to cheer for both sides!
Finally, I'm thankful for my jobs, all three of them. Each has had a pretty cool shining moment this week, and as a result, I've been reminded to appreciate each in its own way. Kind of a cool thing.
What are you thankful for this week?
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
One last look...
...at Halloween at the MP. After my last trick-or-treater Monday night, I slipped out front with the camera to capture the porch our 40 or so munchkins came to. I seriously love Julius, my halloween flag, my scary tree (on my fabulous storm door), my pumpkin and even my scraggly mums. I love the look they pull together. It feels decidedly the way I feel when I picture "grown-up JE" in my head. I hope you all had a Happy Halloween and are ready to embrace the season of Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Checkerboard shelves
So this is probably stretching it, and I'll be irritated tomorrow when I don't have a picture for Wordless Wednesday, but I just wanted to share this picture of the shelves in the craft room.
I started buying these photo boxes several years ago (if you clicked through yesterday's post to the picture of my craft room back in 2008, you saw the beginnings of this collection). When my mom and I moved the bookcase upstairs (it used to be in the library in our basement, but was removed when we got our barrister shelves), I discovered that three boxes would stack on each shelf. Mom took over the placement strategy, and we ended up with this awesome checkerboard. You might notice that a few are still unopened. I bought ten a month or so ago, and haven't needed to use them. Then, after putting everything on the shelf the other night, mom noticed that I was 5 white boxes short of a perfect pattern. I picked those up yesterday, thanks to a sale at Michael's.
Most of the boxes are labeled, and it is (so far, at least) a pretty well-organized crafting system. I commented to my mom how strange it is that someone who can be so cluttered can also be so very OCD about having her craft supplies so very organized. I totally love it.
I started buying these photo boxes several years ago (if you clicked through yesterday's post to the picture of my craft room back in 2008, you saw the beginnings of this collection). When my mom and I moved the bookcase upstairs (it used to be in the library in our basement, but was removed when we got our barrister shelves), I discovered that three boxes would stack on each shelf. Mom took over the placement strategy, and we ended up with this awesome checkerboard. You might notice that a few are still unopened. I bought ten a month or so ago, and haven't needed to use them. Then, after putting everything on the shelf the other night, mom noticed that I was 5 white boxes short of a perfect pattern. I picked those up yesterday, thanks to a sale at Michael's.
Most of the boxes are labeled, and it is (so far, at least) a pretty well-organized crafting system. I commented to my mom how strange it is that someone who can be so cluttered can also be so very OCD about having her craft supplies so very organized. I totally love it.
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