i did it!!

I finally figured out how to change the advanced layout of this lil' ol' blog! YAY! It actually is a great feeling of accomplishment! It's been bugging me for awhile now. NOW to just remember it - for if I want to change things up again?!

Would love some feedback. How's it look? Really. What I see here may or may not look that good elsewhere! I am such a lover of purples and greens and REALLY love damask - so thought this might work!

I have been a bit swamped lately with trying to get some 2011 projects finished. I will get better about updating and maybe get some more photos up here (now that I extended the storage a bit).
BUT the "i did it" title goes along with what I am trying to accomplish!
~ I took a day and just overhauled my bedroom.
Why does this room get pushed to be last ALL the time? The rest of my house has suffered for that day of just overhauling. But now I have a place of peace and tranquility to escape, rest, or just be - again.
~ "i did it" can also be applied to trying to get myself more organized... or rather 'i am doing it'.
~ And there's also getting all those hats crocheted by Christmas.
I think the last count was 24 by Christmas and I've finished up 3 more and almost done with another 3!! WOW!
~ I have also come out of my comfort zone:
   ~~"i did it" with starting an online store- mArrineR's monTage,
   ~~Doing our own "show"/craft fairs,
   ~~Last year saw us in our first physical store with our creations -MUSE GALLERIA,
   ~~And most recently trying to meet and start a new venture at another store with my earrings!

Thank you all who have supported me and our little shop mArrineR's monTage! It's been a whirlwind few months... but we are moving along!

This title means a lot.

Slowly but surely I am doing it... we are doing it...

Organization... basically... stinks!

So you work really hard to get your house, your yard, your car, your kids, your head... your WHATEVER... ORGANIZED... but then "something" happens and well... that organization becomes hmmm CHAOS - at least around here it does!!

As school was coming to a close - we decided that we really needed to get the house and jardin (Jar dehnn) ("yard/garden" in french... it just sounds so much prettier that way doesn't it?) cleaned up and ORGANIZED... ooo that word makes me shudder.

So Mr Safety Man started outside and I continued my trek on fixing up the house inside. I got so tired of EVERY SINGLE ROOM being a disaster.

Mr Safety Man actually conned his daughters in to helping, ok not really conned... perhaps bribed? Well it went like this....
MSM: stomp stomp stomp...
Me: what's wrong MSM?
MSM: i'm out there, no help, they're old enough, etc etc etc
He goes back outside grumbling...
Me: "OH GIRLSSSSssss - you would really make Daddy's day if you helped. Remember we talked about responsibility and if you wanted to start earning an allowance..." coax, coax, coax...

And away they went! I was shocked! Then they hounded him how much cash-o-la they would get for each task/bag/etc they cleaned up! And I giggled. I mean come on... he asked for it!!! But they were helping and they were working hard!!! And you know - they did it again the next night without fussing at all! (Now Mr Safety Man really needs to pay them - so they remember the reward of a job well done.)
Faire du jardinage - The yard work:

Hmmm a lil' discrepancy over who does what job...BooBoo doesn't look happy

Almost done raking!

I'll smile only because I'm getting excited to be earning money doing this!

All better... have my own job pulling weeds!!

And Momma? I worked really hard on the inside of the ol' homestead... trying to get things nice again... And I think I accomplished it...It's the cleanest and most organized it's been for ages.

Le ménage- The housework:

Family room - MINUS TOYS!!! Wish I had taken a "before" photo...

Family room into Dining room - what nothing on the catch-all? I mean TABLE!

Kitchen from hallway...where's all the dishes piled up?

Pass thru/kiddos bar - nope not even gunk on the bar stools!

Fly Lady taught me - a clean sink starts it all... and by golly it did! LOVE that I got it to shine again!

Shiny granite! (pun'kin from friends garden and I made pun'kin soup for dinner!!) NO STAINS on stove!

Front hallway from kitchen (on right) down to girls rooms at end...nothing to trip over!

My favorite room currently... our new LIBRARY! smells like books! AWESOME!

ok really - you didn't need to see the girls bathroom - but hey! IT'S CLEAN AND MINUS DEBRIS! BONUS!

Even the front entry... complete with 1 of my shadows MUGSY!

Well I adore our master bath so here it is! I designed it! And begged for this piece! LOVE IT!
See no kiddos toothpaste globs (they use our bathroom ALWAYS)!

Last but not least- I even started organizing the studio and my shelves my AWESOME SafetyMan built me!

Mr Safety Man dared to come in looking like this:

GACK!

...but after I hollered {ahem} asked him politely to clean off his feet first... he was allowed in to the house!


It was heaven. House, jardin, even my studio desk was fabulous. It was so nice to come home to from vacation. But then - coming home from VACATION and unpacking HAPPENED. And how quickly organization and a nice clean house became... yes, I'm afraid to say so - CHAOS!! (and there's NO way I'm posting a photo of what everything looks like now (it's sooo embarrassing).

Now we start again...

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling...

...like a clock... tick-tocking my time to get things done... T'is the Season everybody!

I am doing  it again... I am totally just stressing myself out and getting myself all worked up... but for good reason! I can tell myself that right?! My sweet sister and her family and my sister-in-law and her son are coming THIS coming THURSDAY (six days people). It will be a very busy and chaotic time all together - but I think it will be just what we all need. I want this to be as perfect as I can make it... with all our loss and people missing this season... however... I know deep in my heart nothing will erase the sadness. I just hope I can ease it a bit and just spread love and peace. I am very excited for my family to arrive.

And to add just a little bit of pressure... my sister's birthday is Friday (day after she arrives) and I have invited all my wonderful friends here to meet the sisters and their families in an Open House!!! OH I am a glutton for punishment aren't I? But I LOVE throwing little parties and I can finally do it... physically and mentally! It's been a LONG time since I have had one here!

There's so much to do... and I am slowly working on things... I just hope I can make the deadlines... I am really pushing things...but feel like i am on a sleigh to nowhere fast...

and I am so. very. tired.

Fabric, Fabric everywhere...

I have become obsessed with fabric! I just wish I had the financial status to back-up this new obsession! I LOVE beautiful fabric. I love to figure out what I want to make with fabric. I love coming up with ideas on how to incorporate different fabrics in to gifts for people... And let me put it this way my dear friends... (and I mean that specifically... Dear Friends...) I am making much of the Christmas prezzies this year! Oh yes! And feel free to make things for us... because I LOVE HOMEMADE!

I have found TOO many sewing sites, knitting sites, crochet sites, CRAFTING sites... many of them blogs I read. And I can get lost for HOURS looking and reading and noting different projects but I really need to get my back part of my family room in to a STUDIO before that happens! Sigh... It seems everything is hinged upon something else happening before it - like a domino effect - in order to get where I want to be. But to get things organized, put away, and in order... I have to figure out what that first step is and go from there... that is the tricky part.

I am still unpacking boxes and FINALLY found the 5-7 TOTES of FABRICCCCcccccc (Can We YELL Yay?!?!?). Sooooo why do I go and purchase MORE fabric I ask you?! Well I think I hit the needle on the pin cushion by saying I am truly obsessed.

I found over 100 patterns from Chris' mom! OH BOY they are fun... some from the 50's, 60's and early 70's! LOVE IT! Can we say VINTAGE?! hahahaha So currently I am working on 2 aprons for my 2 sweetpeas... They are SURE funky material in a hodgepodge kinda way - but I think they go and they CERTAINLY match my girls personalities.

Next projects will be to finish knitting my nephew his sweater and while I am doing that working on 2 skirts for my girls... ruffles galore! I cannot wait!!!!

My goal is to get this studio up and running for my pottery, sewing, & crafts so that I can start producing things in order to open a small shop... I am dreaming... And someday I hope it to come true...

Maybe I can sell some AWESOME fabric in this store too!!
Ahhhhhhhh fabric... got a package just yesterday... it's washed and ironed just ready to be created in to something beautiful!!!!

musings on beautiful fabric and all the prezzies and things i can do ALL BY MYSELF!

Accomplishments...

It's been a busy weekend... a good, busy weekend! Yesterday was quite gratifying. Kyky and had the day to ourselves since Mr Safety-Man was working on a few home improvements and BooBoo was off with her bff for the day...

Kyky decided that she really wanted to do a craft together with momma and since I had to go to Michael's for a few projects of my own... well it worked out well. We stopped in at Hancock fabrics - so I could get fabric for some APRONS I am making for my girls. Kyky found a cute kit to make a bunny and clothes and decided this would be a PERFECT prezzie for her little cousin in Utah. We are so excited they are coming and we are starting NOW to get ready. I think it wil help us all to be together despite the sadness of missing Andrew during the first Christmas without him.

Kyky has such a sweet, loving heart. She has decided to make something for each of her cousins. She wants this to be a wonderful Christmas for everyone. Well the bunny came home - and we even bought some fabric for her to have a change of clothes - in to a GLAMOROUS dress!! It was a really fun afternoon. I got to teach Kyky some stitches, how to read a pattern, how to follow pattern directions and she even did her own accessories for little bunny. I love passing on the tradition of sewing and doing something special for someone else. And getting that warm feeling of sharing your talent. She did a FANTASTIC job on Princess Bunny... And I will definitely have to post some photos!!

I got the fabric washed and dried and am preparing them to make the aprons tonight. We also made some decisions on what to do with some of Mr Safety-Man's mom's paper weights... we have soooooo many of them and I really needed to make a special spot for them. Sooooo tonight I have that on my list to get done. That will help me move along on my goal to accomplish the studio...

The biggest accomplishment was getting the boat back to be useable. With us being gone all summer for the various things that pulled us away... we never got to use the newly re-modeled boat. And the cover was taken off - so a summer's worth of leaves and debris was distributed all over the boat... The girls and I spent the entire afternoon sweeping, hosing, scrubbing, washing, and cleaning out that boat from top to bottom. It's come a long way. It still needs some more TLC and a bit deeper clean... but on the whole it's back to being a great boat... Getting THAT done felt like a huge accomplishment.

Lots of things to accomplish... some things accomplished...and I feel like i am slowly getting myself back. It's definitely taking miniscule steps... and a lot of times I feel like I've taken 10 steps backwards... but I am getting things done...

T-Minus One Day...

...and counting... and starting to stress just a tad! Mr Safety-Man and I are heading out and up to Maine one more time for now... We're flying in an eensy-wheeney (such a funny word) plane.

I. am. SO. NOT. happy. about. THAT.

(tante pis for me... French for TOO BAD)

I have really nothing ready for our MAD drive from Maine to Florida... just Mr Safety Man and I for HOURS UPON HOURS in a uhaul truck! Oh Heavens NO NO NOoooooooooooo little girlies on this trip... oh my no. The thought even scares me!!! We're plowing through starting July 3rd and need to be home by July 5th PM. OH what a wonderful 4th of July weekend we're going to be having eh?! Eat a burger or something grilled for me would ya?! Enjoy those fireworks...

I'll be in a car for 12 hour stretches...see ya on that black pavement... oh wait - no you'll be enjoying fireworks and cookout... I forget!!

Do I have anything packed? Nope. Do I have the girls packed to go to our most wonderful, dear, awesome friend for helping us out YET AGAIN with our kiddos and our furry/scaled kiddos? Nope. Do I have a clean house? Nope. Do I have laundry done? Nope... ah shucks.

The house is in a complete uproar due to the GREAT CLEAN-UP & OUT (echo sound to be heard here) of the garage and turning the (non) living room to a Library (cue angelic music when you read Library (cue))! We are so excited... so yep - been spending every waking moment thinking, planning, sorting, organizing, moving, lifting, cleaning, cleaning, throwing out, more throwing out, yard-sale pile-ing it, getting ready for the new library (cue that music again!).

What spurred all GREAT CLEAN-UP & OUT was of course in preparation for Mr Safety-Man's Mom's stuff coming down in the MAD drive on Friday... are we ready? NOPE!!

So in T-Minus One Day... are we prepared and ready to venture on our trip and drive down lots more STUFF?!

... Can you guess what I am going to say?!

The answer is... well i am sure you already know...sigh

Check out this link... (hope it works) - here's a sneek peek at all the changes happening in our new library... oooooooooo i am so excited!!!!

You will probably have to log in - IF - (oh so IF) this link works!!

[DELETED LINK... it didn't work sigh.]

Crunch TIme

We are heavy in to crunch mode... Mr Safety-Man and I are traveling this Friday up to Maine to round out and finish the organizing and sorting all of his Mom's things. We packed, boxed, cleaned, sorted, more boxes, last minute boxes, and even more TOTES... until our storage was almost full - during our last few minutes at his mom's house when we were there the first week in June.

It was a hard goodbye to the house - coming back home. I sobbed as we pulled away. I even took a few Hens-and-Chicks (no sillies... not the real ones... they're a plant!!). And snuffed, snorted, and sniffed the Peonies so HARD that a petal went up my nose. Yes, my friends, I kid you not - it truly went up my nostril and made me sneeze, and laugh, and giggle too. I wanted to try and remember the scent - after all they are truly one of my favorite smelling flowers. Yet as we pulled away I felt a huge loss again. I felt like it was the final step in the closing of a book... as we passed the house again (after the LAST "and I mean it Kymmie the last trip to storage - no more trips") - we tooted the horn like we always used to - and I sobbed even a little harder. But - this is the last chapter - this flight up this weekend and the L.O.N.G. drive from Maine to Florida in only THREE days... or maybe this is the Epilogue... you decide.

I just know it starts a new beginning, a bit more difficult as we try to adjust to not having Chris' Mom to send photos to, to call just to say - "hey we haven't gotten to talk to you lately and missed you", to visit, or to just be together. But time does heal, and the wounds will not be so raw soon enough...

Mr Safety-Man and I have decided with alllllllll the books coming from his Mom's library... that we needed to change a room we NEVER (and when I say NEVER... I mean NEVER) use from a "living" (I call it the non-living) room to a library. It really was just a catch-all and playground for the girls. That started me on a plan for "built-in" bookshelves all around the room. Well... we are SO running out of time before the books are getting here (one week now). AND our garage was filled with his other parental unit's C.R.A.... well you get that picture - junk. Soooooo - we've been in total crunch mode cleaning out the garage to getting OUR stuff cleaned up, organized, sorted, packed etc for a BIG. HUGE. yard sale! YAY US! I have been so good about just gettting rid of things. It was an inspiration going through San's stuff... I just needed to do this. We've been holding on to too many things.

But with all this sorting... no time to build - built-in's. OH NO... now what?!

Well Mr Safety-Man came up with a most FANTABULOUS revelation. Our home is VERY much ecclectic with a large assortment of family antiques (I am saying ecclectic because it sounds so much better than saying hodge podge or mix-matched or even GASP - OLD). SOoooooo why not get some barrister cabinets/antique cabinets to make the library and go along with what we already have? It's not light colored as I had hoped... but... I LOVED THE IDEA!

We searched all around and went to several shops (even a new wood shop that I could "shabby chic" something... only it was just as expensive if not more for unfinished wood!?!?!? Seriously dudes? Would MUCH rather have antiques for close to the same price). {I digress - as usual}.

Then Mr Safety-Man found a place that only dealt with Barrister cabinets that would match the ones I have of my grandma's... and I am in love. WAIT till you see the photos... this library will look good I think... I hope... I've been working late nights and hard hours getting them clean and assembled in my new library... I've been taking photos of the phases and will post them soon! But right now I need to get back to the grind...

After all... it is crunch time... that clock is ticking!!!

Cannot seem to get my mind engaged

I have a lot of things in my head going round and round... and yet I cannot remember a thing. NOT ONE THING! I usually pride myself on my memory. I will fully admit that once I got pregnant I lost some of my memory pride... HOWEVER... I thought it was all coming back!

There's a lot of things going on here... is it enough to erase my memory? I used to multi-task so much better! I mean I ran my own database group, had tons of meetings, ran meetings, deadlines, schedules, prioritized, that was me! ugh...

Today I missed my personal training appointment. NAMASTE my bottom. I was so mad. This is the second time. I wish I could say I had a good reason. The first time missed - the girls didn't have school on Monday. On Tuesday (my appt day) I thought it was Monday all day... so miss 1. Today... well there was- absolutely no reason... at all - except my minds been very occupied lately - and I just buried myself in cleaning. Big time. Well at least the house looks good - or at least is starting to look good! Boo hoo... I know.

It seems like a lot is going on all at once. And what started as a peaceful - yet filled with thinking - type of day - has turned in to kind of a stressful day. So maybe my mind's TOO engaged? Too many decisions to make, too many unknowns, too many emotions. I guess?!

But I did get in my exercising tonight! I still cannot believe I can do some of the things I have been doing lately! It is so refreshing... it's been TOO long. YES!

Things that annoy...

i am not an oldest child... a mere middle child.
i have huge tendencies toward characteristics of an oldest child.
writing lists... it is an inherent part of who i am.
it helps me feel better, more controlled, centered.

...maybe it will help today.

today's list-annoyances:

~~ clutter everywhere ~~

~~ not being able to "catch-up" on things that have to get done ~~

~~ canker sores - all of 'em - but mostly the ones in my mouth that HURT ~~

~~ things that hurt my babies - ouchies in the middle of the night, feelings, external sources ~~

~~ not being a morning person ~~

~~ not being organized & being unmotivated ~~

~~ feeling sad ~~

~~receiving bad, bad, BAD news not once but twice in a short period of time ~~

~~ things that grow inside a body... that we don't know it's there - 'till...
that hurt the ones we love... that frighten us... that we cannot do anything about...
that may mean loss... that scares me. ~~

~~ being helpless ~~

~~ not being able to shut off my mind for a bit ~~

~~~~just a few annoyances for today~~~~