The Bottom of The Box

I sat and looked at the pile of stuff in my living room that did not belong for at least a week.  I spent whole days reading books while over the top of the book was chaos and craziness.  So, when M came over last Thursday, I had decided that if I could get to the bottom of the game and puzzle box, the rest would just flow from there.  So, she helped me shift things around and get the mega box to beside the fish tank.  Cut to one more day of staring at the mess and on Saturday I found This:

 Look!  It's the bottom of the game and puzzle box.  Everything is put neatly back into the cabinets and cubbies underneath the fish tank.  That wasn't THAT hard.

Then, it was time to tackle the rest of it.  At the beginning of Saturday this is what the front of my house looked like.

And, at the end of the day, it looked like this.  Not 100% done, but definitely a great deal more livable and peaceful.

With a Little Help From My Friends

I am sitting here waiting for my friend M to come and help me shift things around and put more things back into their permanent home from being shifted all about while working on the floor.

I have a hard time asking my husband to help me.  A.  Isn't it obvious that some thing needs to be done? and B.  He works so hard for us to have the house we live in, food we eat, clothes we wear that I feel(incorrectly) that I should be able to handle all of the household everything.

That's where friends come in handy.  My friend M and I have swapped house cleaning duties, child care duties, and baked together for a bake sale she was participating in.  She really is my go to friend for when I need a little non-judgmental help with my house.  I feel so grateful to have her because it is not often that you can feel comfortable enough with some one to let them see all of the nitty gritty aspects in your life.

I also find that if I have someone to share the workload and chat with I get things done much faster and with a happier heart.  I love the feeling of working with someone to get a big or even little job done.  Listening to music will work to bolster my endurance when it comes to doing all the tedious tasks that my life is filled with, but there is really nothing like having a work mate.

That Elusive Thing Called Balance

Balance.

It is what I struggle with most in my life.

I tend to hyperfocus on one thing at a time.  I can be tucked into bed and then fly out of it searching for the checkbook.  Because I can not rest until I know where it is.

I can have a clean house, home made food, and educate the kids-but if I excel at those things I can't really DO anything else without all of the household stuff falling aside.

I have gotten better.  When I used to be involved in theatrical productions, the house would fall into wreck and ruin from day one.  I have now gotten to the point that it doesn't fall apart until right before the opening of the show.  And then I am able to pull it back together within a week or so of opening.

Now, I have this fun fiber business, and find myself struggling with my old friend Balance again.  I am finding that it really does take away from my household and family obligations every bit as much as my theatrical endeavors.

So, I need to pull back.

Because a tidy house IS important to my mental health.  Feeling like my kids are getting a good education is important to me and their future.  Having food that is mostly prepared by me in my own kitchen makes my whole family healthier.

I will still dye and sew, but I will have to focus on making it part of my life and not on letting it take over my life.

I also find myself struggling with screen time.  Between my phone, the regular computer, and my tablet, I find that I spend several hours on an average day just looking at a screen.

To challenge myself for the next 30 days, I am gonna make Sat and Sun webfree days for myself.  And, during the week, I am going to spend 1 hour or less on the web.

I think that at the end of the 30 days I will find time to get the balance that is all askew in my life.

Is it nap time?

I am so tired, ya'll!  But, the good news is that we are close to the finish line with laying the new floor.


This is what the carpet looked like in the multipurpose room.  Yuck!

 This is the floor almost done-What a difference!  We did not take this daybed apart because it requires a PhD from MIT and the strength of The Hulk (Hogan or Incredible, take your pick) to get it back together again.

This is our bedroom-putting stuff back together.

We only have two closets(a wee one and a big one) left, the transition pieces, and quarter round.

The hall took 6 hours and our bedroom about 3.  The hall is not long, it just has every internal doorway in the house on it so there were a lot of fiddly cuts.

I made sure that I was well stocked on cereal, sandwich fixin's, and fruit.  We managed to not eat out at all while working our tail feathers off, so that's a win!

Well, I had better get back to putting stuff in the correct rooms.  I would like to be able to sit on the couch by the end of the day...

The Haunted Bunkbed

So, if you have ever slept on the bottom bunk, this may be a familiar sight.

We got these bunkbeds a few years ago off of Craigslist and they did not look like this on the bottom-they were whole.  Now, as some of you may know, that cobweby stuff is fun to stick your finger through, and well, once there is a hole there, it sure is fun to make it bigger.  Before too long, you've got great big swoopy holes all on the underside of the bed right above your head.  Now, I had cut the hanging down pieces a while ago, but this was still the view.

So, before we put their beds back together, I had a bright idea!  I have fabric, I wonder it I have enough  of one to cover all that ugliness.  So, I went and investigated, and sure enough I had about 3 yards of this orange color.  So, I grabbed Ray's staple gun and got to work.  I just stapled the sides neatly and ran out of staples on the last pouch-so this project was meant to be!


O's new view from the bottom bunk.  I think It's pretty genius myself.  And as O says, 'Now It won't look like a haunted house.'

Working on the Weekend

Long story short, a few years ago we had a slab leak, it was repaired, and even though the patch was blockaded and not really in a path, or Boston Terrier Dot managed to leave a lasting imprint.

Dad and Ray working hard in the living room.

                                             Keeping the neighborhood classy.

                                               
                                               Underlayment in the office.

                                                       
                                                         Almost done living room.

                   
                                                           Boyo's room.

                                          Boy, are my feet tired-But hey!  at least I am wearing cute shoes.

 
                                               Boys bunks back together.

We floored the front of the house, a little into the hall, and the boy's room.  All that we have left in those rooms are the quarter round around the base boards and the transition pieces.

Next up-Hall and spare bedroom.

Huh, so that's how you add pictures.  Cool.  So, I have a problem.  Since opening the shop last year, most of the pictures on my computer have become pictures of listings.  So, I am gonna challenge myself to take one non shop picture a day for the rest of May.  Because, you know, there IS more to life than yarn, fiber, and bags. ;-)

Testing?  Testing?  Is this thing on?  Hello!  My name is Stacey and I am a fiber artist/seamstress/home schooler/actress and I live in Texas.

Right now we are tearing up our house so that we can put it back together again.  We are going to start installing Pergo flooring in all of the bedrooms and front part of our house.  Soo, what better time to start a blog?  I mean, those book shelves can wait, right?

Right now I have taken 2 of our double sided bookshelves and most of the product from my shop and they are hanging out in the kitchen.  I am hoping that by tearing apart the house and having to put it back together, I can accomplish a deep clean and reorganization that I feel like my house dearly needs.  I will post back on here on Monday and let you know how this weekend goes!

Happy May, ya'll!