LIVING AN ORGANIZED AND DELIBERATE LIFE...

I woke up this morning to the sounds of torrential rain and howling winds.  The perfect day for some comfort food, yes?

Last evening I got the itch to bake.  It was already pretty late, so I needed something quick and easy.  I found a package of Raspberry and White Chocolate scone mix that Dear Hubby and I had purchased on vacation.  It was a quick mix...just add water, stir and bake.  I had pushed myself too hard during the day and was definitely feeling it, so the mix was perfect!  No effort baking!  While four of the scones had to be placed onto a second baking sheet (and burned) the remainder of the scones came out perfectly.  I guess I should have made them all a bit bigger and kept them all on one sheet, lol.  But, burnt or not, they were delicious.

Hearing the monsoon-like rain pounding on the windows this morning convinced me that comfort in the guise of two scones and a big mug of steaming coffee was the answer to my breakfast needs.  I even spread one of the scones with some delicious Lemon Curd that we picked up at World Market in South Carolina. Oh YUM!

While making my coffee I had to open a new box of K-cups.  In keeping with my 2014 goal of organizing and living a more deliberate life (part of being organized), I took the time to nicely arrange the K-cup drawers and glanced at the back of the box tear off.  Ah-HA!  A contest!  I immediately went to my computer and entered the contest...and then, since I can enter daily until March, I saved the site to a "Contests" sub-folder in my main Making Money bookmark.  Making Money is one of the first bookmarks I visit on a daily basis.  It contains sites where I can receive freebies, points for searching, points for buying, points for reading articles and answering questions, points for surveys and now contests! I also made sure to toss the tear-off into the recycling bin instead of the trashcan.  My trash company gives points for the weight of trash recycled and I can use those points to buy free gift cards!  This morning I was "living deliberately"...not flying from chore to chore with little to no awareness of how my actions did impact, or could impact, my life and surroundings!

While eating my scones I realized that having a supply of "cheap" mixes would also help on days when I was too exhausted, too sore, or too shaky to bake from scratch.  I added "Make Mixes" to my main ToDo list. 

As I shut down the contest link I noticed that my computer had popped up with an opportunity to upgrade my MAC operating system.  I figured that was something I should do, but this computer used to belong to J and I was unsure of his password.  I knew I had written it down on a piece of paper and shoved it into my HUGE pending file folder (yet to be organized).  After a bit of searching I found his password and began the upgrade.  I also placed the post-it containing his password in a place where I was sure to look and sure to find it the next time an upgrade came around.  But, in doing so, I noticed how horrible my password list looked.  There were cross-outs, erasures and smudges all over.  I printed out another stock form (in black and white to save ink) and rewrote all of the passwords.  Another tiny bit of organization accomplished! 

In order to meet my 2014 goal I need to slow down my life.  After years of multi-tasking just to meet deadlines, I need to slow down and "think" about what I am doing.  No more moving on auto-pilot!  I need to consider each thing I do.  Is there a better, easier, cheaper way of doing this?  Is there a way I can benefit from doing this, or something associated with it?  If I were to need to reference this in the future, would I know where to look?

It took 24 years of juggling my family's needs, my own business, and housework in order for my home to become this unorganized.  It isn't going to be reorganized over night.  And it SHOULDN'T be.  Organizing is NOT a once and done.  It is a lifestyle choice that should, in the long run, guarantee that I am getting the absolute MOST out of every aspect of my life.  Now that is a change I can live with! 

THREAD....

We all need it, but BOY what a mess it can make in your sewing room! 

Last Christmas my mom and dad got me a Helmer drawer unit from Ikea.  It fits perfectly under the drop leaf table top (also from Ikea) where I do all of my cutting, ironing, etc.  

As you can see, my gate leg table and Helmer drawers form an "L" wth my sewing table...making the placement perfect for easy access to my thread.  

As you can see in the above picture (sorry for the duplicate photo), my drawers are labeled according to the type of thread they contain...Cotton (CT - Connecting Threads), Cotton (SLKY - Sulky Brand), and Poly (EMB - Machine Embroidery Thread).  Slightly organized, but not as organized as I would like them to be. 

Additionally, we all need bobbins of thread to match!  I purchased a small bobbin holder and put the label from a set of threads from Connecting Threads inside.  I tried, as I used a thread from the set, to put the corresponding bobbins in the case.  They were there, but the thread was unwinding and tangling.  So I tried putting a small hair elastic around the bobbin.  It worked, but then I couldn't see the thread color!  

 

Not too long ago I saw a picture on Pinterest which showed how to fasten your bobbin directly onto your spool of thread in order to keep them together.  It didn't cost anything, well except for the cost of a rubber band, and I loved that the two were attached together so securely.  No bobbins falling off of the top of the spool when I went to take it out of my drawer.  

Connecting Threads sells one of my favorite "all purpose" threads.  While they have a bazillian different colors of thread, once you take off the cellophane wrapper you have no clue as to the name!  I used my Brother P-touch label maker to print out a label for each color thread.  If you fold the label slightly the backing comes right off, no trying to peel it from a corner and losing my sanity in the process!  

 

I then folded the label around the middle of one side of the rubber band. 

Then stick one of the ends of the rubber band through the bobbin and the other end of the rubber band through it.  

Holding the bobbin against the spool of thread (trapping the end of the thread), wrap the rubber band around the spool and over the bobbin. 

Your bobbin is now attached securely to the corresponding spool of thread and you can tell the color of the thread at just a glance.  

I used the cardboard tube from a pants hanger, cut to size to fit "firmly" to provide a divide between the colored threads I use for ordinary sewing and piecing and the colored threads I use for quilting.  When my order comes in from Connecting Threads I will add the new spools to my current collection with their color labels attached to a rubber band so they will be ready to go when I am ready to sew!

Next I will tackle my Sulky drawer and the drawer that holds my machine embroidery thread.  That one will be done the same way, except the threads have "numbers" instead of color names and I have a LOT of threads to organize! 

I'M BACK...ON A NEW (to me) COMPUTER!

 

Good morning!  I hope your Memorial Day weekend was wonderful.  Mine was "different", lol.  I did not accomplish even one thing that I had hoped to accomplish...but instead accomplished a few things that really needed attention.

 

I have been horribly fatigued and sedated recently thanks to an increase in my medications, and have not had the energy to do any sewing.

My Dear Aunt's potholders have been sitting on my craft table for almost a week now, I think, (I've spent a lot of time napping and have lost track of days!) and I have not even finished the basic "piecing" for the front.  So simple, yet so out of reach right now.

Over the long weekend, however, I did accomplish some very "necessary" things around here.  Yesterday I decided to tackle our "stationery drawer" in the kitchen.  Since I couldn't stand too long I pushed a kitchen chair over in front of the drawer.  It is located near the phone and holds the usual things...pens, pencils, paper, clips, binder clips, rubber bands, phone book, scissors, tape and take out menus.  I can honestly say it was barely shutting there was so much junk just "shoved" inside.  SHAME ON ME!

So I began pulling out one item at a time and either setting it on the kitchen table to keep or tossing it immediately into the trash can next to me.  When I was all done emptying the drawer I tested all of the pens and threw out TONS of old ones with dried up ink.  Where in the world did they all come from???  I really think they multiply in the darkness of the drawer!  Unfortunately I forgot to take photos before the revision.  Let's just say the drawer was ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! I found things in there dating back to 2009!!!

After I had purged through and drastically reduced the "junk" I then used some disposable containers from take out Chinese food and separated the drawer into sections.  Now everything has a place and the drawer is NEAT!  Not much to accomplish for the average person, but I was thrilled with getting it done...even though it took an entire day in 5 minute chunks of time!

On Saturday I had employed the same tactics and cleaned out the bottom of my vanity.  I eased myself down onto the floor and pulled everything out, one piece at a time.  The things to be kept went on top of the vanity and the things to be trashed were immediately tossed into the can.  After much maneuvering and grunting I pulled myself up and laid down to rest for a while.  Over the course of the day I put everything "good" back into the vanity...one piece at a time, lol.

On Sunday I tackled Dear Hubby's side of the vanity, which was really easy as there is practically nothing in there!.  I took out the two Sterlite 3 drawer units that we had stopped using years ago and put them in my craft room closet instead.  Once again I forgot the "before" pictures, but would have probably been too embarrassed to post them anyway!   These are things that should have been cleaned out long before now, I just have been in too much pain to tackle the job.  It took a full day broken into 5 minute intervals to clean out each side, but at least it is done!

Yesterday J and his Dear Girlfriend K came over so K could cut my hair and J could set me up on a different computer and hook up my new printer.  My printer died last week and the MacBook computer I have been using is dying a slow and painful death.  It was purchased for J back in 2006 and he handed it off to me when he upgraded.  Unfortunately last week I received a message that Firefox could no longer support its operating system.  That was the final straw.  Time to set me up on something a bit newer!

So J set me up on one of his other old computers (an Imac I think it is called).  It is newer and has a newer operating system.  He also set up the new printer I bought.  I love them both.  Unfortunately, after he left last night I discovered a LOT of stuff that didn't transfer over, so I will begin recreating bookmarks and copying things to a travel drive and then pasting on the new computer.  Oh, and please ignore the paper monster on the desk in front of the computer.  I have a LOT of papers to get through this week! 

Geez, I almost forgot!  On Friday Dear Hubby took me to my favorite thrift store and I came home with a pretty little tin container to hold my scratch pads and six more skeins of yarn to use on my guest room blanket (which is going to take FOR-EV-ER at the rate I am going!!!!!). 

So my long weekend was a good one.  I spent a LOT of time resting, but did manage to accomplish a few necessary things around the house.   Hopefully this week will be a continuation of progress toward our 2013 goals of purging through and organizing the entire house. 

Off to chomp on the next bite of my elephant....after a bit of rest, that is!!!!!