A Birthday and A Recipe

Our oldest turned 9 (9!) a week or so ago.  Crazy how time goes by so quickly and just seems to speed up the older the kids get.  We had a family celebration with a friend over - sweet and simple.

 This year Gretchen wanted an ice cream cake.  I was able to find this recipe for OREO and Fudge Ice Cream Cake at Kraft and just substituted in Mint OREOs.  So simple to make and tasted great.

Our next birthday is in September and I've already had a request for one made with Snickers.  :)

Borrowing Ebooks

http://lendle.me

For those of you who don't know, Kevin got me a Kindle Fire for my birthday.  I honestly don't know who has enjoyed it more - Me, because I have multiple books in one easy device / Kevin, because he no longer has to 'sleep' with the bedside light glaring in his face at crazy hours.  His most recent comment: 'Best purchase I ever made!'.

I usually get books from the library.  I'm typically too cheap to purchase ebooks (or any book, for that matter).  I stumbled across Lendle and thought I would share, though.  There is a full disclosure on there site under FAQ.  There are a lot of books that are not available for borrow; but, obviously, they wouldn't have the site if none were available.  Free books are always good - well, at least in theory.

For those who don't have a Kindle , Amazon has apps that can be downloaded to a smartphone or computer.

My Current Reads:

Ebooks - Protector of the Small Quartet Series by Tamora Pierce (First Test , Page , Squire , Lady Knight)

Hard Copy - Divergent by Veronica Roth

Craft Room Tour

My life is full of clutter.  I HATE clutter.  No matter how much I dislike clutter, I can't seem to eliminate it from my life.  Anyone else have this problem?  Sure you do.  Very few people don't have issues with clutter in some part of their lives.

I've been ignoring living with the clutter in our home for the past couple of years.  I'd much rather do what has to be done, play with the kids and then curl up with a good (or even bad) book.  Much easier on me than trying to sort through all our stuff.  'Bout as helpful as an ostrich burying its head in the sand, right?

Okay.  No more excuses.

• I'm feeling better and getting my energy back.
• Neighborhood garage sale in T minus 19 days.
• Little Man has turned 2 and there no more little Wises coming along.
• My life will be much simpler and nicer once I do this.

My craft room seemed the perfect place to start - since my husband kept making not so subtle comments about how much better he thought all my stuff would be moved to the basement.  I can't really blame him with the room in a constant state of chaos.

So, here is where it all started.

Actually, I believe this is after I had already gotten started.  I didn't like this.

Configuration 2 didn't work much better.

I moved our dining room table into the room instead of having everything spread through 2 rooms.  The table is a great space for me to lay out material for pattern placement and cutting.  It was just too much visually right against the basement railing. 

Configuration 3 started the creative juices flowing and I was able to get everything functional and looking nice at the same time.

Having the dining room table in the room is amazing!

I 'needed' a space devoted to the actual sewing process in the room, too.

This desk is a relic left over from my husband's college days.  This picture was taken after I had moved our massive computer.  It's a large surface to work on: plenty of room for both machines to remain set up and a place to sit and work on my laptop.

Putting the shelf above the desk has allowed me to use some of the vertical space in the room.  Bobbins, my Sidewinder, a radio and some odds and ends are housed up there.

I moved the desk down the wall a few inches to make room for some storage.  The drawers are holding thread, scissors, pins, fabrics and the little bit of felt I have.  The little cubby on the desk has a plastic bin in it holding my patterns.

The bookshelves are now organized and de-cluttered, as well, holding sewing books, magazines, my tools and the rest of my fabric stash.

The last area is the first a person sees when walking in the front door.  It should work well for ironing, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it like this.  (Pay no attention to the mess in the background.)

I'm loving the new space!  It's organized.  It's inviting.  It's calling my name.  Best of all?  No one else has stuff in the room.  This space is mine all mine.  Now to get a project going.

Better!

I'm back and doing much better.  I have a ways to go to getting back to 'normal', but I'm well on the way. Now I just need to gain about 15 to 20 lbs.  (Yes, I'm sure some of you would love to give me some of your extra poundage.  My husband has offered several times, but we have yet to figure out a pain free way of doing this.)

Anyway.  Now that I'm feeling better, I felt the need to do something - anything - to keep from just sitting around.  So, much to my husband's delight, I decided to rearrange some furniture and switch up a couple of rooms on the main floor of our home.  Kevin does seem to really love me.  ;)

I'm hoping the way I feel will just continue to improve and our family will be able to have a fun and full summer.  I'll try to get the house settled back in to a livable format in the next week and share some pictures with you soon.

So glad to be back!!