Odds and Ends

The September Cleanup

When I was in school I always thought of September as the beginning of the year, much more so than January.   Even though I've been out of school for lets be real - decades I still think of it that way.   This year I decided I was going to start "the new year" with a whole new scrapbooking area and I've been working away at getting that just the way I want it.  I've been working at it so much that I've really slipped behind on my blogging and worse - reading my friends (new & old) blogs.   Hopefully this week I'll be better at doing that.

One of our back bedrooms (actually both of them) has  a very deep cupboard and years ago we decided to change them so we could also use them for a bit of storage (other than clothes).   In the room that is now my scrapbooking room/lair/studio area J moved the clothes rod higher and more forward and then installed another removable one further down and behind these he installed shelves for me to keep my yarns, magazines, tools, patterns, etc on/in.  Well its pretty well gotten out of control and as I needed some space for scrapbooking stuff in there I decided to attack that part of the cupboard.   I think where knitting magazines and patterns are concerned I am definitely a bit of a pack rat.  I keep them forever - I even have patterns of my Mum's and she passed away in 1976.

I always thought there was no way I could get rid of a knitting pattern or magazine or even yarn samples - it just didn't seem right after all they were reference material (anyway - that was my excuse).  About a week and a half ago I realized that I hadn't even looked at them in years and at my age would never make even 98% of the knitting projects in them so I bit the bullet and took 12 magazines out of the cupboard.   I sat down & started going through them one by one and when I saw a pattern I really truly liked and might make or an article that I thought was important I tore them out and put the magazine aside.  Soon I was through all 12 magazines and had a very tiny pile of torn out pages.  This went on for days and by the end of Sunday I had a pile of 60 of them to put out in the recycle bins for Tuesday morning.  

 The first 60 to go.

We actually had to start a 3rd blue box (recycle bin) for the week as there just wasn't enough room in the other 2 what with newspapers, cans, water bottles, etc.   I kept going though and by Monday night I'd added 24 more magazines to the box for a total of 84 magazines gone.   This wasn't even 1/3rd  of what I had in that cupboard.   I was on a tear and it's kept up this week.  I just keep thinking of what else I could use that space for.  Right now I've decided that I'm not getting rid of my Knitters magazines - at least for now - but pretty well all the other magazines (Sandra, Interweave Knits, Knit 'n Style, Vogue Knitting and even Family Circle's special knitting issues) will be going.  I'm still undecided about some of my Mum's patterns - some of them go well back into the 50's or even 40's.   I think it's all about they were my Mum's.

 
 Some of the shelving J put in for me years ago - ignore that cottage cheese container on the upper shelf - I have to go through it and sort the stuff in it - I know some of it is J's stuff from when he was in Lions.  Can't wait to see it all neatly re-arranged.

 
The stack of empty magazine holders.  Yes I know this picture was taken the wrong way & won't come out right when I import it even though I did rotate it.

 
This week's stack of 90 magazines and 12 catalogues/newsletters. And there's still 3 more days to go before recycle pickup.   Wonder how many more I can get rid of.

I hope after this week I'll be able to start in on re-organizing the shelves and making room for more of my scrapbooking supplies/books etc. and then I'll really feel at home in the room and will have really made progress on my word for the year of organize.
 

 
 

YEAH! The Past Year's Dream is Coming True

For the past year I've had a dream of converting what we call "the ironing room" into my scrapbooking/knitting "studio".   Today it came one major step closer to coming true.

This past week we had my niece's family visiting and it made us clean up (major de-cluttering) the "ironing room" so the 4 1/2 year old & the 1 1/2 year old could sleep in it.  Who knew you could clean up something so quickly.  :)   After they left I told J about a "rather cheap" table I'd seen in the latest Ikea catalog.   So we did something really "dumb" today - we went to Ikea on a Sunday afternoon when it's all about back to school time - UGH!  

I drove around and around and around until finally we saw the 15 minute parking by the loading area.  I grabbed a spot knowing that we knew exactly what we were buying and btw it took us practically the whole 15 minutes thanks to the horrible check out (they're converting to self check-out and no one knew what they were doing).  But now I have my table (5 feet long by 2 feet wide) and it's all set up in my new "studio".  Now I just have to move everything else in.  :)  

As you can see J's REF unit is still there but it's not being used for books (at least not now) and he's said I can use it for my scrapbooking "stuff".  Oh yeah, the pile of papers on the new Ikea (made in China btw) table/desk are class notes that I have to sort/punch/file (that's tomorrow's job).

I still have to move my wishblade and old laptop over there and then I'll be all set.   BTW, this setup is going to be for my traditional scrapbooking, my digital stuff will still be done on this computer setup.

So here`s a few pics of my new setup.

 

 

 
Can you tell I'm really tickled   Sorry I have somehow changed my keyboard to I do not know what & can not use apostrophes, question marks or basically anything else that is out of the ordinary.  Something for me to figure out in the morning I guess.  :)

 

Planning - I Guess I Didn't

I was going to write my blog today from new little Sony netbook that I got yesterday.  So I put it in my bag and headed out for the day – hmmm I didn’t have any pictures loaded into it and hadn’t brought along any of my storage devices so slight change of plans in what I was going to do with my Five on Thursday post.  So instead it’s going to be five things I’m planning to do between now and Sunday for National Scrapbooking Day (I know I'm not in the US but we have it in Canada too).

First and foremost – work away at my Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers classes.   I am slowly going through them and I’m all the way up to day 7.  That only leaves 7 more days to get through just to get to today.  :)

Second is work away at my redo of Jessica Sprague’s Up and Running class but this time version 2 so that I can refresh my memory.

Third is make the layout I’ve got in my head in honour of my Mum who passed in 1976.  I haven’t done any of her yet but I think right now is the perfect time – late March was the anniversary of her death, last week would have been her birthday and Sunday is Mother’s Day.

Fourth is to actually do some paper scrapbooking – the one of Mum is going to be digital. 

Fifth is to start getting ready for Stacy Julian’s new Photo Freedom course which replaces her Library of Memories at Big Picture Classes.   I was lucky enough to take the LOM class last year and so get to sit in on the new course.  I’m looking forward to seeing what’s different this year.

What are you doing for National Scrapbooking Day?  Is anyone doing something totally different for it?

Decision Made About Weight Watchers

I’ve made the same decision many, many times but this time I am going to stick with it.    The decision – to go back to Weight Watchers as of this Friday.    In the past 2 years I’ve gone back numerous times and then I only seem to last 2 to 3 weeks each time.  This time will be different.   After going through all our pictures from the last month, I know I have to do something and weight watchers has worked for me before – I made lifetime many years ago.  So my first step in losing weight is to go back there and most importantly actually follow the plan and not play around at it.    Every Friday I’ll post an update on how that week has gone for me.   I think by doing that it will help me with my motivation just knowing that I’ll be posting that update.  

I’d love to hear from anyone who has struggled with this and maybe learn some of their secrets in sticking to it.

Things I'd Like to Do

After reading Lee’s “Monday Musings”, I started thinking what would I like to do, so inspired by her here’s my list (a short version) in no particular order except for the first one.

 I want to lose weight.

I want to get a personal coach to help with my exercising.

I want to do blurb books of the rest of our vacations.

I want to get back to scrapbooking on a regular basis.

I want to take pictures of the interesting architecture around town.

I want to finish scanning all our old pictures and negatives.

I want to find out what I can do with all the weird shape negatives – can I get them reprinted?

I want the computer room cleaned up once & for all.

I want to see more of my family.

I want to be organized.

I want a clean house.

I want to read more classical books and re-read the ones I had to in school.

I want to convert our videos to dvd format.

I want to see what I can do about our records (LPs) – can we convert them to CD format?

I want to go back to England and see Scotland too.

I'd like to get past this block in my family history research.

I want to go to Australia and New Zealand.

Junque (Explanation to Follow)

It's been a good few days cleaning up in our house.   While John spent most of Sunday stripping & redoing the kitchen floor I spent the day working away at cleaning up the computer/scrapbooking room and shredded ending up with 3 bags of it to put out & I haven't even got to cleaning out the file drawers.  Yesterday I spent most of the day cleaning up & reorganizing my desk.   Until we get the new work table for me for the room I'm going to use for scrapping it would be nice to actually have some room in here to do some.  Of course I got side-tracked with the piles of photos on it that I had pulled for LOM (Library of Memories) and hadn't got back to but still managed to get a lot done.

It seems cleaning/decluttering is contagious the past few days.   In an e-mail chat with one of my best friends she told me that she'd been working away in their guest bedroom and to quote her "Boy, do I have lots of "junque" [that's junk classed up a bit]".

Today it's garbage/recycle day and I'm hoping to get some of our "junque" out there so I'm heading down the basement  to see what can go out from down there.  We've got stuff down there that's waiting to be fixed and there is just no way that is going to happen.  I don't know whose idea it was to have garbage pickup every other week (recycle is every week).  It works great most of the time but when I'm in a cleaning out mode it doesn't work so great.  :)  Ok off to see what I can get rid of today before they come & pick it up.

WW This Week (short update)

I just got back from my weekly weigh in and was glad to see a 1 pound drop, especially after 2 lunches out this week - one on Tuesday & one yesterday.   They've got a whole new program starting this week so I've got lots of reading to do about it - maybe I'll get some of it done on the plane on Monday.  :)

There was no real exercise this week other than walking, but it wasn't walking for exercise instead it was walking to get places - like from outer reaches of parking lots to malls, bank, grocery stores, etc.  Somehow I don't think that will improve next week while I'm down at my sister's in Halifax, but I can definitely keep track of my eating (and drinking).

The new plan gives you an idea initially that you're getting more points - YEAH! but and it's a big but - most things are more points aside from fruits, veg & skim milk.  So in other words, so much for the extra points.  :)   Next week won't really be a good week for me to see how it goes but....

8 Things That Need Doing By Year End

I got the idea of "8 Things" from Lee's blog Embrace Life  who credits Magpie Girl.   Here's a bit from Lee's blog about it.

"Rachelle, aka Magpie Girl, started *8 Things to quiet her "monkey mind" and I embrace it for much the same reason: therapy! If you're looking for a place to keep your lists, you might want to consider *8 Things."

and thought I would jump in with an 8 things list today.   All of these need (or should I say I absolutely want) done by year end.  This is aside from the usual Christmas stuff that has to be done too.

- get back to Weight Watchers on a weekly basis on a specific day and not just willy nilly like I have been doing.

- start back at the Y

- get my desk cleaned off & organized

- get my "new" scrapbooking area set up and actually being used.

- have all of 2010's pictures (excluding December's - they can be done in January) rated and sorted into highlight folders or otherwise and ready to be printed off the next time Costco has a sale

- put all course notes in binders so I can actually find them.

- have all filing up to date

- go through the stuff in the basement and figure out what can be gotten rid of/sold etc

 

My 2010 Word

Back last month I posted my word for this year but I never went into any detail on it.  I chose accomplish.

Accomplish - to bring about (a result) by effort;  to bring to completion; to succeed in reaching (a stage in a progression)

So here I am on the 14th of January and what have I accomplished thus far this year?

1)  I've been working away at my pre workshop assignment for Stacy Julian's LOM (Library of Memories) workshop and have accomplished getting our 2009 pictures done.

2)  I have managed to transfer over all the files I needed to my new laptop.

It may not look like much but both those things took quite awhile.  The next major accomplishment I'm working on is the 2008 pictures.  I know I may not get through all the digital pictures by the time the workshop starts but whatever I get done will be a lot more accomplished than last year.

Where Do I Want To Be A Year From Now?

Those who know me know that I'm not one for making New Years resolutions but I need to have some goals as to where I want to be by the end of next year both health wise & craft wise.

1) It's no problem saying it but doing it is definitely another matter.   I want to be at goal weight by the end of next year (that gives me 59 weeks so I think that is doable so long as I keep at it. To do that I'll be back following the Weight Watcher program.  It worked for me in 2001 so I know I can follow it - the problem is sticking with it.  I might even go back & dig out the 2001 journals to see if that will help.

And in connection with that - get back to the Y for 2 to 3 times a week.

2) Finish the 2003 Las Vegas/Southern California trip scrapbook.

3) Start & finish the following vacation albums - 2006 Alaska Cruise, 2007 Panama Canal Cruise, 2005 Southern California trip and the 2004 WDW trip.  It would be nice to get more done but..... we'll see.

4) Make albums for Lisa for P-man and the new baby.  I'd like to get the new baby album done by her due date in January but I know that won't happen so instead I'm aiming  for Easter (having 3 weeks away in there will screw things up so that's why Easter).

5) Have my scrapping area and knitting stuff totally organized once & for all.  Definitely an ongoing project lately.  Right now it's in 2 rooms (the computer/office room and what I call the ironing room - I find the ironing board the perfect height for putting together the layouts).

6) Finish at least 2 projects already on needles (or pins as some say).  More would be even better.  That new yarn is calling to me though.

7) Finally have all the window coverings redone.  After 23 years in here that is definitely needed.  I'd love to get it done by this year end but I don't think that's going to happen as there is just less than 7 weeks left.

Once a month I'll post a goal update but I'll mark it that way so you'll be able to skip it if you feel ike it that day, I'll also post something absolutely not goal related for those not interested in reading how my goals are coming along but I'd sure love you cheering for me.