Organizing, re-organizing and purging!

I have been busy at work today cleaning the mud encrusted entry way in my home. As I told you, I had 6 yards of topsoil delivered to my home. It then poured for the last 3 days and we have mud everywhere! I have high hopes though and am not deterred easily! Tomorrow will be a sunny 72 here in SC. which is really very cool! I will be back at it tomorrow and post pictures. Today I woke to a rainy morning and decided scrubbing my entry, making pots of tea and watching Bramwell  while organizing, re-organizing and purging my "craft room" supplies! 

Bramwell is an excellent miniseries! Here's a synopsis, I've included the person who wrote the synopsis as well:

  In 1895, women were not expected to work - or even know about - medicine. Women were expected to work as house-wives, mothers, teachers and nurses. One women was determined to change that. Eleanor Bramwell works under Sir Herbert Hamilton's supervision. She isn't happy. After he stupidly loses a perfectly healthy young mother, Eleanor decides it is time to make her mark in medical history. Mocked by fellow medical students and questioned by her father, Doctor Robert Bramwell, Eleanor is soon given a renovated building - by donation of the kind Lady Cora Peters - and begins her own infirmary - The Thrift. But with all odds against her, will she survive? Will she make her dream come true? Will her colleagues trust her? Written by<andrew_robertson@bigfoot.com>) 

As you can see, it's about a strong woman and well, I want to be one! Part of my being a strong woman is taking control of my hesitation to attempt organizing my life and home. I worry I'll fail because, well, I never seem to have got down to the business of doing so! I clean up and my house looks tidy, but lurking in the deep there are boxes with unknown contents in them, old sheets, blankets, dishes that no longer have a purpose in my life. I worry when I attempt, because it's unknown I will fail. A paralyzing fear that has been able to be indulged due to my constant moving during my entire adult life. Never lived anywhere longer than 2 1/2 years most times I lived in a place for a year or less. I moved 3 times in an 18 month period once! So by the time I felt ready to tackle the boxes I knew we'd be moving again and it seemed pointless to be opening and dragging stuff out to have to turn around and box it when it was already boxed!

I have moved 15 times in the last 20 years. This may seem like allot and I agree! This has been one of my biggest problems with keeping house and organizing, the other is my ADD. I get overwhelmed easily by too much chaos and opening and organizing things is chaos. Out of sight out of mind! Each home I arrived at had a different layout, colors scheme and I would receive/buy things for that home and form memories, move and the next house it wouldn't fit, or there was no display place etc. I have so many boxes accumulated from so many moves! Another huge issue, which is actually the current issue, is that for many years I would move in, be working on a project (sewing dresses, stamping Christmas cards, whatever!) and couldn't go through boxes to find what I needed so I'd end up doubling up on items for the craft room, a new ink pad here, a bottle of glitter there. I don't have too many items that cost much, I'm fairly thrifty, I do however have a ton of little things! Many that are still useful to me and I have no way of knowing how to store said things! I feel frustrated because when I see studio pictures in Pinterest and Google they always look fabulous! I do not practice one craft! I do french heirloom sewing, smocking, embroidery, general sewing, painting, clay, painting, paper crafts, building/woodworking, gardening, stamping, scrap booking, card making, quilling, Scherensnitte, cooking and many more that I'll refrain from typing lest your eyes grow weary!

HOW do I organize so many mediums? I HAVE paired down my focus and let go of many things. I no longer paint woodcrafts as often and decided to donate the small wood wheels, pins etc. to bible school crafts. I have sat for hours winding my embroidery flosses around bobbins and organizing them neatly-done! I have made numerous piles based on subject and have made some progress. Now....please...ideas! Do I put small items in ziplocks and then place the ziplocks by category in bins marked with the medium? I'd love some feedback, so anyone who is reading and never commented....now is your time! I will go crazy and start drooling on myself and muttering things like..."Have to seperate eyelets by color and size...Have to organize my paper by color....must organize paints by color families!!!!!" I wake with ideas and this is no way to sleep folks! Help! Are you out there?????

Some pictures of what I ultimately want:

From Tatter tots and jello

Neat and clean- relaxing yet fun

Until next time Dear Reader,

CRAZY Chatty Cathy

Top of the world...or just on top of the soil pile!

We had 7 yards of top soil delivered the other day. Our entire yard is solid clay and some cement and nails the builders left! Nothing grows in it. The 4 new bushes we bought in the fall and plated correctly and with plenty of compost dies within weeks. So the only thing so far I have had success with has been pansies (shallow roots) and some sedum. The mulch has broke down a bit and we, should say me as hubby has a herniated disc and I'm flying solo on this one, are attempting to add soil thickly and help break down the crud underneath. So for a couple of days I've trudged through the dirt wheelbarrow and thatching rake in hand attempting to make something of my clay soil! Heavy rains have made a soupy mess and in some areas I sink into the ground 4-5" and have fun trying to get my Wellies out! I'm determined though and there's a sense of achievement knowing I am doing this with a purpose! It's also kicking my rear physically which is helping me get back into shape right? Silver lining folks!

Here's some pictures of the pretties that will go in initially. I picked items with shallow root systems that will still look incredible once they bush out and fill the gardens. Next year we'll attempt more bushes and annuals. 

Yellow Latana

Variegated Hosta

Hosta

Red petunia

Forsythia given to me by my Aunt

purple petunias

white impatiens

I'm thrilled to finally have a yard to thrive in! I love to garden and have missed it terribly during the last three years while I was in apartments and a townhouse with no yard. It's like a dream to go out and feel the earth through my fingers! I thank God for my many blessings, family, home and now a yard!

I hope each of you have a great weekend and until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Queen of my own life!

Throughout the day she found herself saying, “I can’t do that, or I’m not smart enough to learn that or I’m just not good enough.” She decided it was time to cut out the negative self talk. The truth was she was smart enough to do anything she set her mind to and she was more than good enough – she was the brilliant Queen of her own life. - Queenisms™

From the book :

Queen of your own life

This book was given to me by my dear husband. He wants me to grown strong and embrace who I am with no excuses! I love so many things about him, but this one is a huge reason. So here's a picture from the "Queen" facebook page that I liked and thought would give you some food for thought!

I am in the garden this morning moving 6 yards of topsoil. Then to the spine doctor to have dear Hubby's back looked at, then to school to pick up cheesecakes for the orchestra, then to youth group! Busy day! I hope you are all doing well and find yourselves being your best self today!

Until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy

Goodbye....Hello

I haven't posted in weeks. I've had many reasons why, some of which I am  ready to post about, other not ready yet.  I am going through some real life changes personally and have struggled with writing a chipper, tutorial style blog when I have so many personal struggles going on inside. I'm still working through some things, but thought I'd share some of the items I've made in the weeks since my last post. The last of this post is about some things I am going through and hopefully you will bear with me. I think writing it out will be therapeutic for me and feel free to skip it if it is more than you want to hear from me today :)

I hope you enjoy the pictures and hopefully I'll be able to get some good tutorials up for you real soon!

My daughter Kimmi has a pretty pink room. She keeps it perfectly clean and takes pride in it. The other kids....well I try not to enter their rooms! LOL I was thinking about something pretty I could make for Kimmi and a mobile came to mind. At times she has trouble sleeping and I thought this would catch the breeze and spin. It's extremely engaging to look at and the picture really doesn't do it justice! It's simply wire loosely wound and then has "stems" coming off the center balance. The little flowers are made from a stiff organdy type material that has some stiffness to it and I just hot glued them on the the ends of the wires. It's very light and spins so easily. She came home and loved it.

My front door hadn't had a thing on it since the fringed flower wreath project and I decided to try my hand at a floral wreath this spring. I simply sprayed a willow wreath (Dollar Tree) white and hot glued Hydrangeas from the silk flowers at Michael's onto the wreath. It turned out lovely and I hung it with a bow made from 3 layers of the tulle I used in my Valentine's dinner projects.

This is an example of one of my many changes lately. A more whole food type of eating. High Andi score items, pure ingredients, soy and green powder full of nutrient rich items. It's not a huge change for me as I've always been a healthy eater. Boneless skinless chicken, grilled with veggies and brown rice would be a typical meal for me. Well having an issue with the way my metabolism works with a possible underlying Thyroid issue all this healthy eating has not resulted in me losing or even maintaining my weight. I have grown heavier and heavier for years. This has been a big mental obstacle for me. Looking good and always worrying about weight had been part of my life since I was a child. Allot of attention was directed towards that my whole life. I have had to start blocking voices from childhood, youth and adulthood about weight and the feelings I had about it. I hate to say it but I am very unhealthy about my body image. I feel I have let down people in my life by not looking a certain way and when I say to myself it's ridiculous I inevitably hear a conversation within my family talking about the size they are and how bad they look. These people are over 100 pounds lighter than me and I go back to beating myself up. If these people I love don't like themselves at this weight then I have completely let them down by being a loser in that area. I know, that's just silly. I've been told I'm being silly and over sensitive my whole life as well, if not that then argumentative or dramatic. Lots of negative voices and then 18 years of marriage to someone who supported those thoughts as well. I came to buy into those thoughts and helped by telling myself the same things. It resulted in many years of thinking I'll never be enough for anyone...till David. For the first time I wasn't argumentative, I was expressing my opinion and had a right to. I wasn't dramatic, I was upset about something valid. I wasn't over sensitive I was aware that I had let someone down or hurt them and take it to heart. All this positive spin on things made me realize I'm not a terrible and worthless person. I'm a person-period! We all have things we wish we could change about our personalities but should love ourselves despite and in spite of them. I need to extinguish the voices I choose to hold in my head and heart. I'm not sure HOW to do it, but that's part of my journey. I will still care about people and care if I have hurt or offended someone, but I'm not going to let what people think of me rule my life any longer. This thought process has kept me from being the best self I can be. It's not about blaming, I'm past that. It's about healing and letting go of the hold my past has on me. For me it will be a long process and difficult. I am very close to my family and feel guilty about the feelings I hold because they are all so incredible! I love my family and wouldn't be so many of the things I love about myself today without their influences. This is hard. If I hated them I could easily say, they are horrible and the way I feel sucks and move on. Instead I'm left with people who, in my opinion, are exceptional individuals who probably never realized the things they said caused so much hurt. This is why confronting my feelings has been so hard, they didn't try to hurt me and I feel bad that I got hurt because they are so darn great. The thing is....it's okay to say I was hurt. There's nothing wrong with it and I'm not feeling guilty any longer. One day my kids will come to me and let me know all the things I've done to upset them. I hope I can be part of their healing by saying I'm so sorry you ever felt that way and sorry I was part of making you feel that way. You are a wonderful person, I love you and you are "enough".

I apologize for those of you looking for a tutorial on toilet paper rolls turned into a Pottery Barn wreath with witty little quips, you caught me on soul searching day....but have no fear I'll be back with glue gun in had and more tutorials soon!

Until next time Dear Reader,

Chatty Cathy