it was a such a tough day today. i'm too tired to even write anything.

sorry.

at my work we don't really have a lunch room. we have a small room that someone has put a table and fridge and microwave. there is no sink and no drawers and no cupboards. we do however have plastic everything. plastic cups, plastic plates, plastic cutlery. i've been working really hard at not using the plastic and have my cup and my plate and bowl there. i even bring cutlery in to eat with my lunches and snacks. all the disposables make me feel ill.

i bring the cutlery but i get really frustrated with the fact that my cutlery is at the bottom of my bag and loose and clinks together. i started to think how i could prevent this. & i started to wonder how i could do this in style.

some of the military people had these neat little army issue cases for their cutlery (which was army issue as well)...where could i get one? could i make one? after some internet searching i think can! Instructables has a tutorial on how to make a cutlery case and i've got the support of the hitched chicks. i've got an old pair of jeans that i'm going to use as the base for the case and i'm going to find a funky pillow case from value village for the top part of the pattern. i'm so excited! crafty mojo is back!

if my first attempt goes well, i'm thinking of making one for each of my nieces as part of their christmas present (they're teens but they also seem to be quite practical and i'm not buying them 'stuff' anymore).

wish me luck! cheers!

when clutter takes over, i can't think. seriously. i know it sounds completely doolally, but it's true. it starts so small. some junk mail comes and instead of throwing it out it gets shuffled into my important papers basket. i go to a work seminar and bring home the pamphlets and notes and they get added to the basket (i used to call it a bin...but since meeting steve i can't do that. bin = garbage can in british speak...i'd say it's in the bin and he'd go looking in the garbage). throw in some magazines, cards, receipts and before you know it you have a mountain of dead trees. the pile gets so big you need a whole other basket and eventually the paper takes over a room. you see where this is going.

it's so easy to become overwhelmed with paper and all the other 'stuff' in a house. the basement has really become a lost land. anything that we don't want to deal with goes into the basement (except for bills, even though we don't want to deal with them they haven't made their way into the basement--yet). what was once a wide open empty space is no almost packed to the ceiling in parts.

today i declare, THE DECLUTTERING MUST BEGIN! i've had it. totally had it.

i tackled most of the paper last weekend. everything paper related is in one container all filed all nicely. steve bought me a shredder and i've been madly shredding everyhting with personal information. now i've got the shredder on the kitchen counter and as things come in i've been shredding them. it feels so good to not have the mountain of paper.

THE PLAN OF ATTACK -- i'm going to identify 1 area that needs decluttering in every room in the house and go from there...

• KITCHEN - CUTLERY DRAWER: somehow all the cutlery that i had in a box stored in the basement got unpacked by a certain husband and dumped into the cutlery drawer. now it's overflowing and nothing fits. i need to get rid of about 100 spoons.
• LIVING ROOM - ENTERTAINMENT UNIT: our movies and tv shows are out of control. nothing has cases and there's CDs mixed up everywhere. got to get a system of some kind.
• BATHROOOM - UNDER THE SINK: just needs to be cleaned out and the old stuff thrown out and maybe a nice basket for everything to sit in.
• 3RD BEDROOM - COMPUTER DESK: is a crazy mess of tiny little pieces of receipts. 'nuff said.
• ANDREWS BEDROOM - HIS CLOTHES: we sort through them every couple months and still somehow they end up all crazy again days later. i hate little kid clothes. seriously.
• MASTER BEDROOM - OUR CLOTHES: need to take out old and not worn clothes. same as always.
• BASEMENT - SHELVING UNIT: it's a zoo down there. i think the animals rearranged when i wasn't looking. *sigh*
• ANDREWS TOYS - these are strewn about the house and really we need to get rid of his infant toys and only have the ones he plays with.

1. an unfinished shawl...the story of my life.

2. a naked baby eating oatmeal.

3. benders big score.

4. a naked baby eating oatmeal watching benders big score.

5. laminate floor with oatmeal on it.

what a fucking awesome movie!

this week at life has been full of drama. family drama, work drama, daycare drama, ... *sigh*

1. family drama - my parents are pack rats. before my mom got sick the pack rattiness didn't seem so bad. my mom could keep the main rooms looking okay. but since she's lost a lot of her mobility things have gone downhill. their house has reached a state of 'needs-to-be-condemned'. i've ignored the situation for quite a whilenow, but alas it seems like i won't be able to ignore it any longer. my parents want to rent the upstairs suite (where i used to live) and they want me get it ready. uh-oh. not going to happen. my anxiety goes through the roof just thinking about it. & i told them exactly that. & well...drama ensued. so, i've been dealing with that.

2. work drama - well, remember before how i barely had any work to do? well, now i'm doing 2 peoples jobs and i'm so busy it sucks. sucks big donkey balls. other staff are still wandering around and chatting and surfing the net and i'm plugging away at the work that wasn't while i was on holidays...

3. daycare drama - i won't say much about this one, but i'm the chair of the board and there is a lot of stuff happening and much to do still.

i'm looking forward to the weekend. i think tomorrow the 3 of us are going to go to the beach if the weather is nice.

sunday is a friends little guys birthday party. get to see wall-e in the theatres and i'm super excited!

other then that i'm just getting used to steve working in the evenings and it just being me and andrew after work and for supper. it's not too bad. so far we've been watching a lot of cartoons. :P

we're still in potty training hell (although possibly an end may be in sight). if there's ever a poop smell in the air i'll ask andrew if he needs to poop. the answer is always no. ALWAYS. then i'll ask if he pooped...his answer, 'no mommy. the poo is still in my bum. the poo is in it's home...'

buddy, if you know where your poo is, you know how to get it in the potty. :P

a pictures of the little monkey...

this humble blogger is pledging to make a post a day for the remainder of august.

it's good to be creative. it's good to get things out. it's good to vent. it's good to be funny.

it's good to be.

ps. we're going sans capitales. i hope everyone can deal with that. :P

pps. maybe i'll add more bling to the blog too. they disappeared the last time i tried to change the skin and i never put them back.

So, it happened. I fell off the blogwagon. Things got heavy in real life and it became tough to want to make any posts and writing frivolous or funny ones seemed even more tough.

to recap, in the last month or so:

husband lost his job, in laws visited, husband found 2 other jobs and for various reasons didn't stick with them, went to calgary, sick baby, lost crafty mojo, went camping, i lost weight, i gained weight, i've seriously regretted becoming chair of the board of directors for my kids daycare, husband found a job, husband started job. oh and how could i forget, my family is insane and are driving me coo-coo.

but i'm back, i promise. this new job of hubbys is from noon to 9 PM, so i'll have time in the evenings to be bored and then due to boredom, i'll post more.

promise.

ps. i've got to decide if i'm going to go sans capittals or if i'll do the proper punctuation thing on this blog...i'm sure some people are being driven batty.

Remember this post i made about using solar lights inside?

well, this is the bad news...the lights didn't really work. i was really disappointed actually. the first big problem was that the lights are top heavy b/c they're designed to be stuck in the mud outside so i couldn't really stand them up inside. i balanced them on top of my lamp but then i discovered problem number two. the lights are very dim. incredibly dim. unable to read by dim.

but, it's not a total loss. the lights did provide some mood lighting. they would be good for an evening where you're just watching tv or chatting with friends. i'm thinking about getting a large pot, filling it with mud and having that to stick the lights into in the house.

so, if i could find some stronger lights that could stand on their own inside my house i would be all over the solar lights on the interior.