Scrapping For Over 20 Years

Yesterday was spent primarily going through bags of papers and miscellaneous little things that clog up my life. It was tedious, and after all was said and done, I didn’t have a lot to show for my efforts – a few empty bags, a bunch of trash, and a pile to run through the shredder. The house didn’t really look any better.

Today I rewarded myself for a job well done by focusing on easier, more fun things – things that made a difference.

Glassware went back into the hutch, boxes of games, DVDs, and CDs were emptied and their contents returned to drawers, and books returned to bookcases. This resulted in piles of empty boxes, and big empty spaces in the bedrooms where there were once just paths through the rooms!

I dragged the big silk tree back to its place, and moved a few tables back to where they belong.

And most of my wall treasures are back up.

 

But the part that was most fun was putting the scrapbook albums back into the library hutch. Well, putting them away wasn’t the fun part. I took a little time to look through them first. THAT was fun.

It occurred to me that although I am very, very far behind on my scrapbooking, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years, and I have lots of albums to show for it.

When I first started scrapbooking in 1997, I worked in 8 1/2″ x 11″ D-ring binders. I got off to a slow start, but by the time Hannah was born in 2004, I was kicking it. She has a LOT of documentation of her early years. I was much more prolific then than I am now, and the pages were a lot fancier. Even Bea’s first few months are well documented.

 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until the fall of 2008 that I started slaking off, and there is little to show of daily life. The photos were taken, they just weren’t put in albums. For some reason I shifted to prioritizing vacations, an even they are not ALL done.

 

In mid-2017 I cam up with the idea of a photo journal, and I’ve been doing pretty good keeping up with that.

In the back of my mind, I’ve always wanted to get back to recording day to day life. I feel bad that Josh and Lulu have very little to see from their early lives.

But seeing what I’ve done in the past makes me want to get back into it in a big way.

 

Still Digging Out!

I promised myself rather than just stuff things back in the cabinets once the flooring was in, I’d go through it all and reduce the amount of stuff I was putting away. So far, I’m sticking to it.

I knew doing it right would be a longer process than it was to just pull things out of shelves and drawers and stuff it all in boxes, but I’m beginning to think it will be months instead of weeks before it’s all back in place.

Man, I have a lot of junk!

…and multiples of some of the dumbest stuff. You’d think there was a paper shortage the way I hoard scratch paper! Pens, pencils and paperclips? Pretty sure I have two lifetime supplies… Extensions cords? I must have needed one and couldn’t find an extra so I bought a new one, like, 4 times. Dictionary? Can’t remember the last time I used a paper one, but if I ever need to, I’ve got several. Same with pocket calculators – yet another thing I don’t need with a phone that does everything but cook for me. All 4 of them are out of here! Three extra car chargers for phones (only one for the kind of phones we have now,) 4 decks of cards,  a pile of nail clippers, 6 partial containers of sunblock… This is really getting ridiculous. If I ever wanted to print photos from my computer I’d have plenty of paper, except that I haven’t done that in many years. I’m tempted to justify keeping it, but NO! Seriously. I can’t keep doing this.

And don’t even get me started on old electronic stuff. I don’t even know what half these cords and chargers go to. And how many sets of ear buds does one person need? 5? 7? How about 10? Again, my guess is I couldn’t find them and bought more. Over and over again.

I have a bag of papers to shred, another to throw into the recycle bin.

The frightening part is, as much as I’ve sorted through already, there’s still a ton left to do.

But the exercise has not been without its happy surprises – a check for $50 I never cashed from months ago, about $150 worth of gift cards, and two pairs of earrings still on the cards that I’ve never even worn.

I’ve gotten reacquainted with dishes, napkin rings and serving pieces I haven’t used in a long time, and found a few things I’d lost track of, including the charger for my fitbit. If I had been wearing it, I’m pretty sure I would have made my steps today with all the walking back and forth between rooms I’ve done today.

Hmmmmm. This is kinda fun. In a sick sorta way.

 

 

What A Difference A Day Makes!

January 8th, I was totally, completely unmotivated.

There was NOTHING I wanted to do, other than sleep.

Today is different.

Our contractors got the flooring laid in record time. Instead of being displaced for a week, it was really just over night. Now I have a gorgeous new floor, and it has motivated me to get the house looking good. They got the furniture back in place before they left, and I was able to start getting the house put back together.

 

 

Dusting isn’t normally one of my favorite chores, but when you get to dust furniture when it doesn’t have a bunch of stuff on it, it’s MUCH easier, and much more rewarding. Dust rag in hand, I ran around like a white tornado for hours.

When I woke up this morning, I was excited to start emptying boxes.

I’m doing this project a little differently than normal. I’m not just putting everything back in cabinets. I’m going through every single piece of paper and every single piece of junk to see if I REALLY need it. If I don’t, it’s going bye-bye, whether that means seeing if someone else can use it, donating it, or tossing it. I have literally GOT to reduce the clutter in this house. I’ve only got so much space, and I am determined to live comfortably within it.

Drawers like this drive me nuts, and they are getting sorted as I try to find more space for stuff I need easier access to.

The most fun part is finding things I forgot I had!

These got shoved in a high drawer without even taking the price tags off. I love them, and they are going to go into the lower drawer that I open regularly, so hopefully they’ll actually get used! I’m finding lots of stuff like this, which really makes the cleanup less painful.

Now, when I get to the boxes of paperwork, that will be a different story! But, I’m hoping that having those boxes emptied out and gone from my life, will make the trauma worthwhile.

Maybe a little decorating, then paper sorting, then a little more decorating will make the job less overwhelming.

I think I’m even going to treat myself to a few larger decorating pieces – not adding, but replacing. It’s time to shake things up in “tattered world” just a little! Shhhhhhhh! Don’t tell Mr. Tattered – I’m starting a list…

 

 

 

 

SaveSave

Fiddling While Rome Burns

That’s what I feel like I’m doing right now.

I have so much on my plate, so much I SHOULD be doing, but the house is in disarray, and there’s not much progress I can make at the moment.

So I sit here with no tv, no work space and waste time as the evening disappears.

But then, I realize, yes there is.

I could be planning future blog posts, or making notes about goals for the next few months. I could be starting “to do” lists for when the contractors are gone. I could be pulling out a box at a time and sorting through the stuff I packed away as it was and start getting rid of the stuff I don’t really need.

I could pick a drawer or a cupboard to reorganize, shop on-line for a rug to put down in the family room, or clean out the refrigerator.

I could start thinking about what I need to pack for our winter trip to Yellowstone next week, or plug in the glue gun at the kitchen counter and makes repairs to the 3 purses I have sitting right where I can get to them.

I could be reading about all the new features the camera on my new phone has, ordering a couple of books for my kindle to take on the trip, or even read one of the books I didn’t finish on our last trip.

I could be knitting one of the 10 scarves I have the yarn to make, or cleaning out my purse, or making a meal plan for the rest of the week and putting together my grocery lists.

I could even get really crazy and start cleaning out my craft room.

But I’m not doing any of that.

I’m tired. I’ve been going at full speed for days, bending, lifting walking, walking, walking, as I prepared for the floor work, and all I really want to do is nothing.

And so that’s what I’m going to do. Nothing. Nada. Zip.

In fact, I’m so excited to do nothing, I’m going to bed. Or maybe I’ll waste just a little more time first…

 

 

 

New Floors Are Coming!

Some one in my family (I’m not naming names!) is a little piggy when it comes to traipsing on the carpet with food.

We finally replaced the carpets in the main living area (the gathering room) just over a year ago, and it has stains already. On top of that, I’ve always hated the tile floors in the kitchen. The grout looked great when we moved in, but it wasn’t long before it looked awful, even though Mr. Tattered had spent hours sealing it.

But, I’ve never been a hardwood floor kinda girl. I didn’t like the shiny finish, and the ones I’d experienced just never looked clean. The dust showed something awful.

Then we were looking at model houses, just for fun, and saw reclaimed barn wood laminate floors, and it was love at first sight. Well, on my part anyway.

I didn’t really think we’d do it, since we’d just spent so much on the new carpet, but I started researching. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. Mr. Tattered was dragging his feet, and if he isn’t into a project, it’s just not worth doing it.

In the meantime, my son and daughter in law got a new puppy who peed on their carpets to the point where she was totally disgusted. Instead of waffling back and forth, they just got the laminate in the entryway and living area. She kept sending me photos as it was going down, and I just HAD to go see it in person.

Their installer was sooooooo nice, and a real fan of the new laminate.

I figured why not just have him come out and give us an estimate and talk about how much of a mess it would be, so we’d at least be making an informed decision.

I didn’t want to do just the family room, but the entryway, hallways, kitchen and front office – all the high traffic areas. Well, it turned out the price wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and he was able to come up with some ideas for mitigating some of the more challenging parts of a project this size.

I really needed to leave the final decision up to him. He is a little set in his ways, and the week’s worth of disruption would be harder on him than on me. After seeing it laid down and talking to the installer, he was inclined to go for it.

We ordered the product immediately, but delayed the installation until after the holidays, so I would have awhile to get all the stuff out of the hutches and entertainment center, and would be clearing out Christmas anyway.

So here we are.

The product arrive last week and has been “curing” in its new environment.

The hutches are empty, stuff cleared out of the rooms we’ll be doing. All we’ll need to do in the morning is move the tv and take care of a last few things that we use regularly.

I’m nervous and excited.

One more sleepy until the work begins! EEEEEEEK!

 

 

Revisiting Christmas

I started this post before Christmas, but never quite got to finishing it. I almost trashed it, but decided why not just run it late? And I couldn’t come up with a reason not to. You’ve probably seen some of the photos, but not altogether.

My decorating isn’t crazy over the top like in the Hallmark Christmas movies, but I think it looks pretty festive! If I didn’t share the house with a guy who thinks he needs some storage space in the garage, it would be better (or worse, depending on your perspective!)

So. I’m kind of an obsessive decorator. I can’t help it. Really, I can’t.

I spent 20 years decorating a whole store over and over and over, each season, each holiday, each wonderful new theme I came across. It is so ingrained I just can’t stop. Nor do I want to. It’s probably the primary thing that keeps me from NEEDING to open another store.

Mr Tattered was lucky (operative word – WAS.) In the early years we were broke as a joke, and the little decorating touches came into the house slowly, a few new treasures each year.

Then, once I opened the store (My Favorite Things, in Mt. Shasta, California for those of you who don’t know!) I was so busy decorating it (with the help of my fabulous staff of creative decorators) there was little time or even interest in decorating at home. Except at Christmastime. I always found the time, then, but still nothing like it is now.

Then, once I traded the store in for grandchildren, that all changed. I had to do SOMETHING with that crazy need in me!

We lived with our daughter for a couple of years (we just couldn’t let Hannah go into daycare!) so I did a little decorating for them. Not much. My daughter is a bit of a minimalist (I know – if it wasn’t for the fact that she has my nose, I’d think I need to do a maternity test.)

When we made the decision to buy our own house just down the road, I was able to release all that pent-up need to decorate! Since we were keeping our house in Mt. Shasta as a vacation home (or so we thought at the time!) that meant filling a whole house. I was on a budget, but with a 20 year background in “shopping,” I knew how to take a “look” I liked in the fancy stores, and find bargain ways of making it happen.

With the everyday basics covered, it was then time to attack the holiday decor. All the Christmas decorations came with us from the Mt. Shasta house, but there really weren’t a LOT. Our 7′ tree had now become a 9′ and I had the top of the entertainment center on which to display the few Santas I’d collected over the years. There was definitely room for more treasures. Today’s tree is much more full, as is the Santa display!

 

 

Before I knew it, there were angels on the library hutch to match the shabby chic pencil tree in the entryway,

 

snowmen on the front porch and on top of the cabinet in the gathering room,

 

and gingerbread goodies in the kitchen.

 

Each year I add a bit more, trying not to expand the actual footprint too much (I don’t know WHY Mr. Tattered feels the need to have clear pathways throughout the house!)

Last year I added another pencil tree on which to display ornaments from our travels. It sits in front of our travel wall. Of course. We were fortunate enough to add a few new ornaments this year. Some of my favorites are a glass “passport,” one from the Galapagos, one from Harry Potter world,  a pair of wooden shoes from Holland, and a giraffe from Africa.

I love the kid’s tree. I started it when Hannah was about 3, and although she doesn’t care about decorating it any more, Lulu and Bea like to decorate and re-decorate it!

This year my big find was a Lori Mitchell Nativity Set. I’ve been looking for just the right one for years and years, and finally I found it! It’s so me.

And then there are the advent boxes. I ask Hannah every year if she still wants one. This year she said, “Gaga, quit asking! I’ll still be wanting one when I’m 30!”

Last year I left the entryway tree up ALL YEAR,  decorating for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, spring, Easter, summer, fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving, before putting her angels back on! And there is normally a coordinating display on the library cabinet next to it. I expect I’ll be doing the same this year!

In my store we decorated about 20 themed trees and garlands at Christmas. I’ve managed to keep to a main tree and two themed pencil trees. So far. I can actually see where I could add a snowman tree next to the hutch that houses the snowmen, and surely I could squeeze a teddy bear tree into the guest bedroom, freeing up more space for more ornaments on the main tree, and a…

Yikes! I need to stop. Don’t I?

 

 

 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Truth In Cleansing

So, I hope the part of cleansing that involves getting my life cleaned up is easier than the juice cleanse!

I went from looking at those beautiful bottles of juice and barely being able to keep from cracking one open early,

to “Oh. My. God. If I have to drink another green juice I’m going to die.”

These have not been the easiest 3 days on record.

Not even close.

The first day wasn’t bad. It was a LOT of juice, so I felt a little water-logged. I can’t believe how many times I needed to hit the head. Which is good, I guess. All those fluids were surely rinsing out some yuck, right? I got through it with no major issues. The V for Vanilla was a lovely liquid reward for a day well done. By 9:30pm I was ready to chew the wallpaper off the walls, but I slowly consumed a small handful of cashews (it’s legal!) and that got me through.

Day two was worse. More green juices, no treats. But again, with the aid of a few cashews, I made it. Once again there were many, many trips to the bathroom throughout the day, even extending into the early morning hours.

Then there was today.

Once again I started with Lemon Snap, my favorite, but it was downhill from there. Green, green, green. Each bottle got chugged. There was no savoring going on. By mid-afternoon, I felt crummy. Grouchy, really.

Fortunately, my partner in the venture was feeling the same. Had she been flying through it, I would have been even more grouchy.

By mid afternoon we decided to go to the movies (our 5pm juice in tow) to get our minds off of it a bit, which helped.

Now I’m down to my last little bottle, and I’ll be done. Fortunately its a “restorative tea,” not green juice.

There’s not much in it I recognize except the stevia (pau d’ arco, cat’s claw, rama, horsetail, nettle, rose and stevia) and it’s not bad. I’m still feeling full, but my guess is I’ll be chomping on a few more cashews before long. I’m taking the win. It was a tough 3 days, but we made it. Now all I have left to show for it are my empty bottles, and flushed out kidneys (I hope!)

I’m going to try to remember how uncomfortable this was, and hopefully I’ll be eating better this next year so I don’t feel the need to do it again next year. I can’t imagine ever being completely vegan, but I’m going to get as close to it as I can.

Would I recommend the juice cleanse?

I don’t know, and I don’t think I will for a few days. It depends on how I feel post cleanse, and whether it does help jump start me into not eating at night. We’ll see.

So tomorrow we’re taking our empty bottles to Sun and Soil to get our deposit back. We’ll get a few more Lemon Snaps (those are a great way to start the day!) and perhaps a few V for Vanillas for nighttime treats. They have a vegan breakfast (I have no idea what!) so we’ll grab something to eat while we’re there.

Then it’s back to “cleansing” the house in anticipation of the flooring people coming on Monday.

 

 

2018 Journal

In July of last year I came up with the brilliant idea of using a 12″ x 12″ composition book from 7 Gypsies as a base for a scrapbook-style journal to document the highpoint of life in my little family.

But since I could NEVER be happy with starting it midway through the year, part of the plan was to go back using my photographs, credit card receipts and calendar to re-create the whole year as best I could. This made the project much more complicated. A further challenge was that I’d lose a month of time while we were in Africa, so I’d be WAAAAAAAAAY behind. But that didn’t stop me from trying.

It takes one album for 2 months, needing to add an extra page to some of the albums.

I started by stamping each page with the month and date, then writing in the name of the day.

Next I’d decorate each page with washi tape, using basic designs for every day, and holiday or season-specific tapes for special days. If I was unable to find an appropriate tape, I’d use stickers to bring home the theme of the day.

Then it was time to caption the page. Usually I stamped it, but for some days I was able to find fancy paper-pieced titles to add interest.

 

 

 

 

My Canon Selphy photo printer (which had been sitting around waiting for me to figure out how I was going to use it!) played a leading role in this project. It made it so I could print photos in 3 sizes, depending on how may I needed to fit on a page – 4×6, 3×4 and 2×3.

My first completed page was for the 4th of July,

…and I’ve been working away at it ever since. I never did get completely caught up, but going back and doing as much as I possibly can is still in the plan.

So, then, with 2018 looming, I had a decision to make. Do I keep doing it, and if I do, do I use the same format, or come up with a different one?

I REALLY enjoy doing it, and the idea that I’d actually scrapbook the thousands of photos I have sitting around in boxes and drawers was looking increasingly unlikely. Yet I want to leave the family as much of a record of our lives as I can. So, yes. I’m going to do it, and since I love the format, I’m using the same bases again. Between Michael’s and Amazon I was able to secure another 6 books (in fact, I even have the first 2 for 2019!)

Needing a way to differentiate the years, I decided on altering the spine covering with duct tape for year 2.

But always in the back of my mind was the question of whether or not it is a good use of my time.

The Forrest kids thought so. I watch them 5 days a week most of the year, so they saw the album being worked on quite a bit. Whenever they’d have something they were doing (homework, watching a show or having screen time, or Lulu would be playing quietly by herself) I’d have it set up and work on it as I had a few minutes. Sometimes for hours – Lulu would get out a workbook and do her “school work” next to me at the counter.

They got to the point where they’d ask to get a picture taken of them doing something “for the journal.” Lulu likes to watch the selphy print the photos and retrieve them for me.

But since I normally only have the Stockwell kids for a short time after school and with no degree of regularity, they rarely saw what I was doing, and I don’t think it was registering.

Until this week.

Hannah saw me working on it and said, “hmmm, that looks cool. Can I look at them?” Next thing I knew she and Bea had them out on the floor, flipping through them, laughing at stories and goofy photos, pointing things out they’d forgotten, and, in Hannah’s case, correcting some of my journal entries (thank goodness on pages that were still just in pencil!) Bea, being a fellow washi tape lover, was impressed with the use of tape, vowing to use hers more in her art journal.

Hannah did point out that I seem to do more cool stuff with the Forrest kids than I do with them. In my defense I argued that I have them more often (which is true – especially Lulu since she’s only in school 3 days a week) and at times when we aren’t super rushed – the logistics can get pretty crazy when I’m trying to get all 4 where they need to be! But, I appreciated the feedback, and will attempt to up my Gaga game with them.

In fact, yesterday I had them and not the Forrest kids, so we had what Lulu calls a “guhl’s day,” and went to Michael’s to pick up some art supplies, Barnes and Noble for books, and to get mani/pedis – all of which will be documented in the journal!

Bottom line? Yeah, it’s a good use of my time!

As much as I hate to think about it, I’m not going to be here forever. It will be nice for them to have tangible pieces of our lives together for them to look back on. And having them think Gaga kinda rocks for doing the albums is pretty cool, too.

So far, 4 days in to the new year, I’m keeping up on the journal! Yay, me!

 

I’m not crazy about needing to go back and reconstruct more of 2017, but it’s a project I’ll take with me to Maui and try to get it completed.

And this year, even with interruptions for travel, it should be MUCH easier to stay current!

 

SaveSave

The Big Cleanse

So, if you’re following along, you know I’ve chosen “cleanse” as my word for the year.

It mostly has to do with cleaning up my life, but coincidentally, Andra and I are also doing a juice cleanse which started today.

Sun and Soil Juice Co. in downtown Sacramento is where we got our juice – fresh and organic. We’re doing the 3 day cleanse, so it was beginner for day one, intermediate for day two, and advanced for day three – 6 bottles a day for a total of 18 bottles each. Crazy!

Andra picked up the juice yesterday, and I looked so good it was all I could do to keep from drinking one last night. But I waited.

This morning our first juice was the Lemon Snap. Yum!

Next up, Beta Boom…not so yum, but drinkable. The lemon, I drank slowly and savored it. This one, I pretty much chugged.

By 1pm I was on to Sweet Green, my personal favorite of all the green juices.

By now I was hitting the restroom all the time. I think the lemon acted as a diuretic. I’ve been eating a fair amount of salt lately, causing some water retention and this broke the dam!

3 pm and time for the Beauty and the Beet, a carroty tasting red juice – quite tasty! But man, I was getting full. 6 juices in a day is a lot for me!

5 pm and time for Green Queen for dinner. Not a fan, and more chugging.

Now it’s 8pm, and I should have finished my V is for Vanilla, but again, I’m sipping and savoring. It tastes like dessert, the only night we’ll get it.

Tomorrow we graduate into the intermediate cleanse day which is a little less sweet, and the next day to the hard core, predominately vegetable juices.

Then it will be up to me whether I want to contaminate myself with sugar and other bad carbs again.

I have no illusions that I will eliminate all the bad things I eat from my diet (we have too many trips coming up!) but I like both the discipline of doing it, and the less weighed down feeling I will have. If nothing else, it will be a springboard to no nighttime eating, and getting going on getting some of this weight off.

Cleanse.

I’m excited!

 

SaveSave

So Far, So Good

Two days do not a changed life make, but I’m off to a good start!

Getting prepared for the new flooring is my primary project at the moment. I am really close to having all the things I’m responsible for packing away done, with several days to spare. All 3 hutches and the entertainment center are emptied out,

and the guest bedroom is stuffed full of everything that was in them!

I still need to help Mr. Tattered with his office, but I don’t think it will take long. I’m so excited to have it done, then getting everything back in place!

It looks awful, but sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. That’s where “cleanse” comes into play…If I can’t get rid of things, at least I’ll get them more organized as I put them away.

I’m copying my daughter-in-law. Hers looks so awesome I just had to have it, too. My poor son. He feels like he’s married his mother, our taste is so similar!

I hope it looks as good in my house!

I’m continuing to be thrilled with my “one little word,” cleanse. Even the new floor will feed into it. The carpet in the gathering room is only a year old, but we’ve already got stains on it. I’m not naming names, but someone is a messy boy. I think the laminate will be easier to keep clean. We got one of those “robot floor cleaners.” They are MADE for this kind of floor!

“Cleanse” will be my filter for the year…will whatever it is I want to do be compatible with cleansing?

And the day for the ACTUAL cleanse is almost here. My daughter stopped and picked up our juices for our 3 day big girl cleanse. They look so yummy we wanted to dive in today, but we’re forcing ourselves to wait until tomorrow. I’ll wait until then to show you!

So. CLEANSE. Who knew cleaning could be fun? And EXCITING?