A Somewhat Productive Sunday

While I didn't get anything done on the Beach House quilt, I did totally clear the kitchen and breakfast room (and part of the family room) of all things Christmas. And considering the amount of decorations I have, that was quite a feat.

I also managed to tone the biceps using a caulking gun for the first time and sealing every first floor window  with a removable weather-stripping caulk. Of course, we will likely wake up tomorrow minus a few thousand brain cells.....the 'pleasant vanilla scent' advertised on the tube smells more like 1965 Tester's Model Airplane Glue, and it lingered throughout the house for a good 6 hours (which I would expect since I caulked every possible escape route).

I woke up this morning with visions of  coloring my hair after breakfast, but that wound up being trumped by the caulking, which morphed into de-Christmasing part of the house. Today was one of those 'go with the flow' kind of days, and the flow was to undecorate and meticulously clean while restoring the area to normalcy (and stay in my pj's until 3:30).

Is this pic interesting or what? This is what I saw out my newly washed kitchen window when I took a second to sit down after removing all those kugels that were hanging there. Kind of roller-coaster-y, don't you think?No weird lens used, just a straight-up picture taken out the window.  I never really noticed how skateboard-park like our backyard is. Pretty nifty.

And here's some nice, back to normal kitchen photos, so you can see I really did accomplish something today.

I piddle away a lot of time doing things like foraging through the Christmas flower arrangements for stems that have another few days life so I can transfer them to lots of little odd-shaped bottles and set them in little table/windowsill displays. Oh, and repotting in terracotta pots grocery store basil and dill plants that clearly will not live past two weeks, and playing Edward Scissorhands with the holiday rosemary trees. (And I wonder why I seem to accomplish so little over the course of the day.)

Aww, the gingerbread tree has been bagged and sent to exile in the basement. How sad. And now poor Paco has to relearn that this corner is his dining area and will be for the next 11 months. (He's a chihuahua, he's easily confused, this will be a challenge for the next week or so).

Okay, anyway, 1 tree down, 15 to go. I seriously need a nap. But I also need to brush on the magic eyelash  potion (Guideline #2) and watch the paper piecing DVD that has to be returned to the guild tomorrow. I hope it's only 30 minutes long, that's about all I've got in me. (Sorry about that, Guideline #1)

I'm sure you're wondering, did I do something I love today? Well, I think the total cleaning thing is something I'm quite fond of. While it's only fun for a while, the end result of having a super-clean kitchen with no more claustrophobic Christmas clutter underfoot is a sweet payoff. And, when I finished, I flopped my weary self down on the couch with a glass of red wine and a bowl of popcorn, so yeah, I'd say Guideline #3 had a presence today.

Let's see about tomorrow....it's back to the office after a super long weekend (Groan!)

Happy Monday everyone! Stay warm, stay focused and seize the week.

Oooh, ooh, look, a daily post!

What has become of me? A posting, two days in a row!

Just checking in. Guidelines 2 and 3 coming along nicely. Took the 'before' photo of the eyelashes, used the 'stuff' on them last night. No noticeable difference this morning...I still needed to put on mascara before I left the house, but I'm a big girl now, and I can understand that there is no such thing as 'instant gratifiication' in most pharmaceutical endeavors pursued at my age.

As you may have suspected, Guideline 1 hasn't been acted upon, and most likely will not be...I have to put somehting off, and that just seems like an easy one to do. My current lame excuse is that I need a mouse (I don't really, I'm perfectly capable of using the touch pad, if I have to).

Guideline 2 however, I'm overachieving. :) I spent yesterday afternoon in the studio making a lovely gift for my Secret Sister in the quilt guild, and sadly, I cannot show it to you, lest it unmask me. Suffice it to say that it's darn cute. And, tomorrow I'm making another cute-crafty something for a woman whose aquaintance I made on a Bernina machine group--who was kind enough to send me copies of patterns she picked up a couple months ago on a local quilt shop hop. I'm looking forward to meeting her at Monday's guild meeting. That's the thing I love about being a quilter....the camradarie of total strangers. It's truly amazing.

Anyway, it is COLD here in Maryland. Now I have some idea about how those scientists in Antarctica feel. We've got a hellacious wind that makes it feel like it's about negative 30 outside. I felt it necessary to buy myself a hat while we were out shopping today. Not too shabby for $5.99 at JCP (and to think, I almost paid $20 something for a hat at Macy's). (Pretty tricky not showing the eyelashes, eh?)

And the hubs was kind enough to be cajoled into a run into the JoAnn Fabric superstore on the Golden Mile in Frederick (I plied him with lunch at Famous Dave's Barbecue first--he did get a bit whiny when I strayed from buying more than just the batting I told him we were going in for--8 yards of 90" Warm and Natural snagged for a mere $4.01 per yard---I love how they rolled it on a tube for me--it will fit nicely in a corner of the studio closet this way.)

And how could I not buy some Sulky and Superior threads, just because I had a 20% off coupon and it was already on sale for 50% off. (If he hadn't been with me, that little gold block box you see behind the thread would have most likely come home filled with Sullky. Seriously, Sulky rayon at less than $3 a spool -- unheard of!

And I snagged one lonely machine quilt pattern book. I went in for a Dear Jane book, but they didn't have one, and you just can't not buy a book when it's 40% +20% off. I was pleased to see there were some starfish and sea creature patterns in this book/pattern package that I can use when I finally get to the freemotion on my Neptune quilt.

Well, I'm off to put away my playthings and snuggle into bed with some books. I've got a bit of reading to do, as I've got books that need to be returned to the quilt guild library Monday (along with a paper piecing DVD I need to watch).

Obviously, the 'happy' thing today was shopping for quilt stuff, though I did do an obsessive-compulsive reorder of the hubs closet and drawers this morning, and strangely enough, I was counting that as something that took me to my happy place. (I know, I'm a very strange bird sometimes).

Hopefully on Sunday I can show you photos of some progress on the Beach House quilt. Tomorrow we have no plans....tomorrow we sew!

It's a New Decade, Let's Talk Resolutions

First off, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy 2010, and I sincerely hope that this decade brings us all the peace and prosperity that was lacking in the last.

Who's made their resolutions for the New Year...show of hands.

I've decided that since I never actually carry through with any resolutions I make that I'd try something new this year and just set three or four loose guidelines for myself.

The hubs would suggest that the first be to immediately go upstairs to the quilt studio and set up the new laptop that's been sitting there unused for the past 6 weeks or so and get off this one so he can check his fantasy lineups -- okay, I'll consider that one. In the meantime, he's occupied in the kitchen making cream of mushroom soup for tonight's prime rib, fettuccini, Caesar salad New Years' dinner (yes, I am a very lucky woman).

While I'd love to lose some weight (wouldn't we all), that's a no-brainer, and a wasted guideline. Since we're always wanting to do that, why resolve to do something that should be achieved without needing a spot on a 'list'. That would kind of be like putting 'change underwear daily' on it. It's a given. Let's use that space for something more achievable in a short amount of time....something like.....grow longer and fuller eyelashes in 30 days. (Seriously, I'm not kidding here...Santa brought me Latisse for Christmas)

Okay, so now we've got 2....

1. Set up new laptop
2. Grow longer and fuller eyelashes in 30 days.

We need one more. Any ideas? Oooh, oooh (hand waving furiously....'pick me, pick me')...I've got it. And I think it's the mother of all guidelines. While the first will be accomplished today (okay, so maybe by the end of the weekend), and the second will be over in a month, this one will play out ALL YEAR.

3. Take the time to do something I love to do every single day.

There you go, resolutions (loose guidelines) done. Now I'm going to go pour myself another mimosa and go work on two of them (and no, the mimosa isn't fulfilling one of them).

But first, this is the last quilt completed in 2009. The Christmas coffee table quilt. (Can't have a blog entry without photos now, can we?)

Enjoy your day! And if you'd like to borrow any of my loose guidelines, especially the third one, feel free.