The countdown!

I know that I rambled on a lot in that last post but I was really trying to organize my thoughts about whether I should or want to get more involved in the local crafting community. I would really like to hear from you about any street teams or organizations that you belong to and whether you have found them worthwhile and deserving of your time.

So the countdown is on for the start of my holiday break. I have to work Monday and Tuesday and a half day on Wed. which is our office party so it really doesn't count. Then I have off for 11 days in a row! The campus completely shuts down which I think is so amazing. It doesn't count against our vacation time and we get paid as usual. At the other college I worked at we got Christmas and New Year's Day and that was it. (I'm calling the scarf at the top Holiday Cherry Red and it's a snuggly soft wool blend)

So I've been thinking about what I want to get done on these days off. You can be sure that I will be doing lots of relaxing and sleeping in but I really want to get some productive time in there also. Here is my list of goals for the break and just to keep me honest I will report back here after the break on what I accomplished.

1. Clean and organize my craft room. (Get a single bed in there for company and the kids to sleep over.)
2. Go through the clothes in the basement and donate the ones that I can no longer wear.
3. Have my car checked and any maintenance that is past due taken care of.
4. Spend some time with my girl friends catching up. I've let myself isolate way too much this year and I need to reconnect with some people.
5. Get energized creatively for the new year. I just bought three books from Amazon and I want to read all three for inspiration over the break. I got The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real to get inspired with my business, KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting's New Wave to get inspired with my knitting, and Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally to get inspired with my life.

In addition to these goals I also plan on spending as much time as possible with the girls. I also know that Ani wants to come to the farm for a few days while the girls are in town so I will probably have to make a round trip to get her. We'll see whether I can get it all done. I'm not going to stress myself out about the top 2. They are ultimate goals for the new year too. I will probably end up taking a week off in February just to get some spring cleaning and organizing done to finish up what doesn't get done.

Not so relaxing Labor Day

I'm feeling absolutely overwhelmed right now. I'm having my friend Tif, who is a professional organizer of Your Life Organized, come over this afternoon to help me get my world under control. My craft room is in complete disorder and I'm not prepared for the start of the Fall crafting season. I have some ideas and we've talked about how I can better structure my space. I would also like to make room for a twin bed in here for guests if needed. I have to keep telling myself that this is her job and that she's seen far worse than my messes. She's the least judgemental person I've ever known and she's so good at her job that I know I'm freaking out for nothing.

I'm including a few relaxing fishing pictures from the weekend at the farm with the kids. I'll talk more about our adventures later when I have a calmer head.

My little secret

I love this little pendant from Little Gals Studios. It is perfect for me I'm afraid. I've talked in the past about how I prefer chaotic environments. I get uncomfortable in perfectly organized settings and want to escape. I grew up with a highly unorganized family and 3 siblings. My housekeeping is less than outstanding and my husband isn't all that much better. He says I have this amazing ability to not see a mess right in front of me. Well, my husband finally convinced me that if I was going to live like we had a cleaning lady than we needed to actually have one.

We hired a company rather than an individual since Mike insisted he didn't want to have to get involved. I grew up with hired help constantly around the house, since my family obviously needed a lot of help. My father had hired men to help on the farm and my mother always had at least one helper around the house and they were generally just like another member of the family.

It would have been a lot cheaper for us to go with someone local that we knew but then if we needed to cancel for any reason it would have been more personal. They were here for the second time yesterday. It stresses me out to have to get ready for them so I accidentally "forgot" to get my work space around the couch de-cluttered last night. When I got home there was a huge yarn monster sitting on the couch waiting for me. I had started to unwind a particularly large and uncooperative skein and it got out of control. I put the tangled mess on the other side of the couch and it joined forces with other spare balls and scraps of yarn to create a massive yarn creature. I'm sure the woman must have thought I was crazy. Of course, they never throw anything away for you but I'm sure she had no idea what to do with it so it ended up on my couch. I'm starting to be glad that we went with a nameless company that we don't have to interact with since they see all of my shame.

Win Your Life... Organized

Some of you may remember I blogged once about my good friend Tiffany, see here. She is the professional organizer extraordinaire of Your Life Organized, and has helped me in the past to organize my craft room and other projects. She is celebrating the month of January being the Get Organized month by having a contest. If you are in the St. Louis or Illinois areas you really should sign up. Here is a little more info about it:

In honor of Get Organized Month, Your Life Organized will select one room to win the New Year New Room Contest. The winner will receive free hands-on professional organizing services and a $100.00 gift card from The Container Store to be used in your new room.

Nominate yourself or another deserving person by completing the online application form below and submitting three photos of the room you want organized.

Deadline for nominations is January 31, 2009.

Winner will be chosen by the public and Your Life Organized on February 10, 2009.

Tif is the least judgemental person I've ever met and she won't bat an eye even when confronted with more yarn than one person could ever expect to knit in two lifetimes. If you have a spare room that you hide in shame or want to create a sanctuary for your craft I highly recommend that you entire the contest. How cool would it be to start the new year with a new room just for you.

Chaos Theory

Let me start off by saying that I love my Mom, but she is without a doubt one of the worst housekeepers on the planet. There were periods of my childhood when we had not one but two people coming in each week to clean the house, do laundry, etc. No we weren't wealthy or special in any other way, she just hated doing housework. So I was raised with very little training in picking up after myself or any other organization skills. Since I lived by myself for most of my adult life, until getting married 4 years ago, my cleaning disfunction was no one's concern but my own. My husband is by no means a neat freak but he is used to a more organized approach to life than myself so cleaning and clutter are our hottest topics.

I know many people can not concentrate if things are not in their place but in all honesty I feel uncomfortable in a perfectly organized environment. I like clutter. I like chaos. I actually feel less in control when things are organized around me.

Enter my friend Tiffany who is dating my husband's good friend and bandmate. Tif is not only a very charming and fun person, but she is also a professional organizer who runs www.yourlifeorganizedstl.com/ I must also say that she is one of the least judgemental people I've ever met so I have no problem with her dropping by my house or seeing some of my shameful clutter. She thrives on everything "having a home" and a place where it belongs. I really try but somehow it just never works out. This spring she helped me convert my spare bedroom/disaster area into a functional and cute craft room shown above. There was yarn storage in my closet utilizing hanging shoe racks and several dressers around the room kept everything in it's place. It was perfect for the first 3 months. I put my yarn away when I was done with it, my shipping supplies were always right were they needed to be when I had an order, my computer desk was clear with folders for receipts and other business items.

Let's just say that I've backslided. My once creative sanctuary is now full of more clutter than even I can stand and it has slid right out into my couch in the living room were I do most of my knitting. My "work space" is full of yarn, boxes of beads and buttons, and my knitting references. I was talking with Tif this weekend about how I use my space. She came up with a brilliant idea that I can't wait to implement. I'm going to convert the wall shelving in my living room that is now full of decorative knick knacks and what nots into a work space. I will fill the shelves with baskets that I will use to organize the yarn I plan on using in the immediate future. I will keep the craft room for additional storage but since I do most of my knitting and work in the living room it makes sense to have my work space there also. I will have a shelf for my reference books I use all the time and a spot to keep my buttons/beads/lace/etc. that I use all the time.

My husband doesn't care what I do and would be thrilled if I was able to somehow keep the yarn contained. I will probably wait to make the transition until after Strange Folk since I have a lot of details to still work out for the show. But here's to hoping that I can regain some order in my life and keep some peace in the house.