The Plan continues...

Today I got up early and told D. to get up soon. We had jobs to do! We ate breakfast and he kept telling me that we needed to get started on the jobs. So he went upstairs for his shower, while I finished my coffee.  When I went up a short while later, there he was, playing computer games! "I'm washed and dressed" he said, in a defensive voice... and proceeded to spend 1 1/2 hours on the computer! 

Meanwhile, I emptied the very large box of stuff we'd left in the hallway when we moved bedrooms. The "stuff" consisted of bags, shoes and boots (those  I hadn't been able to find and pull out of the box at the start of the cold weather!), dance shoes (which I don't use now but can't bear to part with), scarves, bits and pieces. All these things had been stuffed into our wardrobe in our old room (or rather, they had been stuffed into D's wardrobe, which he and I had shared for 3 years!).  I now have some wonderful wardrobe space of my own, so my things (most of the box contents) are now put away in there. D's belongings are in his own wardrobe and he's happy. 

We cleared away 3 boxes from the hallway, which contained various things.  Then we moved the bookcase from the corner of our new room, back into the cleared hall-space and replaced the books that were taking up 2 more boxes. Result!

D. looks quite pleased with himself!

You can see the doorway to the new bedroom, behind D.  We still need to replace the wallpaper, where the old window was removed and partly bricked up, then paint the walls in that little entrance area. Then we've finished the Project! Those are Springtime jobs though, but the moving and tidying is still ongoing.  Now that we've cleared this space, I can think about a small storage unit for our bedroom, to put books, videos and a couple of baskets of things onto. The space for this is now free, as the bookcase is back in the hallway! I will take some of those books off it and redistribute them around the house - it's looking far too well fed!

Next job is to get those shelves for my Workroom and transfer the rest of my crafting stuff upstairs.  Then we will have a clear Utility room and we can re-arrange the clutter from the kitchen/top of fridge etc.  Also, once we've organised the workroom, we can move the sofa-bed up from the dining room, then re-organise that room too! How lovely it will be, to have a tidy house at last!

The Plan continues apace!

This Morning I Made...

Hello Friends! I'm still busy with my workroom.  I can't seem to stop, now I've started. Of course, having a second person around to help (one with more muscle power than me!) is a good incentive to do stuff.

This is my bookcase. It has been languishing in the garage, pretending it's not there, for three years.  We brought it indoors a couple of weeks ago and it sat in the workroom, in pieces, drying out.  It was definitely not in the best of health. It had a bad cold and soggy bits from being out in the garage, where the roof leaks in bad weather. 

We dried it out and put it together today.  There are one or two areas that are damaged, but mostly it has made a good recovery and is good enough to sit in my workroom and go back to doing its old job. 

I don't know if the boxes will stay where they are. I bought them from Ikea last Tuesday (well the white ones) and put them together today.  You know, even the cardboard storage boxes from Ikea are put together with nuts and bolts! No rivetted pop-stud fastening - too feeble.  Each side of each box has 3 screws with a nut to hold it together. That's 12 nuts & bolts per box. And 2 boxes. Took me ages. But I defy those boxes to fall apart any time soon!

We also managed to tidy up the floor a bit (had to as we needed room to build the bookcase!). The pile of board games are now on the top shelf, as are the other 2 boxes - which actually have stuff in them, as opposed to the ones on the bookcase, which are currently just pretending to be busy.

The cat is very impressed. He has taken up his place on the Guest Chair, which is just the right size for a little cat. There are small "z's" coming up from his mouth. He is happy.

See those "Z's"?

Last night, by way of celebrating my progress, I made some more cards.  Bear in mind that I used to make All my greetings cards, until I fell and hurt myself, and that I made up to 50 Christmas cards every year. So, this year, so far, I have made.... 12 cards! They will have to be for special family & friends, as there's no time to make enough to post. We have bought ones again this year (!!!), which will be posted on Monday (I hope).  The ones for abroad are late, but I hope they will arrive anyway.

Quite nice, aren't they?  Not very sophisticated this year, but they will do nicely.  Thanks go to the card-making magazine that D. bought me, for the card toppers on 6 of the cards. And thanks to WHSmith for the flowers on the card at the front!

So, on that positive note, I'm off... taking the Menfolk out to Frankie and Benny's for a "big hamburger with cheese" - that's what J. said he really fancied for his supper yesterday, so I promised he could have it for tea today. Not often he has burgers, so it's a treat!

Bye All, enjoy your Saturday.

Making the Best of it!

Well this morning I wrote a comment on yesterday's post, to say I was about to go to Ikea. 

Didn't go.  Truth is, that since I had my 'flu jab last Thursday, I've been feeling a bit rotten. Today I got downstairs and just felt that it was a bad plan to go out, in the car, in the fog, when I felt a bit yukky. My head is a bit fuzzy and keeps aching and I have gungy ears.  For me, gungy ears is a bit iffy, because since my accident,  I have developed a problem with recurring bouts of vertigo.  Didn't want to be caught half way to MK with my head spinning, feeling as if I was out on a ship in a force 10 gale (yes I have been and it isn't fun!).

So I stayed home and made a cup of tea.  Then I thought about my problems with shelves and decided I would make the best of it. 

I went to the Untility Room and swiped one of the long shelves from the wall there. It was nearly empty because I had removed most of its contents already, so not a big deal.  I put it on the brackets in my workroom. It is a bit long, which means it can only be a temporary solution, but it will do fine for now. 

Then I moved stuff about, put up my new work table and tried to organise things just a bit more. It's not too bad now - have a look.

This is the view from the doorway.  I have put the new shelf over the desk, so I can clear the workspace a bit. Looks okay.

This is my work area . A bit more tidy - though there is a Christmas Card Factory on it just now!

Here's my new table. See it has little legs - they are clipped to the shelf uprights.  The table top is just rested on them for now, but I think I will screw it in place. However it will be possible to lift it and hook it higher up. The feet unscrew, so I can adjust its height a little that way, or else I can "stretch" the legs by moving the screws that hold them together (you cant see that bit).  I can now work sitting or standing.  A good place to do book binding work.

My computer is at home on the new table too. I will try keeping it on top of the drawers for now, though I don't know if it will be ok long-term.  It's all in a permanent state of ups & downs!  Once I have proper shelves I can start re-arranging everything and store it all properly.  Looks like I may have to wait til after Christmas now!

Still, it looks ok and I can work in this much more easily.  I look forward to having everything from downstairs put away up here, in properly labelled, organised containers! I can't find things and it's such a pain.  Often I am sure I have something, but it's such a nuisance to find it in all the muddle. Other times I find something that I had forgotten about, which would have been so useful last week!  Roll on organisation... one day.. perhaps... sigh....

And This is my new clock! Isn't it pretty?  I was in Dunelm Mills last week (remember?) and it was in a pile of stuff by the tills. It was so cheap (£3.99) that I couldn't resist it.  A pretty, feminine touch.  Not sure where it will end up just yet - on the wall somewhere - so it is on the (dusty!) windowsill for now.

Cookie Jars are not just for Cookies...

I have been "playing" with my new stuff from Ikea.  I put some of my inkpads (the little ones) in a lovely cookie jar I bought (for almost no money). They look so fab -

And what's really good is that there is room for more! I had run out of space in my little "ink pad drawer", downstairs in the laundry hole...  Now I can buy more and know I have somewhere to store them! 

I got some teeny little spice jars too, that look like the cookie jar, with shiny silvery tops. Haven't done anything with them yet, but I soon will...

It is frustrating not being able to get on with the shelves and moving in/ sorting out storage etc.  I have done a bit of sorting out, but there are just things all over the place - messy desk shot coming up!

See, I had to put some card behind my cookie jar, because the mess on the desk just got in the way too much! I so want to have a Tidy Desk (at least at the start of a project!). I do hate my work area to be messy and it's been like this for soooo long!

Still, I am making progress. Not long ago I had to use the dining table. Today I used my new desk to make these -

The ink-pad-cookie-jar came in handy for this project, as I used ink for the edges of the paper, cards and little panels I added.  I also stamped the greeting at the bottom. This is what it says -

Cute, isn't it?  Decided against heat-embossing it. I think the sort-of hazy, faded look is rather good. 

The "black" music notes above are actually punched out. I have a paper punch with that pattern on. Thought it would be a nice little touch on a "Fa La La" card!  If you look closely at the top picture, you can see that I used the punched-out notes on the centre panel with the singers on.

So I have had some fun today, with my inks, punches and sticky stuff, sitting on my new chair, at my new desk in  (wait for it..) my new workroom (only its not so new now!)

And the man came to fit a new tv aerial too. It's a proper Digital one, so D and J will be able to get the digi channels to work properly. They can watch Star Trek together now. They will be pleased! (oh and I might catch the last few episodes of Gilmore Girls - they were showing the whole run all through, but after the first few episodes, the signal got so bad I couldn't get it to tune in any more... ) I can maybe find out what happens at the end - I missed that bit last time too!

Must go and look at the meal situation.  J has a friend coming home to tea tonight. No idea what to feed them. Maybe chicken pasta... better go see if there is any chicken left!

Have a good evening everyone (and a good afternoon / morning to our friends from USA / Aus!)

What A Pain!

Well, yesterday was certainly a Day! I got organised, wrote my list, along with the warehouse locations of all the big items and headed off to Ikea.

Digression... I woke with migraine. Dosed myself with ibuprofen and felt ok, so went out...

So, I went round for Round 1 (as I always do - big stuff first). First I went and tried out all the office chairs.

I liked this one - it's pretty and nice for a spare room too. It also comes in all-white.  So I sat in it... yuk! The seat has this kind-of ridge all the way round. It tips slightly back and is deep, so it cuts into the back of your knees... shame but I couldn't sit in that for more than 2 minutes without a serious pain somewhere!

So I tried this one.  Ahhh... it was sooo comfortable. It has soft, comfy upholstered seat and back rest, with a lovely wool fabic cover.  Also there are lots of different adjustments too. The back rest can be moved up and down; the seat tilt can adjust and be set to move when you do, or just stay fixed at the angle you choose;  the seat goes up and down; the seat can also be moved forward or back, closer or further from the backrest, to allow for taller or shorter people.  It was wonderful. 

Problem - it cost £149!  My budget? Up to £80.

So, after trying lots of chairs and finding all wanting in some way (pity about that price!), I chose THIS!

It's the big-person's version of the chair I got for J's bedroom.  I have a wedge cushion for the seat, to avoid back-ache and the lip at the front means it doesn't cut into my legs. It is comfortable, functional and looks nice too.  Cost? £38. Not bad eh?

So that was the chair... also got another DVD tower for J, in red this time - to display his favourite models and to store stuff.  I found a nice table top (plain white) and adjustable legs, that clip to the shelving uprights on the wall.  This means I now have (for under £30) an table that I can adjust in height and also take down and tuck away if we have guests to stay, or if I want the space for something else. I can put it together for extra workspace (I already have a desk if you remember) and invite my friends to come and craft with me too.  Bargain!

Then I went to get my shelves... they were all in stock, brackets and shelving boards.  Problem - they are stored on those rotating shelf things that they have in warehouses. The staff get them off the unit for you and put them on your trolley.  The unit broke down half way through getting my things.  It stayed broken all day.

So I have 6 sets of brackets, two more uprights, but no shelves... and no smaller brackets or shelves either. 

No shelves. Piles of stuff to put away and no where to put them.  No time to go back to Ikea this side of Christmas.... waaaaa!

Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes.  I had a very nice lunch in the cafe anyway and did Round 2.  Got a few little bits and bobs for storing things - spice jars and one of those big round cookie jars - to put my ink pads in. Some nice boxes that fit my new storage unit, magazine files, a lovely work lamp. Also got paper plates and cups etc for J's Christmas Party with some friends on 23rd. A few bits to decorate the dining room and some gift-wrap stuff.  And a few more bits... you know how it is.

In all, I got most of what I went for. But now I have to organise another trip asap! Thought I would be done with Ikea for a few more months...

And of course, the minute I got home, the migraine returned. Probably been there all day and the relief of being home brought it back.  So an early night for me.

Win some, lose some...  

Ahhh, Christmas Tree!

Well, after replacing a set of lights that refused to work this year, we finally got that tree decorated!  It's not a work of art, but it's colourful and filled with things that we love. It's suddenly starting to feel as if it might soon be Christmas.

Today I have sold an item from my shop and replaced it with something else...

Sold! to the nice man in Surrey!

Now On Sale: A set of mini-books/cards, ready to scrap or embellish.

So, you see I'm feeling pleased with my progress today... I also went to Dunelm Mills, with a long list of things to buy.  Came home with half of them (they didn't have the others), plus 5 energy-saving lightbulbs for 50p - D. said as I went out of the door "Bring me a bargain" - so I did!

Got to go... another list to write. I'm going back to that Swedish Shop tomorrow, to pick up the rest of the stuff for my New Workroom!!

Moving In Day

I've started moving stuff into my New Workroom!! Wooo! I am still so excited about this. I've been looking forward to it for months and months. Now I finally have a workroom that I don't share with the washing machine, dryer, fridge, freezer, laundry, ironing pile and cleaning equipment!!

There is still a bit of mess in here and I can't get all my stuff upstairs yet - partly because I need to add more wall shelves (which I will have to buy!) and partly because it's all a bit much for my back, which is on strike today. I may have to just cope with the stuff I have brought in so far - and do a little project by way of celebration!

Oh, and the other good news - we have a Dining Room again! Yesterday we invited my niece, her husband and the baby to dinner. 

We ate dinner at the table for the first time in weeks - because it was no longer covered in J's models (moved yesterday morning), or my crafting stuff - put in boxes.  I even ate my breakfast at the table this morning.  You can even see that we have a desk and a chest of drawers, instead of them being obscured by model-making equipment!

Woo Hoo!

I am writing this on my New Laptop sitting at my New Desk in my New Workroom! Woo hoo!

As you can see, there isn't much here, except the shelf unit, the wall shelves, the desk and drawers, my PC, paper cutter and cutting mat, by way of "Token Moving In"!

D. has been lovely and helped me all weekend.  We moved all of J's model stuff from downstairs in the Dining Room, to his new room, onto the shelves that we put up specially. Everything has a place and there is even room for expansion!

Then he moved the stuff around for me, so I could decide how to lay it all out. There is a fair bit more to do and I need to get more shelf space organised, but the basics are here now. I at least have a Desk to work at and could bring the most important stuff upstairs and stow it away. The rest will have to follow as/when I have time and space.

I am very excited!

Slowly But Surely

Well, we are getting there - gradually. The shelf unit is finished and we've almost finished J's shelves etc in his room.  Progress, but slowly. Today I've had sore kneck and shoulders, so we've had to slow down and do much less than expected.

The shelves are nearly finished and the stuff is pretty well organised now.

Now we have to put the desk together and decide where it all goes! Another trip to Ikea will be needed, to sort out more shelves and a few other bits & bobs, but I should be able to start moving my stuff and using the room at last!

D.I.Y. or Don't I.Y.?

Patience - First Up... take a short trip over to Heather's blog and follow the link there, to see a short video of an amazing piece of art-work. Stunning!

To return to the business of the day.... If you happen to have read my Tuesday post, you'll know I took a trip to the local branch of That Swedish Shop. 

I put together J's new desk-chair and the tall DVD unit that he's going to use to display models or store paperbacks (the jury is out on whether he wants a red display unit and a blue paperback library...)  On Wednesday I put together the new table for J's room (waiting for him to come in from school and help me stand it up, as it weighs about 20 tonnes!)

As you can see from the clutter, it's already in use and appreciated!

That was Tuesday & Wednesday.  Then I was busy with other stuff, some of which I have yet to blog.

This morning I thought I would be awfully clever and save dear D. a bit of work this weekend.  I put together this for my new workroom:

Pardon the weird angle and the junk on top, but this is my new drawer unit, which may sit under the desk (or it may not...

Feeling very pleased with myself (for good reason, I feel), I thought I'd continue and see how far I could get with assembling the shelving unit and accompanying desk.  The instructions were very straighforward and, although the top and side pieces look chunky, they are hollow, so weigh very little.

 

This is how far I got.

 

DIY is not always as simple as it seems.  The screws will not go into the base, to fix the side on.  They just push the side away and threaten to damage the rest of the unit.

I thought it would be a good plan to put the top on first, but when trying to line it up with the four pegs on the top central divider (no longer attached in the photo), I broke a dowel off at the level of the hole.  Thinking it would be a good plan to take out the dowels and turn it through 180 degrees, to resolve the problem of the broken one, I snapped another dowel too.

Cue lunch time!  I will have to ask D to help me after all. It's obviously a 2-person job - one to hold it and one to hit it! I suppose that should have been obvious - carried away by my first success, I obviously switched off my common sense.

I think I'll stick to blogs and housework for the remainder of the day.

 

Ikea De-brief...

Well, I went into battle yesterday morning at the crack of... oooh, 9:30am (well they don't open til ten!).

I went prepared, with my shopping list, on which were printed the warehouse aisle/shelf locations of the large items (the internet is a wonderful thing!). 

I found a trolley, located a Man with Muscles (hee hee, no lifting allowed for me!) and went in pursuit of my Bargain Table.  The website said they would have only 5 in stock, so I was slightly anxious - after all a discount of £70 is not to be sniffed at! However, they were well prepared, with a huge pile of the tables in the middle of the warehouse (cue photograph, which I never thought to take! This will have to do...)

So, I bought the table for J's room and these for my New Workroom (woo hoo!)

The staff were so helpful and even sent a chap to push my trolley to the car and load the stuff for me. 

Once they were in the car, I went back for Round 2!

I went to the Showroom and spent ages playing with desks and office chairs.  Finally I decided that, lovely though they are -

 

- the glass or draughtsman's table tops and adjustable trestles were just to large for my small workspace. I was quite sad, as I'd rather set my heart on that big white table, with the drawer unit supporting one end and one of the trestles at the other (with the idea that I would buy the other trestle later, so I could adjust the height of the table and even tilt it if I needed to).  But if I had bought those, there would not have been room for anything much else! 

In the end I went for this idea: -

The desk fixes to the middle of the shelf unit, which leaves plenty of room for other stuff. I am considering the idea of a folding table-top - maybe the same as the one we put in J's room.  Then I can have extra work space if I need it, but it will stow away when not in use.

I had to settle for a white desk, although the bookcase is birch finish, because the birch ones were out of stock.  However, the drawers I have bought (and the others that I would like to buy) are white, so I hope it will all go well together.  We will see!

So having brought home my treasure, this is the current situation -

The piles of timber are my new shelves (right) and J's new table (centre).  The box on the left contains the desk and somewhere is buried the box with my drawer unit in!

J now has his new chair (red!). The tall, narrow blue thing is a DVD storage unit.  However, once he has fetched all his models from the dining table (Saturday afternoon job), this will be a display unit for J's favourites. It has no shelves yet, as he needs the models in order to decide where to put the shelves - so great that they are adjustable!

Next trip, I will pick up a silver or red one, to be put in the convenient little space between the wardrobe and the window.  We think it will be an ideal home for paperback books.  It has a bracket to screw to the wall, so no danger of it falling on anyone's head!

That's the Story So Far... watch next time for the next exciting installment!

The Shopping List

Well, I did my Monday jobs and came home again. I then took a sandwich, glass of water and a banana, rounded up my pc, some paper, pencil, tape measure and ruler and went upstairs.

I measured, I scribbled, I thought, I re-measured, scribbled some more, thought some more...

I sat in the Office, at the big desk and turned on the big PC. I drew a carefully measured rectangle, pushed a few buttons and drew some more careful rectangles.  I went in search of the scissors and cut out the small rectangles. Then I arranged them on the carefully measured big rectangle and thought a bit more.

I then started the Shopping List for tomorrow... because, of course, tomorrow is Ikea Day! I have a trip planned, to buy the stuff necessary to turn a semi-empty "spare room" into a Workroom!

 I have Big Plans for my Workroom, based on several months' consideration, cogitation ..and a bit of noseying into other people's blog photos, to see how they have their space organised.

Also have promised J that he can have a large folding table that is on special offer this week, also a nice desk-chair, so he can be comfortable while he works.

I added the items I "need" to the list, along with some useful storage options, boxes etc. 

I scrolled to the bottom and looked at the total.

£££££

Hmm... The List takes up 2 pages of A4 (including small thumbnails). I think I need to prune it to one sheet of A4.  Problem... I "need" everything on it!  Or J does.

I can see that I need a "This Month, Next Month, The Month After" approach.  The problem must be solved because I don't think the bank manager will be happy otherwise.

Off to tidy up my paper and pencils and search for my Pruners!

A Day's Work

Well, it was all very exciting in the Blogging for Scrapbookers course world yesterday! Parties and tours round the world kept me very busy.  I needed a good night's sleep to recover! It was fun though, and I found some people I hadn't met yet and who I might follow from now on, as well as collecting ideas for layouts, cakes, mini-art, cardmaking, photography, writing, all kinds of stuff!

Today has been hard work, but worth it.  We have almost finished J's new bedroom.  We put up two rows of shelves and moved some of his stuff onto them.  There's a set of lighting for his desk and some cute pen and pencil pots on a rail where he can reach.

I'm off to Ikea on Tuesday, to buy the rest of the things for him and stuff for my New Workroom!!

This is the current state of my new workroom! Lots of sorting out to do.

I have to make some final decisions about the storage and desk, then make a list of all I have to buy, before I go off to Ikea. 

Last time I went there for a load of stuff, I bought all the "big stuff" and took it through the tills first.  They sent a nice chap to help me load it into the car.  Then I had a snack in the cafe, and went back for Round 2 - a small trolley for all the little things!  It worked so much better than trying to get everything at once and as it's fairly quiet there on a weekday, it wasn't too much trouble to stand in line twice.

Next weekend I hope we'll clear out the rest of J's stuff and start organising mine.  He will have a couple more shelves on the rails (that I will buy in Ikea), a table that folds down and a new desk chair. Also a little DVD unit, as it will be ideal for paperbacks and will fit in the tiny space between his wardrobe and the window.

I hope that by the end of the weekend, I may be able to start moving my equipment into its new storage area and even to start a project at my new desk! I think there will be several more weekends of work before it's all done, but there is definitely progress now!  The Plan is beginning to work.

* * *

Another Award!

Something I didn't blog yet was this award from the wonderful Mel 

I was delighted to receive this from her for being "a worthy blogging type" who "well deserved" it!   (I did thank her and apologise for not being able to blog it sooner!).

So I have to carry out a few tasks connected to the Award:

1. thank the person who nominated you for this award   - Thank You Mel!

2. copy the logo and place it on your blog.  Did that!

3. link to the person who nominated you for this award - See above!

4. name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting. Hmmm...

Seven things about myself, that people might find interesting.  That's quite a challenge.. I will try.

1. I love crafting - my favourites are scrapbooking, making cards and binding books
2. I am learning bookbinding as I go along - I hope to go on some courses. I want to make traditionally bound books.
3. I have an online shop on Etsy, where I sell various books, sock pets and custom ordered scrap layouts/ albums
4. I have a sister and it's her birthday today (Happy Birthday!)
5. I used to be a computer analyst and programmer, then a school dinner lady!
6. I love teaching and would like to teach craft classes
7. I have an ambition to be on the creative team of a crafting site or magazine.

There, hope that's at least slightly interesting...

5. nominate 7 Kreative Bloggers.

6. post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.


Rinda at Gallo Organico, for all the hard work she did, organising our Creative Circle Blog Party this weekend!

Jo "Curlyscrapbooker" for amazing Christmas Cake recipe and lesson, and being a generally cool blogger!

Amy whose clean, simple scrap designs, with journalling as a central feature are so refreshing and inspiring.

Kirsty because she always has something great to say or show on her blog, and she's one of the reasons I started scrapping at all.

Shimelle who needs no introduction to most of my blogging friends, but who really should get more awards; besides she's my favourite scrapper!

Jane Dean of Seabreezes, a fab and wonderful designer, artist and scrapper, whose books I have bought and whose blog I've followed for the longest time...

Rachael of La Fuji Mama, who I follow on Twitter too and who always has something lovely cooking at her place!


7. leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated. but of course!

I really hope all these lovely people are glad to have the award - I am certainly glad to send it on to them. Cheers Ladies!

* * *

 

Finally

 

Dont forget that the giveaway from my Mini-Book Tutorial Post on Saturday is still going. Read yesterday's post, check out the other people whose blogs were taking part in the Creative Circle Blog Party (start at Rinda's blog HERE if you want to go straight there!).

 

Then leave me a comment and answer the three questions asked about the Party Hosts work. 

 

I will select a winner at random tomorrow, from all posts received.

 

 

 

 

 

It's Finished!

After a lo-o-o-ng time of trying to get to grips with the commission for a diary/planner, it is finally finished! There is a diary, planned, laid out on the computer and printed by me, a removable/replaceable notebook, a pocket to hold stamps/receipts etc and a small window to hold a photo.  It is covered in deep blue art paper and decorated with small stars, stamped in silver ink.  The whole thing is enclosed by a three-panel folding case - think wrap-around portfolio - and fastens with a silver magnetic snap.  I can't post photos because its owner won't get it til Tuesday.  Once she's happy with it, I will post pictures!

My next project is already planned out. A present for someone's birthday... then some Christmas presents and also Christmas books (notebooks, mini albums, photo albums) and other projects for my shop.  I think that should be enough to keep me occupied.  I just hope no more disasters or illnesses happen to hold up progress again.  It was so frustrating to know I wanted to work on the diary project, but to be continually prevented by a series of other events.

The weekend will be busy. We have 2 tall wardrobes to assemble, for our new bedroom, so that the boxes are out of J's new room.  Once those are done, we have shelves to put up in J's room and stuff to move onto those shelves.  That will help to clear out the new "spare room / workroom" for me to start planning and setting it up.  I think wardrobes and shelves are the most we can hope to finish in two days. I hope we manage it all!

Things are exciting round here! I have so much to do, and want to do it all at once. It's amazing any housework ever gets done... at least the bathrooms and kitchen are clean and tidy, even if the rest looks like a bomb-site!

And my new PC? It's lovely. I am still setting it up - which will take a long while, as I really don't have much spare time for it just now - but I'm using it to type this Post and read e-mails etc.  My kind husband set it up for our wireless home lan, which means I can access my files on our main computer and copy photos etc onto my laptop.  I plan to copy all my pictures over to this laptop soon, but will need to make time to get it all organised.

I'm off to tidy away all my book-binding kit, then I have tea to make. We have tea early on Friday, as J goes to a trampolining club. He's not really a sportsman, but he loves trampolining. Our garden trampoline was one of the best things we ever bought.  He is out on it at least once every day, weather permitting and it has really helped improve his strength, muscle tone and general fitness.  It's a great thing for a kid who isn't keen on team sports.

He really enjoys Trampolining and is working for his Level 10 certificate now.

Back to work! Back later, I hope.  I haven't even had time to read Shimelle's prompt for today...

The Project 2009 / The Plan 2010?

I am not one of Life's Planners.  When my boss, years ago, started talking about 5- and 10-year Plans, I kind-of went into a doze.  I had ambitions for my future life, but the furthest ahead that I would/could plan was about a year.  After that, it all went hazy and I began to feel somewhat dizzy...

Well! Today's prompt from Shimelle is about setting goals and journeys.  Funny that - I've been keeping a photo album on my Facebook profile, all about "The Project 2009", which has been the building of a new bedroom and shower room over our kitchen extension and the resulting re-organisation of just about every other room in the house! 

Since I started my blog I have included several references to The Project, some photos of the current "phase" - re-decorate our old room for J and move him into his new bedroom, also a link to my Facebook photo album  (which, by the way, I am not certain works ok, so anyone who can confirm this will earn brownie points!)

Does that mean I'm ahead on this one?  But of course this is not a race or competition... It's just a coincidence that I have a project on the go that takes most of my time.

However, that does make me think of my own goals at the moment and how they relate to - and depend in some degree on - The Project.

I had a bad fall in October 2008, which gave me a lot of problems with my back, kneck and arms/hands. My recovery has taken a year and at first I could do almost nothing for myself, had to rely on help from friends and family, slept sitting up, couldn't drive etc.. It forced me to slow down and take a bit of a look at my life - not that I was ever into "Fast Living" you understand.  I'm one of life's tortoises, rather than one of the hares. 

I had been getting more involved with scrapping and other papercrafts, having been a card-maker for years.  I was unable to do these things for several months, but when I was able to start again, I decided that I wanted to try and make crafts more central to my life, make the most of the skills I have and develop my abilities more. 
I started an online shop, on Etsy.com, which I have been gradually building up, and began to work on scrapping and bookbinding skills. I now have a number of lovely books of all types in my shop, including notebooks, journals, photo albums, mini scrap albums etc. Also I offer a service making customised layouts or mini-books for others, scrapping their memories for them, using their photos and their preferences to make something they can keep for ever.
In addition, I am working on a commission just now, to produce a diary/planner, which is almost finished. I hope the customer will be very pleased with it.
Besides my shop,  I decided that it was all very well having a secret ambition to be on the design team for one of the scrapping mags or websites, but if I really wanted to do it, then I had to start taking some Action! Action doesn't come easily to me, being a quiet sort of person with a bit of a fear of putting myself forward.  I decided to start by learning more about scrapping techniques (and about myself?) - so I signed up to Shimelle's "Learn Something New Every Day" course, which ran throughout September. I had a great time, although it wasn't really well-timed for me, as September was total chaos here. However I did learn stuff and I took the bull by the horns and submitted a layout for a magazine spec.  They liked it! They said they wanted to publish it, would pay me and would I send it in. So I did. It will be published some time in the next few months, though the date is not definite just now. Now I must do it again, and again... Even if it's scary...

So, that's what I have been doing towards my personal goals.  The next phase involves developing all that further and further.  My husband suggested that we should turn the new "spare room" into a work-space for me (he is very kind, though I think he was also motivated by the constant mess on the dining table - see earlier posts and Mess for details!!).  This is keeping me busy. Apart from wanting J to be happy with his new room, I have another reason to spur me on to getting that finished - once he is moved out of his old room, I can move in!!
Just now, I can be seen poring over the Ikea catalogue, crawling about with a tape measure, scratching my head and muttering stuff like "would a glass desk-top make the room look bigger?", or "should I go for that great big Expedit bookcase unit, or a smaller one and wall shelves above drawer units?" and other stuff that, on the face of it, doesn't make much difference to the World At Large, but could make a lot of difference to me in a few weeks' time!

Then I will go on some more Courses. This time I am going to learn more about bookbinding and printmaking. I have found two courses in January. I just have to phone up and book... Must put it on tomorrow's to-do-list. No more prevaricating in the environs of the shrubbery!

So, it looks as if I do have some goals, some of them short-term and others for the longer term.

1) To finish J's new room
2) To set up my workspace
3) To develop and promote my Shop
4) To develop my skills and learn more
5) To get more work published
6) To make and sell more and better books

Sounds like A Plan, as well as a Project!

The First Book I ever sold!