Continuing Onward and Upward

643 miles down on our journey from Mesa, Arizona to Lander, Utah. We're in Price, Utah... we had wanted to go on to Duchesne or Roosevelt, but when we had my husband (who's currently at school in Canton, Ohio) call around, he tried 13 different hotels between Price and Vernal (our morning destination) and found ZERO rooms available. So, we found a Budget Hotel in Price that had two Queen Rooms, one of which accepted our two cats. We figured it was better to stop here than risk getting caught (after eleven hours of driving) with "no room at the inn!" It's an Old-School motel where you pull right up to the room... which is nice because there's less carrying of bags. Also, the rooms are remodleded inside, so it was a nice surprise for the $70 price tag. :D

There's an oil drilling explosion going on in this part of the country... the Federal Government has recently released lands in Wyoming for oil drilling, and so there's a "Boom Town" thing happening.

Anyway. We had a good day's drive with only slight grumbling from the five party members. Now, I should stop this and get the boys to bed, as well as myself. We still have six or seven hours of driving (about 315 more miles), plus visit time tomorrow. We want to stop and see my sister in Vernal, Utah... she just moved there the beginning of the month and the kids are wondering where they (and Grandma, who's traveling with me) is. So we want to show them that we will all be nearby (two hours away). My sister is living on the South side of Flaming Gorge and I'll be on the North side.

Time for bedtime stuff...
Suzy :D

FINALLY on the Road!

We're FINALLY on the road North to Wyoming! We left Chandler around 3:30 pm and arrived in Flagstaff about 7:30. Along the way, we stopped at Kohl's, for my Father-In-Law, a potty break, and pictures in Sedona.

Notice we took the scenic route through Sedona (much to FIL's chargin'... I wish I could describe the flames in his eye and the twitch of his lip when I mentioned my preference to this route! - it was HILARIOUS and kept my Mom and I giggling for hours!) Let's see, we drove around Flagstaff for 30 minutes looking for the hotel... we had a good day.

I really wanted to "play" more with my friends and family these past few weeks in Arizona, but with our home sale falling through, situations dictated that I spend a great deal more time preparing the house for sale. I feel good about what I've done and look forward to a quick, successful, profitable sale!

It will be nice to get to our "destination" and to see family and to see my hubby (Friday or Saturday) AND to see the horses! I'm looking forward to all of it! Now, to bed! My FIL's alarm is going off in seven hours and five minutes... who ever heard of an alarm clock on a road trip?! We don't even have anywhere we "have to be" at any certain time! :P I guess that's what we get with two "Generals" on the trip (me of my household and him of his family!)

Suzy :D

Cheap Art Paper for Kids

I’ve just decided that buying “art” paper for our young children is a TOTAL RIP OFF! I went to my local newspaper today. I was able to buy a roll of plain newsprint, 27” W to like 4’ W for TWO DOLLARS a roll! This is a HUGE roll! Also, it comes to mind that perhaps wrapping paper is a total rip too!!! Anyway, you know how we buy little tablets of “art” paper or rolls of “fingerpaint paper” or other things? Our young kids just want to draw / paint / color… they don’t care how expensive the paper was! I can think of all sorts of things do let the kids do with this… I can cut it down into “standard” sizes, or cover floors / walls / tables with it and let them go crazy! It can also be a temporary drop cloth for their projects.

Just thought I’d share with you… use you local newspaper as a resource for cheap art paper for kids!

Suzy :D

PS: I think I may buy some of this and take it to my son's school... I'm sure they'd appreciate it too!

Why Hosting a Yard Sale is A Bad Idea for Me.

As I sit here exhausted and in pain, I am telling myself that I must remember why a yard sale is a bad idea for me. I know myself. I'm a bargain shopper extraordinaire. A "Penny Vice" I've been called. I try to get EVERYTHING for a bargain, and then want to make money when I'm finished with it too. I know that FLYLady says to just "let it go" and "bless someone else with our stuff", BUT, I'm preparing to move over 900 miles and I just have SO MUCH STUFF to unload! Certainly (I erroneously thought) I can have a yard sale and make a profit too.

Now, at the end of the first day of the planned weekend sale, I sit starting at a pile of cash. Did we make money? Yes. Could we have made more? Yes. Could we still make more? Yes. Was it a lucrative venture? Perhaps. Was it the best use of our time and energies? No, NO, NO!!!

I've only spent a week preparing. I started out by spending about an hour making flyers to invite the neighbors to participate. Then walked around with my neighbor handing them out (staying up past my bedtime and continuing a cycle of exhaustion). Then what? Oh. For a week I cleaned this place and that spot looking for things to sell off. I was completely inefficient in my cleaning adventures as well as constantly "stressed out". I moved things to the spare bedroom, then to the library, then to the porch.

Once on the porch, a friend picked up on my overwhelmed spirit (not a hard thing to sense by mid-week) and came to help me price and make signs. She even brought the supplies for this. (Tonight, in my “SHEness” I found some NEW supplies hidden away that would have worked just fine). We then spent FOUR hours together working on these things. (So I moved everything again.) Finally, this morning, we all got straight out of bed, hardly stopped to eat, forgot our normal routines (the house looks like a whirl-wind right about now) and ran outside ... to move everything AGAIN. I sat out in the "beautiful" morning... with pollen and dust and, oh, temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit!

By the time I staggered inside I was hot, exhausted, and had a sinus headache. Here I am eight hours later and I still am exhausted and have a headache. I've taken more medicine today than in the past month... I suspect rest and water will be my best solutions.

During the yard sale, I did stop to write some lists of things I need to do for the move... over seventy came to mind off the top of my head. I have more lists for actually selling the house and moving, this is just the "get ready" list. Am I overwhelmed? YOU BET!!!

After this exhausting morning, we decided to load up the extra stuff and donate it, when it cooled down. We didn't get to wait that long. A HUGE dust storm blew in and we were running around in the street gathering things that were blowing around. So. Now my living room is full of all the stuff that we quickly brought inside. We have to move it AGAIN... to the truck then take it AWAY!!! How many hours have I spent? What is my time worth? We have about $130 in cash from today. But, we are still all exhausted and feeling ill. Hardly a fair trade.

My sons sold some toys and books. They sat outside for about two hours. They had fun. They made $30. I think they're efforts were worthwhile. I may allow them to set out their table another time. I however am FINISHED! My husband and I are too susceptible to the heat to be purposefully sitting around in it all day. Not to mention the dust and pollen and how miserable it's made my head.

I write this not to complain, but to remind myself the *next time* I get the brite idea that I should have a yard sale... it's just not worth it for me!

FLYLady is right. I'd be better off just blessing someone else and getting it out of my life!

Suzy

One Step at a Time

I had a good day. It's been a long time since I've been able to say that. I did have a bit of a stress in the evening, but, I contained it and moved on, so that too was good. I was relaxed and at ease and was kind with my children. We went out and did some things; we had some friends stop by, and I stopped to sit and RELAX and ENJOY them. I send my husband pages throughout the day, texting him what we're up to and how we're doing. He was happy when he got home because ALL of them were positive today.

Also, I started to lay the binding out and decided not to worry about it. If a corner has a seam, I'll either stop and fix it then and there, or just deal with it. I got the fabric under the presser foot just as my son got up from his nap. Tomorrow, I've laid out sweats and a comfy shirt to wear (if I have jeans on, I tend to do too much, and even though it was a good day, I have big circles under my eyes and I need to rest). Anyway, tomorrow, I'll see if I can start to (and maybe even finish) sewing the binding on my hubby's twin-size Christmas Quilt.

It feels good to be relaxed and at ease.

Suzy :)

Aah... that's better.

I just finished up the task I gave myself for today... prepping the binding for my husband's Christmas quilt. I have about an hour of "free" time in my sewing room, and still have time to spare. Instead of starting to pin the binding on, I decided to make a project list in my sewing room journal. I made four columns, then thought of everything I could to put in each column. Here's what they were:

• Sewing - Things currently in progress - 15
• Cutting - Things that are being / have been cut and are ready to sew - 8
• Materials Acquired - I have the materials and pattern / idea chosen, they need to be prepared - 15
• Idea - I have an idea to create these items, but have to choose materials - 10

This is a big list, to be sure, but it feels good to see it on paper, and it really doesn't seem like as much as it was when it was all in my head floating around. I feel like if I just pick something off the list and work on it a little each week, I'll make good progress. That, and not adding MORE projects to the list. Of course, I think this is the hardest thing of all, because when you are creative, you want to, well, CREATE!!! When your mind gets-a-whirling, it's hard to stop it and it just wants to keep going. So, I guess I'll allow myself to think of new things (which is a good thing to do) and even choose materials from my stash, but I'd like to use more of my energy to finishing the things I've started. Tomorrow I'd like to have the binding roughly placed on the quilt and have the machine set up to stitch it on (changing the presser foot). Perhaps, I'll even start to sew it on tomorrow, but, since I'm planning a late morning / lunchtime outing, and since I've been sick for quite a while, I'm not going to push the actual sewing thing.


Suzy :)

PS: One thing I've found VERY HELPFUL in my sewing room is a little journal I started keeping. Most every project I work on, I jot the date down and then notes on it as I do it or right after I finish. I've been doing this for a couple of years now. It's nice to look back and reminisce, but more than that, it's helpful when I want to remember how I did something (like I wide was that stitch or did I use a special needle or something like that). Also, I save a lot of time re-thinking things, especially the math of a project. The few projects that haven't found their way into the journal (like the Christmas quilt I just was working on), I spend SO MUCH time searching for my notes, but my journal is always in it's home on the shelf. Also, if I have a good idea, I'll jot it down (along with the date) so I remember it later. I DEFINITELY recommend keeping a journal in your CREATIVE ZONE. Mine is just a little spiral bound notebook about 5 1/2" wide x 8 1/2" tall. It's enough. :)

Getting Back ONLINE

I recently coined a phrase to describe something I do when I get too stressed and too tired for too long. I turn off the computer. I turn off the phone ringers. I chill out at home with my boys. I call this "Going Offline". I always warn my hubby first (he panics if he can't get ahold of me or doesn't get regular little text pages). Sometimes I'll warn another friend or two, but basically, if you want me, you'll leave a message and I'll get back when I can.

I know that I went "offline" a while a back... intentionally... but now looking at when my last post was, and thinking of my PC usage in general (not to mention my general activity level), I've been offline in many ways for quite a while. I just read TWO months worth of posts on a friend's blog. I enjoy reading her stories; they relax me and make me laugh, almost as much as chatting with her does. Right now I'm listening to some smooth music on a website she recommended (pandora)... it's also relaxing my hubby. We're listening to music in the style Harry Connick, Jr and Michael Buble.

Today I finished a project I started last month.

Actually, I chose fabric in five or six color ways to make like TWELVE of these. I've finished the borders for two more (same colors) and am ready to stitch their letters on. I started a club with my friends. We're working on projects each month this year, so that come September, we've got our Christmas projects all finished and we can ENJOY the HOLIDAYS with our friends and FAMILY. In any case, it was very nice to finish this one completely. Now, each time I walk by it (hanging on my wall) I smile. I also feel rejuvinated to finish other projects. The project most on my mind is a quilt I created for my husband in December. I designed and sewed it completely in the two weeks before Christmas, while he was at work, and without him discovering it. Then, I quilted it on a friend's long-arm on the 26th. Ever since, it's been sitting; waiting for binding and a label, and he's been very patiently waiting for it... so, I think it's time to finish it. Tomorrow, I'd like to prepare the binding (cut, sew, and press). I think I can get that done.

Now it's time to go spend some quiet time with my Sweetheart.

Suzy