Crafties

Last night I made a belated anniversary gift for my favorite couple, the Happy Hobsons. Check out their Amazing Race audition video.




This couple got married one year ago on a very cold October 6. Did I mention the wedding was outside and the bridesmaids dresses were strapless?

Copyright 2012 Design and Capture Studio www.designandcapture.com 913-530-5510

I was very lucky to be matron of honor and Liz and I spent the months prior to the wedding crafting button bouquets and boutonnières.
Copyright 2012 Design and Capture Studio www.designandcapture.com 913-530-5510

So, for their first anniversary, I knew I wanted to make something--in honor of all our crafty bonding time, and that I wanted to follow the traditional gifts--paper for the first anniversary. 

Ultimately, I'm glad I procrastinated so long before deciding what to make. (Hello, day before gift giving.) Admittedly, I was a little distracted on the actual date of their anniversary. The Hobsons got married on the same day as Lily's birthday so I was busy planning for this frivolity instead of thinking about a crafty paper gift.

If I had made a gift in early October instead of early November, I would never have thought to make a Christmas ornament. Happily, this is a gift that can turn into a tradition, varying the material with each new traditional gift. 

I stopped by the craft store looking for the following: base for the ornament in the shape of an H (I found a chipboard one to stick with the paper theme), festive scrapbook paper, and Mod Podge. I'd never decoupaged anything before, unless you count the boxes I made in junior high and high school by rubber cementing pictures cut out of magazines to old shoe or jewelry boxes and then "sealing" them with packing tape. I wonder if those are still around somewhere or if I threw them away? 

Besides the H motif in the ornament and the use of the traditional material, I also wanted to incorporate memorable events from their first year together so I combed through Liz's Facebook to make sure I hit some of the high points. I typed them I to a Word document and printed them out to incorporate into the decoupage. 

Here is what I ended up with

I'm kind of excited to start planning for next year's ornament!

Junk in My Trunk

On Tuesday evening, Tim asked if I could show him where my clothes go so when he does laundry and I'm not home, he could put them away rather than leaving piles on the bed for me to deal with. As nice as this request was, it made me feel...frustrated? angry? lazy? selfish? I'm not really sure what particular emotion the request brought up exactly, but it was bad.

Identify the Problem

I have listened to Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project on my iPod so many times while commuting or mowing the yard that her commandment "Identify the problem" floated through my sub-conscious. Since high school, I've never lived anywhere for more than three years. In all of those places, I never settled on a good storage solution for my clothes because it didn't seem to be worth the time or money to come up with a solution that might not work in my next home. To further clutter the issue (and the closet), when I moved into Tim's house a little over four years ago, I willingly jettisoned my estate sale chest of drawers at a garage sale because it wouldn't fit anywhere. No matter how many Rubbermaid boxes I bought or how many items of clothing I decluttered, I couldn't answer the question of where my clothes belonged because I never took the time to create a permanent storage system that worked. 

Finding a Solution

Unlike Rubin, my solution for closet clutter clearing was not simply trash bags. My first step probably should have been to take inventory and pare down, but I've done this so many times that it is becoming difficult to figure out what to let go of. 

I did think about my storage needs for a hot second. Emotionally, however, I needed to take action. I logged onto target.com and opened in a new page any item that struck me as a plausible solution. Once I had opened 173 new pages, I began to narrow down my choices. 

Criteria

1. Size matters. Obviously, if the item wouldn't fit in my closet under my hanging clothes, it had to go. Even if it was capable of folding and putting away the clothes itself, I wouldn't be able to make it work.

2. Caviar taste on a hot dog budget. I have fifty dollars from my side gig burning a hole in my pocket and I decided that my storage solution had to be something I could purchase with that amount. Goodbye beautiful and probably not very functional bathroom cabinets. That cut out about half my open pages.

3. Form follows function.

3A. Fitting into my sloppy clothes-putting-away style. I know from experience that I'm most successful at staying organized with hangers and drawers. I already have the hangers covered but I said "sayonara" to my drawers about four years ago and my clothing storage has suffered ever since. I also knew I wanted several drawers, one for each category of clothing.

3B. No snags allowed. As I was browsing, I started to consider function over form. Although some of the wicker-type drawers were attractive, I thought about the increased potential for my tights getting snagged and nixed all the pretty but prickly options.

I was left with three pages open in my browser. Of those three, price became my main motivator. The option I chose was on clearance, so I got two three-drawer storage bins for less than the cost of one of the other options. And free shipping and a 5% discount by using my Target card--what's better than that? Unfortunately, when I checked today to grab a link and screen shot to the drawers I ordered, I couldn't find them again, so I guess they are all sold out.

The only bad thing about this experience so far--except for the bad feelings at the beginning of the story--is that I didn't have the instant gratification of carrying my new storage solution out of the store when we went last night for our regular shopping trip. So now my thoughts are consumed with daydreams of an organized closet every time I open the closet door or lean over to get my underwear out of the under-the-bed Rubbermaid. (An everyday occurrence--maybe now you can sympathize with my frustration.) The good news is that my order has shipped so I should be able to dig into my mess and tell my husband where my clothes go soon!

It's Called Managing Expectations

The day was going so well, right up until 10:30, the time my boss usually shows up for work. 

One of the first things he did was give me a lecture about "dreaming big." Here's what happened. I told him I was nominating a project for an award. He asked if we had a chance. I said maybe we could get an honorable mention but probably not the big prize and began to describe the type of institution that usually wins. He cut me off (per usual) and told me I needed to dream bigger. At which point I punched him in the face* and pointed out that he's the one who asked about our chances and that I was--after all--doing the work of nominating. Then he asked me if we were going to apply for an award from *this* organization. He had to rifle through a stack of papers to show me which organization he was talking about because he doesn't actually know the name of it. I said that their awards don't happen until Fall, but, of course it was on my radar. Then I escaped with only one name having been dropped.**

Later this day, (yes, all of this before noon) he gave me a compli-plaint (a compliment coupled with a sneaky criticism or complaint; different than a back-handed compliment) and then he reminded me with annoying meddling why I don't tell him about the things I'm working on.

*Punching did not actually occur.

** I think my new way of marking the length of our conversations will be counting the number of names he drops.

Running Recap: Overdue

It's been way too long since my last running recap. Here are some boring details:

Miles run: 15.25
Runs skipped: 4 -- 10.5 miles total
Reasons for skipping: back pain, travel, being mad
Fastest run: 2 mile loop in 19:29
Travel workouts: 2 bouts of 4.25 miles on the hotel treadmill
Longest run: 3 miles
New milestone song: "Who wouldn't wanna be me" by Keith Urban
Bouts of intestinal distress:  1 -- but I ran through the threat
Most memorable runs:

While traveling for my work conference, I really pushed my pace on the treadmill. I always feel so awkward when running on the treadmill. I also fiddle with the speed a lot. I kept cycling up and down from 5.5 mph to 6.5 mph, trying to stay under a 10 minute mile, which I did on both runs.

My first run back home after traveling, I also pushed the pace. This resulted in my fastest run but also it was difficult to catch my breath when I finished.

For my three-miler yesterday, I stupidly chose the hilly route. My legs felt heavy as soon as I started so I kept my pace slow, which might have affected my stride. My calves felt like they were going to cramp as I was struggling up the hills. It hurt. This is also my first run struggling with intestinal distress and mucous choking. This is the glamorous side of running, folks.

And speaking of glamorous running, here's what I've learned from the various and usual gross things that happen when I'm running:

Intestinal distress: I'm not running hard enough. Typically I feel like I'm going to poop my pants only when I'm running downhill or on a flat stretch after jugging up a hill. Picking up the pace or heading uphill makes the pressure go away. If it doesn't, I'll likely stop running and quickly walk to the nearest bathroom. I've never had a real pooping emergency while running and I don't intend to, either.

Side-stitches: Breathe, dummy. And pay attention to what I eat before I run.

Mucous Choking: This means I should have carried water or some fruit snacks with me. Those things usually help. If I don't have them, it's time to spit all the way home and hope I don't start heaving. That's the worst. I've also never thrown up while running. I remember two times where I've gotten close. One was from mucous choking while on my way to go vote (I ran to the polls) and the other was after my 5K PR. I held it together, but in retrospect it would have made that PR much more epic. How many people can say they've thrown up on the field of a major league baseball stadium?

Money Matters

These past few days have been really stressful finance-wise. While I was away at a conference, Tim discovered an area of mold in our drywall. A few days later he learned the source. A big rain revealed a leak in the roof and multiple leaks in the basement. As of that wasn't fun enough, when I got back to work, I learned my insurance premium was doubling. On top of that we have new braces payments starting for the girl, have to get health insurance for the husband, the girl's birthday, my brother's 40th birthday, a marked increase in the water/sewer bill (rates are insanely higher compared to just a year ago) and Christmas is coming. And while I'm piling it on, I might as well mention that the girl's gymnastics went up $3 a month and we're back in competition season, too.

It's a bit scary to be on this side of the checkbook, right now. 

There are a few good things, finance-wise, going for us, though. 

I have some part-time work thanks to my awesome friend. I remembered a couple of things I have that could go on eBay. Tim is making a concerted effort to get more stuff on eBay as well. The weather is cooling down so we can turn off the air conditioner. I've already purchased the components of my brother's birthday present; I just have to put it together. It's getting to be garage sale weather. I've also started thinking about some ideas for an Etsy store (two stores, really, Buttons Up and a as-yet-to-be-developed store).

I don't know if the credits and cut-backs will keep us ahead of the debits, but we're working on it. 

It always feels so gloomy to talk about the sad state of my finances. However, most of us are so much bigger than our money matters. When you talk to folks who lived through the depression as young adults ( or perhaps I should say "talked to folks;" sadly there aren't many of those people left) few of them point to the hardships or deprivations. It's not that they didn't feel the depression keenly, it's that people's lives are larger than their economic woes. Jokes, hugs, and personal triumphs can't be bought. We find these moments even when our wallets are at their thinnest. This is where life happens, not while checking our bank account balances online. 

And just to show you how schizophrenic our financial situation is, I wrote this post in the morning before I left for work and when I got back from a lunch meeting my boss told me that "funny story, your insurance isn't doubling after all...it's going down." Whoever is responsible for that c-f owes me a gallon of wine.