Taking A Break---Absorbed In Paperwork

I will be taking a break until Monday, May 3, 2010. I have tried to juggle organizing and this paperwork that needs to be done by May 12,2010, and I have failed. I have not blogged the past 2 days, so I am taking a break.

I want to thank all of my readers for all of their support. I have really-really appreciated it. I feel like I am being inconsistent not blogging everyday because that is what I was doing and sometimes I would blog more than once a day.

I am absorbed in this paperwork, and with the medications that I am on, it is hard to keep focused. But this is something that I must do. I have to have all of my information organized and easily accessible because I am going up against the government. I have already been denied once, so my chances are diminishing. For this appeal, I need to present my information in person in front of a VA board member. I am a little bit nervous. I plan to have representation with me, but I am not sure if I will have the American Legion or the Disabled American Vets representative.

My health has not been the best during these past few days reviewing and collecting information for my case. It is a very sensitive subject (sexual assault), and one that I am finding hard to prove. The American Legion thought that I had a good case, but then I was denied. I have heard that they usually deny on the 1st try, but to appeal ---I believe--- you need new information. This is where my health has been deteriorating. The information is so personal and reviewing it leaves me full of anxiety.

So, that is why I need to take this week off. I really need to stay focused, and get all of my information together and organized in a way that I can present it to the VA board member. I was advised that I would get notification within the month. That is why I am so absorbed in this matter. I want to have as much information as I can to present a good case.

I will be back with you on Monday, May 3, 2010. Thank you again for all of your support. I will keep you informed. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

A Small Cabinet

Well, today went as planned. I worked a lot on my paperwork and I made a few phone calls.

I transferred this cabinet from room to room, until I put it into the bathroom. This little thing holds my headbands, hair ties, hair clips, make-up, and nail polish. I had made up my mind that this piece was going to be in the garage sale, but then I got the bright idea to put "little" things in it.

I remember when I bought it and where (TJ Maxx). I am glad that I found a use for it.

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I did end up changing this shelving unit around. My friend came over and had an opinion about the suitcases. She said that in most of my room, things are in clear containers, so that you can see what is in them. The suitcases do the exact opposite. I told her that I really liked the suitcases, but my mind could be changed. And it was. I put my canvas boxes, and my scrapbooking "luggage" in the shelving unit. For now, it seems like a nice fit. It is not the pretty scene (a pretty cabinet, a lamp, and a picture)---like my friend had wanted. But, it is functional, and I think I like it.

So, that was my day. I will keep you updated. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

Paperwork

So, here I am. I set up my craft table in front of the TV in the living room. I need to do a lot of research in order to file an appeal against a decision the VA made. All I want is validation for something that happened, and their response is that it didn't happen. That is a problem. So, now it begins. For 1 1/2 years I did what they said, and I complied with their requests. For 1 1/2 years I retrieved documents, I would forward medical paperwork, and then, I waited for their decision. The American Legion assured me that I had a strong case, and they felt that it was a good case. Unfortunately, they were wrong. So, now I need to get all the information together, and I need to get more information if possible to support my case. I have about a month to do all of this work.

So, you may see a little less organizing, but I will not quit. I will still do projects---even if they are small.

I will keep you updated. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

Shopping For The Craft Room

Here is the cover for the love seat. Until I can find a black or pink one, this will do.
I did have a difficult day today. My appointment did not go really good, and I will have to do some work over this next month. It is work that increases my anxiety, and work that needs to be done diligently. It will require focus that I can only hope I have.

So, this new task will be taking up a lot of my time---hopefully it all works out.

I bought some black rugs for my craft room---2 small ones and 1 big one. I will need to purchase 4 more small ones to complete the room.

I put 2 small rugs by the beads, but I need one more. I put the large rug under the table. It will also be under the love seat. I think that I will purchase 3 small rugs for the entry way. The black rugs really enhance the floor.

By putting the rugs down, I want to remove even more of the clutter in the room. I am really excited about scrapbooking again. With each task done, I am closer to finishing this room.

Well, I am going to go for now. I will keep you informed. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

Just An Ordinary Day

So, here is the love seat that will be going into my craft room. Sometimes --- you just have to go with what you have. I bought a beige cover for it at a garage sale last year. I was going to get rid of it until I decided to separate my love seat from my couch. As you can see, it is a pretty deep love seat. The covers are in the wash right now or I would show you. Maybe---if I remember---I will take a picture tomorrow.

The reason that I say it was an ordinary day is because I just did household chores today. Mostly I did laundry. In fact, the lights that are in the washer right now are being washed for the second time because I forgot to put them into the dryer before I left for my evening function. Do you ever do that? Leave clothes in the washer, so they have to be washed again? It really sets you back.

The evening function was a purse party. You buy the "base" and then you can buy all kinds of "shells" to go over top of the base. Magnets hold everything into place---it was pretty neat. Whenever I get mine in, I'll take pictures and show you.

That is it for today. I hope you had a good one. I will keep you updated. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Brownie in a Basket

The 1st task for today was to clear this hallway. I forgot to take a before shot, but I assure you it was cluttered with a mattress and box spring to boot. My husband was putting a very, very, very long shelf in the girl's room, and he needed this hallway cleared. So, there you have it. One project---done.

Next on the list, I wanted to do some work in my craft room. So, here is the table that I will be working on in front of the TV. I have my needed tools, yet I have left enough room to actually scrapbook. I am very pleased with this task. Now, I just have to continue working on that room. I cannot tell you how much stuff I have moved out, and how much more still needs to go. Patience ---my dear---Patience.

You might be wondering why I have taken a picture of brownies in my oven. Well, one of my step-daughters (the older one in 8th grade) decided to make brownies. While we were eating dinner, the timer went off, and it was time to take the brownies out of the oven. So, she gets up, and puts on the oven mitts. She goes to get the brownies---she pulls the rack out and puts the toothpick in. Then, she tells us that she never knew that the racks came out, until she had home economics this year. We all started cracking up. What a hoot! She didn't even get why it was funny---which only made it even more funny. Oh, by the way, I have yet to be invited to taste these scrumptious--or not (Rachel just said) brownies. They look good, but looks can be deceiving. Oh -- Oh----wait a minute---she just asked me if I wanted a brownie. I need to blog more often.

Well, I must go. I will keep you informed. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

4/18 15 Minute Workout

Well, it is Sunday and it is time to get those workouts in. We are in countdown mode ---24 days. The reason being---I am going on vacation. So, let's get out there and do that 15 minutes. And then add 15 more minutes until we reach an hour. We can do it. Tell me how you do.

Sand, Rocks, Buttons, and Boxes

Here is what I worked on today. I am preparing for my shelves to come. My brother and dad are coming to visit next week, and I am going to try to con them into bringing my shelves to me.

On this shelf are plastic pebbles, sand, rocks, shells, brads, eyelets, tags, etc. These are going to be heavy shelves, and the bookcase can hold 66 lbs. a shelf (thank goodness). I still my move things around, but this set-up seems to flow pretty good. The only thing that I am contemplating is moving the eyelets, brads, tags, etc (the embellishments for my scrapbooking). We will see.

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Next, I was trying to see what I could do with my buttons. The rack you see to the left is actually a rack for tapes ---go figure. The only problem that I see is that

I have many more buttons than the rack can hold. The glass jars are a nice touch because you can see the colors of the buttons. The rack is a great way to display because you don't have to stack the bottles on top of one another. I don't like to do that because then there is a greater chance of the jars falling ---and broken glass is not a good thing for a craft room. I will try to get another display unit or rack for the rest of the jars.

This is some of my jewelry pieces. It is not a big display and again I do like the glass and clear containers, so that I can see the items without opening a container. I find that the clear plastic containers that come 9 or 12 in a container do a great job. I use these containers for a lot of different craft items.

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Here are some boxes that I haven't decided whether to keep or to let go. I do like them, but again with the bookcase---these boxes are too deep. 4 of them stack and I could use the top 3 of them turned sideways, but would that look nice? I just don't know. The boxes are definitely crafty and right now they hold my pom-poms and my pipe cleaners. And quite a few of them are empty. Well, I will have to figure out what I am going to do with these boxes ---I'll think on it.

Well, that was my day (around my crafts). I also mowed the lawn and went through some of the stuff in the garage ---what a task. Oh, yeah we now have 4 eggs in the nest on our front door. And let me tell you, she is a chirper. It is really cute.

I'll go for now. And I will keep you updated. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

4/17 (15 Minute Workout)

Here is something new for the workout challenge. We will try to get 1 hour of a workout in everyday until May 12---that is 25 days. We will break down the workout into 15 minute time periods because we can do anything for 15 minutes.
So, today (for example), I will start with my 15 minutes on the treadmill, then I will walk---but while I am walking, I decide that I can do more---so, I walk for 30 minutes. Right there is 45 minutes, and it doesn't seem like it. Now, all I have to do is 15 minutes to round out the day. I end up doing 15 minutes on the treadmill---my day is done.
Some days will be tougher than others, but even a little workout is better than none. And by reading the article about the "Middle Age Spread", I need to workout everyday for at least 1 hour to lose weight (I actually may need to workout more than 1 hour to lose weight---but let's not think about that---ok---ok).
So, let's try this new challenge. I hope to hear from you. I'll talk to you tomorrow (and in the comments).

What A Difference A Shelf Makes

So, here is the original display. I have my fan, my sand memorabilia, and my desk stuff. But it didn't look all that great---even though I loved the

piece of furniture. So, I started thinking. I went into my spare bedroom, and I took all of the photo boxes off of this bookcase. I moved the bookcase into the craft room, and I started filling it up. I moved things in and out of the bookcase to make it look better. I put my paper clips in baby food jars and then I put them on a baby food jar rack. My staples are in glass jars too, so that I can see the pretty colors. My other paper clips are in glass jars, so that I can see the size and the color. The one display piece next to the jewelry piece was originally intended for cupcakes, but I found glass jars that fit perfectly, so now it holds paper clips. I have my radio, my fan, my desk stuff, my business cards, my sand (these 2 things and a few others are on the bottom shelf). The containers holding my desk stuff was originally holding chipboard for scrapbooking. I was able to keep one of my jewelry pieces to display items that I got on my vacations. My memorabilia is on top of the bookcase because it did not look appealing. Don't you think it is a HUGE difference? I do and I am glad that I came out of my comfort zone and decided to not use the piece of furniture that I "loved".

Well, I am going to go for today. I am happy with the way this project has turned out. I will keep you informed of the latest organizing project. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

What A Week!

I am truly sorry that I have not been blogging this week. I think I fell into a mini depression. I still need to go through the bags from my "Clutter Clearing"boy. I had a talk with him, and now he is going slower, but he is sorting more---this method I find a lot better. I received a letter from the VA that I really need to take care of. There is a time limit on it, and the last 2 times that I dealt with the military, I had a breakdown. So, I am really feeling a lot of stress on that issue. I need to do my craft room, my bedroom, my bathroom, my living room, my den, my computer room, my kitchen, my basement, and my garage. I have been painting furniture to relieve some of my stress. Luckily, it has been nice outside, so I have been painting in my garage.

Here is something that I did this week. I organized my beads onto this shelf that my sister wanted me to keep. It is a pretty unique shelf and since it is not very tall, it is going to work great as a room divider. On the back of it, I am going to attach a rod with hooks, so that I can hang some material and it will look like curtains. One of my best friends is going to have her husband hem the material for me, and he is also going to hem a place for the rod to go through. It works out really good. They used my sewing machine to do their curtains for their home, and now they are going to do the curtains for my craft room.

This is another project that I did. Some of my flowers are in clear pails, while others were in these clear containers. The containers are perfect for holding and organizing your flowers, but with the new shelving that I am buying from IKEA (it is only D11 inches), so the containers would not fit on the shelves nicely. So, I repurposed my "guy workshop" drawers, and I put the remainder of my flowers in them (by color--of course). These drawers will fit on the shelves nicely, and I have a small extra one to expand my collection. That is always a nice bonus. I am going to keep the ones that I already have in the clear pails---in the clear pails---because I like the way they look.

Here is another project that I did. I love suitcases, but with the new shelves that I am getting, I would not be able to put the suitcases on top of the bookcases because they are too deep. I had these shelves in my garage, and I was going to use them for my basement. I put them together in the basement just to make sure that they could hold my suitcases. (If they couldn't---they were already where they were supposed to be. But, as luck would have it, my suitcases fit. The only thing was that I couldn't put the top shelf on because then the black suitcases wouldn't fit.

Now that everything is together, I need to find a way to make it look girly. I thought of covering the shelves with material. I'm just not sure. And if I can't find a way to make me love it, I will just have to get rid of the suitcases. Bummer. But I need to love my room ---right? Right! And right now those suitcases look like they are on some shelving made for the garage or basement---and I can't have that. Any suggestions would be helpful.

Here is a piece of furniture that I wanted to keep. It is going behind my desk, and it will hold things like: staples/stapler, rubber bands, calculator, push pins, business cards, note pads, some mememorabilia, and a fan for the summertime. I don't know if you remember this piece, but it was wood and it was going to be by my doorway with memorabilia on it. Now the suitcases are there, so I needed a place for it.

I'm not sure if this is the way it will stay, but I really would like to keep it.

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This is what my "Clearing Clutter" boy has been doing. I cannot believe his progress---and I am so happy about the whole thing. All I have to do is take 1 box at a time. He is not throwing away as much, and he is taking his time. He considers himself an employee (that's what he said the other day)---it was so cute. Anyway, we worked out the terms and this seems to be a better approach. He really didn't want to throw away items that were needed.

Well, that is it. Well---I did do a few other things, but these were the big things. I haven't worked out since I stopped blogging about it, so I am going to start it up again. It will be called the 15 minute Workout. My therapist and I came up with it. It is easier to get yourself to do 15 minutes of something rather than 30 minutes of something. So, we are going to apply that to working out.

So, there you have it. I will keep you informed. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

Jewelry for My Crafts

This is what I finished doing. I have jewelry that I obtained from garage sales, Salvation Army facilities, and Goodwill facilities. I have a thing for jewelry, and I hope to incorporate it into my scrapbooks. Some pieces can be on the outside of the album, while other pieces can be on the inside.

I got the mannequin from Pier 1. I was so excited when I saw it, and I had it's purpose in my head.

One thing that I need more room for is the bracelets that I have acquired. I also have other jewelry (earrings) that need a place too.

Do you remember this piece? I was going to use this piece for fibers/yarns, but I had too many. It is serving a great purpose holding jewelry---bracelets actually. I have it on the shelf that will be behind the love seat. Along with my lamps, book markers, and a few other items.

The items that you see on the piece were obtained at a garage sale from a girl who made jewelry. She was getting rid of some of her collection, some pieces were bracelets, some were necklaces, and some were broken pieces. I thought that she had good taste in color, and the price was great. I did keep some pieces for myself---like I said ---she really had good taste in color and I really liked her jewelry.

Well, I am going to go for now. Hope you are having a good day. I'll keep you posted. Until then...This is me. This is my blog.

Some Painted Furniture in The Craft Room

This is what I have been working on for the past couple of days.


This is what the table used to look like. It will be placed in front of the couch. It will be the table that I do most of my crafts on/at. I am very pleased with the way that it turned out. It seems to be the perfect size. And it was originally in the den just taking up space.



This is the other odd shelving unit that I painted white. It will be behind the love seat with various knickknacks and 2 lamps on it. I will be placing my wooden pieces on the shelves because they will be hidden by the couch. It is so amazing what a coat of paint will do to a piece of furniture.
I now have 2 white, crisp pieces of furniture for my room. I am really getting excited on how my room is turning out.
I have removed quite a bit of furniture, but I am surprised at how much more still needs to go.
Well, I am going to go for now. My "Clearing Clutter" boy is here and I need to talk to him. I'll keep you updated. Until then...
This is me. This is my blog.

Valuable Trash?

Do you remember this picture from yesterday? And how I tossed and turned over whether or not to look in the bags---well, I did. I looked in the bags. What tipped me off was---a bag was not fully closed and a Longenberger basket was hanging out. Yikes. Now not too many teenage kids know about Longenberger, but what I was to find today---in those bags---SHOCKING. I must say when I was talking to my sister we were both laughing so hard.

So, I find the gloves and chain to my step-son's punching bag, the handles and disc for the air hockey table, a basketball for our indoor basketball hoop, the net, paddles, and ball for ping-pong.

And he may not have realized that these reels are actually full of pictures from my mom's side of the family.

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Then, I found a couple trash cans and the kicker ---the dustpan that he had asked for (I guess he was done with it.lol)

I also found money, the attachments for my craft table, moments, and various other things that were brand new with tags on.

My sister was happy to hear that this miracle boy wonder wasn't able to organize everything that quickly (something that has taken her years to perfect).

This is what the garage looks like now. I went through most of the trash, and I was going through the boxes that he had marked. It was quite a chore, since trash pick-up is tomorrow.

I did a pretty good job--- I still have 5 big trash bags. I still have stuff to go through, but I have been putting most of the items in the area for the garage sale.

I need to figure out what I am going to tell my "Clearing Clutter" boy. Maybe going through the trash isn't all that bad. He throws everything away and I keep what we want. I don't know---I have a couple days to think about it. Any suggestions? One good thing---my sister said that a true hoarder would have probably had a breakdown.

This is what I did to end out my day.

Well, I will keep you updated. Until then...This is me. This is my blog.

Unbelievable!

My "Clearing Clutter" guy is so awesome. You remember how bad my basement was right? Now look at it. He did this in 4 hours. Unbelievable!

I asked him what he came across the most---he said glass and trash. I know that I would not have been able to do this in 4 hours or 4 days for that matter.

On to the trash...

I am so tempted to go through the trash bags---there are like 5 huge bags. But what if I would find something that I wanted to keep---that would be bad.

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Well, I am going to go for now. I have been working in my craft room, and I have been doing some of my own clearing. I'll post some pictures later, but for now I have to mow the lawn. I'll keep you posted. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.

A Hard Day of Work & A New Employee

This is what I did this afternoon---I cleaned the hallway, the living room, and the kitchen. I was so tired after I was done, so I took a nap.

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Next, I continued working in my craft room. I moved my material to the clear plastic drawers---it looks much nicer.



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Here is my garage. Do you remember what a mess it was?

And here is some of my basement. Can you believe it?

This is not the work of me, it is the work of a 16 year old kid that needs money for gas for his car. Can you believe a 16 year old did this work---I can't. He is a godsend. Whenever I was talking to him, he told me that he hates clutter and he keeps his room tidy. He has definitely found his niche. He did my garage in 4 hours and that included labeling boxes and breaking down boxes. So, he is my secret weapon against clutter. He had asked me for a dust pan---I gave him one---and then I saw him sweeping up buttons. I said to myself---Yikes---and then I slowly walked away. He filled my "huge" garbage can with "garbage". I told myself that I was not to look---if he thought it was garbage, then it was garbage. I walked away thinking --- he is good. I am liking this "clutter clearing boy". He has no limits---he is not afraid of anything. And I mean anything---you saw my basement and my garage. I am lucky that he needs money.

Well, there you have it. I will keep you updated. Until then...

This is me. This is my blog.