Making some changes around the house

Wow - it has been awhile since I blogged. See what happens when I try to be a good wife and mother? Less time for blogging. It didn't help any that the princesses got hit with the flu-like bug going around school and were home all of last week. But they seem to be getting better and Sarah was well enough to perform in her Little Theater production of The Trial of the Knave on Friday and Saturday night. She played the Dormouse and was fantastic (not that I am biased or anything). This is where I should insert a photo of my adorable Dormouse ... except that I don't have one. Can you believe it? I seriously fell down on the job here and forgot my camera when I went to the performance last night. Hopefully another mom will have some and save me from losing my Mother of the Year title ('cause I am sure that I had a lock on it up till now right).

Anyway, with all the effort to get the house in better order there have been a few changes and more are coming (along with a truck full of my Grandmothers furniture sometime in May). The, first big change is that I have made the decision to quit carrying inventory for my Creative Memories business. The business has changed a lot in the 9 years since I started, with online ordering and more of my clients going digital like I am, and there is little need to carry inventory. I also have fewer workshops since I started working at the hospital on Friday nights negating my need for a permanent workshop space. So this weekend I am having a huge sale to move all my inventory (I hope!) and then I can re-purpose my workshop room into a space for the kids to do homework and an office area for Drew. I am really excited for the change and will post up pictures as we get it set up.

The second big change is our new kitchen table! We just bought it today and they were able to deliver it this evening - isn't it beautiful??



I have had my eye on it for about 2 years and the store is going out of business at the end of the month. I figured if they still had it and I could get a good deal than it would finally be mine! Between this and my grandmother's furniture, our house may actually look like someone lives here soon.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I have a lot of work to get done this week prepping for the inventory sale so I better get to bed!

Making Changes -

Been Busy ... and February Layouts

Well, it has been a busy week-plus! I FINALLY got all my inventory and business paperwork done - whew! It always takes so much longer than I think it will - which is probably why I put it off as long as possible. With that done I completed another fun job - the tax planner for our accountant. The kids were off school last Friday and Sarah is in the home stretch of play rehearsals for Trial of the Knave so that has kept us busy as well. And we got a new rat!

Ok, the rat story. So you probably know that we had a rat death a couple of weeks ago. Well, it seems that it was all in the plan, because just as we lost Teddy a neighbor needed to find a new home for their pet rat Lucy (due to some terrible allergies). Lucy came over for a meet n great last Friday when the kids were out of school and she and Rosie hit it right off. By mid-morning they were in the same cage and have been together ever since. Rosie seems very happy to have another cage mate and Lucy is a very sweet rat.

In other exciting family news - Sarah moved up to Level 2 at gymnastics tonight! She has been working very hard on her kick over so that she could move up and finally nailed it tonight 4 times! I am really proud of her for sticking with something and working to get better.

Now, I haven't posted any layouts for quite a while even though I have been meaning to. I noticed on a blog I frequent - Plum Dumpling Designs (a fabulous new designer!) - that Mary does a slide show each month of her new layouts. I thought that it was such a great idea that I am stealing it! So, a little belatedly, here are my February Layouts (there aren't a ton since we were in Disney for a couple of weeks!).

That's it for now - I am still working on my Lenten resolution to stop procrastinating. Some days are good and some days aren't but I guess it is all growth!

Chugging Along -

Lenten Reflection

So we are in the season of Lent – a time of preparation before Easter. Although for the past 7 years my family has attended a non-Denominational Christian church, I was raised Catholic and still observe some Catholic traditions. One of the things that I remember from my childhood was giving something up for Lent – usually candy as a little kid. Now, as an adult, I don’t so much give something up as take a look at areas of in my life that are areas of disobedience to the Lord - and work to correct them. One of those areas is that I am a HUGE procrastinator (I mean hello – Lent started last Wednesday and I am just getting around to this!) and it leads to a slothful nature. Everyone who knows me is aware that I am not the best housekeeper in the world and it is something that weighs on me – I wish that I did better in this area. Yesterday in church our pastor was speaking on service and he said something that hit home. He talked about how the Lord gave Adam a helpmate when he created Eve and at times I am not a very good helpmate to Drew. So this year for Lent I am going to work on being a better helpmate, and the biggest way that I can do that is to do a better job keeping up our home. I figure saying it out loud will keep me honest and I started today by cleaning our downstairs. I do this every couple of weeks but then I tend to “let myself of the hook” for the rest of the week and not do anything else. However, tomorrow I tackle another project that I have been putting off – my year end Creative Memories inventory. Yep – it is March and I haven’t done my year end paperwork yet. So tomorrow is the day for that project and from there who knows - but I have the rest of Lent to become more obedient to the Lord and a better helpmate to Drew.

Getting my butt off the couch -