No excuses

A whole week without a second post. Shame on me. I have no excuses other than I have been down with the mid-winter blues. It's cold and dark and I haven't been out walking.

Yesterday at dinner Dr. Hair asked "What if there was a man about 85 who had exercised all his life and was really fit?" I jumped out of my seat and fired up YouTube and found Jack Lalanne on Good Morning America.

My favorite quote is "Inactivity is the worst thing, DON'T DO IT!"

Dr. Hair and Dandylion were totally amazed!

Thank you Dr. Hair for asking "What if?" and Jack Lalanne for answering.

Archaeology Dig in the Sewing Room

Another de-cluttering, de-junking Monday and I was hard at work in the sewing room. And glory be, I found things I've been looking for since we moved here in August 2010!

I don't have everything put away, mostly because I don't have a place for everything yet. But it is all sorted out and my desk cleared off, the shelves behind the desk organized and condensed. I opened every box and combined things and got rid of other things. All of my tools are together! I can find things! It is great.

I have a laundry basket full of "projects" and mending and such. There are 22 items. My goal is to do at least one each day, except Tuesdays which are sewing days and then I'll do as many as I can endure. When these things are done I'll move on to my actual sewing projects of new clothes and quilts and items for my Etsy store (more on that later).

It is such a good feeling to get that room organized and it was so exciting to find some tools I'd been missing!

Here are the BEFORE and AFTER pictures:

First, the view from the doorway

Such lovely, organized shelves!

Second, the actual sewing desk:

Now I have a clear surface to work on:

Last, my bins of fabric:

Still a ways to go, but everything in this area now is fabric, rather than projects or orphans:

This area still needs another "sort and organize", but it's from here that I'll select some treasure for my giveaway. What are you most interested in? Wool, vintage look, silk, cool cotton? Leave a wish in my comments and see what happens.

I don't know about you other seamstresses (or whatever you liked to be called) but I can't create in chaos. I must have order and I'm so happy to finally have it. Now if I could just find some little elves to keep it that way!

Burst of Tears

Friday we received an email from Church Travel detailing our missionary son's homecoming arrival date and time. As I read it I burst into tears, joy and relief. It's been a long two years! He'll be leaving Argentina on April 3 and arriving here on April 4. Ten weeks from Wednesday!

Elder Thoelke with President and Sister Peterson

Early Morning Beauty

Moonset at about 7:00 AM on Monday, January 9, 2012. A little tender mercy on an otherwise bleak midwinter morning.

Frugal Friday - Wear it Out

Today on Frugal Friday we'll explore the concept of wearing it out. We've become such a "throw away" people that it's time we look at how we can use things in alternative ways rather than simply tossing them.

First up is a large glass jar given to me by a friend, almost twenty years ago, who had too many of them. She bought peanut butter in these huge jars and then couldn't bear to throw them away, so she washed them and put them to other uses. She gave me three of them. I use this one as a cookie jar sitting on the built in side board of our dining room.  (The other two are used for storing brown rice, and bay leaves.)

Last of the Girl Scout Cookies

Wonderful Built-in Side Board and Cupboards

What do you use for cleaning or dusting cloths? In our house we use an assortment of old cloths, such as old dish cloths or wash cloths for scrubbing things; faded and worn cloth napkins for glass, windows and mirrors (perfect because they are lintless); cut up flannel nighties for dusting and polishing (so soft and absorbent); old, stained or worn dishtowels, hand towels or diapers for general cleaning and small mop ups; worn out bath towels for larger jobs like overflowing toilets (which happened this morning), car washing, drying off wet pets, and such.

Clockwise from center: Dust cloths, large towels, smalls towels & diapers, cloth napkins, wash cloths

I keep all these useful articles in these plastic drawers in my kitchen.

Only when the rag is finally worn out completely, do I toss it, guilt free, knowing that it has served us well for many years.

These two examples are just the tip of the iceberg. On future Frugal Fridays I'll share some other ways PFC Mom wears things out.