It's Finally Happening!!!

For three years my craft room has been a sore spot in our home.  I just can't seem to get it the way I want it.  So we have piddled, purged, purchased and planned a gazillion ideas and organizers in hopes of making it work. 

I finally got fed up a couple of weekends ago and stashed all my crafting things into my laundry baskets (that has been a whole 'nother issue)! Now I have a somewhat clean slate to work with.  My office is odd in that it has three doors leading in and out.  There is also a large window and a closet.  This makes furniture arranging difficult. 

I started my gazillionth attempt at organization by buying the Target Room Essentials 6-cube organizer in Espresso.  I love that this cabinet can be set up vertically or horizontally.  I decided to useit horizontally and add casters to the bottom.  That way I  can roll it out of the way if I need to get into the closet.  I bought some of the fabric bins in bleached sand (think ecru) to store everything.  They are going to be perfect but....they are boring.  So, last night I busted out my Silhouette and cut a stencil for painting.  I found a cute lattice work pattern and sized it to fit.  To save on my vinyl costs I used some ugly contact paper as the stencil.  It worked perfectly!  Once everything was lined up I grabbed my daubber, my favorite teal acrylic paint and went to town.  The whole painting portion took me about 15 minutes and I was done.  They turned out better than I planned! 

I still need to get three more bins but that will have to wait until my next Target adventure.  Now I get to have fun deciding where everything will go.  What a concept - an organized craft room! 

I'll keep you posted as I go along.  Maybe by the time our fourth house anniversary rolls around I will have a showcase room.  :) No matter what - I am super excited to get this project going!

On the road to skinnier!

Yesterday was my first day back with Weight Watchers.  I had great luck with it the first time around and then life happened and I fell off the proverbial wagon.  I know that life will continue to happen - I just have to incorporate weight loss into it.  This time I am going to make it happen!
Why am I so gung ho about this right now?  Thanks for asking!  In two weeks we have a family reunion for my hubby's family.  Two weeks after that I have an Origami Owl conference.  I will be joining hundreds of my nearest and dearest in Phoenix to celebrate and be celebrated as a Designer with this great new company.  One week after that is my 20 year reunion (eek) and two weeks after that I will be (hopefully) heading to the beach with my hubby.  See - life is happening so darn fast!
It is not so much that I am worried about being skinny.  It is more that I want my clothes to fit and I want to be proud of how I look. If that means I have to count points to make it happen, so be it!  I can do this!  Here's to getting back to where I want to be!

Greetings and Salutations AND Happy 2013!

Like everyone else out here, I just can't believe 2013 is already here.  It just does not seem possible for 2012 to be over.  Wowzers!  They weren't lying when they said the older you get, the faster time flies.

Christmas this year was pretty darn awesome.  It was technically Josh's third Christmas but since the first one was such a blur I am going to claim it as his second.  Even though I have experienced the joy of Christmas through a little one's eyes before, for some reason it was different this year.  Josh absolutely loved every aspect of the holiday, from Baby Jesus to the Christmas tree to ripping the wrapping paper off the presents.  We all loved seeing his excitement and pure joy.  The only bummer was that he was running fever throughout the day so he had frequent naptimes.  Even with a fever though he was extremely happy.  Carson finally realized that Christmas changes when you get older.  As a teen he got primarily clothes and necessities from us.  I think he was a little bummed about it until he went upstairs and saw his new punching bag.  That definitely lightened his mood!  Caty and Tanna both got exactly what they asked for.  Caty has been on an artistic kick for a while now so we fed that obsession.  She is now the proud owner of a wooden easel, a pretty sweet art set (complete with oil pastels and watercolors) and some of her very own canvases.  I wish I had had the camera ready when she came downstairs with everything in tow, ready to create.  Tanna never really asks for much so this year when an American Girl doll showed up as the only thing on her list, we just didn't have the heart to say no.  The look on her face when she realized what it was made it all worth it.  "Julie" has not been far from her side since Christmas morning.  Mom and Minnie were with us for Christmas this year.  In hindsight I should have had someone take a generations picture of all of together.

Checking this all out

Blogging was never something I thought that I would be interested in.  I mean, who would want to read about our little family smack dab in the middle of Texas?  Then I realized our extended family might want to read about our family.  Far off friends might want to read and catch up.  And maybe, just maybe, if I keep up the hard work, I will have something to look back on and remember the good, bad or otherwise times of these days.

That said...here I go with my first entry.

Raising four kids who have been put together in a blended family is not always easy.  There are challenges that go along with raising your own kids.  When you mix your kids with someone else's kids a whole new set of challenges rise up.  We are most definitely a his/hers and ours family.  I have had to rely on many of my friends for guidance in how to deal with certain aspects of the family.  Are we doing a good job with our family?  Who know.  Are we trying real hard to do a good job?  Absolutely!  I can only hope that as all of our kids get older they can say that living life in the Wolff-pack was something that was most definitely memorable!