Overwhelmed by Stuff!!!

My living spaces are full of stuff.  I was recently told I really packed a lot in to my living areas, but it did not seem cluttered.  I feel the same way, but don't even think about opening a closet or drawer.  As previously mentioned, I was purging paperwork and still am.  I already have a laundry basket full of paperwork that needs to be taken to the secure county recycling center where they shred documents.  I decided to start cleaning one of the built in cupboards on the upstairs landing.  Holy moly is it full of crap stuff.  A week ago I bought one of those neck reading lights.  I thought it might help with cross stitching.  Well, golly gee.  Guess what I found in the cupboard?  An identical one still in the box that I must have purchased years ago and have absolutely no recollection of buying.  Now that is scary!  Thankfully I haven't used the new one and have all the packaging so it can be returned.  An entire tub of small boxes, spools, boards that one day I am going to attach something to.  (And there is more in the basement.)  Yeah, right.  The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

So not only am I purging paperwork and cleaning a cupboard, I need to un-decorate.  I started Saturday and dropped a little snowman ornament and chipped his hat and broke his scarf.  I have the pieces but they will be difficult to glue back on.  Then yesterday I dropped a paper mache' snowman.  I was able to sort of repair him with a paint job 😡.         

At the rate I am going, I will be living in chaos for quite some time, and I don't do chaos well 😬.  Oh well.  Oh hell.  This too shall pass.

I have made progress on my little Pineberry cross stitch.  Even having adjusted the spacing of the letters and rows, it is bigger than I would have liked it.  That's what happens when you only find a piece of 28 count linen in your meager stash!!!

I pulled a few loops on Yellow Bird but so few nothing worth sharing.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Not a Tease ~

The little snippet of the corner of my rug in the last post was not meant to be a tease.  It is a corner of the rug, Yellow Bird, started in a class with Kris Miller in September.  It is a pattern by Ann Willey that Kris sells on her website, Spruce Ridge Studios.

It looks like the last time I posted the rug on my blog was early in November and this is what it looked like then.

I pulled a few more loops after that and here is where I left off.

The true color is somewhere between the two pictures, but closer to the first one.  I probably have not hooked on it since mid November so I guess it's about time to get busy on it.  I have too many unfinished rugs from classes (and will have another class in March).

Please keep my son J in your prayers.  He just finished chemo round #3 yesterday and was feeling pretty lousy when I picked him up.  A two week break and than another five days of chemo and hoping that will be it.  It is not easy seeing a child, no matter the age, going thru this.  At 43, he is still my baby boy.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Lookee what I found ~

Found . . . but now needs to be used 😁

I also started another little Christmas stitchery.  I believe I stitched this once a number of years ago but needed another no-brainer thing to work on until I found my hook.  (Hook not really lost, but tucked away because I had no time to hook and didn't want the hooking mess in the living room during the holidays.)  Once again on 28 count linen because as I have said, I have no linen stash.  I started stitching it using the spacing on the chart.

Not happy at all with it, so started over with the letters and rows closer together.  MUCH better . . . but there a couple of snowflakes whose size may need to be adjusted by a couple threads.

I hope your New Year has started off without a bang!  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

 

I'm not sure why I make New Year resolutions because I always fail miserably . . . sigh.  The week before Christmas I decided to purge some paperwork.  Did I really need 20+ year old income tax returns for me and my sons?  I mean really!!!  I have a file cabinet in the attic that hasn't been opened in over a decade.  Hopefully I can continue purging paperwork that is totally unnecessary.  

I have both a full basement (though small because my house isn't that big) and a walk up attic.  I think they are more of a curse than a blessing.  Both are overflowing with "stuff".  For the most part I can't tell you what is there, so I probably don't need it, right?  I have a fruit cellar.  Full of things that I haven't looked at in many, many years.  Are you detecting a pattern?

Perhaps 2025 will be the year I get a handle on at least some of my unnecessary items.  Than again, maybe not 😁.

May you and your loved ones be blessed with health and happiness in the new year.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

Remember?

Remember the near hysteria over Y2K . . . and nothing?  So hard to believe that was 25 years ago!!!

~ Happy New Year's Eve ~

Thanks so much for stopping by.
Pug hugs 😊
Lauren

A Not Fully Finished Finish ~

I guess it's time to get out the Ott with magnifier.  Stitching this little piece on 28 count linen has given me fits.  (How on earth do people stitch on 46 count?)  I did okay with the dark color threads, but the threads that were close in value to the linen . . . argh!!!  Let's just say it did not go well 😝.  But the stitching is done and it will join all the other little cross stitch pieces that are stitched and not fully finished.

I wish I had more to share but this is sadly it.  Still haven't gotten the hook out.  I thought between Christmas and New Year's I would finally have time to kick back and enjoy the peace and quiet of the season, but I have been just as busy as before Christmas.  Of course, all self inflicted.  I only have myself to blame!  I normally start un-decorating on the 2nd, but this year I may enjoy my home all decorated a few days longer.  Everything is lit up with little white lights and when they are put away it is just so dreary.  Not a whole lot of sunshine in northern Ohio in January.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Pug hugs 😊

Lauren

The Reason for the Season ~

MERRY CHRISTMAS  

HAPPY HANUKKAH

Whatever your faith, remember why you are celebrating.

Love to all.

Lauren