Wow - it's Feb. 8th and it's been a week already! Mock trial finals were great yesterday. I was disappointed that Ryan's team didn't get to compete, but he did a great job as the timer. Then we all celebrated at Joe's Crab Shack. One of the high schoolers did not want to go to Joe's as he said they have TV ads with cussing. I've not seen them, but was most impressed with his convictions and attempted to suggest we alter our plans.


I am very behind on my Design Your Life class and spent last evening perusing through photos attempting to pick some for layouts. I ran across these photos from a few months ago at Halloween and wanted to post them as a reminder of our fun night. There is a couple in Waxahachie, Tx who has re-created the Munster Mansion, and they open it two nights a year for a charity event. Pat Gase who played Marilyn was there and signing photos. We went with friends - first time I can recall a Halloween without kids - and while it was odd and kinda sad, the fun night made up for it!

(excuse the odd layout of stuff here - I'm having a hard time getting text around my photos) The owner of Munster Mansion is a woman with a serious penchant for anthing Munster. The inside of her house has a few pieces original to the set. She has one rooom with collectibles of any Munster sold. Her bedrooms, kitchen and the staircase are down to the detail.

The top photo shows the owners husband posing as Herman and this father in law as Granpa. The owner is Lily in the other photo above. Pat Gase is pictured signing our photos and then posing with Sherry and I. Gary , Cyn, Sherry, Jo and Rob had a good time at the Munster Mansion.

Here goes....bloggin about nothing much!

I don't know what the rule is about posting pictures that other people are in without permission, but I am so proud of my son's mock trial team! They advanced to finals on Saturday; first time ever that Wylie High has advanced. It is a mixed blessing though as he was supposed to attend a Wesleyan event at Texas A & M with a great group of kids, and now he might miss it for trial finals.

I love mock trial and feel that if school were more like the mock trial event and Odyssey of the Mind, that our students would be so much better thinkers and problem solvers. On Your Feet, off the cuff, and taking chances. LOVE IT!

My husband came home with some news tonight that is weighing on my mind. Reports (and - I'm not sure how true this is, but what if it is?) are showing that Nanci Pelosi uses Air Force jets for personal use to the tune of 2 million dollars! Are you kidding? The government wants to cut Air Force budget all the while she is ordering jets for congressional use and flying her family around. He said he also heard that she only wants "fresh flowers" for her office and reports show $250 thousand tax payer dollars have been spent on her flower budget. What the heck? Can this be? How are they not accountable for this? Looks like we need more than health care reform!

At the advice of a friend, I took our family to see "To Save a Life" on Sunday. Tremendous movie! I advise all parents of high school students to take their child to see this. So many facets of problems, judgements, behaviors and pressures that high schoolers face are examined with a clear choice on how to make a difference is someone's as a priority. It's not a mamby-pamby movie: pregnancy, drug use, alcohol use, self-mutilation, status not to mention family issues are all waxed and waned in this movie. I hope it struck a chord with my children and all who see it.

I'm stunned it's already February 1st! Seems like yesterday that I was writing down my New Year's goal - not believing it was a new year already. Statistics show that only 45% of the population even set New Year's goals. I understand - I set them and fall down on them.....but it bothers me to think that more than half of the population is not practicing 'goal setting'; unless they are goal focused but don't portray them as New Year's Resolutions. Out of the 45 % who make goals, only 7% make it past one month.

I set three goals. I taught my students about setting goals and gave them steps to achieve them. Then I told them to be realisitic. You can't change everything about your life or habits at one time. I have done fairly well with my goal to keep my school desk clean - and have even been grading on time. I haven't done a single thing about my exercise goals.

How about you? Did you set goals? Do you practice goal setting?

Signing off for now,
Jo

January posting for Organizational Challenge

Okay, it's January 31st and I'm posting my scraproom for the OC alumni. I'm not finished, by a long shot, but here is the transformation thus far:

Before: craft cabinet and grey shelf on one wall, and another grey shelf on the adjoining wall. Lots and lots of great storage, but not very attractive.

After! I should have checked my before pictures when I was taking new pictures so I could shoot from the same angle. This is the wall that used to house a craft cabinet and a grey shelf. We picked this piece up in an antique store in Paris, Tx for not much over $100. I sold the big grey shelves for a bit over $100 so the money was a wash, but not the storage space. DH still has some work to do on this cabinet, but it definitely looks more 'homey' than the grey shelves.

Close up of a new glass jar for ribbon. I do not intend to keep them in the jar that way, but I haven't had time to find ribbon cards to wind them on; the other is a small display in the glass cabinet of some things I've made that I switch out seasonally for display. In this case, it's for Valentines. ;)

more:

This is the other piece of new furniture. We bought this in a small downtown place for $60. It houses more crafty boxes. I also stole some ideas that I saw on other blogs and incorporated it such as the ribbon wrap in a shallow basket .

This is the view sweeping from the left of the room. I pulled my projects from the shelf in the wall and put my stamps back in there (it's odd but it was built for that). In the bay window is my tools table, and underneath it is my Iris cart - for lack of a better place to put it. I am on the hunt for a wooden table to buy and distress to replace the metal folding tables.

Close up - with my DYL layout on there needing to be taped down.

Next as I continue to sweep from the bay window to the right is where my tea cart now rests. I pulled my scraps and stickers from the plastic bins and put them in these picnic baskets I found. On top of the tea cart is my new basket from Target holding some idea books. Below : inside the picnic basket - the scraps separated by decofiles by CM.

I still have the craft cabinet and it now sits on the wall where one of the grey shelves used to sit. It was originally built for a small wall in the adjoining room. I have resituated some things on the cabinet, and I think the scale of this piece is wrong for the new glass cabinet, but it is what it is for now. :)

Next to the craft cabinet is a hallway connecting the kitchen to this room. We block the hallway due to our labrador, so for now, my paper racks are in the hallway. On the bottom is my SU paper and my new Cropper Hoppers full of my 12 x 12 paper sits on top. This was one of my biggest areas of concern when I started the challenge: paper in five different places. I fused my 10 x 12 CM paper into the Cropper Hoppers too.

This is a stand I picked up at Ikea for $12. DH is going to add two mores shelves underneath so I can have a bit of a 'stamping zone' ala Penny! ;) I am also going to purchase a topper for this to add more stamp pads that are in the boxes in the glass case which is not very user friendly. I am going to distress this stand also.

I still have weeks to go back and address. I need to stamp off my stamp inventory, reconfigure my alterables, consolidate my ideas, and finish off ribbon. BUT, this post allowed me to see the changes I have made as I tend to get stuck on the ones still not completed. I also need to add some accents with window treatments and art work.

Thanks to Vicki for being here since the beginning and encouraging me. I have really enjoyed all of the encouragement and getting to know all the challenge folks : Penny, April, Maureen, Bree, Tracy, Kelly and everyone else and hope to see their rooms posted also!

Pictures for Wookiemouse

This is the view to the left when you walk in the front door. Where you see my dining table used to be a secondary living space. Right around the corner from the door is where the craft cabinet used to be - but I can't have it in one room and the shelves in another room. The dining table went in the other room and I had a big mirror on the wall and sconces flanking it. You can see how linear the space is ...just wait - the other living room is just to the right (next picture).

This the stamp rack - DH built it after a joke that we discovered stamp sets fit in the cutout.

Empty (ish) scrap room

Well, it's not as empty as I'd like (leaving a few things out so I can scrap a bit) but I kinda had this 'it's now or never' feeling.

I don't like my sad ugly shelves but they are a workhorse. I'm dealing with it being in the dining room as I'd like to be near the family - not stuck in my room.

Now I have to deal with lay out issues (move the shelves or not), 'zones', and weeding through stuff. I really hate that I have become a 'slave' to 'stuff' (you should see our garage!).

Our pool 'blew' out and we are trying to clear that up also. My son got his license yesterday so now I have a new worry on my heart. I really could use some good crop time. :)

I'm behind on the challenge, but committed to see it through. Off to weed through more idea pages..

Jo

I'm not Lance coming in third for the day...

Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we try to ORGANIZE!
(sigh) S0.... after reading the first two weeks, then tearing madly into things only to slow down and actually tango with the challenge and find I need to pack it all up shelf after shelf... Here I am...sadly still not posting my empty craft room as I found items to be placed elsewhere, but had to clean out 'elsewhere', and then started cleaning the garage so that discarded items would fit until I dispose of them.
I was going to take a picture of me face down on the floor giving up for the day..but DH said it wasn't a very attractive pose... So I guess I'll go turn off the light in the garage, get back to 'elsewhere' and hope for pictures tomorrow.
On the bright side, I found a box of memorbilia in 'elsewhere' that has been sorted, posted 4 sales on Craigslist and 1 on Ebay for items I'm clearing out of my craft room which means I'm on my way to more Cropper Hoppers that match and antiques for the room (eventually). (I think my ADD is showing).
Farewell friends, Jo

Smoky Mountains

I had a few requests for some shots of our vacation. We went to Graceland for our eldest who shares Elvis's birthday, the Corvette factory and museum for my DH, and the Smokies for me. We met some good friends who are really into photography and they helped me take some shots.