my crazy life - spring cleaning

It's only a few letters difference. Actually, I sometimes abbreviate it to mcl when I'm making note of things and didn't even clue in at fist that I was reading it as 'crazy'. Oddly enough, today has been slow and easy, which is really remarkable considering I've kept a two year old cooped up inside all this rainy day. He's probably still played out from yesterday, which was bright and sunny and indeed intense (but in a cheerful way).

Ah, my point. Well, it being spring and all, I'm in the mood to talk about spring cleaning, and what better time for a massive re-organization clear out clean up than moving time. Wait, before you read too much into that, yes, we're moving, but probably not until this fall, so it's easy to start talking about all the work because I don't have to actually do any of it yet. Along those lines, I was thinking that now would be a great time to organize all that work. And so it begins. I won't chronolog it all here, but from time to time as interesting point come up, I'll be sure to mention them. These are my first little pearls (I'd say of wisdom, but that is yet to be tested); probably will be my mission statement (jargon is one of the few elements of my business degree that I still get to use day to day) throughout the process.

(Not my kitchen, but it should be - I found this on Pinterst, but can't find it again to give you a link, sorry)

1. Create a purpose for every space, and a space for every need.



2. Have a specific place and use for every piece of furniture.



3. Decorate with things you really love, not just space fillers.

Simple, and perhaps a tad obvious, but like most things that when you've actually written them down I'm seeing how much of my home now doesn't fit with this. I think I've found a good place to start.

In other news, my May Special Delivery has finally been mailed out, and it was quite a challenge this time. My original plan was to bake some sugar cookies and fancy them up like no body's business. However, while it started well, I was about halfway through the icing when things just stopped working out. I had cheap Ziploc baggies so I couldn't use them to pipe with, which meant I had to use actual piping tools, but I only have 3 so I had to keep switching colours and it was wasting a lot of icing and not really coming together. So I scrapped that idea (oddly, my husband didn't seem to mind having to eat the cookies for me) and decided good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies would be a treat enough. Plus, I have a recipe for Browned Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies I've been wanting to try. Yum. Sadly, these did not make the cut either because there's a threat of a postal strike, so I didn't want to send anything that might spoil if it gets left on a shelf in some warehouse for too long.

What I ended up with was my happy old fallback, sewing! I should really just stick with this one anyways, so fast, so easy and so much fun. My February and March SD were both sewing projects, firstly a coffee cozy (so you don't have to use the cardboard ones at Starbucks, or wherever) and then a knitting needle cozy (to hold all your needles; also, I love cozies, can you tell? I'm pretty sure I could come up with a need for them for anything).

Well, without too much blabber (oops, too late), I made her a little purse, from the pattern by Made by Rae, here. I skipped a few of the fancy bits, but I like it. I definitely recommend browsing Rae's patterns if you're into sewing; lots of good stuff in there.

Oooh, and the last thing I wanted to mention is that I've been thinking of selling some of my sewing projects, and tags and labels would be really nice for this, but I have no idea what to put on them. It has to be boy-girl neutral, as well as not clothing centred. Tall order, I know. However, I'll keep thinking and hopefully soon I'll have a clearer vision and maybe even some ideas.