Why did I save an eyebrow?

The rest of the office/craft room got sorted today! We had a rainy day due to Ike sneaking by so it was perfect weather for finishing up this messy room. OMG, I am such a packrat! There was junk everywhere!

This is the desk. Hum, I need to tidy up those cords underneath. Why don't you notice those things in real life? Taco has another bed under this desk. When we were deciding which desk to buy a couple years ago, Jessie made the comment, "Any of these would be nice, until Mom clutters it all up!" She had a valid point. I do like to clutter. I try to keep it to a couple of smallish piles and everyone must admit, I have done an excellent job of keeping the desk-top clear.

The stitching area. I did buy a bulletin board for over my stitching desk. The chest of drawers holds the rest of my stitching supplies. I sorted all the drawers and straightened everything up. I even found my dark interfacing that had gone missing! This is the rest of the room. It's only 10x10, so we have had to maximise the space. The bins between the desk and bookcases are what I store my charts, leaflets, books and magazines in. There are also three of these bins under my desk. A lucky 13 in all and I'll need more soon. Packrat, ya' know. I need to go through the books on that bookcase, it's getting overloaded! I don't even want to think about what the basement looks like...

What the hell is that???

Oh, that's a Groucho Marx eyebrow. You know...from one of those party favor glasses with the moustache and eyebrows? It fell off. I found this while sorting ribbons and trim. It was in with the trim.

Why did I save an eyebrow?

I have a date!

Yes, I know, I'm a married woman...it's not that kind of date!

It's the season premiere of Supernatural! Woo hoo, you know where I'll be next Thursday night!

Floss cabinet

Carol asked about the cabinet peeking out in my last post. That is my floss storage cabinet. It is actually a CD/DVD cabinet but it holds my floss bags perfectly! This was a birthday gift from Rick a couple of years ago. You can shop for your own here!

This is also little Miss Taco's favorite sleepy spot.

My floss is stored in zippered floss bags with a 3x5 index card inside to make the bag stand up. When I pull floss for a project, I hole-punch the card and add the bag onto floss rings. The white card makes it easy to spot which bag I'm needing. If I have tons of colors for one project, they go into an index card box. You can see them in yesterdays photos on the shelves...they look like green drawers.

Another day, another stash sort

It was so frustrating to know I have a certain teeny button but no idea where it is. It wasn't in this drawer, it wasn't in that box, it isn't here or there. Where is it? I've been looking for days. The first photo here is the reason why I can't find anything. So much clutter. How can one stitch with all this crap all over one's desk? Notice the clock in said photo. Noon! Time to start cleaning. Actually I'd already been cleaning for quite a while before I thought to take a picture...so this is really cleaner than it was!

Notice the clock now...4 pm! Whew! I got a lot accomplished today. I sorted all the drawers under my desk, all the boxes above on the storage shelves. I removed stuff that didn't belong here and I even found my missing button. There is now a box for trims, another for sewing, one for WIPs and one for buttons, beads, charms, pins & eyelets. I still need to sort the huge box of floss, bag them and put them away in the cabinet. I also haven't touched the chest of drawers that holds all of my fabrics and other stash. And we haven't even seen the other side of the room! I'm leaving that for another day.
I'm thinking a bulletin board over the desk to the left would be handy. This area is used a lot more now that I have the laptop. All the clutter wasn't quite as noticable (meaning, it didn't get in the way as much) until I added the laptop! I like the idea of having all my WIPs boxed...they won't get dusty when they aren't being worked on. They just don't need forgetting...

Stash in the mail

My new floss kid Lisa sent me this surprise package in the mail as a thank you for adopting her. Egads~I love stash!

Thank you, Lisa! I'll have fun with all this!

Man Stash

The last time I was on a motorcycle was 10 years ago when we wrecked our touring bike. We weren't hurt more than road rash, bumps and bruises but it was enough to scare the s**t out of me. A couple of years ago Rick got a little (and I mean little) motorcycle to drive to work and save gas. Then he needed a bigger bike because he was hooked again. That time, he bought a Suzuki RF 900 R. I never so much as sat on that scary looking creature! Plus, I thought it was an ugly bike~eeew!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Motorcycles are apparently as addictive as biscornu making. Rick drove to Arkansas yesterday and bought a brand-spanking-new Honda VTX 1800 S. When he got her home I thought she didn't look too bad and not scary at all. I even sat on her. Will wonders never cease. This morning, Rick went out-and-about on her and I started reading my blogs and chatting on IM with Lisa.

When Rick came home he wanted me to go with him to Edmond to visit my parents. Umm, okay! It was a beautiful day. This motorcycle is massive and solid-feeling under you. I didn't mind a bit even though the last time I was on one it was sliding across the ground. Today was fun. My left arm is sunburned. I need a new butt as I think mine is broken. We had a blast. I thought I'd share a few pictures from today's little outing; you can just see a peek of me in the third one...

Visitors!

No, silly! Not for real (unless you count the kid pushing a newspaper subscription)...I'm talking visitors on my blog.

I have been using MapStats by Blogflux to track my visitors. The basic conclusion is MapStats SUCKS! At least a couple of weeks a month the tracker will go haywire and not count any visitors for sometimes days on end. I have even sent them emails...with no reply. Today, I am fed up! According to MapStats (which sucks) there has been no visitor to my blog since Saturday last. I know that can't be true as I've had comments since then! Goodbye MapStats, you suck!

Hello Site Meter! See it on my sidebar? It's kinda cute and it's green! Woo! It even let me add the visitors I had counted before I put it on, although the actual number must be a lot higher since half the time MapStats wasn't working. I am looking forward to a nice long relationship with my new cutie.

Okay, I'm officially nutz! It must be stitching blogger's posting withdrawal. I've been exchange stitching and I can't post what I'm doing...right? Careful, it may be contagious!

Catching up

The new blog header is a design by Margaret Sherry; a favorite designer of mine. The chart is from the June 2003 issue of Cross Stitcher (UK) called Crafty Cat. I have seen this issue for sale on eBay if you really need it. This is a fun and easy stitch and it helped me get through a few tough weeks of nicotine withdrawal. Actually, I stitched this kitty once before and that one is framed inside a plastic trivet. I keep it on my stitchy desk.

Waaay back in May I planted Lantana for the butterflies. Some of you weren't familiar with it and I promised to post an update photo after it filled in. So pretty! It has butterflies galore and I feel bad disturbing them when I have to water! Hey, I remembered to post a picture of it~go me!

I want to thank everyone for the sweet and supportive comments you've left on my last few posts. You all mean so much to me and I'm really and truly thankful for your friendship.

I Love Your Blog

A big thank you to Eva of Stitching The Night Away for this award. I've decided to nominate some blogs this time! This wasn't done last time I was nominated for awards as I was feeling shy.

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.


My nominees in no particular order...

Be-Stitched Erynne has a soothing style and shares the neatest freebies.

Tea and Stitches CJ's blog is fun...she has such pretty stitching!

Does the noise in my head bother you? Rachael's blog is very thoughtful and reflective.

Chiloe's Corner When I need a pick-me-up I visit Chiloe; she always cracks me up laughing.

Lonestar Needleworks I've been avidly following the adventures in house remodeling.

Plush Nicki does the most incredible projects and tells the funniest stories.

Julie's Stitching Studio You've never met anyone more upbeat or as fun to be around.

Tasty

A frosty cold beer with salt & lime. Sure is nice on a warm summer day. Join me?