Hi

I feel like I should launch into an explanation of why I haven’t written in months, but that would take forever and probably end up being kind of boring, so I’ll skip that and just say I’m still around, thanks for still checking in with me.

I just bought new Sharpies – fine tipped ones – so I can write in all the times and dates for everything going on in the next couple of months.  Baseball/Softball season is here, so there are practices and games galore, AND, Julia is on two teams this season, and Alex is on one team and will be Umpiring little league games as well.  I have us all color-coded on the calendar and needed new sharpies because the tips on the old ones have flattened and fattened and things written with those takes up too much space.

It’s always nice to have an excuse to buy Sharpies.

Let’s see…

Scratchy and the Guinea Pigs (sounds like the name of a band) are all doing well, the Guinea pigs have grown, although Cookie is still definitely on the smaller side.  They are very snuggly.  I think Scratchy sees them as his pets too.  He just watches them and shows absolutely no interest in interacting with them.  We still have the lizard, too, and a bunch of fish.

I never got around to posting the long, incredibly long, drawn-out, never ending saga of our re-doing all the parts of our house that were impacted by the burst pipe over a year ago.  I think I just didn’t want to relive that particular hell. 

But here’s a picture of our kitchen ceiling, which we put up ourselves (with a little help with the sheetrock because it was so heavy).  It was frustrating until we got the feel for working with interlocking pine boards, but now that it’s done (and done for many months now so the nightmares and sawdust are gone), we are both so glad we did it.

Here are some images:

 

 

I love our kitchen ceiling.  Thank you, Ruth Ann, for the suggestion!

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What else…

I’m currently obsessively memorizing Hamilton, the Musical because I haven’t fallen in love with anything so much in a long time.  So I must memorize it all.  I’m still on the first disk/Act I. So much energy, excitement, and brilliant, brilliant writing.  Lin-Manuel Miranda is currently one of my favorite people on the planet. 

I also force my captive children to listen to selections in the car while I’m driving them places.  I’m especially annoying when I sing along, but that’s all part of my job as their mother, so I sing loudly. 

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I’m sick of all the clutter in my house.  So one of my many projects that I’m trying to make time for is the cleaning out and tidying up of my home.  I feel all the clutter like it’s inside my head, and I have enough OTHER stuff in my head that I don’t need clutter too.  So I’m working on it. 

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I find that as I try to organize myself/my family/my house/our schedules/our meals/the universe I need to make many many lists and I somehow end up buying too many daybooks and calendars and dry erase boards and – yes – Sharpies.  I operate better when I can write, rather than typing stuff into my phone with my finger.  Not that I’m any more organized by utilizing new writing utensils and writing surfaces, but it makes me feel productive, especially when I cross things off the lists.

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I’ve been crocheting on and off when I can, and I made my neice-in-law a shawl for Christmas, and here it is:

 

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That’s it for now.  Maybe if I leave my laptop out in the kitchen like this I’ll write again sooner this time.

How’ve you all been?

Comments

[Emily]

I have missed following you :) glad you're back!

[RoseAnn]

I've truly missed your posts!

Love the kitchen ceiling!! We went through a remodel last fall and it is such a feeling of relief when it's all done and you can start using it properly again!

[Nicky]

Lovely to hear from you. I totally get your thoughts on clutter. I read the Mari Kondo book and I have got as far as doing my clothes, books and yarn. Those are great, but I've yet to do the rest of the house and it just hangs over me every day...

[Lynne Clark]

So missed you Jayne! glad you are enceilinged (is that a word? it is now!) and happy with the GPs, and yes I am with you on the clutter.

As Nicky said, I have Konmar'd my clothes and my airing cupboard with all the sheets and towels and my teatowel drawer and the drawer with the table napkins. And all was going SWIMMINGLY. and then I started on the books. Oh heck. I have SO MANY BOOKS!

And so much clutter in my (somewhat smaller than yours) kitchen. So I hit Ikea today and got a whole bunch of storage plastic boxes and will be stuffing things into boxes soon. Having caressed everything and decided a la Konmar if it brings me joy of course.

Which brings me back to you and your blog, and Marie Kondo.
You can go nowhere as you bring me far too much joy.xx