Five days off in a row! It was so nice, and I was so busy. I got a lot done, but I’m not quite finished. Friday I moved all the furniture out, spackled and cleaned the yucky flat blue walls:

Then I painted. The color? Laura Ashley Heath. The result. Wow, I didn’t know green could be so ugly. It was like anemic pea soup. We hated it immediately, but I kept painting as the sun went down, in the hopes that when I saw it in the daylight it would magically become just the sage-y green I thought it was. Nope.

Saturday was the day to be out and about, so I left early in the morning, stopped at the paint store for a quart of a new color (Dunn-Edwards Spooky), Expo for the little brackets for my curtain rods, the madhouse that was Ikea for a duvet cover, $3 picture frames and linen curtains which will be cut up and sewn with the floral fabric for window treatments. There was also a stop for lunch, a stroll around a quilt shop where I didn’t find what I wanted for a quilt for this room, but found some munki-munki gnome fabric and a coordinating polka dot that I had to have, and lastly, a very relaxing pedicure. That evening I painted again, and the new color was approved by everyone.

Sunday I rested.

Monday, another trip to the paint store for a gallon of the approved paint, and a stop at Home Depot for sash rods for the door and don’t forget Petco for food for the dogs. Home again and got all the paint on the walls. Picture frames stained, stain not dark enough.

Tuesday I broke out some brown and black acrylic paint and painted the frames. Picked out which botanicals to use for the nine frames, ran to the local hardware store for hangers for the backs of the frames. The eye hooks and wire that came with them would make the frames stick out too far from the walls. Slapped a coat of paint on the little desk, washed all the new bedding and fabric (yay! curtain fabric arrived in the mail!). Hung pictures, measuring and hammering so the pictures will be a perfect grid with no space between frames. Some cursing and re-hammering, creating extra holes in newly painted walls. Curtain rods installed, only one screw stripped. Bed re-assembled in room, little plates hung, bedside table moved back in.

Aaah. I love it. I’m thinking of hanging that architectural dealie thing above the bed. I found black and white salt and pepper shakers at a thrift store minus one of the stoppers, so am using them for finials on the bed. I still need to get a couple more pillows for the bed, and I’d like to make a quilt using mostly solid fabrics, something like the What a Bunch of Squares quilt in the Denyse Schmidt quilt book. I got some cream fleece and hemmed the edges, I’ll probably keep it spread over the bed for the cats, as they seem to think this is their bed. Of course they also think our bed belongs to them, the little piggies.

Tonight the plan is to sew up some curtains, so maybe there will be some more pictures tomorrow.

New Year’s resolutions never really work out for me. I usually forget by the end of January what all my grand plans were. So I’m trying something different this year, and setting some goals each month to be accomplished within the month. And I’ve decided that they can be just about anything, a task I need to complete, a creative project I want to do, and hopefully there will be some self-improvement tasks in there somewhere as well. January’s list is as follows:

Finish knitting my sweater.  Not sure if I’ll be able to complete it by the end of the month, it’s quite long and the yarn is not bulky-I’m using size 6 needles.

Re-decorate my guest room. I have 2 days off, starting tomorrow, the paint is purchased, art just needs framing, additional bookcase is ready to be put together and fabric has been ordered for window treatments:

I’ll probably try to squeeze in a trip to Ikea, Michael’s and Expo for picture frames, bedding and curtain rods on Saturday once the paint is on the walls.

Throw out all my old (about 8 years worth) Martha Stewart Magazines. Of course I have to go through each one and rip out the pages I want to keep, but this is going to clear up a whole lot of space in my workspace (hereafter referred to as my clubhouse, which is what the husband calls it). This project is well underway, and should be easily completed before the end of the month. When the last one is thrown away the husband assures me that I will be able to take his old stereo, which doesn’t work, by the way, to Goodwill. That will also free up a lot of space in our living room, not to mention that it will be nice to not have to look at that ugly thing.

Pay my library fines. DONE! I don’t know why it took so long, it wasn’t that much money, although it was enough that I was embarrassed about it. It wasn’t even all my fault. I checked out a book for somebody else who lives in my house, and he neglected to return it for so long that they sent us a lost book notice.

So, that is what I hope to accomplish this month. I’m not going to worry about all the other little things that need to be done around the house, I’ll get to those in other months. I’ll be sure to take before and after pictures of my decorating project this weekend. Here’s to a productive New Year!

I went to the antique mall yesterday on my lunch hour, and found some pretty little things.

I cannot resist mother-of-pearl buttons. I found a bag full of a lovely assortment that even included a few pretty buckles. A printed handkerchief, a small bowl in my favorite shade of robin’s egg blue, a book called "Through the Year with Emerson", chosen for the green cover and the inscription and bit of paper I found inside as much as for the subject.

"Because I deserve such…" a previous owner has declared. And a mysterious list. I can’t tell what the significance of the items on it may be, or how they are related.

I think I’m back to regular posting after this week. November was one of those very stressful months that come along every now and then in life. My car is back, and I am quite a bit poorer. Thanksgiving weekend was very long and not very fun, but it’s done, and while I could rant for paragraphs about negativity and tiresomeness, I think I will just let it go and move on.

Christmas is coming, and I’m already behind, but I am re-thinking my decorations a bit, being inspired by the colors of these old ornaments I picked up at a garage sale this summer for 50 cents:

I have bright blue peacocks and chartruese green glitter-encrusted bird’s nests to start with. I think I may add some turquoise and pink to the mix somehow. It sounds deliciously garish, doesn’t it? I hope to have my tree by the weekend.

I’ve got a sweater for myself well underway, in a really lovely wool/alpaca blend. It’s not quite as fuzzy as the original sweater, but it’s very soft and I think very warm. I like the crocus stitch, and the fact that it’s knitted in the round. I also knit a few more roses in different yarns, they’re so fun. I’ve been sewing roses on my pillow. Maybe I’ll finish that up tonight.

Plush Rush was this weekend, there are some pictures here. You can see my little guys hanging out with some robots, a rain cloud and big tooth, among other things. The shop isn’t up yet, but soon I hope!

Yay! My booklet arrived yesterday:

And I made this little guy last night. He still needs arms and legs, he’ll get them this weekend. These tiny guys are a little challenging to get started, but easy once you get going. I have to work on my tension a bit, it’s kind of funky.

Can anyone tell me a good place to have little fabric labels made?

Two things. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of Jess Hutch’s little booklet, so in anticipation, I stocked up on some fun colors and started knitting a little bunny:

And, the pink baby sweater was delivered Sunday, and should fit the recipient sometime next year. I think she liked it, and I know her mama loved it, so it was a successful knit! Her big brother got one of my monsters, and carried it around most of the day, so I think that was a hit as well: