Brief Hiatus

Good morning.  Just popping in really quick to let you know I'll be offline for a bit.  Fin and Fam arrived last night so things are going to be a bit hectic here for a few days.  I'll be back at the end of the week with updates.  I hope everyone has an awesome week.

More Musings

More random musings on my part today.


Two of my all time favorite television shows are the original Star Trek and The X Files.  (For the record, my top three would include The Walking Dead.)  While I haven't been able to interest Meg in the former, the latter two have grown on her and we look forward to watching both the old and the new episodes together.


As many of you probably know, The X Files premiered in 1993.  I caught that first episode and, with the aid of a VCR, watched every single one of them until the series finale in 2002. (Yes, I was very sad.)  When it was announced last year that Mulder and Scully were making a return in the form of a six part mini series, I introduced Meg to the show via online streaming.  It will come as no big surprise that her favorite episodes are those dealing with monsters (think BigFoot) rather than aliens. :-)  We've been anxiously awaiting the mini series which sadly ended Monday evening.  While I would never publish any spoilers I will say that I am heartened by the fact that the producers left it open to the possibility of another season.  :-)


On the Star Trek front.  When it comes to gifts, I am a very hard person to buy for so I'm making it easy on all of my family and friends this year.  Roll your eyes all you'd like but this is tops on my wish list.   USS Enterprise Drone.  'nuff said.


Finally, what blog post would be complete without including an adorable photo of Fin?

Given the opportunity I have no doubt that the kid would have immediately started gnawing but thankfully his mama cut it into toddler sized pieces.  It goes without saying that he loved it.  LOL!

Snippets

There's really not much to "report" on my end lately as it's been rather quiet around here.  This is definitely not a bad thing.

My local book club, Fine Books & Spirits, met last week.  (Love that name!)  Our book was The Stranger by Harlan Coben.  It's an interesting whodunnit that earned 4 stars from me on my GoodReads review.  Our upcoming March selection is In the Fall by Jeffrey Lent.  I'm anxious to get started on it but first I must read A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, the February selection for my Miami bookclub that meets next weekend.  So many books, so little time.

I'm really wanting to watch the new JJ Abrams mini series based on Steven King's novel 11/22/63, which I read not long after it's release. The eight part series is available only on Hulu so it looks like another streaming service is in my near future.

Now for some random photos....

My Valentine's gift from Randy.  He knows me oh so well.  :-)

A silly screenshot of Meg using some SnapChat filters.  I thought it was rather cute.

And now for Fin.  Here are a text and photo that I received from Colleen last Saturday....

"Fin in a food coma after eating lobster, 

salmon, filet mignon and a 

peanut butter chocolate dessert 

at Seasons 52"

This kid may look like his mama but he definitely eats like his daddy.  LOL!!!

I Like Big Spoons and I Cannot Lie

As I mentionedin my last post, we had the pleasure of Fin's company for four days last weekend. Thankfully we also had the pleasure of my parent's company as well.  I'm not sure Randy and Meg would have been fed otherwise. Seriously.

This little guy is THE BUSIEST boy I know.

He has a very consistent schedule starting at 6:00 AM every morning. His only nap comes at 9:30 and lasts only until 11:15 AM.  Bedtime is at 7:00 PM. Every single minute in between is spent either eating, moving or playing.  

He is a very, very good little boy with the best of temperaments but man oh man is he ever busy. There's not a knob he didn't pull, a lever he didn't push, a latch he didn't wiggle, a bookshelf he didn't empty, a drawer he didn't open, a table he didn't clear, a dog crate he didn't relocate, or a remote he didn't try.  Lather, Rinse, Repeat.  If he knew something was off-limits he would first look at me (awaiting my "No, No, No"), proceed to do it and then come and give me a hug.  Such a cute little stinker.

His favorite "toy" of the weekend, by far, was a slotted plastic spoon which I gave him while I was cooking breakfast.   It began like this...

He used it for breakfast...

He helped the dogs eat...

He carried it everywhere he went...

(He loved Miss Catherine's peaches, much to Meg's chagrin.)

He even took it on our trips to the Starbucks drive thru.

You might notice that he does not appear very happy in this last photo.  There's a reason for that. When it comes to big spoons, he's not a very good sharer.

Needless to say, we let him take the spoon home with him on Monday afternoon.  :-)

A Glimpse into JulieWorld, Literally

Where have I been?  So glad you asked because I'm dying to tell you.  *wink*

I've been knee deep in a major purge of my craft room, aka JulieWorld.  It has consumed nearly every waking hour over the course of the last four days but it's now complete and I couldn't be happier.

This may not look like four full days of purging but anyone who crafts will understand that any reorganization is far more involved than just the actual act of tossing.  And of course, purging JulieWorld not only involved the actual room but also two supply closets in my house.  It's that whole "Give Julie a Cookie Thing."  (Ironically the kindergarten teacher I subbed for recently left me Give a Mouse a Cookie to read to her class.  I got quite a kick out of that.)

Anyway....here's are what were eventually my "to go" piles.

Ummm....I did keep the dog.  :-)

It doesn't look like much in these photos but trust me, every one of those boxes were stuffed full of all sorts of crafty things, many of them at least a decade old. I donated a garage sized bin of my old Sizzix/Ellison dies to the elementary school along with that box of wooden stamps in the first photo. Everything else was given to one of my cleaning ladies.  She loves to craft and is always thrilled when I do a purge.  :-)



To give you an idea of how much paper I parted with here is a look at my empty storage folders.  I am gifting most of these to my dear friend Catherine for use in her room.

I've always been really good about organizing my things so for many, my room now will probably not seem much different but it is.  You just have to trust me on that.

So now for the big reveal!

Here is my main wall of storage.  I had this unit custom designed and installed in 2007 and I still love it today.  (And no, it isn't curved.  These are panoramic photos taken on my Iphone.)  Many of the bins and boxes you see are empty.  I actually have shelves and cubbies with no product!  The desk on the lower right is Randy's.

And here is the opposite wall with my desk and the closet.  I like to keep my inks and tools close at hand.  I have another ink storage unit coming next week which will sit in between the two I already have.  My utility "peg" board unit will be raised and I will probably be parting with the mirrored cork board.  Again the photo is curved.  JulieWorld is level.  (Duh...that's how the term JulieWorld came about..."everything is perfect in JulieWorld.")

I am feeling so liberated!  My craftiness will have to wait until next week, however.  We are keeping Fin this weekend while his parents take a long overdue vacation.   I can't wait!!!

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Other "news"....no pythons for the snake hunters last weekend.  Not even a glimpse.  There's always next year.  :-)