Starting Over...

I have really enjoyed posting on my blog, but for a variety of reasons I let two years slip away since my last post. What prompted me to return again? I didn't get my Christmas cards out this year!

For many years I wrote an annual Christmas letter. After 20 years I decided to start the blog so I could document the family activities all year long. That worked for a couple of years. Then last year I created a holiday card complete with photos through SendOutCards. It was fun, sort of like scrap booking! Well it is a little too late to do that this year. Which is just as well because I have been wanting to start blogging again. So here I am starting over with a commitment to post at least once a month in 2012. Since it is not quite 2012, I will start with a recap of 2011 in the form of an annual Christmas letter.

Taming the Paper Tiger

I feel like I am drowning in paper! At home it's junk mail, bills, unread magazines, photos clipped from magazines for collages, and newspaper clippings lovingly provided by my mother. At work it's files, forms, messages, notes, training materials, journal articles saved to read later, and conference notes that I might look at again...maybe?

In an effort to clear my work space, last year I started bringing home papers from work to sort through and organize. My intention was to tackle this project when I was off work during the summer. Summer came and went. I have now accumulated FOUR full boxes of files, a half dozen binders, misc folders from conferences, and a 12 inch stack of unfiled papers. One of those boxes contains grad school notes from 9 years ago! In addition I have purchased many professional books that I have yet to read. All of this "paper" is weighing heavy on my psyche and cluttering up my space.

I know I am not alone in my struggle to "Tame the Paper Tiger", a phrase that came to me as I was thinking about writing this blog post. I soon found out that I did not originate the phrase. Did you know there actually is software called Taming the Paper Tiger for just this purpose? I didn't until I searched for a photo for my blog post. It looks like great software, but maybe a bit too complex for my needs. The data entry alone would take months.

The question is "Do I really need to keep all of this paper?" Very seldom do I actually go back and read the things I save. Even if I wanted to, I probably couldn't find it when I needed it. It has all just turned into a really big "should pile".

So I am sending my dilemma out for your consideration. Do I just toss all of this paper out, knowing I could probably find it online IF if I really needed to? Or do I sort and save? If so, how best to organize it? And what about the continuous flow that comes my way. Any strategies for managing the daily flow? Please offer your suggestions!

Reflections on Books I've Read...

For more than 13 years I have been recording all of the books I have read in a journal. One of the reasons I started writing them down was because sometimes I couldn't remember if I had already read a particular book. (That problem hasn't improved in recent years!) Looking back through my book journal is a lot like listening to old music or reading a diary kept years before. My book journal reflects time periods in my life, my interests, and my method of escape through reading. Sometimes I would read 2 dozen books in a single month, and at other times not pick up a book for 3 or 4 months. Sometimes I would record favorite quotes in the journal, but most of the time I just listed the date, title and author. This year I have read almost 30 books --I am still working on the last three. No single book stands out for me, but I have a few favorites among those I read this year.

As 2009 comes to a close, I have been contemplating the concept of consumption over the past few weeks; what I buy, eat, listen to, watch, and read --how I spend my time. I just finished reading Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less by Mary Carlomagno. (Thanks Emily!) While not everyone will relate to the author, I found that I could relate to her desire to understand her own buying or consuming habits. Each month for one year, she chose one of her favorite things to give up, cold turkey, for one month. She gave up alcohol, shopping, cell phones, newspapers, elevators, dining out, taxis, television, coffee, cursing, chocolate and multitasking; and gained some interesting insights in the process which changed her life.

When I think about giving things up, I begin to feel deprived. So the idea of giving something up for 30 days in order to better understand what motivates me seems much more manageable. Some of the things I will consider giving up include multitasking, dining out, and using credit cards. Instead of coming up with a list of 12 to start, I will see where this project leads me...

My 2009 Book List (**Favorites)

Blood Orange by Druisilla Campbell
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Nifenegger **
When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton
Slam by Nick Hornby
Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons
The Elephant in the Playroom by Denise Brody **
Bringing Elizabeth Home by Ed & Lois Smart
The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan **
The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie **
Testimony of an Irish Slave Girl by Kate McCafferty
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows **
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine (this one didn't rub off on me as I had hoped it would!)
New Moon by Stephanie Meyer
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini **
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin **
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini **
Cross by James Patterson
Double Cross by James Patterson
Cross Country by James Patterson
Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts (Audio Book)
Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls **
Shopaholic & Baby by Sophia Kinsella (Audio Book)
Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less by Mary Carlomagno**
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Kindle)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (and family)
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon **

Christmas in Redding

Hmmm... it seems that I'm always behind the camera. Out of 150 photos, there is only one of Mom and she is sleeping, and none of me. Someone else may need to take over the photography!

The Dress

In anticipation of Carly's 8th Birthday and Baptism on December 27th, Amanda asked me in June or July if I would make the dress for the baptism. She picked out a Girl's Regency Dress Pattern from Sense and Sensibility Patterns.


I decided it would be a good idea to make a practice dress to check the fit before I made the baptism dress in the dupioni silk Amanda picked out. Even though I had the fabric and pattern months before the baptism, I procrastinated until the last minute! The practice dress was fairly easy and I managed to get it to Amanda for a fitting about a week before Christmas. We only needed to increase the length and make the cuffs on the sleeves a little bigger.

The white is the silk and the green print is the practice dress.


I learned that Santa was bringing Carly an American Girl doll for Christmas. So of course the doll needed a matching dress. Since the silk frayed so easily, I opted for the green fabric for the doll dress.


The dress was finished in time for the baptism and "Sweet Caroline" wore both dresses to have her Birthday portraits taken today.

Amy Butler Functional Art

Emily loves Amy Butler fabrics! So I decided to make her some decoupage plates and matching napkins with some Amy Butler coordinating prints. After searching the net for "how to" make the plates, I found a description on Kaboose.com. The instructions had a difficulty rating of "Very Easy". Let's hope so! I learned quickly that our local fabric shops don't carry her designs. After trekking all the way to Ashland, I could only find one print. So I tried the internet again and found quite a few options on the Hancocks of Paducah website. Here are the prints I selected:



The first coat of glue is drying... that modge podge is smelly stuff!



After several coats of glue, I trimmed and sanded around the edges of each plate. The fabric really didn't want to stick so I added even more glue just under the edge with a Qtip. Then followed up with three coats of spray acrylic sealer (also very stinky stuff).



Here's the finished product with matching napkins! The plates are not water proof, but could be used for sandwiches or snacks. I bought some plate hangers so she could display the plates as kitchen art when she isn't using them.



A few lessons learned from this project:

Use lightweight and tighter woven fabrics, they tend to stick better to the plate.
You might want to tackle this project in warmer weather. Gluing and spraying outdoors to avoid getting a headache from the smelly fumes!
Waiting until the last minute to start creates stess!

Carol of the Bells

For the past three years in December, I have been going to visit this house on Marion Lane in Grants Pass. The lights are synched to music which you can hear on your FM radio when you are within a couple of blocks of the house. Two of my favorite songs have been by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra . Christmas Cannon and this one called Christmas/Sarajevo 12/24, which is their version of Carol of the Bells. If you will be in Grants Pass between now and New Years Day, I recommend you go check it out in person. Enjoy!