Encroachment

Since we moved to Maryland Ed has been encroaching on my kitchen space. He found some loosely inhabited shelves and started putting hammers and nails in them. It has gotten out of control and I decided rather than call it 'encroachment' I should look at is as "sharing." There are plenty of shelves to go around, and since most of the things he does with these tools are for me or for the house in general, it seems good to encourage that by granting of official space. So, he now has a couple of shelves and a drawer and a half to call his own.

In addition to sorting all the loose nails, screws and other hardware, I also made a little drawer with compartments just for pliers, wire cutters and screwdrivers. I cut a few wood dividers that I jammed in with post-it note shims to give order to the drawer.

Ed is so good about fixing things immediately, that I have to be careful not to mention before dinner that something is broken. If I do, we will be eating a cold dinner!  So, thank you Ed for all you do, and here's a drawer especially for you!

Necklace Holder

I love necklaces, and have a lot of them. I have a nice jewelry box (seen to the left under the lamp) where I store them. The sides of the jewelry box swing open to reveal 2 rows of five hooks on each side. This is nice, but it is dark and hard to see the necklace when I'm getting dressed in the morning. I needed more storage, and came up with an new idea for easier access without looking messy.

I bought two 16 x 20 inch shadow boxes at Hobby lobby. They have glass doors with magnetic closures. I put a matted picture in the glass, and screwed hooks inside.

Voila! More necklace storage space! I put a row of 10 hooks in the middle and one row of 9 hooks on the top. That way they are staggered and the top necklaces can hang lower without covering the hooks below them. Ed put a little bead on the door to help open the door and mounted the boxes firmly on the wall so they won't wiggle when the door is open. I'm feeling pretty clever today!

Banjo by the Fire

Karen came over to play the banjo with me yesterday. She's my friend from Common Ground music camp. It was fun to catch up on each other's lives as well as play some music together. I realize how much I have missed playing banjo tunes all the time. Since I've started taking guitar lessons my banjo languishes in the corner much of the time. I love the banjo. We had a good time going over some tunes we learned together, as well as some new ones. We're hoping to to this on a semi-regular basis. She'd like to play the banjo in church worship services. So would I! I imagine if that happened it wouldn't be in an LDS service!

The Sloppy Perfectionist

What's wrong with my new necklace? It took me two days to notice. I'm a haphazard perfectionist. I never considered myself a perfectionist because of my slap-dash way of throwing things together. But, occasionally I have been accused of being too picky about details. I have been surprised by this accusation. I am not a perfectionist!

But, on the other hand, can I continue to wear my new necklace after I found out two of the beads don't match? The third and forth turquoise beads down on the right hand side are flat!  The rest are round! You'd think I might have noticed it when I made the necklace! Now, I realize nobody will really notice it, as nobody really stares at your jewelry that closely, but I feel obligated to fix it now because I know it is wrong. But I am not a perfectionist! A true perfectionist would have done it right the first time!

Ravens Walk

Ed and I took a nice long walk along the fire road on Saturday, all decked out in our Ravens gear. Ed was worried that we might not be warm enough, as the temperature was just in the high 30's, but we warmed up nicely after we climbed a couple of hills. It was apparently lucky for the Ravens, as they won the AFC conference championship last night. I guess we'll live to wear purple one more time this season!

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Helen's Bead-Day

Helen had a birthday this week, and celebrated by inviting a few friends over to make necklaces with her. Traci made her a watermelon cake!

We moved the party to the Bush basement, as Helen's kids had been sick this week. It was convenient for Amanda and me, but Helen had to bring over boxes of all her beads.

I did a nice turquoise and tan bead necklace with matching earrings and enjoyed watching what creations everyone else came up with.

Just before midnight we finished up and took a picture of ourselves in our new jewelry. I wonder if a few husbands weren't home wondering what happened to their wives! It was a good opportunity for me to visit with the younger mothers. I learned a few things about potty training! (Mostly that I'm glad I'm not into it anymore!)

Pink Sky in Morning

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of our pink sunrise today. It was just like cotton candy! We're having lovely weather, with a light, mysterious fog all day yesterday. I feel sorry for our friends in Colorado in Utah. It's been so cold there! We hear you're sending it our way.....