Lock Down February Wrap Up

And just like that, it is March! (I know, right? You’ve never heard me comment on February going quickly before, have you?) Now that it is the first of March, I can officially declare Lock Down February a complete WIN in my book. Surviving February has never been so easy, in fact!

So the goal of Lock Down February was to take a month to limit (not eliminate) my social activities and lock down in order to get stuff done around my house.  Here’s what I managed to accomplish: 

• Finish painting the guest room, paint guest room shelves, put guest room back together
• Move into guest room and out of master bedroom
• Purge, organize, donate (this is ongoing, but I've been making good progress)
• Cook a lot of turkey and sweet potato for the dog – an elimination diet for my dog Suzie who has horrible allergies and I finally decided to bite the bullet and do this to see if it is a food allergy. We have only 2 weeks left, but I think I’m pleased to say, it does not appear to be a food allergy. She is still itching in spite of eating better than me!
• Host "Wine and Cheese to make February Suck Less" parties (and yes, February did suck less afterward!)
• Mix paint and repaint master bedroom
• Make lists of projects and timeline (ish) for house listing, add to the list daily
• Overbook March
• Take both dogs to the vet for shots (seems like a little thing, but is always ample opportunity for humility and humiliation… not to mention resembling a three ring circus taking them both at the same time)
• Start packing stuff to store while staging the house 
• Arrange for Payback Saturday with Donal & Lindsey (they're coming to help me for a day since I helped with their kitchen-- family is wonderful!!)
• Arrange for buff high schoolers to move boxes and extraneous furniture to storage for staging (that same day Donal and Lindsey and I will be repainting the living room)
• Agonize over how much there is to do
• Watch (and agonize) over the remainder of Downton Abbey (I really am terribly into this show!!)
• Neglect book club book (I didn't call it Lock Down February for nothing!)
• Check out several books on home staging from the library and leave them sitting untouched for weeks on end
• Begin Lent, get back on my early morning Mass routine
• Teach Religious Ed
• Continue weekly visits with my grandparents
• Lose touch with the rest of the outside world
• Send Feb valentines to a couple of my special sweeties and a couple Feb birthday cards (but of course forget to send the rest of them)
• Scavenge for boxes for moving
• And spend the last 2 days of February on the couch with the flu. Not quite how I’d hoped to end the month, but alas, sometimes you cannot escape. At least it has given me a chance to fully appreciate my very colorful green living room before painting it neutral next weekend.

As usual, there were millions of things on my list that I didn’t get done, but I am choosing to look at the positive and appreciate what I was able to get done. And in the midst of all that productivity, I got to see a lot of my friends - who I am incredibly grateful for. I am truly blessed. And with that, farewell February, it really has been the best ever. I’ll see you again next year.

Activity quilt

I am certainly not bragging, since I kind of hacked this quilt together. Nonetheless, it is an idea I’ve had for awhile and was excited to try it for my newest nephew, Monty. No, you probably cannot get through a post without some kind of auntie mush. 
Monty was born to my brother Neil and his very dear friend Denise. I am excited to welcome this beautiful boy into the family and wanted to make something because it gives me something to do instead of just wishing he was closer (he resides in New Orleans). So the activity quilt took shape.
First I dragged out that tub of old jeans and other clothes that would make a cool project. I had been saving pockets since my last jean quilt so I had quite a few of them already cut out.

Pockets are hard to cut out to a good size because every jean is different, with more or less room around the pocket to work with. So I did the best I could. You can see some jeans have funny seams at angles making it a bit odd but oh well, it adds to the character, right? And then found a pair of checkered capris in that same bin, perfect. And topped it off with an ancient history pair of striped jean shorts to add some more pattern to the quilt.  I laid it out with pockets as every other square.
 
Then I sewed (hacked) all the squares together. And then got some ribbon and borrowed my awesome friend Karen’s snap tool (check out her product review here) to add snaps to the end of them. Sewed the now snap-able ribbons into the pockets. Sewed it all with some batting and used a thrift store jean curtain for the backing (it looked new but was only $4 for a lot of jean fabric- a steal!). I didn’t even bother doing traditional binding because the pockets were close to the edge and lets face it, I’m not very good at binding.  So it went together without binding and I sewed a zigzag stitch around the outside perimeter to hold it together better and add a bit more structure. Then I stuffed the pockets with toys, books, butt cream, a few handmade crinkly squares (tutorial here), and mailed it off! 

Far from perfect, but it was a fun project to do and I think Monty will appreciate it when he gets big enough to find all the hidden treasures. Not to mention, this will be great outside as the jean fabric is very sturdy and resists dirt pretty well. 
And of course, like any good hack (or sewist), I’m coming up with ideas on how to improve it on my next try. 
*This project also aided in the survival of February- very important in my book. 

Are you a manicure pedicure kind of gal?

For some reason today I am contemplating the extravagances of spa day yesterday. The massage was completely worth it. It wasn't the best massage I've ever had, but I'm pretty sure every massage I've ever gotten has been worth it.

But the manicure and pedicure? Let me start by saying I do not consider myself a girlie girl. Bright colored nail polish on my finger nails always distracts and annoys me. I rarely wear any nail polish on my finger nails, actually, and feel fine about it. My feet never look nice. In the summer I paint the toenails and in the winter I simply hide under layers of socks and slippers. In my life, I have had exactly 3 manicures and 2 pedicures (and that includes the ones yesterday). While I enjoyed the experience yesterday and while my feet and hands do look and feel better, I do not think I am a regular mani/pedi kind of gal. Maybe partly because I am so cheap. Or because I really just don't care enough. It strikes me that I basically paid some nicely made up woman to slough dead skin off my feet and trim my unsightly cuticles. Really?

So... my final thoughts on the matter are this:
1) It was a blast to spend the day with my housemates,
2) It was certainly fun to do something unnecessary and a little extravagant (especially this time of year)
3) I need more massages in my life, and
4) Next time I will slough off my own dead skin, paint the toenails, and call it a night.

Surviving February

This may be a theme here for the next while… it’s kind of the theme in my life right now. My annual February Funk stayed away longer than usual because I was so busy working I didn't realize it was February. But then it hit with a vengence. And it feels particularly bad on the heels of job adjustment and being overworked in general... so suddenly it hits me that I have no life... I have no balance... I never see my friends... AND I also haven't seen the sun in weeks.

Once I realized I was headed into the February Funk, I began making lists of activities to do to survive the next stretch, the longest part of winter. Even making lists makes it sound more acheivable.

And here's the progress so far... Actually, I’m giving myself a gold star for last night. I left work after 7 pm, having been there since 7 am, with a short break for Mass at noon. I finally leave and head for home; it is cold, dark, and I strongly suspect that I hate my life. But even I know it has a lot to do with February and not so much to do with actually hating my life. I walked in the door, trying to ignore the half of the driveway I still haven’t gotten back out to shovel. The boots are overflowing in the entryway. I slide on my slippers, greet the mutts, feed them, and consider turning on a movie, laying on the floor and giving up on life (aka falling asleep as soon I hit the floor). I sat there pondering it for a few minutes and realized I couldn’t afford to fester in the funk. Don’t give in!!! I put my boots back on, bundled up, and headed for the library. Book club awaits (and I am trying really hard to finish the book before we meet). I found that book. Checked out several gardening books (a girl can dream right?) and a few DVDs that I won’t have time to watch. Then I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things and stopped by a local sick house to deliver the items, which turned into me coming in and visiting with said sick friends for a bit. And that’s all it took. Festering in the Funk avoided!! Thanks to the library and Busch's and most of all for the Mitzels for taking me in and saving me from a fate worse than death, the Funk. And a gold star for Reenie for putting the boots on and walking out the door.

And then today, after working hard, getting a lot together for accounting meeting, having the meeting, getting more assignments, scheduling follow up meetings, I walked out the door at 5:20!! Incredible! Look at me leaving the office while it’s still light out! And the sun was even shining!! And to make the day even better, I talked to my sister the whole way home and through a game of ball in the yard and dinner preparation. I got a phone call from my other (adopted) sister (also far away). And then a couple of my friends came by to chat and catch up. And my sister in law was here visiting with one of the homies. Talk about a one two punch for February!! Funk avoided two days in a row!! Hurray!!

Other things that make me really happy: That I haven’t experienced the Flumageddon that is plaguing so many of my friends and their offspring. I may be speaking too soon since I visited said Flumageddon zone yesterday and hung out with two recovering victims tonight… and got sneezed on a lot this weekend. But still… I am grateful. And to those of you still in the war zone, my prayers and deepest sympathies are with you!! Take heart, it can't last forever!!