Life Comes at You Fast

Isn't that the truth?! I have to admit, I've been pretty bummed as of late because this year (so far) hasn't gone at all as I had planned. Our 13 year old van finally died. We knew it could happen at any time at this point, but we were hoping it wouldn't be this year. Afterall, we had big plans for this years tax refund - lots of home renovation projects to complete! Instead, we ended up purchasing a (new to us) van to replace our old one...there was just no getting around it. So I've had to spend a little time readjusting my attitude and reminding myself that all good things are worth the wait:).

One thing that I've noticed about myself, and I suppose this is a good thing, is that when things get tough, after the initial "Wow, this really, really stinks", I somehow manage to pull myself up by the bootstraps and try to figure out what step to take next. If I can't do anything about A, what can I do about B, C, or D? Now, sometimes it takes me a while - days or even weeks - to come to the realization that I haven't actually lost control of every single aspect of my life (as my overly dramatic inner self leads me to believe sometimes). But eventually I do come to the sensible conclusion that I've only hit a bump in the road and that I can either pull over and bemoan the bump or I can just keep driving and see where the road leads me. Or I slap myself silly while yelling "Pull yourself together, Woman!!! That works, too.

So we've been working on B, C, and D. We still had a few of our pine doors to install and so that is what we've been working on over the last couple of weekends. Oh how I love a solid wood door! There is nothing in the world like it (there goes my overly dramatic side again). The sound of a wooden door closing shut, to me anyway, is just melodious. One thing you don't know about me is that when no one is watching, I'll stand in the hallway and just open and close doors just to hear them shut. Ahhh...Does anyone know what I'm talking about? We have one more door to install and a couple more to order, and in the meantime we can be adding the little wood appliques to the door like we did in the door above.

One non-remodeling project that I've been wanting to get around to for a couple of years now is cleaning out our "attic" space. It's not actually an attic, it's really an unfinished bonus space above the garage, but either way, it's crammed to capacity with S T U F F. Clothes, toys, yard sale finds, old games, junk...you name it. There is so much up there and I've just been overwelmed by it all and have tried to ignore it, but it's just getting worse. So in my campaign against excess, I'll be tackling the bonus space (and the sunroom where lots of stuff seems to land) and having a yard sale this spring. I feel like these spaces have been holding me back in other areas of my life - when we're in the middle of a big renovation project or I'm thinking about pulling out my crafts, I can't help but to think about what I *should* be working on instead, namely, the junk spaces. I would love to just go ahead and get those areas cleaned out so I don't have to worry them anymore. I'm really trying to just get rid of things that I either don't have the room for or don't love as much as I once did. Why not pass them along for someone else to enjoy for a while? I sold the antique and vintage collection pictured above on Ebay last week and will be shipping it to it's new home tomorrow. Ahhhh - feels nice! I'm not impressed, though, with Ebay's fee increase and think I'll keep things local from now on with Craigslist or post a few things on my blog if I think I have something cottage lovers would be interested in.

I've also been really busy working on trying to get things in order for my little "Sweetest Treats You'll Never Eat" (faux desserts) business . I know, I was suppose to be on the ball with this last fall, but I'm realizing how I just don't function well without all my ducks in a row first. Clearing out space in our bonus area is part of the process because I'm quickly running out of space to store materials and products. But ohhhhh...I have so much planned that I can hardly sleep! I'm in the process now of taking photos of all the treats I've been working on over the last couple of months and I'll soon post them here and on my shop blog and make them available for purchase for those that are interested. I keep bouncing back and forth between using Etsy or my own website (even though my own website is 98% complete at this point!). I really need to move some of my inventory to make room for more - and let's face it, reclaim our kitchen island and use it for it's intended purpose, namely *real* (not faux) food preparation! I'm so pleased with what I've put together so far and my head is spinning with more ideas --- I can't wait to see them come to fruition!

How are your spring projects coming along? Hope you all are doing well!