January 19, 2015 by Born To Organize

Getting My Groove Back

I had my groove a few weeks ago but it seems to have gone on a walkabout. Have you seen it?

With the holidays over, it felt good putting our decorations away and tidying up. My husband feels a bit melancholy when they’re over, whereas I’m ready to move on. We strike a balance. I’m trying to find my post-holiday groove. A couple of things remain: a beautiful Christmas bunting and my holiday card selfie.

Beautiful Christmas bunting, hand-crocheted and mailed all the way from Australia Thank you, Dani!

My cards are still hanging out with my Selfie

Once the boys were back in school and Mike back to work, I embarked on a full-house overhaul. Though I organize for a living, things manage to creep in when I turn my back. I’ve decided to keep a tally this year of everything that comes through the front door unless it’s perishable (plants and flowers) or edible. Even though Mouse-the-Cat thinks that rats are edible, they didn’t make it to my list.

I emptied the book shelf in our living room, put back the essentials and took the rest of the books to a nearby Little Free Library. Our LFL is currently full and enjoying a robust ‘business’ on a daily basis. Once I cleared the shelves, I stacked my favorite gardening books, part practical, part sentimental, on one of the shelves. Now I had room for a new piece of art. I’ll write more about that in another post.

Cherished garden books

I emptied the drawer near my laundry room of random bits and bobs*, then gathered the loose buttons into a jam jar. No sense hiding beautiful buttons in a drawer, when I can enjoy them on display while folding laundry.

Throughout the week I avoided my computer and spent my energy cleaning, sorting, dusting, recycling, donating and throwing away. The process is therapeutic as well as practical. There really is value in a place for everything, and everything in its place.

Living room cleaned and sorted. Wall mural by Donna Pierre

Clutter-free counters, lemons from the garden, succulents from Laura

Lindy wants to know if I’m *ever* going to sit down

Having said that, all this sorting and cleaning felt a bit obsessive. Was I avoiding something instead? I’m still trying to sort that out. Does this happen to you?

My blog got the cold shoulder last week. It wasn’t planned. I slipped my groove and filled the time with other things. Am I in a rut? Is a rut the same as a groove?

Saturday morning I awoke with vertigo. My heart pounded in my chest and I convinced myself that it would pass. After a long, restless hour I went back to sleep, but awoke hours later too dizzy to remain sitting upright. This turn of events was not helping me get my groove back. Instead it played on an old and deep-seated fear: that I would die before raising my boys. I’m not dying of course, but who said fears are rational? I was just a girl when my dad died, and these fears flare up from time to time.

I saw a doctor today who diagnosed a viral infection of the inner ear. There’s nothing to be done for it but wait for it to gradually improve. Groovy.

What do you do when you slip a groove? How do you get it back?

*bits and bobs. I love that expression, and borrow it liberally from Pauline.

Pictured above:

Beautiful bunting and knee blanket courtesy of Teddy and Tottie

On the book shelf: The Good Life by Sarah O’Neil. Sarah blogs at Sarah the Gardener.

Thank you flowers from Boomdee

July 31, 2014 by Born To Organize

Art and Serendipity

My word of the year is serendipity,

the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it.

So joyous is this word in both sound and deed, that I may choose it again for next year.

2014 is also turning into my year of art. In January I won (yes, won!) this gorgeous Butterfly Sprite. The mixed media piece, created by the generous and talented Pauline of The Contented Crafter. I smile at this carefree sprite every day, and every day she smiles back. Butterfly Sprite lives among soothing greens and flowers and texture that lifts my spirit. Art does that.

Butterfly Sprite by artist Pauline King

Also in January, I took a mixed media art class at A Work of Heart in Willow Glen and dabbled in my own little art project. I thought about Pauline the whole time.

Remarkably, I won another beautiful piece of art, a Bavarian textile knee blanket lovingly crafted by Dani of Teddy and Tottie. I guess this sort of thing happens when you choose a word like Serendipity.

Bavarian Knee Rug by Dani

I discovered another blogger via Dani and Pauline, and because you can’t make this stuff up, Fran blogs at The Road to Serendipity.

Last week my friend Whitney shared an album of photos for her upcoming art show in Gilroy, California. Whitney is a creative arts graduate of San Jose State. We met on Facebook via mutual friends. As I virtually thumbed my way through her online album, this sunflower rainbow stopped me in my lurking tracks. The piece celebrates three of my loves: old windows, brilliant colors and sunflowers. Seren-dipity-do-da!!!

Artist Whitney Pintello

I asked if it was still available, she said yes, and now it’s hanging in one of my garden seating areas.

We like to sit here in the evening to escape the heat

Window painting, front and back

Whitney creates and sells vintage window paintings at a couple of local festivals each year. From her website:

Painting old windows is Whitney’s favorite medium, and came from exploring how to reuse old architectural elements. The process involves reverse painting: starting with the details of the painting first, then the subject, then the background, all on the back of the glass. Patrons like the casual, rustic quality the paintings have and the “found art” reuse of the vintage windows.

Who knew there was magic in a carefully chosen word?

May 6, 2014 by Born To Organize

Bavarian Nirvana

I’m in Bavarian-Crochet-Knee-Rug-winning nirvana. (Try saying that fast three times).

Yours truly is the lucky winner of the Teddy and Tottie blog giveaway.

What did I win?

I won this breathtakingly beautiful, amazingly crafted Bavarian Knee Rug.

Bavarian Crochet Knee Rug

Gorgeous detail

The pattern has two distinct sides

I got the news two weeks ago at Teddy and Tottie land. The package arrived today, all the way from Australia. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I ran for the camera so I could document its arrival. A certain feline wondered if it was for him. After whispering in his ear that I was happy to share, he climbed off the box and I whisked it inside.

Cat-on-a-box

Getting a package in the mail is high on my list of joyous occasions. I like to imagine it traveling from place to place before arriving at my door. Pretty postage, custom forms and hand-stamps add to the thrill.

While scrutinizing all the details, I had to do a double take. I thought one of the custom stamps read “Security Screamed”. Well of course they did. I mean, who wouldn’t scream when they saw what was inside? The blurred ink actually read “Security Screened.” Ha!

The day I read the news that I’d won, I tried hard to temper my enthusiasm. My lucky win meant a lot of sad faces in the blogging community. Further, just a few months early, I won another lovely prize from The Contented Crafter. All this goodness after years of never winning a thing.

Thank you, Dani, from the bottom of my heart, for this lovely treasure, and for all the extra goodies you tucked inside. I love them all!

Please check out the goings on at Teddy and Tottie where Dani blogs about crochet, vintage home decor, pets, garden and home life in south-eastern Australia. You’ll fall in love immediately.

Dani also has an Etsy shop where you can buy her beautiful crochet work for your very own. She also offers vintage treasures.

You’re Invited

This is a personal invitation to the 109 entrants who did not win the prize. Please come visit any time. I’ll fluff up the pillows and put the kettle on and you can sit with the Bavarian knee rug across your lap. Feline companionship almost 100% guaranteed.