De-cluttering

J and I have very different ways of de-cluttering and since the holiday's are upon us, we start the de-clutting process.

I tend to start in the more public areas of our house and systematically go through each area. I look at if I have used it in the past 4-6 months and if I am keeping it because it is important or sentimental. I have a couple of bins and trash bags handy and I'm not afraid to just dump things. Many of the text books that I don't need anymore (because they are out of date and I couldn't sell back if I wanted to) are being donated to a thrift store since I haven't touched them in years (probably since I put them on the shelf after I graduated). After tackling two rooms (our living room and the dining area), there were 5 full bags of trash and a few items re-arranged in other areas.

J tends to go through each piece, slowly. My pile of trash was considerably larger than his, but I guess that is just the way that he does things.

We're waiting for our trash bin to be dumped this week before filling it again with items from the loft. My goal is to have everything moved around and finished by the end of November, so I can tackle the back storage room by the end of December. Lofty goals, but we're hoping to make it easier if our plans for next year go through.

But it is interesting to go through all the different rooms and see what I still hold in high regard and what I have found no use for in the past few years. I did this with my closet a few months back and was able to donate about 5 big bags of clothes to friends or thrift stores. Kind of nice to feel like I've got what I want instead of clutter with things I don't use.

We're also in the market for more cabinets and bookshelves. I love having lots of book shelves. There is something easy about arranging them so they work well and I have a functioning space. Our back room is going to take a lot of setting up to make it all work for us, but I'm thinking that it'll work out really well in the long run. I have ideas, but we'll see if we have the funds/know-how to actually make it work.

I am also starting on a bathroom remodel soon. Nothing too drastic, but enough to make a bright green bathroom a bit more inviting for people. First off, I need to get a new sink/cabinet combo. That'll really help with everything. Next up, picking up the paint in the colors I want, then the accent colors and little add-ons for the small room. I will post before/after pictures for everyone to see. I'm kind of excited for this project since it's been a few years in the making. I used to love the bright green bathroom, but then I realized that if anyone else would come into my house, that was always something they commented on (plus, the resale value isn't helped by random bright colored rooms). Lets see if the final project matches my vision......

Summer flew by

Wow, it's September already. Where did my summer go? Seems like I had all these plans to get my life in order over the summer so I didn't have to return to the teaching job I so despise, yet here I am; back to teaching.

The summer started out like normal, a couple of teaching conferences that I had to attend, but slept through. These were just as annoying as they always are. A bunch of so called "teachers" (most of the time people that haven't been a teacher for many years) telling me what I should be doing in the classroom and what "benefits the students the most". What would benefit the students the most would be for the foundation teachers (those in elementary school) to teach the students how to actually think! The students I'm dealing with now have always been told what they need to learn and been told how to do it. Most do not know how to figure anything out. I don't teach that way. I give them the very base line of what needs to happen and then make them figure it out. Do I get in trouble with parents because I make their little "darlings" think? Of course I do. Oh well. It is better for them if they actually struggle a little with thinking than just be mindless robots.

But I digress.

J and his fight partners did a couple of shows in Green River Wyoming. That was a fun little road trip. We all piled into a van and drove out there. I did the driving--if I don't, I get antsy and can get car sick. So sad because I enjoy the ability to be driven around, but have to be very careful. It was a cute little outdoor park that they held the festival at, although we did get eaten by bugs. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to (in actuality all I got was 1), but it was fun to spend the day with friends.

FolkFestival came and went. That was...difficult this year. I love the ability to do it but this year was so full of drama that I almost quit right in the middle of it. Drama from the various teams that were there and even more drama (this time directed at me) from the festival ensemble. I designed the costumes for the ensemble again this year and my design was approved in April so I could order the dresses and make sure they were sized to everyone correctly. Once they were in, of course there was going to be one or two people who would have such a hissy fit over them that I would get the brunt of it and "how dare I put people in something that shows their shoulders?!" Yep, that was the main issue.....their shoulders were showing. Dumbest reason ever. I even told them that if they wanted a jacket, I had the exact one that would go with the design in mind and they could go buy it. Long story short, some girls did a mutiny and wore what they thought was appropriate and it looks horrible! Oh well. It is done and over with and I'm hoping that I never have to work with some of those people again.

As you can see, 1950s style halter dresses. Not even low cut. Gasp! shoulders showing.

I did have a great partner this year with Matthew, and I am very grateful for that. He and Amy were fantastic to be able to hang out with.

After that week, there was Jakob's family reunion up in the mountains' here. Since I am still working on my master's degree, a film project, and back-to-school stuff, I didn't have a lot of time to actually be up there. It was nice the couple of evenings that I went.

The film project, Hanneli & Anne, is the story of Hanneli Goslar, a friend of Anne Frank. It being a true story was interesting to film. I was brought on to do the costumes for it, but I didn't really have too much control over the look of it. There were two directors...one I've worked with before and the other I hadn't. It started out well, but by the end, the 2nd director was nitpicking and reversing every decision I made so I gave up. I'm hoping it will be a great film in the end, but I am worried that if people don't like the costume direction with everything, I'll get blamed for it and it isn't my fault! I love the 1940s and most of the stuff they were using was actually from the 1940s, but apparently it didn't fit the "look" that the 2nd director wanted (but could never articulate to me). Here are some production photos from the 1940s section (I'm not going to post photos from the "modern" section since I didn't design that because my version of modern clothing isn't what the 2nd director's version of "modern" clothing apparently was.
It was fun to be able to use some of my mom's clothing and stuff she made for me when I was little. At least I'll always have the photos of that. =)

Funny to see my childhood boat mixed in with my green wool skirt.

That blouse belonged to my grandmother.

Anne Frank's birthday party plays prominently into everything in this scene.

The blue dress here and the tan ruffly one are also from the 1940s. I think that the peachy one in the back is actually a 1960s style dress, and that explains the sweater.

The blue dress and the plaid skirt are from the 1940s.

The two ladies that are standing are wearing dresses from the 1940s. The girl in the pink is wearing a dress that my mom built for me when I was little.

And yes, they pulled all the crew into a couple of shots. I'm hoping that I'm not actually going to make the final cut of the film. I hate seeing myself on film.

I'm still working on my Master's degree. I should be finished with it by next July...and I'm kind of excited to see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not academically minded so it is very difficult for me to do all that, but I see the benefits of it all and I'm happy to see that there are possibilities coming up to change jobs and get a schedule that is more to my liking. I am hoping that the degree will allow me to teach at a college level and then be able to work on my doctorate for a university level. I like the freedom of schedule that is available at those levels. Seems like something that I could see myself doing if I plan to continue with education as my career.

I'm also hoping that I'll be better at taking pictures that involve me. I have a lot of pictures of my cats and my yard, but very little of me and J. I hate being in front of the camera, but to be able to document my adventures would be fantastic.

Fantastic friends

Okay, so I had my friends over this past weekend to celebrate the fact that Ludlow was in town! He's a friend from high school that lives in California now. Earlier that week he had a commercial shoot with J and when we realized that he was going to be in town for the rest of the week, we decided to have a game night. It started out well, but then became horrible.

First off, I hate breaking down in front of people. It just isn't something I enjoy. I don't like showing my weaknesses like that...and my panic attacks are one of them. Sadie, my little furball, is a skittish cat. Normally, she goes and hides downstairs when there are people in the house. I'm used to that. Saturday, however, she decided to stay upstairs while we all were in the kitchen. That was great. It meant that I could keep an eye on her. J came home from his show and I saw her get up from her spot on the couch. What I didn't see was if she had skirted by J while he had the door open. Normally he goes downstairs after his show and into our room to change. Sadie at that point, disappeared. We could NOT find her. I started to panic when J said he didn't see her downstairs. Could she have slipped out when he had the door open? Ugh. My stomach started twisting and I could feel that panic attack just creeping up. I think my friends sensed something and they quickly started searching around the entire house (and let me tell you, it isn't nice to know that my house is a disaster currently due to the remodel). We spent about an hour looking around the house, the neighborhood (in case she got outside) and all the while I'm wavering between panic and trying to hold together. It didn't last. I had a huge panic attack right then and there (I think I may have scared a few of my friends with it). Called my mum and even had her come down because she would understand the feelings I was going through with my cat missing.

Long story short, Sadie was found.. Hiding in a place she's never hid in before. That is why we didn't see her. Well, after all this, my friends decided to stay around and we played for the rest of the evening. They are fantastic. Really. They didn't judge (at least outwardly :p) and then hung around and played and ate and had a good time. I'm lucky.

The little escape artist. Houdini in the making.

This group I have known for close to 20 years (some over...like my brother)

And we are all goofballs. Here, they wanted to take a goofy picture and since we had just been chatting about the new Star Wars stuff, we decided to parody the posters. J and I are from Empire (Han and Leia), Z is A New Hope (Luke), Court is Empire (A taun-taun), Dustin is from all three (Threepio and all my little Artoos); and Jacob just wanted to be Slave Leia. Yes, I almost pulled out my costume but it wouldn't fit his chest width.

And since my cuckoo clock started going off, they wanted to do one from Sound of Music. Any guesses as to which one it was? 

Other than that, life has just been moving along. I finished my first class for my program. Passed it. So happy. Started on my second class and I already don't like the professor. The way she posts and treats people with her feedback, I'm being turned off of the class and I have to fight the urge to fall back into what got me in trouble during my undergrad work. 

Outdoor track season has started up again and that means weekends are going to be taken up with meets. I don't mind it too much when I have a crew to make it work; unfortunately this season it looks like I won't have much of a crew, so I'm a bit stuck. We'll have to see how it all works out. Usually J works on my crew, but he wants to become a Starter, so he's been working towards that. And from all the feedback we've received about it, he's a good one. =)

School is almost over and that means I'll have a bit more time on my hands to get everything I would like to done. We did get part of the garage organized (yay!) and now we're starting on my sewing room. That is going to take a little bit more work, but since I'm not changing out the flooring right now (even though I really want to!) it's just a lot of paint and manufacturing some shelves in the closet portion.

Spring has sprung

And so have my allergies. Sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes. Yeah. Happy to be partially done with winter (because around here, winter really doesn't end. We sometimes get snow in July) but with all the pollen in the air, and the fact that most medication has food coloring in it, I can't take anything to help.

When spring comes, so comes my ideas to improve the house. Many don't end up coming to fruition; but I have them none the less. On the list for this spring/summer:

~Redo my sewing/craft room. That room is a disaster. I can't really function in the room easily and I need to. Paint, floor, furniture. The works. We haven't touched that room since we moved into the home and it used to be a little boy's room. I am sick and tired of staring at blue walls with dogs, bugs, and a big tree painted on it. Time for me to have a creative space that is calming and productive.

~Organize the loft. A few years ago we added shelving and that helped a little, but we have outgrown the shelving (everything is spilling out onto the floor). We've got two small computer desks up there and I'm thinking that we need to consolidate into one larger desk in the corner. It doesn't work well to have two spaces...and only one is really being used at the moment. The other is just catching dust and collecting items. I'm also going to go through the collection of text books, papers, and other items up there to see if we really need them or not. I've also collected small stuffed animals into a shelving unit in the corner. Maybe it is time to give those to someone else---who has kids perhaps? I'll keep the most expensive ones, but the ones that are cheap need to find a new home. I also have a couch and an overstuffed chair up there. I like having the extra seating, but it seems crowded. I'm going to have to rethink that.

~Storage in the master room. Yes, last year with the help of my brother we were able to put up some cabinets that were sitting in the garage for a couple years and that helped tremendously, but we need more. Either that or I need to get rid of some of my clothing. Maybe J needs to get rid of his stuff too. We are packrats and tend to keep everything thinking that we'd be able to use it later. It is proving not the case. We also haven't completely recovered from the burst pipe we had downstairs. The wall is still open. Drywall will be worked on in the next couple weeks (I'm hoping) and then maybe I can start to get back to normal in that room. When portions of the room are not complete, I get lazy and don't put stuff away. I guess it's just a mental block that goes more for "if this portion of the room is messy, can't this portion be too?". I need to kick that habit.

~Kitchen needs a restain. It is the yellow cabinets from the 90's and I'm ready for a change. They aren't the highest quality cabinets, but I think that I can make them look higher quality with some quick changes. Not sure how all of them are going to look, but staining them isn't going to be that difficult. Counter tops are a different story. I found a resin paint that is used to redo counter tops, but I'm a little nervous to actually try it out because if it ends up looking like I did it myself...that is the last thing that I want to do.

~Guest bathroom upstairs. I've got most of the stuff needed to complete this room, it's just finding the motivation to actually get it done. Rip out the sink/cabinet, repaint everything, frame the mirror, replace the light fixture, possibly replace the toilet, possibly replace the floor.

~Organize the garage. Yes, this is at the bottom of the list since the garage will be the repository of everything while we are going through the remodel. There are shelving units that will be moved into the garage as we finish things inside the house and then I can start to place things up. We've also got a lot of clothing from our last attempt at a garage sale. I'm thinking that a few saturdays that I'm starting to go through things, I can have things sitting on the curb for people to take a look at. If all else fails, I can always donate items and get tax credits from it all. I like that idea--don't know how feasible it'll all be, but I like getting money for my stuff.

I've got a list and I'm itching to get things done, but I also need to concentrate on my master's program. I'm into the first month of it and so far it's been going well. I just need to pull myself out of the habits that I get into--laziness. I was doing well for the first three weeks, but now I'm into week 4 and the project doesn't make too much sense to me this time around and I can feel myself shutting down. Getting into old habits. I am going to try and get through this course with as high a grade as I can muster. I need to stay above a B for the first 3 courses otherwise I am kicked out of the program. I am working on it, but I am not an academic.

We'll see how things progress. Maybe actually writing them down will help me. I'm always up to trying new things. I'm kind of excited for the summer to start. No more classes to teach, designing things for the World FolkFest, and hanging out with my family....no way am I tackling this list alone.

5 Conventions in 9 months? And I survived

When looking at it that way, I wish they were evenly spaced--maybe it wouldn't have been that bad. Eh, it wasn't bad overall, just a busy 9 months. Lots of planning and drive, and more planning, then little sleep, then more planning and driving and set up. Lots of bruises, cuts, scrapes, frayed emotions, but about $3,000 raised for Make*A*Wish and I guess that makes it all worth while.

I normally don't costume for these types of events, and very rarely get in photos; but this last one people kept asking me, so I did. And apparently, I was a goof. Maybe it was because of how tired I was overall and how frustrating it got near the end.

Participated in a panel about the RL. It wasn't as well attended as others have been in the past, but it was nice to have more time for Q&A.

How our section of the booth looked. We took the top off the EZ-up, placed a banner across and raised our long banners to sit on the table. Helped it be seen but also cover the unsightly poles.

Saturdays tend to be the day that we goof off with the pictures before everything starts moving along.

We love our Officers, and when they came by the booth, they agreed to be put in jail. Then our EMT ladies walked by and wanted in with all the fun.

See? Apparently I let a lot of my personality come through this convention. Personality that a lot of people never see, considering the amount of comments I received on it.

J gave Carrie Fisher one of our patches and in turn, she put glitter all over his face.

Again with the fun photos

I WANT ONE! Some friends of ours brought him up and it makes me want one more and more. I want a puppet version of him that I can wear when I'm in Slave Leia, or when I'm sitting at the booth to interact with kids.

Jakob got a picture with one of my favorite voice actors: Jim Cummings. We were able to give him a patch and pin for the voice work he does for Star Wars Rebels.

And like all of our conventions, we raised money for Make*A*Wish. At the end of the convention, we had a rough estimate of $1,420. $80 short of our $1,500 goal. Then I received a message that someone was going to give the remaining $80 so we reached it. I was ecstatic! Then when J and I recounted all the money, we ended up at $1,616. So we had reached our goal and surpassed it!

Although it was a lot of work, thankfully we don't have anything this major until July (Freedom Festival Weekend) and September after that. Time for me to relax and work on other projects.

Welcome to 2015

Yep, it's been a while. We rang 2015 in with good food, friends, family, and fun. Games, our favorite videos of the year. Kind of like that tradition. Nice way to pass the last few minutes before the official "ring in".

J and I have been enjoying our time in the evenings together. He's currently not in a show, so it is a little strange to have him in the evenings, but fun all the same. We can actually work on things or plan other things without too much interruption.

I've started clogging again. Just for fun at the moment. Not sure how my body is taking it, but I had a really "rude awakening" when I started up again. Things jiggled and shook than never did before. Wow, I've really let myself go. . . and I thought I was doing well on that front. Time to start it up again. Clogging is helping, but we're looking into other options (since I HATE the environment of a gym).

I do have one big announcement for 2015:
I'm starting my Masters program. I'm doing it online, 1 class at a time. I was never a very good student and classroom settings give me anxiety at times, so I'm trying the online route to see if that is any better for me. 1 class every month, all online, and however fast or slow I want to take that class. We'll see how I feel in a couple months once the groove is set in, but that is the biggest news I've got so far.

J and I are gearing up for another few conventions this year and I think that J even wants to try for another Trifecta in the Spartan Races this year too. Tough thing behind that though is the biggest race isn't local this year. He's got to travel for that and we are trying to see if I can make it so I can drive (considering how bad he felt at the end of it last year, I want to do that for him).

Teaching is. . .well, teaching. If I could make as much money as I make currently doing something else--something that I actually like--I would leave teaching in a heartbeat. But I can't, so I continue to do it. Some of the faculty members at the school I teach at have said that this year I seem "walled off" or "not social-able". First off, I never chatted with them last year. Secondly, when all I hear from them is complaining, why would I want to sit and chat--I hear enough complaining in my own classroom. Thirdly, I wouldn't considering them my friends, and only my friends and family need to be privy to what is going on in my life. Just because I answer the question of "what are you and your husband up to?" with "stuff to further our careers" and don't want to speak more on the subject, should be a clue as to whether or not you are part of the circle of people who get to know.

Oh well. Life is moving on. New things are on the horizon, I can feel it. I'm going to try and fill this year with fun, family, friends, food, and love--just the way it was brought in.