New Paint Job

I've been planning on having my house painted this next summer. However, last Monday my interior designer friend called to let me know that one of the best painters in town was free to take on a new job on Wednesday. The weather was to be mostly clear with no rain until Sunday. So, I called and made arrangements to have the house painted much sooner than I had planned. Here is a shot of the back part of the house with the new paint colors. It's so much more cheery than the grey-blue with white trim that I had last weekend. I'm beyond thrilled with the result.

Christmas 2010

I'm trying to get some of the Christmas photos scrapped. This is Eli with her dollie that mama and dad-o gave her. She loves dollies, but seems to have a fetish about taking all the clothes off. This time she put them in the washer - and even knew the right buttons to push (not strong enough to close the door tightly enough yet). She then took her dollie in and wrapped her in a blanket. Such a good little mama.
There are lots of other photos to put on paper, but haven't gotten that far yet. Christmas was so much fun with this little one who didn't understand about the wrapped boxes until she had unwrapped, with some help, a couple. She kept getting distracted and played with each thing before looking for another. So, we had a leisurely morning. Next year may be a different story all together.

Favorite 10 in 2010

I created 118 layouts in 2010. That's plenty to choose just 10 that I liked the most. Really it made it far harder than if I had created fewer. So, here they are. They cover the gamut of style, subject and photos. I think I can begin to see a common style.

There you have it. I look forward to creating many more layouts throughout 2011.

OLW January

Here's my title page for the One Little Word binder for this year. I've had this beautiful crocheted butterfly for months and never used it. It's the perfect extra for the title page. I've also done the photo page, but not going to post that here. I still have the definition page to do, but lack the correct page protector for it. On order, but not here yet. So, I'll post that later.

So far, January is going well. I'm enjoying thinking about my word each day. I'm walking each day and feeling much better with the exercise. I'm also spending a few minutes a day going through papers to weed out what is no longer necessary. Next I'll be moving onto a closet that is filled with stuff: sorting, tossing, passing on, organizing what is left. It feels good to finally be taking some action on things that have been hanging over my head for several years.

2011 will be a good year. I can feel it.

OLW

once again I'm participating in Ali Edwards' one little word. I've chosen a word to be a guide for what I want to see during the year for the last 3 or 4 years. This year my word is release, as in let go. After looking up the definition of my word in the dictionary, I found that my word has many other definitions. I think I will open up myself to whatever definition seems to prevail.

Originally I had thought to let go of unrealistic expectations, to let go of stuff that I no longer needed or wanted - both physically and emotionally, and to let go of preconceived notions I seem to have regarding this stage of my life. In other words, I wanted to cut to the chase. We'll see what happens.

To start with I have begun decluttering my home. I went through all of the Christmas decorations and culled out those that were worn out or no longer appealed to me and also set aside some that I will give to Eli in the years to come. Those tubs are put away much lighter that they were when I took them down the first part of December. The past couple days I have been going through a box that contains most of my household papers. It's amazing what stuff I have saved. So far, I've dumped 12 pounds of paperwork in the recycle and I'm only 2/3 of the way through it all!
This photo shows it in the wastebasket before it went in the paper recycle.

And here's the box that was once so stuffed full that I couldn't even get another piece of paper in it. I expect it will be only half full when I finish.

Already I feel lighter. I think this OLW will be just fine.