Lucky Friday the 13th

For me, Friday November 13th is one of the luckiest days of my life. It is on this day, eleven years ago today, that I became a Mom for the very first time. I remember going into labor, (after having spent the prior five days on bed rest in the hospital,) and saying “But its Friday the 13th. Isn’t there some way we can put this off until tomorrow?” I should have known at that moment that my life was forever changed—I was no longer in the driver’s seat.

 

So today, the first Friday, November 13th since the original one eleven years ago, I stand here knowing that indeed Friday the 13th is a very lucky day for me. I am so thankful for every minute of the past eleven years and look forward to all the years ahead with this bright, beautiful boy of mine. Happy Birthday, Collin. I’m so happy you’re mine.

 

I’m really excited for this weekend because my boy loves his birthday. Now, I know what you’re thinking—all kids love their birthday. True. But this one really, really loves his birthday. If you’re familiar with the book The Five Love Languages of Children, you know what I mean. Collin’s love language is gifts, which means birthdays are really special to him. It’s the time of year when the gifts (and the love) overflow. So it’s going to be a fun, fun weekend.

 

 

So…I bet you can guess what’s on my list of things to finish this weekend…birthday stuff. Most of it is done, but tomorrow is his party. So I have to finish making the cookie cake and fun stuff like that. So that’s my really short finish it Friday list for me this week:  make cookie cake. (And maybe we’ll finish eating it, too.)

 

I’d love to hear what’s on your Finish it Friday list. Remember to include something fun on your list this week, too. Have a great weekend!

Monday Morning Check-In

How did you do with your Finish It Friday list? Here's my check-in. Next weekend my list will definitely include something fun. I saw that on Emily's list and thought "Yes, don't forget to have fun!" Thanks, Emily for the reminder. :)

1. (Started) and finished (within reason) holiday planning.

2. Finished planning Collin’s birthday celebration(s).

3. Finished putting away Halloween decorations.

4. Washed car – inside and out. Vacuumed the car and then went through the car wash. Saved about 45 minutes of time this way, and didn’t get wet. A really good $6 investment.

5. Laundry.

6. Cleaned the bathroom really, really well.

7. Helped Collin finish Veterans day float project.

8. Almost finished knitting a scarf. I think I just need to add some fringe...which I've never done before. :)

9. Ordered a Christmas gift.

10. Almost finished getting the kids ready for snow—new coats, snow pants, hat, scarf, gloves. Still need boots for one child. Now, let’s hope it snows here this year!

11. Returned library books.

12. Finished menu plan and grocery list for the week.

13. Emptied and cleaned the herb and flower pots.

14. Potted a few herbs for a window sill garden.

15. Played four-square. (This definitely counts as fun.)

16. Put the finishing touches on the Goals workshop. If you've been looking at that one, it is now open for enrollment. Hooray! 

How about you? How did you do on your list? I hope you had a productive and *fun* weekend. :)

The Best Laid Plans are Flexible

As you know, last Friday I posted what I realized was an aggressive list for Finish it Friday. Since the weekend is when I have my biggest block of “do-stuff-around-the-house” time, I love the idea of starting the weekend with a to-do list—a.k.a. my Finish It Friday list. My list helps me stay focused during the weekend, which means more things get done than if I didn’t have a list or a plan.

Now, from working with clients and online workshop participants, I know there are those of you out there who avoid planning because you feel like if you make a plan you have to follow it. The thinking goes something along the lines of this: If I make a list for the weekend and don’t check everything off the list then I feel like I’ve failed.

Ouch! That is pretty high stakes stuff. Do it all or you’ve failed. I can see why you’d resist creating a plan if success or failure was that black and white!

My approach to planning is a bit more flexible. See, I didn’t finish my entire list this weekend, but I did get an awful lot done. I don’t think I failed at all. What do you think? Here’s what I checked off my list:

• List three items on Craig’s list. Partial check. One item was listed, the other two are closer to being listed, but not quite done.
• Straighten up the basement back room.Check – and well worth the effort. Yay! 
• (Start) and finish cleaning the house! Check!
• Transfer photos to jump drive for my family in Michigan. Check!
• Order samples for master bedroom window blinds. Check!
• Paint a picture frame. Check!
• Finish up my projects for Get Organized for the Holidays. Nope…but hey, that’s what today’s for, right?

So…did I fail? Well, first let’s explore why those other things didn't get done. In a nutshell, I got a better offer (or made a better plan.) Yesterday, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful October afternoon and go on family outing to the pumpkin farm. We left the house at noon for some much needed clothes shopping for the kids, and then headed to the pumpkin farm. We returned home at about 8:30 PM after dinner at Jay’s parents. Long story short—there wasn’t much time to get things done yesterday! And that was fine by me. Because I made my plan on Friday, I got a lot of stuff done on Saturday. Even though all I did was post one thing on Craig’s list and put a second coat on that picture frame—I wasn’t at all taunted by my to-do list yesterday. I knew the world wasn’t going to come to a screeching halt if my other two items weren’t listed, and I knew that I could finish up the holiday class projects today. So…it was all good.

The moral of the story is this. When you make a plan, even something as simple as a weekend to-do list, you don’t have to get it all done to be successful. This isn’t a case of all or nothing. Anything you check off your list is a success. Every check mark is progress. Every check mark is a step forward.

So if you avoid making plans or even to-do lists due to fear of failure, try reframing your thinking. To-do lists and plans aren’t all or nothing propositions, nor are they set in stone. They’re a tool to make it easier to get things done—and they do work! So give planning a try and give yourself the permission to keep it flexible! You can change it, tweak it, delete things, and defer things to your heart’s content. Remember, the best laid plans are flexible.

So…I’d love to hear from you. What works for you when it comes to planning, making to-do lists and getting things done? Do you love lists or avoid them like the plague? Or, if you’d like to share what you finished this weekend, you know I’d love to hear!  (And thank you to Brenda, Mikia and Cheryl for joining me in Finish it Friday! And Michelle, I look forward to hearing from you next week.)

Happy Monday!

 

 

filling in the blanks…

I spent virtually every waking minute this weekend painting, or getting ready to paint, or cleaning up after a painting project. But you know what (aside from my sore muscles from going up and down the ladder) it feels *so* good! To say that room needed a fresh coat of paint is the under statement of the century. Wow…what a difference! And the best part is this:  unlike my window cleaning project from a couple of weeks ago, this project will stay looking nice for much, much longer (though this time I will not be stretching the paint job for twelve years!)

I ended up choosing a nice shade of green. (Well, I think it’s a nice shade of green, anyway.) Green seems to be my new favorite color. It has always been my Dad’s favorite color…so maybe I grew up with so much green that green feels like home to me.

 

Anyway, it’s Castleton Mist or HC-11 from Benjamin Moore. I used their new Eco Spec paint which is Zero VOC and minimal odor. Oh my heavens, I seriously love this paint! It was the best. Literally it didn’t smell bad at all and it covered so well it was amazing! I have 1-1/2 gallons of paint left, it covered so well, so I’m going to be painting our master bathroom the same color. That room really needs a fresh coat, too, so no worries—it’s one less decision to make. First, though, I have to strip the wall paper border and figure out how to cover the discolored spots on the ceiling. That should be fun. Painting ceilings is always a laugh-riot, if you know what I mean.

I’m down now to one more paint choice to make…the hallway. Any suggestions? (The hall is that long narrow strip in the floor plan photo that connects one green room, to a pink one, a blue one, and another room in a different shade of green.) I’m thinking a neutral is a must…but which neutral? There are so many to choose from… Any ideas?

So that’s what I finished this weekend. How about you? Did you do anything fun, long over due, or in any other way completely rewarding? Hope you had a great weekend…I’d love to hear what you’ve been up to.

In other news…I’m just days (if not hours) away from opening registration for Get Organized for the Holidays. This workshop is always one of my favorites because I get to lead the workshop and participate in it, too! Both of my kid’s birthdays fall during the holidays, so we take an already jam-packed season and fill it with even more fun and festivities. Being organized during this time of year is an absolute must for me, and sharing the season with my online workshop friends makes it all the more fun! I hope you’ll join me this year, too! I’ll let you know as soon as the workshop opens. By the way, the workshop will begin on November 3rd (with a pre-workshop assignment the previous week) so mark your calendar.

Also, registration for Organize Your Closet ends today…so sign up now if you’re still thinking about joining in.

Okay, that’s it for now. Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

 

P.S. Many thanks to my friend Stacey for helping me paint this weekend. I'd for sure still be up on a ladder if it weren't for you. :)

Freshening Up with Paint

When Jay and I went house shopping, over twelve years ago, I thought I wanted an old home. It gets better. I actually thought I wanted a fixer-upper. Keep in mind, this was before kids, so aside from my love of transforming spaces, I was young, energetic and ambitious (not to mention foolish.) Honestly, I have so much respect for people who can live through a home renovation without losing their minds. I wish I could do it…but I don’t think I could. The midstream chaos would absolutely drive me nuts, nuttier than I already am on a good day. So needless to say I’m happy that we ended up with a new home twelve years ago.

The bad news is this…fast forward twelve years, and ironically, my wish has come true:  suddenly I have what feels like an “old” home just without the charm of built-ins, arched doorways, or exposed brick. Now, don’t get me wrong, I realize a twelve year old home isn’t truly old…but I also realize that many areas in my home are definitely in need of some serious freshening up. And other areas…well…they could use a complete renovation.

From years of magazine reading I’ve learned that one of the fastest ways to freshen up a home is with paint. So, I’m getting ready to do some (serious) painting. Our master bedroom and bathroom were the first rooms we painted in the house, and let’s just say my taste has changed in the past twelve years. Actually, my taste changed 12 minutes after putting the first brush stroke of paint on the wall in the master bedroom. I knew it was a mistake right then and there. But staring at the five gallon paint bucket filled with over a hundred dollars worth of periwinkle paint, I bit my tongue and just kept on painting. Little did I know I would live with this mistake for twelve years.

The other room in our home that desperately needs a paint job is the hallway. It still has builder white paint on it. Try not to picture that…twelve year old builder white paint that has survived two babies, two toddlers, and now two big kids, along with the abuse of three dogs (not all at one time), and two adult humans. Uh…it isn’t pretty.  

After twelve years of living with a paint color in my master bedroom that I don’t particularly like, you might say I’m a bit gun-shy about selecting a new paint color. I really want to get it right this time…and well, that added pressure is verging on perfection paralysis.

The best thing to do when you’re feeling paralyzed is to take some forward action. So last weekend, I combined a couple of ideas shared with me by Jean, a friend of mine who I met in our online workshops. Jean loves to discuss paint colors, which is really helpful when you’re like me and tend to become paralyzed by such decisions.

Jean showed me this blog post which talks about the importance of coordinating paint selection throughout your home. While on the surface this seems to complicate things even more, in reality, this thought process will help ensure I’m happy with the colors I select for my bedroom, bathroom and hallway. If the house flows well color-wise I just know I’ll like it all the better. (Maybe that’s been the trouble with the periwinkle all along?)

The second idea Jean shared was that she paints a piece of poster board to test paint colors before putting them on the wall (and buying five gallons of paint!) This allows her to view paint in a variety of lighting conditions (morning sun, evening sun, etc.) before deciding on a specific color. After the paint selection fiasco of 1997, I have done something similar, but instead of using poster board I used drywall. Poster board is much simpler solution, and best of all, this idea combined with the floor plan idea mixed together in my mind to create this:

I loved the idea of creating a floor plan with paint color swatches, but I wasn’t keen on the idea of doing it digitally. I’m a low tech girl at heart, and I wanted to be sure that the colors on my floor plan were accurate. The colors on my monitor are a bit off. So I thought why not use real, leftover paint? This would ensure the color was accurate and it would make for a portable color swatch. I could take my floor plan paint swatch to the paint store with me when selecting paint colors for the bedroom, hall and bathroom. And I can take it along on any other home décor shopping trip. (Heaven knows my purse is big enough to accommodate this.)

I found a piece of heavy white chipboard, left over from some sort of Russell and Hazel product. It's shiny white, kind of like the baseboards and trim paint in my house. So, not only can I see all the paint colors in my house, and the flow from room to room, I can also see how the paints will work with the baseboards.

If you’re considering your own painting projects, this is a remarkably satisfying little project that takes virtually no time at all. To make mine, I took a photo copy of our house floor plan and placed it on top of the chipboard. Then, using an embossing tool I traced the outline of the home and the various rooms. Next, I went over the indents from the embossing tool with a Sharpie and a ruler, creating a rough floor plan on the chipboard. Finally, I painted each room in the home using leftover paint from each painting project and a small paint brush. And quite revealing…I didn’t realize I had such a thing for pastels. Interesting…

So now what? Well, I think my next step will be to find a new quilt for our bed. If you know of any great bedding out there, or if you know of any cool websites that carry bedding or modern quilts, I’d love to hear about them. I think once I select a new quilt or comforter cover… I just might be ready to make the big paint decision.

A chill is in the air…

and fall is on my mind. I am not sure which I love more, spring or fall, but there is definitely something about these transitional times of year that I absolutely love. I love back-to-school, more than the end of school, but then again, I love beginnings more than endings.

Right now, as I can feel the beginning of fall in the air, I am looking forward to…

Cooler weather. And the chance to wear jeans and sweaters again.

Longer evenings. I used to really dislike it when it would get dark so early at night—funny how we change. Now I view the shorter days as a chance to slow down and relax…as if when the sun goes down I have permission to wind-down, too. (Perhaps this is why I have (what feels like) a summer hangover. Still recovering from the fast pace of our lives this past summer. Resting. Recharging. And refocusing. (Note too self…slow down more next summer.)

House projects. It’s time to paint some walls and freshen things up a bit. I have fall fever bad…I’m even looking forward to running the carpet cleaner again and washing the windows and screens. 

Baking. I try not to use the oven in the summer…but when it gets chilly out, bring on the cookies, muffins and banana bread. Yum!

Fall colors + football games. Sitting. Relaxing. Enjoying the sights.

Hot chocolate…in a chunky, ceramic mug with fluffy white marshmallows floating on top.

Soup + fresh baked bread. Yum.

I think what I love most about this time of year is that it’s a time of change…saying goodbye to the routines of summer, and saying hello to new routines, new activities, and a new phase in this journey called life. It’s time to come inside and do a little nesting.

What do you love most about this time of year?

P.S. For those of you who did Finish It Friday this past weekend, I’d love to hear what you finished. (For me, go back to the comment about the summer hangover, and then picture me relaxing and recharging this weekend…and finishing laundry. That was the big finish for the weekend. Had it not been for Finish It Friday, I’m willing to bet that wouldn’t have gotten finished either.)

Happy Monday + Finish It Friday Update

Happy Monday to you! I hope you had a fun-filled weekend—one that included a bit of finishing up at least one big (or little) nagging to-do, plus some time for fun, too!  Want to know what I finished this weekend? Here’s the biggest thing…

It isn’t big at all, is it? At least not size-wise—it’s just a simple little knob installed on a cabinet in my daughter’s room. This cabinet has been knobless for a…uh…really long time. But no more! The knob was purchased and installed by yours truly (which was actually harder than I had anticipated!) Now there’s a big check mark next to “knob for Kailea’s cabinet” on my to-do list! Hooray.

Now here’s the funny thing about this accomplishment. Even though it really is small, for me it trumps my other accomplishments and projects this weekend. Getting this knob installed was a bigger accomplishment than walking out of Anthropologie with only the above-shown knob. (And if you’ve ever been there…you know what an accomplishment that is!) Installing the knob was also a bigger accomplishment than completely reorganizing and rearranging Kailea’s bedroom. Why is that? The knob had been lingering on my psyche for far too long. Having this knob situation resolved just plain feels good.

So…how about you? What completely rewarding Finish it Friday project did you do this weekend?

As you can see…all things count—big or small or anything in between. So if you didn’t play along this past week, please join us this week. You’ll find it’s quite satisfying to finish that nagging little to-do! 

In the meantime…here is one of the highlights of my weekend. A huge owl landed on the playhouse roof in our neighbor’s yard. I snapped this photo through the window. I’m so happy I did…because when I went outside to get a better shot, he flew away. He was very big and very cool.

Happy Monday!

travel checklist + other travel ramblings

Tomorrow I’m heading out of town for a weekend getaway with my sister and my Dad. We’re going to Alabama—a place I don’t think I’ve been to since I was in 2nd Grade. (And that, my friends, was a long time ago.)

My Dad and sister are driving down from Michigan, and we’re meeting in Nashville where we’ll spend the night tomorrow night. Then, we’ll continue on to Alabama to visit my Dad’s brother and his family. Should be fun…definitely looking forward to spending time with my family.

This may surprise you…but I haven’t started packing yet. I did, however, update and print out my travel checklist, which is a key reason I can pack late without stress. I love this checklist because, well, I’ve got a thing for checklists. It helps make it simple to be more organized while traveling, without being stressed out about forgetting to bring something or do something before I go.

I’ve been adding to it and tweaking it over the years (and deleting things, too, like Pull-Ups for my kids…it has been a long time since we’ve needed those.) Anyway, here’s a copy download travel-checklist if you’d like to use mine for your next trip, or feel free to use it to create your own checklist for personal use. You may not feel compelled to take a wine bottle opener with you when you go away, for example, so tweak it to suit your needs. And then, sit back, relax and enjoy your travels!

Before I sign of…here’s the “other travel ramblings” part of the post. Just a few things I’m looking forward to:

• Sleeping in. This 5 AM summer schedule needs a tweak or two (or three.) Extra quiet time is good, but feeling tired and grouchy (which could be a kind way to describe my mood this past week) has significantly reduced my personal productivity, making the whole getting up early thing counter productive. So, aside from sleeping more while I’m away, I will be pondering Plan B for the summer schedule. (Keep this in mind—when you try something new and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Figuring out what doesn’t work is a terrific learning process and not the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination. I’ve learned a lot the past 2 ½ weeks and look forward to figuring out how to tweak my schedule so that my mood and productivity stay in tact, too.)

  Taking photos. Looking forward to playing with my camera. I’ll be taking along the notes from my photography class and digging into those again, too. But, being a better photographer isn’t about reading a book or taking a class…it’s about taking more photos. Just as getting organized isn’t about taking a class or reading a book, it’s about taking action and organizing something—do something to move you closer to your goal.

• Exploring new places. We’ll be spending a bit of time in Nashville tomorrow evening (probably just enough time for dinner) and then again on Monday. I’ve never been there, so it will be fun to check it out a bit. If you have been there, live there, know the area well…I’d love any recommendations of things to do and places to eat.

Hope you have a great weekend...and remember tomorrow is Friday, and this week that means Freebie Friday. And it’s a good one—so be sure to check it out. (Finish it Friday will be back next week!)

creating new routines

Its official:  summer has arrived! For me, summer isn’t really about a set date on the calendar or hitting a particular temperature on the thermometer. Nope. For me, summer is all about the last day of school. When school ends summer begins.

We’re on day four of summer 2009, and so far, so good. The kids begged and pleaded with us not to send them to Y camp this summer. We (finally) agreed after reaching the conclusion that childhood is too short and there are too few summers to turn it into something dreaded—something that you’re just trying to get through. Luckily, we have options…so we decided to explore some of them. Enter plan B.

Plan B is for the kids to attend some specialty camps that they *want* to attend, not camps they *have* to attend. The goal is to 1) give Mom and Dad some work time, and 2) give the kids some mental and physical stimulation that doesn’t involve the T.V. or any sort of video game. The one drawback to this plan is that we’ll be spending quite a bit of time driving kids to and from camps. And every week is a different schedule. This can keep things interesting, but also makes it difficult to really get into a routine, at least during regular waking hours.

Then, the buffet syndrome set in. All the camps looked really great so we kept saying yes, and piling our plate full of camps! When I put all the dates on the calendar, added the baseball and softball schedules, and guitar lessons…I gasped. “What have I done?” I’ve completely overbooked us!

See, we all have different comfort zones. For me, white space on a calendar, unscheduled down-time is good. It is comfortable. I like breathing room and space…and plan B didn’t leave much downtime.

Enter plan C. I realized I had to carve out some uninterrupted, focused work time. Looking at the calendar there wasn’t going to be too much opportunity for that during the standard work day. Sure, there are blocks of time, some longer than others. But, each day has built-in interruptions, and that doesn’t even take into account the unexpected (yet inevitable) interruptions that come with working in a home office. This is fine for some kinds of work that I do…but doesn’t work great for writing which is the primary “in office” task for many of my projects this summer.

Plan C entails rearranging my schedule—the times of day I have most control over—so it puts me back into my comfort zone. The times of day I have control over are at night when the kids are in bed and first thing in the morning when everyone is still asleep. Morning is my best writing time, so plan C involves putting the power of the early morning to work for me. My plan is to get up every day this summer at 5 AM for some quiet, focused, uninterrupted writing time.

As I said above—so far, so good. I’m on day 4 of this new plan and four days into creating a new habit. I’m using Twitter to hold myself accountable, reporting each morning that I did in fact get up at 5 AM!

All of it is working really well. I love the quiet time…in fact morning is fast becoming my favorite part of the day. And Twitter is working well as my “accountability partner.” This morning, as I contemplated staying in bed just a bit longer, the thought of sharing on Twitter that I didn’t get up at 5 AM was enough motivation to drag my tired self out of bed and get to work! So far, so good.

The moral of the story is this. Sometimes we have to create new routines that push us out of our comfort zone in one area of our life (getting out of bed at 5 AM…out of my normal comfort zone) so that we can create a new comfort zone somewhere else. It’s important when creating routines and changing your schedule to know yourself and know its okay that some things work for you and some things don’t.

It’s OK that I need breathing room in my schedule. If I simply beat myself up and said “You should be able to do all this!” all summer long, I’d be frustrated all summer long! That’s no fun. It’s much more fun to try an approach that seems on paper as if it will work well for you, and then, set in place some means to be accountable for making it happen. 

How about you? Are you in need of some new routines due to the summer or to accomplish something else important to you? If so, I’d love to hear what you’re working on and what you’re doing to make fit it in! Remember, embrace what works best for you and then, find an accountability system that motivates you to make it happen! Good luck!!

Oh, and if you want to follow my progress on the 5 AM plan via Twitter, you can follow me here.

Butterfly Mobile, Feng Shui for My Office and Feeling Energized

Lots on my mind today! So let’s get right to it…

I woke up on this first day of June feeling energized and excited! Perhaps it’s because of my new butterfly mobile?

Or perhaps it’s because it’s the first day of June? There are just three more days of school which has me excited in both the good sense (as in woohoo!) and in the bad sense (as in how on earth did we get here already and how solid is our summer plan?)

Or maybe I’m feeling super energized because Organizing 101 starts tomorrow and for the first time ever, I am participating both as the instructor and as a student. I have big plans for reorganizing some areas in my home this summer, and I’ll share my projects with Organizing 101 students via the online forum and photo gallery. So maybe that is the cause for my sudden burst of extra energy and excitement. I’m not sure, really. But, let’s get back to the butterfly mobile and the Feng Shui for my office.

So, the weekend before last, my friend Elise and her husband and kids came over for Topopo Salad. (If you’re from Michigan and have been to El Azteco, in East Lansing you, too, may be a fan of this fine college-town delicacy.) We enjoyed a huge Topopo Salad and margaritas, and then, Elise gave me some Feng Shui advice for my office. (How lucky am I to have a friend that is a Feng Shui guru? I know; I’m lucky indeed.)  

So, based on Elise’s Feng Shui wisdom, and the inspiration of this weekend creative project from Ali (a project that has been percolating in my brain for over a year!), I decided to make a butterfly mobile for my office. I had the chance to put this plan into action this past weekend, and I do believe it is part of my extra energy today!

Now, I really did turn this into a weekend long project…working on it in little bits throughout the weekend. Friday afternoon I trekked on over to Michael's and picked up fifteen wooden butterflies, a little bottle of paint, and a wooden embroidery hoop. That evening, I sat on my front porch, enjoyed a refreshing drink, chatted with Jay and painted my butterflies green. (I love crafting outdoors this time of year! Talk about mixing two of my favorite things into one! Ahhh…love that.) 

 

Then, on Saturday morning, and again in the late afternoon, I returned to the front porch for one of my all-time favorite pastimes: decoupaging. I decoupaged the front of each butterfly with some of my favorite patterned paper from my scrapbook stash. As you may have predicted, there were a few papers from Basic Grey in the mix (but I didn’t use Romani this time!) I also used the very last bit of this paper from Sweetwater.

The other three butterflies I left plain green and used rub-ons to add some inspiring words—two past words of the year, in fact.

Things were going good! On Sunday, I made a trip to Wal-Mart to buy some green rickrack and some clear monofilament string. Then, I came home, hot glued the butterflies to the rickrack, glued the rickrack to the embroidery hoop, and finished up my butterfly mobile. Jay (in addition to helping me with the math to properly position the rickrack) installed a hook in the ceiling in my office to hang my butterfly mobile.

I’m really happy with how it turned out—except for one minor problem. The mobile naturally wants to hang with its back to me. No matter how I turn the hook that it hangs from, those little butterflies keep turning their backs on me. Crazy, isn’t it?

I like the front much better. And I have a feeling it is better from a Feng Shui perspective to have my mobile facing forward as much as possible. (Am I right, Elise?)

So, I’m moving on to Plan B. My new plan is to make the mobile have two fronts. I’ll paint and / or cover fifteen more butterflies and glue them to the backs of my current butterflies. But, this is where things get tricky…and where I’m hoping you can help me. Remember how I mentioned that I used the very last bit of my favorite Sweetwater paper for this project? I’m desperate to find a scrap of this paper so I can finish up this project and be able to see the fronts of my little butterflies in all their glory, all the time.

Here it is again...does it look like something you have in your stash?

I just hope beyond hope someone has a full sheet or even a scrap of this patterned paper. If you do, and if you’re willing to part with it for me, here’s what I’m going to do. (Thanks to Jay for this idea! )

You will have your choice of a free seat in Organizing 101 or a free copy of the happy scrapper. Oh what the heck, let’s make it both! I really want this paper! I only need a 6” x 6” section of this paper to create my little butterflies! That's quite some loot for a 6” x 6” section of this paper. Perhaps I've gone nuts. 

In any case, the first person to post in the comments and say "I have a 6” x 6” piece of that Sweetwater paper and I'd be happy to mail it to you!" will get Organizing 101 and a copy of "the happy scrapper"…on me. (Plus, more gratitude from me than you can possibly imagine.)

I have my fingers crossed that one of you has this paper and wants to share. If not…I may have to come up with plan C…but I really like the sounds of Plan B.

OK…thanks for enduring this really long post. Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

**Updated! Cindy has the paper and is happy to share! Thank you, Cindy!**