An Awesome Closet

Every woman should be so lucky to be married to someone who can fix or build anything.  My husband can fix anything and he's very creative when it comes to building things around our house and on our property up north.  We usually tell him what we will be using something for, and he'll come up with multiple designs to accommodate our needs and he makes it look good in the process.  He works on CAD (computer aided drafting) for his regular job and has a version of it at home.  He's very technical in his designs!

His most recent design was to help our 17 year old get his closet organized.  He made three designs.  When I told him the first design was wonderful, he came up with two more designs.  As he laid them on the table, he said, "you can never say yes to the first design.  You must see all of the possibilities before you say yes".  Well said because we ended up choosing the second design!

Here is the final product.

Now our son has room to hang his shirts and sweatshirts and a spot for hanging longer clothes like his heavy winter jackets.  There are shelves for an underwear and sock bins, jeans, shorts t-shirts and sweat/pajama pants.  The space below the shelves is open to accommodate shoes and his dirt bike boots.  There are big shelves up on top for extra blankets, his suitcase, extra hunting gear and whatever else a 17 year old boy needs.  There are pocket doors on the front that shuts it all off to the rest of the room.  Our son, and I, LOVE IT!

"For every minute spent organizing, an hour is earned."  -Unknown

Movie to Inspire Cooking

One of my favorite, more recent movies, is Julie and Julia.  For those of you who haven't seen it or heard about it, here is the synopsis from the back of the movie case:  "A culinary legend provides a frustrated office worker with a new recipe for life in Julie and Julia, the true stories of how Julia Child's life and cookbook inspired fledgling writer Julie Powell to whip up 524 recipes i 365 days and introduce a new generation to the magic of French cooking."  My favorite thing about this movie is the unbridled joy Julia Child has for everything in her life.  She seems like she was just a delightful woman.

I've watched it about a hundred times and this weekend, I watched it with my 11 year old daughter.  She has been bitten by the baking bug and every weekend is in the kitchen mixing up some wonderful treats.  I thought she could appreciate the all of the baking and cooking done by Julia Child and Julie Powell.  She also liked that Julia Child fell in love with Paris, as did my daughter!

I was so inspired by the movie this time, that after we watched it, I ordered Julia Child's first cookbooks :  The Art of French Cooking 1 & 2.  They came from Amazon today!

I've sitting on my couch in front of the fireplace all evening browsing through them.  I can't wait to try Porc Sylvie (Pork Stuffed with Cheese), Mousse A L'Orange (Orange Mousse - a frozen dessert), Clafouti (Cherry Flan), Crepes, and Poulet Saute aux Herbes de Provence (Chicken Sauteed with Herbs and Garlic, Egg Yolk and Butter Sauce) - just to name a few.  I have some willing taste testers as longs as things don't get too weird.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

"Julia taught me what it takes to find your way in the world.  It's not what I thought it was.  I thought it was all about - I don't know, confidence or will or luck.  Those are all some good things to have, no question.  But there's something else, something that these things grow out of.  It's joy."  -Julie Powell

Praying for Friends

I've spent a lot of time at home the last couple of days both under the weather myself and with a sick little girl.  So I've done a lot of reading, a lot of movie watching and a lot of reflecting.  In both the movies I watched and the books I read, the main theme was friendship, particularly friendship between adult women.  This caused me to do a little reflecting on my life and the women in my life who I am privileged to call my friends.

I really care about my close friends but I'm not always very good at sharing with them how grateful I am for each of them.  I had a very special friend who passed away a few years ago and I waited until she was very sick with cancer before I told her how much she meant to me.  I made her a prayer shawl and wrote her a note telling her all of the special places where I had knit the shawl.....on Madeline Island overlooking the sunset and sunrise over Lake Superior, in our 40 acre woods by a roaring campfire, sitting on the couch in my parents' house, and many other memorable places.

After lots of thought, I decided that I would make prayer shawls for my few very dear friends and I was not going to wait until some dire circumstance came along to do.  Shouldn't we be praying for our friends every day and not just when times are tough?

The book I used to make my friend Winnie's shawl is called The Prayer Shawl Companion by Janet Bristow & Victoria A. Cole-Galo.

This is the shawl pattern I used.

Here are some other patterns that I may use.

I especially like the pocket prayer shawls because that would be something a friend could keep with them all of the time, tucked in a purse or jacket pocket.  So it looks like I will be doing some knitting and some praying over the next couple of weeks!

"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant."  -Socrates

Books

I'm feeling a bit under the weather tonight so my blog will be "short and sweet".  I just wanted to share this link to a website that will be helping me out in my quest to read 47 books this year!

www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/books-to-read-before-they-hit-theaters-this-year

I've already read Divergent and am picking up The Hundred Foot Journey at the library tomorrow!

"Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book."  -Jane Smiley

A Part of Your Community

I feel really blessed that both my husband and I have great jobs with wonderful benefits and salaries that help us manage our busy family.  When I got laid off last August, I had visions of not being able to provide healthy meals for my growing children.  Many nights I laid awake worrying about about our finances.  My husband and I have always been good at money management so we had an emergency fund that could keep us going for quite a while - barring any unforeseen catastrophe like needing a new transmission in one of our vehicles, a serious accident or illness in us or one of our children, a broken major appliance, and on and on.

I was really lucky to find a job in a matter of a couple of months and get us back on track.  I returned to sleeping at night and on to worrying about other things like figuring out the Northstar/Light Rail train schedule and whether or not to make my co-workers treats for Christmas.  Now, as I wake to face the day, I thank God for all of my blessings and have added special prayers for those who are worrying as I did about providing for their family.

It is with this not so distant memory of being so scared about the future that I am planning on having a date with my husband tomorrow evening.  What?!  Yes, a date but one that will benefit Southern Anoka Community Assistance - a non-profit food shelf and community assistance program.  They provide an emergency food program, clothing and household needs, Christmas toys and dinner distribution, school supplies distribution, and referrals to other aid agencies.  The benefit is called "Hops for Hunger".  Here is a link to the website for all of the details:  finnegans.org/event/hops-for-hunger-ii/

If you are unable to attend this event, please think of other ways you can support your community.  Bring outgrown boots and snowpants to your local elementary school.  Start a food shelf and necessity room at your local high school - Coon Rapids High School and Fridley High School have great supply rooms for in-need teenagers.  Invite an elderly neighbor over for a dinner a week -  I'm sure they'd enjoy the company more than the food.  Set up anonymous grocery drops for a neighbor who is out of work.  Enlist the help of your children.....pass on the idea that there is no shame in needing help but there is great shame in not helping out!

"Research has shown that people who volunteer often live longer."  -Allen Klein 

Decorated Rolodex

With my job, I have a lot of contact with clients outside of my company.  Trying to keep all of that contact information has gotten to be a little overwhelming so I decided to organize all of them in a Rolodex.

 I like to have a little color and/or sparkle to things on my desk to keep it from looking "boring" so of course I had to make some changes to my new Rolodex.  I dug around in my craft supplies for colored and patterned paper.  I also found some embellished felt flower stickers that I thought would be a great accent.

I took out the letter dividers and added double sided tape to the front side, being careful to maintain a straight line of tape under the letters.

Next I pressed a piece of paper onto the double sided tape, matching the straight tape edge underneath the letters.

I trimmed all of the edges and carefully cut out the tabs at the bottom.

On this first card, I added the flower embellishments.  This is the "front" of the Rolodex.

For each of the other letter cards, I repeated the process to add the colored/patterned paper, making each letter card different.

A "modified" Rolodex like this one, paired with a Rolodex Business Card Punch,

would make a great gift for someone who needs to keep their contact information close at hand - either at home or at the office.  I can't wait to start filling mine up!

"Organize, don't agonize."  -Nancy Pelosi

Wednesday Evening TV

Two words.....Downton Abbey.  If like me, you forgot or had plans on Sunday night and missed the two hour premier, you can watch it on line at:

www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/watch-on-line

To catch up on past episodes, check out Netflix or your local library.  I'm hooked!

"You'll find there's never a dull moment in this house."  -Violet