Back to the Nook

First things first - I need to get my stuff out of totes, boxes and bags - it is now all out of the living room, dining room and thankfully the front hall - and it is all within 15 feet of my Nook. Now as I unload it all I am putting it on the shelves by category. My plan is to see have I have in each category (ie. flowers, chipboard, rub-ons, stamps) and then decide the best storage solution for it. I haven't scrapped at home at all lately so everything is packaged for transport and now it needs a permanent home in a room that inspires me, I have three boxes, eight bags, one shoulder tote and my rolling tote to unpack - my rolling tote I haven't even opened in likely 8 months so it will be like getting new stuff - which makes it fun. The upper shelves in the Nook are built it is the lower ones and the work surface that aren't finished - the shelves are jammed with the stuff I have already unloaded and I'm not sure where to sort the rest but will push forward over the next few days - I need to have my storage requirements almost sorted out because I have a shopping date next week to look at my options.

Wish me luck,

Jackie

The Nook

I am working on moving my scrapbooking stuff home and not having it take over the house - It is now home but currently it is everywhere but it is my goal to contain it but have it accessible. By accessible I don't mean packed in boxes I can dig through for what I need but visible and organized - for example if I want flowers for a layout I know where to go to look at all my available flowers and make my choice. Brian started to build me a scrapbook room - herein called the nook but other projects got in the way and time has passed without much progress so I will need to move this forward but start to move my stuff in at the same time. Currently there are 3 or 4 bags or boxes in our front hall full of stuff that needs a home and anything that is in here is just shoved on shelves and I don't know what is where because Brian carried most of it downstairs for me to get it out of the living room - Organizing the Nook is one of my biggest priorities over the next couple of months.

Talk soon,

Jackie

Not Asleep

One of the problems that is getting worse lately is I'm not sleeping - I am worried about the store and how things are - it is my weekend off and I am trying to ignore its existence for my family and me - I am far more relaxed when I'm not thinking about it. The store will be closed completely by this time next week and my life will return to normal -- whatever that is - lol?! So it is 4am and I am in the basement - what will be my scrapbooking room (and I use the word room loosely - it is really a nook) cruising around online. I haven't made any progress on the things I need to work on but will do that soon (in the next month). I need to get my head around Joseph's sixth birthday - we need a party but other than that I have no concrete plans. Anyway I will post more in the next few days I am off upstairs for a cup of tea and hopefully bed.

Good night and good dreams,

Jackie

A New Start

I have started this blog about my life post store, the things I am now making my first priority, my projects, my teaching (yes - I hope to continue to teach) and life in general.

First lets talk about where I have come from -- on Sunday we (I have a business partner) announced the closing of our scrapbooking store - after sending the email I received over a hundred heartfelt emails wishing us well - it made the whole thing very real to me in ways I wasn't prepared for. There were things I loved about the store and other things not so much - I am horrible at customer service - I don't enjoy it - my husband is continually shocked that this shocks me - lol! I enjoyed most of the people -- what i really enjoyed was teaching and having a place of my own to scrapbook and order the products that I love that are so hard to find. I haven't enjoyed the time away from home and this became magnified this fall when my oldest son started Grade One and is now in school everyday - if I teach at night or work until close on a Thursday or Friday it means the only time I had to spend with him is in the morning before school - as we rush out the door - this is not enough time with one of my favourite people. I will talk another time about my hate for mornings and lack of organization when it comes to all things early. It also means I could go a couple of days without spending any real time with my husband either. Sam is my youngest son and he doesn't start school for another year so we get to hang out during the day - but some (more than I cared for) of that time was spent at the store, doing errands for the store or with me on the computer doing store stuff.

The closing of the store is going to give me more time with the people that I care about, more time to get my life in order - confessions coming later - and more time for me! I will not be looking for a full time job - I am lucky in that I will likely be able to stay home - oddly this is something I have fought in the past but not I am really looking forward to it - I have agreed to look after two little kids during the day and will look for contract HR work but nothing full time.

Time for my confessions - my life is in disarray - my house is in chaos every room needs attention; every flat surface holds clutter and my scrapbooking stuff is everywhere. I have no meal plan, I am horrible at packing lunches my son will eat, I am over weight, not exercising and I am completely unorganized when it comes to everything. All of this is causing stress in my life and even more in my husbands life it all needs to be fixed.

Better run I hear a rambunctious three year old working on something upstairs and I better make sure it is harmless - anyway this is me and where I am today.

More later,

Jackie