My life? Well organized? I hear people comment to me all the time “I don’t know how you do it?! Work part time, run a business, make all this stuff. You must be so organized”. Far from it.
Since I was a kid, I have never, ever been “well organized”. I wish I was but I’m just not. My Mother used to take pictures of my room and the crazy get ups I’d wear (I was big into thrift store shopping as a kid – the wilder the outfit, the better!) and she would claim she was going to save them to show my children someday. Yep, that day has come and my kids think it’s a good laugh. As I get older, I think I’m better able to accept this about myself. That I’m bound to a life, well, maybe not so organized.
I mean, for years, I have emptied out closets and drawers, bought great little containers, and tried to color code and organize by size. And it works. For awhile. And then, before I know it, I have piles of stuff, just stuff, all over the place. And my kids, well, they are just like me. “Two Peas,” I say, “what IS THIS?”, pointing to a pile of bottle caps, little silk rosettes, ribbon and rubberbands. I’m usually told of the latest craft idea they have and how they need to keep all those things because they have an idea for later. Sound familiar? Holy moly! How many times have I said that one! “But I keep this ginormous bag of scraps honey because I have this great craft idea for later and I NEED them!”. Oh surrre!
I guess this “confession” stems from the sermon I heard in church this past Sunday. It was all about confession and how getting things off our chest will make us feel better and that God still loves us for who we are. So just because I can’t find the Brownie field trip permission slip, again, or maybe I’ve lost track of my work keys because I switch purses so often, again or I let the laundry pile up to the sky – hey, God loves me anyway and there’s SOME solace in that. (ok, I do have some heftier confessions than that but those are between me and the big guy). I mean really, wouldn’t all that organization just stifle my creative thinking anyway?! That’s what I keep telling myself at least. I mean, all that clean space, totally overrated, isn’t it?
Ok, another confession. I do still keep trying for organization. I say, I’ve accepted it yet, I do keep trying. In fact, last week while the two peas were off visiting Grandma, I took a break from my sewing machine and my day job and cleaned house. I mean, finally got piles of stuff put away, swept away the clutter and pretty much sanitized the main living portions of our house. To tell you how bad it had been for so long, the two peas came home and oh’d and ah’d about the clean spaces. And they’ve been home for almost a week now, and they have totally kept up with the clean space idea. They’ve been cleaning up after themselves brilliantly. They even asked me to pick up a few things because “they wanted to keep everything clean”. Ok, ok, ok. I get it. When an 8 year old tells you that, I guess I realize that the clean space helps them too. A clean organized space for them helps them to feel safe, relaxed and calm. It does the same for me. So, if you come to my house, it may not be the most organized. I may not have everything “show ready” but it will be creatively organized and a little bit cleaner than it has been. It works for me. Because let’s face it. A life well organized, well, I’ve made peace with how well I can organize.
On other news fronts, have I mentioned here before how our baby pea has a hair obsession? I mean, sees a stranger walking by with long hair and screams out for them. Of course, they stop and say, “oh, such a cute baby” and she knows she’s got them. She reaches out the arms and of course they say, “oh my! Do you want picked up? May I?”. Hook. Line. Sinker. She’s got ‘em. She’s up and instantly the girl has got her fingers twirling through this strangers long locks. It’s bad. It’s her baby crack. But, slowly she’s transitioning into a new obsession. It’s shoes. I mean, we all knew it was coming. She’s a GIRL, hello?! Of course, she no doubt would love shoes someday I just didn’t think it would happen this early. She’s not particular. Anybody’s shoes. My husbands. Mine. The two peas. Shoes found around at the pool. Flip flops. Heels. She’s not picky. She wants to put on her sun hat, put on a giant pair of shoes and suck her thumb. That’s pretty much a good day for her. A life well organized or cutie patootie days like these? I’ll take the cutie patootie days thank you very much.
A few new things heading out of the studio. Making some progress on patterns. Had a product photo shoot yesterday and more to come as I’ve narrowed down my projects to a set of three that I think you’ll enjoy. And so much more on the horizon.
New designs I’m working on to complete my color stories with my original portfolio and hope to resubmit before the end of the year. So that’s what’s new with us in a nutshell. How about you?
Xoxo,
Trish
**Bloggers Note** Oops, I did it again! Oh yes, left for work this afternoon and forgot my work keys, again. Shheeez!
Where do I begin? So much I want to share with you but so little time! The girls enjoyed a great spring break last week and if you were following me on Twitter you know we headed out to the zoo...in the snow. I love working at the largest university in the country - gives me a chance to network with loads of people and luckily, one of our alumni board members is a keeper at the Columbus Zoo SO, she was wonderful enough to give my girls a behind the scenes tour. We got to see exactly what she does to care for the animals and a chance to see a grizzly bear, 2 alaskan brown bears and a cougar very close! So cool! No photos to share of that as we were not allowed to take any in the back areas but...check this out!
And some cool looking birds we saw in one of the aviarys...where it was WARM.
And so on to Easter...we went to my parents house which was fun. The girls got these really cool little jackets for their American Girls from the sewing room of the easter bunny, aka 
OK, so I never did get them to stand very still for a photo but here's a few portfolio shots...you get the idea!
Does the baby look happy here? Poor thing! Her sisters love her TOO much! Well, lots of photos, not too much text. Since Easter (yesterday) one of the peas has been diagnosed with whooping cough. She doesn't look sick does she? Exactly why we had no idea...since all she had was a nagging cough. Our AWESOME doctor caught it and well, things are now quite hectic in our house so I'll be back next week with an entry about handmade stuff! (I noticed at my Moms, my sisters - dang! I make a LOT of stuff cuz it's all over their house from paintings to placemats! More on that next week!)