making good on my New Year's resolution...

...to purge, clean, and organize my craft space-- you know, that room that I could barely walk into a month ago, lol! I think it's well on its way to finally being organized and usable! I did a lot of purging to start: we have a 55-gallon recycle bin, and I probably filled it once, all by myself, with just paper and cardboard-- lots of it was scrapbooking layouts I had printed off the internet, old, old issues of scrapbooking magazines, and all sorts of cardboard boxes. After looking at it all, I realized most of it was really useless- I currently use the website Pinterest to save links to scrapbook layouts and websites I like, and most of the magazine information seemed extremely outdated (not to mention full of out-dated advertisements). So, off to the recycle bin it went! (At least 5 medium-sized boxes of random stuff went to Goodwill, as well: books, old dishes, etc., most of which I probably got at the thrift store to begin with.)

Goodwill books

Sad to say, some of the boxes I unpacked while doing this cleaning project had never been unpacked from when we moved into this house initially, over 3 years ago now. I guess that means I didn't really need the stuff inside them very bad, doesn't it?? (I did find some things I thought I'd lost, too, though, which was cool!)

assorted Goodwill stuff

The next step was to decide what crafting and scrapbook supplies I didn't want any more, and sort them out... I signed up for the local scrapbook store's spring 'garage sale' in April, where people bring in their scrapbooking and crafting supplies to sell, and get store credit for everything sold. It's a pretty well-attended event, so I hope to make a bit of money (store credit, technically), and pass some of my stuff along to someone else who will find them more useful than I did- things that no longer fit my style, or crafty things I bought intending to use them at some point, but never did. (I'm not the only one who does that, right?!? hopefully not, lol!)

scrapbook garage sale box #1

...things like old sets of rubber stamps (from back when I used to make stamped greeting cards, but I don't really do that very much anymore), rolls of decorative tape I don't really like (and know I won't use), some old bottles of glitter that I bought at the thrift store and never even used...

scrapbook garage sale box #2

...sheets of cardstock and patterned paper that I've had for years and finally decided to pass along to someone else who might use them (I mean, really- why did I ever think I'd use bright orange cardstock, anyway?!? and I know some of the patterned paper was bought back in Illinois, before we moved to AZ), stickers, assorted tags and scrapbooking embellishments...

scrapbook store garage sale books and magazines

...and a large number of more up-to-date scrapbooking magazines and craft how-to books. Hopefully shoppers at the the SB garage sale will like and buy my stuff, so I can get a decent amount of store credit for it (which I will then spend on buying new stuff, of course!! haha!).

I've also done some re-organizing in how my supplies are stored, which I'll show in my next post.  My end goal is that all this purging, cleaning, and re-organizing will allow me to actually create more scrapbook pages and cards! (It's not a very high bar to meet, considering that the last scrapbook page I created was made in May 2012, I think...) In all the time we've lived in this house, my space- and the supplies in it- just wasn't set up in the best way possible, so the only scrapbooking I actually did was when I attended a weekend scrapbooking retreat a couple times a year. I'd really like to do crafty things more often than that, so that means making my space here at home more useful! And finally, I think I'm on the way to doing just that!  (it's about time, right?!? lol!)

(And of course, there's the cat issue to consider as well: I'd really like to be able to keep the door to my craft room open sometimes when I'm not in there, which means things have to be cat-safe. If not, I'll end up finding erasers, paintbrushes, and other little things all over the house... or else they'll be lost forever under the refrigerator or stove.)

3-Day Saturday

...subtitle: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (not necessarily in that order.)

I think I should abandon the "3-Day Thursday" concept altogether, don't you? Trying to blog on a specific day takes the spontaneity (that word looks wrong, but I looked it up and I did spell it right, amazingly enough!) out of the whole blogging thing-- I just don't have the discipline to blog according to a specific schedule.

Anyway, I'll start off with "The Ugly" picture, to get it out of the way:

This is what my right heel looks like. It's pretty ugly, isn't it?? It's my own fault, though... I've tried out my new running shoes a couple times now, and I think they feel pretty good. So this morning, I decided to get up early- well, the dogs get us up early every day: their stomachs ring the breakfast alarm at 5 am- but I decided to stay up after feeding them and go walking. I set out to do 8 miles with a potty break in between, to give myself a more realistic idea of what I'm getting into when actually walking the 3-Day. Above is what my heel looked like after I finished. I knew the right heel rubbed a bit, but I don't have any moleskin (yet!), so I just decided to go for it. {now for a total aside: Tom took this picture-- he said (rightfully so) that only someone who loves you will take a picture of your blistered foot just so you can document the experience for posterity --any other bloggers out there have similar experiences??}

When I stopped back at home for my potty and snack break, I put more anti-friction powder in my socks and taped up my heel with some duct tape (I read on the internet about using it in a pinch if you don't have moleskin). About mile 4.05 (right after I left the house for the second loop around the neighborhood, actually), my heel started smarting, and my calves and legs started protesting loudly.

The Bad: a) I didn't put sunscreen on beforehand-- so, I have a bit of a burn. It was pretty pleasant outside when I started out, and for some reason I associate needing sunscreen more with the temperature than the amount of sun that's shining. Maybe it comes from all those years of living somewhere (the Midwest) with months of gray, overcast skies?

b) also bad, my attitude- I think I must have wanted to give up at least 6 times on the second loop around the neighborhood: thoughts like, "am I really sure I want to do this?" and "there's no way I can do this" were pretty persuasive, along with the nagging shooting pains from my heel.

The Good: a) I actually pushed through it, and I finished!! (I even jogged a couple times, although my overall walking pace was a lot slower the second time around.) I didn't even take any shortcuts through the neighboorhood- I did the entire 4 mile loop! I know I have a long ways to go to build up my endurance for 3 days of 20 miles each, but for me, this is going to be a lot more of a mental thing than a physical thing, for sure.

b) even greater: when I got home and took off my shoes and socks, I turned on the computer to check my mail-- just the normal check for emails from my Yahoo groups, the comic strip I have delivered to my mailbox-- nothing special. I had a very unexpected message in my inbox: I had sent a donation request letter (asking for a donation of goods for our raffle fundraiser) to one of the local stores we shop in. I was going to give it a few days and call them back next week, but the manager beat me to it: he said not only would they be glad to donate $100 in merchandise (way more than I had anticipated) for the raffle, but they're also going to donate to my fundraising campaign, too!! (woo-hoo!!!) I was TOTALLY not expecting that!! So, maybe this pain and suffering is worth it, after all...?? I definitely know it is; it's just easy to forget. (the store is the wonderfully helpful Maricopa Ace Hardware, by the way-- a really nice neighborhood store where they're glad to help you with whatever you need, and they make fresh popcorn in the afternoons.)

For me, this walk is turning out to be so much more than just a "walk." It's turned into lessons in finding out that sometimes the answer is "yes" when you ask for something. (If you don't ask at all, then you for sure won't get what you want, right? And if the answer IS no, then you just come up with plan B, because it's an important enough goal to keep on asking.) Also perseverence, and believing in myself (this one is a hard one for me, but on November 15th when I've walked 60 miles after having raised at least $3500, then hopefully I will have learned- a little, anyway).

you all have a good rest of your holiday weekend, and I'll do the same (wearing my flip-flops!!).