Do it NOW!

Good morning!!!  Wow - I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday, but I learned a very valuable lesson. Actually, I already know this (and so do you!), but the topic surfaced yesterday and it's a good wakeup call for ALL of us. 

I taught a private lesson for someone on their sewing machine. It's actually a couple - both of them sew and I love their sewing room which has two sewing tables and they seem to have loads of fun working together. That won't happen at my house, but that's OK - I don't like sharing! Actually, neither do they! One of them has bought for "herself" a top of the line PFAFF - the creative Icon. Her husband has a smaller machine. But I think he wants the creative Icon! We told him to just buy his own! Such a cute couple. 

Then since I was in the neighborhood, I had arranged to visit with a friend whom I hadn't seen in a while. Her husband died several months ago and she's now living alone in her house. We visited on the porch so I didn't get to see the mess in her house, but she now has the task of sorting through her husband's things. Not just personal things, but papers. It's an awful job! Can you believe that you are grieving and having to deal with the thankless job of cleaning? 

And to top that off, she's also saddled with the task of cleaning out a storage unit containing things that belonged to the husband's mother or mother-in-law - I didn't quite catch which. Can you imagine what that task would be like?

So here's a lesson for all of us (myself included). NEVER - and I mean NEVER put stuff in a storage unit. Unless you live in a very small place and you rotate the stuff in the storage unit.  I have enough stuff in my own house that I can't imagine having a storage unit. Yes, circumstances sometimes don't allow for any other option, but if you avoid the storage locker, I think it's a good thing. 

The second lesson - do NOT procrastinate on cleaning up the paperwork (says she who is sitting on a bunch of paper!) Can you imagine if you had to come to my house to clean up this mess? If I don't know where to start, how would you know or my child or anyone else? Do the responsible thing and CLEAN UP now. It's going to take a LONG time so you better start. I dug out a small folder and going to make this my goal to get the paperwork cleared up. 

My folder of paperwork to deal with TODAY

Did you notice that I wrote TODAY on that caption? That means I'll have to report to you all tomorrow and if I don't make headway? Yikes- I'm my own worst boss! Or I should say the blog is my own worst boss!

It's kind of like the situation in Studio B. I've had some of that stuff for eons and didn't know what to do with it. What's my motto? If something doesn't have a home, it's CLUTTER. That's what most of the stuff in this office is. It doesn't have a home so it's clutter. Some of it might be good and most, I bet, could be tossed. 

I keep talking about it and I need to put my money where my mouth is. I need to get this DONE. I'd feel so much better and less guilty. So I have a box of stuff that can be donated - that should leave the house soon. There's a box of electronic waste - not sure if they are taking that yet. But I need to get some tidying up done. There are NO EXCUSES. 

I had another presentation last night. It was the first of a 6-part series on Quilting with your PFAFF sewing machines. What fun we had. It took a lot less time to get set up than the quilting series that I'll be finishing next week. I'm getting handy with the cameras, the tablets, and computers. Assembling the samples doesn't take long either, now that I know what I need. And I got more bookings yesterday. Let's just say that I have a pretty jam-packed calendar until the end of October. I'm very excited about these presentations. It's a great way to learn and the group last night was very excited as well. Some of the people were at their cottage, but still able to participate. Now how can you beat that??? 

I'm using three or four cameras, depending on the situation. I can do video, access the internet, and some PowerPoint slides as well as LIVE action. It's all very cool. Tomorrow is my first workshop so I'm anxious to see how that goes. 

I did manage to get the next color on all of the B arcs that I'm working on for the Double Wedding Ring. That actually took a long time to make that happen. Some of the arcs needed to be trimmed on both ends to get them ready to sew the next step on. 

Partially completed B arcs for the Double Wedding Ring quilt

Some of them only needed to be trimmed on one end. Now those sections are ready to be trimmed around the outer edge and ready for the next step when I get there. 

The B arcs for the Double Wedding Ring quilt

The arcs in the top row are those that Paula had finished. They are trimmed and ready to go. The middle row is those arcs that I finished piecing and they need to be trimmed around the outer edges. The row on the bottom still requires three more pieces. I think there are close to 40 more B arcs that haven't been started. I have enough done to make Paula's quilt, but there are enough arcs started, (along with the extra 40) to make a second quilt so I'm thinking I should forge ahead and get all the B arcs done. Them move onto the A Arcs. I mean - just get it done!!!!

Here's a task for everyone - . Actually TWO tasks. Pick some paperwork thing - a stack of papers, some filing, a box, or whatever. But you MUST commit to getting rid of the paperwork. Just toss it all in the recycling, or actually deal with it, but you MUST do something. Yep - it's easy to say that our kids can deal with it. But how responsible is that? If we can't deal with our own messes, then why do we expect someone else to take care of it for us? Get busy!!!

The second is in the quilting/sewing area. The members of the UFO group are already doing this and doing a great job, I might add. But pick ONE project - something big that you want to be finished. This should be a UFO, not a current project. Then break it down into manageable tasks, like we do with the Task Master. Schedule the tasks over several weeks. But pick something. It's so NOT fair to just leave these things sitting around for someone else to deal with. 

I'm in good shape in the quilting department - I'm making things happen and getting things tidied, but that office is another story. And it's time to stop sitting around waiting for someone else to deal with it. I don't have a lot of time these days, but then I never will. So do it NOW. 

The cooler weather means that we don't leave our back door open so the girls can go in and out as they please. They are NOT happy at all. And it means that they need a nightly walk to do their business. Normal dogs could just go out in the backyard, but not our dogs. They're not normal. They sense squirrels or other animals and think it hilarious to bark like mad! And they don't want to come back in the house. 

A very uneventful walk with Lexi and Bear. Of course, the two calm (ish) dogs. Then I take Murphy out and we are almost home when she tries to dart around a car and goes ballistic. What????? Squirrels are NOT out at night. 

Oh - but the skunks are!!! And this one was BIG. 

A skunk in the yard next door

That could have gone badly, but things ere good. He didn't even get a chance to turn around. He very warily kept eying us but did not turn around. We snapped the photo and moved on home. 

That bite on my arm is still pretty red and angry. I wonder what bit me?? It's itchy like mad, but I'm resisting scratching it! 

I've got a mini Sit n Sew today. I'm looking forward to that as I have a LOT of sewing to do. I'll be working on the Double Wedding Ring as well as my UFOs. Oh, and I have those ongoing projects. Another homework assignment is due today! It's all cut out, so shouldn't take long to get that ready. 

All in a FUN day's work!!!  Remember - you have TWO tasks today. DO NOT put them off. We need to be responsible adults and clean up our own messes. We could be dead by the end of today and who is going to clean up our stuff then????

On that "happy" note, I'm out of here. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!