Valarie with an "A"

In combining old blogs into one, this draft came across as last being updated 10/19/2012. Soooooo yeah

My new motto for 2012… a couple weeks late.

Procrastinate… that’s what I’m good at. This year I hope to change it. I realize that I will probably not get things exactly in the order I want. But I have a plan. And I’m going to keep trying to stick with it. Every time I slack off, I’m going to start back up. Make a routine stick even if it takes 100 times of starting over! I will do it this year. ……. tomorrow :P

Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else (esp. with kids) run into an overwhelming amount of stuff that comes into the house. Kids have clothes and school projects and random little toys. We have various cages and toys and filters from random pets (cat, fish, rats). I throw so much of it into the attic, but then at some point, I have to say enough is enough. Time for a YARD SALE!

But oh my, the headache that causes too. But yet again, here I am, two years after the last, planning another one. Two weeks out, we’ve color coded the kids closets.

Austin was running into the problem of his kids hangers being too small for the neck holes in his shirts, but adult hangers were too big. after measuring and looking several places online for a happy medium, we settled on these from Ikea.

Since they come in 4 colors, each kid picked two (one for long sleeve, one for short sleeve) and even though I bought several packs, they both had more clothes than would fit. That means purge time. We’re still working on this part, but it will simplify things for sure. The goal is to put into place the rule of one item in, one item out. However, that is easier said than done. I’ll be following up with some yard sale organization tips, so wish me luck!

It’s amazing what going from stay-at-home mom to working full time can do to artistic motivation.

I can’t say that. I know it’s my fault.

Anyway, here I am. Back at it… for my own enjoyment. I’ve always had an artistic outlet, and have really put it on the back burner for a while. Instead of trying to hold separate projects, photography vs. various other crafts, I’ve decided to pull everything together under one name, which my URL captures perfectly. Valarie with an “A”. That’s me, I’ll blame my individuality on my momma, starting with my less-than-common name spelling.

There will be some digital construction at first, so watch for that. And if you notice an absence, please call me out on it.

I hope to incorporate work from the kids as well, since they have developed awesome personalities and area really dying to be youtube stars. Trying to figure out how to make the name “Austin and Allie” work without getting sued by Disney. Is there any way they can owe us royalties since both of my kids are older than the show of the same name?

If you are still around and actually paying any attention to what I’ve got going on, THANK YOU!

A lot has been going on on the “studio” that I’ve not had a chance to take pictures yet. It isn’t completely finished, but I’ve gotten rid of about 10 garbage bags full of junk, I’ve given away several items and I have another box of items that are mostly spoken for (and the items not spoken for are going to good will). I’ve taken this opportunity to go through some other rooms in the house as well ( slowing down progress a little bit) and have already taken 5 garbage bags of clothes, shoes and toys to goodwill. I hope to have the studio completely finished (minus the box of giveaway stuff) this weekend, so stay tuned for photos!

Progress is being made. I’m working on the whole house this weekend, but yesterday I gave away five diaper boxes of game systems. That alone cleared out majority of the stuff behind Ashley’s desk. We talked about how to arrange the room and I’m going to get rid of one of my tables (aka junk catcher) and put our futon in there. The white table folds up, and this way it will actually be stored and easy to fetch whenever we need it, so that I don’t have to clear off 200 lbs of stuff that I neglected to put away. I don’t have any pictures for this update, but maybe by the end of the day I will.