ONGOING ORGANIZING AND SOME JANUARY DRIVEL

It doesn't sound like I lack for company in the linen closet sorting business.  Lots of you ladies admitted to sharing my dirty little secret.  No names.  Ahem.  I have to admit, as you get into the cleaning and organizing, it's sort of cathartic.  I found myself humming a bit and I never do that.  

I found a few cool things, I used to love to go through the piles of old linens at some of the antique stores we would find in little towns.  Pillowcases like these were snapped up without a second thought.  I have a few with the handkerchief closure.  Just buried and very musty smelling in this long overdo~to~be~cleaned out linen closet.  I washed everything twice.  With lots of bleach.  And I ironed a lot.  Well I did that because I left everything in the dryer overnight.  

 

I've told you, I have a thing for shower curtains.  Nothing makes my heart skip a little as when I look at my bathrooms switched up a little with a new curtain and some matching hand towels.  Sort of like how your living room might look different in your eyes just by moving the furniture or a few objects.  That can't be done in a bathroom, so this is my way of freshening things up.  

I also felt I was coming up short on hand towels so I ordered a few from Macy's, which was having a "Blowout" one day only sale.  I think I missed all the white sales this month which is odd as I get every conceivable offer from every conceivable store in my email box every day.  Maybe I mindlessly deleted them.  

So...you saw the closet "Before" picture here. And now we have this:

I left an empty spot because I have more towels in the dryer right now.  Ta Da!  Isn't this the bomb?  I tossed a lot of the old and ragged items and I found I had much more room once everything was folded neatly.  I wiped each shelf down and I couldn't believe the dust/dirt.  How does that happen?  And I know I really need to give it a fresh coat of paint, maybe even replace the actual shelves, I'm sure they are original to the house.  As in 70 years old.  Maybe in the fall.  

On a funny note, I was awoken this morning to The Husband banging around in his closet.  He had made an 8:00 a.m. trip to Home Depot and was in the midst of repairing his closet organizing system.  He has one of those kind that you spend all day putting together; wire shelves on metal brackets.  It's always falling apart.  I liked this...sort of a domino effect. :)

This is the REAL drivel.  In mid December, Abby treated me to a manicure at the shop she goes to.  An early Christmas gift.  I haven't had my nails done in years and I had actually stopped using nail polish except for very special occasions.  I don't care how much you spend or how much the brand says, "No Chip", mine starts to chip the same day.  And I despise taking it off,  I have little patience for that sort of thing.  Anyway, Abby has been getting gel manicures for a few months.  The beauty of it is that it simply doesn't chip.  Nope.  You get a good 2-3 weeks out of your manicure.  It's a layer of some sort of gel which hardens, then two coats of some sort of special nail polish and then a sort of oily topcoat.  The picture above is from my second manicure which I had done last week.  Isn't the little flower cute?  Soooo not me but I couldn't turn down the cute Chinese guy doing my nails.  I'm such a sucker. :) 

So, as proof positive about the no chipping, this is what my nails looked like right before I went last week.  No chips. but they had grown a lot and well, that's the trade off.  And that means maintenance.  And I don't like that at all.  On one hand (no pun intended), I love this sort of "armor" for my nails.  They grow fast but they are thin and they sort of snag and rip off.  And as I said, I don't like to be putting on and taking off my polish.  I'm just not sure what to do.  Pretty though.  Okay, drivel~time over.

I made a beautiful roast last week, slow cooked in the oven with carrots and potatoes and leeks, yum.  As I was getting ready to take it out of the oven, Abby declared she was in the mood for pizza, that she was breaking her diet for one day and ordering a deep dish pizza.  Of course, The Husband's eyes lit up, and then he looked at me holding my oven mitts and sort of shrunk back.  But I caved.  What's one slice of pizza?  I refrigerated the roast and the next day invited Emily and Mike over for dinner.  I reheated it and added some mashed potatoes and rolls to soak up the heavenly juices.  Nothing fancy was done with the table, it just felt good to have company so I hauled out the real napkins and silver.  

I actually walked by this slate cheese board (?) the first time when I was at HomeGoods before Christmas.  You can write the names of your cheeses in chalk.  I thought it was a little fussy.  There's nothing wrong with serving your cheese on a tray or wooden cutting board.  A week or so later (yeah, I go to HomeGoods alot!), I saw it again and then I just knew it was calling me.  I love it and have used it many times.  I always have cheese in the house, The Husband loves his sandwiches, and on my low carb/no carb diet, this is a good snack.  I love playing with everything, too.  I used some cookie cutters to make shapes.  It reminds me of when I used to make food with Playdoh when I was little.  Remember that? :)

My birthday is right around the corner.  Every year is different but I just have to do something to mark the day.  In the past we have gone downtown, other times we've gone to a restaurant with all the kids or just invited all of them over for pizza.  With Mary Clare having the baby the day after my birthday, we thought we'd do the downtown thing.  We made reservations at my favorite hotel, The Knickerbocker.  The rates are fantastic this time of year.  The Husband surprised me with a 40th birthday party here.  Oh, it was a blast.  A lot of our Michigan friends were there and spent the night.  It was a treat for them to visit Chicago and I was so touched they came.  Anyway, The Drake Hotel is across the street.  I had always wanted to stay there because that's where Princess Diana stayed when she came to Chicago back in the '90's, they have a display case with her pictures and a 'thank you' note she wrote.  And they have 4:00 high tea.  I really want to do that one day.  So we stayed there one time and I actually found that the Knickerbocker was more my taste...very European and some great restaurants and a piano bar.  So, we will be here on the 31st.  No big plans.  Elizabeth Arden is next door, I've gone there for facials and to get my hair vamped up for a night on the town but I'm not in the mood for that.   And not for shopping much either after all the hullabaloo of Christmas.  We'll see.  You can't possibly be bored in downtown Chicago!

I'm finishing up a big mug of this herbal tea right now.  The past few months have been the worst with my insomnia.  I usually go to bed after the news, then I toss and turn for a minimum of two hours.  Then I'm wide awake at 4 or 5, then I fall into a very sound sleep and have to force myself to get up at a decent hour.  I tried Melatonin as so many suggested.  It did absolutely nothing.  And it was Buy One, Get One Free at CVS so I now have a 120 day supply.  So this is a bit different from the regular Sleepytime, it has valerian root in it and that is supposed to naturally calm you.  I feel calm, I just can't turn my mind off.  I have read so many articles and have gotten so much advice, but nothing seems to work.  I hope that when I get back to the gym next week that I will burn off some of my restlessness (among other things).  

Jane x 

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