Step Away From the Cake

 During fall break I started on a craft room renovation. It began with the purging of things. I got rid of lots and lots of things that just didn't bring me joy anymore. I was over the painting stuff. I did what I had to do and was done with that. I had some things I'd been working on for years and just never finished so out they went. It was freeing to dump so much stuff that was emotionally weighing me down. The room became less cluttered and I organized things better. Then I got a bigger heat press for my vinyl/sublimation stuff. And then, with our work bonus, I ordered a laser engraver - that will be sort of big. I had no place to put it. So I started looking at Ikea craft room hacks and found a lot of people making a craft table from these shelves Ikea sells. Great idea. Then I realized that I had two large shelving units in my room already. So I started talking with Hubby and working on how I could make those a big craft table. We brainstormed and came up with some ideas,

After giving myself the grace to make mistakes and learn and not worry about being perfect right now, my attitude has definitely changed. Instead of looking at things and seeing the flaws, I'm looking at things, seeing what I like and figuring out how to improve what I don't. For example, I have a couple of shirts that weren't the way I wanted them. So I have been looking at them and trying to figure out how to fix them. One shirt has just not come out the way I want it, so that one is now my test shirt. I will try my different techniques and things on that one. No judgement, no being upset because it's not the way I want it, just an okay, that didn't work, let's try something else. It is very freeing and allows me to just examine what is happening and not get caught up in how I feel about it.  To that end, a week or so ago I made a cup for myself, this one below.  I love this cup. It has a sea turtle and a nice saying about how life is like the ocean, I love i

 in any shape or form. I really enjoy it especially in the morning. After yesterday's brain dump, I spent some time researching laser engravers and finally settled on one. It's one that many, many people recommended so I feel confident in buying it. For the laser engraver, I need a bit bigger workspace than I have. So I spent some time searching through Ikea craft room hacks and found something that I like a lot. Started researching the pieces and realized I needed to measure my room and figure out how much area I actually had. Did that only to discover that I already have some shelves I could use for my work table. I'm going to join together 2  of the shelves that I have and make a larger work area. Now that is going to take up more room in here, so I'll need to work out how I'm going to do Supernatural because I am going to start doing that again. At least a few times a week. So yeah, journaling really helped get everything rolling in my brain. I love it.  After t

 Not even sure where to start since there are so many thoughts around it. Okay, here goes. I'm getting near the age where I will want to retire eventually. Now there are a couple of things that go with thoughts of retiring. First, I can't sit around and do nothing. That just won't work for me. I know myself well enough to know that I will become lazier and lazier. I do it during breaks, so I'm confident I will do it if I retire. So that's one thing. Next, we are not going to have boatloads of money coming in every month that will allow us to do whatever we want. Just not going to happen. We will likely still have a house payment, plus our other living expenses. And the money coming in is not going to be unlimited. So I will need something to keep me busy once I am no longer working full time. I have always wanted to make and sell crafts. I have wanted to go to craft fairs and Christmas fairs and sell items I have made. But, it takes a lot of time to not only make in