Indoor doings

First things first today - I needed a 30 minute sewing fix. My sewing machine went onto the spare table for a bit and Little Boy was happy to color on my rolling "typing" table -it is an old table for a typewritter and it is a perfect "spare" table because it is short enough to store under my regular table - makes a good art area for him when needed. My sewing machine might just live in this room for the rest of the winter - trying to heat as few rooms as possible. Last month our electric bill was $674!!! Electric heat, blah. And it isn't like we have a McMansion to heat either. Our bedroom - usually we turn the heat on 1 hour before bed to high and then turn it off when we go to bed - usually at 4 am I am cold so get up and turn it back on. Even though Austria is probably colder, our apartment there is warmer - surrounded by other apartments, on the 5th floor and facing - south - we opened our windows on a sunny day! Anyway - I am trying to consolidate our activities so we can close the doors to some rooms. So maybe this entire office re-organization is very timely! The good thing about my office is that it is upstairs so the floors are warm! Just ignore all the piles - I am still sorting!!!

*

Today I finished putting together a filing cabinet that I started this summer, except this summer I wasn't feeling well and just ran out of energy 1/2 way through the project. Here's a photo from after I got some segments together - still lots of pieces to go! Well, it was nice to have it 1/2 done when I started because it took long enough as it was! It is going to be put to immediate use. I won't have to put last years files up in the attic - they will go in the bottom drawer of the new cabinet. All my "personal" files can go in the top drawer. And my other filing cabinet will be my working files. It will be nice to have everything organized like this because sometimes I need something that is up overhead and hard to access. AND - it is important to have a seperate drawer for your own personal files when your office is in your home. But let me tell you - this took a bit of time to accomplish - even with the help of my "helper"! If you "set" the nails for him he is very handy at hammering them down! Here is the finished cabinet - fits perfectly in the closet! I USED to have a bookcase here, but that has been moved into my son's room as he likes to have his own area for his books.

*

Our week is a bit off - Little Boy had that huge fever on Wednesday... and that meant we did not get to the library Wednesday night - we went yesterday instead (they are closed on Sat. and Sun. and Thursday wasn't an option because of work). I got 2 books about scrapbooking that I am looking forward to looking through. I was anxious to get to the library yesterday because the weather forcast was c-c-cold and true to their word - it is hardly a tropical day out there... I hope to have everything sorted/organized come spring because when warm weather hits - I will be outside again! I have said before that I would like to get my photos a bit more organized this year. This week I managed to crop and frame 2 photos of one of my niece's - from oh about 25 years ago - and mailed it off to her Mom (one of my sister's). Not a HUGE dent by any means, but certainly having them framed - those photos will be enjoyed much more than stuck in one of my boxes. I even walked down to the post office in the freezing cold - sometimes you just need a bit of fresh air - oh, and I went by myself so I got to walk extra fast - which kept me warm so it wasn't that bad.

*

Thank you for all your well wishes for my son - he was fully recovered by the next morning. As a matter of fact, by 9 am he was at pre-school - although the teachers were told that he had a high fever the day before and to call right away and he would be picked up and he got sick again. But honestly, he was perfectly fine and I thought it best for him to go seeing that he was bouncing off the couch like a yo-yo at 8:30. And - he had been looking forward to the Valentine's Day party. They played musical chairs, had treats, glued hearts onto brown paperbags for art - for the cards - and came home with a bag of Valentines. No outdoor play time because the playground is sheer ice. What more can you do in 2 1/2 hours? Maybe they did more stuff, but sometimes I don't get the full story from that boy! There are 23 kids in his class (3 teachers) and he was the ONLY one who made his own cards. Hummm. Not that I am bragging or anything - Martha Stewart I am NOT, but he had a very good time making those cards and delighted in giving them out (1 went to the library). And the cards he did get - they are TINY - the companies probably get 8 or more cards to a 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper. Just curious if anyone else makes their own cards anymore???

*
*A SCARY moment -

As I've mentioned before - my son loves to play hide-and-go-seek. What child does not? His very favorite hiding spot is big boxes - and look at the BIG one we got this week. Since this photo it has been poked full of holes and turned into a "spy" box. Next trip to the dump - it will be out of here... but it has been fun. But poor me - I had a big scare this week over hide-and-go-seek. While I had my eyes closed and was counting - he went behind the couch and I heard this rustling around - so I investigated - he was trying to get into a big, black plastic garbage bag that he got out of the kitchen. I thought I would just about faint and then got to crying because it just hit me all of a sudden - all the very careful parents who lose their precious children to awful accidents. What if he had been playing with other kids instead of me? I explained all about breathing and air and everything and hence the holes all in the box - "so you won't cry when I hide in there Momma". So not like me to cry over something like this, but I think I was just in shock a bit. I remember when we were growing up my Mom would tell us not to hide in the fridge because it was one of those old fashioned ones where you pulled the handle to open it - you could get trapped in there! They don't make them anymore - probably for that very same reason - but they sure do make garbage bags. And just this summer I read about kids who hide in the car trunk and died. After I read that I started to keep the truck doors locked all the time in my own yard - just in case he decided to wonder out there to get something out of the truck and got stuck in it - without me knowing. It happens. My box of garbage bags have been moved to the very TOP shelf. Out of reach. So - just thought I would share in case any of you have little ones underfoot - move those garbage bags UP. I never thought I would turn into a worry wart, but it has happened. Amazingly enough, I escaped some interesting feats when I was a kid myself - one being jumping off the roof with an umbrella - with my nephew - thinking we could fly like Mary Poppins!

*

In my "free" time I have been studying this book... playing around with PowerPoint. It is very good, lots of pictures and easy to follow. ISBN # 13:978-1-59863-378-8 if anyone is interested. Oh - and I've been playing around with my blog format a bit! Hopefully in the next day or two I will figure out how to get Judy's weblink back in place - she e-mailed members a new code not that long ago, but for today - I am out of time!