Stay @ Home Update

We've been Sheltering in Place for some time now. Having never done anything like this before - and because I'm a person who goes, goes, GOES a lot - I wasn't sure what to expect. But I could have never imagined what I am experiencing. I am busier than ever. Yes, you heard that right. Many virtual meetings every single day. Cooking every single day (some days more than once). 

and. so. much. more.

I also didn't expect to feel like there was nothing much accomplished even in all the busy-ness.  AND I didn't expect to feel like my hobby is being neglected (it isn't; but it feels like it is). I don't really know how to explain that, but the feeling is real. 

In actuality I have three hobbies, each one related to the other two.

Hobby #1
Stamping (Cardmaking and Bible Journaling)

Hobby #2
Buying Stamps/Supplies (so I can enjoy Hobby #1)

Hobby #3 
Organizing Stamps/Supplies (so I can find Hobby #2 items and enjoy Hobby #1)

Last Sunday I decided to "Claim my Hobbies" and do a 10-minute Hobby #3-related challenge each day for the remaining time that we are sheltering. I'm posting these daily on Instagram but I'll do a weekly update here on my blog, too. Since I started this stay@home challenge on a Sunday, the updates will post on Sunday (at 5:00 AM). 

Now here's the disclaimer: Some of these daily challenges are taking more than 10 minutes, but who's counting, right? 

Day 1 - SUN, April 5 
My ribbon storage system was NOT working for me. The rubber bands were deteriorating and the ribbon was developing bends (okay, I'd stored it this way for probably about 10 years, but it was time for a new system) Step 1 is to do a huge purge of ribbons I no longer will use, so I purged 3 drawers of ribbon.

Day 2 - MON, April 6 
I purged the remaining 6 drawers of ribbon

Day 3 - TUES, April 7 
I purged 3 plastic bins of loose ribbon

WHEW! That was a lot of ribbon in 3 days. Now I am ready to move on to new storage, hopefully in a few days.

Day 4 - WED, April 8 
I created labeled dividers for three shelves of my Cling and Clear stamp storage (that's only about 1/3 of these bins of stamps that I own).

Day 5 - THUR, April 9 
I hate HATE making the laminated cardstock pieces that I use to attach my Cling Stamps to in my storage pouches, but I was completely out of them so I laminated 60 of them.

Day 6 - FRI, April 10 
This MESS was really an eye-sore and I was not using anything on it (other than an occasional doily) because it wasn't very user friendly. Time for a 10-minute challenge. I emptied the entire piece and purged a great deal of the items, knowing I would never use them. I kept the doilies but put them in one of the skinny drawers in my awesome drawer unit. I also saved the Bakers Twine (for now at least - I really very rarely use twine). I put it in a small plastic box that sits next to the boxed rolls of ribbon I have on a shelf. The other stuff went into my donate pile.

Day 7 - SAT, April 11 
I had many charms with no real organization so it was a challenge to know if I had a charm that would work on a card/project and exactly where to find it if I did. Today I took care of that.

I also had an organizational FAIL this week. I re-did my Stencil storage but am not liking it a bit (it is better than when they were  just piled in a drawer, but still not happy with this system). When we quit sheltering at home I'm going to be looking for an 8" scrapbook album to store them in instead.


Okay, that's it for this week. Stay tuned to see what I accomplish in the coming week.