Out With the Old

Today I unexpectedly had a full day to spend at home catching up on some tasks I've been putting off. We were supposed to drive back to LI (we were there last Sunday) for another family dinner, but my oldest was having symptoms similar to the ones she had when she had pneumonia 4 years ago, so we decided we all needed a catch-up day (catch up on rest, laundry, cleaning and organizing etc). We had a great holiday month, celebrating almost every weekend in December, and it felt like a breath of fresh air to just spend a day at home with no particular agenda.

Many of my tasks involved replacing the old with the new. Below is my new OttLite which I hope to set up next to my sewing table soon. I have a good natural light task lamp that I use to light most of my photos, but I needed one on the other side. I hope this does the trick. It also satisfies one of my 2011 goals to improve my photography set up at home.

Another thing I started was hemming and hanging the new curtains in the living room. We've had pleated shades on this window since we moved in 15 years ago, but we were tired of dealing with the cords, so when they finally broke last fall, we thought we might go with curtains instead. I found these in the Martha Stewart section at Home Depot and we rigged a wide pole to go beneath the burgundy valence that was already there. I think I like them; they let in some light, but keep out the cold, they can easily be pulled open or closed, and they add a little warmth, color and elegance that the pleated shades didn't have. I still have two more curtains to hem - maybe tonight or tomorrow.
I also decided it was time for a new purse. I tend to carry the same one through all seasons and they usually last me years. I really liked my old one (in front) but the lining kept coming up and getting caught in the zipper, as you can see in the photo. I didn't feel like dealing with replacing the lining, and I found this new bag which is very similar as far as storage goes. Now I have to find some time to sit down and move all my stuff from one to the other.
Finally, I am moving into the 21st century with my mobile phone. I've lived with a Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go type of plan for the last 5 years, and that's been fine for me, but now all my daughters have phones and it makes more sense for us to all be on the same plan. So now I have a new phone that has a camera and can send text messages much more easily than my old one. I'm looking forward to figuring out all its new capabilities (I'll have to get one of the girls to show me what all those buttons are for!).
Finally, I finished the charms I've been working on for the next swap in my Yahoo group. The theme is "All hearts, nothing but hearts." You saw the beginning steps for these in a previous post and since then I've coated them with a craft glaze and added a beaded dangle to each one. I really like the variety and unique qualities of the set. I'll be able to send them off tomorrow.
Here is a close up shot:
And this is how I packaged them for the swap. I still have many more hearts cut out that can be finished for another swap. These will fit the next one which is "red-pink-white" with silver findings. I enjoyed making them and wouldn't mind making more. But it might also be fun to make some beads out of canes of polymer clay too... decisions, decisions!