In the continuing vein of home improvement, I stayed up till midnight last night cleaning out my bedroom closet! Boy, I’m feelin’ it today. I look forward to getting home so I can appreciate again my hard work.

In my last post, I made the comment that I don’t have time for reading. And now I’m going to talk about a book that I am reading. I don’t know…am I a liar or just confused! I think what I mean is that I don’t have as much time for reading as I would like to have. There, that’s better.

Anyway, the book I’m reading is called “Confessions of a Happily Organized Family” by Deniece Schofield. She also wrote “Confessions of an Organized Homemaker”. I really like her methods. When I was a stay at home mom the Organized Homemaker was a big help to me. Since going back to work four years ago, most of my organized ways have flown out the window! So I have re-read the first book and now I’m working on book two. I have to say, I’m pretty excited about making some changes. I’ve been in “reaction” mode for so long and it’s really wearing on me. In this book she really stresses the importance of goals and it’s forcing me to really focus on what I want. I’ve known for sometime that I want to work from home in a crafty way, but I have convinced myself that it’s impossible. Well, I think I’m going to try the impossible. I certainly can’t quit my job today and expect that everything is going to work out merrily, but I can start making an escape plan!

So, I’m working on writing out my goal in small, do-able steps. It’s a little daunting-I mean, who hasn’t made goals which they have failed to meet? I know I have tons and tons of them. One thing I know for sure, I don’t want schlep along doing work I don’t enjoy. Being grateful for a good job doesn’t mean it’s the only thing I can ever do. So there.

I think one of the first things I’ll work on (and have been working on) is restoring order to my home. And getting my children more involved in caring for the home. They’re plenty old enough. Dollmaking is going to have to go on the back burner for a while. I do have some projects in the works, but the main focus for the next few months will be on getting organized. I love my home sweet home, but I don’t enjoy it. I’m ready for a change.

Now, I know the intention of this blog was to be a crafting kind of place. I think the definition of crafting will be broadened to include the crafting of my life. So there may not be too much about dolls in the near future, but I will write about my efforts to get where I want to be.

One of the ideas I have in mind is a business like Nicole Ellison’s. I like the way that her dolls are simple and affordable, but oh-so-charming. As I move along in this process, I will be defining what my own craft business will look like. That’s the fun part! For now, we’ll buckle down on the basic mechanics of life!