While my beloved is still tootling around the north country ...

I think he's secretly hoping it cools off here before he gets home.

While he's been gone, I've been busy doing "catch up" on 4 years of piles.

Piles of Christmas cards are now put into books.

I save the photo cards and add them to my albums.
Right now they're out in the living room, but I typically haul them out at Christmas and we ooh and aah over how everyone's families have grown and people have changed.

I've misplaced the 2008 cards, but I'll find them somewhere. I'm quite certain they're safe.

I wish I had taken a photo on Thursday.
I ran to Joanne's for Sewing with the ladies.
I thought I was running late as the crew was very small when I got there.
Joanne, Esther Forstie and myself. It grew rapidly.

Fun visiting and I have to say that I was the youngster in the bunch!

My handwork was actually my laptop ... with photos loaded from January of 2011 and ready for scrapping.

Friday I hit some super duper sale at Joann Fabrics and hauled home enough stuff that the gal at the checkout said something like, "You have a lot of different interests!"

Yes, I do.

And as I'm finally over the anxiety of my present employment status and on to the enjoyment of it, I'm adding more interests.

Anna headed to Youth Camp at Kamp Kipa on Friday.

I still haven't made it up there after being back. Soon. I will.

This is the first camp being held up there. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Tia headed off to a sleepover birthday party and I hauled out the sewing machine for a while.

Frans & Jenny visited in the evening and we managed a rousing game of Aggravation. Perfect game if you want to get riled up without thinking.

Jenny showed me her Pinterest site. Someday I'm going to take a gander around that whole world.

For now, I'll enjoy my magazine clippings and 3 ring binders, old school that I am.

I did move over to Ana-White's site at about midnight and started dreaming of building headboards and cute little benches before hitting the pillow.

Saturday morning I did a moment or two of hemming and hawing about hitting a few yard sales.
At 8:30 I decided to give it $20 and an hour. The mission took both, including 2 stops at one sale. This Sunday morning while I'm home with a sleeping teen, I have a serious itch to go back for the 3rd time. I won't. I did find one of these which I have really needed. I've really had nothing covered to haul a salad anywhere for a long time.

I was sort of on a mission to find black bookshelves, a black dresser and just the right picture frames.

I did find this one. I've been wanting to add tin to a frame and then magnetic hooks to hang jewelry. The frame is certainly in the rustic category and might work.

On a whim, I picked this up as well. While I was loading it into the car, I was imagining hanging it outside or somewhere. Kind of cute for $3. Meanwhile, the backseat is getting quite full and I'm reminded of a blog I found to share with you about Simplifying Life. Huh!

As I was heading out to the back patio to find somewhere to place this little lovely, I looked at the tag on the back. Tin. TIn? TIN! I ran for a magnet. Sure enough. It stuck like glue. I could have done a jig I was so thrilled. I had a slight detour for the afternoon and on my way home from hanging out with 6 beautiful young ladies, I stopped at Home Depot. Picked up one drawer pull knob and a bag of magnets, just to try it out and see if it worked. Magnet and drawer pull both met the glue gun and voila!  

Being the impatient person that I am regarding these types of things, I couldn't just hang it and wait for more drawer pulls. That simply wouldn't do. Nor was I going to run to Home Depot and spend a fortune on drawer knobs. I aim to hunt Goodwill/Savers/yard sales and the like to find some antiquated glass knobs or other things that would work. I went on a hunt for anything I could find that could be attached to a magnet and become a hanging device. Necessity, after all, is the mother of invention. There is a great advantage to having a minimal jewelry collection. 

Then again, maybe I'll just add some cute glass beads to cover the screw holes on some of the hooks. Maybe some spray paint to change some of them.

If you do something like this, I would recommend a magnet that is a size larger than the one I got.

I used the 3/4" magnet. It fits well behind the hooks, but it really doesn't have as much staying power as I'd like. Meaning, you can't load the hooks with oodles of jewels. Should I ever get around to fixing or replacing those hooks, I'll share.

Next on the project list .... earlier I mentioned those cute benches from Ana-White.

I found 2 of those at the same yard sale yesterday.

Maybe now you can understand the itch to go back.

I know the sander is out in the garage somewhere, I just have to try find it.

Another trip to Home Depot coming up.

I forgot to pack the polyurethane with the pepper and paprika.