I am tough on headphones.  No, I’m not some extreme sports fanatic and I don’t work in hazardous environments.  The usual means for destruction is the impromptu dunk of an ear bud or two in my coffee mug.  Funny, yes, but not very exciting and having ruined at least a dozen sets over the last year or so, it’s getting a little too expensive for a full-out chuckle anymore. 

I’ve gone through various styles and price ranges.  The dollar store ear buds don’t fare any better than the $20 ones.  I’ve even dug out my JetBlue in-flight entertainment headset from my travel gear and, although they did the job for a while, they messed up my hair and I ended up snapping them in half. 

And then, out of nowhere, I saw THIS!

I’m a bit of a planner. 

Okay, that’s a huge understatement.  I’m a compulsive planner.  In fact, I’m paralyzed from action until an inordinate amount of scheming and mapping has been completed.

And that’s just to get out of bed in the morning.

It’s because of this that I find my blogging thus far a complete anomaly.  I post about random topics at a completely sporadic rate and I’ve actually been pretty much okay with that… until now. 

November 1 marks the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo ( to those in the know), or just NaNo (to those who have taken the novel-in-30-days challenge before and learned to love short nonsense words that could be thrown in just to increase word count for the day).  In preparation for this month completely devoted to novel-writing, I’ve been finishing up craft projects, doing Fall cleaning (the Florida version of Spring cleaning-we just go from “Fall” to “Hot”), trying to increase my daily time spent writing, and planning for this here blog.

During NaNo, I’ll be writing, as a goal, 1,800 to 2,000 words a day… that’s after a full day’s work.  Life is pretty much work, eat, write, sleep for 30 days so there won’t be much time for blogging and it’s difficult to switch from “candid random blog” brain to “living in the mind of characters who are growing increasingly impatient that you haven’t wrapped up this phase of their story yet” brain.   So, in order to limit the mind-splitting psychosis, I’ve decided to amass a month’s worth of blog posts before the end of October. 

Can it be done?  Not sure, but this idea triggered the internal list maker and thus a One Thread That Winds post schedule was born unto a spreadsheet.  (I speak spreadsheet… don’t judge me).

I like the idea of giving a bit of a theme to each day of the week and I’ve set a high goal of writing a post for everyday from Monday through Friday.  I’m a sucker for alliteration so here are my ideas:

• Music Monday: Album and artist review, playlists, etc.
• “Tue” Do & How “Tue”: Things I want to do and tutorials of how to do things I’ve already done
• Wanted Wednesday: Erm, sort of self-explanatory
• The Thursday Thread: Threads of thought and literal threads (knitting, sewing and other textile projects)
• Friday Finishline: Project before and afters, accomplished goals, etc.

The spaces on my spreadsheet for October and November topics are almost full and I’m formulating ideas for a holiday bonanza in December.  I’m not sure if the look on my friends’ faces upon seen my “schedule” is awe or pity… I’m just going to go with them being impressed for my own motivation’s sake.  Here’s to hoping that the planning pays off, increasing my writing and giving the site a sense of structure that it’s been seriously lacking.



Two things I’m passionate about:

1. Music
2. Freebies

The perfect combo? Free music!

Finding free music downloads online isn’t hard. The thing I find difficult is discerning what free downloads are free AND legal. Thus begins a bit of research…

I found THIS article from Last1oo.com as well as THIS  list provided by the DownloadSquad.com both providing some promising information.  Immediately I was intrigued that CNET.com provided music downloads but all provided links took me to last.fm and a search of the main CNET site didn’t dish anything up… maybe I’m just impatient?  Maybe I need an account at last.fm?  Oh well.  I call this one a fail.  Too bad, really, because I like CNET.  Exploration into the plethora of other suggested sites revealed an overwhelming amount music and information. 

Result = PARALYSIS

Naturally, when this paralysis strikes me, I head back to my trusted and loyal source of freebie music, Amazon.com.  I couldn’t possible let you read this and leave empty handed!

Here is a little shopping list for you:

Sun Hands by Local Natives

Walk Tall by Ziggy Marley

For What Reason by Death Cab for Cutie

Nat Geo Sampler by Various Artists

Got Nuffin by Spoon

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

SO…

Almost two months ago I wrote an enthusiastic post (read it HERE) confessing my undying love for Young House Love and showing you the cluttered ridiculousness that is my office/craft room/gym… basically my Me Cave.  I was inspired and had high hopes for a quick weekend revamp and, well, it DID only take a weekend. 

I suppose I should have specified WHICH weekend. 

As a little recap, my goal was to whip my current dumping ground into a functioning office, craft area, and gym all-in-one. 

Now for the obligatory disclaimer: My intent was not a complete redesign.  My main goal was to streamline and create a functional space.  Perhaps a complete decor revamp is in the future but I’m okay with good enough for now. 

Here’s a reminder of the before: As you walked in, you were greeted by a messy, yet necessary bit of storage…

And the rest of the room was, well, a mess.  The desk had become a catch-all and an inefficient closet meant lots of supplies left everywhere.

And here is after a Saturday’s work and $33:

A $3 tension rod and a curtain I already had (made by my fabulous sister) solved the ugly entrance issue.

 A $30 shelving unit from Sam’s Club provided some much-needed closet storage where there was previously only the upper shelf.

 
Taking down the folding table I was using as a desk and transferring my “office” to the old sewing desk created a lot more floor space and also reduced the surface area for the junk my old desk seemed to accumulate.  I was able to hide the router and modem in the cubby shelf of the desk and got the computer off the floor by sliding it onto a shelf of the printer cart.

This area will soon occupy a “new” craft desk… stay tuned.

Here is my “gym”; pretty much the same but now with a much better angle to the monitor so I can watch Hulu and Netflix while I workout.  Trust me, this is a big incentive.

 
And, although this was in the room before, I thought I would share my postcard mobile that I picked up at the Urban Outfitters in Chicago for some ridiculously discounted price.  Now that the room feels airy and streamlined, this seems to be much more prominent and I like to stare at it when I should be focused on the novel or whatever else I’m working on writing. 

 There you have it folks!  (I know you were holding your breath so you are officially out of your misery.)  Hopefully there will be many more household refresh projects coming soon… and knowing how much I clean when “novel-procratinating”, I’m sure I’ll be blogging about them soon!

It’s official… 

I am the aunt to the sweetest baby girl, little Amelia Rose, born yesterday at 1:57pm.  I love all 20.5 inches and 8 pounds of her.  The only bittersweet moment of the whole picture is that I am 1,414 miles away from my only sister, my brother-in-law, and my new favorite person, Amelia.  According to Google, if I start driving at this exact moment, I would arrive in their driveway in 25 hours… of course, I’d prefer to fly.

Needless to say, all I want today is a flight to Vermont… STAT.  Until I see this child, I’ll be stuck in a virtual airport waiting area.

Alas, with a lack of vacation time and a couple hundred spare dollars laying around, I’ll just have to work on my patience.  The amazing thing is that Amelia, at barely a day old, is already a Skype pro so I’ve seen little wiggles and heard the spectacular little coos only such a cute baby can make.  I’ve already assessed that she has my sister’s perfect nose and her daddy’s disposition.  I am in LOVE and she is worth the wait

Welcome to the world baby girl, Auntie Riah loves you!