Ann Leach

You know...  all those UnFinished Objects.  The ones we are so inspired to make so we start them, and then run out of steam before they're completed. But we can't throw them away, certain at another time we'll be inspired to pick up the pieces and finish. And I promised myself that when we got back to the US, I would have no more UFOs.  None.  Nada.  Either finish it, tear it apart to make into something else, or hand it off to somebody else to finish.  And it's a good plan, but what I didn't expect to find when I unpacked the boxes left here in storage was the UFOs that I packed away.  :( An infinity scarf -- now in my defense, I actually didn't start this one until after we came back.  It was the yarn itself which I found packed in a box...  full of yarn.  Happily, I am making good time and progress on this particular project and expect to have it done in the next few days. Oh boy...  this is the beginnings ...

The final days are flying by.  But this story started 2 weeks ago on a Tuesday.  Husband was home not feeling well, and somehow we both got to poking around the immigration website to find out what we needed to do next for me to get permanent residency in Australia. It didn't take long until we reached a point where we looked at each other and said we need to go to the office.  So in the span of a half hour, we went from pajamas to fully dressed and snacks packed.  We headed over to the kindy to pick up our daughter and hit the road down to Brisbane (3 hours) to meet with an agent at the immigration office. We were stunned to learn our best bet for getting my permanent residency approved was for the paperwork to be filed back in the states, and it would take 8 - 9 months for it to be processed.  We weren't expecting that.  Not even a little bit. Should I go back by myself?  Take our daughter?  How would we manage being apart so long?  W...

If you are looking for a way to reduce food waste, get a small fridge. "What??!!  Noooo..  I need a bigger fridge to put more food in because it's going bad!!" Think about what you just said.  Really, think about it.  You already have a fridge, probably a fairly spacious one.  And food is rotting in there.  Why?  Did it get pushed to the back (rotting zone)?  Is there more than one so one is good and the other bad?  Did you put it in there with all the best intentions of eating it tomorrow? And then forgot about it? See, I know whereof I speak.  I had one of those refrigerators.  It was big!  I mean really big!  It stuck out 6 inches in front of the kitchen counter.  And I was throwing away SO MUCH FOOD!  After a while, I started filling empty milk jugs and putting them in the back on each shelf, yep in the rotting zone.  That helped.  Finally when I opened the door, I could see everything in ther...

In my life before children, I worked full-time at an office job, came home after work, made supper, and watched tv.  Weekends were the time for laundry and housecleaning.  That was my routine.  It was simple and it worked.  Everything that needed to be done got done.  It wasn't something I thought about or made a plan for.  It was just the way I had learned from my mom.  She had worked full-time at an office.  Evenings in her home were supper and tv.  Weekends were laundry and cleaning.  I learned well, right?! After my daughters were born, I stayed home with them.  And at first, it was great.  They were babies and stayed where I put them.  I could spend a whole day doing laundry.  And another day cleaning the house.  So the routine from before babies still worked..  for a while. Those babies didn't always stay on the blanket in the living room while I vacuumed the bedrooms.  So I told myself I'd do...