My last chance to post for a few days. I will become Brenda - unplugged!  The carpet guys should be here any time. The upheavable is getting to me. I can't find things or just can't get to them. I know it will be worth it. I ordered the furniture and it will be six weeks before it comes. I can have the cabinet delivered any time because it is in the warehouse and I think I will so I can start putting things away. I'm tired and this is a day I can pretty much rest as they work. Tonight my sons are coming to move everything out of the sunroom so they can do that room tomorrow. That will be a job, you saw the pictures!

Today I want to share the last of the Valentines. They are just stunning. So much prettier in person as the pictures don't do them justice. Be kind to one another. I miss coming by and that will be my priority as soon as I'm done here.

Painting is finished and it looks wonderful. They did an amazing job in such a short time. Tuesday night they left without hooking back up the cable and I had no computer or phone service and I couldn't get in to hook it up. Yesterday I found they didn't plug the washer back in and I couldn't pull it out and plug it in to do laundry! They aren't good with details like that, but the house looks nice. I have been busy cleaning up after them with drywall dust and little chunks of mud. I had just done all the walls and baseboards before they came and now I'm redoing them along with polishing the furniture from the dust. I can't imagine what the carpet people will do! Everything I own is on the sunporch, in the sunroom, bathtub and garage. I'm showing you below. It started out so nice and tidy. As it got closer to the time they were coming things just got piled in. Took a long time to find my camera.

I miss sitting at the computer and really making cards most. The housecleaning is not the fun I imagined. I mopped the kitchen and both bathrooms on my knees just to make sure they were clean. I have one more closet to empty this morning and several little things to haul out and I am ready for carpet people. Some things I had to bring back in just to live here so it will have to go as well. At least the kitchen and bathrooms are back in business. I kind of like having no stuff in the rooms. It is bare but sure is easy to dust!The first three pictures are the sunroom. You can see the three windows but the room is smaller than the bedroom. The next two are the sunporch. I have the two outside chairs in front of the furniture so I don't have to carry them around to the garage. The last two are the garage. Keep in mind I carried all this stuff out. Now you know where I have been. I can't even think about bringing all this stuff back in. It just won't happen.  I'm afraid to move the car for fear I'll run over something when I come back. Valentines next time. Be kind to one another.

Time for lunch and I'm pooped already. I will share what I have learned from this experience. I live in a 1500 + square feet home. I have 5300 + square feet of stuff, excluding furniture. I am now in crunch mode and just stuffing things I find into boxes and drawers as I go. I will never find those things again. It is going to take a long time to sort through this mess. Next thing I learned is I am a terrible housekeeper. Everything is covered in dust and cobwebs. No wonder I have coughed through this entire thing. Number three is no one should keep everything just because someone gave it to you. I have every gift, card and chochtke that anyone I know has given me.  That may be spelled wrong but the dictionary is packed somewhere and I can't look it up. Last thing I learned is to plan ahead. I gave away both loveseats and now have no place to sit in the evening to watch tv. Oops. It will take 6-8 weeks if I order furniture. My son said "Mom, make a flow chart and see how things will go". I did not take his advice but in my defense when I decided to do this, I called the painter and he said he would start tomorrow. So there was no planning involved.  Bummer.

I am going to show you some beautiful Valentines I received over the next few days and I know you will love them. Be kind to one another.

Still at it and going strong. I took  paperbacks, magazines and craft stuff, along with Bill's and my old glasses to the library yesterday and donated it. I have a lot of hardback books to take Monday. I got a lot done yesterday but there is still a lot to do. You would not know I have taken anything out of my craft room other than to clean off the bookshelf.  Actually that is all I've done in there. Going to take a break today and go to grandson's basketball game.

I have one more gift to share today. I am truly overcome with gratitude from all of you for your gifts, cards, comments and well wishes during this hard time. This was a wonderful surprise package from another blog friend who I hope to meet someday. She sent a tin of tea, beautiful candle and two Penny Black stamp sets. The stamps are just gorgeous and someday if I ever get things back to normal (well, better than normal) I hope to make a card with them. She is just the sweetest. Be kind to one another and you all are.

Poor Molly, she doesn't know what to make of all this. Our son came last night and took the loveseat out of my craft room so there is no place for her to sleep now during the day. I went and got her little bed and brought it in for her. I can't believe the mess I have created in this house! It will be nice when finished though. I am embarrassed to show you today's pictures. I have made one trip to the recycle bin and I have a second one to do today. I have at least 300 magazines I am getting rid of. It is years of Paper Crafts, Creating Keepsakes, lots of Card Creations, even a few Ivy Cottage and Paper Cuts and Ten for Ten or something like that and all the Stamin' Up catalogs and supplements. I had all my Oprah magazines that I gave to my DIL and lots of Woman's Day and Redbook. Many of them I had not read. You get a subscription and then they give you one for another magazine for $6 so you do that too. Please slap me if I get another subscription. I won't throw them away (as you can see). I try to pawn them off or rather give them away to neighbors but no one wants them. So one more trip and it will be made in our wind advisory today. They will probably blow back and smack me in the face. I worked in the garage yesterday and swept and cleaned it out so there would be room to put more stuff in. I will show you the bathtub in the guest bathroom today too. It will crack you up. That's enough chit chat, I need to get busy. I will try to pop in and visit in the evening when I finally wind down. I'm really too old to be doing all this but believe me, there is plenty for the boys to do when they come. Be kind to one another.

Thanks for your help in finding my email. I tried all the tricks and my granddaughter was here Monday night and she tried too. Everything I tried from your information and everthing she tried ended in her saying "Gram, they are gone".  So please send your emails again so I can get caught up.

If you haven't heard from me you will see why at the end of this post. I have been working hard. I have all the bags of clothing ready for them to pick up Saturday and I have been working in every room getting purged and going through everything. The dining room table is filled with give away things and the floors are covered with things to get rid of. The shelves are getting bare and all the stuff is packed and moved to the sunporch. They are things that the cold won't hurt. A lot of things will be moved to one room and back again when the painters are done. I am going to pick out the carpet this afternoon and hope they can start on the 29th when the painters are finished. My sons are coming to make room in the garage so we can store things and not have to move them twice. I have been working in the garage too and have a lot set out for the trash pickup today.

Today I have a gift to share with you that I received from a dear blogger friend. It is a beautiful angel with the most wonderful verse on it. Her wings and skirt look like they have a doily edged in gold on them. This gal has been through a lot this past year too so this gift is extra special to me since it is from her. Be kind to one another.

I don't know what to do. All my emails from February have disappeared. I have been working to get them back but I don't know how. If you have emailed me, please send it again. If you know how I can get them back could you please let me know. Thanks so much. This has never happened before and I don't know why it did today. Thanks and be kind to one another.

Happy Valentines Day. It's very cold and we are expecting 2-3 inches of snow later today. I hope everyone gets to celebrate with their loved ones and enjoy the day.

I have started the cleaning and purging. I've moved several things around and trying to make things easier when I have to move them. It is a huge job and I have to take it in small doses. I think I will keep things like they are since my craft room is pretty big and the sunroom isn't as big. It would be better suited to be a reading room with two cozy chairs and the TV. A place where my girlfriends and I could sit and chat and I could curl up and read. We'll see. Just when I thought I had it all figured out!

I had a wonderful surprise yesterday. When I came home from taking the grands home there was a box on my porch. It is a sweet Valentine basket from my sons. A teddy bear, Moose Munch, cookies and candy all packaged up. What a thoughtful thing for them to do. This will be a year of firsts and they are helping me so much. It was nice to have the grandkids here this week and gave me something to do.

I am not going to be around too much for the next month. It is suppose to be much warmer by the end of the week and I will be out there tackling the garage. There are a lot of things that need to be donated in there and they are coming next Saturday to pick them up so I need to get busy. Also need to make some room to move things out there short term. I am going to try to read blogs but not sure how much time I will have. I have some gifts that I received I want to share and a few Valentines so hopefully I will get some computer time. Here is the basket the boys sent. Be kind to one another.

The carpet guy came yesterday and measured for carpet. He said they will be going to do the closets too. Oh my gosh, I never thought of that. That gives a whole new meaning to the stuff I have to move!!. I was thinking I would put some things in the closets to get it out of the way. Now what?   I still have to go to their store and pick it out and that won't be until later this month. This week I have been watching over the grands while my son and DIL are away. Tonight they are staying overnight here since they don't have school tomorrow and we will do something then.

Today's card is a Valentine for my oldest grandson and I cased it from Audrey at http://pinkinkoriginals.blogspot.com/. I love Lawn Fawn and when I saw this card I knew I had to make it. It is great for an older "kid" and I think he will get a kick out of it. Be kind to one another.

Ok, I am on my way. I worked really hard today going through clothes and stuff. So far I have 13 bags of clothing ready to donate. I haven't gotten to the garage tubs yet or any of the shoes.  If I have time I will go through the summer clothes of mine and get those ready too. I have some plastic bins ready to start loading with my craft stuff so it will be easy to carry out and relocate. I wish we had warmer temps so I could really do cleaning in the garage but it is exremely cold here right now. Now that I have started I'm ready to go through everything and get it done. Anyone wanting to help, please email and I will send you my address!

These little matchbox holders were inspired by the ones that Colleen of  http://onesmileliftsaspirit.blogspot.com/ made. They are holding a small pack of M&M's and are going in the mailboxes with the other candy. The second one has a shiny heart that is hard to photograph. That is washi tape along the bottom.  Be kind to one another.

My son, daughter in law, and granddaughter took DIL's mother and I out to lunch Saturday. It was so nice and we had a great time. Then son, DIL and granddaughter and I went to the college basketball game. I'm so glad I went, it was so exciting, right down to the wire and they won.

I called my handyman and he and his brother came and removed the sofa from the sunroom Sunday. Today I called a group and they will come and get the recliner and lots of hubby's clothes. It has been hard going through drawers but I am doing it. I had taken all the pants and shorts out of the closet a year ago since he was no longer wearing them so they are in tubs in the garage. I have two weeks to get all of it together for pick up. I haven't been able to take the shirts out of the closet yet. That's the first thing I see when I open the closet door and it's hard knowing he won't wear them again. I am working up to that.

This morning I went to a Stampin' Up class. This gal used to have classes once a month but hasn't had one since a year ago September. It was so disorganized and she kept running back and forth to find things. She had no samples made so we didn't really know what we were doing. The cards were not pretty like they used to be, just kind of thrown together. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to going. Since I don't need anything I probably won't go again. I go for the fun of getting together with other stampers.

So happy for the Bronco's! They got the job done.

I made these little metal mailboxes for the grands. I picked them up at a sale and just covered them with paper. I will put candy in them for the kids and they will get a kick out of them. Hope your day is wonderful and filled with love. Be kind to one another.

I had a paint company come yesterday and he will send me an estimate today to paint the entire inside of the house. They will also fix nail pops, caulk around the kitchen and clear up any drywall tape that is coming undone. I am excited but the thought of moving all the "stuff" in my craft room just overwhelms me. Turns out his wife and daughter make cards also and he asked to see some of mine! He was really complimentary about them. They will paint the sunroom first for me and then I can start moving stuff in there for their permanent home. I need to get busy and pick out the furniture I want in that room. It's a shame the carpet people can't just follow them from room to room and get it all done at once without having to move everything twice. The good news is I will be able to sort through everything and purge. I have too much stuff and don't use it or don't remember that I have it.

The card I'm sharing today is an example of my "stuff". I bought a set of, I guess you would call them stickers, from QVC many years ago. It is many pages of raised stickers and at the time I was going to use them for scrapbooks. They are beautiful but that didn't happen and I still have a drawer full of them. I really love them but they didn't go with anything that I was scrapbooking so I broke them out and put a set on todays card.  A tag on the front and a strip inside. I'm truly trying to be creative and use up my stuff. It is so hard for me to get rid of things and that's why I have so much (that I don't use). I bought so many things to use for scrapbooks and never used any of it. Now I want to figure out how to incorporate it into cards and still be able to use the things I love.  I only want to put things I really use all the time in the new craft room. That in itself will crowd the room! Be kind to one another.

February - Whaaat. It can't be! I lost several weeks in January being sick but this is ridiculous. A whole month of this year gone already. Oh my goodness. Well get ready for this - I played Bingo last night and was out until 10:45 pm. I have become a social butterfly!!  Seriously, my SIL has gone before and wanted me to come with her. It was at a Moose place and we did have fun so that is my first public outing.

This card today (using pattern paper) is for my next door neighbor who I think is turning 83. I used SSS wavy scalloped stitches die and the balloon dies from them too. The popped up balloon has wink of Stella to brighten it up. Be kind to one another.