the 13 best things about 2013

2013 brought some real challenges, especially the deaths of two of my coworkers less than a month apart. It also brought a massive blizzard that I missed, the death of one of my cats, and the retirement of several long-term, fantastic board members at my college.

But this year also brought some really great things, things I want to make sure I acknowledge and express gratitude for.

In no particular order, these are the 13 best things about 2013:

1. My daughter earned her second master’s degree and is now the most educated woman on both sides of our family for as long as we’ve tracked our families.

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2. My son got married to a wonderful, beautiful young woman who loves him like crazy.

3. My daughter-in-law (aforementioned) got her first professional job teaching high school, and my son-in-law started his master’s degree in business.

4. Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad for blog post

5. My mother and father are still with us. As are all of my siblings and their families. I am especially grateful for our good health.

6. I celebrated my 29th anniversary with the love of my life.

7. I finished my coursework for my doctorate and will be, officially, ABD in February if I pass my comps.

8.  I saw Pearl Jam! Yep, that’s right, Pearl Jam. In Oklahoma City. And it was magical.

9. I started the corner farmhouse blog and actually made over 20 posts. That’s big, people! Big!

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10. I reconnected with childhood friends on facebook. Kids I grew up with and went to school with all 12 years (or mostly). Still the best friends I have ever had.

11. I read To Kill a Mockingbird for the 35th time and got to meet Mary Badham, who played Scout in the movie.to kill a mockingbird honors 2013

12. I got to have lunch with Carlotta Walls-Lanier, the youngest of the students who integrated Little Rock High School in the 1950s. She is a fascinating, lovely woman.

13. I turned 50 and swam a mile on my birthday; swimming that mile was the biggest goal I set for myself this year!

The pool where I swimYikes! I'm 50!

the most awesome craftroom in the history of ever, and it’s mine!

Last year, I was incredibly blessed to get a new craft room. I had a couple of spaces before, but neither were very conducive to creating. I pinned thousands of spaces, hoping to find one that felt exactly right. I found a couple of inspiration spaces that I’ll share in another post, and I began designing. My husband took my ideas, sketched out some plans and spent his whole summer making my furniture. I had one cabinet that I kept, and he refinished our old kitchen table.

I can never, never express sufficient gratitude for this work of love. It was the summer after our son moved from home for the last time (he’s married, now) and I lost my beloved beagle, Holly. The year had been particularly difficult at work, too. This room is a gift of immeasurable proportions to me.

new craft room 2 006This is the view from the door. My kitties love to craft with me.

004The cabinet is a music cabinet I bought from my college. I use it to store small notions for scrapbooking and other crafting. The cabinet beside it holds my fabric, and the cart on the other side is one I got from antiquefarmhouse.com to hold wrapping paper.

013This cabinet has large bins for fabric, pillow forms, and stuffing. The top bins hold some of my sewing patterns, backing, and other supplies. The basket in front is one I covered that holds batting and foam.

027Here is a closer look at the top shelf of that cabinet.

056This is a view from the other side of the room. I made the curtain for the closet, which has great storage space. The cabinet that holds the mason jars holds them double deep, so there are twice as many as you can see. I also have the turquoise Ikea cart to hold fabric for projects in progress. Right now I am working on a couple of infinity scarves and a new bedskirt.

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067Here is a view of my sewing cabinet. I have a simple Brother that works great, a small Brother embroidery machine, and a large Singer embroidery machine that I got for my birthday. It has a hoop size that is enormous. I’m fixing to break that baby in with some monogrammed sheets and pillow cases. I feel a little spoiled to have a great tv, but my cute builder insisted on building a shelf to accommodate it, and now I am really glad.129This is the storage in the music cabinet. My husband found one at the high school that was headed for the trash and rescued it. He is going to refinish it since it was painted and the glass was missing, but it is the twin to this cabinet.

new craft room 2 008The cabinet in the corner holds a ton of stuff, and it has three sets of doors in case I change spaces and need it in a different configuration. I can access the entire shelf, but he made sure that it was suitable for any other space if we ever move.

The cabinet next to it is on casters to ensure that we can move it if we need to access the doorway for something big. It is an incredible cabinet that holds my cricut and my silhouette machines. The top shelf holds my ribbons, felting supplies, and smashbooks in various containers.

The table and chairs are our old kitchen table, and he completely refinished them and painted them to match the rest of the furniture.

new craft room 2 001Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be posting some storage pictures later this week to show you how I keep everything organized.

I am proud to link to Miss Mustard Seed!

Have a happy day!

Shannon

my apologies and my bedroom

I’ve been missing for the last month, trying to finish up the semester. It’s like this every semester . . . you marathon grade papers and finals and any extra credit projects, and you forget to breathe the whole time. On top of that, I was finishing my last semester of coursework and attending the winter meeting for our regional accrediting agency, SACS-COC in Atlanta. I’m having a hard time remembering to breathe still, but my little blog, and my little farmhouse are about to get some attention.

A few years ago, we remodeled our bedroom, which was a converted attic. I got a wonderful closet out of the deal, but I thought I would share some pictures of the bedroom. I’ve since changed comforters and rearranged the shelves, but it gives a good sense of the space.

100_0146100_0148The shelf with the baskets now looks like this:

320323337335326339 327341Isn’t that “C” divine?! I think it looks like perfectly aged copper, but it’s a cardboard letter from JoAnn’s wrapped in foil and painted. If anyone is interested, let me know, and I can do a tutorial. I don’t know if people like things like this, but I do. I also made a pail for cat food for our outside cats. It looks wonderfully rusted. Maybe I’ll link a picture of it soon.

I will be doing my craft room reveal around the first of the year, and I’m so excited to share it with you! In the meantime, have a joyful, peaceful holiday.

. . . and have a great day!

Shannon