Camp Creek Press

We are finally going to separate the boys and give them their own sleeping areas. (I can't say "bedrooms" - I'm not allowed to say "bedrooms" because, as the boys point out archly, we have no walls.) I'm a little sad about this. (sniff) Already? Already they need their own space?

So, just throwing this out there - anyone have any advice about loft beds? Jack wants a loft bed, so we're on the hunt. I think we're willing to maybe build one, too, if we could find directions online that didn't seem too difficult and that had good reviews.

Breaking up their shared desk is so bittersweet to me. Everything they've had thus far has been shared. Wah!

Jack has fallen asleep in front of the fire two nights in a row. Last night he lined up all the pillows in a row to make a bed for himself.

We are having an ice storm today, and I am sitting by the fire doing my holiday shopping online. It's sooooooo wonderful to get gifts without having to go to the mall. (Sorry, mall!) My idea of fun holiday shopping is to go once, really early in the season, with my mom and sister, with no pressure to find anything in particular, and have a two-hour lunch.

I know many good people are pledging to buy handmade this year, but please. I live with three geeky man-boys. Everything they want from Santa plugs in. And I have inflicted plenty of homemade gifts in my lifetime, most of them to my mom. (Hi, mom!) Afghan, cross-stitched mice decorating a Christmas tree (seriously), eight cross-stitched placemats with matching napkins (seriously!) (never used!) (someday I will get them back and sell them on Ebay!), etc. My sister got the clock I made out of cork and marbles. I'll let your mind chew on that for awhile.

Actually, now that I think about it, I have made a lot of gifts in my day. And I've gifted quite a few things made by others: artwork, pottery, handwoven scarves, things from Ten Thousand Villages.

This year, my money is going to Amazon and Nintendo. If it helps at all, however, I'll be making my own cookies and pies. And I'll be drinking homemade hot chocolate rather than a three-dollar Starbucks mocha latté, and doing my shopping by couch rather than car. I hope that helps offset my Nintendo footprint.

We are in the midst of a seasonal move from the greenhouse, which is cool and breezy in the warm months, to the loft, which is warm and cozy in the cold months.

I am realizing for the first time that I don't really need to duplicate things I have in these two spaces, since I really use them at polar ends of the year. I can just move things back and forth instead.

The boys are commenting on how warm and comfortable the loft is, and they are rising up the stairs along with the heat to share the space with me.

The boys want a new project area with a "big" table and two "big, comfortable" chairs. They don't like to stand while they work; they are really lazy. Like their mother.

So we are moving everything around. Am I the only person who has a fall-cleaning mode rather than a spring-cleaning one?

I spent some time going through my books and magazines for inspiration (the most important part of any project) and then I flicked through this flickr group. Some cool stuff there.

I really want this chair, but you know I want to find a twenty-dollar rip-off version.

Finally, I just browsed on flickr for "cozy", "family room", "living room", etc. Inspiration galore. Now I just have to get out of my chair and start working.

1. My habitat, 2. belly up cat, 3. Lounge is getting there., 4. the pleasure of an evening among books, 5. Ballantines Hotel Lounge, 6. Living Room from the Bathroom, 7. Just the right place to cozy up and read, 8. Small. Happy. Home., 9. Carmen in the Z Chair, 10. Digging the whole look, love the art., 11. A cozy place to surf or craft, 12. 20irish-3-650, 13. three corners, 14. walnut curves, 15. My living room, 16. The View from Upstairs Balcony

Cookie Magazine was nice enough to interview me and put a little tour of my home up on their home design blog Nesting today. Thank you, Joanna! It was really fun.

Welcome to my home!