This month, I’m participating in Ali Edwards “31 More Things” class over at her website.  The class is an exercise in writing something every day for 31 days using simple one word prompts.  I have not been so great at writing every day, but I am hoping to catch up this weekend and post here when they are complete!  The intent is to pair writing with one photo to tell a story and to include all the writing in an album.  I am still pondering how these are all going to end up, but I’m enjoying the writing process. *and, I am not going in order!

14/31  Bedside Table (nightstand)

We bought our bedside tables as part of our cherry Shaker bedroom set.   We had just bought our first house in 1996 and I was SO excited to have bedroom furniture that matched after years of us living with our miss-matched furniture we’d each brought with us from our childhood homes.  I still love our set, it’s held up pretty well and endured cats, dog and kids and us.  The top of my table has peeled up alittle from one time when  Fred the cat knocked my water glass over, whilst trying to drink out of it and the water got everywhere and sat there for a loooong time until I noticed it and cleaned it up.  Mostly the top is covered with books and stuff anyway so I don’t notice it.

On Top 

Lamp:  I love these lamps, they were a splurge from Pottery Barn at the time I felt very indulgent but we have had them for well over 10 years now, worth their weight.  I’ve had to switch to a higher wattage bulb in my bedside lamp over the years…. eyes getting older, truly depressing.

Clock radio:  Old school, doesn’t charge anything, radio stations don’t even come in well , it’s tuned to one of our local NPR stations so at 6am, I am awoken to whatever horror is at the top of the news cycle (note to self…maybe it’s time for a change?)

Books:  First and foremost, I am a reader.  My bedside table holds the latest books I’m reading, plus what’s on deck (Anna Karenina)  Lately, I have several going at once.  I also have a stack of books and magazines that I like to pick up and flip through, mostly design/sewing/quilting/knitting books, the overflow is in a big basket on the floor

Magazines:  Love magazines!  Usually I have a copy of the NYTimes Sunday Magazine on, under or next to my bedside table, Charlie passes them along when he’s done with the cross-word puzzle.

Water:  Usually a water glass or bottle, lately I’ve been putting a glass on the floor so it won’t get knocked over…Fred the cat used to drink out of our water glasses and knock them over, since he’s passed, I don’t have a kitty to stick his whole head in my glass…If I don’t have a glass next to my bed…guaranteed to wakeup in the the night coughing and needing a drink.

Kleenex:  A must have…right now it’s on the floor

Night guard:  Evidently, I clench my teeth when I sleep so now I have the dubious pleasure of wearing a night guard, so I keep the case next to my bed so it’s easy to remember to wear it.

In the Drawers

Truth be told….I almost never look in here except for hunting for my book-light if I’m traveling.  And seriously, I’m a little scared to look in here now….

Top Drawer:  Jewelry roll for traveling (empty), book light, eye shade (2), lint roller (4), lint brush (who knew I had this much lint?!), red sweater previously worn by little teddy until dog chewed little teddy up, empty boxes jewelry came in (2), tubes of hand or foot cream (5), flashlight, newest old eyeglasses, 15 pens, pencils and highlighters (mixed). light stick, case for old-iphone that Charlie gave me and is super cute, earplugs, sachets (2), sweet card from hubby, “mom” key chains made by my girls (2), post-it notes, random receipt, AGD glass box from convention…and THAT’s where my badge went! , random fluffy duck toy, medical report from Dr., bookmark, pencil sharpener, batteries, some weird fragrance thing, tea towel (?), leather coin case that was my grandma’s that is embossed with her initials “FMT”, instructions for clock radio. glasses cleaning cloth, red band from PT, post it’s

What went back in…. one lint roller & lint brush, some pens, little teddy’s sweater, jewelry roll, book light & batteries, card, post-its, flashlight, glasses, sleep mask (1), coin case, clock instructions, card, bookmark.  Glass AGD box went on my dresser.  Everything else re-assigned or trashed.

Bottom Drawer:  This is kind of the “memory” drawer….where I keep things I don’t know where to keep anywhere else and  that I do take out and look at from time to time…

Clutch bags – Vintage from my mom and grandmom…5… they probably need to be cleaned and preserved but I do love using them from time to time.  My favorite is a pink silk poi de soie that really needs to be cleaned.  Fancy evening bags, one beaded that was my mom’s, one I picked up in Hong Kong, Two night gowns from my wedding trousseau (do people even use that word anymore?!) to be relocated to pj drawer, jewelry bags (3) one I made for my mom years ago that I hand embroidered.  My mother’s nursing caps (3) in a plastic bag…direct from her nightstand, one with a bobby pin still attached, I think two are student and one RN, Sibley’s box with beautiful silk scarf I never saw my mother wear…ever, one box from “Mr. Foster’s Remembrance Shop” in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia holding bits of lace and handkerchiefs and notes to my grandmother Triggs, straight from her desk. Extra wallet and change purse, color swatches from having my colors “done” in the ’90’s (remember that?)  Vintage found linens and net gloves and handkerchiefs (some family, some I purchased), sachet (tossed), belt to old Girl Scout uniform (!)

what went back in…everything except the nightgowns and color swatches & vintage linens (went to studio),  taking my favorite bag to the cleaners to see if they can clean.

Well, that was good for a cleaning…and an organizing…It almost feels like the top is a look forward, the top drawer is a “right now” and the bottom drawer is a “look back”.

This month, I’m participating in Ali Edwards “31 More Things” class over at her website.  The class is an exercise in writing something every day for 31 days using simple one word prompts.  I have not been so great at writing every day, but I am hoping to catch up this weekend and post here when they are complete!  The intent is to pair writing with one photo to tell a story and to include all the writing in an album.  I am still pondering how these are all going to end up, but I’m enjoying the writing process.

02/31  home

“Where we love is Home, Home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts, The chain may lengthen but it never parts”  o.w. holmes

This sampler hung in a hallway at my mother’s house for 30+ years, it was made by my Grandmother Mimi when she was a girl.  I used to stop and look at it every time I’d visit.  Now, it hangs in my home, alongside a similar sampler with a different home quote, which was made by my Great-Aunt Dot…

Home is

Home IS where the heart is.

Home is where we gather after a day of school and work and play.

Home is where we share joys and laughter and tears and frustrations.

Home is warm golden light and a roaring fire against the grey winter snow and cold

Home is dinner on the stove and faces at the table

Home is colored adirondack chairs gathered around our home-made outside coffee table on the side lawn, under the shady dogwood and mountain ash trees on a hot summer day.

Home is drinks with friends and neighbors on the screened in front porch, twinkle lights on and flag garlands moving in the breeze from the ceiling fan, clinks of glasses and creaks of wicker.

Home is where we lay your heads to read and sleep and dream at the end of the day

Home is where we all create with fiber and paper and wood and magic

Home is a pile of sleepover girls in the family room buried under quilts and pillows

Home is carpentry in the garage, making in the studio, girls drawing and coloring anywhere

Home is movie nights and show watching in the family room

Home is gathering friends and family from near and far

Home is where my people are

Home is where we belong