Just taking a quick break from cleaning to check in and say hello.

I blogged awhile back about my messy, messy guest bedroom being my first organizational challenge of the new year. I had expected to work on it here and there until it was organized, but finding out that we have guests coming this weekend speeded that endeavor up real fast!

Here is how the room looked before I started cleaning:

And here is the after:

Where did I put it all? Well – some of it got tossed (whoo hoo!), some of it is in my studio – there are two baskets of things that I need to sort through and then there’s a pile of magazines that I’d love to have a look through before they go into the recycling bin.

And speaking of stuff that ends up in the recycling bin… Josh was listening to NPR the other day and heard about a great website called Catalogchoice. Are you bombarded with catalogs every day in your mailbox? We certainly are. And it seems like we get the same ones over and over again, even though we don’t buy anything from them.

Catalogchoice is a website that anyone can go to, register your name and address (for free!) and then choose the catalogs that you no longer wish to receive. Catalogchoice then contacts the distributors of the catalogs and requests that your name be removed from their mailing list. According to the NPR report – it is not always effective to contact the retailer directly to ask to be removed from their mailing list – because often, the retailer is not the one sending out the catalogs – they have a distribution center do it.

I love finding easy tips for doing something positive for the environment:
carrying a tote bag to the grocery store, making my own Swiffer cleaning pads, etc.
This is an easy way to save a few trees. And you’re already online, so why not?

I’m very excited to see our guests and spend the weekend with them.

After the weekend I’ll be getting back to needlebooks and pincushions:

I’ll also be making Valentines for the Valentine’s Day swap I’ve joined.

Oh, and Katie’s Martha’s Good Things Swap is a go!
I’ve already joined and I’m looking forward to making and receiving some great Martha inspired goodies. So head on over to her blog and sign up -
you never know, you and I could be partners! : )