Encroachment

My husband and I are crafters, makers... hands on people.

I do a lot with fabric, paint, concrete, wire and metal (on a very small scale) and sometimes beads. There's other stuff but it's minor in comparison to those.

Hubby does a lot of electronic stuff, works with wood sometimes, and is a great photographer. Oh yeah, and I like photography a lot too. He does a LOT of stuff on his computer and he is nuts about RC aircraft.

We are both introverts and REALLY non-traditional. In fact, he called me a "hippy" once because he considered it a complement.

Why am I telling you this? Well, we have an encroachment issue. Although, I'm not as worried about it as you might think.

Our living room has seating for about 4 or 5 people, theoretically. Realistically, only two people fit comfortably. That's because of all the supplies, and equipment (and the cat and tiny dog).

We used to make fun of how I always had my favorite chair set up as a little craft pod. All around me there are all the things I need to keep me engaged without needing to get up repeatedly. You see, the cat and dog think I am the place to sleep so every time I get up it's a whole thing. Mostly, I keep crayons and sketch pads and things like this close to hand. Plus, always have my chrome book close to hand... and a kindle and a phone.

Then, we set up some bookshelves in the living room too and I stowed a few of my craft supplies there... the ones I use a lot.

There's a small amount of overflow in the guest room but it's mostly just folded dyed fabric awaiting use. Oh wait, then Hubby set up a big workstation in there. Well, can't have that out where the cat can get into it and it's not like we have constant guests, right? Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. Harder to get to the ironing board though...

The dining room already is a craft room. It's mostly mine but we treat it as a communal space since I have a huge cutting mat and lots of nifty cutting and shaping tools and Hubby likes those. Plus, the workbenches make assembly easier. Sometimes it takes a month to get a table saw moved back outside even though it was supposedly just moved in there for the night but whatever.

Then, I turned into a giant harpy and got mad that Hubby didn't spend any time with me when he got home at night since he just went directly to his room to work on his stuff. After he decided that I might have a point, he moved his play desk to the coffee table in the living room. It's the kind that pulls up and forward to make it a good surface to eat on and stuff. Well, it turns out it makes a nice desk too. It's in front of the futon and so Hubby kind of has like the world's largest desk chair now.

I think you can see where this is going. We are gradually turning  the house into a giant craft space with a bathrooms, kitchen, and bedrooms. But here's the clincher: I don't care and I'm pretty sure Hubby doesn't either. Oh sure, we beat the chaos back from time to time and the paths between the projects get wider for a bit, but the fact is, we love our multiple craft zone dwelling.

It may not look like your living room but it's our natural habitat.

The Truth About at Least One Window Lit at Midnight

Do you ever pull into your driveway late one night when you normally wouldn't have been out at all and notice a neighbor's lights on at say, midnight? Do you ever wonder why on earth they are up that late (while simultaneously forgetting you are also still up)?

I do.  I'm a curious person. I just make stuff up in my head; silly stuff, stuff that is highly unlikely to be the real reason they are up. I'll decide they have hay that must be spun into golden thread by dawn and the only place they can do it is the kitchen because the spinning wheel won't fit anywhere else.  I'll dream up a midnight feast for fairies in return for continuing good health.  Maybe they only eat at night because they heard there are less calories then.  Perhaps they are sleep eating but they are also super good cooks and they always wake the whole house so everyone in the family just goes with it and eats when they cook at night.

Well, I know there's some perfectly reasonable explanation for it but I know it's not my business either. I really just make a habit of noticing it so I know when something unusual happens... just in case I need to call for help or anything.

The truth is, I'm one of those midnight light users. I am usually up then and seldom ever in bed before 1 AM. It just doesn't happen. My husband works a late shift and I like to wait up for him but I certainly can go to bed earlier if I like. He wouldn't really mind and he would get to bed earlier. No, I wait up for him because every dang night at about 9:30 or 10 o'clock, I get an idea.  It's a different idea every time and I've usually been stewing about it all day really. It's just that it gets to be too much to not act on about then. Usually, it involves dying something or sewing something although tonight it was pasta salad. Well ,and the pasta salad I only just thought of about 25 minutes ago. It was still a really good idea.

I'm a real loose cannon. Yup, a positive maverick. Never know what I'm gonna do next. Please.

It's really only one of three things at that hour; the computer, food, or crafts.  Pretty simple and not at all as fascinating as all the things you could be imagining I'm doing up at this hour.