Sonja Foust, Romance Author

This weekend, we finally got around to putting away all the Christmas stuff (and me pretty much kicking and screaming). I never like to put away Christmas stuff, but this year was worse– It’s not just laziness, it’s the emotional impact of it. Christmas guarantees you time with friends and family, and a few days off to take care of things, and the hope of a brand new year. Once you put away the Christmas stuff, it feels like all that goes away, too.

So, to cheer myself up, I’m looking for decorating ideas. I have a big square shelf where the Christmas village was that I need something for. We used to have a fountain there (kind of like the one to the right, except way prettier, and pink quartz), which I loved, but it’s broken and probably won’t make a comeback anytime soon. Could do a plant, but that’s kind of boring, right? So shoot me some ideas. Stacks of pretty books? Piles of different-sized picture frames? Some kind of other fountain or statue or other big nifty conversation piece? (more…)

Well, your new hobby would be sleeping, too, if you had a bed like I have. Over our holiday break, we decided to replace our mattress (which was Robbie’s before we got married). It had a crater in the middle. You know what I’m talking about: you both roll to the center and end up cuddling whether you want to or not…

So we bought a Tempurpedic. (more…)

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In part two of this week’s closet organization rampage, I decided to tackle the front coat closet.

The front coat closet functions not only as the front coat closet, but also as the storage spot for all of my table linens and seasonal decorative hand towels (yes, I have seasonal decorative hand towels– don’t think I can’t still beat you up, though), and the extension of the pantry (which is really just a tall kitchen cabinet), and as a makeshift utility closet. It has to work extra hard because I don’t have a linen closet or a utility room or a pantry. It’s also the magical doggie closet, where her leashes and food are stored.

So I did remember to take before pictures of this one:

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I went on a closet-cleaning rampage this week.

I started with the master bedroom walk-in closet. As walk-in closets go, this one is not very big. To make matters worse, there is only one row of hanging space with a shelf above it, and nothing else. I originally started with the idea of redoing this closet this past spring. I went as far as getting quotes from quite a few closet places, but then decided that I really didn’t care enough about it to pay that much money. Plus I’m lazy. Plus Robbie would have had to install it and he’s, truthfully, a little lazy too, although not as lazy as me.

I don’t have any before pictures to show you, but I will tell you that I had suitcases taking up all the shelf space, and shoes taking up all the floor space. I like shoes. I like shoes a lot. Robbie counted them the other day and informed me that I have 40 pairs. I could go out right now and buy 5 more pairs and wear every single pair, plus the pairs I already own. I love shoes. And therefore have a lot of them. When I pointed out to Robbie that I wear every single pair, he looked at them for a few minutes and then said, “Yeah, I guess you do.” (more…)