Both of my kids are in school for most of the day so my week days are filled with plenty of time alone. Although I love the sounds of the house when they're home, I do cherish my quiet, alone time. Monday afternoon, I listened to The Talking Heads radio on Pandora and got a little work done. Nothing fancy for me today, just comfy overalls that I thrifted from the Goodwill outlet. My day 3 crazy curls are clipped back into 2 little buns.




For the past few months, I've been paying special attention to keeping the dining room tidy and cozy. Often this area is our muti-purpose crafty/homework/fixing things/clutter drop area. When dinner time comes, the dining room is such a mess, we end up eating in the living room, which is really not ideal. Every week I replace the table cloth, I set the table daily and light candles at meal times. It makes such a difference. I even kind of love ironing the folds out of the cloths. Since my kids are still little though, I think I need to pick up a clear vinyl table cover to go over my lovely vintage ones because they have been taking a beating with little kid food spills and constant stain removers. I never buy pristine table clothes to begin with for this reason but I'd like them to last a while anyway!

After housework is done, I flip through a stack of old magazines in search of new knitting patterns to share. I share a new one here on the 20th of the month, you can get them all here or check my free patterns page



I check the clock and it's only noon so I grab lunch and knit for a while while I watch a movie. I found Jason and the Argonauts on Popcorn Flix (a free movie app) and I haven't watched that since my mythology class in high school.



While I watch part 2 of Jason and the Argonauts, I realize some of my etsy stock is getting low and I need to make some new Lucite initial brooches for my shop, Tinseltown Accessories. These start out as a strip of clear plastic that is heated, bent and twisted into shape.




I keep them clear until they're ordered and then they're hand painted with a resin based translucent paint so they don't chip. This "Q" was just painted in red and when it's done curing will get a pin back and its ready to go!  I get a few brooches made before its 3:00 and the kids are on their way home from school and then its time for homework, dinner and family movie night. This week's movie pick is Beetlejuice.