My friend P came out today to take some stuff to her house....and I felt the stress I always feel about showing someone my home. I guess it's a concern about being judged. Our homes create an impression in someone's mind...it reveals so much about us - or mine does anyway. There's nothing hidden because there is no way to hide anything. I guess that's why it's my sanctuary - but at the same time, it makes me feel vulnerable.

Oddly enough, associating with lacers has made me realize that we are much the same. There are a few that have the "show home" atmosphere, but they are rare in my circle, and it's mostly because of the husband, not the wife. I find that most are reluctant to let me in their homes.....because they have this impression that my own world will be more organized or something. Most of them still don't know. LOL! It's kind of funny how creativity is like that.....appearing messy, disorganized, in little piles. That's because our workshops are our homes. We don't contain creativity to a single room or a single corner of our lives.

It's kind of an odd perception, that because you are creative, your creativity adorns your home. It can and often does, but a lot of it adorns someone else's home instead. It used to be for my home, but that doesn't seem to happen as much anymore. I have great ideas, but no time to follow through.

I'm especially feeling closed in right now. Both sons with respective households spilling all over the place. My living room is currently half storage for one son. The other's spills out of his bedroom, into the kitchen and basement...and he has a lot stored at my daughter's. Even my refrigerator is overflowing.

My garage is not storage safe, but they have stuff out there too. For the most part, it doesn't bother me. It sounds like both will be moving out next weekend....coincidently the same time I'm going to housesit for my friend.

Then ....my house will feel empty.

I finished test-tatting the partner hearts that go with Martha's larger one. They didn't take long at all...I got both done last night as I watched a movie and even took time out to visit with my son & his girlfriend who stopped by to pick up some stuff. They are both in a friend's wedding today.

While I'm housesitting, I plan to watercolor and I plan to scrapbook. I do not plan to bring any lace with me. HA! I'm really not terribly good at scrapbooking but I want to get these organized and done with....but it also occurs to me that I really need to scrapbook my tatting. I've been putting the motifs in small photo albums....it doesn't work. I want to write about the tatting experience, show the pattern, and have the piece(s) all in one place. I think a scrapbook would be the best solution for permanent documentation. I guess I didn't know I wanted it to be more permanent until now. The problem with the small albums is that the pieces fall out...or you take them out and forget to put them back in. In a scrapbook, I can take the entire page out for certain displays and then put them back ....if I were a truly organized person. That's something I have to consider too. More ideas than time and energy is a huge issue for me.

Well...gotta do laundry and get ready for a family get-together tomorrow.