The Need to UnClutter

When I returned home from New Orleans I had the opportunity to go through our clutter of travel toiletries. I finally had the will to throw out lipsticks I have not worn in ten years and combine a bunch of half used mini shampoos. I consolidated and straightened and organized. Now I've whetted my appetite and I'm hungry for more.

The house has too small a linen closet so I'd like to add a shelf to the upstairs bathroom to help with some of the closet clutter.

My office (read that as a room in the basement that I use as a storage place for everything I don't want to deal with now) is a grand mess of knitting, home school, gardening, art supplies, hand me downs to go to others, and outgrown clothes to keep.

Rick and I have had a cluttered attic on our radar since Christmas. It needs attention.

So does this blog. Homestead Lutheran Academy has turned into a crazy conglomeration of knitting, homemaking, cooking, and miscellaneous writings ill-fitting under the name of a home school. You may have been scratching your head and wondering about that. Me too.

Around nine and a half months each year school is a big part of my time and energy. And there are thousands of things that can be related to home schooling in daily life. So I don't think I'll be running short of inspiration while keeping this space for school, education and child related writing. It is unlikely that I'll have paid posts on this site.

Now that summer vacation is coming I look forward to writing more often and about other things, especially knitting. The state of the home, family events, the garden, stuff I'm interested in, and things that tickle my funny bone will be posted at

Insert imaginary fanfare here--

Picking Up Pen and Needle.

Since I traded in my boss for a younger model (became a mom) I've not been paid to write, so I look forward to sticking my toe in the water again to see if it is worth a dive or if I've forgotten how to swim! You're all invited over -- come and visit!

Reveal Thyself

At the end of last week The Quipper removed his mask and revealed himself. What? You want him to remove the sunglasses too? He will continue to quip at his blogs (the afore-linked, plus here and here) and in comments here and elsewhere, but henceforth he will be known as Rick.

No Fooling.

Mocking Me

Over the weekend I was forced to convert to the new blogger. I was completely satisfied with the old one, but I suspected sooner or later I would have to change. It was not a soon as I expected and not as late as I wished.

When I tried to log in, and I selected the "Old Blogger" option I was presented a screen with instructions to create a Google ID. So I got the heck out of there and tried the whole thing again. Four times. Big sigh. Oh, all right. But I'm only doing this because I have to.

Now when I go to the website to log in I am given the mocking choice:

Sign in to use Blogger

But first, where do you blog?

New Blogger Using your account

Old Blogger Using your Blogger account

Choice? What choice? I was coerced!

I heard of all the template frustrations some bloggers were having. A few weeks ago I made a printout of my current template so I could recover anything that got messed up. Thankfully, I have not needed it (yet).

Later this week I'll have to learn about labels, how and why to use them.