January 4, 2012

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning. It's bright and clear, and will be "warmer" (mid 40s) than yesterday. The pond is almost completely frozen over now, but in another day or two it will thaw back out.
Yesterday: I did not rush to get anything done, but I did manage all the things I planned to do anyway. My "project" for the day was to clean the kitchen floor, which I did. I also managed to get off the computer long enough to do a few other odds and ends around the house. :)
Today: DH has a doctor appointment this morning, but that usually doesn't take very long (not clinic!). While out, we'll check for any refills, and probably pick up a few groceries. I don't have much else "planned", but if we get home in time I'll probably do some of the never-ending laundry. :)



I love the look of all the pretty jars of jellies and pickles!

January 3, 2012

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning. It's clear and bright, and very cold! They're saying mid to upper 30s today; it's below freezing so far, and extremely windy. The ice mountain in the fish pond has begun!
Yesterday: I didn't quite do everything on my list; but the things I didn't finish are things I have all week to complete anyway. My "main chores" of cleaning the bathroom and watering the plants got done. Last night I put a big (frozen) baggie of leftovers in a pot and made soup .. it was very yummy!
Today: Because it's so cold, I will not be leaving the house today. I don't even know if I'll go get the mail! LOL! My "main" chore is to clean the kitchen floor; and I will continue to work on getting my calendar updated for the year. Since it's such a cold day, I *might* get ambitious and bake something. :)

January 2, 2012

Good morning! It's a beautiful morning! Winter weather has truly arrived, as today will be mostly bright and clear - but only in the upper 40s! There looks like no chance of rain for another week (when, of course, it will "warm" back up again! LOL!)
Yesterday: The day was a odd mix of quiet time and frantic activity. All of the "company" was tired, so everyone but me slept very late. Once they all got up, there was a lot of confusion as all belongings were gathered to pack for their trip home. Wow, was that little car crammed full! LOL! After they left, it was quiet again, and I was very lazy. I decided I wanted to start the new year off being relaxed and calm! :)
Today: I am hoping to get myself onto a regular schedule of sorts, and not goof off on the computer all day. This is a good day to get started, so the "plan" for today is to watch the training video for a new (easier to use) computer program; finish putting away all clean laundry; put away most of the Christmas china (because it's cluttering the table now); clean one room (today will be bathroom), and water the plants.

OK, I admit, it's "fudging" a bit to copy-and-paste from my newsletter; but it still counts some, right?
Today is "National Motivation and Inspiration Day". So I'm really hoping to be both motivated to accomplish the things on my TO DO list, and inspired to create and maintain a comfortable home.




Maggie, of course, has other ideas. Every day I pick up the M&M toys and put them in a basket. Every night she pulls them out and scatters them somewhere in the house. then she lays around looking "innocent"! :)

January 1, 2012

I had thought to follow the prompts for January for NaBloPoMo. But there are two issues with that. The first, of course, being that I am really horrible at keeping up with daily blogging. I want to. I always mean to. But I already spend too much time on the computer, and the days just get away from me. The second one being that I can't for the life of me figure out how to find the daily prompt! I keep clicking on different links, but nothing takes me there. So, I guess I'll just wing it!
There is also the problem that I'm having such a hard time seeing things on the computer screen. I'm desperately hoping new glasses are going to fix that ... appointment next week.

So, without a prompt, not sure what I should be writing about; only that I should. Since it is the first day of another new year, I think I'll "think out loud" about my goals for this year.

My biggest goal at this moment is to figure out how to make the curser behave; to learn how to use "Dragon" (and eliminate typing by hand which has become more and more difficult).

During the past year, I have done a lot of changing things around in my home. Some of it was for convenience, some for comfort, some just for fun. I think (for now at least) I'm pretty well satisfied with the arrangement. Well, I may tweak things from time to time, but doubtfully anything major this year. So, for this year my big goal is to be organized. These are the areas I plan to try to work on:
1. Keeping a calendar up to date, so I acknowledge ALL birthdays, anniversaries, and don't miss any appointments.
2. Making and sticking to a household schedule that keeps me on track on cleaning, detail organizing, and still allows for fun time.
3. Paying a bit more attention to *ME* - meaning time to do my nails, to read, to sew, to blog, etc.
4. Getting a budget in line with what is realistic, and learn to stick to it.
5. Do something every single month towards being better prepared for next year's Christmas.
6. Work harder on healthy eating.

I may think of more things, but that's enough to start with.



This is the Gorgeous quilt my sister gave me for Christmas, made from antique pieces of embroidery and patchwork that match a wall hanging she has. Beautiful and precious!

Blogging November 3, 4, 2011

I don't know why I have such a hard time keeping up with this!

November 3rd:
"Can you listen to music and write? What song did you hear today?"
I rarely listen to music because the TV is usually on. If I can write with the TV on, I think I could write even better with music. But I have no idea what songs I've heard recently. Unless the one inside my head ("Mary Did You Know?") counts!

November 4th:
"When you are writing do you prefer to use a pen or a computer?"
Oh, definitely the computer. As my hands age, arthritis becomes more of an issue. Holding a pen for any length of time is hard. Typing becomes harder eventually, but not as quickly. Plus, back space is much easier than scratching out! :)

Blogging

I had every intention of doing the November NaBloPoMo ... and here it is already the 2nd. Oops.

Yesterday's prompt:
"What is your favorite part about writing?"
For me, it's *trying* to get some of the zillions of thoughts that roam around in my head down into real words. I always feel like I have a lot to say ... but I don't seem to be very good at actually doing so.

Today's prompt:
"If you knew that whatever you ate next would be your last meal, what would you want it to be?"
What an odd question! To begin with, why would it be my last meal? Is it because I'm going to die? Or is it because I'm simply not going to be allowed - for whatever reason - to eat again? There's a lot of difference! For example, if I knew I was going to die, I'd feel free to eat something (for example, something loaded with onions) that might give me heartburn, but it wouldn't matter. On the other hand, if I wasn't going to get to eat again, I'd sure choose something that would stick with me as long as possible, but that would not give me indigestion. Either way, something chocolate! I'm thinking probably some kind of pasta - loaded with butter and cheese. :) Or maybe a Hibachi buffet!
Now I wish I hadn't started on this. I'd really love to go to Papa's (not PapaJohn) Pizza for some of their alfredo!!!

Changes

I've not posted my Good Morning here since August 7th, when I changed computers and email addresses. I never heard any feed back, so I have to presume that no one noticed.
In the past year I have made many changes in my home and my life.
When I was growing up, I asked Mama what was her decorating "style" (being a snotty know-it-all teen, I was sure I knew all about decorating). She called it "early children". In later years she upgraded a lot. Well, I'm now there. Years and years of "make-do" and hand-me-downs have given way to a few nice things. I have made changes - big or small - to almost every room in the house. It also took living here more than 8 or 9 years to get to that point. Until this house, from the time I moved out of my parent's house I never lived in one place longer than 5 years.
Not in order by time line, the changes have been:
Starting outside, this year with the help of my friend we had a wonderful garden. It was (and still is) very productive! Lots of pretty things have been planted, and the yard is gradually becoming quite pretty.
Since last spring my husband has had to use a walker; and is pretty much unlikely to ever not need it. The steps were a hassle, so we needed a ramp. Well, if you have an "ugly" porch (just a cement slab), and have to build a ramp, you might as well expand it enough to have a real porch! Which I did, and absolutely love!
The first "room" is the back bathroom, and that's the one place no change has been made yet. I plan to buy a smaller profile sink to make the room more accessible for DH with his walker.
The laundry room now has the first brand new washer and dryer I've ever owned. Well, there's a year old now, but were bought new. I've also added a larger chest freezer.
In the den I replaced a falling-down entertainment center with a really nice wood 3 piece system, and also got a nice rug for in there (carpeting is yucky). Also last summer I replaced an ugly light fixture with a nice ceiling fan. Today I added some new curtains.
In the kitchen, of course there's little I can do. I won't buy new appliances in a rented house (not the ones that came with it). But I have added the most wonderful old hutch cabinet; I "upgraded" the kitchen table (vintage 50s style, huge and I love it); and today changed out the curtains.
In the dining room, I changed out an old beat up shelf to a very nice dresser. Even though it's "meant" for a bedroom, I changed the knobs and it's just perfect as a buffet. Last year I finally managed to replace old wood dining chairs with some antique ones that belonged to my grandmother (after replacing the seats and then cleaning and replacing the needlepoint seat covers).
In the living room I was given a nice cream colored wing chair. I found a nice recliner wing chair at a furniture store that was going out of business. I got a nice rug, and a pretty braided rug for the summer.
In "my" room I've made a lot of changes. I got a nice "real" desk (as opposed to a door across file cabinets). I inherited Mama's sewing table. I replaced a mish mash of plastic cabinets with a series of ClosetMaid cabinetry. I also got a very nice comfortable desk chair!
The bathroom doesn't have much I can do, but I did get a new shower curtain. :)
The bedroom has had a lot of changes. I replaced a series of unmatched open shelves with 3 large storage cabinets with doors. That alone was a huge improvement! I added a nice recliner for the days DH's not able to walk around the house very well. And, I gave away the old (big, heavy, but wobbly) bed frame and got a nice new smaller one, and even got new sheets, blanket, pillows, comforter, and bed skirt.
The guest room is still a room in progress. At one time, just over a year ago, I had a lovely guest room. But, I actually rarely have guests. I gave away a large dresser (matched the bed), and dismantled the bed. I still have to get rid of a box spring. The room now has 2 dressers (both antiques, one was my great-aunt's), a sleeper-sofa (so it can still be a guest room), a small scale recliner, and a bunch of other odds and ends. I have 2 large cabinets that need to be assembled that will go in there (and when they're done, things from the front hall shelves will be moved into the guest room/library so the front hall shelves can hold medical supplies).
All of the huge, heavy TVs have been replaced with smaller flat screens. And, I admit, I got some "toys", including a new sewing machine (because the old one is in the shop and after 3 weeks they still haven't gotten around to it).