Sunday, October 18, 2020

Long time gone....

The morning temperatures are turning colder as fall sets in. This morning it was 33 degrees. I so love the cooler temperatures. The days are getting shorter. The leaves are turning and falling.

As I straightened our bedroom before heading downstairs to greet the day, my eyes fell on a pretty blue and white floral tea cup and saucer that made its home on the dresser. Annah went to London this past January and it was my gift from her. It was fun to FaceTime with her as she showed me the many patterns (sooo many to choose from!) and I picked the pretty blue and white floral one. 

I hadn't actually used the cup but rather I looked at it sitting pretty on the dresser. This morning as I looked at it I thought, "Why are you sitting up here on my dresser? I'm bringing you downstairs where you can be useful and bring a smile!" So down we went. The first thing I did was fill my little cup with hot chocolate and took myself out on the patio to sit and enjoy the start of a beautiful day.  

There I sat enjoying the warming of the sun, listening to the birds trills and caws, and watched leaves falling as if in slow motion, from the trees. Then I spotted the last flower of fall from my fading Clematis. With all the other flowers long gone, this beauty decided to show up to be the last lingering bloom before sleeping again till spring. 

And then there was the last of the tomatoes that I decided to grow on a whim in the summer. I planted them in pots and enjoyed an abundance of cherry tomatoes (and a few peppers). Only a few remain and then their job is done. 


Sitting outside this morning stirred in me the thought to begin my blog again. It has been a long, long time since I have published on my blog. It's been so long that sometimes I had forgotten that I used to blog pretty regularly but then I didn't. 

Life has taken us on some beautiful (and some bumpy) rides over the months that I've been away but I decided, in honor of fall, I would turn over a new leaf. :) I can't promise how often I will write but I wanted to jump back in. 

A quick catch up on things that have happened but I didn't write about....

Annah graduated high school (May 2018)







                              One week later Abigail & Daniel were married!










Two weeks after the wedding we took Annah to Brooklyn, NY where she is attending Brooklyn College. *Side note: she ended up taking a gap year so that by living there for a year she became of resident of New York state. Because she was accepted into the Macaulay Honors program, tuition is free for residents so by waiting she didn't have to take out student loans. During her gap year she worked and did some traveling.





While in New York we were able to go upstate and visit with my sister and my brother and his wife. It was a quick visit but it was so good to see them and laugh with them again! 



Leaving Annah in Brooklyn that day was sooo hard. Tim and I were crying and Annah was too. She choked out the words "Thank you for letting me follow my dream." That officially broke my heart right there on that Brooklyn sidewalk. 

As we drove away I told Tim that if she calls and says she wants to go home, we are turning around and going right back to get her! 

Minutes later a text message came to my phone. It was Annah. She sent a picture of a beautiful view from a nearby park. It was then that I knew she not only was going to stay, but that she was going to be okay. The only question left was would *I*? 

*Spoiler alert: In time I was and most days I still am. 

After the graduation, the wedding and the trip back to New York, we finally settled in at home and took a deep breath. 

Then four days later I had a hip replacement. 

Yup, can't make this stuff up. By the time of my replacement, my hip was pretty bad. I was on crutches full time for the graduation, wedding, and the trip to New York. But man did I book it on those crutches not to miss the subway!!!  We got on just in time to find standing room only (not uncommon). A nice soul offered their seat since they saw I was on crutches. Well, the subway train lurched as it started to go just as I was letting go of the pole to make my way to the seat that had been offered. That landed me on the person that I would be sitting next to!!!  Ugh -- talk about embarrassing! 

Six months later, the day after Christmas 2018, I had my other hip replaced. It wasn't planned to be 6 months later but it got bad in a hurry. 

Six months after that hip replacement, I had a knee replaced. 

Yes, 3 joints an span of a year and a half. So far I am holding my own with my good knee! 

So life moved on and while some of it was rough terrain, even rough terrain has it's beautiful moments. It's those moments that keep me going. 



Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Dear Larry

It has been such a long time since I have updated my blog! Life got very busy and blogging was the last thing on my mind. We had a graduation from high school, a wedding, our youngest head off to Brooklyn, NY chasing her dreams, and a hip replacement thrown in for good measure. All that and more happened in the course of 6 weeks! Overwhelming is not even an adequate description but it will have to do.  

As I contemplated jumping back to my blog I didn't know where to begin...until a few days ago when I came across something I saved because it made me smile.

Last September we saw that there was a new email that had come to my mother's email address (she passed away in January 2013) from someone named Larry. Tim got the job of replying to Larry to let him know that his email did not reach the intended person as my mom didn't know anyone named Larry. What follows is Larry's email and Tim's reply... :D


Larry 
how r u doing. do u see ur mom everyday?  i still feel crappy. got a bad cough yet. been trying to get some yardwork done. i think i have a red sqirrel in my furnace. should get a new one anyway. scared to test run mine. i can hear him in the smoke stack. hate to spend the money. not cheap but if i sell this house it will need to be done. my furnace is at least 30 yrs old. hang in there. thinking of u . tell deb and brian hi if u talk to them. love larry and oscar. i guess we are going to hit the sack.


Dear Larry, 
I regret to inform you that I believe you have my email address confused with someone else.  I passed away about 5 1/2 years ago and I admit that I did not know anyone named Larry.  The news about your health that you shared is distressing so I hope you are feeling better now.  Sorry to hear about the red squirrel in the furnace, things may be heating up for him soon.  My family just realized that my email address here on gmail is still active so they are shutting it down now.  I wanted you to know that this email address is not the correct one for your friend/family member.  I assume Oscar is your cat...  he is very cute.  I'm sorry I am not the right person that you were trying to reach, you sound like a nice person and I wish you well.

If I see you soon that may not be a good thing....  (heaven humor there, but I assure you things are good up here when it is time)

Best regards,
Barb (or at least her family)

So that was last September and then in November another email came....

Think I lost ur last email. Something about ur dad maybe? Had a bad day yesterday. Better today. Will try to call deb. I didnt realize we so close in age. Always thought she was younger. Tom wants me to help him with leaves but I have to get my own finished up today.  Oscar says high. Did I tell u he knows how to turn my lamp on next to my bed? Yup every morning at 7 am just light clock work. Later Larry.

Tim hasn't responded but he's thinking he wants to just to have a little more fun with Larry! :)

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Anti-haul...more cleaning out...

It's been quite rewarding to clear things away in both the space it creates in our home and within ourselves as we unload things that are nothing more than a physical burden. We want to have space and focus for the things we love, use, and value by clearing away the things that no longer fit that description for us. 

I have continued clearing the clutter in our home by playing the Minimalism Game for the month of April. Numbers motivate me. Who knew that would be the case? I surely didn't! 

I always see on YouTube people that share their "hauls" -- the things they went out and purchased and brought into their home then filmed a video to show all the "stuff" they bought. This for me is an "anti-haul" -- the things I am getting rid of instead of bringing into my home. For the record, some of the items here are things that Annah and Abigail wanted to get rid of so not all of the things are necessarily mine but I was given permission to include them in the anti-haul. So here we go....


Day 1: A cooler that served Tim well over the years but he just doesn't use anymore. We have another small cooler that is our go-to when we need it.

Day 2: How many caulk guns does one household need? The answer is one...only one. So we kept one and happily part with the other two!

Day 3: 2 unused notebooks and a dog tie out that is something 
we only used a few times when we took Ella camping with us. 
She's a little dog and surely doesn't need something that 
big to stake her out. :)Wrapping her lead around a tree works perfectly fine.

Day 4: A make up bag no longer used and 3 bandanas that the girls used for girls camp over the years. Annah kept the 2 she wanted and the rest are gone.


Day 5: Two Christmas trees the girls used in their bedrooms that they no longer want, a fall picture that is totally not my style, a mirrored tray that Annah no longer uses and an old Avon bottle in the shape of the Eiffel Tower that Annah got from a thrift store that she no longer wants. 

Day 6: 2 light up letters of A and V (belonged to Annah then she gave them to Abigail and Abigail is ready to let them go), a beat up (but cute) scarecrow that has seen better days, some fall garland that I have never used but kept for years, a votive holder that I no longer use and a stuffed pumpkin.

Day 7: 2 stuffed turkeys, a box of glittery pumpkins, 2 Christmas place mats, a bag of loose jingle bells, and one extra long glow stick. 

Day 8: 2 bags that no one claims ownership to, 2 belts, 3 phone cases and an Americana style wooden heart.

Day 9: 1 mirror, 1 makeup bag, one hair cutting cape, a black zipper bag, fall glittery gems, fall clothes pins with felt leave shapes on the end, 
a package of soccer themed stickers, a travel size pill box (had 2), 
and bag of greenish colored stones. 

Day 10: 10 various piano books that everyone agreed they don't use.
 We kept the few that are loved and used.

Day 11: 11 books we no longer use. And we somehow had 2
 of the piano simplified hymns books. :)

Day 12: A package of 12 LED tealights I bought to use for a
young women's activity some years ago.

Day 13: A box that I covered with paper and used to corral papers in but no longer need, a basket not needed anymore since it is emptied out, a plastic container no longer used, 2 toothbrush holders (from girl's camp days), a syringe bulb we had around for when Mackson lived in KY a few years ago, yet another phone case, a binder clip, a hand sanitize holder, 1 book, and 3 CDs. 

Day 14: "Real Life Organizing" book (as much as I like the gal who wrote it, I hated the book), 1 cup that once stored makeup brushes, measuring cups, measuring spoons, yet ANOTHER phone case, a blue plastic cup, a bag of silverware, a make up storage tray, 2 pot holders and an oven mitt, and 3 baggies with no longer loved necklaces in them.

Day 15:13 baggies with various necklaces and earrings in them to give away, a lip pencil not my color and a back end of a pig phone holder that in theory works better than it really does.

Day 16: 14 shirts and 2 pants all being given away by Annah.

Day 17: 10 glasses, 2 mugs, 3 paring knives that are dull and 
the basket they are all sitting in.

 Day 18: 12 gift bags (I had waaay too many!) 4 bags with jewelry in them, 1 phone case (just how many phones cases did we have??)
and a small plastic bin. 

Day 20: 1 book, 2 tote bags, 2 plastic pieces (one lid, one bottom) that no longer have their matching parts, 1 3 drawer unit I no longer use because of all the stuff I got rid of, on top of the drawers there is a nylon backpack, 1 Snow White costume, 1 lunch kit with a fork and knife (we had two), 1 sweater, 2 bags of white stones, 2 masquerade masks, 1 pair of wire cutters that no long cut anything, 1 wind chime, 1 small pink notebook, 1 pack of To and From labels, 1 magnet, 1 selfie stick.    

Day 21:1 scarf, 2 woven baskets, 2 pairs of socks, 1 pair of tights, 1 pair of slippers, 6 shirts, 1 hat, a set of 3 books, pineapple lights, a headband, a set of drum sticks gifted to Annah last summer by the drummer at an outdoor show,  a scarf hanger,a black painted board, and a flower stem. 

Day 22: 7 blankets, 4 decorative pillows, a glass jar with lid, 2 Easter baskets, 2 camp pillows, a black leather jacket (contributed to the count by Jacob) and 5 various trowels that haven't been used in a great many years.:)



Day 23: 19 hangers, a camera case, 1 plaid cape that I haven't worn in probably 20 years, 1 pair of pants, and an apron.

Day 24: 1 book, a mirrored tray, a protractor,1 white basket, 2 fans, 1 clay lamp, 12 baggies with jewelry, 2 baggies of fairy lights, a faux succulent, a 3-tiered jewelry tray, and one tube of tub and tile caulk that is has been laying around for a LONG time! 

Days 25-30: The following days began to get mixed up for my count each day as we cleaned out the garage and got rid a LOT of stuff! The pictures of the following things that we got rid of aren't specific to the number of the day but they were gathered and are gone, and more that isn't pictured! For instance, I got rid of a bin full of 37 Halloween items that I forgot to snap a picture of!

4 various sprinklers

3 watering cans, 2 metal flower, 1 Frisbee, 1 unopened hose splitter, 1 unopened replacement gas cap (to a car we no longer own), 
1 broken snow scraper, 4 sprinklers

4 pairs of gloves, 2 hats, one scarf, and 2 pairs of boots.

 1 metal pumpkin, a waffle maker, 2 sleds (radio flyer and one plastic), 2 empty boxes we were hanging onto, a baby walker, a broken ice scraper, 9 plastic containers (8 of them with lids),1 tote bag, and a small fan.

3 backpacks

 1 large trash can

An old, empty propane tank, an old broom, a broken wooden sword, a walking stick, and 2 scrap boards

4 waist packs, a string backpack, and a pink rain poncho

2 pairs of garden gloves, an outdated soil test kits, a small claw and shovel, rusted hedge trimmers, 2 pairs of rubber work gloves, 1 clay flower pot, 
and 6 different brushes 

1 jewelry box that I have had for a lot of years but after paring down what I had
I didn't something this big.

And last but not least...a lazy susan, a phone case (another one? Really??), a pad of paper, a pocket size thesaurus, gel inserts, a pair of shoe laces, 1 handbag, 6 bowls, a blue holder of things :), a metal office tray, 2 wallets, 7 books, 1 pink basket, a box that has been kicking around and the 
sequin pillow that kept track of the days for decluttering (thanks to Tim!). It now says "bye". :) 

So there it is....the second month of decluttering. It feels so good to have cleared our nearly a thousand things (and probably more!) out of our home. It was a very freeing process to go through as we accessed just what different things meant to us. There is so much that doesn't matter! Little by little we will continue to separate out the things that don't matter to make room for what really does matter...both in our home and our hearts. <3