New Years Resolutions Spalutions

A year ago a friend and I decided to make a New Years Resolution. We would write in our blogs every day. If she would do it, I would do it. If I would do it, she would do it.

She did it. I did not.

Blew that one! But this year, with the move to the new place looming on the horizon, I have decided to write, so that I have a map of where I have been. A scrapbook for myself of all the...ahem..."FUN" of moving a farm.

The beginning of the move was to start this past weekend, HOWEVER. As things often do, things went wrong. I had planned very carefully to have 4, count them, FOUR days off in a row. Just so I could get over there to the new property and start clearing out the old and beginning to bring in the new, although the real move won't happen until the end of February.

But as fate would have it, my Prince Charming, as all Prince Charming's do, let me down.

My Prince Charming!

He had started having hiccups the early part of the week, so I called my mechanic and made an appointment for Sunday. What we thought was a fuel pump turned out to be a faulty crank sensor. I did not even know there was such a thing, but yeah, made total sense as he certainly WAS acting cranky.

So Christmas eve found me in the turn lane to Smith's Grocery right in front of Auto Zone. Help from a wonderfully kind Police officer, a call to AAA and a friend to pick me up, AND Prince Charming is now with Dr. Ray having surgery. But that left me without transportation for the entire four days!

Switch to Plan B.

So to start the week end out right, I worked on that driveway at the current rental house. It would be lovely to have it filled in and leveled and not drag over the trailer hitch when you leave. I had already gathered the necessary materials, so now it was just moving them into place.

I rarely think about him anymore. 'He Who Shall Not Be Named' hardly ever crosses my mind these days. Until I have to use that little red' wheel barrow. It is a lovely wheel barrow, but back when we were together, I was mucking out stalls and it had a flat tire. So he volunteered to go out and get one of those no flat tires for it. I was thrilled, because that meant I would not have to deal with it. What a nice guy! Until....

'He Who Shall Not Be Named' did come back with a no flat tire. One size too small. Why? Because the right sized one was $5 buckos more expensive, and he wanted to save money. (Rolling my eyes!)Totally makes sense if YOU are not the one pushing that dang wheel barrow around.

Know what happens when you have too small of a wheel? It does not go over all the things you need to push it over and gets caught and often causes it to tip over and empty itself in places you were not intending to dump stuff. Which is exactly what happened. I said some pretty ripe words. If my kids had used that language, I would have washed their mouths out with soap. They sounded pretty sailorish and I sincerely hope my neighbors had the television up too loud to hear me. Shame. On. Me!

I did get the drive done. But I am buying a new RIGHT SIZED tire for that silly wheel barrow. It will be getting lots of use and I do not want to be remembering bad things. That is part of my past and I do not want to live in the past.

So THAT is my resolution. From one of my favorite motivational speakers, Les Brown......

"Focus on positive choices that move you closer to your dream. Make a conscious and deliberate effort to do at least one thing everyday that represents the highest and the best in you. Keep in mind, this is going to be your greatest year ever!"

It will be. I just KNOW it.

Happy New Year, my friend.

Christmas 2015

I worked yesterday.

There were many years, when I was a single mom that others worked so I could be home with my kiddos. So I worked yesterday. It was a crazy mess with some residents going out to be with family for a few hours and others having family in. I was glad to get home.

I haven't been writing a lot this year. Things are so busy and by the time I get home, I am just pooped. So here are I am today, taking down the Christmas tree and I realize that I had not even posted photos. This will be an annual thing from now on...posting my Christmas home.

Last year it was a last minute decision to have a tree and I pretty much settled for ornaments that were left overs at K-Mart. It was okay, but really not what I wanted or envisioned. I wanted something I could build on through the years. Colors that matched my heart and were totally me. Pinks and silvers and the palest of golds. Crystal and glitter, fanciful and magical..but WHERE would I find those?

 I decided to get started in January, collecting ornaments from thrift shops. Here are the results of those forays....

 

I loved these. I bought them for the pink and silver. I put away the raspberry colored ornaments and I haven't yet decided what to do with them. Hopefully I can find a new home for them.

 

 

I fell in love with the baby pink ornaments. Pink makes me feel serene and secure...do not know why, but it just does!

 

Rose colors.....looks just like something out of my rose garden!

 

 

I also started picking up whites and champagne colors. Those Martha Stewart ornaments look like they are white, but actually, they are the palest pink you can imagine. I was not sure they would fit  with what I had envisioned, but for 2 bucks, I brought them home just in case.

 

When all was said and done, and November arrived, I had quite a collection going!

 

 

But deciding what to put them on was another matter all together. Last year I ran out and got a REAL tree from our local Tractor Supply, but I did not want to deal with all of that mess, not to mention the settling of the tree that created huge gaps and holes as the season progressed! So off to K-Mart I go and found the perfect tree.

 

 

Thank you Jaclyn Smith! I have ALWAYS wanted a flocked tree, but for some reason had never gotten around to getting one. She also had these lovely little creamy pearl garland, so I picked up those also. Then of course, I had to pick up some little things because they were so stinking cute. Carriages, ballerinas and the cutest little sparkly clip on birds with really long tails in burnished pinks, silvers and golds. I had the tree top star from last year and a few other ornaments that made the cut for my color scheme. 

 

When I got the tree set up, I looked and wondered...."Will I have enough ornaments to cover such a large tree?" But when I got all the ornaments out I changed my tune..."Will I have enough tree for all these ornaments?"

 

THIS was the result of my frugal shopping at the local thrift stores added to my Jaclyn Smith flocked tree!

 

 

At last.....after all this time I have found colors I love and can build on for the years to come! I am a happy camper. Here are some vignettes I shot of the final results...

 

 

I always have white dove on my tree. These are from last year and I got them from the Dollar Tree, 2 for a buck and doctored them up with some iridescent glitter.

 

 

Tiny ballerina, Cinderella's coach and a lovely partridge (in a flocked tree!)

 

I am not even sure where I got this lovely ivory key from...I have had it forever! Doesn't it look great next to that pale pink Martha Stewart ornament? I LOVE all the different shades of pink!

 

I had a resident a while back who was a World War 2 veteran. She was in the Army and stationed in Paris. Her honey, whom she met there in Paris proposed to her at the Eiffel tower. SO romantic! I bought these little towers at WalMart from their $1.49 wall of ornaments. I gave one to Ms. Elaine also.

 

The tree skirt came from Jaclyn Smiths K-Mart collection also. The carriage under the tree was a present from a friend long past, but it looks great there!

 

A filigree silver crown in honor of Jesus the King of Kings...

 

My glass slipper...

 

These snowflakes were some that I had gotten last year, but I LOVED the way they picked up the pinks and shined it upon the walls!

 

 

I love Christmas.

For me, it is a time of reflection.....of the year almost behind me, the grace extended to me by Christ by His supreme sacrifice, of that babe in the manger and of the beauty found in each. It has been some time since I blogged, life has indeed been busy. But the beauty of this season softens my heart and causes me to remember.

Some time ago in the bad years, I lost all my lovely Christmas collection. I used to grieve for that loss as it represented years of memories and for years I did not decorate. That time in my life found not just my collection lost but a great part of myself as well. Odd to say that even if all was returned to me those ornaments would not fit me any longer.

I have to say that in all the years I have had a tree, THIS is the one I love the most. THIS is the one I will build on through the remaining years of my life. I.LOVE.It.

Merry Christmas, my friend.