Today is the first day of the rest of my life.....(a challenge)

    Here I am after all these months of no blogging realizing how much I have missed it. I have a void in my life and need some structure and this blog is discipline for me. So many things have been going on in my life that were certainly blog worthy but I still didn't take the time to slow down and post about them. I will regret that one day....I use this blog as my memory bank to look back and remember what year it was that there was a manhunt in our neighborhood, the season I made the best pickles or a special sewing project. My computer brain is failing me but my virtual "computer" brain is always here floating around somewhere in cyber land.

   I will start out today with an explanation of why today and then try to catch up with a regular routine of blog posts.......

WHY TODAY:

It's Monday.....need I say more?
Actually I am in a rut with no motivation....well maybe a lot of motivation but no real gumption or energy??? Not sure what my hold back is....INSPIRATION! That's what I have been missing. I know I have the www.'s and Pinterest and all sorts of inspiration out there but if I try to use those my ADD kicks in and I sit down to look up a new quilt pattern and before you know it I am baking a new cake or learning how to clean the grill the non toxic way!

Today is Monday and it's a fresh start to my week and to my new life of living a cleaner life......and in cleaner, I mean:

A cleaner more organized house.
A closer walk with God and all things HOLY!
A cleaner diet and lifestyle.
A cleaner schedule......in EVERYTHING, work, hobbies, etc etc etc.....streamlined if I may.
A cleaner life in general.

(and not necessarily in any particular order were they listed)

It all goes hand in hand....a closer/cleaner life in any of these aspects will compliment each category tremendously. I think about how cluttered my mind and body and house and schedule and life are and wonder how I have time for God. If it wasn't for all HE has done for me and my family and a very persistent preacher who holds me accountable.......well I might not even make it to church regularly!!

So I have some great big goals that will obviously have to be broken down in little bitty goals.....like maybe on a daily basis ;-) I know me! I also have this STUPID Sarcoidosis and it wreaks havoc on my body when ever it wants to....(Maybe my cleaner lifestyle will help those bouts become more and more infrequent?) So be prepared for a lot of posts for my journaling of this new life one little piece at a time as I march thru it all one little piece at a time. Who knows maybe some of you will want to join along and share tips and ideas??? That would be great if not just remember me in your prayers as I start out on living the rest of my life.......

Now as I get started on this beautiful sunny morning I will start by becoming a "list maker"!
Once my list is made I will start on my journey but I will leave you with this......

2 Timothy 1:7

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

.......to be continued

  

Somebody got my house dirty!

and that someone is going to have to clean it back up today! That is if she can muster up enough energy to do so. She has been sick again. Is there any end in sight for this bug? Please just tell me now. I can take it either way. I have a feeling that I know what the answer to that one is tho, NO!! So just go ahead and get a big ole sledge hammer and hit me really hard as to put me out of my misery!! Please!!



I know that you are as sick of hearing about this as I am of telling about it, but it's the current news in my life. I have nothing more to talk about other than my ill days, my dirty house and my wishing that I could fix both of those problems. I don't feel like sewing (takes a clear mind for inspiration), quilting (takes too much energy), gardening (raining outside too), reading (my eyes are so full of goop that my vision is blurred, probably allergies), watching TV (nothing on), cooking (takes energy), working at The Fairy's Rest (forget about it), eating (seems I have lost my taste for food today, probably allergies), etc etc etc.........so blogging is about the only fun that I can have today. I like blogging tho!!!!!



I know I did have a good day on Wednesday painting but I guess it sucked up every ounce of energy in my stores so yesterday I was a genuine thug/slug what ever you want to call me. I made it to the drug store to pick up Sambucol as my dear friend Sandra recommended to help boost my immune system. I can't wait for it to kick in. I came home and slept for 3 1/2 hours on the sofa. Then I slept for 11 1/2 hours last night. I am not going to work too hard at cleaning up my messy house today for fear of a relapse. I want to save my energy to be able to watch Danny work this weekend when he attempts to grade on the yard, if not too wet, or build the back deck all at The Fairy's Rest Retreat. I think I will go there for some R&R this weekend and watch him do all the work!! Maybe I can read that novel that I have been trying to get started. Do you think I can get by with that?

It's amazing.....

how good you can feel when you still feel so bad! You know the feeling after you have hit rock bottom but are suddenly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday was my rock bottom day and it was truly rock bottom for me. One other time have I been in a situation where I really wasn't sure that I would live to see the next day or not, and that was the day that Leslie was born. I had no idea that I would live thru labor with her nor did I feel that I was going to live thru day gazillionteen of this flu. I had chest pain so bad, I couldn't breath in or out, I had zero energy and I was making funeral arrangements!! I mean it's to be my party and I want it how I want it!!

Well Thank goodness I made it thru that horrible 24 hours and today was a lot better. Not perfect by any stretch but I have a feeling I will not be needing that red casket with white roses and carnations....for a little while longer!!

Yesterday was spent on the couch or in the bathroom but in my mind I really wanted to work on my quilt. I went to the bottom of the stairs and I would look up towards the sewing room and get dizzy and go straight back to the sofa. It felt like it was a million miles away and up hill all the way. I did make it up those, what 13 steps?? tonight and when I got to the top I needed a breathing treatment but I just sat in front of my sewing machine until I gained my composure and then I was able to find the strength to work on my quilt a little bit. I think it was in my plans to finish this up ....like ..maybe ...."soon" was the word that I used......ha! The jokes on me! This baby will take a while. Well if I ever get to set things like I had mentioned in assembly line fashion it should go together really quick.

I did a lot more cutting out and quilted a few more blocks tonight. I just had to put a few blocks together so I could see if this was going to work after all....good idea? I am very happy with they way the blocks go together.....whew! burden lifted off my shoulders here!!!! I have decided to use the rose fabric on the back and I am sashing the back with coordinates of pinks, cream and roses fabric. The front is being sashed with the Alexander Henry pear and apple fabric. I love love love this fabric. It may not be the most desirable print for a bedroom but you know I don't care! I always color outside the lines. If you come to my house and you don't like my quilt made with apple and pear fabrics just flip it over and you will have roses!!!!

I have no pictures to show you tonight because blogger doesn't feel they are worthy of being shown!! Maybe tomorrow! Thanks for all the well wishes from you guys! I don't think I would have made it thru this with you!!

I am about to get desperate here.....

I am about to get tired of this being sick ordeal.

I have been relying on store bought meds until today.

I am still eating the acetaminophen and guiafenisen sp?

with very little relief.

I have been wanting cold fluids on my sore throat.

Enough Already!!!!

So today I have resorted to the web for homemade

cold and flu remedies. Watch out! I watched The Good Witch and The Good Witches garden on Hallmark last night!! Too cute!

Yes I am a nurse but this sorta stuff always is supposed to happen to others

not me!!

I have started a witches cauldron of Vicks Vapo Rub

in my big yellow pressure cooker pot simmering on the stove.

I stood over it for a while, now I go by and take a deep breathe occasionally.

I have steeped Herbs de Provence in boiling water............yucky!!

It has lavender, garlic, lemon peel, and sea salt that I know of. I added rosemary to this brew.

We were fighting over sniffing on this stuff for a while!!!!

Good stuff!!

I became very aware of the bases of my lungs!!!!!!!! woowoooo!!!!

That's a really good feeling!

I also felt the outer layer of my brain at one time because I took such a good sniff!

Talk about a head rush.

I have sipped on hot tea all day too.

I have got to whip this stuff before it whips me.

I have a quilt to finish.

Not too much done in that dept yet today, I have done some more cutting and I have several blocks quilted.

I need to get me an assembly line of sorts started in order to whip these blocks out.

I hate to say it but this flu has stepped in and hindered my plans for that happening yet.

I am armed and ready though.

I will be gargling with the concoction that I have brewed up.

We may never have to worry about being kissed again due to bad breath but it will all be worth it to get rid of the cooties around here.

I also can't wait for a warm dry day to be able to open the windows and fumigate the home.

I always have to do that after we have been sick.

Out with the old stagnant air and in with the fresh new air!

What sort of advise do you guys have for us?

Please don't tell me to use this Onion Syrup!!

Please stay well!!

You can not teach an old dog new tricks.....

Well maybe you can teach and old "dog" new tricks but not an old "lady" like myself. You have all heard the old saying "Set in their ways". Yep by the time a woman turns 40 she is set in her ways and she stays like that til she is dead and gone. Whether it be because she is old or senile she can't take change and run with it.

~

With that being said......I have been working on my kitchen project and this has included some very serious deep cleaning. Cleaning out drawers. Junk drawers and other drawers that had other purposes in the beginning but ended up being junk drawers. I worked as a nurse for the past 10 years and 4 years prior to that as a CNA and I always kept a roll of tape in my pocket at all times while working. This was good tape!! I tried to remember to leave it in my locker at work or in my tote bag so that I could take it back the next day. However over the 14 years there seemed to be a lot of this tape that was found throughout my house and car or truck and pocket books. I use this tape all the time for all sorts of various jobs around the house. Bandaging my husband after he split his finger wide open yesterday while putting wood in the stove. (Clutz, I am wearing off on him) Labeling things, you name it I have got the supply of tape for the job!!!

~

In my cleaning frenzy I found about 12 rolls of said tape and since I was totally rearranging and organizing things I had to think of the perfect place for my tape to be kept and put it there. In less than one minute I needed a piece of tape to hold down a roll of drawer paper that I was cutting for a drawer and I turned back to the one drawer that used to hold at least one roll of tape at all times, and it was not there..........I had to search for 5 minutes trying to remember where I just put all this tape. I will never be able to find anything again!!!

~

Of course this comes maybe 30 minutes after hanging all my pots back up on my pot rack in the kitchen. The pot rack is directly over the kitchen island in the middle of the kitchen. As I hung the very last really heavy pot up I thought about how it would be really bad if one of us ran into these pots before I got the island moved back in. Within about 30 seconds from hanging the last pot up, I thought of something to do in the other room and I took off looking down at my feet and....BAM!!! I hit that last big heavy pot with the entire top of my head. It almost knocked me down to the floor. I saw some really pretty stars in some really pretty colors!!!! Maybe that explains the tape story??? Maybe not I think it's just everyday life for me to be forgetful and set in my ways!!

~

At least I didn't move my barn off it's foundation like Leslie did last summer. We were in my barn talking to each other and she turned around and hit my barn door so hard that it literally moved my barn. We can laugh about that one now but it wasn't really funny right at the time. Good thing she took after me and has a hard head!!!!

~

I have to share something with all you guys right now........get ready for some chills to run up your backs...............my husbands job has been very secure for him, not everyone in the company but he is a very hard worker and can do and will do anything that they ask him to do. Work ethics like that pays off in hard times too. They will find him work when others are begging to get out of working. However I am feeling an erie feeling in the back of my mind about the" what if's". In this horrible economy I am feeling a little selfish because I do have a nursing license and am not putting it to use and I am not contributing to the household finances at all. I am just on the decorating committee and I am the the grounds keeper/gardener, cook, company nurse, bookkeeper, personal shopper, laundry aid, dairy herdsman and many other duties that I can't even think of right now.

~

All this time that I have been feeling that way I still wouldn't even think about going back to work. Until last night when I decided to look at our local newspapers online classified. I saw one job that peaked my interest, an office position in a surgeons office only 2 days a week for 8 hour shifts. I did not apply. Just now as I was typing this post, I mean a couple minutes ago in real time.......my phone rang and it was a call from a home health agency that I used to do some part time work for. I am not on their payroll anymore so I wondered what they would want with me.................. It was a new recruiter and he asked me if I had Peds experience...."Yes, inpatient peds and peds ER".....do you have ventilator experience?...."Yes, I worked ICU/CCU with vents".........Do you want a case about 15 miles from your home? Part time or full time? ......................................................................I have an interview tomorrow morning!!!!! I can set my own hours because this is a new case that is being set up!!!!!!!!

Doesn't the Lord work in mysterious ways?

This could help.......

I have been trying to rid myself of cabin fever and today I think I did a pretty fair job at it!!!!! I went shopping and shopped til I dropped....literally dropped on the sofa as soon as I unloaded the truck! It didn't start out to be a day of real shopping only a day to run errands, bank, returns to JC Penny's..........oh that's where it got started!!!! Keep me out of a store!!

Right before Christmas I treated myself to a pair of earrings that I thought I just couldn't do without. As it turns out I could do better without them! So I returned them today. I had decided before I left home that I would try to remember and look for bed pillows if I went to a store that carried them. I needed several for The Fairy's Rest. After returning the earrings I remembered pillows and ventured into the home goods section at JC Penny. Well Katie bar the door....they were having their annual white sale!!!!

I came out of the store with a wide load sticker across my forehead.......I was carrying 8 bed pillows, (that's 8 'good' bed pillows cause I am very picky about my pillows and sheets) a king size set of 500 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and a full size Velux blanket............OMG What a sale!!!! I got all of these for $103......pretty darned good considering the sheets them self retailed for $100!!!!!!! Then I had $52 back from the earrings.......so it was like all of this only cost me $51.........SWEET!!!!

So that justified me going to the fabric store, right? I mean I had already saved $127 plus the $52 I think I could spend $179 on fabric...........But I didn't!! I was a pretty good girl there........I was thinking of all my UFO's that I already have at home! I mainly went for inspiration!

However I couldn't resist buying this pattern. It is a bag made out of cotton clothesline rope that is covered in fabric. It makes a stiff bag and is really cool. I saw this pattern and a couple of the bags made up a while back and I thought I could figure it out on my own but I never could. So I broke down and bought the pattern today, came home read it and .......light bulb........... I can make that.......... but I don't have clothesline......so off we went to our 2 local convenience stores looking for good ole cheap clothesline rope and of course they didn't have any so I talked the dearest husband into riding with me on a rainy foggy New Years Eve night into the next county to Family Dollar to get it. They had it there so I bought 4 rolls........in anticipation of this actually being as easy to make as it looks ;-).......if so I want several of them!!!!! I can't wait to get it started tomorrow!!!!

Here we are at the end of 2009. I am not going to sit here and reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly of 2009. It certainly has been one to go down in history for me, loaded with good and bad. But hey life is what you make of it, right? Have lemons....make lemonade!!!!! I like lemonade!!!

I really hope all of you have a wonderful New Year. I hope 2010 brings all of you happiness and good fortune. I wish you all good health and lots of wisdom in the coming year!! tehhee...I wish the same for me.....hehehe ...........I am not going to make a resolution list full of hogwash that's always a waste of time! LOL!!!! I do however have a couple silent prayer requests that I have asked the Lord to help me follow through with in the coming year!

Goodnight! See you next year!!

Go out and get all the men in your life some Levi's for Christmas!

Click to enlarge this and read it!

Think about it!

Go out and buy some Levi's. OK!!!

This came from my friend Terri who found it over at Dalyn's!

I've been an awfully good girl......

and look at what Santa brought me today!

A Nikon Coolpix L100.......

Wow I have never had a camera this good. At least I think it's good! I can't hardly work it yet....too many bells and whistles. It appears to be sorta user friendly though because it seems to prompt you if you get in trouble. I need prompting often!! I can't wait to actually have a pretty sunny day...been raining buckets here today....to be able to take a picture of something interesting.

In the meantime I could dust my laptop, ya think?

Don't you just love my picture in my header? It is an original by my daughter Leslie, painted when she was in high school. It was in an art show and someone wanted to buy it but I wouldn't let her sell it. She didn't like it so I got to keep it. I love it!!!!!!

I have been Christmas shopping today. Whew! Almost finished. No decorating as of yet. I am so ashamed of myself for not having the decorating finished and all the shopping done and all wrapped up under the tree. Those were my plans each year when I was working but it didn't happen then "because I was working"....what's my excuse now? Blogging you say? Probably!!

I don't talk politics on here but......

I am estatic today!!!!

Yes I am a Virginian and we rock!!

If you have been watching any of the news lately you know what I am talking about!

Now that's all I have to say about that!

Up on my soapbox now.........

I am not sure about you guys, but I am sick and tired of dealing with rude people. I wonder why the world has gotten to this point that people are allowed to be so hateful to other people. Was it their upbringing? Did no one teach them somewhere along the way about the golden rule? I mean I would be feared for my life if I was ever that rude to people........



What I am getting at here is our closest Joanne Fabrics store in Christiansburg Va. I have had to bite my tongue in there for several years now because of one employee. If she waited on me I would leave in such a bad mood. She had eye rolling down to a science, she perfected the huff and puff and her shrugging of her shoulders was second to none. I would see her at the matierial cutting counter and shop around longer to try to get another clerk to wait on me. Heaven help me if I had to ask her a question. I was huffed at, shrugged at, eyes were rolled my way and she would probably spit at me if she thought she could do so legally. NOT KIDDING!!!!!! What would I do..............I would keep going back for more abuse.



Then it seemed that one by one all of the employees learned all of her tricks. Now this chic was probably in her mid 20's......OK so it was her age. Even though my girls didn't go thru the "terrible twenty's"....... The other ladies for the most part are middle age.....ya know when people frown and pout all the time they look older than they really are. They have at least lived long enough to learn how to deal with people. Well I guess that's how some folks "deal with people" by stomping on them, cutting right thru them ignoring them etc etc etc.................



I went in one evening a few months ago and there were 2 new employees at the cutting counter........smiling and laughing and asking out of genuine concern if I found everything I was looking for....you know the nice kinda people. These 2 were probably 18 years old. I told them how happy I was to see a smiling face and that they were the only 2 employees that I had ever witnessed with a smile and I felt that the rest of the staff was unapproachable. I had to go back in for something else the next evening and Lo and Behold 2 of the "Old Bitty's" were behind the counter.......oblivious to the fact that you don't complain about customers in front of other customers and they were talking back and forth about the complaints of them being rude to customers a couple days before that. Well I didn't complain formally but I wish I would have. Someone else felt the same way as me huh?


Today the same 2 that were discussing the complaints brought forth about them were standing on either side of me today talking OVER me about even more complaints about them. What??? How long can this go on? I have walked by these 2 employees standing at the front door on the street smoking and they won't even smile at you while you are outside in their cloud of smoke. Of course neither of them even looked down at me today and asked if I needed assistance.


I had a terrible experience today (that I won't even go into now) and I have vowed to NEVER step a foot back in this particular Joanne Fabrics store again. I feel it would be hazardous to my health to do so. I get so worked up just trying to buy fabrics and crafty items that I will have a stroke. I always thought this hobby was calming!!! Now I would understand if I went in with a lot of questions but I have sewn all my life and I don't require a lot of assistance other than cutting my fabric. I do have a choice where my money is spent and I refuse to write these girls paychecks anymore!!!

That's all I have to say about that!

Update: After posting this I went to Joannefabrics.com and found a way to submit a complaint about my store experience. I copied this post and sent it to them. We'll see if it is even acknowledged!!!