finding inspiration...

Do you Pin?  You know, Pinterest?  I've been reading about it on lots of blogs lately and even on Facebook it shows up.  I haven't tried it, mostly because I already waste so much of my time on Facebook.  I have looked at several pages that bloggers I read have shared.  So many beautiful images.  I can't decide if it would be inspirational, time wasting or depressing.  What are your thoughts? 

Tonight I found a new inspiration to try.  Jamie is hosting Morning Pages in July.  Basically you take a little time every morning to free write.  I've been wanting to do this and her post couldn't have come at a better time.  Check out her post so that you can get the details to see if you would be interested in joining in. 

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend.  Stay cool!

blessings
~*~

It's almost time...

Yes, it is time to start planning for a fabulous, wacky, wonderful mad, mad party!  A Mad Tea Party!

The fantabulous Vanessa over at A Fanciful Twist is hosting her 5th annual Mad Tea Party.  The party will be on July 28th.  Won't you join us for a cup of tea?  or two?  It is always fun to see who shows up.

Hop on over to A Fanciful Twist to sign up if you want to participate or just to visit. 

I can't wait!  Oh..and don't be late!  :-)

blessings
~*~

Setting out on the Solstice

Is it really the Summer Solstice? Already? Time is just flying by so quickly. I really have wanted to be here, sharing and visiting with you all. Life just doesn't seem to move much for me. Finding motivation to do anything, even getting out of bed most days, is nigh impossible.

But today is the solstice and I'm trying to set out on a new life or at least take a step in that direction. Trying to find motivation in the little things, even just taking a breathe.  There are flowers and green beans in my garden, as well as way too many weeds.

I've been spending time in the mountains.  Mum, my uncle and I took a trip in early May for the annual cleanup.  We worked so hard, it took over a week for me to recuperate when we returned.  Mum and I went again a few weeks ago, this time with a friend of hers.  We went to Harrah's Cherokee and I hung out while they played the slots.  We had dinner at Paula Deen's Kitchen where I had the most delicious steak I've ever eaten.  I picked up Paula's Southern Cooking Bible cookbook and am looking forward to making her recipes. 

My 43rd birthday came and went in May.  It was the usual boring deal.  The only thing that is really happened is that I have a few more answers in the ongoing quest to find the cause of the migraines.  I had some psychological testing done several months ago and the results finally came back.  Long story short, it says that I don't have PTSD nor do I have any mental "issues" that would lead to the migraines.  So, now I have to go back to the neurologist and we will have to do more tests.  He said I'd have to have another lumbar puncture...oh joy! :-(

I've also been dealing with a lack of control of my blood sugar.  I don't know just what happened, but every time I took my shot my blood sugar would crash.  Usually it happened  about 20 minutes after I'd eaten, but several times it happened while I was eating.  That was very freaky!  So tomorrow I go to my first Endo appointment.  I had the blood work done earlier this week, but am so not looking forward to this.

Enough of my maudlin health complaints...time to share some beauty...

 
I hope you are all having a wonderful solstice and fabulous summer.  I'll try not to be a stranger.  :-)

blessings
~*~

Happiness is...

picking out paint colors
garden centers
tulips
kitty kisses
i've decided to paint the shed. i picked out colors and got samples at the big box home center to experiment. today seemed like it would be as good as any, so i gave them a try. i've pretty much ruled out the one on the far right(maybe). it is just too bright. the upper photo is shady and the below photo is in the sun. i'm pretty close to picking, but after looking at it i'm also wanting to look at a completly different color palete. so i'll go back to the bbhc this weekend or maybe tomorrow and get those samples to see what i think.

so what do you think of the colors? anyone have any recommendations? if so, please comment and number colors 1-5 from left to right. just tell me your number choices, for both the walls and the trim. :-)

hope you are all having a wonderful start to spring.

blessings
~*~

take a step, follow a thread

earlier today i took another tiny step toward reclaiming my life. actually, for me it was a giant leap to creating a life i want and can enjoy. i cannot express how happy i have been today. ever since i signed up early this afternoon, i have felt happier than i have in two or three years.

i bet you are wondering where the "thread" comes in, aren't you? well, this is the step that i took: The Red Thread Retreat

so you see, i'll be following a thread, to learn some new things, to explore the world around me, to meet new people and most importantly, to LIVE!

it has been a very good day in my world. not only am i one of the lucky 15, but winter has finally put in an appearance...we have snow!

blessings
~*~

returning to light...

...or maybe the word should be life...returning to life...that's how i feel. i can't believe how long it has been since i have posted here. so much has changed and yet so little. i felt bad for just disappearing, but i didn't really know what to do. i ran out of things to say. i tried to continue reading blogs, but honestly, seeing how much everyone did, how much you all LIVED, it just left me feeling quite useless.

the short story since my last post, is that there has been no improvement in my condition and doesn't appear to have any hope for any. also, i'm now on permanent disability - trying to make ends meet. i think it would be easier if not for all the medical bills each month.

so, here i am, trying to make the best of it...trying to get back to things that i enjoyed. hoping, somehow, i can find the light and follow it back to my life... i guess we'll see how that goes...

blessings
~*~

two days worth (long)

yesterday, feeling a bit less wobbly than on thursday, i decided to test my strength and also get away from these four walls. i searched for something fun to dress in, found a skirt i'd had hidden in the closet for two years (tags still on) looked at the size and said now or never. i put it on and found the top i remembered i'd purchased to go with it and with a sweater and my new boots all laced up took a gander at myself and thought... i look a bit like an old fashioned school marm!



so off i went, to my work, to deliver that bread i baked a few days before. i ended up spending over two hours there, visiting and catching up. i couldn't believe it when i left and realized what the time was. everyone asked about my eye and what had happened and all said how they wanted me back ever so soon. i was able to see where my new area will be and it looks like i will have a nice setup and will get to make a nice little cubbiehole for myself. sigh...

i had a few dizzy spells while there but after sitting and resting i felt okay so i proceeded on with my plans for the day and next up was a trip to the library. i haven't been in years. my nose is so persnickety these days and i've been worried about how sensitive i would be to bringing in books from the library but after realizing how badly i need something new to read and how i just can NOT purchase new books like i want to, this seemed the only way. so...i picked up a few books...



then i went to see my mum, had lunch with her and came home with a turkey leg and the ham bone (with extra meat). i don't know if one turkey leg is enough to make stock with or not. any suggestions as to what i could do with it? she gave me some extra turkey meat too.

anywho, i made a stop at the grocers for a quick thing or two and came out with four bags. do you do that? go in for one or two things but just can't stop? i do that everywhere. i have such bad impulse control when shopping.

i have been craving collard greens and somehow missed them at the grocers so this morning to the farmers market i went, fingers crossed that they were still open this late in the year and surely someone would have collard greens. well, they were there, and busy! i bought apples and collards and that is all. i passed on the beautiful french hubbard pumpkins, nosegay bouquets, cyclamens, poinesettas, paperwhites and christmas cactus. aren't you proud? i wanted to bring them all home to live here in the cottage. but no, i said to myself, when you are feeling better and able to take better care of yourself, then you can bring more plant friends home!

oh, where was i? yes, so i left the market quite proud of myself. went to run for yet another prescription from the pharma and came home. then got a bee in my bonnet that i wanted to string fairie lights around my front porch. i get out my steppy stool and ms. hammer. find my little cup hooks (they seem to be perfect for hanging strings of fairie lights) and realize i don't have enough little cup hooks. so with the bee stinging away in my bonnet i grab my purse and keys and head to the dollar store. where they have NO CUP HOOKS. :( light bulbs - yes, they have those and i'd forgotten them at the grocers the day before so i'll get them; a little glass plate for setting candles on to catch the wax so as not to mess up the table - check, oh yes, you can never have too many of those in a cottage that almost always has candles burning; scotch tape - 2/$1 only you just bought tape at the pharma and it was only 1 roll not two and it was over two dollars and change so oh yes, most definitely i'll take that thankyouverymuch.

bee still buzzing even more determinedly i then go to the grocers, yes...again! i'm only going in for little cup hooks, i know exactly where they are. i don't even need a buggie or a little hand held carrier. i know just what i need. oh look! the candy canes i was looking for yesterday! and they're on SALE! well, just one package. okay, now to the cup hooks. hmmm...while i'm here i might as well see if they've restocked their pumpkin since they seem to be out the last several times i've been. no, no pumpkin, oh there's the manager, let me just ask..oh here it is, thanks so much. yes...four cans of pumpkin, i think i do need a carrier after all.

well...much more was bought, this and that...not too much more, just a few things that i need for various recipes that i've seen that i've wanted to make. but i did get the cup hooks! (i've only achieved one anchored in the porch ceiling so far - but it will be done by end of friday. it was just sooo cold! and i was soooo tired!)

did i mention the weather here? cold! very cold! which i love. but i only love it when it is accompanied by snow. so when the forecasters started talking about snow this weekend, i didn't want to get too excited. they've lied to me before afterall. many times. but they kept saying it, a dusting they said, over and over...a dusting...



and around noon...it started...



and just before dark it looked like this...



squee! i went out and played in it earlier in the day. this first snowfall of the winter brings a bittersweet joy. oh how my beastie boy would have loved this. while i wandered snapping photos of this or that i looked around for him and realized he wasn't there rooting and romping in the snow. but it is still snow and i am still just as much in love with it, and with winter, as i always have been.

supposedly the snow is to continue to fall through the night until early morning. so there may be even more when i wake. i'm sure to be looking out the window every once in a while to see if there is more snow falling. and as the temps aren't to get out of the 30's for the next several days, it may hang around for a bit.

i hope that your weekend is going well and that there is some happy thing brightening your days and nights...

blessings
~*~


ps... i also hope i didn't bore you wonky with all my little rambling. :)

pps...about that skirt - when i first purchased it two years ago it was at the end of winter and it is a wool skirt and lined to boot and i didn't get a chance to wear it before the hot weather came. when winter came around again, it was too small... :( the now or never is because, well, it is too BIG! yep! TOO BIG! i had to keep hiking it up all day! it is an elastic waist so i can take it in or rather i can find someone who knows what they are doing and have them take it in for me and maybe can wear it another season. :) yippee for too big clothes!