Well, I started with my computer area and now I'm making a sweep of the whole room. Cleaning out and attempting to organize. I tend to 'accumulate' and I never seem to have the 'proper place' for some of my accumulations. Of course, it was too easy to let things pile up while convalescing from 2 major surgeries. Just trying to keep the kitchen and dining table looking decent, resulted in a lot of things ending up in "My Room" to be taken care of later. Ha!
I have to be in the right mood to do this sort of thing, because a lot of 'stuff' just needs to be tossed and it's real hard for me to just toss stuff. I tend to hoard......like my Dad did :). Today was a pretty good day for it. But I also have a lot of good stuff that I can't simply toss. I need to donate it, or box it up for a yard sale or something. That involves more thought.
So far I have cleaned off the pillows and bears that were living on my nice oak rocking chair and I bought a foot stool, so I have a nice little corner in My Room to sit and read or knit. I bought that rocking chair 19 years ago, so that I could be a proper Grandma and sit in it and rock Riley when she was born. I think I did that 2, maybe 3 times. LOL It just wasn't comfortable to sit and rock in, but it works good now with a foot stool.
Now for the rest of the room. My 12 year old Babylock Embroidery machine and the multitude of stuff that goes with it, takes up a good portion of the room. It's crazy that I have it set up and ready to go on this big ass table in front of my huge bow window and I haven't even turned it on in at least 3 years. But I'm afraid if I put it away.....I won't ever use it. How silly is that?!? The first few years I had it, I embroidered everything I could get my hands on. I'm sure I got at least 1/2 a life time worth of use out of it!
My sewing area is way too small, and I really need to put away all the embroidery equipment and make room for that so that I can have room to more easily work on quilts. I'm far more interested in doing that than I am embroidering. I've had a quilt in progress for Timmy for EVER that I need to finish, I have the pattern and fabric for a quilt for Riley, and a pattern all set to go for Maggie, plus many others....but those come first. After my back surgery, I couldn't sit at the sewing machine and do all that reaching forward and such {therapists orders...plus it hurt like crazy} so I just lost my mojo.
Now the knitting fever has struck and I'm acquiring yarn and patterns and have no place to put it. Well, I have lots of room for it, as we have a huge house, but I have no 'proper place' for it. I won't even mention the stacks of books tucked here there and everywhere {cuz my huge bookcase is full}
Then there is my computer area, with printer, scanner, copier, fax machine and the dreaded Eagle Construction bookwork stuff! AGHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Because of my {boring} limitations, I am only really able to do a little bit each day. And sadly, I have to admit, I have been dealing with my 'physical problems' for so long that in the past 3 years I have just spent WAY too much time uninspired and had no incentive. Just couldn't make myself work on any projects, read any books or do much of anything. It's been crazy! I am coming out of it, but still have my days.
If only...........But in the meanwhile, I need to TRY to make the best of what I have, where I am. And I do try......but I'm lost without my family. It's been 8 years this week. It was supposed to be 2 years. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Yankee Chick~ Tales of a Yankee Lost in the Ozarks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Friday, August 26, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Is There Such a Thing
as "Collector's Anonymous"?? I sit here in my domain and look around me and find I am surrounded by various collections of various things.
There are my Boyd's Bears, of which I have 200+. Probably about 30 of them are out and about in this house, but in Alaska they were all out. Tucked here, there are everywhere! Except for the motor home bears, of course. People would get a kick out of spotting bears in all sorts of places. And I have furniture for a lot of them. When Maggie & Emily were wee little lasses, they would play with them {ever so carefully, with Grammy's bears!} and have little tea parties and picnics with them. Sweet memories :) But now that I am past my phase of collecting bears, what do I do with them all? I thought about selling some of them on eBay. I looked the other night and there were over 18,000 Boyd's Bears listed. Seriously! I don't think I need to bother even trying to sell any of mine. A few very rare ones that I have, are ones I wouldn't want to sell anyway.
Then there are my chickens. Glass, hens on nest dishes, hand painted artware. I only have about 30 of those. One was my Great-Grandmother's and I think that is what inspired me to start collecting them one day. Some were acquired on eBay, but most were collected from Antique shops around the country whilst we were traveling. I would probably buy more chickens if I saw some that I really loved, but I haven't even been to an Antique Shop in ages and we used to hit them all frequently.
Then there's my Depression Glass collection. Holy cow! I've seen people with more than I have, but only a few. I am lucky to have some pieces that were my Mother's and my Great-Grandmother's. Those I will cherish, but what about the rest? I probably have 20 vintage vinegar cruets, 15 sets of vintage salt & pepper shakers, a lot of Westmoreland Milk Glass in the grape pattern, many Fenton pieces in various patterns; bowls, glass baskets, vases, cake plates.......Almost a complete setting for 12 of Indiana Glass Madrid pattern dishes in Amber and several pieces in Clear. So many pieces gathered up all across the states from PA to Florida to Indiana to Arizona.
The Amish area just south of Elkhart, Indiana used to be one our favorite places to spend time and it was there that I would pick up most of my table linen collection. Table clothes and dish towels galore. I love them all! I still pick one up now and then on eBay :). It was also in that area that Chuck would find HIS collection addiction pieces. Cast Iron Trivets. Well over 100 of them. He learned all about them and knew just what to look for. We would have so much fun!
Then there's my Whimsiclay Cats
And my Alley Cat Figurines
And I must not forget my Mary Engelbriet Tea Pots and other little goodies
This is a really crazy post and I'm not even sure what the point is. I think I'm trying to tell myself that it's time to decide the difference between my true 'treasures' and the junque and get rid of some junque!
Good God..........does this mean I'm getting......ya' know......old?!?
There are my Boyd's Bears, of which I have 200+. Probably about 30 of them are out and about in this house, but in Alaska they were all out. Tucked here, there are everywhere! Except for the motor home bears, of course. People would get a kick out of spotting bears in all sorts of places. And I have furniture for a lot of them. When Maggie & Emily were wee little lasses, they would play with them {ever so carefully, with Grammy's bears!} and have little tea parties and picnics with them. Sweet memories :) But now that I am past my phase of collecting bears, what do I do with them all? I thought about selling some of them on eBay. I looked the other night and there were over 18,000 Boyd's Bears listed. Seriously! I don't think I need to bother even trying to sell any of mine. A few very rare ones that I have, are ones I wouldn't want to sell anyway.
Then there are my chickens. Glass, hens on nest dishes, hand painted artware. I only have about 30 of those. One was my Great-Grandmother's and I think that is what inspired me to start collecting them one day. Some were acquired on eBay, but most were collected from Antique shops around the country whilst we were traveling. I would probably buy more chickens if I saw some that I really loved, but I haven't even been to an Antique Shop in ages and we used to hit them all frequently.
Then there's my Depression Glass collection. Holy cow! I've seen people with more than I have, but only a few. I am lucky to have some pieces that were my Mother's and my Great-Grandmother's. Those I will cherish, but what about the rest? I probably have 20 vintage vinegar cruets, 15 sets of vintage salt & pepper shakers, a lot of Westmoreland Milk Glass in the grape pattern, many Fenton pieces in various patterns; bowls, glass baskets, vases, cake plates.......Almost a complete setting for 12 of Indiana Glass Madrid pattern dishes in Amber and several pieces in Clear. So many pieces gathered up all across the states from PA to Florida to Indiana to Arizona.
The Amish area just south of Elkhart, Indiana used to be one our favorite places to spend time and it was there that I would pick up most of my table linen collection. Table clothes and dish towels galore. I love them all! I still pick one up now and then on eBay :). It was also in that area that Chuck would find HIS collection addiction pieces. Cast Iron Trivets. Well over 100 of them. He learned all about them and knew just what to look for. We would have so much fun!
Then there's my Whimsiclay Cats
Good God..........does this mean I'm getting......ya' know......old?!?
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Shopping Online
I was supposed to have a rare shopping opportunity with my BFF yesterday and it didn't work out. While posting my complaint about it on FaceBook, my buddy Terri @ myseniormoments suggested that since I always get the short end of the stick when we have vehicle problems, I should just shop online. Well, I'm here to tell you......I do plenty of that! Here are some of my recent acquisitions
This first picture is a Photo/Panting done by the Photographer that took Riley's senior portraits. She is quite the artist and has many talents. When I saw some of her Photo/Paintings, I just knew that we had to have one of the horses! I found some pictures of The Girls and sent them to her and we finally decided on this one. The overall size is 30 x 30 and it is stunning!!
What happens is this. I had a 20x30 photo printed of this picture and had it shipped to her. She actually tears the edges (in this case to make it about 19x19) then she affixes it to a canvas. In this instance, she did an abstract border in colors to complement the picture. The wonderful thing IS, we didn't actually discuss colors and it just so happens this will look perfect on our green living room wall!!Another awesome aspect of this painting is that the sides of the canvas, where it wraps around the frame, are painted as well. That gives it a wonderful unique finish and I don't have to frame it :).
If you'd like to see some of her other work, go here Christina-M-Ehlinger~Artist for starters.
I had planned to give it to Chuck for X-Mas, but she got it done so quickly and I received it last week.....and our anniversary is this coming Friday (the 12th)....soooooo.....I'm giving it to him for our anniversary! I can't wait!! We don't always exchange gifts and usually just treat ourselves to an "All we can eat Lobster or King Crab fest" at home. He'll be so surprised and I know he's gonna absolutely flip over it! I can't wait to get it on the wall, as we have a perfect empty spot behind the love seat that has just been waiting to be filled for about 6 years now! Next weekend I'll get to post photos of it on the wall!! I can't wait! Squeal!!!!!!!!!
The next picture of online acquisitions is just one box of many that I have been buying since I went to Alaska in May and acquired serious knitting fever.
Not only did my lovely daughter, Terri, get me to finally take the 'knitting plunge', she also gave me the bug for only the finest yarns! When I did alot of crocheting, I always preferred some of the better brands (such as Lion and Bernat over Red Heart), but oh, she had to get me into using wool and wool blends and alpaca and all sorts of beautiful colorways in scrumptiously delightful spun yarn!
And I have found a couple of WONderful websites that often have WONderful sales on this sort of delightful yarn! I will give you an example of what my new passion is doing to my checking account. I found a sweater pattern, using Noro yarn, similar to that in the above picture. The color I selected is darker hues, but still multi-colored. Anyway, the pattern calls for 11 hanks (sort of a skein)so I ordered 12 to be safe and I found it for a terrific sale price! Normally $20 a hank for $14.00! Weeeeeeeee.........Adds up tho', as do the many other great finds I have found......but they were all on sale!! So that makes it okay, right??? Right???
See what happens. Make me get a new bionic hip and keep me house bound for 6 weeks with a desk top, a laptop and an iPhone. I can search, find and order from any room in the house! When I have to explain the piles of yarn and my lack of $$......I'll blame the Percocet. Buwahahahaha
What happens is this. I had a 20x30 photo printed of this picture and had it shipped to her. She actually tears the edges (in this case to make it about 19x19) then she affixes it to a canvas. In this instance, she did an abstract border in colors to complement the picture. The wonderful thing IS, we didn't actually discuss colors and it just so happens this will look perfect on our green living room wall!!Another awesome aspect of this painting is that the sides of the canvas, where it wraps around the frame, are painted as well. That gives it a wonderful unique finish and I don't have to frame it :).
If you'd like to see some of her other work, go here Christina-M-Ehlinger~Artist for starters.
I had planned to give it to Chuck for X-Mas, but she got it done so quickly and I received it last week.....and our anniversary is this coming Friday (the 12th)....soooooo.....I'm giving it to him for our anniversary! I can't wait!! We don't always exchange gifts and usually just treat ourselves to an "All we can eat Lobster or King Crab fest" at home. He'll be so surprised and I know he's gonna absolutely flip over it! I can't wait to get it on the wall, as we have a perfect empty spot behind the love seat that has just been waiting to be filled for about 6 years now! Next weekend I'll get to post photos of it on the wall!! I can't wait! Squeal!!!!!!!!!
The next picture of online acquisitions is just one box of many that I have been buying since I went to Alaska in May and acquired serious knitting fever.
And I have found a couple of WONderful websites that often have WONderful sales on this sort of delightful yarn! I will give you an example of what my new passion is doing to my checking account. I found a sweater pattern, using Noro yarn, similar to that in the above picture. The color I selected is darker hues, but still multi-colored. Anyway, the pattern calls for 11 hanks (sort of a skein)so I ordered 12 to be safe and I found it for a terrific sale price! Normally $20 a hank for $14.00! Weeeeeeeee.........Adds up tho', as do the many other great finds I have found......but they were all on sale!! So that makes it okay, right??? Right???
See what happens. Make me get a new bionic hip and keep me house bound for 6 weeks with a desk top, a laptop and an iPhone. I can search, find and order from any room in the house! When I have to explain the piles of yarn and my lack of $$......I'll blame the Percocet. Buwahahahaha
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Beasties in the 'Maters
There are about 10 Hummingbirds flitting about, feeding or waiting their turn, at the 2 feeders on my front porch. Murphy is sitting on the table by the windows, just trembling! I'm not sure if she is trembling with delight or despair! LOL She's chattering, too which is something she usually does when she is curled up near me and is seemingly content......not sure what it means in this case. God, I love that cat!!
I had a rather horrifying experience with my patio tomato plants today. I've wanted my own tomato plants on the back patio since we moved into this house. For some silly reason, this is the first year I have actually gotten any for myself. I have/had? 2 Husky Cherry plants and 1 Grape Tomato plant. I've been tending them carefully and they've been doing so well. Especially the Grape Tomato. In fact, after Chuck left for work this AM I had intended to go back out and take pictures of this robust, healthy plant with it's awesome clusters of Grape Tomatoes on it. But, alas, I got distracted by my pot of Kick Ass coffee and FaceBook.....then laundry, then baking. In fact I was right in the middle of melting my butter and white chocolate (for my Raspberry White Chocolate Blondies...yum!) when Chuck came in the back door and gruffly demanded to know what the hell I did to my tomato plants!
Me: Nothing.....why??
Chuck: Well, all the leaves are gone off the plants!
Me: yeah, right. Bull shit! I'm trying to bake here.
Chuck: SERIOUSLY!!!
Me: WTF?!? They were fine when you left this AM.
Chuck: Well, you better come and look at them now.
2 of them...stripped 90% clean!. Bare stems and only a couple tomatoes that had started to ripen. All leaves and green tomatoes GONE! Between 9 AM and 2 PM. 5 Hours. So there we were, circling the tomato plants, scratching our heads, when suddenly I saw the biggest, ugliest, fattest green worm I have EVER seen in my life! Well camouflaged , wrapped around the last green Grape Tomato! SOOOO disgusting!!!!!!!! Chuck plucked it off and stomped it, while I kept finding more and more! Between the 2 plants he plucked and stomped 9 or 10 of those beasties. Upon Googling them, I found out that they are Tomato Horn Worms. These suckers were like 4-5" long and as big around as my pinky finger! Nasty, nasty, nasty. So nasty that I won't even post a picture here.
There aren't any (yet) on Chuck's tomato plants out in the garden. I sure hope they'll be spared. We're having enough trouble keeping them going in all this hot weather. What the weather hasn't ruined, the resident Armadillos have been digging up. Sad gardening year around here, I'll tell ya'.
I keep little weather icons on my desktop. One for here in Rogers, AR and one for North Pole, AK. 104 here today and 58 and sunny there. You ALL know where I wish I was right now! And not just for the weather. I know I just missed out on 2 yummy birthday cakes!
Sure wish I had more input on my last post about my cookbook. Of course, since I started this new blog after not having written much for so long, my readership is down so I guess I can't expect much feedback. Ah well....and so it goes. All y'all will be sorry when me and my cookbook make the big time. Just sayin'.
I had a rather horrifying experience with my patio tomato plants today. I've wanted my own tomato plants on the back patio since we moved into this house. For some silly reason, this is the first year I have actually gotten any for myself. I have/had? 2 Husky Cherry plants and 1 Grape Tomato plant. I've been tending them carefully and they've been doing so well. Especially the Grape Tomato. In fact, after Chuck left for work this AM I had intended to go back out and take pictures of this robust, healthy plant with it's awesome clusters of Grape Tomatoes on it. But, alas, I got distracted by my pot of Kick Ass coffee and FaceBook.....then laundry, then baking. In fact I was right in the middle of melting my butter and white chocolate (for my Raspberry White Chocolate Blondies...yum!) when Chuck came in the back door and gruffly demanded to know what the hell I did to my tomato plants!
Me: Nothing.....why??
Chuck: Well, all the leaves are gone off the plants!
Me: yeah, right. Bull shit! I'm trying to bake here.
Chuck: SERIOUSLY!!!
Me: WTF?!? They were fine when you left this AM.
Chuck: Well, you better come and look at them now.
2 of them...stripped 90% clean!. Bare stems and only a couple tomatoes that had started to ripen. All leaves and green tomatoes GONE! Between 9 AM and 2 PM. 5 Hours. So there we were, circling the tomato plants, scratching our heads, when suddenly I saw the biggest, ugliest, fattest green worm I have EVER seen in my life! Well camouflaged , wrapped around the last green Grape Tomato! SOOOO disgusting!!!!!!!! Chuck plucked it off and stomped it, while I kept finding more and more! Between the 2 plants he plucked and stomped 9 or 10 of those beasties. Upon Googling them, I found out that they are Tomato Horn Worms. These suckers were like 4-5" long and as big around as my pinky finger! Nasty, nasty, nasty. So nasty that I won't even post a picture here.
There aren't any (yet) on Chuck's tomato plants out in the garden. I sure hope they'll be spared. We're having enough trouble keeping them going in all this hot weather. What the weather hasn't ruined, the resident Armadillos have been digging up. Sad gardening year around here, I'll tell ya'.
I keep little weather icons on my desktop. One for here in Rogers, AR and one for North Pole, AK. 104 here today and 58 and sunny there. You ALL know where I wish I was right now! And not just for the weather. I know I just missed out on 2 yummy birthday cakes!
Sure wish I had more input on my last post about my cookbook. Of course, since I started this new blog after not having written much for so long, my readership is down so I guess I can't expect much feedback. Ah well....and so it goes. All y'all will be sorry when me and my cookbook make the big time. Just sayin'.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
I'm Gonna Be A Writer!!!!!!
Well, sort of a writer. I have finally decided to do something that Chuck has been trying to get me to do for years. I'm gonna write a cookbook!!
Years and years ago, I had found this awesome program {Kitchen Gourmet} that I could enter all of my recipes in. It had a great layout and made a nice presentation. One year for Christmas, I printed it all out, put it in sheet protectors and made a nice binder cover for it and presented it to Terri for a gift. Through the years and several computers and operating systems later, I can no longer use that program, but I have all of those recipes printed out and many more added to it. Occasionally, Chuck will mention to someone that I "wrote a cookbook", like it was some big deal. They always end up asking for one and I have to explain that it's just my personal collection of recipes from friends and family.
The past few days I have been looking at different cook book software, trying to find a replacement so I can get all organized again, and found one I tried and liked= Incentive #1. A dear friend has just written a book and is about to have it published= Incentive #2 A couple of close friends have mentioned that they would love to have access to some of my recipe collection and I thought how they would really make great gifts= Incentive #3 And the last time I saw the one I made for Terri, it has been well used and could use freshening up=Incentive #4. So, I have decided to embark on this mission and hope that, if nothing else, I will come up with something that my friends and family will enjoy!
I'm excited and hope I can make it work! I have recipes that were my Great-Grandmother's, my Mom's (both of whom were amazing cooks). I have some of Terri's, Chuck's Grandmother and many from numerous friends. And along with the usual categories, I plan to add an Alaskan specific category. And mayhaps even a "Derby Girl" category! There will be foot notes about the friends and family, as well as some photos, I hope. I plan to put as many photos of the food items in that I can, as well.
So, if any of you dear ones would care to suggest any recipes or SEND me some of your favorites, I will 'test' them and add them to my book :) . My original was simply called "Family & Friends Recipes", s0 I will be thinking on a unique name for this as well. Any and all suggestions are most welcome!! So, send recipes, title ideas and so on. I will eagerly await your input!
Aside from the fact that my 6 hummingbird feeders are constantly surrounded and require refilling each day, not much else is happening. I may have to sneak off to Lowes and get a couple more feeders! They are so fun to have flitting around my front and back windows!
Years and years ago, I had found this awesome program {Kitchen Gourmet} that I could enter all of my recipes in. It had a great layout and made a nice presentation. One year for Christmas, I printed it all out, put it in sheet protectors and made a nice binder cover for it and presented it to Terri for a gift. Through the years and several computers and operating systems later, I can no longer use that program, but I have all of those recipes printed out and many more added to it. Occasionally, Chuck will mention to someone that I "wrote a cookbook", like it was some big deal. They always end up asking for one and I have to explain that it's just my personal collection of recipes from friends and family.
The past few days I have been looking at different cook book software, trying to find a replacement so I can get all organized again, and found one I tried and liked= Incentive #1. A dear friend has just written a book and is about to have it published= Incentive #2 A couple of close friends have mentioned that they would love to have access to some of my recipe collection and I thought how they would really make great gifts= Incentive #3 And the last time I saw the one I made for Terri, it has been well used and could use freshening up=Incentive #4. So, I have decided to embark on this mission and hope that, if nothing else, I will come up with something that my friends and family will enjoy!
I'm excited and hope I can make it work! I have recipes that were my Great-Grandmother's, my Mom's (both of whom were amazing cooks). I have some of Terri's, Chuck's Grandmother and many from numerous friends. And along with the usual categories, I plan to add an Alaskan specific category. And mayhaps even a "Derby Girl" category! There will be foot notes about the friends and family, as well as some photos, I hope. I plan to put as many photos of the food items in that I can, as well.
So, if any of you dear ones would care to suggest any recipes or SEND me some of your favorites, I will 'test' them and add them to my book :) . My original was simply called "Family & Friends Recipes", s0 I will be thinking on a unique name for this as well. Any and all suggestions are most welcome!! So, send recipes, title ideas and so on. I will eagerly await your input!
Aside from the fact that my 6 hummingbird feeders are constantly surrounded and require refilling each day, not much else is happening. I may have to sneak off to Lowes and get a couple more feeders! They are so fun to have flitting around my front and back windows!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)