Well, Hello There!

I think I've been in a funk.  I'm so unmotivated, yet I want things done.  It's almost like having a split personality!  The one side of me says, "let's do it!" while the other side says, "it can wait until tomorrow."  Then that Annie's song starts playing in my head.....'tomorrow, tomorrow, there's always tomorrow, tomorrow's just a day away."  But the truth its, no one is guaranteed tomorrow.  How often have you heard of someone passing away when least expected?  For example, 911.  For all those people it was just another day.  For some it was another day at work, for some children it was an exciting day flying on an airplane.  Can you imagine being a child, excited about your first plane ride, can't wait to tell your parents or friends or siblings about your experience when you get home, but you never get home?  So, we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  We have to show people we love them today.  I watched the life leave my baby girl when she was 12 years old.  We didn't expect it, thinking we have more years with her, but she didn't get to have a tomorrow.  That's why today is important.

I've changed up my blog here several times.  I read other people's blogs and they are so creative and cool; mine is so drab.  When I first started this blog it was just a place for me to post our family's activities and things to do, but I'm feeling now it needs to be a little bit more.  I don't know what, though.  

See, I really live 'in the woods' but a piece of my heart loves the beach.  Not that I spend time on the beach because if I get there once a summer I'm happy, but I love the sun and the warm weather and the summer breeze...and I do love going to Ocean City, Maryland to a store called Salty Yarns.  Walking the boardwalk is always fun, too.  

I thought about changing my blog to a woodsy theme, and I did for a short time, but I really love the beach theme.  Hence, I changed it again.  I'm so having trouble putting a banner up top..I don't know what my problem is!! LOL

Here are a couple of things I wanna talk about {listing them here so I don't forget}:

Donald's birthday

Planners

Crafts/craftroom

Donald's 60th birthday was last month.  Can't believe he is 60 now.  It's crazy.  It doesn't feel so long ago that we were dating and planning our future!  Where did time go?  I got to thinking that maybe this is how time feels in heaven.  I mean,  there is no time in heaven.  Here on earth we can measure time by the clock, months, years, things we do, things we've done, but really, if you blend all that into your life and don't think about what divides those things...it's like eternal time.  I will admit, that we've had friends die, spouses of friends and they've been our age or younger than us.  How can we not think that our end is near and that we need to prepare ourselves and our families for it?  But it's crazy, really because I'm still that 20 something girl in my head that was planning her future and now I have to plan the end of my life, just in case.  *shaking my head*  It's a hard concept to grasp, to say the least. 

I had thought about doing a surprise party for him, but time got away from me.  And then again, what if there is no next year and I don't get the chance to try again?  See, we have to embrace today.

I have some subscriptions to youtube that I watch daily and sometimes a video will pop onto the side list that looks interesting, so I watch it and somehow I started watching Filofax videos.  I think I was looking at home management binders and that's when I saw some videos about organization and Filofax.  So now I have a few subscriptions to people who post about their organizers, be it Filofax or some other planners they've made.  They decorate their pages, too.  

I had made a home management binder a couple of years go from a regular sized notebook and it sorta worked, but I was getting bored with it so I decided to try a planner method.  I didn't care if it was a Filofax or  not so I went to a few office supply stores and I couldn't find anything pretty.  I ended up buying a Dayrunner planner that is a dark red color and to tell you the truth, it's drab and doesn't motivate me {but maybe like I said before, it's my other 'personality' LOL}.  I was thinking if I had a really pretty, colorful planner I would be more willing to use it.  I'm so fickle with stuff.  I mean, here I've changed my blog name a few times because nothing seems to fit me.  It's the same way with other stuff.  I get bored with it easily.  I need changes with some things in my life.  :)

Anyway, I'll take some pictures of my planner and do another blog post on that.

Now about my craft room....it's a work in progress.  Eventually, I'm thinking that maybe I'll do some videos in my craft room as soon as it gets more organized.  I'm really proud of the progress I've made in it so far.  It had gotten to the point where I couldn't even open the door.  It became a ...what do you call it?.... a place where you throw stuff in because you have no other place to put it.  But now, I can open the door and freely walk in.  I have my books organized now, too.  It's so nice to have room to turn around in it again.  However, my workspace table is still cluttered so I gotta get to work on it.  

I also wanna redo my wedding pictures.  Here's the story on that: I did not have a professional photograper take my wedding pictures.  I thought I knew better than my mom at the time and if she was alive today I'd tell her how sorry I am that I didn't heed her advise to me.  I was in a relationship for about four years with the neighborhood boy that I basically grew up with.  When I say relationship I mean 'going steady'.  Relationships back in the day are not what they are today, for sure.  However, after four years it wasn't working out so I broke it off, but we were still friends because the guy lived a couple houses away from me and we grew up together. So, when I met Donald and started dating him, guy #1 tried to win me back, but it didn't work. Then when Donald and I were getting married, guy #1 said that he would take our photos as his present to us and to save us money {he wasn't a professional phtographer, but he dubbled in it and has some pictures published in the newspaper}.  My mom was against it {for obvious reasons, of course}, but I trusted guy #1.  As it turned out, the pictures came out okay, but they are definitely not quality pictures and I do wish now that I had some really nice photos.  But, live and learn, right?  Right now the photos are in an album from the 70's and I'd like to scrapbook them instead.  That's a project I gotta put on my list of things to do.  And it would make another blog post!

I'm gonna really try to stay current here.  If others can do it so can I!

Blessings <><

I Know I Keep Saying This, but.....

How time flies!!  Geez.  Well, finally the rain cleared and we've seen the sun again.  It feels like winter here already...dark, some days are cold, too.  I've been extremely tired; don't know if my thyroid is out of wack or I need some iron.  

My son had his birthday Sept. 27th.  Here's some pictures from that:

I made Adam an ice cream sandwich cake.  The layers were cool whip.  Adam likes mint chocolate chip ice cream and Giant had mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches.  Never saw those before.  I don't know where I saw the idea from.  But it was good.  

Donald has gone back to work part time.  He's still going for his iv's and chamber, but Friday will be his last day for that.  It was kinda hard when he was home all day when he first started staying home, but we each found our own routines.  Now, again, since Donald's not here now I have to wait for him to get home to 'fix' something or ask him a question.  

I just wanted to do a quick check in..will write more later.

Blessings!

Catching Up With Ya'll

My, oh my, how time flies by.  What have I been doing?  I don't really know.  Crazy.

I guess I do have a few things I'll share.  They aren't in any chronological order. 

I had some squash growing in my garden and decided to find a recipe on youtube.  I picked one that I thought would be good and easy, and it was when it came out of the oven, but reheating it wasn't so good.  Next time I will try a different recipe.  But here is the one I did make.  

Meghan's 28th birthday was the beginning of the month.  She was actually due to be born on August 12th, but she just didn't wanna be born then and she waited a long time -- Sept. 6th to be exact!

Donald took me out eat one night and we found this soda made by Coca Cola.  Never saw it before, so that was weird.  Did you know that Pepsi Cola Company makes a drink called Baja that is only exclusive to Taco Bell?  Anyway, here's that Inca Cola looks like:

To me it tastes a little like bubble gum.  I didn't ask Donald what he thought it tastes like and he didn't say.  Sometimes you just want something different.  

And, omgosh take a look at this.  Creepy.  Donald and I were on the side of our house when I spotted this.  It's getting to be spider season around here, but really!

What the heck kind of spider is that???  I've seen more and more of these around.  We live with woods around us, but living here for 35 years this is a new breed.  And these spiders are humongous!!  Please let them stay outside.  If I ever got one of these in my house.....can't even thing about it.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Adam's birthday.  It's three weeks after Meghan's, but different years, of course.  

It's already started to get chilly here in Maryland.  Donald and I have had no vacation per se this year since he's having to go to the hospital every single day for treatment.  He has 3 weeks vacation he needs to take or he will lose.  I think once he gets back to work he's boss won't be happy to have him gone again.  I'm thinking maybe Donald can have four day work weeks until his vacation is used up.  The doctors are saying he might be able to go back to work next week.  I hope so.  Otherwise, he'll have to put in for SS disability.  {thumbs down to that}

I'm starting to think more about eating vegetarian..more fruits/vegetables.  I think if I can come up with some vegetable dinners I can slowly have a couple nights when we eat that and eliminate the meat.  I'll have to work on that.

That's all for now.

Blessings!

When Fighting Depression...

Years ago when I was severely depressed (well, it was after my daughter passed away) I knew I had to pull myself up by my boot straps.  But it was hard.  The only way I can describe depression is that it feels like the living dead.  What I mean by that is that you feel dead, yet you're still alive.  Let's see if I can explain this:  one thing I love to do is go outside in the summer time and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.  To me, that feels nice.  I am a part of my environment.  I hear the birds, I smell the grass so it feels good to be alive.  However, when one is depressed, you are detached from your environment.  I could be outside yet I felt so detached from the sun, the birds.  It's as if you are living in a bubble and can't reach out to the things that you want to be a part of.  That's why I call it the living dead.  You're alive but can't feel a part of living.  Dead.  So, I don't ever want to get in that 'black hole' ever again.  Some days though, I just don't feel like doing the chores I need to do, especially loading the dishwasher.  And that scares me because I don't ever want to get to the point where "I can't" load it.  So what i try to do every day is do one thing I feel good about.  If I accomplish one chore or clean a room, then I feel good I got something done.  I know, it's not much, but some days I can get a lot done thinking this way.   And yet, I don't feel guilty when I 'can't' get something done.  It's okay.

I say this because my kitchen needs cleaning.  I sorta cleaned it, but it needs one of those deep cleanings.  I haven't done it yet.  But, I've been thinking about it!

In the meantime, I did get this done: 

On the right is what was on the stool

The material I replaced on the stool

I love the new material.  It's so pretty.  

Donald and I also went to Petsmart for cat food and then to the grocery store to get a few items.  I can't believe how much food cost.  Donald had not been shopping with me in a long time and he just couldn't believe it either.  I think he has sticker shock.  Haha.

On Aug 6th, A&W was having a free float day.  Someone said it was National Soda Float Day.  But the flyer I saw on Facebook said A&W were giving free floats and asked for a donation to the Wounded Warrior Project.  When I asked about it at the restaurant, they didn't know what I was talking about.  Also, we had a choice to get a medium or large soda.  Crazy.  Again, the flyer said A&W would give small free floats.  Okay.  How can I argue with that?  

I appreciate the days when we get out and enjoy ourselves.   

Blessings!

Been Stay'in Inside

Just when you think this summer was gonna be cold and rainy, here comes the heat!  Two weeks ago temperatures were okay and I was outside fixing things up and cutting things down = beautifying!  All this while Meghan was away in Ireland:

Before

After



 

Fence Before

Fence After

Cleaning the pond

Pond after...just needs fish and plants

One of two pepper plants I bought

Second pepper plant

Our miniature peach tree



Our peaches





 We were waiting for our peaches to get a little softer before we picked them, however a groundhog got to them before us.  :(  So maddening when animals take one or two bits out of the fruit and got to the next one.  It's a waste. 

Meghan got home from Ireland just fine.  Well, not exactly.  She came back with an ear infection and bronchitis.   She was on antibiotics when she left for Ireland and had to get more when she got back.  But, she had a great time!  She loved the church they were working for.  She said she could live in Ireland and I told her no way she is.  Hahah.  It's hard to let go of the kids no matter how old they are. 

Door to door letting the neighbors know about Elevate

Donald is still home on disability, but his foot is healing somewhat.  He's now at the point of his disability where his company doesn't have to keep his position any longer.  It scares me because I don't know what we'd do if he didn't have his job.  Well let me restate that, God will take care of us.  I do put my trust in Him.  It would just make things easier if Donald still has a job! :)

Blessings for now

So Many Blessings!

Sometimes I just can't believe how time flies by.  Here it is the last day of June and only four more days until the 4th of July.  Wow. 

First of all, Meghan left for Ireland on a missions trip on Friday.  Last year her church went to Ireland but she felt she couldn't leave work.  Knowing about the trip this year she was able to make arrangements at work and get off!  If that wasn't a blessing in itself, her whole trip has been sponsored.  She was able to raise more than enough money to pay for the trip and was even able to help others in her group that were short on money, enabling them to be able to go to Ireland!  Isn't that awesome??  God is so good!  She can't even believe it.  Me, being the worried mama, I had to track their plane to make sure it got there in Ireland okay. Here's some of the pictures I took from flight tracker:

Mosaic Church Missions Group heading to New Jersey to pick up their flight for Ireland

Now they are flying towards Ireland!

Heading towards Ireland!

They have arrived!!

Here's Meghan picture---Goodbye America, Hello Ireland:

How exciting!!  I know God is blessing them all.  Meghan and her group has already been out distributing flyers in the neighborhoods.

Today we got to Facetime which I really love because here she is across the ocean and we talked as if she was in the next room.  Just awesome.  She looked tired, but the time difference is that they are six hours ahead of us and I think the group has jet lag.  But, hey, they are doing God's work.

After getting to talk to Meghan our friends, who used to live next door to us, called to tell us they are expecting.  How exciting!!!  They are two people who are really soul mates; they fit together so well.  She has always had a heart to adopt, but once they got looking into it, they realized they just didn't have the money.  Although they still want to adopt, they decided to try and have a child of their own first.  They are now 9 weeks along.  I'm just so happy for them.  They are also in the process of buying their first home, so life is just awesome for them!  I so remember those days and sometimes I'd give a little something just to go back there.  When you have your dreams ahead of you it's so exciting!!

The Happy Couple

 One day last week Donald and I sat out on the porch for awhile just to relax.  Then I remembered we had a watermelon in the frig so it was a very nice summer evening.

There is nothing better than going outside and picking food to eat.  It's just awesome.  I've always enjoyed growing my own food.  In an earlier post I showed you the plants I was growing in my Aerogarden and now I can show you the fruits of my labor (haha):

Here is a cucumber that grew and I cut it up and put it on salads that I made for dinner one night:

That is also home grown lettuce.  I don't usually like home grown lettuce because it tastes like grass to me, but this lettuce had a nice flavor to it.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but I need to check and make note so I can grow it again next year.

I also got a squash an cooked it for dinner last night:

The onion you see in the pan I also grew in the garden.  Free food, good and nutritious.  Sweet!

The weather here has been thunderstorms and rainy inbetween sunny days.  Temperatures haven't been bad. 

Blessings for now!

My Favorite "toy"

For years and years (yes, it's been that long), at a time when I lost myself, my craft room grew and grew to the point where I mentally couldn't even think of how I would begin to organize it.  I had way too much yarn and no place to put it.  Over the years, I would go into the room in an attempt to clean it up, but I ended up just moving stuff from one stop to another.  I mean, it was so frustrating!!  Then, somehow, a light bulb went off and I have done quite a bit of organizing and cleaning up (and throwing away) stuff I no longer use.  Do you want to know what my light bulb moment was?  My yarn winder.  Honestly.  When I got that 'tool' (see post below) I was excited getting it because I thought I'd finally get all those scraps balls of yarn wound up and stacked instead of just stuck in bags.  Wow.  Once I started winding yarn, well, I haven't stopped yet.  I will be posting pictures soon, too.

So yesterday I was winding more yarn when I asked Donald what his most favorite tool was.  He finally admitted that a tool that used to be his dad was his favorite.  Then he asked me what mine was.  I told him that after my sewing machine, it was definitely my yarn winder!

I do have to admit that when our daughter moved into the basement apartment, she was giving some stuff away that she didn't need anymore.  One item she was done with was a sweater shelf thingy that  hangs in a closet.  I kept looking at that thing wondering what I could do with it.  Finally, I decided I was going to lay that thing out lengthwise and fill my yarn skeins in it.  So I have three of them on my shelves.  That has really helped with my organizing, too.  

Stay tuned for pictures!

Blessings! 

New Blog Name

First things first...I have changed the name of my blog.  If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits is so true to me.  When I first read that book by Erma Bombeck back in the '80's, it certainly had summed up my life up to that point.  I can say that it still does to this day.  The thing about Erma Bombeck that I liked so much about her is she was able to find the humor in the mondane.  When she passed away it was a huge loss to the humor world.  I wonder how much more she could have come up with that could keep the world in stitches. 

The other day in the mail Meghan got a horse supply catalog.  Don't know why, we don't have horses, but anyway, there was a shirt in there that had a saying on it, "Keep Calm on Canter On."  Keeping calm should be a motto for me because I can become unglued at the drop of a hat.  Also, our last name is Canter (yes, I've heard enough horse jokes), so I thought for awhile the keeping calm and canter(ing) on would make for a new blog name.

My routine is totally messed up.  One reason is that Donald has been home on disability leave.  To make a long, disgusting story short, he is having a problem with his foot.  He's had surgery on it, but it is not healing.  So he's been home for the last month.  I don't know how women who have husband's retire keep sane.  Having another person home messes up her routine.  Not that a really have a set in stone routine, but it's still hard some days just having that extra person home.  Not only that, but I've taken up some of Donald's chores.  *sigh*

My aunt passed away this month which is sad.  She lived in Wheeling, West Virginia.  She has raised her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren and was raising her great, great grandchildren.  She never chose to do that, but someone needed to raise the children and her heart was golden and she stepped up to the plate.   She will be missed.  

Our motor home's bathroom floor had a soft spot in it and I told Donald I believe we have a water problem.  He didn't believe me until he finally cut it this weekend and sure enough the shower is leaking somewhere.  Now we have a major project on our hands.  I have to say that I'm so tired of repairing things.  

I say that because a couple of weeks ago we had a water leak in the basement and it saturated Meghan's bedroom rug.  I was fit to be tied.  I was so mad.  We got the rug dried out, but I don't want to ever go through that again.  This is why I say my life is in the pits....all the time.

I play to get back to blogging regularly again and to add interesting stuff.  

For example, I have been cleaning out my craft room and I'm really happy with the way it's turning out.  Donald added some wired shelves and I went to Michaels to buy a ribbon shelf.  I ended up getting that (which I'm hoping to use for wrapping paper) and I also bought peg boards to hang stuff on.  I got those up, too.  I'll post before and after pictures when I get it all done.  I can't wait. 

It's late so I'm gonna hit the hay for now.

Blessings!

I'm Here!

I know I've been gone awhile, but  I'm back LOL.  First thing I want to update you on my Aerogarden.  It's doing pretty good, but I want to get my plants transplanted outside, however it's still chilly here in Maryland so it's gonna be a little while before that happens.  Here's what my plants look like today:

Update:

It's another day..didn't get to finish what I started in the above paragraph.  Since, Donald has had foot surgery (three days ago) so I've been waiting on him, cooking meals, and doing his chores, too.  I'm bushed.  He goes to the doctor for post surgery check up in three days. 

Weather here is still chilly...come on spring/summer.  I don't care anymore just want some warm air so I can get some plants outside. 

Okay, that's it for now.

Blessings

 

Started Gardening!!

I started my garden indoors with my aerogarden.  I have pepper, cucumber, squash and I'm gonna add strawberries today.  I wanted to start my garden last month (Feb.) but the pump on the aerogarden wasn't working so Donald had to order a new one.  I'm glad he fixed it and now I'm good to go.  I plan to transfer my plants outside...that is, if it EVER gets warm.  I think spring up and left...maybe he took a vacation this year.  I just wish it would warm up.  I'm tired of being stuck in the house or freezing when I go outside.  But you know what's probably gonna happen?  We go from the cold weather to intense heat.  One day it will be 40 or so and then boom! it will 90...you watch.  Just want to enjoy some nice days sitting outside in the warmth, reading a book or watching nature.  It's so calming.

Tomorrow is my birthday.  I'm not embarrased to admit I'll be 56.  I can't even imagine..typing that is so weird.  My mom died when she was 56.  For me, that's an awful number.  I try to remember I'm in better health than my mom was {I believe}, so I still have years ahead of me.  But the truth is, none of us know if we have tomorrow.  We want to believe we have time on earth forever, but it's not the truth.  Our days are numbered. 

So on Sunday Adam surprised us with a visit.  So, some birthday presents I was saving to open tomorrow I opened Sunday:



My New Camera

My Yarn Winder



I'm demonstrating the yarn winder

The finished product!

My thought for this is so I can wind up all my small balls of yarn and neatly be able to stack them in a orderly fashion instead of having round balls of yarn rolling all over the craft room.  Winding the yarn makes a flat bottom and they sit flat and can be stackable. 

I have so much decluttering and organizing AND cleaning to do.  Some days I'm gon-ho to get it done and other days  I don't know where to be begin.

Speaking of which Donald is home and now it's time to start dinner.

Blessings,

BeKay