Pumpkin Sunrise

  Technically since today is Memorial day it is part of a three day weekend but I wanted to get this post written and published. We are knee deep in decluttering and somewhat packing. I've been focusing on the two adult children's bedrooms. Yes they have a lot of stuff here and I'm thinning out the belongings. Yes this should have been done years ago with their help. There have been phone calls and discussions on what to keep or give away. A lot of the stuff can go and that is a very good thing. My husband and I were eating dinner and I announced that I (WE) would never ever 'save' stuff again. My house is not by any means a hoarder's house, BUT I have a set of kitchen dishes that have been sitting in the basement for sixteen years unused and I never liked them in the first place.  Why? Why save them??  While I've been in the bedrooms decluttering, my dear sweet husband has been in the basement going through tools and such. Again - many unusable drills that ...

  How has your week been?  We are knee deep in decluttering and the first phase of packing up a house we've been living in for sixteen years. I try to squelch the little whispers in my head that get overwhelmed by the process. I just wake up, do my morning routine (mostly journalling and praying), get ready, eat breakfast, meditate and then tackle the to-do list. I have a moving notebook where I'm capturing ALL the tasks. I'm getting it done box by blessed box. Yesterday I finished packing up the dining room (yay!). That room was 'easy'. The rooms with closets where I can stuff them from top to bottom are the challenge, remember sixteen years of stuffing closets. I'm finding the more I let go the easier it is to let go of more stuff. We are paying the movers by weight so that is a contributing factor as well. I go through closets and boxes and have my internal questions: 'does this bring me joy?' 'is this meaningful to me?' 'do I want to pay ...

  Good morning! How are you? It's been busy around here and yet in the evening I am relieved to sit and knit and gather my thoughts. The past few days I have not worked on the second birch leaf shawl  (which is in the above photo) because I have been focusing on finishing the third and final Christmas stocking . I am so pleased to tell you that I completed the stocking knitting and now I am faced with the dreaded duplicate stitching of a name. Sigh. I am terrible at duplicate stitch!  I am romantically thinking of what will be my next knitting project. A pair of socks is always easy for me if they are plain, or maybe a fingering weight shawl... stay tuned. I need easy and light in these coming days.   What are you working on this week?

  Good morning! How was your weekend? First off my ankle is getting better every day. On Saturday our daughter and son in law visited for the afternoon and shared dinner with us. We had a lovely visit. My husband and I continue forging ahead with the Big Declutter project and we are continuously loading the car with donations. I think we have three rooms left, maybe. If you haven't guessed yet, we are decluttering before we move. We are in the process of buying a house in Western PA in my sister's neighborhood. Needless to say that when you live in a house for sixteen years and never throw anything away, you end up having  A LOT of stuff. I might resolve to never save anything again, 'just in case'.  I have a moving notebook where I write to myself all the things that need to be done. I love any excuse to have a new notebook. We are excited about our new retirement adventure! How was your weekend? P.S. I've been alerted by Feedburner that they will stop emailing blo...

  Tuesday morning I received the Xray results from my tumble last Thursday (I spilled a bit of water and forgot to clean it up then WHAMO) and mostly it's a REALLY bad sprain but I managed to pull off a teeny bit of ankle bone. I was so fortunate to get an orthopedic appointment on Wednesday and the doctor ordered this lovely (not) boot for ankle stability. I am so grateful! I can now zip around without any pain whatsoever. I just need to be careful not to re-injure my ankle.  I only have to go back to the doctor if I am not healing or having issues.  I am accident prone and feel like this could have been way worse. I'm thankful that it's an ugly boot and not a cast. Also what's really nice is that this ugly boot decreases pain and swelling. Sweet. Now that I'm new and improved and somewhat invincible, I  resumed the Great Declutter and tackled the dining room. Sadly my husband snatched up the lawn ornament I thought we were donating. I also did most of the hall clo...

  I'm going to be honest with you, I loved knitting this shawl and I am planning starting another one this afternoon. The ease of the pattern and the super easy memorizable directions were perfect for where I am in my attention span these days.  While knitting the bottom up triangle shawl (there is a side to side option), I fretted over how deep the triangle was, how silly.  Blocking the shawl gave plenty of width and a nice sizable lace weight shawl. The yarn I used is mystery wool, it was hand dyed by a blogging friend who lovingly gifted it to me. I know it's 100% wool and that is it. I'm thankful for the thoughtfulness and generosity. I haven't finished any projects in many months so this finished shawl made my week! What are you working on this week?

  How was your weekend? Mine was restful, very restful. I sat around nursing my sprained ankle doing everything I love. Today I will be finishing the pink shawl, definitely. I had a lovely afternoon yesterday listening to the birds all day long. Even Holly ventured into the 'dog' zone to listen to the bird fuss.   We have a bird's nest on one of the outdoor lights - I have yet to identify the bird - it keeps flying away! No official news on my ankle Xray results but since the swelling is going down and I can put some weight on it I'm hopeful I'll receive good news from the doctor.  My husband says I need a rubber suit, I wholeheartedly agree - I need all the protection I can get. The Great Declutter project has been put on hold. Maybe tomorrow we will start back up again? I'm limited in what I can do (which is a lovely excuse to not do anything...). I started a few new books. The first is The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz ( he wrote The Magpie Murders and ...

  Good morning! How are all of you doing? I've got lots to say so sit back, grab a cup of coffee or tea and let's begin. This week has been busy. We continue to declutter and unearth all sorts of treasures (junk) and I wonder why oh why am I keeping this stuff. I have systematically picked a section of a room and just go through the belongings and make a big pile on the kitchen table to then put directly into our SUV.  Earlier in the week, we donated a second car load and now we have a third load ready to donate. Slowly we are making progress.  Yesterday I fell in the hallway on a droplet of water that I splashed and did not clean up. I sprained my ankle, at least I hope it's just that, I see the doctor this morning to confirm. I am looking forward to his humor and teasing about how it's 'just' sprained. I don't know, I guess because I have RA and joint issues, I freak out when I injure myself and want to make sure all is well.  In case you're keeping sc...

  Good morning! My knitting this week is the same as last week and the week before that. However I've finished two Christmas stockings out of three total. On Mother's Day, I duplicate stitched the names on and -oh boy- did I have a time with that. Apparently I forgot how to duplicate stitch and even though I had the names charted out in front of me I continued to misspell names.  Gracious! I have big plans to make another birch leaf shawl as soon as this pink shawl is finished. I love how the pattern is memorized and I just pick up and go go go. Since I'm busy with other 'life' stuff (who isn't) I need simplicity in my knitting. What have you been working on this week?

  Call me crazy but after a 48 hour break, my husband and I resumed the Great Declutter Project. Yes, I was going through a big closet over the weekend. Repeatedly I get excited that I am clearing out what I do not want and yet am disappointed at what I continue to own! I will never fit in a tiny house. Let's be honest, my yarn stash would have difficulty fitting in a tiny house, ha ha. How are you? How was your weekend? I talked to both kids yesterday and we had homemade pizza for dinner (yum). The views outside our windows look like mid to late spring but it was a chilly weekend. It's supposed to warm up today but I think we are going to be great friends with clouds and rain this week. In our front yard we have a mostly decomposed tree stump that a pileated woodpecker is helping itself to a hearty breakfast nearly every morning, I wish I could get a photo but so far it's very shy. Tell me about your weekend!

  I'm amazed at how much I take for granted in my surroundings and my life. I live in a small rural town and my husband and I take the same daily walks down two of our adjoining roads. You might say it's a 'same old, same old' way of living. I thrive on sameness, honestly the more mundane my days can be the more content I am. I eat the same breakfast every day (cheerios)!  This week we put a pause on the Great Decluttering of our house (yay) and ventured to towns that are close to us. We sat on a bench and watched geese and goslings playing by the river and we picnicked outdoors at a park near a beautiful covered bridge. This particular bridge is retired from car crossings and filled with picnic tables. We took Frodo with us who was thrilled to be exploring new places. His nose went into overdrive trying to decode the information. He thoroughly enjoyed our outings. No matter where we go with Frodo, there is someone who stops us on our excursions and tells us about their...

  Hello! How are you?  I'd love to tell you about how much I am knitting but that just isn't happening this week. My husband and I have been overly busy and as you know, some things get set aside for the busy. However, yesterday afternoon I had a blissful 2 1/2 hours of uninterruptedness and I knitted away on the second Christmas stocking while listening to some audio knitting podcasts. What bliss! So today no matter how busy I am I will be returning to this project and giving myself permission to ignore the 'busy' and give myself a much needed break. What are you working on?

  This weekend is brought to you by two household pets and an elusive frog that posed ever so pretty for a photo while it was enjoying the abundant endless sunshine.  How was your weekend? Mine was packed full of household chores and tasks. It's too boring to list them but let's just be honest and say that checking off a long list is satisfying especially if you color code the list. The Great Declutter has taken a brief pause because my trunk is full of stuff and I have to get rid of that before I can load up again. Excuses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Yesterday was brilliant sunshine and over 80 degrees. On our daily walk, I was wishing for capris instead of jeans, I was overdressed.  How was your weekend?