Retiring in America

OK, I needed a good giggle, and I found one. Now I'm sharing it with you. I'm a Dawn French fan. You will be too after you watch this funny video about retiring in America.

Have you ever wanted to....

Am I too old to go through a "stage"? Because I am. Going through one. A stage. At 56 years of age. Is that possible? For a few days now I have been just craving a "do over". Remember those when you were a kid? The game didn't go the way you wanted, so you asked for a "do over". Well, I want a do over! Oh, not with my life, like you're thinking. LOL I'm happily married. I adore my grown kids and my grandson is the best thing that's happened to me since... umm.... menopause! (Oh come'on - you know you were delighted when menopause came along and you didn't have deal with all that monthly aches and pains and all the trappings that came along with it!) No, my life is just fine, thank you. I love my life. But I have this really, really, REALLY strong craving to empty my house. Completely. Bye bye furniture. Bye bye dishes. Bye bye books. Bye bye art work. Bye bye linens. Bye bye a lifetime accumulation of things that suddenly feel like they should belong to someone else! And, in my head, how would I accomplish this??? Like this! Oh yeahhhh... Turn the house right upside down and SHAKE IT BABY, SHAKE IT! Empty it out! Contents on the front lawn and a big ol' post on Freecycle -- come and get it! Weird, huh?

A new blog giveaway

I have a bloggy friend, Jan, who is the most productive quilter I know, and who is having her first blog giveaway... with THREE items to give away. One is an absolutely adorable miniature quilt, next are five batik FQ's, and lastly is a book on baby quilts. Stop over and see her blog - It's the Cat's House, I Just Live Here. You enter the giveaway simply by leaving a comment. If you could, please tell her "Joan sent me" in your comment! Enter by 7pm, Nov. 21.

While you're there, do take a look at her quilt photos. She gives most of quilts away to charity. I swear, she seems to make one a week. I don't know how she does it!

Good luck everyone! (But please - could I win that miniature quilt????)

Off to a Rummage Sale I go

I hope this is not going to be a busy weekend, but I swear, I have that same hope every weekend. For me, the ideal weekend is to stay home on Saturday, get the house picked up, get laundry done, and do some reading, sewing and menu-planning. On Sunday, I do like it when we go out for at least half the day, especially in nice weather, and the flea market is lately the destination of choice. The other half of the day is usually spent watching the NASCAR races. Today, however, I'm headed out first thing to a local church that is having a "Dave Ramsey Sale". Apparently, members of the church learned the Dave Ramsey way of getting control over your bills and finances, which includes selling every non-essential thing that you own to bring in money to pay bills. Now, I know what you're thinking -- she's going to the rummage sale to buy someone else's clutter! Not so. I have a list! Here's what I'm looking for: A train table (for DGS's wooden train set). Storage unit for DGS's craft supplies 26 inch tension rod for over my sink Hats, mittens, scarves to have on hand for the winter (DGS size, of course) Thread - almost any kind, any color, just not old and brittle A set of every day kitchen dishes, service for 6-8 - mine are so mismatched! Christmas decoration for the front door Christmas decoration for the kitchen table Pretty vintage pillowcases for a purse idea I saw online That's it! I'll read the list to Jeff before we go in to the sale, and together, we should be able to find some of these. These are all items I would like to have and, with the exception of the tension rod and mittens, probably won't go out and buy because they are, indeed, non-essentials. We'll see how I do! ... TWO HOURS LATER Fairly good rummage sale but less than I expected... more like 20 small garage sales in one place rather than people trying to get rid of MOST of their non-essential "stuff". What did I buy? One frame for $1.00. That's it. And I bought that because I have a photo of the family from my son's last visit home that I need a frame for. But more importantly, what did I pass up?

• A battery operated ride-in jeep for $15.00
• Five boxes of pre-cut quilt squares
• Boxes of quilting fabric
• Many bolts of home dec fabric
• A wrought iron dress form
• A vintage dress form
• Children's books by the boatload
• A really great retro-diner-looking cafe table and matching chairs, brand new $30
• Some really cool iron decorative architectural items
• A Bob the Builder tent/tunnel combo

Two years ago, I would have bought all of these. But these days Peter Walsh's words ring in my ears every time I go to buy something... "It's not that the space you have is too small for your stuff, it's that you have too much stuff for the space you have." Paraphrased, but you get the gist of it. And, of course, you can't spend hours upon hours decluttering and not understand what the effects of bringing this "but I like it" stuff into the house when it serves no purpose. My husband, on the other hand.... bought stuff. A stamp collection. A World War II bullet. A collection of die cast Pan Am jets. A Monopoly game. Other "stuff" I can't remember. Can you tell we're not on the same page about clutter? Yet. FIVE THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR TODAY:

1. Another rainy day (we need the rain)
2. I'm more than half-way through decluttering my office
3. I actually finished knitting a pair of socks for Brayden - they fit and he loves them*!
4. Warm cinnamon rolls and coffee on a cold morning
5. Crock pot meals -- they make the house smell good all day long!

*Brayden's sock - I had one sock finished when Brayden arrived yesterday morning. Because I haven't knit socks in four or five years, I had a tough time coming up with the right size needles to use, the right gauge, etc., and had knit two other socks that didn't fit him (but that he wanted to wear anyway!). Yesterday I wanted to try on this ONE sock to see if it fit before I started the second, and it fit -- and then he didn't want to take it off. He wore it all day. One colored sock, one white sock. To the library. Out to lunch. For his nap. He just loved his sock. It didn't matter to him that he didn't have two of them. One was just fine. Lordy, how can you not love this kid!?

1. Please feel free to comment on my blog! 2. When I use a magic marker I can't help sniffing it occasionally. 3. My favorite thing to cook is omelettes - though I don't eat eggs! 4. Time with my kids and grandson is something I can't get enough of. 5. That's the thing I love most about my husband is his offbeat sense of humor. 6. News headlines always makes me think to myself, what the heck? 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some down time and knitting, tomorrow my plans include going to a local rummage sale and Sunday, I want to work on Christmas gifts! THINGS I'M GRATEFUL FOR TODAY:

1. A wonderful 60 degree day -- I'll be outside with my grandson!
2. My first cup of coffee this morning -- sitting out on my deck watching the sunrise.
3. The motivation to declutter my office today (Thanks Organising Queen!).
4. My grandson's progress with vocabulary -- it's so wonderful to hold full conversations with a two year old!
5. My son loved his birthday gifts. Happy Birthday, sweetie!

The entire world is decluttering

Anyone see Oprah yesterday? Peter Walsh (formerly of Clean House and now of Peter Walsh fame) was on the show, randomly knocking on people's doors, asking to help them with their clutter. And now that he's embarrassed four women in the New York City area, he's headed YOUR way on a national decluttering campaign.

Picture this -- the family has left for work, school, wherever they go during the day and you're sitting in your sweats (the pants with the hole in the knee, the sweatshirt with paint drips), enjoying your first quiet cup of coffee/tea. Your hair looks like the cat slept wrapped around your head (and probably did), the breakfast dishes (and OK, last night's dinner dishes too, because your dishwasher needs to be emptied) are piled in the sink, the trash is close to overflowing, the neglected cat box is registering 9.3 on the smell-o-meter, and last night you got the quilting bug and pulled out every shade of red fabric that you own (which in turn messed up all the blues, greens and yellows that were jammed in the same totes), in an effort to finally get that Christmas sewing started. You hear... DING DONG....

You quickly use your hands to fluff up your hair because we all know what a difference THAT makes, hope it's the FedEx guy at the door because he's seen you this way so many times before that he never bats an eye at the fact you're not wearing a bra, use your feet to push aside the boxes of newly acquired fabric that arrived a week ago and still lay in the hallway in front of the front door because you haven't got one square inch left to stash fabric (and, after all, no one uses that front door except for the FedEx guy), and pry open the door the socially required 14 inches (just enough to let people know you're being welcoming, not enough to let them actually see inside your house) and you see...

The bright white lights of the TV camera hit you full in the face, like a zillion flash bulbs going off at once, and as you rapidly blink your eyes as if you've just come out of a year-long coma, there stands a man whose face looks familiar, but you don't know why, saying "Hello!!!! I'm Peter Walsh of the Oprah Show and we're here to help you with your clutter. CAN I COME IN?"

If that's not enough to make you jump right out of your computer chair and start decluttering, I don't know what is. I'm starting today with my office. THINGS I'M THANKFUL FOR TODAY:

1. Peter Walsh isn't at MY door this very second.
2. My house is actually organized and decluttered -- except for my office.
3. Last night's rain.
4. The cat slept all night without waking me up
5. My grandson is fully potty trained.

I'm loving blog giveaways!

I think bloggers are some of the most generous, kind-hearted people on earth. I don't know of any group of private citizens that love to give things away as much as bloggers! But who gives away TWO items a day for 12 days? Tip Junkie, that's who! You'll see the button for this giveaway at the top of my right hand column. Go. Enter. Win something cool. It's all good!

Halloween candy left over? Remember our Soldiers!

I mentioned that we had minus three kids for Halloween this year, compared to well over 100 in years past. I bought candy for the "well over 100" group that never showed. I don't give my grandson sugary treats, and neither Jeff nor I need to be eating that much candy. What can you do with leftover candy? Send it to the soldiers overseas! What a great idea! A non-profit group called Soldiers' Angels will accept your leftover Halloween candy to put in Care Packages they ship to our soldiers overseas. You can find more information here. And while you're there, look around their web site because they have numerous ways to help out our soldiers, from sewing quilts to knitting scarves to making handmade canes for the wounded to sending cards and so much more. I believe they have 23 different programs! What a worthy cause!

My crafty project for the Kitchen

I was cruising around the Budget Decorating blog on About.com, and saw the cutest idea for hanging up measuring spoons. I fell in love instantly. This is truly my kind of decorating! My kitchen is decorated in a coffee motif. I actually collect electric percolators (anyone remember those??) from the 1940's through 1960's, and have other coffee paraphanalia around the kitchen. (By the way -- "collect" means I buy them if I can find them for $2 or under at flea markets, yard sales, estate sales, etc.!) So I headed to Ebay to see if I could find a coffee pot or tea pot picture frame. No luck. But I did find this: And fell in love with it -- except for the rafia and the curly-cue wirey thingie on the top. The sign arrived in yesterday's mail. It is 8 x 9.5 inches and the colors are just perfect for my kitchen. Hi ho hi ho -- a'crafting I go... and gather up 5 small cuphooks and a picture hanging hook, and a pair of wire cutters. Snip! Off came the rafia and curly-cue wirey thingie on top. Luckily, the frame is made of soft pine, so I didn't need to pre-drill the holes for the cup hooks. Just a ruler to figure out how to space them across the bottom. And now I have this hanging in my kitchen over the sink!

Our weekend, weekly menues and more

Whew... it's been a busy weekend here. Jeff and I spent Saturday morning and early afternoon cleaning house. I have to admit, it's nice to have a housework partner now and then! We dusted, vac'd, cleaned bathrooms and generally did a good all-over pick-up. Nothing major, but just things that needed to get done. Brayden arrived at 4pm on Saturday to spend the night and day on Sunday. Normally, we spend most of our daylight hours outside, but it was cold (40's) and windy on Saturday, so Jeff got out the wooden train set I'd picked up this summer at a yard sale ($5!!), lit a fire in the fireplace, and he and Brayden played with the train set for a few hours. Isn't this a cozy scene? I worked with Brayden on teaching him how to use the computer. He has "baby" programs that let him accomplish things by banging on ANY key, but there are so many fun activities on the 'net that he could do if he actually knew how to use the mouse correctly, so we worked on his "mouse skills". First, we went to the MostlyMommies web site to give him an idea of how the mouse works and let him practice moving the mouse and clicking. After a few minutes of that, we went to the Thomas the Train web site there is a Memory Game we played, and I showed Brayden how to point the mouse and click on the card he wanted. Then we moved on to the Coloring Book pages, where he could move the mouse to pick a color, and move it again to color Thomas. He much preferred the Memory Game over coloring, but by the end of a fairly short time he was really getting the idea of the hand/eye coordination involved in using the mouse. We'll keep working on it! Then (yay!) bedtime. He wore the jammies that my friend Lynne made -- well, she purchased the jammies and embroidered a train on the top. He loves them! And LOOK! A picture with Brayden actually SMILING! LOL We were all up by 7am on Sunday and bundled up to head to the Flea Market. It was very cold out (high 30's), but we'd promised Brayden all week that we'd take him, so there was no backing out. Layers of clothes and hats and hoods, and off we went. Unfortunately when we arrived, many of the sellers were packing up their tables to leave because of the cold! But we did manage to scout out several booths, and Brayden found a big metal truck (which we paid for) and four matchbox cars (which he paid for). Brayden had $1.50 in his pocket (though he'd tell you he had "three hundred dollars") to spend however he wanted. He dug through a big tub of matchbox cars for a good 10 minutes before finding the cars he wanted. The seller wanted $1 for three, so I taught Brayden the fine art of negotiating, and he got them for $1 for four. I'm a goodddd Umma! Brayden is fascinated with the socks I'm knitting for him. I had one done, and he wanted to try it on. It was WAAYYY too small -- it wouldn't even go over his foot! (When did he grow so fast?!?) But he loved the little sock so much he wanted to wear it anyway! Yay! At last! Someone who appreciates homemade gifts! LOL He sat on my lap and watched me knit, and wanted so badly to learn how to knit, but he's just too young. After he left, I did rip out the socks (I had 1 3/4 done!) and start again. I hope to have them done by Wednesday for him. Brayden went home around 3pm after not taking a nap (sorry, Mary!) though he promptly fell asleep in the car. I drove slower than normal so he could get in at least a 30 minutes "power nap". Jeff and I were both worn out, so I fixed a simple "breakfast for dinner" -- sausage, eggs, fried potatoes and toast. I have to tell you, if you haven't discovered the Southern Plate web site, you need to go there IMMEDIATELY. She has the BEST (and simple) recipes I have ever tried, and she even goes to all the trouble of presenting step-by-step photos of each recipe. We've tried two of her recipes now -- the Chicken and Dumplings (southern style -- New Englanders be prepared because this is NOTHING like our Chicken and Dumplings) that were just SO delicious (and ideal for a cold night), and now her fried potatoes. I always thought I had to partially cook the potatoes before frying, but her recipe calls for just plopping them in a pan raw. They came out with the nicest brown crunch on the outside and so tender on the inside -- absolutely perfect fried potatoes! Honestly, the best I've ever had in my life -- and Jeff agreed! This week (which is going to be cold here in southwestern Ohio), I am planning on trying her recipe for Taco Soup. Which brings me to my menues for the week! (How's that for a segue?) Monday Taco Soup Cornbread Tuesday Chicken and Dumplings Mixed green salad Wednesday Leftover Taco Soup Grilled cheese tortillas Thursday Baked pork chops (thaw extra for Saturday) Macaroni and Cheese Green beans Friday Leftover mac & cheese Hot dogs, rolls Mixed green salad Saturday Pork Stir Fry Egg Rolls Sunday (Last NASCAR race of the season) Delivery Pizza My week is "booked" -- Jeff is taking Monday and Tuesday off, on Wednesday and Friday I babysit Brayden (and we have Story Hour at our local library starting this week), and on Thursday Lynn and I are going to a local Salvage store and Amish market to do... well, something we probably can't afford!