What to do? what to do?

It's been an interesting first few days............

Today we had to say goodbye to our garden shed.   Because it's not made of wood, it's against the covenants of our HOA (along with at least 5-6 others) and even though it's been in our yard for seven years, the current board has threatened us with legal action unless we take it down.  My brother and a friend of his took it down and it's will be used over at my brother's friends house.  The really sad part....there's a wooden shed that sits 10 feet from ours that is in such disrepair it looks awful but because it's wood nothing it done about it....so not only to I get to stand at my kitchen sink and now look out on a empty concrete pad, I get to look at the piece of crap shed that is my neighbors.

 

 

 

I'm going to try and make lemonade out of lemons regarding what's left behind once the shed was removed and I'll share it with you later. 

 

My brother also used his big Ford 250 Extended Cab to yank out a Juniper that I had planted 10 years ago right after we moved in.  I had been trimming it over the years into a big ball, but the ball is getting too big and our cars are brushing into it when we come and go.  Here's a picture of it from a year or so ago and it was at least another three inches in diameter bigger this year.

The shrub had all but taken over the dianthus that is planted there, so I'm hoping once I finish doing what I'm going to be doing there (I'll share later), the dianthus will come back.

Coming up on my first full week as a woman of leisure and trying to decide if I'm going to tackle anything on my "To-Do" list.......there is a particular hutch downstairs in our basement that I can't wait to get started on, but I know there are a few things that need done first.

September is going to be the month of the Purge.   Say it with me......purge.

• First up....a garage sale.  I wasn't going to have one because I don't really have much to get rid of anymore but I was still hanging on to a couple totes of old Longaberger, some home décor I was tired of and some perfectly good linens, so when my good friend Diane suggested we do it together, I was game.  My friend Diane (co-worker friend who retired two years) had a bunch of stuff she wanted to get rid of, but her home is out in the country and she wouldn't get the traffic that we get here in my development, so she and her husband are bringing their stuff over next weekend and on Friday, September 12th and Saturday, September 13th, we are going to try and unload her stuff and the rest of mine.   It will be fun to sit around and gab with her while making a little cash and the sale MUST BE OVER no later than 1:00 or 2:00 at the very latest because the BIG game is on at 2:30pm on the 13th.    The Iowa Hawkeyes host the Iowa State Cyclones for the Cy-Hawk Trophy.  Diane and I are both Hawkeye fans as is her husband, so we're going to close up shop and watch the game together since my husband won't even be in town as he'll be in Kansas City for one of his geek weekends.

Once that sale is over, then we are moving on to reorganizing the garage now that the garden shed has come down and we have to make room for gardening tools and such in our garage.  We have the room, it just needs to be re-organized because we're now storing a 1992 Mustang in our 4th stall in the garage (but that's a whole another story).

Here are some of the other purging that will be going on the month of September -

• Our pantry......one word....yuck.   We definitely need to use up some food in there, purge what is no longer good and find a new way to organize it.   There are a few problem areas in there that I have some ideas on how to fix.
• My clothes.  I don't want to get rid of everything just in case life takes me into an opportunity where I might need some office apparel, but I can definitely purge what I have...some I'll consign, most I'll donate to a women's consignment store that gives it's proceeds to a local women's shelter.
• My jewelry.  I have a boat load of costume jewelry and a bunch of it I don't wear very often.  It needs to be gone through and I have a place in mind to take it to consign.

and last but not least a freezer purge.   We have a small chest freezer out in our garage in addition to the bottom freezer we have on our LG refrigerator in the kitchen that's perfect for freezer storage for the size of family we have.  WE NEED TO USE UP WHAT WE HAVE IN THERE before purchasing anything else (unless it's on super duper sale that is too good to pass up).

I'm pretty organized in the freezer department as I keep a written inventory of what we have.  I found the template online but you could easily make your own personalized for how you would use it.

My problem is not using what we have, so I've challenged myself to use up what we have the month of September so our grocery bill should reflect that challenge also.  I'll be very curious how long we can eat on what is already in both of our freezers and I'll be sharing recipes of what I make.  I'm really hoping that my time off will see us trying new healthy recipes that I'll now have time to put together rather than cooking out of convenience like we do most of the time.

Thrown in to all that this month is a concert by one of my favorite bands next weekend that we have 20th row dead center seats (never mind the ticket cost).

I also have my Wednesday night business class, the 37th Harkin Steak Fry, in which spouse and I will be seeing President Clinton and Hillary Clinton at Senator Harkin's last steak fry (more on that later), a much anticipated week long visit from my long time friend Kim and my retirement/birthday party that is bound to be a blast (more on that later),

So, that is my month of September and it looks like I'll have lots to share with you over the next month so please swing by.....I'd love your input.

The First Day of the Rest of My Life

It's a very surreal feeling to wake up the morning of your new life..........

No more 5:20am alarm clocks, no more morning commute, no more of what I've done for 27 years.

Wow.

So, what did I do?   I woke up the first time around the time I would have got up, but I went back to sleep and woke up around 8:15.....I turned the television on and watched a bit of CBS This Morning while my body caught up with my mind waking up.

It's a beautiful day and the only thing on the agenda for the day is some yard work and then I'm heading over to my dear friend Dianne's massage therapy studio Different Stoke Massages to take her to lunch and then she's going to give me a massage........heaven!

And later tonight, I think the spouse and I will be finally opening this Chocolate wine we bought last fall at the Wine Expo we attended.

Hanging on........

Right this minute I am one working day away from retiring from my job of 27 years.  I won't have to drive that familiar "auto pilot" drive every day and enter a building that I've worked in for the past 20 years, up the elevators to the 3rd floor.  I can't say that I won't miss some of my co-workers because I will...how could I not?  I've worked with these people for 27 years and I hope that we will be able to continue our friendships, but I will not miss working there.

My feelings are all over the place right now.........for the first time in 27 years I do not have a job and prior to that I had only been unemployed a total of a few weeks throughout my life.  That, is scary.  Period.  BUT, the possibilities are exciting and that takes the scariness away a bit.

Not only am I ending one thing, but tomorrow night, I'll be starting another.  I'll be attending my first class as a college student!  My fall semester class "Start Up Small Business" at our local community college is on Wednesday nights until December.  I'm excited to have this challenge.  I'm also going to be starting an online interior design certificate course in October that runs for 12 months.

I've been organizing myself the last few months with lists, goals, ideas and to-do things in my planner and I can't wait to start tackling that stuff.

I have a feeling I'm going to ask myself "How in the world did I ever work?"

7.5 days and counting

 

In just 7.5 short days, I will be retiring from my job of 27 years.  27 years of doing the same things, with the same people, in virtually the same building.  I'm bored, burnt out and it's been made pretty clear to me that I'm not a valued employee anymore and the future of the U.S. Courts budget wise isn't looking good at all, so I'm getting out while the getting is good.   It was my decision,  and it was based on a host of things and every bone in my body is telling it's the right decision. 

It's been a bittersweet journey with good times and bad times, but I'm not going to focus on what has been but rather on the road ahead of me.   It's been a long time in my life where I have been excited for what the future holds for me and my family, in fact, I think it's been a little over 18 years since the birth of our son and the excitement that change in our lives brought.

I'm re-working my blog as I'm going to start blogging more now that I have the time and I think there is an audience out there of younger retirees who are starting to navigate the next phase of their life and even if you aren't a retiree or even if you're older than I,  I hope you stick with me and let me share my journey with you.  I'll be sharing lot of different things from home projects, recycling projects, recipes, travel, to everyday ideas on saving money, decorating on a budget and crafting.

Bear with me as I figure out the new design and look of my blog as it will probably experiment with the tools I have available and need to figure out how to use to my best advantage.

I'm going to set a goal for posting to my blog at least three times a week and we'll see how that goes with my new schedule.

Thanks for hanging out with me!

My Love of Topiary & Greenery

I see it has been almost a month since my last blog post.  I've been busy and just haven't felt like putting something together.  Between work, the gym, getting dinner, watching my shows and then wanting to read, whether that be online, my nook or diving into my pile of magazines, it hasn't left my time for anything else.

After taking down our Christmas decor, I always get such a sense of renewal that I also freshen up and mix up my home accents.  One constant in our home decor are topiary.  I love topairy.....any and all sizes and shapes.  I'm always on the lookout for a good one when I'm out and around and I've found them in unusual places.  I prefer preserved topiary but if I find a good fake one, I'm not going to turn it down.

This is my most recent acquisition....not a topiary but a boxwood wreath......I adore boxwoods and I have a whole hedge of them in the front of my house that I baby and trim every year.  This wreath came from Home Decorators Collection and I added the burlap ribbon from a roll I already had in my scrap room.

 
It hangs on one side of the patio door and it brings some "life" to that spot in our house.

I use topiary on our foyer table along with a Longaberger basket, a #4 pottery crock that my mom gave me 25 years ago filled with some artificial hydrangea.

I just put out the blue glass bottles on the table and I'm seeing if they "fit".    I also have a birdcage filled with a trio of candles on the bottom shelf along with another one of my Longaberger baskets (which is sometimes used as a bed by our furry friends).

I'm going to be painting the foyer and hallway next month in the same color I painted our den last summer...Sherwin Williams Beach House.

I also use topiary on table displays through our house.  We have a ladder shelf in our family room that I use to display our family mementos and between our mementos I like using contrasting greenery and again to pull some "life" inside.

 See, that little pewter kitty cat?.......

It's one of the first things that Fred ever bought for me and the B it resides on came from a favorite home interiors store in the Amana Colonies on a favorite family vacation.

Here's another grouping that is on top of one of our bookcases.

See the theme I have going here.....  :)

I also did something a little different with Connor's senior portrait.  We had purchased several of our favorite poses in 8 X 10 and those I have in tabletop frames throughout the house, but one of them we ordered in a 11 X 14 and I framed it in a simple black frame. I wanted to display it differently than just hanging it on a wall or on a tabletop, so I used a small easel and sat it next to our fireplace in front of one of our built in bookcases.....I like it.

Thanks for letting me share my love of topiary, greenery and home decor........

My Year in Reading - 2013

2013 saw me woefully lacking in the reading department.   I read 26 books this year which is at least 10 less then I usually read.  I found that my online reading time is really taking a bite out of my book reading time and I'm going to try and change that in 2014 a bit.

I currently have 384 books on my "to-read" list at Goodreads but I'm starting to go back through my list and see if they still draw me to reading them.  My tastes and interests change up a bit and some of those books have been on the list for at least two years.

I think my favorite book I read in 2013 was "Inferno" by Dan Brown.

He's one of my favorite authors and although a lot of people didn't like it, I did.  I also finally got around to reading the third book in the Stieg Larsson series "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" and loved how the trilogy ended!

I also read my first Joe Hill book this year and I have three more of his loaded onto my nook HD and those are all high on my "to-read" list.  Those of you who might not know, Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and he's a terrific horror writer.

I've decided to lower my expectations in 2014 as far as how much reading of books I'll get done.  For the last three years I set my goal at 52 but I've not been able to read a book a week, so 2014 I'll shooting for 30 books, or 2 - 3 a month.  Much more doable right now with my schedule.

Holiday House Tour 2013

Our home is never decorated the same way year to year.  The tree is set up in the same place but that's about as much consistency as I have in my holiday decorating.

Both last year and this year has been the years of the purge and I've let go of a lot of holiday stuff that was either getting pretty old, wasn't my style anymore or I was just damn tired of it.  What I purged had no sentimental value to me and it felt rather good weeding through everything.  I was able to downsize out of three totes of stuff, even with the few new pieces I purchased.

The first thing we do is the tree.  Until four years ago, we had an artificial Frazier Fir that was as beautiful as it could be for being fake, but unfortunately, one of our cats found it in the basement and decided he was going to pee all over it........well, it's a good thing we had already gotten many years of use out of it, because there was nothing we could do but throw it away.

We decided that we weren't going to buy another artificial tree, we wanted to go back to have a real live tree in the house during the holidays so that is what we have done and we haven't regretted our decision.

Here's a few pictures of our tree in various light -

The tree skirt is quilted and was a gift from my mother.  It's one of my most prized Christmas items and I can't imagine my Christmas tree without it.  There must be 20 different Christmas fabrics represented.

The wall hanging shown below is new this year.  I wanted a few news things to just freshen up the decor.  The Santas on the right are a couple of Jim Shore Santas that I've collected over the years and the candle urn is out year round.  At Christmas I just switch out the candle and filler and place a candle ring around the base.

I also decorate a ladder shelf in our family room with various favorite Christmas figures and fun.

The Santa riding the reindeer and the the little Santa that spell out JOY have with us for most of our marriage.

More favorite Santas and a candy cane train that was purchased during the era when Connor loved any and all things to do with trains and it reminds of that and for that, I'll always keep it.

 The glass jar of pine trees is one of the things I made this year.  The glass jar is from IKEA.  Pretty simple.....a bag of fake snow and those little fake pine trees that people use in villages....easy peasey!

I place a miniature lighted tree on one of our IKEA bookcases and another easy decorating idea is to use a candle ring at the base of your table lamps.

This stack of baskets and boxes in on one side of our fireplace.  The small red and silver fabric weaved basket was made by a girlfriend 20 years ago and it holds are stocking hangars.  The round box holds our Christmas music CD's and the top basket holds our stockings and silly hats that we wear on Christmas morning.

Flanking our fireplace is my "Cindy Lou Who" trees that I bought at Pier 1 after Christmas for 75% off a few years ago and we love the whimsy of them.  The Christmas lettering above the fireplace on the stone is a removeable sticker.  Excuse the fur stain on the rug that goes by Kirby.

I also string a Christmas ornament garland across the top of the built in book case/fireplace and a couple of years ago, I made the BELIEVE garland from a Basic Grey paper collection.  Can you guess what movie is on the television?

The is the view of our hallway from the front foyer.  In past years I've displayed some of my Jim Shore Santas on my foyer table, but this year, I decided to put all different types of Christmas trees.  So I went through my totes on the search of trees and found enough to display together.

The #4 crock is there year round, I just plunk a rustic woodland tree with a wooden garland in it and surround it with fake poinsettias (no real in our home, poisonous to cats!)  The Longaberger basket that is on the lower shelf also makes its year round home there, but it's usually filled with a cat rather than pine cones and giant ornaments.

Here's a closer look at the different Christmas trees on the table - the tall green one with the long stick in the front center is new this year.

Moving down the hallway, I hang one of my mother's quilted gifts to me.  It gorgeous and the detail is amazing, I can't even count how many different fabrics she used.  Those 3M command strips come in handy here.

At the end of the hallway is our kitchen/family room area.  The first thing you see beyond the dining table is our deckpatio door and small hutch to the right.  I string my Christmas ball garland across the top and hang my favorite berry wreath and a cute felt Christmas I found at clearance at Target a couple of years ago.

The hutch stores pet supplies in the bottom and my candle/wax tart addiction in the top shelves and it's fun to decorate during the holidays.  Other than the small Santa lamp on the right, it changes up every year.

I bought the Starbuck's Advent Calendar this year because I loved the design of the magnetic board with the 25 tins.  There have been caramels in each tin and I hear there is a surprise in the 25th tin.  On the top shelf next to the Christmas Subway art is my Fitz and Floyd Cookie Plate and Mug that was a gift from my mother early in my marriage and it's been used every year since to leave cookies and milk out for Santa.  Here's a close up of the set, it's really beautiful.

On the wall between the deck/patio door, I have another new piece I bought this year at Gordman's.

Across the eat in area where the small hutch is located is our beverage bar....alcoholic beverage bar.  It's fun to decorate for the holidays too!  On the top of the bar, I'm displaying the cross stitch tray my mother made and gave to me our first Christmas in this house.

On the top of the wine rack is the cross stitch my mother made me for my 18th birthday that says "Merry KrisMoose".  The house on the left is one of those Doodlebug houses that I altered in one of Basic Grey's Christmas collections.  There's another small fake poinsettia and a spray of berries.  The lantern resides up there year round.  There's also a bottle of wine decorated in a cute reindeer outfit.

I have a collection of Christmas cheese knives that I think is fun to display.

Another simple holiday touch is to add red berries to plants you already have.

Another new decor piece this year is from Target.  I loved the cobalt blue.

In the corner of the opposite side of the kitchen, I re-located a topiary I use year round and tied a red bow on it.  The sign is another recent purchase.  I can't believe I got it for $4 bucks.

Going back to the front of the house from the kitchen is our den and it's where Fred's desktop computer and the wireless printer is located.  I also keep our permanent book library here.  I don't do a lot of decorating in here, but I try and make it festive.  I just placed some Christmas art up on the top of Fred's computer desk

Of course, the Grinch is watching over my children's book library.........   :)

Below the Grinch is my gourd snowmen that were an incentive to earn when I sold Longaberger and   I love their uniqueness so I had to have them.  They are almost a decade old.

We have a small ladder shelf in our den that I like to display a few things on.  This year its a new piece that I made from a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper, a canvas and mod podge.  Below it is our personalized snowmen family that I bought the first Christmas after Connor was born.

and finally, just to dress it up a little, I added Christmas trees and a Christmas sign to my fairy garden that sits in the den during winter...

I've scaled back a bit this year.  I usually put a tree up in our master bedroom on the window seat, but didn't this year.  I usually wrap our staircase with greenery and have a beautiful spray on the bottom newel post, but because of the newest member of our house, we thought better of it this year, but next year I will again.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoyed my tour!