Easter Week

Yesterday one of my finds was a flower pot that had the words violet painted on it and a painting of some violets in bloom. I have lots of these in the yard so it will be great to put one in it. On the way home I stopped by the nursery and got two fruit trees a peach and nectarine and got those planted. Now I'm trying to figure out where to put an apricot tree! It was 29* here over night and I am SO glad I put the annuals in the play house. I just got them out for some sun. It's a lovely day here and will warm up through the end of the week.

I found a couple of books by a favorite author Emilie Barnes and a wire bound journal and a planner, planner size note book plus filler pages for these at the thrift shop. I like the bigger size rings in the planner and I'd been looking for one so I'm delighted with these finds. Speaking of books I found library thing web site and have most of my books there some I've read some to read some that I'm currently reading. See link in blog title for this post.

I've been getting ready for a block yard sale the weekend after Easter is keeping me busy I"m getting "stuff" rounded up for this. I went through the books last weekend. It feels good to get progress on this! Tonight is Family Dinner at dear daughter's.

Gardening News

Another trip to the garden store is on the docket today with the truck for trees this time. The herbs shrubs roses and grass seed is in, annuals are next.

Yesterday I got a fake rock planter with a hole in it for planting and put it by the front door, a cane bottom chair with a hole in it from the thrift shop will be holding plants soon. I'm finding gardening to be very therapeutic. I got some snaps, tall marigolds yellow and white, and purple and white pansies. Fruit trees are next nectarine and peach and I found some bulbs!

The other peach tree died well past it's prime of the life span about 25 years for fruit trees, with lovely blooms in the spring we enjoyed these! Last year we took out the apricot tree and pine they had bugs and the above ground pool went in now it's back to grass and this made room for the new tree additions.

Major Tweak!

Today I’m trying a new browser
Firefox I’m tired of the I.E. not working.
So going to give this one a go.

-----> Edited to add on 3/29
I like this it spell checks when
I post on message boards!
Also I can increase font size on them too.
Now I am wondering why I waited so long!
I love it!

-----
Our greatest glory is not in never failing,
but in rising up every time we fail.
Emerson.

Spring Fun!

Yea! I made it in to my writing blog; I've not been able to get in here for a while. So I'm happy to see that I can get in again. I've finished a green knitting project for March. We have been on an ATV ride it was so-o good to get out of the house and see the changes in naure after our ride last fall there was more burning and there were trees down. Some on had went ahead of us and move the biggest logs out of the way. I've been to a Business Boot Camp training also. We are having wonderful warmer weather here is was up to 70* on Saturday. The roads were drying out and dryer than we expected. Some snow is at the top in the shady spots. We saw a heard of elk, mtn. blue birgs and wild turkeys. Bulbs are blooming in our yard that makes outside work
much more fun again now.

Think Week

I remember an interview some one was doing of Bill Gates about this time last year I think it was. He was talking about having "think week". Setting aside time a week to read books, articles and go over other info. he does this three or four times a year he said. Julia Cameron recommends a going with out media for a week. So I decided to take their advice grounded myself from the computer last weekend. I got quite a bit of other stuff done, and made some decisioins I needed to consider and got some knitting, crafting reading and caught up on my off line journals.

Feels Like Spring!

The geese were honking over head again this morning. This week it’s been warmer fifty - one degrees yesterday and today it was forty - seven it felt like spring out. I resumed my walk on the hill by here and I’m in great shape I was rather surprised by this. Yesterday I did ten minutes and no ill effects, to today I bumped it up a bit and I did more 45 min. plus ten on the level I could tell I’d done more when I got home but it felt good. I picked up a bag of trash today as I walked, then when I got about a half a block from home I saw nine white tailed deer that was fun!

I called a friend and she said even though it’s been cold she is still getting eggs from her chickens. We had a great visit and it was good to catch up on news and compare notes on what we have been up to the past few weeks.

It has warmed up here 40* - 56* here for this week my walk was realy rather plesant today outside! I saw people hauling trash off to the dump, roses had been pruned, others were getting pedal bikes ready to use for spring and I saw a robin today too!

Changes

Now that the weather has turned off mild again this week for a while any way, I am able to take my daily walks again now. I saw geese honk as they flew over head on my walk yesterday and several other days this week. They were out for their daily exercise too, they fly laps over heads circling the area. I see or hear them often. I enjoy watching the birds in the winter on my daily walks.

There have been other changes here as well, as grandchildren grow up go off to school and other activities there is not the need for me to do granny duty. I’m getting my life back so I’ve been tweaking my plans and getting some fun things back on to it that I like to do. I have been missing some of these things weaving, ladies groups such as Women’s Aglow, spinning and weaving guild meetings, life groups at church, it's time to call and order a book I've been wanting to read, walk at the beach and around the island where we camp, my list is growing!

No Escape from Cold!

Winter has a cold icy grip on our country from Washington to Texas there is no escaping it! I was remembering some of the winters we experienced as children. When I was three or four my granny knit me a two piece red snow suit! There are pictures of me trying to ride my trike with the red snow suit on. It was a sweater and knit pants. That took some time to make and what she did that long record cold winter.

Hubby’s family had horses and cows on the farm when they were kids. Feeding them was a lot of work in the winter keeping ice out of the water troughs. Hubby tells great stories of this and those 4-h projects that they did as kids. They raised pure bread championship Herefords the red cows with white faces. My stories of sewing aprons are not nearly as entertaining! We have some good times remembering when we raised rabbits.

We had a bad winter when were kids that was in 1963 with three plus feet of snow we made lots of snow forts, and played outside because of all the snow we missed a lot of school that year. Our mom’s had hot cocoa for us when we came back inside and shed the numerous layers of clothing, mittens hats and boots to dry by the stove.

In high school we rode a snowmobile, I think I enjoyed sledding more because it was quiet and no fumes. Many of us had sledding adventures some high school buddies were unlucky and crashed into trees with broken bones they had hospital stays and missed a lot of school. Back in those days if you broke a leg you stayed home.

We were talking about how much snow is on top where we were riding A.T.V.’s last summer and the snowmobile trails are busy on the weekends. This year I’ve been getting a lot of knitting done for grand children other family and myself members ski scarves, shrugs, prayer shawls, and ponchos! I’m SO glad I had just stocked up on yarn before this cold snap hit!

Furried and Feathered Friends

Our furry and feathered friends need to be remembered this time of year, with the cold snap in our nation birds and squirrels are in need of food and water too. Today when I was clearing some stuff off the steps I found the walnuts dear grand son and I had gathered on one of our summer walks. So I scattered some of them under the tree where a family of squirrels has taken up residence.

We’ve had many hours of entertainment watching them play. Scampering up and down the tree, teasing the neighbors cats, grooming and sunning them selves and even looking in the window watching us makes me wonder what they think of us when they peer in the window. One time they chased robins out of their nest and on a different day at a different house I saw the robins chase the squirrels out of the robins’ nest. So I’m adding this to my list to do at least while the cold weather is here and the nuts last.

Life Lessons 06

List a few of the things you won’t change this year.

1. I'm thinner fitting in to the size I wore in high school now!
Yea!!! Keeping on with my health and fitness plans!
To see what worked for me check out my yahoo group cyberhealthclub.

2. Stay organized ~ with my plan by using peelsplanner yahoo group I set up several years ago helped me and others to get and stay organized.

3. My airsplanner getting organized for the holidays yahoo group
helped me to stay sane on track with my plan for gifting all year round prep.

4. Myprayerplanner yahoo group goes in the category of spiritual growth.

5. I'm keeping my groups at least to the end of 07.
[I set a goal of 5 years to succeed with these and my 5 years is up! ]

6. Planning
We have planned our vacations out for the year and we are keeping what we did for last year it worked for us the past few years. So we will do that again.

Journaling b/c it's fun for me!
I want to do a couple of them; one sketch journal and
a leather journal they have been "too nice" or "too good" to start
but what the heck I"m not getting any younger!

I got a granny journal but it's geared toward remembering my youth and
I want to get down some of the fun things we do with grand kids around here. I'm going to rip out the pages with journaling prompts
and use the lined pages or just use a different one b/c I have another focus! More fun reading is going on my list this year.

Best purchase of 06 new ATV 's for us and a used caddie! [car]

List some things you will change!
Some of the changes I'm looking forward to for 07 are ~> read on...

I'm looking forward to getting a pc and camera this summer. What I'm changing getting a pc w/out a pen stylus. Hubby can use it, but I type faster than I write so I just do not use that feature it. My camera phone is not working using the pics I used to so will need a digital camera, I’m trying to do some research on that now. I did not want to rush the purchase until I checked in to these. I do not want to spend a lot in case some one dumps it in the lake like someone’s phone but at least that had a plan for replacement on it.

Survival Gear

It’s been riveting watching the search for hikers on the news this week-end. Some of the guys in the service are from Camp Pendleton that is not that far away from us. That got me to thinking about survival gear. When we were trucking hubby told me of some truckers that were trapped between two rock slides on the pass and could not get out for several days. We kept tuna in the truck for those just in case times. I keep boots and couple of blankets in the car.

One time hubby came upon a wreck and he gave a blanket to some on in shock they had gotten the person out and up by the road on a piece of paneling but did not have a blanket. One time we had a wreck in the truck swerved to miss a dear and spilled a load of lumber like match sticks all over the road. I ended up with a broken toe and had my foot soaking in a lunch box sized ice chest to prevent swelling. We had to kick out the front windshield to get out of the truck and I sat on a pillow with one of the blue jean quilts I’d made wrapped around me.

When we were motor cycling we kept cup-a-soup with us fast and just boil water and you had a meal. I’ve been known to back up biscuits and take them. Not a munchy food but work in case of an emergency with cheese it’s nearly a meal and some peanuts raisins and trail mix. Water of course, if you are in the cold keep a bottle of water with you in the sleeping bag so it does not freeze over night. I learned that on a show about camping in the artic must have been the travel channel.

The guys keep weights like cinder or cement blocks in the back of the pick up and bags of sand in case they get stuck, chains of course. I take my cell phone charger so I can recharge it in the car. The guys keep jumper -cables in the trunk with a tool kit. In the camper we keep a first aid kit. I have a list around here some where I need to go take a peek at it.

Snow Cave

I remember when brother in law was in boy scouts and he was talking about camping in the winter and they build a snow cave he said they could stay comfortable if they lit a candle for warmth it was amazing to me. I've never tried it but it's pretty common knowledge in these parts here in the Pacific North West.

Wind Storm

The winds slammed in here and woke me up around mid night the first time. And then at the peak of this wind storm at four in the morning I had the rude awakening of the winds gusting between forty and forty-eight mph blasting the house, it creeks when the wind gets above thirty or thirty five miles an hour.

Today I’m I'm up and it's quiet the winds finally died down about some time between four and six yesterday afternoon. Hubby said at work they were with out power for a while and the dispatcher was using the CB [2way radio] in the work rig to dispatch from, and the mechanics were working on trucks in the yard [parking lot] because there was not enough light inside the shop with out power.

At home I had power, and the cable and inter net were both working all day. Yea! We lost a small tree branch that was already dead but it did not hurt anything or anyone when it fell. I had to move it before I could get out of the drive way to do my errands.

Motor Cycle Parade

We went to the toys for tots motor cycle parade this weekend while we were on a date that was fun! We used to do this when we had bikes. This weekend we will take soup the weather is going to turn cold we will drive around and see the holiday lights in the area and take a stroll at the locomotive park. Other holiday happenings here. The house lights are up, the packages have been wrapped and shipped in transit. Cards have been mailed. Tree is up and decorated. Nativity set is up and lights are around it.

Still to do stockings to stuff, holiday tea menu final tweaking, then food shopping list for holiday tea to make out. I've had a menu change I was going to have ham but decided on chicken fried steaks I can use my new gravy boat! Little smokies are still on the menu and I'll be making up a cheese ball. I need to go over my notes in my note book from years past menus and meal suggestions, it will be in the evening or at dusk so we can enjoy the lights.

[Wind warnings for the next couple of days we are between storms at the moment here. ]

How Do I De-clutter?

To answer your question Annie How do I de-clutter?
Here are some things I've done when de-cluttering my home.

Set up a sorting station: For my De-cluttering sorting station: I get a couple of saw horse and ½ sheet of ply wood and a good lamp and trash can garbage bags, boxes and radio, cd, movie. I like to do this in the morning when I'm fresh, kids can help too. First I round up supplies get kids parents or older grand kids to help me haul in the saw horses and ½ sheet of ply wood, then I get the lamp and movie or music going, after we are fed and the dailies are done, work on this a while several times a week and one room at a time. When you are done think of some type of reward that works for you, maybe going to the library.

Use your timer! A fresh approach, I used to set the timer with my kids for home work 20 min. on each subject. Did this for chores too. I would work on fixing dinner while they did spelling, math or what ever. (No TV so we could concentrate.) Do you de-cluttering in the morning right after daily chores.

Make it a game! How much can you get done in a TV commercial? Have kids pick up after when they are done, every 45 min. or so, stop and change actives then it's not so over whelming. If they play in the play room it's just too over whelming for them and me to cope with. I have been there often with what you say about home work! This is one solution for home work and art craft supplies: I had to get a shelf / dresser for the crafts papers books and supplies for the grandkids to use, the younger ones use the bottom drawers. I get the top ones.

Do one room a month. I worked on one room a month in those days that worked for me, no I can go through the house in about six weeks, it does get easier!

Get a buddy! I used the buddy system and we set up card files to gether and had great fun working at it together. We worked at it together with accountability, phone calls, and going out for a soda to plan for the next week mostly the rooms or areas we would work on in the coming week. Now I do it on the pc in my outlook the reminders nag me! I have a new de-cluttering buddy now and I called her the other day.

Giving Box: We talked about stuff going on here and that I heard a speaker talk about having a giving box. I have done this before, one a week that's fifty two boxes a year of stuff gone! I got some more boxes at the store when I was over town last week. These are to fill up and give away. I'm about to start on the toys. Also the storage area needs my attention. Plus hubby is on vacation again in a few weeks, and we will be getting out the holiday stuff too put up the tree and the rest of the decorations. All plans are subject to change for me most of the time. There are many forms of cyber nagging groups these days.

Focus on main living areas first pick the smallest room. I've had to learn to just take life as it comes and focus on the main living areas, first; plus one zone or room at a time. I work with the grandkids in a room when they were here we seem to get more done that way. Unless it's paper work, hubby does it now. Touch one thing in there and a whole pile comes tumbling down. Paper tiger! Does your office look like that?

Get family to help. Last spring going to the farm is a great example. I was going to do some of the craft stuff but ended up painting fence. Guys idea for de-cluttering: Hubby and brother have decided to have a bonfire for old warn out furniture at the farm in the spring it was sold sale. I have a box to go to the thrift shop, kids will haul it off for me. So maybe you can ask the kids to haul off a few things for your. Dear son put a love seat at the office in the collage last year where he worked. His girlfriend took another one. I just said I had a _____________ to find a home for and asked about three people, the it went bye - bye, I put a dead line on it too like by next Fri. it's going going gone! I've called the salivation army or other favorite charity for pickup too.

I don't do yard sales for only $25.oo I made it's just not worth my time! I don't keep that stuff around. If you have stuff that you think you might need some day it goes in the give away pile. That is a major problem for most people, they think they will use it but don't.

On hoarding if you can figure out why you hang on to things this might help. I had trouble understanding I've moved on to a new things like crafts and letting go of those were hard; but once I got to the point where I could let go it helped. I found new things came in that were much more fun and better. I had to make room for the supplies for the new hobby.

This time of year it's so easy to be over-whelmed because of the extra stuff with the holidays I have heard it recommended put off craft projects on hold until after the holidays. Of course I’m still knitting . . . others recommend doing a couple batches of cookies each week Sept. – Dec. for the holidays all that ever did for us was make us fat! So I crossed it off my to do list.

Pray: Last but not least pray for divine intervention, inspiration and help from God! Pray for order to be restored in your home and to learn what works for you and your family and to be free from the prison clutter that can imprison us.

Turkey Day Memories

Back in the day most of the moms and grannys did not work. My granny was a cook at the mill. She was a home style cook not a chef or gormet style.

To get ready for Thanksgiving she would cook all week for turkey day pies, and cinnamon rolls early in the week then it was the breads for stuffing. On turkey Thursday I would go to grandmas house who lived next door she woud entice me with the TV and turkey day parades. We did not have a TV until I was six so this was before then. I helped set the table and do other "go-fer" tasks. I can still remember that the Yummy smell of turkey and watching the parade on the ole' black and white TV!

3 lbs.

More winds headed our way tonight. Time to secure anything that might become airborne.

Last night I watched a new show 3 lbs. I think it refers to the brain weighing three pounds but I’d think that each brain is different in weight according to the size of the person maybe not.

The show was about surgeons and high tech. medical brain equipment, patients and the way they deal with surgery. Amazing how they can resolve stuff in an hour on the TV. I enjoyed this show.

I tried to flip back and forth between the Unit and House. I don’t think I got much out of either of those two shows.

The Power of the Protecting Hand of God.

Have you ever known that God protected you without a doubt?

I was woken up today with a phone call at 5:30 a.m. on a dark Monday morning. It was hubby saying that the gale force winds had blown the truck he was driving over but he was okay. This is not the first time that this has happened. The last time it was on the front page of the local news paper.

He called from the cab of a fellow driver who stopped and they were waiting on the state trooper to show up. I suspect that they will close the roads until these winds slow up some. That is their normal case of action.

The Calico Bears

I have two calico bears that I have collected on my rounds they have been among my “finds” over the years. One is a Christmas print and he had to go to the bear doll hospital. After his leg was fixed he was good to go on the Christmas quilt that Mom made one Christmas for me.

This year I made addition of a bear with a pink rose calico print bear she wears a pink calico hat. The dear grand daughters like to play with them and made a bed for them to sleep in on the floor with the afghans I keep on the couch. So for now the bears are happy at granny’s. I just hope that they can get along with the calico bunnies okay when I put them in storage. Maybe I need to separate them.

Buffet

We got a lovely walnut table the table was nearly a hundred dollars off and cherry buffet over the weekend at the antique shop 20% off. We are using chairs we had here. The buffet [aka side board as granny used to call them] has a reddish accent that goes with the piano in the living room and the ten dollar solid wood door I got at the thrift shop a few years back that hubby refinished on his vacation one year. I think I remember him promising never to do that again!

I had to go to four stores for old English dark furniture polish for the table and the buffet. I worked on cleaning and polishing them up this week end. I've been getting the Christmas tree dishes up stairs and clean up put them in the buffet. The candles are out and I have the lights on the front rail of the house now too.