Leap Year

This afternoon I took a load of freshly washed laundry out of the washing machine, and noticed something down in the bottom of the tub. I reached in and picked it up and saw it was a June bug, still alive and moving! I was quite suprised for two reasons: I haven't seen a June bug around here for a very long time, and it survived going through the wash, rinse and spin cycle. I can only imagine the wild ride that was...lol. I took it outside and put it down for my grandson and his little friend to see.

Another thing we noticed this evening was, the buzzards have arrived. Hundreds of them roost in the surrounding hillside forests near our home in the warmer months. They've been gone all winter. This evening there were about four of them scouting out the area. The Rufous hummingbirds usually arrive with the buzzards, so tomorrow I will be watching my feeder closely.

Let's see, there surely must be some kind of old wive's tale about this. Maybe:

'Find a June bug on February 29, leap year, and the buzzards will arrive bringing an early spring'.

(Giggle).

Buttermilk Sky

What a cloud cover this morning! It looks like I should be able to reach out and touch it. I took these photos facing three different directions. My mother used to call this kind of cloud cover, a buttermilk sky. It's beautiful!

Tote and sheet fabrics

Here are the sheet fabric pieces I have so far which will go into the comforter I plan to make. I would like to get at least two or three more prints, as well as some solid colors. Also included in the photo is the tote bag which I had made a few months ago out of the same fabric as the curtains. Katie had asked to see it. It is lined with lavender sheet fabric.

Curtain Ties

Thank you all, for your sweet comments on my sheet curtains. :o)

Yesterday I realized I needed to see a bit more daylight through the windows, so I made some little ties for the curtains. I'll tie them up during the day and remove the ties for full window coverage at night and on really hot days.

I purchased some more sheets in contrasting and coordinating prints and colors. They are all washed and ready to use. I am planning to cut out large blocks and sew them together for a simple bed covering. I'll post pictures as the project goes along.

Curtains

This morning I decided to make some new curtains for our bedroom. We've had printed sheers on the window for years and they were starting to get quite faded. One of my weaknesses is buying pretty sheets at second hand stores. I've had this one for a long time and even had made a tote bag out of it a few months ago. I had enough left to make some simple curtains. Here is the finished project.

She smiled

Today I smiled at 'early spring'. She smiled back at me with new green life coming out of the ground, buds and the color of violets!

Happy Late February!

Feathering your nest and beyond

Dear Friends,

Along with simplifying my life through removing excess clutter and items not needed or wanted, I am in the beginning stages of trying to be prepared in case of any kind of emergency. When I take a look at life around me, I see people taken off guard by tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, power outages due to severe winter weather, flu and sickness and more.

I would like to be as prepared as possible for something that will hopefully never happen. I'd rather be safe than sorry! One thing that really got me thinking, was recently when some of our family was sick. I did not have near enough in the house to provide for our needs. Thankfully our oldest daughter stayed healthy and took care of us and ran errands to pick up meds, food etc... Had I lived alone, I would have been in trouble. I needed to be prepared.

As I have been doing some research on the subject, I observed a few important areas to tend to. They are:

Extra stock of food and water for home
Extra emergency items such as flashlights, radio, candles etc.... for home

Extra medical items for home

Food, water, medical and emergency items for the car

It is my goal to eventually be prepared enough to provide the needs for each family member (and kids and grandkids) to live in our home, if needed, for 30 days without outside help. I have a long way to go!

At this time we are living on a shoe-string budget. We make decent money, but have allowed ourselves to get in debt more than we should have and are living beyond our means (I think that's called 'living the American dream'). It's time to take action, which is sometimes painful! We have several large items for sale at this time: boats, an old truck, motorcycle and an exercise machine. The problem is, the economy is bad and we are in a more rural area. We have received about three calls from interested people, but no buyers. We are thankful for 'Craig's List' as it's free advertising. It would be difficult to list things paying the normal stiff prices for listing things in the classified ads. So we wait, and have faith that things will sell when the right person comes along for each item. As soon as we get some debt paid off, I'd love to live by Pa Ingall's motto:

Cash on the barrel!

I would love to share my journey of being prepared and if you'd like to join me and even share what you are doing to help your family and home out 'just in case', I'd really like to hear about it!

Blessings!

Simplifying

Well, I am finally getting very very serious about simplifying. Infact, I've never been so serious about it and never before had results like I'm seeing. It just about making a decision and sticking with it.

I have hauled bags and bags to donate to my two favorite thrift stores, going at least once a week, sometimes twice. I've been more tough than ever and have probably filled equal amount of bags full of stuff to throw away. AMAZING!!

I'm starting to feel more light-hearted by parting with so much excess material items! Mind you, I will always love my treasures, pretty things and continue to be sentimental about special items in my life....but the things I'm talking about are not needed.

I don't know about you, but I've been one of those people with the 'someday syndrome'. You hear them talk about it on T.V. shows where professionals come in to help people organize their homes. Some people, like myself, pack away boxes and boxes for 'some day'. Well, I may never get around to going back through those boxes of things and I know for a fact, if my kids are the next ones going through my things, none of it will mean a thing to them...haha. So, I'm taking care of it now. It will probably take me all spring to finish up, but I'm off to a good start!

My main project this week has been my craft room/office. I have decided to narrow it down to keeping the things I enjoy most, rather that ten or twelve different crafts. That may be part of the reason I feel overwhelmed, is I have too much and so don't do any of it.

My favorite thing to do is take wildlife photos, so I have my papers, box of photos, camera, ink cartridges, scissors and paper cutters on one table, with the printer near by.

I will keep my sewing machine and a few needed items for it, simply because there is always mending to do. I don't enjoy sewing as a hobby though, so have donated a lot of my fabric.

I am keeping my knitting supplies and yarns because I do enjoy simple projects and hope some day to learn how to do some more challenging things (like socks etc...).

That's it for my hobbies and crafts! Everything else left town...lol.

I still have a long way to go in the craft room....lots of drawers yet too dig through, but I know when I'm finished, I'll feel like a new person!

Have any of you been bitten by the 'SIMPLIFYING' bug?

Catching Up

Good Morning, friends. It feels good to get back on my blog. I'm so very out of touch with each of you.

We have had quite the month, to say the least. First, the good news is, we had so much more snow in January. Within two days we had 7 inches of snow and it was beautiful. More missed school for the kids, lots of playing outside and beautiful photos taken. It has been a very unusual winter for us and we've enjoyed it. Now suddenly it's over and early spring has arrived. We've had cold nights and sunny days and the birds are busy everywhere. The frogs are croaking after a quiet few weeks. This is always a sign of spring to us.

The not so good news is, a very close family member has had a terrible time getting out of a four year abusive relationship and this time it was nearly more than I could handle. Things are better now and I hope and pray they do stay this way! Anyone ever involved in sitting on the sidelines of something like this does know what I'm talking about.

The other things is I've been in a depression, which again, is not 'me'. I always look at life on the bright side, but I think too many things happened to bring me down and I could not snap out of it. I wanted to go to bed every day in the early evening and just hide from my world.

Most of our family has been quite sick for about a week. Finally Tuesday night I knew this bug had whipped me, so yesterday my oldest daughter who lives with us took the day off work and drove my son and I to urgent care. We both have bronchitis, I also have an ear infection and had a temp of 101 degrees when I was at the doctor. We are on antibiotics now and I feel perkier today than I have in a very long time.

Two of my blog reader friends have recently asked if everything was ok. I just want you to know how much I appreciate that! It means so much to be cared for even miles and worlds away. Thank you so much.

Hopefully I'm back to being on track again. I'm sure ready for it! Thanks for listening!

Hugs and Friendship,
Janice

Happy Love Day

Wishing you each a happy LOVE day! As you reach out to others with love, may it all be returned back to you. Remember to do something nice for yourself also, because you must be happy with the person you are and love yourself in order to love others.

This morning we were surprised by doors bursting open and the noise level increasing about 200% as our grandchildren and the two mommies belonging to them brought us this pink calilily for Valentine's Day. It was so sweet. I took this photo with the morning sunshine pouring through the window. I love receiving plants that can be planted outside and enjoyed for years!

This is the first year I have not given them anything for this special day, as I've been really sick and unable to get to the store or do any baking. Hopefully in a day or two I can get something done for them.

Blessings to you all!