Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Keep Calm and Blog On

During my unintentional leave of absence from blogging, I have been thinking of what direction I want to take with my blog. Or, if I even wanted to continue blogging. It seems as if most blogs have a purpose – decorating, cooking, needlework, etc. When I started mine, I wanted to take part in everything! For the most part, however, I wanted a place where I could just post ‘things’ of interest to me. Especially tablescapes, easy recipes and small projects.

When we sold our acreage last fall and moved everything to our lakehouse, we did downsize a bit. I quickly discovered that a house half the size of the previous house doesn’t hold as much stuff! Cabinet, closet and storage space is now limited.

One of the downsizing items I am referring to are my dishes. I did not realize how much I had until I tried to hide it all put it all away at the new house. I found out just how large my collection is! And to my chagrin – so did my hubby!
When I ran out of storage room in the kitchen, living room and most of the closets, I found myself putting sets of dishes in the bathroom storage areas. Hubby found me putting dishes in there, too… I finally had to admit that I had too many.
I blame my mother. She passed on the “dish gene” to me. And when my mom passed away three years ago, her dish collection came home with me.
The majority (but not all!) of my dishes and accessories now have new homes. It felt pretty good to lighten the load in my cabinets, too!
Along with the dishes, many other items now have new homes as well. At the old house, I had multiple projects planned – refinishing a few pieces of furniture, painting a few things, updating and refreshing other things… it was a rather long list. And they were fun projects to do – not necessary ones. Projects I wanted to photograph and blog about. But those projects (along with the large basement to do them in) are no longer around to do now. And you know what?? So far I haven’t missed a single thing!
So what have I been doing all these months?? I’ve been reading – a lot. Or rather, a lot more than usual. I bought a Kindle a couple of years ago (and have upgraded twice) and it goes everywhere with me. Over the weekend, I counted how many books I have read since September:  24 fiction books, 8 books on faith and God, and 3 non-fiction books. I also started 13 other books but quit reading them about halfway through from lack of interest. (I even caught up with a year's worth of Wine Enthusiast and other magazine subscriptions that had been ignored!)
Along with books, I've been reading blogs and have kept up with each and every one that I like to follow -- I may not comment very often, but I read them all and look forward to new posts!
I’ve also renewed an interest in an old hobby of mine – cross stitching. Just after I was married 25 years ago, I started cross-stitching and literally spent every spare moment I had working on something. We have many framed pieces I completed over the years… When my daughter was born, her nursery was filled with items I had made. I continued to stitch until she was about five years old – then abruptly quit to learn and take up quilting. I’ve missed it and am enjoying working on new pieces!
Continuing from my first paragraph now, I think rather than defining an actual purpose for my blog, I am going to "blog on" as I have been. I enjoy posting about the lake – and, well, whatever else comes to mind!
Thanks for continuing to hang in there with me and I’m looking forward to blogging again!

Thanks for visiting!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Larry the Cable Guy filmed his show at our lake!

So... I don't write for three entire months (while taking a completely unintended break from blogging) ... and I have returned with a Larry the Cable Guy post! "Git r done!"

I had to pass this one on! Larry the Cable Guy has a show called Only in America and he was at Lost Island lake filming with the Iowa DNR for a carp rodeo which will be a featured segment on his show. Check it out tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 14th) on the History Channel!

This photo was posted on the Iowa DNR's facebook page. 

Update: After watching the show, the DNR's description of the photograph was incorrect. It was filmed it at Spirit Lake instead of Lost Island. Spirit Lake is about 30 miles to the north of us. The photo does look like Lost Island though and many people who live in the area thought it was, too!

Judging by the water and the leaves on the trees, I'm guessing this was filmed sometime last spring in April 2011.

Photo courtesy of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
What brings Larry the Cable Guy to the middle of Lost Island Lake? DNR fisheries biologist Mike Hawkins (second from left) leads Larry through his first carp rodeo. Watch what happens on Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy, Wednesday, March 14 at 8 p.m. central on the History Channel.

Thanks for visiting!

Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Christmas Tree Party!

How COOL is this?? I love all the linky parties each week and lately seem to spend more time looking at all the other blogs in blogland instead of doing anything with my own! haha! There are so many wonderful Christmas decor and handmade crafts and foodies and so much more out there during the Christmas season.

This is a link party for Christmas trees! There's over 500 links so far. Check it out here:

Thrifty Decor Chick: A Christmas Tree Party!

I used to decorate quite a few Christmas trees and each one had a theme of some sort. Now that we are in a smaller home, space is an issue so I only have one tree up. It's a "slim" tree! I have to admit that as much as I enjoyed the years of multi-trees and a house full of decorations -- it's rather nice to have my tree up and decorated in record time!

Birds are my favorite ornament.

Especially clip-on birds, and more especially, glass birds.

Glass birds with feathers!

The Three Wise Men is my other favorite.

More Three Kings.

Clip-on butterflies in the aqua color I like.

Glass Partridge in a Pear Tree.

One of my cherished glass birds. A gift from my mother-in-law.

Mostly copper, aqua and gold on my tree.

Peacock feathers at the top.

This little tree is on my kitchen counter. Clip-on gold butterfly for the top.

Tiny glass Santa with cute ornament hooks.

And of course, more birds!

Thanks for visiting!

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