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!