Random thoughts:
Holidays, Snowstorms, Valentines Day, changes and a wedding...
The Holidays have come and gone and for once, I think I may have balanced it right! (For myself at least.) It was busy but in a good way and not so busy that I "crashed!" Christmas eve was much different, always having spent it with family and the kids but, this year, as Bri and Matt are working on blending and sharing traditions with each others families, I found myself without plans. And, knowing that changes are inevitable and moving forward as a "flexible adapter" is necessary, I was ok with that. I received a couple of invitations but, in the end, I invited myself to join neighbors for Christmas eve supper out if they should go. (They had invited me last year so...I was presumptuous and invited myself this year!) We (and her sister) went out for a very nice supper which I thoroughly enjoyed! New years eve was spent quietly at home, and New Years day I had one last Holiday party with the kids, nephews, friends etc. Aahhh yea, just the right amount of entertaining, socializing and celebrating :)
A January to rival those of my childhood was on tap with many alerts, watches, advisories and warnings and a "Polar Vortex" that kept me (and many others!) home bound for more days than I can remember in a very long time! My jobs closed down for a couple of days and not being able to see through the white out conditions to pull out of my driveway, not to mention wind chills in amazing negative digits, I remained housebound for 3 1/2 days! To say I felt "at loose ends" would be an understatement! I got a lot done, Christmas decorations taken down and packed up, Bear got a bath and a trim, house was cleaned top to bottom etc. and a lot of reading was done but, I am used to structure and much stricter time frames! I'll not be retiring anytime soon, lol! Round two a couple of weeks later with a storm on my Birthday (also the anniversary of the blizzard of '78 which I remember well!) brought us to snow totals by the end of January that we have not seen for years!
Continued snowfall accumulating on my deck and roof and a bit of an ice jam creating a drip in my kitchen made clearing the deck and all roof areas a bit of an urgent undertaking! My deepest gratitude goes out to the hero's of the week for all of their help over 3 days! Chase, Drew, Larry, Mason and Matt...you all ROCK!!! BTW, I now own my own roof rake if anyone needs to borrow it:)
Valentines Day, like other holidays in the retail world, are planned for far in advance of the actual day. At Paint a Pot a co worker and I packed up the Christmas display pieces and brought out Valentines Day pieces the first week of January and I re did our bulletin board with a pink and red and hearts theme. We were all about hearts and candy and painting etc. I even had a chance to create a couple of new sample pieces to add to our display. At Peek a Boutique, clothing displays started taking on a red, pink and white theme almost on their own and I had to be sure it did not dominate. It seems that is just where our minds go this time of year. At Warners we began talking about what to do, how to promote it etc. A lot of Valentines day prep going on in my life. And yet, the kids are out of the house. In years past, there would be heart shaped Linzer Tart cookies, heart shaped pancakes or waffles, heart shaped handmade pizzas, candy, hand made Valentines and more. Last year, Valentines Day as with all other "first" holidays, felt a bit like days that I had to "get through." This Christmas and now Valentines Day, I felt more like embracing the holidays instead of just getting through them. This seems like positive progress forward to me! Home made pizza, a glass of wine (Warner of course!) and a movie, appropriately, Valentines Day, was on my agenda and I enjoyed myself :)
As I have traveled through the last 18 months, I have made many changes. These changes were made to accommodate my needs as the only person now living in my house. Garage and basement work shop re organized. Ditto for the shed etc. Old e mail dropped and using my g mail account exclusively. Simplify and organize. Make things work for what my needs are now. Now, the time has come to make a small but significant change. To me at least. My 2 year contract with Charter is up next week. I have realized that, I rarely use my home phone. I am out of the house so much that I am simply not home enough to really use it. Additionally, my cell works fine at the house and many people just call that anyway. It seems like wasted money to keep the home phone. I am also finding that I do not watch much tv. Again, not home much and would usually rather be reading! I do have a few favorite shows but, they are mostly on network channels. Also, being a member of Amazon Prime, I do have access to movies and some tv shows. So...cue the research. Lots of research! I have invested in two Roku boxes and "connected" my Prime account to them. I attempted an antennae with Chase's help. Unfortunately, the antennae will not provide a good enough signal consistently in my area so, it is being returned. The plan now is, to drop the home phone and all but very basic cable tv through Charter (I'll have about 10 channels). I don't think I will miss anything by doing this (and I will save a significant amount of money each month!) but, it will seem odd to be giving up the home phone # I have had since 1981! (I can be contacted via my cell-if you need the #, let me know or through e mail or facebook.)
Wedding plans are progressing on schedule! This is such an exciting time :) Bri and Matt are very organized and pulling things together nicely! I was overjoyed to spend a day with Briana and a couple of her bridesmaids wedding dress shopping, such a special day and an honor to be included! August 3 will be here before we know it! I am so looking forward to seeing these 2 beautiful people getting married! The location is incredible and again, I was honored to go with Matt and Briana to visit the Blue Dress Barn and choose a date! The date chosen was one a just a few available for 2014 and Briana quickly realized that it is the day before what would be her dad's birthday, making this a very special weekend! I am sure we will have a few difficult moments but...with happy hearts filled with love and the Blessing of many family and friends gathered with us, we will, as usual, try and "Make every moment count!"
I hope this finds you all doing well and Making every moment count!
(((Hugs)))
Brenda
