New England Christmas

I have been living in New England, more specifically Cape Cod, for almost two months now.  When I moved up, I was still wearing flip flops and tee shirts.  Now, I learned how to layer to keep the wind at bay, I know how to keep my feet warm, and I have also started wearing a knit cap to keep my head warm and to keep the wind out of my ears.   One thing I know for sure...the wind rarely stops blowing.  Not sure if it is because we are surrounded by water or not, but it sure has me styling BIG hair most days!

I sure miss my boys and hope to see them in the not too distant future, but in the short amount of time I have been here, I have gotten my new drivers license, Cape Cod license plates on my car, and I got a job!  Yes, a job, and in a much shorter length of time than it took to find one in Greenville.  I am the front office person for Miracle Ear, in South Dennis, and it is exactly 3 miles from our house.  I got lucky!

We have decorated our tiny house as best we can, given the fact that we have no room to do much.  We have garland and lights outside, and wreaths on the doors.  No village, though.  No place for it.  Next year....

Tonight we drove down Route 6A with the intent to take photos of some of the more beautifully decorated historic homes located there.  The phone didn't take such good ones, though so we are going back tomorrow night armed with the camera.  Hopefully I will have some lovely ones to share.

Have been baking Christmas cookies for the last few days.  Tomorrow I finish the baking, and start packing boxes to ship out for Christmas.   Sit tight...pictures to follow!

2015....A New Beginning!!

Happy New Year!! and Hard to believe that 2014 is behind us. For our household, it was a year of change. We moved to the Upstate, bought a new house, and started anew. In 2015, I have resolved to become a gardener! Paul and Keith gave me picket fencing sections for Christmas, and they arrived today. Once installed, the little "kitchen garden" will measure about 24 x 40 and have raised beds which I hope to fill with various vegetables, herbs, even flowers. I am saving seeds already to be started in my little greenhouse and transfer them into the garden once the ground is warm enough. I am SO excited about this little garden. It is one of my 'bucket list' things and I can't wait to start digging in the dirt! Stay tuned.....

Moving.....

We moved. After having the house on the market since March, and FINALLY closing on it this past Friday, we actually packed up and moved. Not to where we wanted to, but nonetheless, we moved. Just 5 miles down the road. We rented a house for a year until we can decide WHERE we need to be. And let me tell you something - I did not know how much stuff we had until we had to actually touch it - load it, unload it, move it. Both my sons and their significant others, and friend Dave came and helped haul. Actually, the girls helped the guys haul. And haul we did.....up and down the road. I think the stack of boxes grew while they were in the truck riding down the road.... I have almost one year to decide what I want/need to keep and what I don't. By the time we haul ourselves somewhere else, hopefully there will be a fraction of the crap we moved in. On a good note, at least we have moved into a larger home - lots of room to hang everyhing, put everything in cabinets that previously was stored in boxes. It's a good home.....for now. And the dogs like it. They have a great big yard to roam in. Even if it looks like a wasteland. No flowers, no grass, no shrubs....nothing but pine trees and dirt. For me, the gardener, it's depressing to look at. I just tell myself, it's only for one year.....only one.

SOLD!!

Well, we did it. We sold the house! Listed it back in March, and hoped it would sell in time for us to make an offer on a house I just fell in love with in Blandford, Massachusetts. You see, this house we found 'up north' had exactly WHAT I was looking for in a house - and it had charm, and was in a picture perfect location. I could just SEE us there. I already had a life planned around that house...and that was just totally wrong! We got an offer on our house - at last. It was less than I had hoped to sell for, but still.... Then we made an offer on our dream house. We just KNEW we had it. BUT HE TURNED DOWN OUR OFFER. After focusing on that house for over a year, he burst my bubble 'just like that'....POP!!! So now we have less than a month until I close on the house I have lived in for nearly 20 years and raised my children in (well, my youngest, anyway. My oldest was 16 when we bought it)....and have no place to go. We started looking.... We have decided to find a house to rent instead of buy, simply because we don't know WHERE we want to be. Or at least I don't. One thing I am certain of, is that I want to move away and live somewhere else just once! I thought it was going to be in Blandford MA, but that's obviously not going to happen anytime soon. BUMMER!! We have found a rental - a perfectly acceptable lovely house. It was one of a very few that would allow our four-legged children to reside there as well. We're going to see it tomorrow after work. Hopefully it will be just fine for the next year. In that time, maybe I can figure out my intended life's path...and where I want/need to be. Now I won't be rushed to find something and can figure out what location touches my heart and soul. I just hope I recognize it!! Will keep you posted. Maybe tomorrow I won't be homeless after September 28! The four legged kids are packing already....

2012

We are one week into a new year.  2012!  I started this new year with a new job.  I have been working for a whole FOUR DAYS now, and for all the crap I went thru in job hunting while on unemployment, this job virtually landed in my lap.  Just the week before Christmas the phone rang (I almost didn't answer it as I was headed out the door) and it was Christina, the HR representative with this company.  She asked how I was, and wanted to know if I was working.  Well, of course I was not.  The few jobs that were out there that I had applied to never called.  Most of them never called.   The few calls that I did get were either jobs that were too far away with a small pay wage, or not too far away with the SAME small pay.  One even wanted me to sell RV's!  Me, the non-camper.  No thank you.  So anyway, this call comes right out of the blue.  She said they had a new position and was I interested in speaking with them? Of course I was interested.  Now don't get me wrong - I loved having the six months off that I had.  Summer 2011 was the first summer I was able to enjoy since I was 18 years old.  I relished it.  I gardened, played with the dogs, supervised kitchen and bath renovations, went on vacation, got a tan, and took a catering course.  I LOVED IT.  But, I knew I needed to be more productive....FINANCIALLY.  During this phone call, we made an appointment for me to 'interview' with them.  So, I went to see them the next work day (Monday) and the following day, Tuesday, they called to offer me the position.  While I was still shocked at how this position had miraculously appeared to me, I accepted, and enjoyed the rest of the 'countdown' time to the end of my 'lady of leisure' status.

My first day was rather painless.  Even the drive in was not too bad.  Everyone is very helpful, very friendly, and they are all patient with me as I learn the details of this new position, which is Insurance and Collections for a Commercial Real Estate Company.  I have an office with a semi-view (if I look out the window of the office across the hall) and I am right downtown where I can enjoy the State House grounds when it gets warmer.  You see, I like to walk on my lunch hours.  And get outside.  I truly miss the outdoors in the daytime.  But that's okay....for now. 

This phase of my life is just the latest, and current one.  I am sure it will not be permanent.  I still have big plans for unrealized dreams I have had for a long time...and hopefully 2012 will see one of those dreams come true.  At his point in my life, it's about time, don't you think? 

I wish for all of you a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2012!!!!

Out With The Old.....

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve.  Traditionally a night of festivities, of celebrating the end of one year and anticipating the arrival of another.  A new year.  And for me (and I'm sure most of you) it's a time for reflection and pause.  A time to think about things that occurred in the year about to leave us.  A time to promise you'll do better in the coming year.  That is where those 'made with good intentions' New Year's Resolutions kick in.  I think they are promises we make ourselves to change.  Whether it be changing our diet, our bad habits, or even simply changing a routine...we ALL promise ourselves what we like to think as POSITIVE change will enrich our lives and allow us to begin the new year with ambition, with hope, and with happiness and peace within.

In my younger years, there was NO WAY I'd let a New Year arrive without staying awake to celebrate that 'ball' dropping.  And then I would hear fireworks.  I'd go to sleep and waken in the sunlight the next morning fairly certain that monumental things would occur this brand new year.

2011 for me was a year filled with change.  Change that I did not instigate, but change that caused my family's life to be altered.  This change also gave me time to do something I had not done in MANY years.  The change was the ending of my job.  I actually had the summer 'off'.  I was able to enjoy the summer - the planting in my garden, the ability to sit in the sun with a good book or glass of wine; the ability to take my dogs for walks at times they would normally have been alone.  It took me about a month to get used to being at home.  But you know something, once I got the 'hang' of it, I LOVED IT!  I baked, cooked, cleaned, renovated things in the house, went on vacation to New England (see earlier post) and found a place that my soul told me was where I belonged.  I realized what I wanted to do with my life.  We have decided that we need to 'go for it' and try to make that a reality. 

This new year hopefully will see that life I am longing for...come to fruition.  I have done a lot of things in my life that I'm ashamed of; things that I can't imagine I did in looking back on them.  I have two great sons that I am so very proud of, and a husband who supports whatever it is I decide to do.  I am blessed with wonderful friends; and some of them longtime age-old friends (not OLD in age, but friends who have been with me since my childhood and early adult years).  Those kind of friends are with you forever.  If you don't have someone in your life like that, you have no idea what you are missing. 

So, as we wind down 2011 and gear up for 2012, I wish for all of you good health, peace within, happiness and self-fulfillment in whatever it is you strive for that makes your life complete.  Never live your life for others totally and always find time to discover YOU.  You will find the greatest joy in looking out for yourself.  Only when you are happy with yourself can you be happy with others.  I had to learn that the hard way.  I guess I'm a slow learner.  I read this quote the other day and it hit home for me:  "You must make a CHOICE to take a CHANCE or your life will never CHANGE."  So true, my friends.  So true.  Think about it.

Happy New Year!!