Holy Cow!

Another week, another post.  Can't keep up the daily thing, although I regret it because I like having a reference to things and after so many days have passed, I forget most of what I wanted to write.  I even made some notes......they're around here somewhere....... LOL

My last post was  in regard to trying to de-clutter and reorganize "My Room".  Well, some of it is done and some is not.  No big deal.  It will happen.  Actually the knitting bug that bit me back in May has been taking over and I've been a knitting fool, with some occasional reading tossed in the mix.  Why I've even been in the kitchen more and much to Chuck's delight he has recently consumed 2 batches of cookies and a cake! He's been like a kid, so excited that I have felt like baking again.  LOL

During that time frame my PC was in the hospital.  A bad storm and power outage zapped my network adapter and the  apparently my battery back up was dead and I didn't know it and the abrupt shut down corrupted my OS and blah, blah, yada, yada.  The poor battery backup is about 12 years old and was located in an out of the way place so that I never noticed that the lights were off and that it was simply functioning as a $150 power strip!  Got a shiny new one, and it's placed right where I can see it!  I found a great local repair shop and at first I was not pleased with them because they 'missed something' but they went above and beyond to make it up to me, so all is well.  I had my laptop, but am rather limited with what I can do on it (with my photos, bookwork, etc.) thus I had more knitting time.

I have several knitting projects I want to complete before December and a sewing project or 2 as well, but I am just not as enchanted with sewing as I once was.  Once I get a table cleared off and my Embroidery Machine stuff put away, I can get working on a couple quilts as well.  Chuck keeps reminding me to not be so hard on myself for the things that I can't do around the house and do just relax and let myself DO and ENJOY the things I want to do, because for all intents and purposes I am 'retired'.  I think it's beginning to sink in.  I have spent far too much time simply lost in thought trying to come to terms with all the changes in my life and wasting too much energy on the negative.  I think I'm on the way back up the hill out of my black hole.

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Well, heck!  I started this like, Wednesday I think, and never finished or posted it.  Duh.  I was just about to start a new post, but will toss this out there and write one later.  I'm off to get ready to go shopping with Victoria!  My 1st outing of it's kind.  Let's hope I hold up.  My Vicodin is going into my purse as soon as I hit the Publish button :)

Clearing the Clutter

Well, I started with my computer area and now I'm making a sweep of the whole room.  Cleaning out and attempting to organize.  I tend to 'accumulate' and I never seem to have the 'proper place' for some of my accumulations.  Of course, it was too easy to let things pile up while convalescing from 2 major surgeries.  Just trying to keep the kitchen and dining table looking decent, resulted in a lot of things ending up in "My Room" to be taken care of later.  Ha!

I have to be in the right mood to do this sort of thing, because a lot of 'stuff' just needs to be tossed and it's real hard for me to just toss stuff.  I tend to hoard......like my Dad did :). Today was a pretty good day for it.  But I also have a lot of good stuff that I can't simply toss.  I need to donate it, or box it up for a yard sale or something.  That involves more thought.

So far I have cleaned off the pillows and bears that were living on my nice oak rocking chair and I bought a foot stool, so I have a nice little corner in My Room to sit and read or knit.  I bought that rocking chair 19 years ago, so that I could be a proper Grandma and sit in it and rock Riley when she was born.  I think I did that 2, maybe 3 times.  LOL  It just wasn't comfortable to sit and rock in, but it works good now with a foot stool.

Now for the rest of the room.  My 12 year old Babylock Embroidery machine and the multitude of stuff that goes with it, takes up a good portion of the room.  It's crazy that I have it set up and ready to go on this big ass table in front of my huge bow window and I haven't even turned it on in at least 3 years.  But I'm afraid if I put it away.....I won't ever use it.  How silly is that?!?  The first few years I had it, I embroidered everything I could get my hands on.  I'm sure I got at least 1/2 a life time worth of use out of it! 

My sewing area is way too small, and I really need to put away all the embroidery equipment and make room for that so that I can have room to more easily work on quilts.  I'm far more interested in doing that than I am embroidering.  I've had a quilt in progress for Timmy for EVER that I need to finish, I have the pattern and fabric for a quilt for Riley, and a pattern all set to go for Maggie, plus many others....but those come first.  After my back surgery, I couldn't sit at the sewing machine and do all that reaching forward and such {therapists orders...plus it hurt like crazy} so I just lost my mojo.

Now the knitting fever has struck and I'm acquiring yarn and patterns and have no place to put it.  Well, I have lots of room for it, as we have a huge house, but I have no 'proper place' for it.  I won't even mention the stacks of books tucked here there and everywhere {cuz my huge bookcase is full}

Then there is my computer area, with printer, scanner, copier, fax machine and the dreaded Eagle Construction bookwork stuff!  AGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  Because of my {boring} limitations, I am only really able to do a little bit each day.  And sadly, I have to admit, I have been dealing with my 'physical problems' for so long that in the past 3 years I have just spent WAY too much time uninspired and had no incentive.  Just couldn't make myself work on any projects, read any books or do much of anything.  It's been crazy!  I am coming out of it, but still have my days. 

If only...........But in the meanwhile, I need to TRY to make the best of what I have, where I am.  And I do try......but I'm lost without my family.  It's been 8 years this week.  It was supposed to be 2 years.  And that's all I'm gonna say about that. 

Is There Such a Thing

as "Collector's Anonymous"??  I sit here in my domain and look around me and find I am surrounded by various collections of various things.

There are my Boyd's Bears, of which I have 200+.  Probably about 30 of them are out and about in this house, but in Alaska they were all out.  Tucked here, there are everywhere! Except for the motor home bears, of course.  People would get a kick out of spotting bears in all sorts of places.  And I have furniture for a lot of them.  When Maggie & Emily were wee little lasses, they would play with them {ever so carefully, with Grammy's bears!} and have little tea parties and picnics with them.  Sweet memories :)  But now that I am past my phase of collecting bears, what do I do with them all?  I thought about selling some of them on eBay.  I looked the other night and there were over 18,000 Boyd's Bears listed.  Seriously!  I don't think I need to bother even trying to sell any of mine.  A few very rare ones that I have, are ones I wouldn't want to sell anyway.

Then there are my chickens.  Glass, hens on nest dishes, hand painted artware.  I only have about 30 of those.  One was my Great-Grandmother's and I think that is what inspired me to start collecting them one day.  Some were acquired on eBay, but most were collected from Antique shops around the country whilst we were traveling.  I would probably buy more chickens if I saw some that I really loved, but I haven't even been to an Antique Shop in ages and we used to hit them all frequently.

Then there's my Depression Glass collection.  Holy cow!  I've seen people with more than I have, but only a few.  I am lucky to have some pieces that were my Mother's and my Great-Grandmother's.  Those I will cherish, but what about the rest?  I probably have 20 vintage vinegar cruets, 15 sets of vintage salt & pepper shakers, a lot of Westmoreland Milk Glass in the grape pattern, many Fenton pieces in various patterns; bowls, glass baskets, vases, cake plates.......Almost a complete setting for 12 of Indiana Glass Madrid pattern dishes in Amber and several pieces in Clear.  So many pieces gathered up all across the states from PA to Florida to Indiana to Arizona.

The Amish area just south of Elkhart, Indiana used to be one our favorite places to spend time and it was there that I would pick up most of my table linen collection.  Table clothes and dish towels galore.  I love them all!  I still pick one up now and then on eBay :).  It was also in that area that Chuck would find HIS collection addiction pieces.  Cast Iron Trivets.  Well over 100 of them.  He learned all about them and knew just what to look for.  We would have so much fun!



Then there's my Whimsiclay Cats

And my Alley Cat Figurines

And I must not forget my Mary Engelbriet Tea Pots and other little goodies

This is a really crazy post and I'm not even sure what the point is.  I think I'm trying to tell myself that it's time to decide the difference between my true 'treasures' and the junque and get rid of some junque!

Good God..........does this mean I'm getting......ya' know......old?!?