introverting

Hellllooo! It's been way too long. How can it be the end of March already? Though I'm glad it is. Because that means it's officially spring. At least that's what the calendar says. There's only a few signs of it here: chives, daffodils and sedum poking out of the ground; fat little robins hopping around and sandhill cranes flying overhead. The only thing blooming right now is snowdrops. It's been cold and wet this month and tomorrow we're supposed to get 5-8" of slushy, heavy snow. It seems like nice weather will never get here. 

I am an introvert through and through, but March has found me being quite social and trying some new things. I'm good with getting together with my friends one-on-one and I enjoy my yoga class...yoga being a solo activity but still feel you're part of community. But anything more than that as far as a group activity, and I'm quite uncomfortable. I went to a meditation class last week where there were 15 of us sitting around in a circle. And we had to speak in front of this circle three times. It was awful for me. I kind of knew some of the people there from previous alternative healing classes, but afterwards, most of them were standing around talking in little groups and there I was, gathering up my things to leave, trying to sneak out without having to say goodbye to everyone in the room. Ugh, introvert awkwardness problems! 

 When I met my friend, Kari for coffee last month, we talked about going to a women's group at a beautiful horse farm "out in the country". I first went to this women's group about six years ago. It was one of those things where I would think about it from time to time, but never ended up going again. When Kari said she'd go with me, I was all in! Bonus: I got to meet Kari's mom, too. This group I enjoyed because it was quiet and personal and I wasn't pressured to speak. However, it was quite intense and went late. I can't just go to bed when I get home from these types of outings. It takes me several hours to decompress.

Man, how I love horses. The smell of leather and horse sweat, the immenseness of their presence, their amazing intuition. I had a horse when I was a teenager and we lived in Kentucky for a few years. Her name was Judy and she looked similar to this guy, Jack.

I finally got to meet Kris from Junk Chic Cottage in person! We've followed each other's blogs and personally emailed back and forth for years. We met halfway (we live 75 miles from each other) at a beautiful French creperie for lunch. Did we remember to take any photos? No, of course not. We were too busy talking and getting to know each other. Kris is an absolute sweetheart and gifted me with this lovely bag of spring goodies.

For the coming week, I'm going to concentrate on going back to this.

(Gift from one of my besties who knows me too well.)

How about you, are you an introvert or an extrovert?

💖

weekend clicks

(Woodstock Opera House, Woodstock IL)

 1.  This beautiful poem by Philip Larkin will remind you of spring

 2.  30 prompts for gratitude journaling

 3. The 5 minute kitchen workout

 4. What a cool boho home!

 5. Meditation to ease anxiety & boost immunity

 6. What movie to watch this weekend?

 7. These healthy chocolate chip muffins are perfect for weekend baking

 8. Listen to the best of soul,jazz & blues

 9. Did I love well?

10. This book just came out about Highly Sensitive Persons

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND!

hearts and love

I know I'm late in posting this for Valentine's Day because it's now evening, but I suppose it's never too late to send a little love to my blogging friends. 💓

I've always liked this holiday because it's non-commital. Brian and I exchange cards, but that's it. We don't buy each other gifts for Valentine's Day or go out to eat. Fill my car up with gas when it needs it? Make my tea in the morning? Now that's love. Though we do all have our own love language and maybe one of mine is gifts of service. (It's been so long since I've taken that test, that I can't remember.) I do like presents and going out to eat, but not on "Hallmark" holidays.

(Hearts made by various friends; photo by my friend, Hilary Packard.)

Brian doesn't get home from work until later this evening anyway, and he will be exhausted from his 12-hour shift. We'll have a little quiet time together before he crashes. 

A couple of other tidbits:

I treated myself to a lovely package of ephemera from Creative Yellow Pen. (You have to love yourself, too...and if one of those ways is buying yourself a present, then go for it.)

What a great haul! If you're at all into art or junk journaling, I highly recommend this etsy seller. She has sales, so watch for them.

To go along with the heart and love theme, this book. I'm an avid reader and admittedly, a picky one when it comes to fiction. Once in awhile I read a book that leaves me saying at the end, "Now THAT was good writing." This was one of those books. Beautiful prose, not a word wasted, intriguing plot, every character well developed. I never thought I'd like a dystopian novel, but this was so close to reality, it was frightening.

I'll leave you with this poem, from an account on Instagram.

something for everyone at the antique mall

We have an antique mall less than two miles from our house, but haven't been there in about four years. The place is huge ~ three buildings filled with antiques. You need at least a few hours to wander through the buildings. A snowy day was the perfect time for a visit. Though it turned out that the mall closed early due to the snowstorm, so our visit was cut short.

Wandering around the mall, I noticed more mid-century modern items. This style must be "in" again, which is fine with me ~ I happen to like it, as well as antiques. I think you can successfully mix the two styles, as long as it's not overdone.

I happen to love these groovy lamps, though I don't have anywhere to put them. Besides, I have a white slipcovered cottage-style sofa in my small living room, so these lamps would definitely not fit into my decor. I'm picturing my childhood best friend's basement family room from the 70's...there was red shag carpeting and a black vinyl sofa. These lamps would've been perfect there!

There was a booth filled with vintage clothing...

and pretty glassware and tchotchkes filling a window. So many things to browse!

Another booth was filled with feminine, romantic decor.

For the man cave, an assortment of neon beer signs.

Another part of the mall had tons of collector childhood items...toys, figurines, Matchbox cars and records from the 50's - 80's. It's fun looking at all these things that bring back memories from childhood. I still have my plastic dollhouse furniture from the early 70's and I saw a metal dollhouse that was practically identical to the one I used to have that housed the plastic furniture. It was only $10! But what would I do with it and where would I put it? If I had a grandchild, I would've snatched it up for her/him to play with here. 

Love these milk glass plates. Each one had a different design.

This electric coffee pot caught my eye, too. It had a large chip at the spout though.

I was tempted to buy this jar, but the price was too high.

I came home with a couple of items not pictured. One was a birthday gift for a friend and the other a Pyrex bowl. I'll show you the bowl in my next post.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of warm weather...it was -4 here today with the wind chill factor and will be -20 tomorrow morning. 

Have you done any vintage or antique shopping lately?

new year's day and new china hutch

Hello, friends and happy 2023!

As Brian and I do every New Year's Day, we took a hike in the nearby State Park. This year was the first time since we could remember, that there hasn't been snow on the ground. It was cold - 31 degrees F - but no breeze. The clean, crisp air actually felt refreshing instead of brutally cold like it had in previous years.

Since the park is closed on New Year's day, we only passed a couple of people near the walk-in entrance. Otherwise, it was like we had the 2200 acres to ourselves.

We ended up hiking 2-1/2 miles. I learned the hard way that I need another layer of clothing underneath my jeans. It took a long time for my thighs to thaw out!

Those of you who have been here awhile know that my large kitchen wall has looked pretty much like this for several years. We bought the skinny hutch when we were newlyweds from a furniture store in Long Grove, IL. It was perfect for our small townhouse.  We paid $400 for it - a lot of money back then. Now I'll be lucky to get $50 for it. When we moved into this house 32+ years ago, the hutch came with us and first was in the living room, then in the kitchen. It was more of a sentimental piece, but it served its purpose. I also liked the vintage three-tiered cart beside the hutch. It held my Dutch ovens, mixing bowls, and my coffee mug tree. However, the past few years I'd been wanting a larger piece of furniture for this wall to replace the cart and the skinny hutch. I wasn't sure exactly "what", but I had a hunch that I'd know the piece I was looking for when I saw it.

And...here it is! Right after Christmas, I was browsing FB Marketplace and saw this hutch. The woman had already lowered the price by $50. I messaged her and asked if she'd be will to go down another $50. She said yes, if I picked it up that day! Our kind next-door neighbor helped us move the skinny hutch down into our basement (now I need to try and sell it) and this new one into our kitchen.

The vintage tiered cart went into the basement for now too (don't know if I'm going to keep it to use somewhere else or sell it), so I replaced that with a little painted table and ZZ plant. The wall above the plant remained bare, since I didn't have anything in my basement decor stash that would fit in that space. I was running errands a few days ago and first was going to stop in Hobby Lobby to check out what they had, but then decided to try Goodwill first. I haven't been in a Goodwill in probably two years. I tend to stay out of resale shops for the most part now, since I rarely need anything. I've been more focused on donating to resale shops instead of buying from them. Anyhoo, I found this Paris art print and took the chance of it being the right size and looking good in this space. 

Love the detail on the front of the glass. And whoever painted this cabinet did a great job. The woman I bought the cabinet from said this piece was in her house when she moved in.

There's enough room inside to hold all my cookbooks, Dutch ovens, bowls, recipe boxes (they hold old hand-written family recipes), decor items and teas.

The drawer underneath the cabinet holds my dishtowels, pot holders, and extra kitchen decor items. I want to find some pretty paper to line the drawer and organize it a bit better.

Hope the start to the new year is going well for you. Thanks for reading and for your kind comments.
💖

new year's eve 2022

This is a first for me, writing a post two days in a row...but I wanted to reflect a bit on 2022. As usual at this time of year, I go through my journal and planner and jot down the important happenings, sad events, and highlights of the year. One hearbreaking thing was losing Monkey in February. We had to let him go due to lymphoma in his nasal cavity that came on suddenly. I still miss my big, fluffy "boo" deeply. My heart aches when I see his photos. I miss running my hand gently through that beautiful floof on his belly.

In March, we lost Brian's father. He was in his upper 80's and in poor health, so his death wasn't a surprise, but naturally, it was still upsetting and sad. And one of my best friends lost both of her parents this year ~ her mom in January and her dad in December. 

Of course, 2022 brought plenty of good things, too...a weekend girlfriend's trip; our front yard got some sorely needed professional landscaping; I was able to trap a stray mama kitty and one of her kittens in my back yard ~ and a friend fostered until they were adopted; I had a fantastic 60th birthday; got to spend quality time with my cousin and her 7-year old daughter who flew in this summer from Tacoma, WA; Tim came home for a visit in October; I discovered a (new-to-me) poet's group in a nearby town. 

I don't make New Year's resolutions, but one of the things I would like to do in 2023 is to take weekend trips and visit Tim in California. We haven't been able to take weekend trips or go to California because of Clementine. With her being in stage 4 kidney disease, she needs constant care and subcutaneous fluids, so we can't leave her alone or even have a cat sitter. We know she'll be crossing the Rainbow Bridge in 2023, but of course, we have no idea when. In fact, we're surprised she's made it through the end of this year. When she was diagnosed with kidney disease over five years ago, the vet said she'd probably live only another 1-1/2 years. Then when she lost a fang this past February and we declined major dental surgery for her, the vet dentist said that her gums would get majorly infected from the tooth loss and that at best, she'd probably only live another three months. She not only never got an infection from losing the fang, but she's still with us. Clem definitely has "nine lives"!

Tonight, New Year's Eve, we will be staying home. I haven't been to a New Year's Eve party in about 15 years and I have no desire to go to one again. Not that any of my friends have parties anymore at our age! 😜 A friend invited me and some other girlfriends over for snacks and games and I even declined that invitation. I much prefer to stay safely home in my pajamas, order good food (Thai take-out tonight), have a glass of wine, play some board games, then cuddle up on the couch to watch a movie. Stay up til midnight? Perhaps. I normally go to bed around 11:30 PM, so staying up til midnight would be no big deal. To me, it doesn't hold any appeal and is just another day. How about you?

Thank you for reading my blog in 2022, for your lovely comments, and for your friendship and support. I am thankful for all of you. 

popping in after christmas

A quick hello...

We were supposed to spend Christmas Eve with extended family, but that was cancelled due to a couple of people having Covid. Instead, Brian and I went to my aunt and uncle's house and we had a fun-loving time talking and snacking in the cozy family room next to the fire ~ where Dandy the Pug snuggled up next to Brian. We later moved upstairs to play board games around the dining room table.

On Christmas morning, I made my traditional breakfast casserole and we ate that along with almond kringle from a famous Danish bakery in Racine, WI. (Our local Trader Joe's carries it!) So much sugar and overeating at the holidays; back to our healthy eating as of January 1st.

We opened our gifts to each other and later we video-chatted with Tim and opened gifts that way, too. Would've been a million times better in person, of course, but grateful for this technology.

As always, missing our oldest son, Philip who passed away in 2009. This was our 14th Christmas without him.

How was your Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate in December)?
I know the holidays can be hard and perhaps not happy or joyful ~ for various reasons: Thinking of those loved ones who have passed away, old family hurts, missing out-of-state family or friends...the holidays can dredge up painful hurts. It's OK to acknowledge those feelings, too. Love and blessings to you all.

Hoping to writing an end-of-year post tomorrow.