A Bit of Blogging

While I've been busy, I've also been a bit lethargic about life lately. Try as I may, I cannot seem to get interested in much of anything for several months now. Bear with me while I ramble a bit.



Yes, missing in action for a while, but I'll be blogging more soon. Which reminds me of something I've been seeing lately—not as much blogging around the internet. I've noticed it with myself and definitely with others. I've cut my favorites severely since I'm tired of seeing the same ol' stuff going on. I'm tired of simply viewing a blog that is promoting its owner's merchandise or viewing the same vignettes 20 times or setting tables with different plates or promoting "sponsors" on their blog. To me, it's just plain boring. They can absolutely do anything they want, but I'm choosing to stay away from those blogs.

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I've not gotten over watching videos on my Mac laptop since the surgery in April. I now know I've got to give it up. I'm not doing the things I need to be doing in life.



I've taken a 2 month leave of absence from my mission to deal with some personal things like the dreaded colonoscopy. Yuck! But it will soon be over. Then if that isn't enough, my left knee has been hurting. My son and hubby say it could be from the surgery on the right foot and the stress it puts on the left leg. This coming Friday will be my last day for PT on the foot/heel so I'm glad for that, and, yes, it has helped. I'll continue doing it at home though because the Achillles Tendon is still a bit tight.



So that's put me on a downward spiral with life. BUT this week I decided to get my backside in gear and do something around the house. I'm not one to change frequently, or change a lot, but I do change things.



For instance, notice the sofa below. I took off the slipcover to wash it (the skirt was filthy from visitor's shoes) and decided to leave it off for a while. I'm so glad I bought a washable slipcover; it washed beautifully but we had to spread it over 4 lawn chairs to dry it since it was so large and heavy for the dryer. I didn't want it to shrink either. But it was so big and heavy it took 2 loads to do it and even that was dicey! I also cut it down to 3 pillows instead of the 5 I had on there.

That sofa is almost 20 years old and still looks new. I just love it!

Then I decided I've got to get rid of some things in this house. So in our bedroom was a little footstool I had covered with a beautiful Waverly print years ago. I took it off when we moved here and stored the little footstool up in the attic. Last summer Love Bunny brought it down and parked it next to his bedside table. It's been there "holding" his clothes each night. It was just sitting there looking pathetic in its foam, soft stuffing covering and muslin that I thought I'd make another cover for it. Wasn't I just saying "get rid of some stuff"?! Sigh...



Well, one day I noticed a Battenburg lace small tablecloth I had stashed away and wondered if it would fit over it. Voilá, it fit just fine to cover the padding and muslin so I used some upholstery tacks to simply tack it. It took me all of 5 minutes to have a new little stool to have as an extra seat or a stool on which to prop one's feet on. Washable also! So now I don't have to sew anything...at least until I want to sew, which brings us to the next problem.

This sad and sorry looking craft and sewing room, which we're using more for food storage now. It's looked like this for almost a year. I usually just close the door and forget about it. There was way too much stuff in it. The antique school desk had to go. We took it out and it's now on Craigslist. I simply didn't have room OR need it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was an impulse buyer that day. I've curbed my spending dramatically!!!

I'll get to this before Christmas because I can feel my zeal coming back slowly. ;-)

A few roses from my garden today. They're still blooming. Aren't they just lovely? What would life be without beautiful flowers? God is so good to us!

If you've stayed with me this far on this post, thank you! I do tend to chat/ramble on too much. ;-)

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My Favorite Lifestyle Book and More

My favorite lifestyle and decorating author is Alexandra Stoddard. I bought her book, Living a Beautiful Life, many years ago when we lived in California. It is the epitome on how to live graciously in a frantic world. Of course, there are lots of decorating tips in the book, but for the most part it is just about living life. Or as the cover describes it: "500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Every Day of Your Life." And it keeps that promise! I absolutely adore it and have even found some old copies since it was published in 1986 and given them as gifts. I believe the women who have received a copy from me have love the pleasures it offers inside the covers.

Another of her books called, Creating a Beautiful Life, which I also enjoy immensely, is described as "From starting fresh to freshening up - inspiring ideas to help you turn your house into a warm and welcoming home. I suggest you try finding them to read as you'll not be disappointed. I try and live my life graciously and it shows in my home.

Here are the 2 books. It looks like 3 but the Living a Beautiful Life has 2 different covers as I discovered when looking for more of these books.

The illustrations aren't in color but I've colored mine. I relax when I color and this seemed the perfect thing to do to this particular book.

I am also a "marker" of books. I use different colored pencils or markers to highlight thing I want to remember or go back to. She encourages this in her books. She also leaves room at the end of each chapter for "Grace Notes." Plenty of space to add your own grace notes.

Another page I colored and marked on the other side.

Ah, but this little book is something special. It's a grandmother's remembrance book. "A Book of Special Memories for the Family to Share." It all bright pink with beautiful green leaves on the cover and all the way through it also. I did one of these for my son and my daughter, but this one I've had for a very long long time waiting to see what I'd do with it. Well, the time has arrived that a woman I know is expecting her very first grandchild soon and it's to be a girl. So this will be her special prize. She's going to have to read this post to know it though. I can't wait till she finds out. But she is a painter of roses so I know she'll love it.