That said, I wanted to just cover what I managed to finish last year. I will even post some pictures if I can later on so you can see the results of some of the projects. It has been different, working through the different upgrades and repairs, changes to the house and yard that I have done in the last 12 months, but getting them accomplished is also a BIG relief. I have not yet quite found myself; that sounds strange, but seriously losing your spouse has to be up there somewhere near the top on the most difficult life challenges. At least for me it is, or has been.
Getting on with the subject though -- I did get a lot done, and so glad for it.
- Did I smell the roses? R & R -- Well, I did get out on a vacation with my niece and her husband in May, and it was nice to get away, even if it was not all that far away. We attended a Christian Confernece in Arizona, and it was nice to just not have the work list going as has been the mode the majority of the time in 2010. I am always glad to get away -- and to enjoy things I love, and I really like to hear people minister the Word of God. My niece and her husband also had a great time -- since there are ample golfing locations in AZ, my nephew was in his element! We had a nice time and a good trip. I hope to do it again this year, if I can work it out. Otherwise, there were not a lot of R&R times in 2010, but then, I never had a lot of them before either.
- FINAL TOUCHES -- I completed the office space in the back bedroom, moved our old computer there, but it has no internet connection. The thing is so old that it runs very slowly, and I can't upgrade the number of Gigs in it. It will only hold 1G, which is amazing in itself, and tells you how ancient the unit is. I don't want to get rid of it because it was Rog's computer, and I just want to keep it for now. But the room is set, has a TV with a DVD and Video connected to it now; no cable back there either due to the problem of running cables to the location, so I enjoy the local Christian channels and watching a video there now and then while I work on my paperwork. It is just nice to have it all arranged. I've added a new electrical connection in there that allows me to turn the lights on in the back yard and provides another outlet for me inside. Works for me. My nephew did the work for me, and I am glad for that. So those loose ends we
re tied, and a few others as you will hear as I go on.
- Stitching: Somehow there was no real enthusiasm for stitching, and I only managed to put in a few stitches on a leaf in one of my projects last year. I did actually purchase a few things, but they are still sitting waiting for me to get to them. So no real stitching in 2010 -- the enthusiasm just hasn't come back yet.
- GIFTS TO STITCH -- Yes, now that I am thinking about it, I did do more than the leaf in tha tone project. I did also stitch on a few more smalls, but none of them have been assembled, so maybe this year I will get to that. I have added pics of some of the ones that I worked on and need finishing.
Smalls -- In progress, and yes, I did work on these a little bit. I actually finished a couple more, but I don't have photos of them. they are still not assembled into their final form, so tha tis on the schedule for 2011.
- DECORATING TOUCH UPS -- The Stash Room/Back Office have been painted; looks great in a dark gray taupe, and a lighter gray taupe. Didn't need to change draperies -- thank goodness! I bought a desk at a consignment store, and at a good price which came with a nice two drawer file cabinet that fits below the desk. Works well for keeping a few things and supplies that I can work from. I added a large file cabinet in there as well and it holds some of my stitching files
. You would know that I'd do that wouldn't you? I need to clean the files there as well and will get that done as part of Spring cleaning this year.
- Spring -- Spring hit late, it was
cold in 2010, and it's cold now too. Looks like we might have the same situation again, and if that happens, it 
means no planting for a while. In 2010 I did manage to get things done outside quite quickly
-- planted flowers (dahliah's were gorgeous) -- I even have a picture for you of some of the blooms --
highs of 7 and 12 degrees! BRR!! I will enjoy seeing the yard green up this Spring and get to the planting, but it may not come any earlier than last year -- which about late April/ early May.This plant (jackomani Clematis) is beautiful until the heat really hits in the Summer, but while
it is blooming, it is spectacular! I also have a photo of my new wisteria plantings ( I have 2)...they actually bloomed!!! They are not supposed to for 4-5 years per normal information on this variety, and the bloomed a lot through summer! I was so thrilled!- CROCHETING -- Though I had good intentions when it came to the idea of crocheting all my yarn and clearing it out of the garage -- that didn't happen. I hope to do some of that this year and see if I can't fulfill my wish to clear up all the stock of yarn I have in the garage and give them as gifts. So this goes back on the 2011 Goals list.
- Digging up my UFOs: This is also on the list of things I want to do this year -- NOPE!! I didn't get to this either. So they are all still in the garage. The good word in regard to stitching is I have actually started stitching again! I had not stitched in 20 months for the most part -- but I have started a La D Da project and I even purchased Vikki Clayton silks and some charts in the last month (January 2011) -- so I think I can call that progress in the right direction! Right? As for digging up the UFOs, they will come out and just to remind you of a few of them that I want to work on here are a few photos.
- UFO STITCHING -- The UFOs didn't see daylight -- except for the smalls, and I only worked on a few motifs, but no finishing has been done. Here are a few of the things I want to pull out of my UFO containers in the garage and get back to.
- EXERCISE ? -- Do we even want to mention this? Ig's one of those subjects we all want to avoid, but I do need to get back into the swing of things and put some time into getting in better health and shape. So, walking will be part of my agenda for this year, and some light weight lifting/stretching exercises to keep this body limber and strong. I've lost a bit since May 09, maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 pounds, so I won't complain, it's progress, and it's stayed off. Eating more nutritiously is probably on the list and taking the right nutrients are the bigger part of the agenda right now, until the weather warms up! I do not like being out in the cold that much. Still, I have every intention of continuing the weight loss and exercise for health more than anything else.
- SEWING/DECORATING -- Well, I didn't get to my nephew's red/black/gray pillows, but I did do a lot of alterations for my niece Danette who is a size 2, -- she's also 37. She's as cute as a button, and the apple of my eye, so I'd just do about anything for her. I love to sew, and even alterations are fun, if you like sewing to start with. I had a wonderful time, and I repeat that -- a 'wonderful time' doing the sewing. I purchased a inexpensive Brother machine that I used for the alterations and I also used my serger from Bernina, which I dutifully took in for cleaning and oiling -- not that it has had so much use in the last couple of years. Anyway, it was wonderful using both machines and I experimented with the blind hem feature on the Brother machine and loved using it. She also had some belts that needed alterations and I did that as well, and had fun making them fit her size. When I was 16 I used to do a lot of my own sewing and enjoyed making my dresses, skirts, and slacks, jackets and belts to match to wear to school, and then later to the community college and work. Now t hat I have sort of 'bit the bullet' and gotten back into sewing, I plan to take some Quilting classes so I can make Roger's pants and shirts into quilts to use at home. I'll love doing that, and it will be a sort of bittersweet experience, in that I will have his clothes to wrap myself up in, which will always be a reminder of him and our lives together, but at the same time, the loss is real, and remembering has a sting to it as well. I'm grateful that I had so many wonderful years with Roger, and so many special moments that I will never forget. I am truly blessed and fortunate that there are no bad memories to recall -- yes we had struggles, but we never caused each other grief and I am grateful that we had such a wonderful loving relationship as husband and wife. -- Oh, my nephews pillows will also be sewn in the process when I pull out the machines again. It will be something I will enjoy doing as sewing is a very therapeutic sort of activity for me.
- LEARNING - I spend a bit of time through the week in the Bible, reading, studying, reading books about spiritual growth. I only wrote one newsletter for the church this past year. Both life being busy and the projects I had to do, plus working through the emotional things has had an affect on me and my productivity in some areas. I still am involved in m y church, and spent a nice time ministering to the elderly at some of our nursing homes this Winter. I plan to make that part of my work this year as well, and will be making all those arrangements before long. Learning is fun -- I enjoy the bible and study and teaching at church, so I am going to do more of that I hope in this coming year. I have also signed up for four college courses (Christian college) which I will be able to do at home, and enjoy the process of that as well. So life goes on and I am not dropping my efforts to continue to learn. The church newsletter will also be back but maybe in a smaller format than before so it is manageable for me.
- POSSIBLE EARLY CHRISTMAS PROJECTS -- The nightgowns didn't see daylight, but this might be the time to do that since I will be learning to quilt and sewing pillows before long here. I enjoy sewing and it is a useful past time, something you can use to produce items that can be enjoyed as clothing or decorating elements in the home or useful things like totes and purses, or belts and caps. Though I have certain goals -- things I want to work on -- I want to spend a little time learning new things in sewing and maybe make a few Christmas projects so I don't have to buy gifts this Christmas. We'll see how it goes. There are a lot of useful things you can create with a sewing machine, scissors, thread and needle.
- PICTURE PROJECTS - Scrap booking -- though an interesting hobby and fun I would think, right now I just don't want to clutter my life with more stuff. So I am going to try to work on things that I can make from supplies I already have on hand. if there are any picture projects here, they will be canvas pieces that I work on. I enjoy painting, and I like modern art as well, so I am going to see what I can do with the paints on hand, the blank canvas pieces I bought last year and ideas I have in my head. There hasn't been time to do it, but now that I am working my list down to 'manageable' I am considering working on a few pieces of my own art for my bathrooms, and back office. Hopefully they come out well and I can share photos with you.
- PICTURE ALBUMS -- Though I won't be scrap booking, I will be working on a few albums of photos that were my Mother's, and scanning them for making CDs for my family. Hopefully I will be able to plan a family reunion this Summer and give the CDs out then. I also plan to take all of Rog's pictures and put them in an album with all our memories and comments, so depending on how things go I men end up scrap booking a bit too as I develop my albums with Rog's and my pictures. I've always thought it was fun, but just didn't have the time or space to do all the collecting of elements that go with it. Who knows...maybe this summer after the sewing is done I can concentrate on doing something else that I've never done before.
- SEWING/CLOTHING -- The fabric I had bought for the tunics never turned into anything. I still have it all though, and the intention to sew the tunics. Right now it's cold enough that if I do sew them they would come in handy, so who knows. I may be getting to that before long. Right now I have a greater desire to clean closets, and drawers and do a bit of painting on the ceiling in the kitchen before I do anything else.
- MAJOR PROJECT -- REFINISHING KITCHEN CABINETS -- OH my! Yes, I am going to do it myself. -- and I bought a tool that will hopefully make getting the sanding done a bit easier. I also have found that though the cabinets were looking pretty faded; using a Stainless Steel spray on them brought out the wood nicely, so for the moment, they are looking alright. I still plan to get the job done on my own, mix my own stain to get the right color (which I have done before for the window sills) and get them stained and then finished off with a good sealant that will keep them from losing their beauty. It is a "Big Project" -- but it is not impossible. It will also save me a lot of money. Another thing that I am glad about. The counters are okay, but I hope that I can eventually get those replaced with something new -- just a matter of time and finding the right source for the job. Life goes on, and I am spending time on the house because I really like it -- and I want it to last in good shape. If I do the work now, I will save myself a lot of difficulty later. Nobody is getting younger, and at my age, I need to consider getting jobs done while it is still easy to do them
. I am having a top cabinet and one narrow one made for my kitchen and that I hope will be installed by the end of February. That will close up the work in the kitchen -- Another Hurray moment!!! Did I mention I bought some new appliances after 25 years -- yes. I know, it was a long time and they were dated, but they worked. I'm glad they lasted as long as they did. Hopefully what I have bought to replace them will also last my lifetime and beyond . I hadn't done a lot of cooking before, but with the new stove I have gotten back to doing some cooking and it is enjoyable. Cooking was always fun for Roger and me, and it was hard getting past the hump of not having him to cook for. Right now I am cooking because it is just more economical than going out to eat, and honestly you get tired of restaurant food after a while. I still ju st like the basic things I grew up with and they are healthier to eat anyway . In putting in the s tove and vent we lost the top cabinets so I am having to rearrange some things in the kitchen to make it work for me. The top cabinet and long side cabinet will help for storage and keeping spices and small food items stored. I'll just be glad to get the work on the cabinet refinishing done!!! That's one of those things you just take on like a bull dog as there is just no other way, it's not one of those 'fun' kind of projects necessarily, just necessary that I complete it and do it well.
- FRAMING -- I bought some new pieces to hang in the hallway and put Roger's pictures and mine in different places in the house because I just wanted his pictures everywhere. That's kind of understandable. Anyway, I have the Master bedroom to finish -- I have frames and all the hardware, I just need to get the pictures in the frames and rework the back of the frames so they can be hung on the wall. I'm hoping to get that done soon and finish up the wall over our bed. I did finish the frame shopping last year, and have several photos hung throughout the house -- only one more room to go.
Repairing th
e fountain bowl -- you can see the picture here of what it looked like. The wear was caused from snow that froze in the bowl and popped some circles out of the bowl. I had to first find a solution, not as easy as one might think. Learned that you need to mix an epoxy with cement to get it to be dense enough and capable of dealing with contracting and expanding with weather. Had t
o remove the paint and all the rough areas had to be smoothed with a grinder, cleaned, then sealed with an epoxy a few times. Allowed to dry and then mix the cement with water and epoxy and apply it evenly, spray again with epoxy after it was done, and let it cure. Then, finally apply pool paint over the whole thing. It is fixed and the fountain works nicely. I will enjoy that feature this Spring and Summer.....I have not used the fountain for over 2 years now.
Leaf raking. Well, it never lasts done, and I only have one tree in the back yard -- you can see it's not very large. The leaves I get are from the neighbors who live above me -- at higher elevations, and who have large trees. So I just diligently rake them up. It's done, but more have blown into the yard from my neighbors again, so I will be doing yard work again once the weather warms up. Bush Trimming, as you can see needed to be done! I trimmed all the bushes in the ayrd, front and back! A big job as there are a lot of them. So that is done for a while. Though this isn't
a landscaping job, replacing the screens on the windows really needed attention. I did get the materials and did it all myself! One more project out of the way and something new learned. Lastly will be plants for the fountain, and two flower beds that are new in the front yard, and the individual flower pots that are in the front yard. Bush trimming and a little fertilizer and that's about all that needs to be done outside, thank goodness!!!- Repairing the Barbecue Counter Area --This was a big project, not just because it took time and had to be taken apart before it could be fixed, but we had done it once before and the repair didn't work well!!! Life and learn!! Hopefully anyway. I had h ad the area built, installed, and it looked so nice, but the winter came and the snow caused the tiles to loosen and they started to fall off. It also sagged because we used the wrong board on the base. That's why I said live and learn. We redid the whole structure but again put the wrong board the second time, so it started to have the same issues -- and the grout cracked and tiles were again falling off the sides. So another nephew came to repair it for me, and hopefully all i
s well now. We used cement board on
the wood structure base that we had built, took out the other stones that we had had there and they ended up going to my nieces for her landscaping -- at least we could reuse them. The tile had to be completely removed, and redone, and we bought a grout that works like bubblegum and cement worked together. 
Strange stuff, but it stretches and shrinks and is waterproof. The bottom before the tile and grout had to be sealed with a red sealant and looked hideous but it protects from water damage should there be any issues with the grout. That by itself will help tremendously. So we had to take it completely apart at least the top 3 layers and then redo the thing again. It is fine and withstood our recent storm, so I am happy. While it was in disrepair, I just covered it with a tarp and left it sit until we were ready to work on it. Looks good now, and hopefully will also endure in good condition. - New Cemented A
rea to Increase Patio Space -- This is just part of the whole process of redoing the back yard a bit. We cut down the sod by 6 feet and worked cement around the patio that we already had placed. It worked out nicely and we also added a driveway at the double gate in the back which makes it much easier to place items in the back yard when I am bringing in bushes and all the different yard items that are needed through the Spring and Summer. I should have a nice area to sit and relax in this Spring and 
Summer. And yes, I will show updates of the yard when I have the plants in and established. I actually enjoy working outside, even though it takes a lot of time and effort to keep it looking nice.
- Last bu
t not Least! -- The fnial thing on my agenda is to find myself a job! Yes, it's time to think about working and I hope to find something local and maybe just part time at first to 
give myself a 
chance to accustom myself to being in the work world again! Oh my! That is not exciting in many ways for me, I have not worked in 15 years, not at a job that I was paid for -- I've worked, and you can see from the photos that that is a true statement! It will be like riding a bicycle, right -- you never forget how to do it? We can hope -- and I am sure that the Lord has something out there for me as well that will be a good match for me in convenient location and work schedule. I am praying to that end anyway. Life has been an adjustment for me in a lot of ways and I'm not where I need or want to be yet in some ways, but in the process of working through that I am getting a lot of work and repairs and maintenance done that is just part of having a home and yard. I'm certainly not complaining about the work, I've always worked hard, and I don't mind that part. The part that I find harder is learning to live without Roger and that I may never quite accustom myself to. He was such a huge part of my life and my joys in life. Thank God for being busy! it's one time I won't complain about it -- in some ways it helped me hang on while my heart and emotions were in turmoil and keep body and limb together. I intend to find my way and at some point this will all feel like life and like normal living and I pray a few joys along the way too. Well, that's the end of the update for now. I will try to get some stitching things in here soon and a few photos of the UFOs I pull out.
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