Outside the Box

Do you think or act outside the box?  Your box? Presumed supposed boxes?  Routinely or only when you have to?  Creatively by choice?

Was just reading a blog post by Pale Rook, a doll  maker.... the idea jumped at me that my life right now is outside my comfort zone and I MUST think outside the box to adapt and tackle the steep learning curve of taking over the household and be a caregiver in the "autumn" of my life to my husband with dementia and I don't like it.  But "back when" as a newly divorced woman of 38 with two elementary school kids, I was faced with a similar learning situation... sooo, I didn't like it then, but did it then, can do it now! It's life.

Gratitude is big in my thinking as I have the ability to do this and it is a normal problem of life... many of us are facing this challenge nowadays in various forms.  It's not a survival type of third world problem which even more people are facing.

Here are my little granddaughters who always think outside their boxes.  They see only opportunities.
Delightfully refreshing to be with little ones.

January 5

Respect is my word of the day.  It seems to have surfaced in conversation... part of love, before love, because of love, instead of love.  Took hubby to dentist and went on for groceries, library, brought him home, went for a haircut and he's asleep in his chair still.  Even the dogs aren't barking today.
Here they are one late fall day after a ride and a walk.  Faithful old pooches!

Etsy Pretties

Snow is swirling and piling up today here.  It's been bright, however, so a good day to take
photos indoors of vintage treasures to list in my Etsy shop.  Here's a sweet white on blue crib
blanket on top of a beautiful white on white Cabin Craft spread.... as well as a floral barkcloth
pillow I cannot part with!

A very nice thing about living within the city limits is that we get drop in visitors and I love that!

January 2nd

An American friend spending her years in France wrote me today "Bon Courage."
Good courage.  Have courage. Remain courageous. To me this means to
face life head on...   Falling down is easy.  Getting back up is living life with
courage.

How courageous are these lilac buds already thinking about spring.  I spotted them
on a cold, sunny walk today.

January 1st

Happy New Year....  My words to my self are ~ expect less.... of myself, of others (especially old people with dementia and little people just learning about life) .... not in any negative way, but a reminder to lighten up.

It's been two years since I wrote. What happened?

Honestly, time flies.  On the other hand, time can also agonizingly drag along.  Only because one breathes automatically does one get through the rough spots.  Nothing in my life has been of life and death importance, but everything has changed and nothing has changed. I'm alone but I'm not alone.

In a nutshell ~ my circumstances have changed significantly.  I am still safe and sound,
but my husband's dementia has caused him to need much more care; our lovely home of 17 years (which we designed and built) on the shore of an inland lake has been sold; we recently found a compact little nest of a house within the city limits!  Dear friends and relatives have passed away; two beloved pets died.  Two years made an enormous difference in our lives.

In order to move from a 4,000 sq. ft. home with large work studio to a '50's bungalow of 1,400 sq. ft.
took some doing.  Serious down-sizing and several yard sales kicked off the process.  Selling a house is not an easy operation these days nor is buying one.  In both situations I ran into "entitled" folk for whom I needed the help of a skilled attorney to point out that a contract is legally binding.  One cannot arbitrarily move closing dates for personal convenience.  Am I the only one who still believes in the system?  Yet, people are good.  Life is good.

It seemed fitting that tonight ~ New Year's Eve ~ is a time for me to pull myself together and move
on.  I've been doing all the usual and proper things: still eBaying, Etsying, Estate Sale-ing and Pie
Baking!!  In fact I have increased the number of art/craft fairs I participate in and now sell pies as well as hand-sewn and hand-painted items.  This keeps me sane... shall we define sane? Better not.

Happy New Year to all.  I hope your past two years have been peaceful and your have coped well
with life.  Onward to continued happy dealing with whatever life throws at us.

I'll share here some photos of my apple and pecan pie-baking results in preparation for fall art/craft fairs.

Valentine

Here is my Valentine to you ~ a lovely pristine vintage hankie.

It even has it's original store sticker and it's folds from the hankie box.

Very sweet, don't you think?

Lake Michigan is 66% frozen over according to the latest reports.  We live 10 miles from this bay (Grand Traverse Bay)  which is about 30 miles long.... yes, frozen all the way to the north, south, east and west.  We haven't (as a population) been able to enjoy the full array of winter sports these past few mild winters, so this is the year for ice-fishing, skating, ice-boating, and more.  This ice keeps the water from evaporating as well, so this is a good thing for many reasons.