The snowball effect

Autumn decor

I was merrily moving along quite nicely on decluttering and organizing my craft room/office.  I'd filled several boxes and bags and hauled them off to the Salvation Army.  Another large bag was hauled to the curb on garbage day.  I was more than halfway finished and was pretty confident that I'd have it all organized within the week.

Autumn - Living Room

Last Christmas, I was given money from my parents and my brother because I really wasn't up to deciding what I wanted/needed.  Since none of my clothes fit me anymore (losing 30 pounds will do that!) my Mom thought I could use the money to buy some new ones.  I tucked the money away because shopping for anything wasn't going to happen for a few months and I kind of forgot about the money.  After my Mom died, I found the card she'd given me with the money still inside.  I knew I didn't want to use it to buy clothes.  I wanted to buy something that would be lasting but didn't have a clue what that would be.  And so I tucked the money back into the card and put it away.

A few weeks ago, the idea of white dishes popped into my head.  I've been wanting new dishes for a few years and I'm sure the suggestion came from my Mom.  She loved dishes.  I looked around on the internet for something I might like but didn't find a thing.

Then last week, while out buying chocolate at the outlet mall (because everybody goes to the outlet mall to buy chocolate, right?) I spotted a Royal Doulton store. I never noticed that store before but I felt nudged (okay Mom!) to go in. They were having a sale. A big one. 30% off. And they had white dishes. Just like I'd been wanting. So I bought them.

You know how you change one thing which then leads to something else and so on? Well that's what's happened. I needed to make room for the new dishes. Which meant deciding which of my old ones would get donated to the thrift store. Which led to me clearing out my kitchen cupboards. Every. Single. One. Of. Them.

The good news is that my kitchen cupboards are nice and clean and organized. That baking cupboard and coffee cupboard on my project list? Done! The bad news is that my dining room is in chaos. I still have to clear out the hutch and reorganize it. My craft room? At a complete halt. For now.

But I really like my new dishes. They're technically for every day but I'm also going to use them for "good". I like how food looks on white dishes. They'll mix nicely with my blue transfer ware too. I'm rather excited about reorganizing my dining room. I'm strange that way. Once the chaos is somewhat under control, I'll share some photos. In the meantime, I've got a lot of dishes to do!

 See you soon!

xoxo,
Lynda

Dried hydrangeas ... it worked!

Finally!  I figured out how to dry hydrangeas!  It's taken me many tries to get it right.  I think I've picked them too soon in the past.  This time I waited until their original colour had faded, removed the leaves and placed them in individual jars so that as they dried, they would keep their original shape.

And it worked!  It took 3-4 weeks before the hydrangeas were completely dry.  The blue Endless Summer blooms dried to a gorgeous shade of green and the pink ones dried a deeper green with touches of burgundy. 

I'm so happy with the way they dried.  I was able to fill this little vintage basket which I placed on my dining room sideboard.  There might be one or two more blooms I can pick before the frost comes.  Most of the hydrangeas have been scorched by the hot Summer sun and are brown on the edges so I didn't pick those.  I plan to plant at least one more hydrangea in the Spring.  I love that they provide colour all Summer long and other than keeping them well watered, are very easy to maintain.

I'm making good progress on organizing my craft room!  I'm hoping to have it finished within the next couple of weeks.  Projects take me a lot longer to do now than they used to but I get there eventually.  :)

See you soon!

xoxo,
Lynda

Pumpkins, projects & what's in a name

I've been having fun decorating for Autumn this year.  I've kept it simple and natural but tried to change things a little from the usual.  I bought a dozen or so of these mini pumpkins in orange and white and placed them around the living & dining room and the kitchen.  The wire basket is new, purchased at a local craft show last month.  It's so simple and yet it looks perfect as a centrepiece on my dining room table.

I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest (who hasn't?!?) and have been pleasantly surprised at what I've been pinning.  I've always been drawn to country but thought my style leaned more towards cottage.  Nope, not at all.  I like neutral walls but prefer warm creamy white, not stark white or grey.  I like dark wood, either painted or natural but dark.  I like touches of vintage but only if it can be used.  Transferware is still my first choice for dinner ware, closely followed by white ironstone.  I lean towards clean lines.  Nothing too chippy or frilly and definitely not cluttered.  I like seasonal pops of colour, a bit of primitive and have a soft spot for 18th century English and American furniture.  It's easy to get caught up in the style du jour and lose yourself in the process.

There's been a lot of editing going on both in my life and in my home.  I want to focus on what I truly enjoy and let go of the things that no longer matter.  Once again, it's easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and feel that you too should tag along.  Having a serious illness really puts life in perspective.  I no longer feel that I should do something that I don't enjoy.

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. 

~ William Morris

My blog is reflecting these changes.  For a long time, I've been feeling the pull to get back to the things I most want to do - decorating my home, puttering in the garden, cooking from scratch.  I still enjoy photography ... as a hobby.  Since giving up selling my photos, I've been enjoying photography so much more.  I like styling my photos.  And I'm really enjoying taking photos of my home and garden.

When I returned to blogging after my Mom died, I changed the name of my blog to "Simple Things".  I felt this change reflected the direction I was heading in.  Simplify.  Focus on the simple things.  The name was taken from a favourite quote of mine by Laura Ingalls Wilder (it's on my sidebar).  I like the name, Simple Things, but lately I've been wondering if I should go back to using my name as my blog title.  I know a lot of people have a blog name that's different from their address and I'm wondering, does it really matter?  There's also the issue of my domain that's been idle since giving up my website.  It's a trivial thing but I wonder if it's confusing to have a different name from the blog address??

Recently, I added {celebrating home through the seasons} to my blog title.  It's a mouthful but it's where my heart is.  Because that's exactly what I want to do.  Celebrate home.  Celebrate the seasons.  Enjoy the every day moments.

Okay, enough of my rambling for today!  :)  I have a few more thoughts I want to share with you about blogging in general but I'll save them for another day because I promised that I was going to post a list of projects that are on my "to do" list!  This is more to help me get them done because if I post about them, I'm going to have to go through with them.  So, here are my top 5:

1. Declutter my office & craft room.  It's a mess!  Everything that doesn't have a home ends up there, along with remnants of every craft I've tried and discarded (and there are a lot of them!).  Once I clear some space, I'm hoping to do a bit of a makeover.  As much as I don't want to, I will post before (and after!) photos.  Please be kind.

2. Turn the closet off the kitchen into a pantry.  I need to organize my cookbook obsession  collection, among other things.  I added small shelves to one half of the closet several years ago but really need more storage space.

3. Create a dedicated baking space and coffee/drink space in my kitchen.  Once again, everything is all over the place.  The coffee is in two different cupboards, tea in another.  Baking supplies are spread over several cupboards.  I've wanted to do this for over a year.

4. Paint mirror frame.  This particular frame has sat behind the door in my craft room for more years than I'd like to admit.  It's pretty.  I like it but the colour?  Yuck.  I can't wait to use my milk paint but need room to get to it (see project #1!).

5. Create a gallery wall along the stairs.  Another project that's been on my wish list for years (literally).  I have the photos.  I have a lot of frames.  They just need to be hung.  The mirror mentioned above will be hung on the landing and I want to hang it before I hang the photos.

So that's my top five!  There are a lot more projects on my list, some small, some not so small, but these I want to finish before the end of the year.  The first three are pretty boring but oh so necessary for me to move on to the fun stuff.  And while they're ambitious, I can tackle them a bit at a time.  I'll be sure to post on my progress!

If you made it all the way through this post, you deserve a treat!  ;)

See you soon!

xoxo,
Lynda

Giving thanks

We're celebrating Thanksgiving in Canada today. We had our dinner yesterday but tonight is my favourite part ... leftovers!!!!  This is our first holiday without my Mom, the very first Thanksgiving dinner that I've made entirely on my own. My Mom and I always shared, if I cooked the turkey, she made the dessert.  I still can't quite believe that she's no longer with us.

I have so much to be thankful for this year - my wonderful husband, my Dad and brother, our cuddly pup who always makes us smile, my improved health, friends and neighbours & so many online friends ... I am truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

xoxo,
Lynda

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Golden October ... and some {good} news!

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers."

~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

This past week, the trees have really been putting on their colours.  Our ash tree changes to the most beautiful shade of golden yellow and depending on the light, at times it casts its golden glow over everything.

We've been enjoying amazing weather!  Warm and sunny, it's been a stunning Fall so far.  The colours are expected to be magnificent this year.  I have to say that so far, I agree.

I'm glad I photographed the fallen leaves along the curb.  The next day they were gone, a combination of a light breeze and neighbours raking their leaves.  This scene just caught my eye and I knew I had to capture it.

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I had my CT scan on Tuesday and saw my oncologist yesterday for the results.  All your prayers and positive thoughts worked!  My CA125 dropped from 4918 in August to 888 in September!  My lowest number yet.  I realize that I'm still a long way from being in the normal range but seeing it drop so much in just a month had me doing my happy dance!  Dr. H. asked me what I've been doing so I told him about drinking ginger tea & green tea daily and how I've recently added turmeric to my diet (I'll explain more about this in a later post).  I also practice meditative prayer and visualization daily.  He said to keep it up because it's working!!  My CT scan showed the tumour on my aortic artery is slightly larger, I have a new tumour between my stomach and spleen that's about the size of a blueberry BUT the tumours that were in my pelvis are gone!  I don't need any treatment yet and don't have to go back for another scan until December!  This is the longest I've been able to go between check-ups.  So yes, I am ecstatic! (Hence the number of exclamation points!!) A huge thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts.  I know you've played a role in helping me get here.  I'm now praying for all the tumours to go and that my next scan reveals no evidence of disease!  I'm shooting for the stars!  Why not??  :)

xoxo,

Lynda

{p.s. - I'll be sharing my home project "to do" list in my next post!}