Plotting My Comeback

  

I started out strong after Christmas. I got all my decorations put away and with my time I started thinking about all the things that I had put off like hanging stitching. I was planning and moving and grooving. We went to Auburn and I thought I had recharged. I came home and busily started cleaning and decorating ---not so much decluttering. Then along came last week when I knew I would have the boys because work started back for the parents but not all schools and daycares were open. 

AND....one of those little boys brought me the flu. I haven't had that in at least 15 years. I honestly think I felt as bad for him as myself. To think he hurt all over like I did broke my heart. As of now, it has taken me, Palmer, Tyler, and possibly Miles as its victims. I am praying really hard no more especially Katie and Paul Allen since the baby is due on the 20th. Of course, I worry about Mama with anything like this at her age.

I was reading blogs and commenting and just really having a good start to the new year when this hit me like a ton of bricks. 30 hours of intense body aches and 6 more of a nasty headache and now just extreme fatigue.

When I finally got over the headache and realized all I could do was sit around I pulled out some videos to watch. I really didn't even want to commit to a TV show. My mind wasn't that strong. I pulled up a YouTube video and the girl had been sick with pneumonia. She said she had used her rest time to plot her comeback...hence, the title. 

That is about all I have the energy for ---thinking about what I might do once I am over this awfulness. I haven't really been able to think too clearly yet, so mostly I am laying around wishing I could get up and do something productive. I will share some of the things I did before I got bulldozed.

I finally started to think about where to hang the latest 2 stitches that I had framed. No, they were still not hung which shows that it was going to be an issue.

After Christmas each year, I always want to lighten the look. I love Christmas and I know everyone always wants to leave up the lights to counter the darkness of winter and I get that, but for me I just like the clean of a new year and always find myself pulling things off of shelves and counters and making it a little less.

That notion hit me with the walls this year. Not good when you have new stitches to hang. 

I did come up with some solutions. My ideas have changed on some things. I should know never to post what I plan because my plans always change. 

I ended up scrapping my Florida wall. It just wasn't coming together. All of the stitches were pretty but they didn't go together and were looking too cluttered. After 2 days of moving things around and laying them together I just decided on another route all together. So let's take a look at what remained and what got moved and what is still being thought out.

This wall in the bedroom got a redo. I had 3 stitches up where the 2 are now. The books of the Bible on the right was one of the three. It was moved back to where it once hung. The Springer Spaniel stitch that was hanging on that wall got moved to the kitchen hallway where it looks great.

              

I moved the Surely Goodness and Mercy stitch off this wall and added the Florida Sampler. Now, 2 of my most favorite projects ever are together. The Thirsty Hart where I added the church I grew up in and the initials of my ancestors buried there in the church graveyard. 

The amount of things there is pleasing to my eye. This is going to sound bad, but when I tried to hang too many there all I could think of was it looked like a cross stitch store with framed pieces on display. I love all the gallery walls I see on social media, but in my own home it made me stir crazy.

Sometimes I think it is more than a gallery wall, but how are the stitches related and the frame choices. Something I didn't think through and I am not sad about that because I loved all the stitching.

Where did Surely Goodness and Mercy go? It went to the Auburn house where I originally intended it to go, but when I finished I wanted it to stay here a while. 

It looks good for now in the Auburn downstairs bedroom wall.

There is is on the top right. All of those changes seem right. I don't think it needs anymore stitches.

Now that leaves one more --- The Pensacola Lighthouse. It is still to be determined. I am trying it out in the guest bathroom. I am not sure it will stay here mostly because of the coloring, but I have lots of thoughts running through my brain now, so I am plotting on that while I recover.

I will stop there with all that and share some of the other things I did in the home in that little bit of time in my next post. 

Katie has finished the baby's room. I have started stitching the name. I can't wait to show the color choices I made and some of my progress in the next post. 

For now, I am trying to learn to rest. I pretty much don't have a choice about it, so I will keep dreaming and planning.

Oh and my great plans for strength training that I had all printed out and was raring to go got held up too. Plans well made but on hold until I have some actual strength to do anything. I didn't even complain about the cold. Can you believe it? It is very cold. Jack Frost has visited and the bayou had some ice early this morning. Those are all not my thing at all. Bring on Spring, but I think the month of January is planning on being cold.

Anyway, I am here and grateful to be over the worst part. 

Be back soon I hope:)

Battery Life: 10 Percent: Time to Recharge

One of my Christmas presents that I turned into a new prayer journal. Isn't it cute?

December found me feeling incredibly blessed and a little melancholy at the same time. It has been a beautiful month. Our Decembers along the coast are usually overcast and so foggy in the evenings. This December has blessed me with mild temperatures and sunny days. All that makes it hard to understand my feeling somewhat off my game. I wasn't really blue, but just at times it seemed like I wanted to slow down and just go backwards a few months if that makes sense. I wasn't quite ready for Christmas I suppose.

The foggy night came in last night with terrible weather all across the south. We were fine but I did wake up at 3:00 to loud winds and rain. 

Let’s move on…

I enjoyed Christmas. We celebrated on the 23rd with all the usual fanfare. Same good food and same traditions. Three boys leading the charge; all old enough to demand that they be the first to open a present in our round robin tradition. Paul Allen came up with the compromise to let all 3 boys open a present at the same time in the rotation. They were pleased with the idea and went at it with great gusto as one can imagine that has been around little boys. Oh and Carol, I think I am going to go with your method  of using bags next year except for my girls who appreciate a pretty wrapped package. 

It is virtually impossible to get all 3 boys to look at the camera at the same time.

I took lots of candid photos which I think I am going to pass on showing because I have so many thoughts to write. However, one that I will share is Gus in Aunt Donna’s lap. He is a lapdog and the only lap he could find to sit on who wasn’t opening presents in a comfy chair was Donna.

Christmas Eve was church and  dinner out with Lindsay, Tyler and the boys. Something I have never done on Christmas Eve is eat out. Christmas Day was brunch with the kids. Really good times and so blessed. The 26th ---take it all down and put my house back in order. That is me!!!

Here it is the end of another year and I feel like the years are from Star Trek flight logs. I mean 2025! 

I am in reflection mode as usual this time of year. 

What went well? 

My cleaning schedule. Other than my one day when talk of moving hit me like a ton of bricks I have found in deep thought that my home is organized and I have a handle on keeping it tidy and clean. I am not going to lie —- that took some time after retirement to feel like this. I have declutterred all I am going to other than the usual keep a basket handy to discard things as I come across them in daily life. What I have in closets is organized, well labeled and should we move I will make big decisions then - but for now I am just going to live.  I have a good cleaning schedule that works for me. Those are very personal I think, but I have leaned into my strengths and weaknesses. I clean 2 rooms a day. A major room and a minor room. A major room is the family room, one we really use and live in. A minor room is one not as visited like a secondary bedroom. I try to hit the surfaces with a duster, vacuum thoroughly, and rotate some deeper cleaning things when it is the day for that room. What I have found is that by being diligent and sticking to the plan I don’t have nearly as much of that heavy cleaning to do -aka spring cleaning. I still have projects, but home ownership means you always have those things.

The Bible Recap. I would have to say this was amazing for me. I linked it for reference. It was just perfect for me this year, so much so that I am doing it again for ‘25. It is a chronological reading of the Bible in a year; then you listen to a recap. Easiest way to read the Bible in a year ever! It is not a theological podcast, but just simply a recap and sometimes  if there are differing theological viewpoints those will be noted with links to study the viewpoints. What drew me to it last December was the fact that I was sick of reading study books from people. I just wanted God’s Word. You can buy a book and read but I preferred the podcast for the recap. I got up each morning his year and after wetting my eyes and  taking my thyroid meds headed outside to the porch or sat at the kitchen table and read my assigned Scripture. Then while getting dressed for the day, I listened to the recap. Jeff usually heard it while I was doing all this so when the narrator, Tara Leigh Cobble spoke of people joining in with the New Testament he did just that. He gets up much earlier than me so by the time I hit play I never had to worry about him not being ready. He is jumping in for the whole Bible with me on the 1st. I would say it was a huge hit for me in ‘24.

The hard stuff of ‘24 does not make me unusual. We all have hard stuff at times in life. It is how I react which some days I do pretty good and some days not so much. I think that makes me human and normal.

Watching Jeff with Parkinson’s is not easy and will not be easy going forward. One thing I have learned is I am not able to research outcomes. That goes against every bit of my usual self. I love researching and being abreast of all things. In this situation, I have found it sends me down a dark hole. I am going to have to just go forward without the facts laid out for me. I will have to take it as it comes. There are good days and months and there are days not so fun to watch… worse for him I am sure. We have a good doctor, a strong faith, good friends and we will put one foot forward at a time.

Watching Mama age is hard too. She is slowly deteriorating. She has good days and bad days. Sometimes I think she will live to be a 100 and other days when she is short of breath I am not so sure. Again, there are blessings, she has her mind or at least a good one for almost 90. 

Things I am planning to improve upon in '25. A plan for strength training, I have left that off too much this year and it is too important. I am setting a time each day and a more planned time hoping that I can manage it without a gym visit. However if the gym is needed I will squeeze it in. When I went to the gym pre grandchildren I was knocking it out. Going and using the machines makes it easy, but I so hate going. However, I am making it a top priority, so that all options are on the table.

I have many things to share from just the couple of days since Christmas that I did in the house so I will be back in '25.

I am going to take a little break for a few days, and then reconnect with all of you -my blogging friends who have held me up in prayer this year. I felt those prayers. 

I believe every day is a gift so I am resting these last few days of ‘25 in Auburn and heading back with a recharged battery for ‘25. 

Happy New Year Everyone,

Sandy