I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I am resting on the couch with the play-offs in the background. Today, I

• cleaned out and rearranged three closets
• decided whether to keep, toss, or donate  four huge bags of stuff
• totally redid my bedroom setup ( my nightsant, books, and writing supplies)
• reorganized my books
• have three boxes of books to donate to the library book drive

Tomorrow, after church, I am throwing some wash in the washer, and making gingerbread pumpkin pancakes. And reading your blogs.

Next week- decluttering the attic!

 

It is the new year, and I am decluttering in a big way. I have a long way to go to streamline my home the way I think it should be. I find as the years go on, I am becoming more of a minimalist.
It started with my daughter moving out of state for college, which left us empyt nesters. We miss her, but we also enjoy it.
Moving things around, I realized that I have many things I no longer use that are taking up closet and drawer, attic and basement space. Enter the decluttering.  I read the Practical Hosewife blog and also Living a Beautiful Life by Cat, and she is big about h aving to-do lists of three things only- if you  do more, it's icing on the cake.
My goal is to declutter for 1 hour each day.That means sorting things in the above three categories.
What have you been trying to do with the new year?

Long time, no blog...

Nothing says holidays like the dust on this old candelabra !
Forgive me, I took this picture earlier, before the big dustoff. I wanted to share my beautiful amaryllis "Red Lion". This really means the holidays to me, along with sharing time with family and friends.
As the holidays are ending, I have a lot of time to treasure great gifts like this:

This is absolutely one of my favorite gifts- this series of 12 teas ( 4 bags each)  is wonderful, and it encourages you to sit down and take a break. I am using a Royal Albert "True Love" tea cup. The teas in this set are outstanding.

As the holidays end, and I head back to work, I would like to wish my blogger friends a happy, grace-filled year!

P.S. Along with dusting, I am trying to write more- and that includes more posts!

It's been a while since my last post. I am going to try to be more consistent in posting.

My husband took an early retirement (he will get his full retirement when he is old enough) from the place everyone in this town calls the Chocolate Factory. He is a now dedicated house husband, a wonderful chef, and through his thrifty, smart shopping, just my income is doing us fine.

Gerrity, my son, who has Asperger's Syndrome, is going to graduate this week fron high school.

I still work as a psychologist in the schools, but am with a much better program.

Autumn

I think that one of the best times of year for me is the autumn.
The sky is bright blue and, though there is the feeling of summer ending, somehow it is more glorious than sad. There is bright sun and mums and autumn flowers. Some of the summer ones are going In A Big Way.
It is a wonderful, lazy day. The bees are buzzing outside in my garden, and inside, there is a slow cooker supper brewing that is making me hungry- roast beef to be shredded and eaten with whole-grain rolls and cheddar. Applesauce cake is for dessert. Mr. H. is at his brothers watching football, soon to return home for supper, and I am relaxing on the porch with a sweater and the laptop, enjoying fall.

growing up

Snow Day

Wonder of wonders, a snow day! I rose early with my husband who actually works "in business" as they used to say. People who work in business are not afforded two-hour delays or snow days.

I still feel the same way I did as a child when given a snow day. I do some minimal house stuff, then spend the day as I would want to. If my daughter's school also has a snow day, it's even better. Today, Gwen's school was off, also, and she slept in. ( I have been known to do this, but not today). Today was cooking day.

Since I usually don't cook every day, it was fun to make sweet scones, with a wonderful butter crust, and also chicken and dumplings. The house smelled so good, and the food screamed comfort.

I am having a fresh-brewed cup of Earl Grey right now. I am looking forward to a good home-cooked dinner, with scones, lemon curd, and clotted cream for dessert.