Handmade Swag

  I think my sway turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  What's even more exciting is the fact that I just moved this picture from my facebook page.  Wow!  Anyway, back to the swag.  During that week my hubby was hunting at the cabin and I was here decorating, I put a wreath on the front door that my dil made for me years ago.  I remember being in awe of it and thinking how did she do that.  I had never done wreaths or anything else like that before.  I got to thinking about making something for the sitting room door and asked my hubby to bring back some pine branches during one of his walks.  I was willing to work with whatever he gave me, knowing he'd come through for me.  He brought back 2 different kinds of pine branches, some with small pinecones on them, plus some club moss.  He said people used to cover wreaths with the club moss for decorations.  Anyway, I started with the swag.  I knew what I wanted to do based on something I saw and it seemed so simple.  I grabbed the branches and wired them together end to end, tied a bow in the center, added pinecones to the ribbon and then as an after-thought, glued some holly around the bow.  We were both kind of impressed by it and the great thing is I don't have to store it until next year!  Then on to the club moss, which, out of respect for my hubby, I needed to do something with that.  I had an old grapevine wreath that was never used so I began the process of covering that with the club moss.  It started looking pretty nice  -  very light and airy.  I finished it off also with some holly for color and put that in a basket by the front door.  I might decide later to put it up on the wall, somewhere, but I haven't decided yet.  This will be the extent of my Christmas decorations this year, even though I have so many more that could go up.  I'm totally enjoying what I have now!

Long time no paint

Well, I finally got back up on the saddle, so to speak. It's been 6 years since my last paint project - in fact, almost to the day. I remember it vividly as I prepped the bedroom to paint, positioned the step stool in the closet, missed the bottom wrung, fell backwards then forward, coming down on my knee and spending the rest of the day in the emergency room. That was also the day I was scheduled to pick up my daughter from the airport on her return trip from Arizona. It was also the day before the kids started back to college and the beginning of a new school year for me in the dorm. All the plans my daughters and I had, having lunch together in the food court went up in smoke. This was really a life changing event for me as I would realize months later as I tried to regain full use of my leg. I also started exercising to minimize discomfort in my leg and developed friendships during the process. I truly believe that when one door closes another opens. Anyway, the door to the bathroom opened and found me in there painting on that same step stool. It was a job for me but I survived and feel good that I've gotten past that experience. As far as my next painting project - I think I'll leave that one for the professionals.

Procrastination

I accomplished something really great yesterday. I finally put up the rest of my apple decorations in my kitchen - talk about procrastination! I had some of this stuff up before I had my kitchen redone but during construction, I had it tucked away in the bedroom. I even accumulated more since that time but never got around to putting it all up. I've looked at it several times over the years and thought it was too big of a job to start now. I guess my attitude of no more excuses has finally sunk in cause yesterday there wasn't a hesitation whatsoever - pulled that stuff out and got to it. Getting that monkey off my back felt wonderful! Knowing that we might not be here more than a couple years influenced me - get a chance to look at it a little before it's sold. I was able to hone up on my tool skills by using the drill and I have to admit, it looks pretty good. Of course, I employed my husband and his skills and advise - he's always encouraging. Man, I'm ready for my next project.