Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Still Here, Pluggin' Along

We continue to do our sorting, cleaning and organizing.  If we're working in an unheated storage area, we dress warmly and keep moving.  (No problem with the moving part.  Shuffling items from where they have been stored to another more logical area has been a big part of our attempted reorganization so loading up the garden cart, pushing it to the new location and then unloading it [up or down stairs more often than not, it seems] keeps us puffing.)

The weather has been cooperating in that we haven't had snow to plow through.  I think that very fact has urged us on because it's remarkable how much more effort it takes to push a wheeled cart (or even walk!) through snow.

Papa Pea wants to be done with everything by the first of January.  I would be pickled tink if we could reach that goal, but as you all know, life seems to interfere when a whole day has been plotted out to a specific job.

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We've never done much decorating for the holidays outside other than a wreath on the side of the house and a couple on doors.  Having always lived in the woods or down a long driveway, we're used that as an excuse to not go through the trouble (and frozen digits) of hanging lights and such outside.  And then having to take them down . . . in even colder weather.  Ugh.

Perhaps because we've had mostly gray, overcast days since putting the inside decorations up right after Thanksgiving this year, we've enjoyed the lights and color inside more than usual, it seems.

I have a small collection of lighted ceramic Christmas trees that were popular many years ago.  One of those on a table or shelf here and there adds a bright charm with their colorful lights.  I think I mentioned earlier we purchased some of the newer LED strings of lights for our Christmas tree on sale last year after the first of the year.  Wow, they are indeed brighter and we've even been keeping the tree lights on during most days.


A good friend gave us this colorful wreath made with huge jingle bells, the largest ones I've ever seen.  Each bell is nearly the size of a tennis ball and, yes, they do jingle.  We hung it on the mirror over the couch in the living room and I've told hubby I'm really going to miss the burst of color it adds to the room when I take it down at the end of the holiday season.

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I've been working on my new "after Christmas/up 'til spring" quilted shower curtain for the bathroom.  Next comes the outer border, then sandwiching and quilting.  I've kinda lost interest in this project because it's not looking very colorful to me.  I made it in lots of shades of blue and beige . . . and am now questioning the wisdom of my choice.  But I keep telling myself it will look fine when finished and hung in the knotty pine and yellow bathroom.  I keep telling myself.

I'm hoping to head for the quilt room yet this afternoon.  But first I have to strip the bed and get the sheets into the washing machine.  And sort out my over-stuffed refrigerator and figure out what to have for dinner tonight.  And clear my desk and pay a couple of bills I meant to have ready to go to the P.O. this morning, but didn't.  And do breakfast and lunch dishes.  When you think about it, all these things I "have" to do are caused by the bounty in my life.  I am so thankful I have an automatic washer and dryer in my own home.  My refrigerator is full of wonderfully nutritious food we are so fortunate to have access to.  I have enough money in the checking account to pay those bills on my desk.  There's a copious quantity of running water from our own good well which is heated in our adequate water heater and I have a good audio tape to listen to while I wash the dishes . . . all the above things for which I am grateful and of which I am so very appreciative.

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The End

P.S.  I want to give credit, again, to the lovely photograph by my daughter which is my new blog header.  This picture has been used as the front of Christmas cards.  So simple and yet so striking.

26 comments:

Tombstone Livestock said...

Sounds like you are busy as usual ..... enjoy the holidays.

Mama Pea said...

Same to you, dear lady! Hope Santa brings you some more rain.

DFW said...

Sounds like you have the right ambitions for the holidays. Love that jingle bell wreath. You are so right to be thankful for all the right things. Merry Christmas!

Carolyn said...

Winter is for relaxing, right? Ha!!
Love the picture.....I think I even spy a reflection of your offspring in the ornament :)

Mama Pea said...

DFW - Sending Happy Holiday wishes to you, too! (I hope our ambitiousness holds out so we can finish this BIG project!)

Mama Pea said...

Carolyn - I think that's why hubby is pushing toward this done-by-the-first-of-the-year date . . . so we CAN take some relaxing time this winter!

Okay, you're making me crazy . . . "I think I even spy a reflection of your offspring in the ornament." Huh??

Sparkless said...

Your new header is beautiful, great job. Sounds like you are making headway and I'm sure you and Papa Pea will just find something else to keep you busy once you get finished with the organizing.

RockWhisperer said...

I think you will love that pieced shower curtain when it's finished and up. If you still think you need some color, hang something that will make a splash on the walls. Or thread some braided cord in an accent color through the loops of the shower curtain, so it'll make a "scalloped border" across the top.

I always enjoy visiting your blog.

Lisa said...

Love that jingle bell wreath too! I've thought the same with the house looking so festive during the holidays with twinkly lights, garlands, and decorations.... than after the holidays are over and winter sets in..... the house looks so un-festive and un-warm? I'm ready to get the Christmas stuff down by Jan. 1, but miss the colors and lights.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

I've been meaning to tell you that I love that header photo. Beautiful. I have a ceramic Christmas tree my Grandmother painted (they used to sell ceramics out of their home). It's in my bathroom of all places, waiting for Hubby to look at the light bulb. Over the years of storage at my Mother's, the inside is cracked and the bulb does not stand straight. I'm not even sure I can locate them (it's skinny and tall). It's a pretty good size tree. It would be nice to get it fixed so we can light it up this season. Then I have to figure out where to store it after that.

Mark said...

Your tales of cleaning and organizing are starting to get me thinking about taking on an area I've been avoiding for a little while. (15 years counts as "a little while" at least on a geologic scale. Why, it's barely a blip!) We have an under-the-stairs, semi-open to the laundry room storage area that is starting to spill out and over, and the 'overage' is starting to become a trip hazard. I will notify authorities when I go in, so if I'm not out in a reasonable time they can organize a search-and-rescue party.

We too enjoy our seasonal decorations, and even more so when the NE Indiana weather gives us a looong string of 'gray days' with early, dark evenings.

I am enjoying your blog header photo. It makes me smile whenever I see it come up.

Susan said...

I do hope that you get some down time this winter. I know it's hard to come by, but do we ever need it! I love that jingle bell wreath, it's so cheerful. I am hoping to do a lot of organizing and reading this winter. I have quite a stack of books lurking in my peripheral vision...

Mama Pea said...

Sparkless - We're really hoping that the something else to keep us busy the bulk of this winter is down time. On a place like ours, there's ALWAYS something that NEEDS to be done, but we're determined to somehow, some way get more of a balance in our lives. (Wish us luck, please.)

Mama Pea said...

Ilene Jones - Well, ya know, I purposely chose the shades of blue for the shower curtain because once the Christmas decorations come down, I do tend to decorate with blue. Your idea of a draped cord of some kind (maybe something with snowflakes hanging from it?) is brilliant! Thank you.

And thanks for saying you enjoy my blog. That means a lot!

Mama Pea said...

Lisa - I know it may seem like a lot of trouble to some folks, but I do decorate the house differently for all the times, holidays and seasons of the year. Whenever I'm changing past decorations for the new ones, my husband comments that the house looks so forlorn and empty (it's just the decorations!) that it looks like we're moving. But still, even though I put up lots of snowflakey sparkle in January with blue-themed decorations, nothing can compete with the colors of Christmas/holiday decorations. I've always thought of putting up all white lights here and there in January, but so far haven't done that. That would probably be nice what with the short daylight hours we still have then.

Mama Pea said...

Kristina - I almost put one of our ceramic trees in the bathroom on the back of the toilet this year, too. Decided not to because I have a little lamp on there that really makes that darker corner look cozy in the winter and the tree wouldn't give as much light.

I have a specific cardboard box I pack each of the trees in along with a note on top as to where to place it. (Any assistance I can offer my mushy brain these days helps!)

Mama Pea said...

Mark - Notifying the authorities when you go in for so many of these "hazardous" jobs on the ol' homestead is the only wise thing to do. I often tell my husband, "If I'm not up from the basement (or wherever) in 45 minutes, call Search and Rescue." When he's cleaning out the chicken house and might be overcome by the fumes (!), I tell him to take a whistle and blow it if he goes down and I'll come pull him out by the ankles. ;o]

Thank you for the compliment on our daughter's photo. I love it, too.

Mama Pea said...

Susan - Manomanoman! Every fall we say THIS will be the winter we take some down time to relax, refresh and rehabilitate. And, darn and drat, one of these years we're actually gonna do it. This year? Geesh, I sure hope so! Isn't it funny (not so haha funny :o( ) though how something unexpected always crops up that simply has to be taken care of? Geesh. I've not given up hope. We're still shooting for our first of the year cut off date . . .

odiie said...

Did you see the sun this morning? It's actually still out there.
I think lights are my favorite Christmas decoration. Some small friends talked me into putting lights up along the stairway banister yesterday and they did indeed brighten a dard and cloudy day.
Tomorrow I plan on trudging out into the woods to find a tree.
All of your organizing and cleaning is making me feel slightly cluttered and guilty. Maybe after Christmas I can start upstairs and work my way to the basement. Keep the encouragment coming.
Merry Christmas, my friend.

Sandy Livesay said...

Mama Pea,

Love your new header picture. Your daughter took a beautiful picture.

It's nice not having the snow to truck through when attempting to do things around the outside of the house. It is very cold though so bundling up is a good thing.

We weren't going to put up a large tree or decorations this year. I did get my little fresh potted tree.....it looks like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree :-)

Mama Pea said...

odiie - Yes, we actually saw the sun peak in and out a couple of times yesterday morning. Today it was wonderful! It's amazing how much warmer it feels outside (same temp as yesterday) and how much better one feels when that old sun is shining!

Not much of the organizing and cleaning happened today. Hubby worked all day yesterday installing a new (used one we've had) vented gas furnace in the basement so the place won't freeze into an ice cube if no one is home to feed the wood stoves. So today we had to catch up on all the necessities like filling empty wood boxes, going to Recycling, desk work for him, wrapping presents for me (boy, I'm glad I got 99% of that done!). Hoping to get back at the move ahead tomorrow.

Mama Pea said...

Sandy - I'm betting your little Charlie Brown Christmas tree is just adorable! It's okay to scale back when you feel like it. Thanks for the kind words about daughter's purdy picture!

Linda said...

Your header is beautiful. I love to sort, clean and organize, but I know not everyone days. Stay warm. :) Greetings from Montreal, Canada.

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Linda! Sometimes I have a hard time starting the sorting, cleaning and organizing, but once I'm into it, I get a lot of satisfaction from it. I'm a person who needs to see a product for her work and that's easy when taking on real, disorganized messes!

Anonymous said...

I'm not a big decorator for Christmas either. I put up a tree, and my lighted house and church, maybe a few odds and ends around the house, but almost never do outside. Maybe it is the bad memories of helping my mother hang lights, ALWAYS on the coldest day of the year lol.
The sorting and organizing is a daunting task, but you will be so happy when it's done!

http://caffeinatedhomestead.weebly.com/blog

Mama Pea said...

Stephanie - My folks never did any outside decorating (nor did my hubby's family) so I guess when we first married we never even thought of it. Plus, we've always lived where winter time is COLD so what an onerous task it would be!