Pressing On

I absolutely love Spring! It's my favorite for so many reasons. It screams, fresh start, new beginnings and rebirth. Especially since living on the East Coast with the long winters. There is just a huge welcome to the bulbs poking through the soil, the new buds developing on the tree branches, birds chirping and being able to open the windows to let in the fresh air.  It actually does motivate me to do some serious spring cleaning. The dig into the dirty corners of the house kind of cleaning. Hit the baseboards that collected soot, dust and dog hair over the winter. That usually leads me to other areas that have been neglected. The pantry which hoards all kinds of stuff that I will never eat and doesn't belong there in the first place.  Or my clothes closet and dresser drawers that have become over stuffed with gloves and scarfs. It's amazing how fast I can accumulate stuff. We have lived here nearly two years and we are busting out of the seams of every storage space we ha

A few weeks ago I was having a rough day. The rug had been pulled out from under me and I was devastated. In the blink of an eye my circumstances changed and I felt out of control. I was walking around wanting to fix things, even blaming myself "I should have done this or that better or said that, if only......" There was nothing I could have done or could now do to fix it. My head was spinning and my heart was hurting.  The weather had been nice out so Jim had the sliding door to the screened in porch open for Annie, our semisweet chocolate lab. Although, he had been mad at her for tearing through the screen again. She wants those squirrels on the other side in the worst way. So, I was surprised that she was out there unsupervised. I asked him if he was trusting her? He laughed and said " oh, I guess I forgot she is out there by herself." She wasn't on the porch.  When I went to the backyard to call for her, she didn't come and I couldn't see her. Jim i

If you have been following along, this may or may not surprise you - We are getting our house ready to put on the market. Yes, we are moving. Different circumstances and not what we would have chosen but here we go again, moving. I've got this! I know the drill. However, our realtor wanted to send in a professional photographer. He couldn't get out here until later in the week but would call if he had a cancellation.  I was heading out for the day to do some errands and have a much needed coffee date with a girlfriend. I mentioned to my husband that in the event we get a call from the photographer would he please make sure to "stage" the house? We need it to look picture perfect.  I would assume the photographer would do that but hey, he's a guy, so who knows? He will most likely not notice if the toilet seat is up. So, I went through a list of possible things that would maybe not look so picture perfect. "Be sure the toilet seats are down, the dog toys are p