Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Dear Friends,

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, (and at this point I'm sure a lot of people have given up on me because of lack of any posts here) you know that my word for 2014 has been

DECIDE

I mentioned in January that this would be a year of decisions.

We (David and I) decided, at the beginning of the year, to sell our house in Pittsburgh and relocate to Delaware...somewhere near the ocean. We know no one in Delaware but it is a place we have vacationed for years (Rehoboth Beach) and it is actually closer to our kids who are in Maryland, New Jersey and Long Island, NY. 

In order to make this move possible, we had to go through and clean out the accumulation of 24 years of "stuff", give away or sell a ton of it and then, when that was done, put the house on the market. It was a bigger job than we ever realized and we did 6 months of work in about 8 weeks. We had a huge Moving Sale on Memorial Day weekend, which has always been a good weekend for me to have a garage/yard/moving sale. We were crazy busy for 6 hours and did very well, selling about 80% of what we offered. The remaining things were either donated or given away. Every closet and drawer, the basement, garage...every corner was gone through to weed out and pare down. We worked hard for long hours at a time to get it done. A word of advice for you though...if you are contemplating a move, allow yourself a year to do what we did in 8 weeks. It will be easier on your nerves and your aching muscles.

Here are some before the Moving Sale photos.

Every room, every closet, every drawer, every cupboard...

 Don't be afraid...you will see that it  looks worlds different now!

The basement....

Ready for the sale...

An original acrylic painting of Amish quilters by my sister and a lap quilt that looks similar. 

Neither of these sold.

All of the small, quilted pieces sold but not the wall hang/lap quilts.

Handmade Amish rocker

Some, but not all of the bears found new homes.

All of the Bennington Pottery went to one person. I am so

 happy that it will be used and loved by a newly married couple.

Very extensive Santa collection..many were handmade.

This was the first chance I got to take a picture from the deck...this was about an hour before the sale ended. We moved a lot of things. (The garage was filled, too, I just didn't get a picture after the sale.

Today, this morning in fact, our house was officially listed for sale. We have loved our house and our neighborhood, but it's time for a new family to live here. We hope, whoever they might be, they'll be as happy as we are.

NOTE: I started this post on Tuesday, June 24. The house was, indeed, listed that afternoon and the first couple who came through the house bought it that very night. We are still in shock!
David had to travel to Chicago this weekend and our youngest son and his wife are here to pick up some things. We will leave as soon as we can to go to Delaware and buy a house. The closing on this house is August 25! Yikes!
OK-enough for one post! Now you know why I haven't been visiting or blogging. Please keep us in your prayers...we need all the strength we can muster for this adventure.

XOXO
Joyce

He Saves

David and I scurried out to run some errands the other day and while I was in Target, I saw a display of Smith and Hawkins amaryllis pots on the clearance end cap. 

The sign said 70% off, but the pots were not marked with the original price. Several times during the season, I had looked at these pots because the colors of the pots themselves were beautiful! Candy apple red, cream or a robin's egg blue, all very attractive, but I didn't feel like taking a chance on the plant quality. 

By the time I saw them the other day, most had totally dead looking plants hanging out of the side of the packaging.. The thought suddenly occurred to me that the pot itself would make a perfect holder for my pancake turners and whisks. I have been looking for a replacement but didn't want to spend a lot of money. I picked a red pot with a plant hanging out of the covering and it only looked 1/2 dead. I really didn't care about the plant, it was the pot I wanted. When I went to the check-out, I asked the cashier to scan the price because I might be interested. $3.89 was the price. SOLD! was my reply!

When we got home, we unwrapped the packaging and I lifted the ailing bulb out of the pot, along with the growing medium that you had to soak in water for 15 minutes. I washed out the pot and David, the plant magician, soaked the growing medium, got another pot and planted the bulb. 

I only wish I had taken a picture of the pot when we brought it home with the limp plant hanging out of it. This is what the pot looked like...

(I recreated these pictures after the bulb was removed)

It's new assignment...

No, no, I don't have too many whisks. They are all different sizes and they all get used.

She's all shiny and happy in her spot between the toaster and the salt pig.

And the title of this post...he saves?

David never gives up on plants...this is what the plant did in less than 24 hours!

He has 2 green thumbs and a tender touch!

Now, once he snow plows the driveway, I think I'll hop back to Target for another pot for my wooden spoons and spatulas. $3.89! Who doesn't like a bargain?

xoxo

Joyce

Christmas at Home.....the Wrap Up

I marvel at the home decor bloggers.

By the weekend after Thanksgiving, their homes are completely decorated for the holidays and they have everything photographed and written about to post through early December.

They wrap their packages in unique and beautiful ways and often have 5 or 10 different kinds of cookies baked. Please don't hear this as whining, I truly do marvel at their level of organization and skill. We were pretty on top of things here at 9010 this year. With both of us working on it, we had all of the decorations up before the kids came on December 13. I don't know what happened after that except to say that we had a good many social commitments which we really enjoyed and there were Christmas movies, football and hockey games and concerts to watch on television or see live.

I guess what I am saying is this...we really had fun this year during the holidays!

Our Christmas decorations will not come down until after January 7th this year (which will actually be early for us!) We are having friends for lunch on the 7th and they have a little guy, so I wanted to have everything still intact when they come.

Last year, after Christmas, as I was packing things away, I pared down my decorations. I gave some of my Santas and Snowmen to friends in the interest of downsizing. I think I will do it again this year t keeping only those things that I can't bear to part with.

I usually decorate in the dining room with silver and white and I didn't even unpack that bin this year. I chose to stick to kind of a red and white scheme for all of the rooms....except the entryway.

On a small chest, I always display my lighted glitter house that I bought a bunch of years ago from Pottery barn after Christmas. The roof tarnishes more each year which adds to it's charm, I think.

The little boy and girl and Santa are new this year. Bethany Lowe figures I found at Marshalls.

Above the chest is a P. Buckley Moss poster that I've had for 30 years or longer.

A winter buggy ride in Amish country in Pennsylvania

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Also standing guard in the entryway is a vintage child's chair on which sits

Fern Woodsbeary, a Boyds Bear from my collection.See all of her woodland friends peeking out from pockets and sleeves?

On into the family room, you can see that the tree is decorated in a Swedish style...

Straw horses and stars, Santa and shiny apples, and of course the tomte. They are the Swedish elves who can be very mischievous. We don't have an elf on the shelf here but we do have one tomte who hides every day and you have to find him.

Charlie and Miles had a good time every morning hunting for the tomte! (You know I love Ikea!!)

The Santa collection was on the mantel and in the bookcases. No matter what I do, the lighting is never right for picture taking so bear with me here.

The Russian Santas

The Swedish display with Dalla horse and St. Lucia figure

The rest are either handmade or hand-painted or older ones in my collection

The checkerboard Santa is a gourd..

And of course, I am that crazy person who turns all of the books around to show only white pages (except for the Christmas books) during the holidays.

I wrote about why I do this in a post last year. you can see the before and after pictures HERE

There are really a lot fewer Santas and snowmen this year1

Of course, the most important part of our Christmas decor is the manger

with my dear, old Hummel figures...some glued together...all of them cherished.

The baby Jesus asleep in the hay of a barn made by my Father over 34 years ago.

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This year, I found this wonderful "chalkboard look" plaque at Marshalls and it worked perfectly, hung above the display.

A gift from my sweet friend, Mary Ellen...a Patience Brewster angel.

You have seen all of our decorated rooms. I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

All is calm....

xoxo

Joyce