Wordless Wednesday

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What Kind of Home Should You Live In?

You Should Live in a Mediterranean Home

You are warm, friendly, and welcoming... and your home should be these things as well. You like to work hard, but you also appreciate your down time more than most people. You know how to kick back and relax. Other people find you a joy to be around. You may not be able to be on vacation every day, but you like to bring a little vacation home with you.

What Kind of Home Should You Live In?

Takin' It Easy

Standin' on the Corner in Winslow, Arizona

I could be standin' on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, like a line in one of my favorite Eagles' songs, but I'm not. This time I'm paying more attention to the song title: "Take It Easy".

I haven't been around much, and there's a reason for that. November 20 when Denis got home from work, I asked him to take me to the emergency room. That alone had to scare the puddin' out of him because he knows that if I had a Loathe List, doctors and hospitals would be right at the top.  Well, the upshot of this whole business is that I've got some female parts that are seriously out of whack. That's about all I'm going to say on the matter because it's not just men who hear the phrase "female problems" and start to cringe and mutter, "TMI! TMI!"  I do, too!

I've already had the joy of several tests, and I'll be undergoing some exploratory surgery on December 23. (Ho, ho, ho!) In the meantime, I've been silently going nuts. I have no energy and no strength, so there's not been any holiday decorations going up in this house. My Wordless Wednesday posts for the month of December will help me think of what this house looks like when it's all gussied up for Christmas. There's not much housecleaning going on, and not much cooking.

What brings tears to my eyes is knowing how blessed I am. Denis has been working full-time, buying groceries, doing laundry-- he even cooked Thanksgiving dinner. Words simply cannot express how I feel about this man of mine.

I've been lying across the bed in the sun reading and napping. So far I've managed not to crack myself in the head with a book when I've fallen asleep. And I've been needlepointing stars for Christmas trees, using a lot of yarn that I've had for a decade or two. Most of them have been done in batches of five, but I'll show you a sample of several of them:

The lighting fought me tooth and nail, so you're not seeing true colors in some cases. Working on these has helped to keep my mind off things it doesn't do a bit of good to worry about, and I've always enjoyed working with color and texture. I can stitch away and watch HGTV holiday programming and streaming movies from Netflix.

My desk is a tip. (In fact, taking this picture shamed me into cleaning a portion of it this morning--but not all of it, Heather!) I've been doing the minimum daily requirements here before wandering off to choose my next book to read. I haven't been reading blogs, although I occasionally check Twitter and Facebook to try to keep in the loop a bit. It's just not comfortable sitting here for any length of time.

When your body betrays you, it seems as though your mind and everything else draws in to protect you, and it's amazing how many computer-related things I always enjoyed doing daily have just flown out the window.

The last thing I'll share with you in this "checking in" post is a bit of Twilight Zone magic. I fell in love with one of the color combinations of stars I've been making, and I've decided to make quite a few for one of my own trees. I wanted to do something to make these ornaments even more special, and an idea came to mind almost immediately.

My grandmother collected antique china head dolls. In many cases, she either had to repair the cloth bodies or make brand-new ones, and she also made a lot of period clothing for them. She would go to estate sales and auctions out on farms in the area, always on the look-out for box lots of sewing notions-- especially small scale notions that would look just right on the doll clothes she made.

I inherited-- and kept-- quite a few of those old sewing notions, and I remembered spools of braid that probably date from the 1940s. I got my grandmother's pinking shears and a ruler ready, and set out the spool of black braid. It was a bit messy, so I removed the straight pin to unkink the outer layers of braid.

I needed five pieces of braid that were eight inches long. Six eight-inch-long pieces of braid fell on the desk.

Call me delusional, but I felt the presence of my grandmother in the room then! (I won't say a word about Rod Serling's voice....)

I don't know when I'll be back to blogging "full time", but I'm going to have to do something soon-- the books that need to be reviewed are piling higher and higher on the desk. I don't want them to topple and give me a concussion on top of everything else! Perhaps you'll be seeing a couple of Weekend Book Review Marathons soon.

Thank you for all the good thoughts, wishes and prayers you've been leaving in comments. They mean a very great deal to me.

Happy Holidays!

Scene of the Blog Featuring Amy of Amy Reads!

I was very happy when Amy of Amy Reads agreed to share her blogging space with us here. I enjoy following her tweets on Twitter, and I also enjoy reading her blog.

Once you've read her post, you'll see why she's one of the most mobile bloggers that have been featured on Scene of the Blog.

If you've never visited Amy Reads, I certainly hope you take this opportunity to do so. Please say hi to Amy while you're there!

Now... before I turn you loose on the scene of Amy's blog, don't forget: you can click on each photo to view it full size. Ready for your close-up, Amy?

I'm going to be honest - I do an embarrassing amount of my reading and blogging in bed :) Usually with one or two cats (today only Wembley decided to join me). I often have my laptop on the nightstand to my right, when it's not on my lap while I go through blogs. You can just see a stack of books peeking out on it at the moment - those are the books that I have yet to review. The books on my left on the bed are new mail that need to be added to LibraryThing. I just love my bed for curling up with cats and books!

Yes, I know. Don't tell work, but I don't actually have a real desk in my house. I often work from the kitchen table, but this is my favorite place to work from. I'm either sitting on the couch with a cat on my lap, or sitting on the floor under the small table (as shown in the picture - oh, and that is Wembley snuggling with me! Bonus points if you know where the name is from). I sometimes set up here as I do find it easier for writing reviews. The pile of books is, of course, the pile that needs to be reviewed. As soon as the roommate comes home and turns on the TV, though, it's back to hide in the kitchen or in bed for me - I find the noise of the TV distracting for reading and for reviewing! (I know, I know, anti-social much, right??)

If you don't follow me at Amy Reads, you may not realize this, but I travel at least 50% of the time for work. When I'm in hotels, it is kind of a weird change having an actual desk to work from. I have my stack of books to be reviewed on the left, and my Kindle to my right, as well as pen and paper (always a requirement when reading). 

And of course I read and blog in bed while in hotels too! It isn't as comfortable though, and no cats to cuddle with while reading. A large part of my reading is done here though. I had meant to take a picture of the airport waiting lounge, or on an airplane, but I completely forgot :( You can imagine that picture though, and just know that I do a lot of reading there as well when away from home!

I've shown off my young adult, fiction, and tbr shelves on my blog in the past, so here is what I haven't shown! These two shelves hold my non-fiction books. They are organized by subject, kind of :) Along the top of the shelf are my review books, arranged by date (for arc copies) and then the rest by fiction and non-fiction! As you can see, I still have quite a few to read from Book Expo America. Phew.

I think Amy's just proven that one can blog anywhere: from the comfort of one's home and purring companions to the relative sterility of hotel rooms.

At one point, I was doing a lot of traveling and training for the company for which I worked. I loved traveling and seeing parts of the USA I'd never seen before, but those hotel rooms can be pretty grim. I learned a few tricks to turn those places into something more resembling home-- especially if I were going to be there 2-4 weeks. Too bad this was long before the blogging era. I can almost salivate thinking of the posts and photos I could've done!

I also wouldn't say that Amy is too anti-social when she takes her laptop and books to quiet places when her roommate turns on the television. My husband reads quite a bit, either audio books or books on his Nook, but he likes watching television in the evening. It took me quite a while to get used to this because, left to my own devices, the television was seldom on. I'm not going to desert him, so I've taken to doing a lot of needlepoint while we're watching television. (I think I do it to prevent myself from taking extended naps!)

Thanks so much for letting us take this glimpse into your creative spaces, Amy-- we certainly appreciate it!

Who will be featured next Wednesday on Scene of the Blog? Stop by... satisfy your curiosity!

Wordless Wednesday

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The Sailboat Test

You Are Having an Awesome Day

You feel grounded and stable in your life. There is not a lot of change going on. You are a flexible person. You tend to take life as it comes. You are prioritizing love right now. Whether you've just fallen for someone or are renewing a spark, you are all about the romance. Deep down you crave freedom. You feel at peace when you are able to do what you want.

The Sailboat Test

Head 'em Up! Move 'em Out! I'm on Spotlight on Bookstores!

If you've never sampled Dawn's Spotlight on Bookstores feature on her blog, She Is Too Fond of Books, you've missed out on a treat-- and I'm not just saying that because I'm featured there this week.

Head on over to read all about my visit to a bookstore that just happens to be on a working cattle ranch. And of course, photos were taken.

Thanks so much, Dawn, for letting me rave about the Singing Wind Bookshop!

Scene of the Blog Featuring Heather of Age 30+... A Lifetime of Books!

I first ran across Heather's blog, Age 30+... A Lifetime of Books during Book Blogger Appreciation Week a couple of years ago. Since then, it's become standard reading. If you're not familiar with it, Book Blogger Appreciation Week is a marvelous opportunity to meet other bloggers who are passionate about books-- all sorts of books.

When I first visited Heather's blog, I liked her voice, I liked her content, and I thought it was the perfect blend of books and family. If you haven't visited Age 30+... A Lifetime of Books, I certainly hope you take the time to do so. Please don't forget to say hi to Heather while you're there checking out her excellent blog!

Before she takes us to the scene of her creativity, don't forget that you can click on each photo to view it full size. Welcome to Kittling: Books, Heather!

When I got an email inviting me to share my Scene of the Blog, I was so excited! I love getting glimpses into other people’s lives and this feature does exactly that.  Unfortunately, here’s what my life has been like lately:

Because of that I kept putting off writing this post.  Eventually I found myself browsing through previous Scene of the Blog entries, and I noticed a common theme.  The portion of the blogger’s home that is visible in the photo is really NEAT AND CLEAN.  Uh oh.

This is my Scene of the Blog:

Did you notice that in my photo you can’t see much more than my couch?  That’s because my house is NOT neat and clean.  You can catch a glimpse of (clean) laundry hanging on a chair in the background but I conveniently zoomed in when taking the photo so you wouldn’t see the stacks of mail and empty glasses on the end table or the shoes and tote bags on the floor in front of the couch.  I really wanted to get that area straightened up before taking this picture but I finally gave up – it’s just not going to happen anytime soon.

I tend to read blogs on my phone now that I have that option (I just got a Droid a few months ago – LOVE IT!), and that can be done anytime, anywhere, but writing posts is almost always done from the couch. Our house is small and this couch is the center of our living room.  If I really need peace and quiet I can retreat to my bedroom, but usually I blog in the midst of whatever is going on at home, and with the TV on in the background (someone else is generally watching it).

Housework is the thing I hate to do most in this world, and it is the thing that I allow to go unfinished so I can spend time on my blog and also reading other blogs.  Starting around 9pm each night you can usually find me leaning against the arm of that old blue couch with a pillow behind my back, my legs stretched out, and the computer on my lap.  [You’ll notice that my computer is plugged in – that’s because my laptop battery is completely dead and the computer won’t run without being connected to the wall.]  I could be cleaning the house each evening but I’d rather be blogging instead.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into my blogging life.  Not all of us are talented (organized? dedicated? motivated?) enough to blog and keep a neat house – I so envy those of you who can do it!

I know for a fact that bloggers have turned down appearing on Scene of the Blog because they don't think their homes will stand up to inspection. That's their prerogative. For some reason (which probably dates back to the Puritans or some other stuffy, I'll-be-the-judge-of-you outfit) all too many of us feel that we're judged on our housekeeping. I swear my grandmother used to catch dust before it had a chance to land on the furniture, but a lot of the time dust is a protective layer in my house. When I go to someone else's house, I'm happy as long as they've cleared off a spot for me to sit down and I don't find cat hair in the sugar bowl (don't ask).

Being with the people I love and doing the things that I love are more important to me than chasing dirt. Would I fail my grandmother's housekeeping test? Yes. Do I care? No!  And I really appreciate Heather bringing up this topic.

How many of you feel as though you're judged on your housekeeping? How many of you actually enjoy keeping your house neat and clean? (And would you bottle some of that up and send it to Heather and me? Please?)

Thanks so much, Heather, for giving us this glimpse into your home. We really do appreciate it-- and your honesty!

Who's next on Scene of the Blog? Stop by next Wednesday to satisfy your curiosity!