Tag : day in the life

64 posts

I worked on a new journal page yesterday in the cold basement. UGH! The furnace struggles to keep the lower levels warm in these constantly below zero temps. Here’s a current weather screen shot.

Today is actually warmer than it has been the past few.  It took a bit of devotion to creativity to ignore the chill and create.

devoted art journal page

The word popped out at me from a dictionary page in my stash. I’m using my word of the year every day!  I am renewing myself.

devoted art journal page

I did a bit of journaling on the page with a few words and phrases that will continue to inspire me on my quest for renewal.

This maybe be the very last entry in my polka dot journal…it will be adhered to the inside back cover. I’ll have to see if there is possible room for one more page after this one is placed.

Speaking of devotion and renewal…I am happy to say I’ve been not only sticking with the goals I’ve set for myself but am enjoying it. Having a positive attitude about it and making strides in the right direction.I’m keeping on task with the help of my little notebook and therefore accomplishing more.

As well as trying to make every day look like this one…

This was my best day so far of the year but we are only 5 full days in and I’ve lost 4 lbs! Super excited! Let’s keep this momentum going!! My next goal is to hit all “greens” on the goals two days in a week. I figure if I set small goals I’ll have a better chance at success therefore not setting myself up for failure as I have so many times in the past.

Have a great day!

Trying something new for this edition of T stands for Tuesday. Mini-me helped make the first batch of lefse for the season. I took a series of photos and linked them as a slideshow. Fingers crossed that this works.

[KGVID]http://www.halleshobbies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/lefseday.mp4[/KGVID]

It’s been a busy, weird week that has included but not limited to:

~an overnight dog visit that went reasonably well with Marvin the dog hater cat

~two turkey dinners

~precipitation of all kinds and in all directions: rain, snow, sleet and hail

~one panicky ER visit which turned out very benign

~one partially dislocated jaw (unrelated to the above)

~all four of us on vacation for 5 overlapping days plus extras on both ends

~late night scratch made brownies

~4 teen boys Black Friday shopping (for themselves)

~one Christmas tree set up and was still standing in the morning (amazing!)

I’m absolutely positive there was more but that is all I am able to wrap my mind around at the moment.

Kids go back to school after a 6 day break…and a mountain of laundry awaits. Living the dream boys and girls. Actually, that is serious! Yes, we all love to complain about the pesky chores of life but I am so thankful for every day that I am able to be home caring for my family.

What are you doing today?

Neighborhood that is.  Over the weekend one of our neighbors hosted a chili cook off.  Eight years ago the same family hosted a similar get together but our numbers have drastically changed in that time period. The majority of the kids are either gone off to college or working now…although we have added to the adult total with new families.

chili

My white turkey chili was not the winner but I’m not at all sad. It was a fun day!

A couple days previous to the party I returned a scoring plate that I had borrowed form my crafty next door neighbor.  One of these days I actually finish the card I started using the board. Anyway…I never come away empty handed from her house. She has a vast network of folk that are always looking out for each other and trading this and that.

goodies

She had a huge bag of stamps for me to look through, bottle caps from a former co-worker that saves them for me and some tea her DIL didn’t want. Look at the awesome stamps! Can’t wait to play in an art journal with them. The Passion tea by Tazo is a favorite of mine. The Calm I’ll likely use for tea dyeing as I don’t care for chamomile but I do enjoy lemon!!

I’ve also been working on a couple…well, three, oh maybe four projects over the past couple of days. As soon as they come together I’ll be sure to share. To my T Tuesday gals…sorry I never made it around last week…Tuesday got away from me with numerous things including these….

busy-night

Mini-me’s first season of competitive volleyball is done with the exception of the end of season banquet. Choir concert season has just begun for J. The concert was wonderful.  Did I mention they will be traveling to Manhattan in the spring to sing at Carnegie Hall!?!  So excited for them.

Today’s schedule has yet to be determined for me. It’s kind of nice to have a fairly blank slate for a change.

What are you doing today?

I guess I should actually say an eventful week and a half, both good and bad. I’ll start my tale at the bad beginning…

Two Friday’s ago we awoke to a flooded basement. Completely soaked carpet and over half the basement wet. It could have been much worse…it was our water softener that caused the mess so relatively clean water. I didn’t mention my mess on the blog last Tuesday as we were celebrating the 3rd anniversary of T stands for Tuesday!

On Tuesday I mentioned that we’d be out and about like usual for our Tuesday. We were heading to my inlaws (where incidentally we were planning to go to flood Friday) when something hit my drivers side window and it exploded in on me. I was in the inner lane driving 50mph in traffic.  This is where my school bus driving days had me at an advantage with sheer experience on the road. I was able to pull over and figure out what I was going to do. I ended up driving back home after stopping at a hardware store to get something to at least clean the glass off me and my seat.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

I had some small cuts on my arm and embedded glass under my leg that I must have ground in as I drove. Adrenaline…never felt it until later although Mini-me did get out the first aid kit and cleaned up the blood a bit as I scooped glass from the van. Mini-me had a couple tiny pieces in her leg as well…small enough that we used duct tape to remove them. J was spared as he was in the passenger seat of the minivan. Again…things could have been much worse! I could have lost control and gotten into a wreck.

This is were my tale turns for the better… My neighbor decided last minute to have a garage sale so I was going through the house trying to dig up some things to sell.  We did ok but ended up spending most of our profits on a new hutch…well, new to us. Our neighbors just remodeled their kitchen. We took it home thinking we could use it for storage in our game area.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

Looked pretty good there…

T Tuesday eventful week edition

and Marvin also approved. Then overnight Mr. G had a bout of insomnia and realized that perhaps the hutch would be better served in our dining room. So we moved it again….back up the stairs it had come down….

T Tuesday eventful week edition

This way we are able to actually see the beautiful set of dishes from my paternal Grandma.

hulda

As I age I am looking more and more like her, at least in my opinion.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

I feel as if I’m at Downton Abbey when I open these doors. I think it’s the big soup tureen that gives me that feeling. Love, love, love these dishes! Notice all the tea cups… full set of 12. Anyone want to join me for tea? As a kid my mom had them out only on holidays or when we had “fancy” company. These are certainly not my everyday dishes but we do try to use them occasionally because otherwise…what’s the point?!

T Tuesday eventful week edition

We decided to take the door off the one side and just use open shelving.  It’s amazing how much more open it feels with that simple subtraction of the door. Marvin went back to his favorite spot next to the door…that way he can keep track of everyone’s comings and goings.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

He’s just so dang cute! I’m planning to put a little curtain across the wine rack area to keep them in the dark. I was thinking it might be fun to use a vintage table cloth  as my fabric. Perhaps I’ll make a matching mixer cover at the same time.

Our new hutch took the place of our old buffet. The buffet now resides in the game area.

T Tuesday eventful week edition

It really looks nice there and holds a ton of games. So after all the heavy lifting and switching things around we sat down and played a family game and got thoroughly trounced by Mini-me.

Thanks for sticking with me through my long post.  I have no idea what Tuesday has in store for me…other than I feel as if perhaps I should just stay home.

What are you doing today?

As I started thinking ahead towards the new year and all it has yet to bring,  I decided it was time for a bit of reflection before letting go of 2015. Briefly my thought was, “Not much happened this year” and then the memories started to filter through.

This year, collectively, our family has had the following…in no particular order:

knee surgery

small kitchen fire

resort vacation

night classes

new driver

honor choir audition

wacky injuries including a 911 call

volleyball camp

computer programing

pneumonia

new (to us) vehicles

job interviews

neighborhood campfires

published article

mother/daughter retreat

choir concerts

deans list

student council

phase 2 braces

and a new teenager(just yesterday)

Whew! That’s quite a list even without the minutia of everyday life and events I’ve likely forgotten or perhaps blocked out. :)

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So how did I do with my word of the year?

FOCUS | Halle's Hobbies

Not so great, honestly.  I can’t say I entirely failed on my word. I did focus on my family when issues arose throughout the year. I had the intention of focus on myself and what I needed and wanted out of life with this word. But really when I think about it, focus on my family is the reason I am still a stay-at-home mom the majority of the time. I was gifted with a wonderful life and family. One that appreciates the gift it is that I am home most days to take care of the little things. Perhaps my thoughts on my success with focus were a little flawed, My focus was just where it was meant to be last year.

Happy New Year! Be safe.

 

Welcome to another edition of T stands for Tuesday where we share a beverage and catch up a bit.

T stands for Tuesday

Summer is winding down. The back to school preparations have begun. Orientation, picture day, curriculum night.

But before that happened we got out of town for a few days. The weather was a scorcher the day we arrived…105°F heat index. All we could think of was jumping in the lake. It was delightful!!

resort 1

The evening ended with a beautiful sunset.

We woke the next morning to overcast skies and rough water.

resort 3

The kids did their best to try out the activities, I even did the stand up paddle board for a bit. The waves made it a bit more challenging.  Even a bad day by the lake is a better day than at the usual grind.

The following day was even more windy and rough water to start the day. I don’t even have photos of that. The lake looked and sounded more like the ocean with the crashing waves.

But then something wonderful happened. The wind calmed, giving way to another beautiful evening.

resort 2Hot dogs were roasted. Marshmallows were toasted. A lovely final evening for our mini vacation. The rest of the extended family were staying a few more days…we had to hurry home for the aforementioned school preparations.

The kids and I also made it to a local pub yesterday for their Monday special…2 for 1 appetizers and drinks all day.

pub 1

The calamari was delish!!

pub 2

I chose to sit at lucky table #13.

More school stuff today and hopefully I’ll get some salsa canned as well. I have a ton of tomatoes!!

What are you doing today?

SecondlookI almost missed Second on the 2nd for the second time….that’s a lot of seconds! Fortunately I happened to look at the calendar a little bit ago. Did I mention that this summer is getting away from me?!?!

This post is from October 2009…take a look

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I recently got to take home this lawyers bookcase that belonged to my paternal Grandpa. I’ve always loved the cabinet. As a child, it sat in our guest room. It was filled with shells my mom had collected from her travels.


I had something a little different in mind. I’ve filled it with my art and some of my favorite things that had been packed away until now.


Recognize the bowl? It’s my handmade paper bowl. It’s the perfect size for some favorite rocks and my mom’s arrowhead collection.


This may look familiar. I use this is my avatar in Google.


This clock was one of first altered pieces. The swirl on top was hand carved by my husband’s Grandmother. She is an amazing artist.


This was also a piece I made very early on in my artistic journey. It was my very first assemblage. The butterfly inside is another carving by Grandma Rose.


My Road Trip book always makes me smile. This was my second round robin altered book. It took the better part of a year to make it’s way around the country before returning to me full of fun artwork.


The bookcase is ever changing in it’s contents. I love to rearrange decorative elements in my house and am often drawn to using something totally unexpected for the space. I think it drives my husband a bit crazy at times. He’ll just give me that “ok…if you really think that looks good” look.

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These are still some of my favorite things. The lawyers bookcase resides in a different spot and is slightly over loaded but I love it!

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