Where Does the Time Go?

Has it really been almost nine months since my last post?  So much has happened and where do you begin again when so much time has passed. Our lease was up on April 1st on the house we lived in for two years. We started in January to find a new house but this time we wanted to buy. We had finally made the decision to stay in the same county in Northwest Georgia and enjoy our retirement years among our friends and family.  We spent about a year before that decision trying to find out where we wanted to live on the coast. We had narrowed it down, but in December of last year we talked with some friends who lived there and they said the health care was terrible and it was difficult to make friends because of the nature of coastal living. This was confirmed for us in several ways, so we gave up and gave in and decided to stay put and find a small house in a small neighborhood.

We found our house. A little craftsman style in a nice little community that is much closer to town and really convenient to everything we need and want. We moved the last week in March and found we really had not downsized enough over the last five years since selling our farm. Our garage is still half full and my dining room still has boxes of vintage glassware and other items to sell on eBay or Etsy or wherever and whenever I have time to post it.

We had only been in our new home a little over a month when John was elected President of the HOA. My fault, I nominated him. Then I ended up as Treasurer. It has been fun but much more work than initially anticipated. But it is a great way to meet your neighbors and get involved and we are enjoying it. (Most days. Ha!)

So there hasn’t been a lot of time for blogging and sharing. We have been painting, putting in new flooring in the guest room and my office/studio, and more painting and rearranging is still on the agenda. There are a lot of long term projects to get the house where I want it but we are taking it slow and easy for now.

I didn’t have enough going on so I decided it was time for my knee replacements. I had my right knee done the first of August and recovery is progressing well. I will say this and I heard it many, many times before I had this done and it warrants repeating:  Physical Therapy is the key to a quick and thorough recovery! With the exception of only a couple of days, I have worked my exercises every day while going to PT at least twice per week. If you don’t do the PT, I am convinced you will never regain full use of your knee again. So, I have worked hard and it is paying off. I was going to go ahead and have the left one done four weeks from the first but in retrospect, that was a bit ambitious. I want to be sure the first one is completely healed before having the second surgery. Plus Mr. Graceful needs some procedures done and they are a bit more urgent in my opinion (not his, ha!)

I haven’t really had much time to do any painting other than this one sign I  painted for the porch. I did this on a pre-gessoed wood and MDF support.

I have been going through some of my photos and adding scripture and other inspirational words as a sort of combination exercise in faith and creativity.  I might  post a couple of these each week on the blog just to stay in touch and to help me get back into the discipline of posting.

Hopefully, I will have photos to share of the house soon and maybe some new artwork too!

Until then,