I am blessed

Do you ever stop to think about how blessed you are?  Every night after I lie down I try to just relax and list five things the day blessed me with and be thankful for each one.  I never have trouble listing five.  Sometimes they are the same as the day before, sometimes they are really BIG things and other times they are very small.  Today I’m sharing my five blessings with you.

1) a beautiful sunny day and time to sit and drink it in

2) a great washer and a clothesline where I can hang the clothes so the sun and wind can dry them

3) the ability to go for a walk

4) enough food to keep my tummy full, including fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots

5) a beautiful flower garden and new mums planted

That’s such a small list, isn’t it?  But being thankful every single day for the simple things helps me stop and realize how truly lucky I am.

I have been officially retired for four days now and I have secured a part-time position with Lowes.  It will probably be close to full time for the month of October while the store gets stocked but should return to 10 – 30 hours a week in November.  I actually hope it’s closer to 20, I want time to be creative.  Speaking of which, I’m headed into the “sweatshop” to cut some fabric for a wallhanging for my daughter.  It’s supposed to be for Halloween but no one said which year.  I guess I better get going, probably won’t get much sewing done in October.

Thanks for stopping by…

;o)

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A week of ups and downs

This was a beautiful weather week.  Temps were in the mid 60’s and Bill and I were able to ride our bikes and sit in the sun.  It always feels soooo good.  On Sunday we rode 14 miles from Bill’s house to the Dunkin Donuts in No. Berwick.  We checked out a craft shop but didn’t find anything we really needed to take home with us.  From there we rode back on Rt. 4 to Bill’s house.  It was a spectacular day and we felt blessed to be outside in October feeling the warmth of the sun.  Not only that, we are blessed to be healthy enough to exercise on a semi-regular basis (as time allows).  We spent another day with Bill picking up leaves with the tractor and I cleaned up the gardens.

On the down side, my best friend, Su has spent the week in the hospital after surgery.  She is doing well but isn’t expected to return home for another couple of days.  She has suffered serious illness for the past several years and this is another bump in the road.  I am considerably blessed with good health, even though I’m approaching 60 (yikes) which is the opposite of Su.  I am always supportive and attempt to help her fend off the overwhelming depression that accompanies another health problem.  I am also blessed to have Su as my best friend.  She is such a wonderful person and I consider her my soulmate.  It is difficult to understand why she is faced with illness over and over again.  I pray that this time the final news is positive and she can look forward to some good years ahead.

On the quilting front, not much time to sew; however, I have been doing some background stitching on the butterfly picture.  I am using a technique from Diane Guadynski which she has termed Diane-shiko.  It isn’t difficult but time consuming.  After 5-6 hours I have completed maybe 1/4 of the background.  ti doesn’t really matter, this wallhanging was for Greg and Vanessa last Christmas.  As they say…better late than never.

I also did a some border quilting on the red oriental flower wallhanging.  I stitched a flower in variegated black and white thread.  I still can’t get the hang of doing it without a pattern so I have traced the flower on tracing paper and use that to follow.  The down side is taking all of the paper off when I’m done.

Two other good things happened this week, I listed my condo for sale and Bill and I finished my sewing room at his house.  We painted the ceiling and I chose a very light blue for the walls.  Bill pulled up the carpet and put down a laminate wood floor.  It looks so nice, clean and bright.  I still need to decide on curtains and blinds but I bought a new 6′ sewing table and it is set up in front of the window.  We moved a small bookshelf from my house.  It is holding fabric right now but will eventually hold children’s books and toys for the grandkids.

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