blabbing

I have such a love/hate relationship with internet.  We'll start with the second. The main thing I hold against it is that we struggle to get it at our new house.  We still have our blasted Verizon WiFi card that somehow sucks GB after GB of our data in a matter of days.  It's something we scratch our head at every month.  The other thing is I have to be purposeful and go to a place that has an internet connection to write a post, and this is usually what happens.

Turn on computer, check Instagram in the mean time. 

Open a Chrome tab, fully intending to go directly to my own blog and start typing. 

Ignore full intentions and read a hundred few other people's posts.

Check Pinterest for whatever ideas have been swirling through my head lately that keep me up for a couple minutes at night before I drift off into dream land.

currently contemplating whether there should be a [somewhat drastic] haircut in my future.

Then I glance in horror at how long I've been wherever I went to write that blog post, with not a word written.  *shutters*

On the flip side, the internet is a beautiful thing.  I mean, Amazon is like one of my top 5 favorite friends. Especially Prime items. Oh, how I love you little green Prime check. :] It puts a new spin on Christmas shopping, vitamin ordering, and "must have" items.  Especially for those of us that live 30+ minutes from a Walmart or mall! There is also endless information on the internet.  I won't tell you the dumb questions I ask Google when I'm cooking. And last but most definitely not least, Pinterest.  Oh how I love thee. In this stage of painting every downstairs room in our new house, I need some reassurance that my color ideas aren't completely bogus.  'Ol Pinty has a way of assuring me that I am not (too) crazy, and sometimes gives me an even better idea.  Yes, I just gave Pinterest a nickname.

SO.  now I should start my post. I had no intentions of writing all that blab above, it just comes up.  Which is actually how most of my posting seems to go. I read some other blogs and admire the "put togetherness" of their posts. The seemingly scholarly words that just seem to flow.  But I imagine some of those posts are written, re-read, edited, maybe even pre-outlined. I may have some of those scattered throughout my blog, but I think my best work is raw and in the moment.  I honestly don't always re-read a whole post before posting. That's kinda how I roll, and then I get frustrated when a couple days later I re-read a post and notice a stupid mis-worded section.  But Idk.  At this point it works.  Maybe once I finish reading that Blog, INC book I mentioned in a previous post I'll wanna scrap everything I've done/written this far and go at it a new way.  It's easy to think that I'm writing this mostly to myself.  I read/follow quiiiiite a lot of bloggers, and I see stacks of comments and followers and such, and I just wonder what is the point of me even trying to join this world or what important things will I be able to add, but I'm pretty sure that's just the evils of comparison talking.  Between that and not being able to sit down and write at my own house, I just let the days pass without a word from the downsouth yankee.  I'm so thankful for an old friend who spoke up on Facebook and let me know that she missed me! - well, my blog.  Not gonna lie, insert heart leap over that wall post. [ Thanks Kim!]

There has been lots of goings on over at 3040 Rt 14-A, the biggest accomplishment is that we got my dad all moved in!  He's been there a little over a week, and loving it which is such a blessing! He's gotten used to his morning routine in a new location, cleans up (pretty sure my kitchen sink has never been cleaner, or emptier), and even had quite a few haircuts already in his first week in the new place.  He's getting used to his new cellphone and flat screen TV. His house is by no means emptied out, and will need to be cleaned and some rooms painted before he thinks about renting it, but luckily we will have time to do that in the future.  And not in single digit temperatures. :) What a cold winter this has been! I'm thankful for my warm house that seems to hold up pretty well, and the man/women that had the bright idea of planting pine trees all along the back years ago to block the wind from the field! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart! 

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is painting! It's amazing how much it is transforming rooms! I walked around this morning and snapped some pictures, only to leave my camera at home.  Secretly, it was probably a good thing, because there wasn't good lighting for my pictures, and I was rushed.  SO, this afternoon since the camera doesn't need wifi, I should get some better pictures for the next post.  At this point I will never be famous for my before & after pictures, or any pictures at all, but at least I am documenting moments! We've got 3 rooms down, and I have high expectations to get at least one more done this week.  AND. wait, this should have it's own paragraph.

AND. Brad built the frame for my shampoo bowl this weekend!!!!! This will be such a game changer for me - and my faithful hair color clients! He has to hook up the pump and the plumbing (he said that shouldn't be hard) and I think he wants to put plywood around the frame so it's closed in.  We ordered a reclining barber chair for me to use for it, and I thiiink that arrives Thursday.  I just can't can't can't wait.  I have quite a number of people waiting patiently for this project to be done, so I'll probably be a busy girl next week behind the chair - I'm excited! :) 

Do you ever go to sleep at night with expectations of how the next day will look? I end up doing that sometimes, but I'm not sure if it often plays out the way I think. I've been struggling to get  through this book...it was one I picked up somewhere at some point.  I don't usually give up on books half way through, so I'm pressing on.  It has interesting spells, but I'm not a huge history buff so some of it flies over my head.  So I thought today would be a good day to try to plow through that one, and be able to dedicate more time to the other two I'm reading also :) [boom and boom] There is a Young Adult trilogy that I've been recommended twice, so I'd like to get my hands on the first one and work on that.  But I'll wait until I finish the current one. My day will probably be more like this :  do laundry, write blog post, do some haircuts, measure square footage for a couple rooms (new hobby maybe?), work on dinner. With a few scraps of times for reading.  Luckily, all of those activities are indoors, so I don't have to brave the window (brave the window?? lol try wind!) and low temperatures too much. Well you asked for it, my ramblings for the day.  Stay warm!

overview

Hey Friends.

Are you still out there?? This inconsistency with my posting is killing me, I dunno about you guys! Some of it has been from holiday busy-ness, some is from a non-ideal internet connection, and some is from not corralling my thoughts enough to sit down and right.  I like to think that I DO have thoughts, that would be worth writing about more than I actually write. But I guess I will just have to prove it won't I?

Christmas rolled around and we did indeed have snow, that just makes it a little better don't you think?  Christmas eve we were at home with Brad's family - we had a super delicious meal of a wide variety of finger foods.  Those meals are so fun, and it seems to fill me up quickly! Then we gathered in the living room by the real live fire in the fireplace, and listening to a passage of the Christmas story.  None of us were in a hurry to open gifts....just kidding.  There are still 10 year olds among us. :) It's always fun to see who has who, and if your predictions were correct.  Me? I had no idea. I like the surprise!

We spent most of the day on Christmas at Brad's Dad's Dad's house. Are you following?  Aaron and Susie - known to most far and wide. :) There were some other cousins there, laughs, games, and of course - yummy food.  It was nice not having to go far for such a good time!

The day after Christmas Ruth and Lyndsi and I decided to go on a shopping trip, I don't think any of us had much in particular we were looking for, just wanted to be together and see what sales we would find.  Victor, NY is a wee bit of a drive but has a mall, a Target, and other nice shopping options. AND. it has a Moe's Southwest Grill.  Yummmmm!

Friday I was able to spend some much needed time with Katrina (my BFF who currently lives 12 hours away...at least for now...) while she was home visiting family.  Her, Lyndsi and I went to a couple of salvation armies (where else??) and then enjoyed some Panera Bread for dinner.

Saturday- we spent the day at Jim & Sarah Youngman's with Ruth's side of the family, from near and far! There were some local cousins, cousins that hadn't been seen since fleeing the country (much less dramatic than it sounds ;]), and met some cousins from all the way down in sunny Florida! It was a treat being together, more games were played and more yummy food to be eaten.  (Surprisingly I'm still wearing the same size close as I was pre-holidays!)

Sunday  my brother Matthew came to visit again for a day or so on his way back to Southern Pines, NC.

As New Years rolled around, I started to feel a little under the weather. Brad was still busy as ever with work, but we still wanted to do something to ring in the new year, even if it wasn't at  midnight.  We ended up going to an Indian restaurant with a group of about 13 or so,  including our long lost Williman fran & his lovely bride! It was a fun time with lots of chatter and yummy food. I enjoy different types of food - Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Mongolian, BUT if I go there and score a dish that I really like, I usually stick to that.  I guess I air on the side of caution usually. :)

New Years day was spent again in part at Aaron and Susie's with more family. It was good to visit with them, but I ended up going home part way through because my drippy nose and sneezing didn't make me feel very sociable. :/ And here we are (basically). I'm still kicking that cold I seemed to catch, yesterday was a very uneventful day for me, I spent a lot of time napping and reading, reading and napping.  I picked up a copy of the classic Jane Eyre, and it's actually quite engaging!  I'd love to see the movie sometime! My dear husband took over the dinner duties and made us a delicious cast iron skillet pan seared ribeye and sweet potato fries.  Maybe I should take sick more often?? No, bad idea.  I was really quite miserable.

You know, I tend to feel dissatisfied after posts like this.  I feel like its more journal entry type, then good blog post that is going to be enjoyable to anyone else besides me, because they didn't live those moments, or remember the inbetween laughs that the few words I wrote will trigger in my memory.  I've read different things written by bloggers like "kick starting your blog" or "5 must-dos in blogging" and most of them mention something along the lines of choosing who you want to read your blog/what you will write about.  I understand doing those things might make a start up blog more successful, and/or more often read, but I dunno.  I just can't pick what I want to write about at this point! While these type of entries aren't the feel I think I am "going for", I feel like at times they might be necessary just to have "on paper" or to help kick writers block.

I guess this is the part where I am suppose to look back over 2013, and say what will change in 2014.  I'm not gonna look back, or expound terribly on what I think will happen in 2014.  I feel like where we are in life (whether it was at the end of a year or not, it just so happened to be) will bring lots of new things either way.  Moving my dad in with us, working on enlarging our family, making our new house our home, finding ways to make money (me) from home...the list goes on.  I think I am going to concentrate on "following through" in the months to come.  I feel like my head swirls with ideas - from house projects, to blog posts, to ways to make an income, to becoming more routine with daily devotions, to cooking/baking more...so that's not where I lack.  I lack in just DOING.

SO.  Hopefully this little outlet I'm working on creating for myself will be a booster and encourage me to do those things, and document the successes.  And possible failures. We are all human after all, right?

FOLLOW THROUGH.  hold me to it, kay?