Life On The Central Coast

Every year I try to choose a word or theme to base my year on. This year it took a bit longer to settle on words but finally, they have arrived. The words for the year are... ADAPT TO CHANGE How did I come by this word? My husband and I are over 60 now. We've been together since I was 15 years old. We've grown up together and fell into a happy routine with our lives. BUT, we are noticing more and more that our beliefs and the way we've done things all those years aren't necessarily working for us anymore. So we will need to analyze and change what isn't working. You know the saying, God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. It's time for some changes in our lives that will help us live happy, more satisfying lives. I don't know about you but sometimes my husband and I feed off of each other's negativity. And...

December 2011 We're getting ready to bid the old year Goodbye... It's been a choice not to make very many posts this year. Every time I would sit down to write I'd say, "Who wants to read about that!!??" My mom used to tell me..... If you're my age, I'll bet you've heard that line before too. And what can I say? For us, 2011 was a pretty challenging year. It seemed like every time we had a "crisis" of one kind or another that resolved, another even larger "crisis" would rise up to take it's place. It was the first year for me that I've had to live with chronic pain from what I found out in November, was a labral tear in my hip area. Seems as I age, arthritis is setting in and the Doc recommended a hip replacement. I'm trying to fend that off for a while in hopes that maybe there will be a way to have relief without such drastic measures, but it means living daily with quite a bit of pain and the inabili...

What I've been working on this past month.... Remember the little rag quilt project I was working on? Finished! With all the rain we've been having my garden beds are THRIVING! We are talking about adding more beds into our yard and planting even more garden veggies. My husband is a whiz with a saw and having home grown fresh produce will save us money at the store! My husband and I have been working on "being prepared". We've taken some steps around the house to organize camping equipment, work on our food storage, build up a emergency water supply and learn a few new skills. We each made 72 hour food packages for our cars and larger bags filled with first aid items, warm clothes and camping type equipment. Better to think ahead and be prepared than to have something happen and be fumbling around not knowing what to do. Wes and I are taking steps to get HAM licenses, hopefully our respective father's old numbers. Its a fun way to communicate with others and i...

Goodbye 2010 and HELLO 2011!! Almost 10 days into the New Year and what have I been working on? A little Digital Scrapbooking using THIS program..... Skyping with the Grandkids I don't always see daily..... This is Grandson, Anthony with his baby sister, Audrey...... Taking Ali Edwards class.... One Little Word over HERE ......... (There's still room in the class if you're interested too!) My One Little Word for the year is ROOTS. The genealogy has come out of the box and work has already started filling in the blanks. Plans to use Ancestry.com eventually to further the research. I've taken a really messy area in my house and transformed it into a really cute little sewing area and I've been sewing again. IT'S BEEN YEARS since I sat down to make anything and it feels really, REALLY good! There's just something about the smell of fresh laundered material being ironed! I found some pink fabric, just a small amount that matched and here is what I decided to ...

Pictures. If you are like me you have a bunch of them. This one was take just a couple of weeks ago as we were enjoying a visit to Avila Barn. My niece shared it on Facebook a couple of days ago and it's really special to me. From the moment I laid eyes on it I saw the magic that is Family. (Back row left to right - Me, My sister Lynn, my niece Carla - Carla's sons Cade in the middle and Jake, bottom middle) My sister Lynn says, "you can see we are related, we look alike." And that we kind of do. But I saw something more. The interconnectedness of a family. Without planning it at all, look at how we are each touching someone. My niece has her arm around my sister. My arm is around my sister and Cade. Lynn has her hand on Jake... we are connected, family. It reminded me of the roots of a tree.... grounded, strong, a bit tangled into each others lives perhaps but that wanting to be included... tangled....touched. Our families, our "trees" of connectedness, t...

I've played along with the Ali Edwards, One Little Word Challenge for the past 2 years.In 2008, my word was Greatfulness . There was SO much to be Grateful for that year. In one year we added 3 grandsons to our family. Last year I chose REcreate . What I was hoping for was a year of having fun, camping, doing all sorts of recreational activities. But I think the "Universe" heard RE create and instead of laying around on some beautiful beach, we did home repairs and fix-ups for the entire year! My home is gorgeous now and I'm really happy I picked that word, BUT, like the end of 2009, I'm ready for a break. I've tossed around words like peace, tranquility, rest, serenity, meditation but nothing has really seemed right. Then I was doing some reading yesterday and it said to just let the word choose you. I'm open, I'm waiting..... I think I'm hearing my One Little Word coming in.... My One Little Word for 2011 is.... ROOTS! I'm the keeper of m...

Thanks to my son-in-law, Mike, who did all the demolition and construction, my husband who through his long hours at work has made it financially possible and Aby Garvey's closet organization class, My closet dream has become a reality! You remember the before's??? NOT a pretty site. It was dark and cluttered, items all over the floor, mismatched hangers and over stuffed top shelving. It was at this point that I decided to take a closet organizing class offered by Aby Garvey over at www.Simplify101.com . It has made so much difference in the way my closet looks and feels. First, I sat down one afternoon and started mapping out what I DID want in a closet, took some measurements, surfed the internet for ideas and I was on my way! The results?? Ta Da! Here is the finished, empty closet. We built in shelving which I had planned to use for shoes, but since I don't WEAR a lot of shoes, I'm using to hold off season sweaters, rain gear and other items. Before, our lighting c...

There are all kinds of closet out there. Some are small and single, just large enough to accomodate a new little one. We made one similar to this for my daughter Tiffany when she had Everest. Some closet are double size. Here is the double closet in my office. Double closets offer more space and versatility. There was enough room in this closet to create an entire functioning office! Then, some lucky people get walk-in closets. These are large enough to house clothes for 2 people, shoes, hats and lots of extras! The problem with larger closets is how easy it is to have them get messy. Closets that should look like this.... All to frequently end up looking like this. So what kind of closet do you have? Confession time..... I'm one of the lucky ones that have a walk-in closet. My husband and I share it, each getting our own sides. Unfortunately, my closet isn't organized or clean right now. Instead of just wardrobe items, it's holding overflow wrapping paper, craft items, sto...

Wow, it's been SO long since my last post. I've been busy, VERY BUSY!! Do you remember last year when I chose my Word for the Year ..... Re-create? Well, that is exactly what I have been doing! Shortly after the first of the year, we began work on a dining room door that was rotting out. The new door led to a new and BEAUTIFUL wood floor, new dining room furniture and paint. That looked so pretty we decided to extend the wood floor into our living room as well, which, you guessed it, has now also gotten a new "feature" put into it to help with an ugly stair situation we had and will also have some new furniture. I'll be sharing the "before and after" with you in another post. I can say everything feels so fresh and new. I'm loving the place I live in! I've learned that to "recreate" you have to really dig out the old, sometimes down to it's most basic parts, mend those things that aren't quite right or are broken, things are str...

I chose a Word of the Year this year, RECREATE. For those of you new to choosing a Word of the Year, it's picking a focus word that describes your intention for the upcoming year. A really good list can be found HERE at Ali Edwards Design: One Little Word: 2010 Word List. As some of you know, I've been busy for the last few years watching my grandkids during the day and wasn't able to craft as often as I would like. Our annual vacation was usually shortened too to match our daughter and her husband's schedule. The middle of last year, I let my kids know that I would not be babysitting daily anymore after the end of the year. So January 1, 2010 dawned a whole new year for me! Let me fill you in on a few things I've done to make sure I stay on track with my word this year. First, created this cute little Journal to write in with my word on the front. Then hubby and I sat down with a calendar and marked out our vacation and days off for the entire year! I can...