Happy Thankful Holidays and the 2019 Winter Photo Gallery

Happy Bird Day, Xmas and New Year from my little spot here in Grandma’s House! Weather report is short and brutal. We saw record breaking lows at the end of October/early November and, honestly, though it did “warm” up to average temps – it just kind of set the tone. Winter started then on the weekend after Thanksgiving and dumped our entire state with everyone seeing AT LEAST 8 inches of snow and nobody was happy about it. Speaking of Bird Day I just realized I didn’t wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving last month! I hope you had a wonderful day and, of course, had something to be thankful for.

As most of you know I saw some changes this summer.

Happy changes.

Life changes.

Or maybe “changes” isn’t quite the right word. I think “additions” would be more accurate. Happy additions to my life of a great guy and his dog Annie who have joined me often now on this little farm of mine and in my Grandma’s house.

We weren’t able to spend the actual dates of holidays together because of our jobs and our families and our own obligations. So, we compromised.

An utter impossibility with my ex husband who would have expected me, in every way, to throw my family, my job and any obligations out the window for any plans he wished. (Of course that wasn’t always possible so it meant I spent the majority of my holidays with my ex angry, sullen and not speaking to me. He utterly despised holidays.)

To have someone that comprehends that other people also have lives is something of a miracle to me. Though typing that sentence sure does seem stupid, don’t we all have lives and families and jobs? Isn’t it just such common sense?

I know lots of couples who have had to be a part during the holidays to visit families. Who made plans after for their own little holidays together. Seems so simple… and I guess it is in a healthy relationship.

The type of relationship I only ever dreamed of and then gave up all hope for. So I certainly had some happy here to be thankful for this year’s Thanksgiving!

It was the kind of quiet little gathering at my Grandma’s house, days after the actual holiday, that I absolutely love. A few close family members. A ridiculously good meal that everyone contributed to and then drinks, games into the night and laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe.

I dreamed of moments like these when I was renovating this house. Its been over two years since my divorce was final and I am still struck to tears because I never thought I would get moments like these again. (My ex would never have allowed this.)

And the older I get the more these times feel more important than absolutely anything.

We never say when we lose someone that we had too many happy times with them. We really do all have lives, families, obligations and jobs and every year it seems harder to manage schedules.

So, to be able to get us together, safe and happy, even for a few hours, feels not only important but like the most important thing.

It feels like what I did all of this for – all fifteen months of the renovation and the thousands of hours and years after to have a place that can accommodate family. It makes even the most miserable of the renovation moments feel like a triumph.

It makes it all worth it.

To say it makes me happy doesn’t begin to cover it and to have this lovely man happy to be here too, to be with me, to be with and a part of my family… Thankful also doesn’t begin to cover it either.

But its a start.

Happy and Thankful.

Happy Holidays from Grandma’s House!

I wasn’t sure I would even bother putting up a tree or doing any kind of decorating here this year. I tackled my living room the end of November and thought that I might have a bit of a disaster of a house over Xmas…

But I finished the majority of my living room remodel over December just in time!

So, here’s a sneak peak of how the room is shaping up and my little bit of Xmas decorating. I still LOVE my little tree and all my homemade ornaments that I made last year. Lodi helped me put it up and it was pretty sweet putting up our “first” tree together. And, of course, doggo Annie supervised from her spot snoring on the couch.

Over the next three months here I’ll be posting all the steps, projects and finally the full reveal of my living room! There’s still lots to do though!

(YEP, Lodi is the name I finally decided on instead of boyfriend or hot guy, my man finally has a blog nickname lol It was close though to my almost just calling him HG (short for Hot Guy) but I could see myself feeling like I would need to explain what that stood for constantly… so Lodi it is!)

Oh ALSO! For those of you that are wondering what’s on the TV (I totally forgot to turn it off for taking pics) that is Chidi from the tv show The Good Place! It is one of our ABSOLUTE FAVORITES!