SHOULD I WRITE ABOUT 2012 OR 2013?

Pin It In all honesty, I didn't do crap "blogwise" in 2012.  I even somehow lost my "followers" that usually appear on the right column!  Where'd you guys go?

I was just too busy this year trying to hold it together, both emotionally and on the DIY front.  I'm finally finished with most of the major DIY stuff so now I can concentrate on the fun stuff.    Don't wait for me to post "previews" of stuff I'm working on though.  If it shows up here, it shows up here.  I'll start with the list above and work through the more fun stuff.  I'm so over doing the "not fun" stuff!

Emotionally, I got through my "year of firsts".  It was hard but I did it.  I mean, what else could I do?  On many occasions I would have preferred to just drive over a cliff rather than get through the firsts but I held on.  What is a "year of firsts" you ask?  Well, my first birthday without her.  My first spring garden without her, my first Easter without her, HER first birthday without her.  The list goes on - you get the picture.  My best friend told me that it wouldn't necessarily get easier but it wouldn't be quite as "raw" and she was right.  There are still times, however where I feel like I just poured salt into an open wound.  Just not as often.

On another level there were times where I honestly felt "censored" by what I was allowed to do and say on my own blog.  I won't get into the details but suffice it to say - it definitely took the wind out of my sails to the point that I just didn't even want to say anything.  And once that happened, it all just felt so narcissistic to me - "hey everybody - look at ME!"  And that was NOT the reason I started blogging! It was started so that I could connect with Nancy Jo somehow.

Now on to 2013!!!  I can admit that I am really excited about 2013!  I haven't felt that way in YEARS!  And here is why.  No more will I lament on another New Year's Eve about how shitty the past year was  and hope that the next year will be better.  I will make a conscientious effort this year to make it better - not just hope it'll be better.  To do that I have decided that from now on I will practice  and have "grateful intentions".   Rather than whine about my fat ass, I'll be grateful that I'm relatively healthy and then do something about said fat ass.  That's just one example. Believe me,  there are many others.  I've already noticed that being grateful is much better than whining.  So that being said, here are a few of the things I'm grateful for:

1.  my creativity and willingness to jump in with both feet.  Hesitation be damned!

2.  my kitties.  They love me without expecting anything in return.  Well except for nightly treats and a clean litter box.

3. the fact that I live in Denver.  Is there any better weather ANYWHERE else???  Hell, no!  And of course, there are those Broncos.

4.  the ability to be able to buy good wine. 'Nuff said.

5.  and last but not least, my new hearing aids!!  My world is no longer a silent one.

I'm limiting this list to five because let's be real - there is no way I can list every single thing that I am grateful for.  Suffice it to say that my Maker knows I'm grateful for each and every one of them.  And to anyone out there who's feels slighted by not being included or mentioned, know that it was not my intention to hurt your feelings.

So there it is....no big preview about what I'm posting about in the coming year.  No pictures to post or any before or afters just yet.  For now, my plan is to just keep on doing the things I love doing with the people and things I love the most.




Okay, just one picture.....

HOW CUTE IS SHE?????????

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WELL HELLO THERE and HOW UGLY IS THIS???

Pin It Okay, so it's been a while.  A long, long, long while.  Yes, I know - absolutely ages since I've even opened up my sweet little blog.  It actually took a minute or two to remember how to even pull it up on my laptop.  Sad, huh?

So here's the deal.  First of all I discovered I was getting caught up in blogging, as in comparing mine to everyone else's in the universe and driving myself crazy trying to mimic what everyone else was doing and making it work.  Although, I read at least a hundred times from other very successful bloggers NOT TO DO THAT!  I didn't listen.  It just got so damn overwhelming that I had to step away.  Mainly because I was losing sight of why I started blogging and that was to help me cope with losing my sister Nancy.

The other issue was that I have been busting butt trying to finish up the project from hell that I started almost two years ago.  And I am happy to say, it's all but finished.  Just some touch ups here and there but that's about it.  I can't even begin to describe how happy I am that it's finished.  And I must say, IT LOOKS FREAKING AWESOME!  But that's another post that I'm preparing.  The exciting part now is that I can actually blog about fun stuff.  You know projects that are just plain fun and not projects like"if I don't finish this right now I'm just going to shoot myself".  No chance of anybody getting shot now.  And I'll just tell you right now, I have some cute, fun, awesome projects on my list coming up so stay tuned!

In the meantime, I'll just throw this one out here......how ugly is this monster?????

Okay and how bad is that photo?  Nope, still haven't learned to take a good picture.  It's on my list....

Anyway, this monstrosity came to us via the local thrift store.  It was only $40!  As you can barely make out through the cloudy photo, the drawers on the left side have been removed.  So my plans for this baby is to somehow, someway turn it into a television console for our new SMALLER flatscreen TV!  See how I capitalized "smaller" like I was screaming it?  I was.  Previously we had an embarrassingly giant 70" TV - not a flat screen.  Talk about an elephant in the room.  Literally....it took up an entire wall of our family room.   Not only that, it was at least seven years old so the technology stunk!  The whole purpose of buying that giant thing was to put it down into the media room that we finished out in the basement.  You know, dark and theater like - a place where movie studios would be begging us to do a screening of their newest flick.  It really is a nice media room - yet another post for another time.

Somehow I managed to convince my wonderful husband to please let us downsize and to get some newer technology to watch the Bronco games.  On the old TV, their colors were more peach than orange.  Just not crisp and clear.  And on that note - how awesome are the Broncos these days???

Getting back to the new, wonderful TV.  We compromised and got a 60" Flatscreen.  Still a giant TV if you ask me but because it's a flat screen - it just doesn't look so damn huge at the end of the family room.  And of course, we needed a new console to put it on....

I have seen some wonderful examples of what you can do to dressers and turn them into media consoles so I have the vision.  I just don't know EXACTLY what I'm going to do so I'm going to head over to Hometalk and throw some pictures up and ask everyone what they think.  Awesome resource, really!

Here's a few more special cloudy pictures of this soon to be gorgeous piece of furniture!

All those little openings on that top level are small drawers - like apothecary drawers.  Husband says "we can keep the remotes in these".  Yea, like anyone in this house will put something away where it should go.

So anyway - there it is in all it's soon to be glory.  Can't wait to get started!  Any of you guys have any great ideas as to what to do with it?  Colors, knobs, baskets, etc????

BTW, did ya miss me?  I missed you!

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