WHY Didn't Someone TELL ME this was going to be SO HARD!!!

So here I am in the State of Minnesota in the middle of winter! WHAT WAS I THINKING? It has been about 4 months since I arrived in this frozen tundra and am beginning to wonder  "what happened to my plans to move in the SUMMER?" Well, truth be told, the house sold in a couple of days and you don't turn down a "good buyer" so my only choice was  TO MOVE. I really don't think I was prepared for what was to be my "view" for the next  several (4!) months Here's what I mean

This the view straight out my front door!  

Wow!  A little different than California!

Well, it finally starting melting.   Before this it was over 30" high in the center of the deck

Here it snowed (again!) before I got to take the pic of the wonderful, almost melted snow.

"GOING

"GOING..."

"GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

But, the snow wasn't/isn't my only situation:

This is how the lower level looks right now...I thought I had cleared out, decluttered, threw away and donated a ton of stuff!  Seems I brought a lot of it with me!! 8-(

This is another corner with old dining room table, patio chairs and table...

and more "STUFF!"

Just a little bit more...LOL 

But don't be dismayed, here are a few "snippets" of some of the

corners and spaces I have been working on...

A corner fireplace which certainly bosses me around when it comes to furniture arrangement!

You may remember this cabinet from the kitchen in my other house...

Now it is in the dining area of the great room

And this painted (remember? It was orange Knotty Pine from a consignment shop)

hutch which is also in the great room...

This is a great, already distressed, wall cabinet I found here at a marvelous 

"HomeGoods/T. J. Maxx." store.  Haven't finished this yet...can't find some of my 

"STUFF!!!"

Stop laughing out there.  I know, I know!)

This is in my office/den.  You can see how "undone" things are...can't close the doors cause the cords are going out the front instead of the back!  LOL

This is a corner of my kitchen.  When I do a "real" house tour you will see this house is arranged almost like my last house.

Love this little framed picture:  It says:

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE CHOCOLATE

Amen, to that...be right back...NEED some...

These are the windows at the side of my eating area.  (Sorry it is so dark, but you get the idea)  The walls in this home were stark white when I moved in; not my style so I had the entire place painted.  The color is Valspar "Bamboo Reed" and it looks "cloudy" in these pics...it is really a little more intense.  I am using white accessories in the kitchen...as you can see in the next shot

This is a little built-in desk (honestly, sometimes a dumping ground) in the kitchen.

I had the shelves built by my new "Handyman" Mike.  Not finished with this area either...lamp laying down, bulletin board not hung...it will happen...

But you need to know WHY I came back to my original "HOME"...

This is my Beautiful Family (minus one, my only Grandson is a Senior in college and could not make it home that weekend!)  One granddaughter suggested we needed to "photoshop" him in... HUH, what the heck is she talking about...if you want to know about computers, just ask your grandkids!  HA!

I have never had so much fun (or worked so hard getting settled) since I have been here.  This move should have been many years earlier, but "it is what it is" and we have been trying to make up for lost time.  The whole family has helped me so much, even spending days here helping me unpack, moving furniture and flattening boxes and putting things away...

at least so I can get through the rooms that are sort of "un-done"...ahem...you know what I mean!

Thanks you to all my followers and commenters, 

and you can know I READ EVERY COMMENT 

and try to answer...

Just for fun, leave me another... 

FROM CALIFORNIA to MINNESOTA...in the middle of WINTER???

From my last post so much has happened!  I actually did move from California to Minnesota in December...and yes, it is one of the worst winters in history! SNOW...SNOW...SNOW Of course I really don't mind as it has been 33 years since I "lived" in it and I love to see  "how it makes everything look magical!" I feel like I am living in a fairy-land; it is so beautiful! But I am getting ahead of myself...back to moving: I did most of the packing with the help of friends and Mr. Significant Other.  However, after weeks of packing, the truck arrived one day EARLY and we weren't DONE!

This was the bathroom...what a mess!!!

And you should have seen the rest of the house!

(Sorry, I deleted those by mistake!)

It is truly amazing how they move furniture!

they wrap everything...

and treat it all like marvelous treasures!

                       

And 5 hours later they were ready to go!

But guess what...they forgot 8 tubs of Christmas Decorations!  

No problem...they shipped them to me by UPS!!

The next day they took my car away, not to be seen by me until January 8th even though I moved into my town home on December 16.

I sure had to rely on my daughter longer than I wanted to get around!

When I got to her house on Dec. 14th there was this "fun" welcome to Mn. gift for me.  How thoughtful!

So here they are...weather was a little different...below zero!

A view of the great room...

Karen was there Moving-In-Day and not only did she open boxes and stow the stuff in the kitchen, she managed to put up a little Christmas Tree that I brought from CA.  (That is a "Dummy Board" of a Father Christmas right next to it, looking out the window.)

At least I had a little tree as soon as I moved in!

                       

A view of the main lodge where there is "Independent Living Apartments," "Assisted Living," and "Memory Care."

But I live in a beautiful town home about a block away from the lodge.

This is a view from my deck...

And this is my street,  before the plow!

And this is after the plow!

Karen gave me the lovely pot of "spruce tips" and berries...and those poor little geese are trying to figure out why they are so cold!  LOL

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The long delay involved Google/Blogger who didn't recognize my username or password or ANYTHING so I couldn't access my dashboard!  FRUSTRATION!!! 

It finally got fixed (long distance by phone) by Mr. S.O. who walked me through everything but programming!

I imagine I will be eternally grateful to him...I had visions of having to start a NEW blog!  UGH!

I am "knee deep" in boxes yet and trying to get the clutter put away...I am having the entire main level painted in a couple of weeks...the stark white walls just don't "go" with my primitive style!

So,  I will post pictures of the rooms as they come together; I can't wait to be totally settled.

About the move, I am so HAPPY that I made it...being close to family is so much fun...probably going to Iowa next weekend to see other daughter and family...there is a "Competition Recital" for Gillian...my youngest grand daughter!

Couldn't do that if I was in CA.

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Until next time...thank you for reading...

This 'n That....And SOME REALLY BIG NEWS

I have been away for waaaay tooo long,,,but read further and you will find out why!   First of all I took a trip to Minnesota to visit family in October and when I came back to my back yard I found my flowers were so delighted that I hadn't touched them, they all were blooming like I have never seen in the 16 years I have lived here...here is one sample.. .

There were also so many Mandarins on the tree that the branches were almost to the ground!  

See what happens when I leave plants alone!

I told you I have a "Black Thumb!"

Here is a picture of my house that you have seen before but for those of you who like to play "I Spy" check out the left side of the picture!

Yes, that is a "FOR SALE" sign...

So let's move along...

(Pardon the "Pun!")

Here are my Great Room and Master Bedroom (sorry about the clothes baskets...Hee, Hee!)

Anyway, that is how they looked when the house was for sale. (No clothes baskets, of course!)  The Realtor didn't want me to do much staging but I did remove family pictures, multiple picture arrangements and some small stuff.

Then I went out to the back yard (by then the October flowers were drooping and the grasses in pots were browning and looking a little sad.)

I didn't give you a picture of that...it was really sad, a total mess but I did have some pretty flowers planted and set the table and added a cushion and pillows to the bench.

My color scheme in the back yard is red, white and blue.

It made a huge difference to get rid of the sad looking, no let's be honest here, DEAD plants and add some color with chair cushions and set the table.

So the next thing that happened...

It took all of 4 days!  Boy, was I lucky!  I have to admit...homes are selling like "hotcakes" here right now and it is good because this is how it looks right now...

Here's one end of that great room...Boxes, Lamps, wrapping paper and STUFF...

And here's the other end...

Just a quick shot of the bedroom...some nights I have to clear the bed before I can go to bed!

As you can see, my new BEST FRIEND has become my TAPE GUN!

I am packing the "inside" of the house so I will be able to find things at the other end. 

As I told one "packer" (another move) we don't own anything called "Miscellaneous"

so I didn't want boxes marked that way.  So I have been at it for several weeks now and the packers (for the garage, and what I DON'T get done) will be here early next week.  Then the car gets picked up on one of those huge car hauler trucks to go 2,000 miles!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Oh, yea, you might want to know where I am going...

I have decided to move to a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.

My daughters and their families live close; one is 11 miles and the other 3 hours from my new

Townhome.  It is really lovely, with about 1600 sq. ft. on the main level and a total of 2500 when you add in the finished downstairs.  The lower level is a walkout and totally finished and I am really getting excited about decorating a new place.

Now about the weather...that is another question!!!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I have to admit there probably won't be another until the first of the year...oh, there are so many things that have to changed...phone numbers, e-mail addresses, cell phone carriers, and who knows who else.  Thankfully I will have grandchildren nearby so they can get all the electronic stuff set for me!  HA!

Please don't forget about me...I just might be frozen in a snowbank somewhere!

Lots of love and hugs.  May your holidays be all that you want them to be and more!

Blessings to you all

THE STORY OF A TEENY-TINY SEWING ROOM...16 YEARS IN THE MAKING!

Well, HAPPY FALL to all of you in all but the south and west part of the U.S.  It is still rather warm here in No. California but supposed to cool off next week.  I would hate to say I have been busy because I lead this exciting "retired" life, but, the truth be told, it seems to take me forever to get just the usual stuff done.  And I have been working on my house to get it ready for a possible sale.  That is something I will post about if it really is going to happen  I should know in about a month or so.  Will be traveling across the country the middle of Oct. to check out living possibilities. But, anyway, in the meantime I don't think I ever have shown you the details of the smallest room in my house.  And all you crafters and sewers will "wonder how I do it. This room is a total of 30 square feet!  It was supposed to hold the washer and dryer but I needed a sewing room so this was the only space available...

This is the total width, 6 feet, of my work area. The room is actually 6 x 5 feet 

 To make the bulletin board I covered a piece of Foam-core board with fabric and then added (with glue) the ribbons and the primitive-looking buttons.  From there I "nailed and screwed it to the wall." and called it a day!  There are under-cabinet lights and then I also have one of those "True-to-Color" lights which really works as a spotlight when I need it...like when working on black!

Here are the 4 cabinet doors where I added roosters.  I got the cut outs at Michaels and painted them black with white polka dots.  They break up all that solid cream color on the doors.  I stuck them on with those little squares you use to hang posters...they have been there for over 10 years and haven't fallen off yet!  Before I stuck them on the doors I had a small "chicken wire" stencil and very lightly stenciled near them in red.

How do you like that?

Here is a fairly hidden bulletin board for Messy stuff, Doctor Appts., coupons for restaurants, a couple of pictures, and stuff I don't know where else to put!  I took a frame I found at Goodwill about 12 long by 24 long.  I painted it red...(of course, my favorite color) and, now stick with me here, it is a little confusing:  I went to Home Depot and got a piece of sheet metal, which, just my luck was already cut to 12 x 18 so it just fit in the upper part of the frame after I covered it with fabric, glued on the back.  Then I cut a piece of foam-core to fit below the covered metal and covered it, too.  Got it, so far?  So I can use magnets on the upper part and push pins on the bottom part.  

Hey, nothing like a little variety!  LOL

And I know that somewhere in the past, I have shown you a tut. on how to add fabric (the crazy chicken design below the red chair rail) to the wall.  So below, this is how I store most of my thread...it is all stored on two spice racks I also got at Goodwill and painted black.  The shelves are just the right size for spools but now there are many that I have had to "stack."  Unfortunately, thread for the serger doesn't fit and when I tried, several toppled down and you know what a mess that can be...so they are in another closet...to save my sanity.  LOL

This is just a little area where I hang my scissors...HA, HA, I ALWAYS know where they are!  After many years of accusing my family of not putting them away, AGAIN!  

Another rooster on the clock with black and white checks around the edge.  I love that clock!

Well, the light is so bright in here, or dark with all turned off, that I couldn't get a good picture.  When I re-did my kitchen (the previous post) my contractor removed those "wonderful  ugly florescent lights.  They still worked so he installed one in this teeny-tiny sewing room.  When I walked in the first time after the work was done I almost "swooned."  For the first time in 16 years it WAS REALLY BRIGHT IN THERE...I really love it...I CAN SEE WHAT I AM DOING FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 16 YEARS! By the way, when it was in my kitchen , to make it a little bit more less ugly, I covered the "light cover" with lace with a "star" pattern.  Glue would not work and it is also flammable (yikes!) so I had to use double stick scotch tape around the edges to hold the lace on, but the "star" pattern was not too bad actually pretty cute.  So if you look really, really close...

Before I go I must show you my lovely Hooked Rug that I scored at HOMEGOODS at their grand opening.  Love it!  All my friends want to buy it!  HA!  (See that beautiful new laminate floor just like the kitchen and back porch and now both bathrooms!)

This is the door to the garage...and just last week I had the great idea of adding a full length mirror!  Now what do you think of that!  Previously I had mirrored sliding doors in the Master Bedroom and it was so easy to get a peek when getting ready to go somewhere.  But I removed them, (too cold-looking for me!) and then for lack of any "big" mirror resorted to one on the back of the Master Bedroom door...a real pain to have to close it to see myself.  So, I said to myself, "Self, where can you put a mirror where it is more handy?"

And in a flash, it came to me:  "Why not on the sewing Room Door To The Garage?"  After all that is the door I almost always use.  So there you have it...

A teeny-tiny little sewing room

but it works for me.

I NEED TO THANK MY NEW FOLLOWERS, COMMENTERS AND FRIENDS 

who hang in there with me.  I try to find the time to thank all, but I am afraid the days go by or Google won't let me send a message or something or other.  

But I DO APPRECIATE you even taking the time to read.  

If I can make this move I am sure I will have more to post about.

Wait! I don't want you to get away just yet...tomorrow morning I am leaving for the Big Apple, New York for a convention with the organization where I got my certification as an 

Interior Redecorator.

I am traveling with one of my first clients with whom I have a continuing  friendship

Should be fun!

In the meantime...

HUGS ALL AROUND.