Fall in, Fall out

Thank goodness for Graphics Fairy

Ok, yep, a good blogger always includes some sort of artsy photograph with their nonsense posts, but I am feeling way too lazy to take any right now (and I don't have a stash of them online to glean from either). Well, maybe I can edit later.

It is damn cold here in Northern IN. I've heard it is suppose to hover near 35 deg F tonight (yay!), so house plants are now in the foyer awaiting a move to the sunroom. I didn't bring in my cacti and other sensitive guys down in KY, so I hope they are protected on the porch. I will be really sad if I go home Sunday to suffering flora.

I also need to pick the rest of the tomatoes. I guess summer is truly gone and fleeting fall is soon to pass as well.

I received my end of the year review at work last week. A hard first year in the job and I learned they think I manage time unwisely (yet, I live between two cities, travelled nearly every other week and took on several other state's work...oh well, c'est la vie).

This year I am travelling less and concentrating on my own endeavors (like getting family moved to the right spot). I am going to improve on my photography (like invest in photo editing), write more thoughtful and inspiring posts (ha ha) and figure out a way to juggle selling off some of my clutter. This is just a few of my 41 goals to be published next week.

I stopped at a garage sale today despite the cold and rain. We found a few vintage treasures, but pickings were slim.

OK, I changed my mind...I'm including a sweet, autumn graphic just for your viewing pleasure!

Forty-One Goals

Despite the 100+ heat today in the 'ville, I am thinking about fall. The summer has...no scratch that...THE YEAR has flown. This has been my 40th year. I will be 41 in a month and some change.

It's so easy to let time slip by, giving so much to the "have to" parts of life and ignoring the parts that can make you feel good, happy (or maybe this is just me). I have been in Louisville for one year. I still travel home on the weekends. I still feel like I am caught between two lives.

The apartment I call home in one of the lives is awful. I picked it quick on a weekend trip to Louisville before starting the job. I had no idea about neighborhoods or what I wanted. I figured it was a temporary thing and I hadn't rented since my mid-twenties. The day I signed the lease, I learned I could not have pets, aquariums or nails in the wall. I thought, "Oh, well...family will be down here soon and we'll buy a place." This apartment feels like a cheap hotel.

Well, as stated, a year has come and gone and I had to recently resign another year on the lease due to a very heavy workload and not having the time to look around for something in one of the great neighborhoods I have discovered the past year. Life has taken some crazy turns and my family is still up north (problems with husband's transfer).

The job has gotten familiar now. I am still learning, but I feel comfortable. It is not exactly where I want to be, but it is a good job. I have gained about 20 pounds over the past year, not a happy outcome and I am so sad I can't get into a good percentage of my gorgeous, vintage clothes*. I started this blog (after a hiatus and retirement from an old blog), but have slightly pigeon holed it. I have thrifted. A lot.

What I think I need is a jumpstart. I need to find that woman that was gung ho on a new adventure. The one that worked out three times a week and brought her body back into "normal". The one that loved to write and try new things. The one that had a family to come home to at night.

I cover two states with my job, plus occasionally am assigned to the other two bordering ones. In order to stay focused and be overwhelmed with the work-that-never-stops, we make annual work plans. Additionally, we make weekly work plans with a forecast and accomplishments. At first, I despised these plans. They made me feel micro-managed. However, over time I have grown to like them a little.

And, I think its time I use a little Micro-managing in my own life; I need a little working plan of my own.

So, in the next couple of weeks, by my 41st birthday on Oct. 5, I am going to come up with a list of 41 yearly goals. I am going to attempt to create weekly work plans to help me reach my goals. The ultimate goal: not to be here, on the eve of my 42nd birthday, wondering where my time and energy and life has gone.

*It's not helping that I found the second season of Nip/Tuck at a thrift store a few months ago and the theme seems to be Christian and Shawn turning 40.

Thrift Share Monday: All Seasons

This weekend as I pulled items from a box of recently thrifted knick-knacks, I suddenly realized that I had almost all of the seasons and holidays represented in one box o'crap. I found examples of spring (with a bonus Valentine's Day item), summer, and fall (I am leaving out winter although I have plenty of that kitsch too-I am just tired of the season and don't even want to consider it tonight!)All of these items have been gathered since Christmas in various towns and sources east of the Mississippi.

Spring: bunnies (of course) are represented by the Avon candle holder (love it) and the vintage cookie cutter; the little girl is carrying a basket and possibly an egg; the egg houses are a collection my boys and I have been gathering at yard sales and such (easier to find than Xmas village stuff and cheap!); I almost thought I had nothing for St. Patty's day until I discovered the Irish Coffee towel among my treasures. Can you spot the St. Valentine's Day representation?


Summer: June wedding month (I plan to remove the vintage cake topper and use the wedding bell jar in some other way); NIP Homer Simpson chia head (Ok, it seems summer-y to me); the pig cookie cutter (perfect for a Southern style BBQ event); the Dutch boy cookie cutter (hmmm, maybe he should be with spring since I think tulips with Holland); a bi-centennial storage jar; and an Annual from 1959 depicting camping girlies (this book has great illustrations in it).



Autumn: My favorite time of year and what better represents the return of cooler nights? Owls, of course! I found 8 of these cute glasses at a thrift near Cincinnati (50c each); I also found the Great Tales of Terror book for 50c recently; a darling set of ABC cards with vintage French illustrations (reproduction); and last, another ubiquitous cookie cutter (I thrifted all of the cookie cutters together if you can't tell)-this one, of course, represents that #1 fall-ish fellow Jack!


There you have it-a year of thrift in only a few short weeks of (cold, dank, miserable) winter!

Join the thrifting fun at Apron Thrift Girl and Her Library Adventures!