Herbs, minimalism, decorating, ADHD thinking, projects - realistic and unrealistic, etc. - yep all this in one blog post ...

I am so happy that my herbs are coming up!  All but Rosemary.  I keep talking to her and urging her to burst through the soil but nothing yet.   :-(   I continue to check on the dampness of the soil, water when necessary, and talk to Basil, Mint, and Thyme - thanking them for showing up and making me happy.  I am hoping this weekend is going to be nice so I can start my "bag" garden.  I've bought two bags of top soil and we have picked out the spot where I will put them.  I've already bought my onion bulbs and also some other veggies.

I am still dealing with becoming more minimalist.  I tend to be able to purge things and not hold onto things but I still have too many things, I think.  I truly would like to have a bohemian type of minimalism - if there is such a thing.  I've been inspired by the Innermost House.  The simple style and warm minimalism speaks to me.

I have begun converting my room into a more simple style.  I used to be addicted to reds, golds, purples - a mixture of all kinds of colors.  There is nothing wrong with it but I'm losing interest in it.  I am drawn to whites, ivories, etc.  Now when I go to the thrift store, I look for white and ivory textiles.  Here is a pic of my dresser top. It used to have a red, pink, and gold throw on it.  What a
difference a white tablecloth and white accessories (along with gold) make.  I plan on painting the dresser that ivory color of the swatch you can see laying on the white cloth there on the right.  The box was one of the first wood-working projects my son did years ago.  I found the two gold frames on the roadside just a few doors down along with a few really nice baskets.  I took them gratefully!   I also found an old style bedspread that I fell in love with at the local thrift store.  It is pure white.  My room is becoming brighter and lighter and just feels good.  The color of my room was the color it was when I came here.  I actually really like it.

Oh you may wonder why my "room" is a bedroom and why I don't sleep in the same room as my boyfriend.  The truth is he is a very light sleeper and I not only snore but I also move around a lot due to my arthritis in my neck.  I move many times during the night from one side to the other side and I take a while to position my pillow just right under my neck so I won't wake up with a horrible headache.  We make it just fine with this arrangement.  I would feel much worse if I was keeping him up all night when he has to get up so early to go to work each morning.  So my bedroom and my office are all upstairs.  I like it.  I'll show pictures of my office at some point.

My ADHD brain still gets me in trouble.  I literally began thinking about the possibility of offering to do a column in the local paper.  My idea for the column would take a crazy amount of research time.  What was I thinking?  Luckily, I haven't made that offer because realistically, I would never be able to pull it off.

My idea?  Oh yeah.  I have this weird feeling of sadness when I see empty buildings - residential or commercial.  I would love to do a column where I pick one building at a time and research not only the history of it but also talk about ideas on how to bring it back to life.  Can you imagine how much time it would take to do that type of column?  Goodness gracious.  But that is how my ADHD brain thinks.   So many cool wonderful projects come up in my brain.  I can spend a lot of time just THINKING about doing them - and the time it would take to actually DO them?  It's truly impossible.  I cannot even get the things done that I have on my plate now ... how could I possibly take on that project, as well?  I can't.  That's the reality of it.  I am soooo trying to become more of a realist in some ways.  I need to focus my dreaming on things that I really could possibly accomplish - like planting a small garden - growing herbs in my kitchen window - finishing the glazing/painting project on the sun porch once it is warm enough to open the sun porch back up for the summer - projects like that.  Those are realistically doable and I will be able to enjoy the fruits of that labor - in some ways, literally!

Dreamer vs. Realist (can you become a combination of both?)

 I am trying so hard to keep to some kind of routine ... I always prided myself on being a gypsy type of person ... always moving ... rebelling against routine ... for me, this was probably not always a good idea.  Some people can live that lifestyle and still maintain some semblance of "being together" in the midst of their creative chaotic endeavors.  I do not believe I ever was able to do that.  My life eventually became completely unmanageable which is a huge symptom of a need for a big change and not a change that amounts to "changing seats on the Titanic".   Finally just a couple of years ago I came to the conclusion that what I needed, especially with a very chaotic and active ADHD brain, was routine and serenity and security. I had already figured out that clutter around me created even more clutter in my brain and I tried to purge things.  It is hard because I like pretty things around me as well.   I just have to be more selective.  I moved to Vermont two years ago to be near my grandkids and my son.  My son and daughter-in-law were kind enough to offer for me to come out and live with them for 1/2 a year while I worked on my health and finding work here.  Slowly, I got better and I got a part-time job for a while eventually finding a full-time job that is secure and working with really nice people. I work for a small law firm less than a half mile from where I live.  I eventually met the love of my life and I live with him in his home that he has lived in for 30 years.  I am slowly putting my stamp on it and he and the house are feeling like home now.  Because I have an ADHD brain and because I am at my core a "dreamer", I think a lot about a lot of things at the same time and make BIG ambitious plans.  I am working very hard to start thinking more realistically about some things.  When I think of decorating it turns into major renovation projects. My brain can just go wild with these thoughts.  This is GOOD for a writer.  I could write all kinds of crazy dreams.  BUT, in real life, I am trying very hard to limit my project dreaming to projects I might actually be able to accomplish.  In my head I have totally renovated our kitchen.  I even renovate my son's kitchen in my head.  I even renovate anybody's kitchen or rooms in their homes in my head as well as the rooms in my own home.  My brain just goes crazy that way.    BUT, again, I am working very hard to try not to do that!  It is truly a waste of brain energy and time that could be going into actually DOING smaller projects that are actually accomplishable.  Also, I am beginning small routines and changing one bad habit at a time rather than dreaming that I can change into a completely new person over night.   This beginning routines has been challenging in another way in that it really brings out some OCD tendencies in me.  But I like them.  I rearranged all my spices recently.  I rearranged all my canned goods recently.  I am beginning to be more obsessed with organizing things and for everything to have a place and for things to look similar.  An example would be that I am collecting baby food jars.  My plan is to spray paint the lids with chalkboard paint and to put all my spices in this baby food jars in my cabinet so that all the spice containers are alike.  I actually love this type of thinking.  Luckily, for me, my boyfriend has OCD tendencies as well so although he is not quite into everything matching he understands my beginning to need this more.  I know I sound a bit crazy right now.  But, in truth, I really like that I am getting a little more OCD.  I think that as I gain more control of my surroundings, the more chance I have of gaining control of my willpower problems in exercising and eating.  I feel eventually, I will be more apt to be in control of what I eat and if I exercise.  These are two things that I have the most problem with in my life and they are so important to my being able to live a long life.  If I do not get these two things under control then my chances of having a long healthy life dim somewhat.  Okay, well I am going to go now and visit the local thrift store and see if I can find any of the items on my list of things I need.   I plan to plant some seeds today and begin my herb garden as well as begin some seeds for my veggie garden I plan to have this year.  I planned to last year but I was not working full time yet and so really had no money to do much of anything.  I will try to post pics!  For now the picture you see here is more of my dream than my actuality at this point.

I am just blown away by the creativity and imagination people have when thinking of ways to repurpose items.  I came across this blog when a friend linked to their idea of making birdbaths for your garden out of old lamps!   I love the picket fence too .... My plan is to put a picket fence around our front yard one day ... probably one less substantial than this ... shorter probably ... I'll try to remember to take a picture of a house in Springfield that I love that has a shorter cute picket fence ... I always comment every time we pass by it ... anyway ... LOVE this idea ...
RESCUE ~ RECYCLE ~ REPURPOSE ~ REUSE
http://chiccottagejunk.blogspot.com/

It's a new day!!! Let's make the most of it, shall we? :-)

Because I have had so many wonderful changes to my life happen over this past year, I decided to start this blog anew.  I had too many negative woe is me type posts and well, I'm not that person anymore.  :-)   I am going to try very hard to blog more regularly because I do want to document my life with my new love Gary Parker and my life here in Vermont living near my son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids.  Part of documenting this is posting photos of my family as well as the various projects I am planning to do around our home which will include repurposing, recycling, reusing types of projects so that I can continue my bohemian simplicity theme.  Thank you to those of you who follow me and actually read my blog posts when they pop up.   I sincerely appreciate you and hope to not bore you much.  :-)   LOVE LOVE LOVE