Musings

I am sitting in front of my front window of our new residence, soaking up the warm morning sun, watching the barren trees lightly sway with the morning breeze. Christmas and New Years are now over, the peace and quiet allow me to reflect on the past  year, what I hope for the New Year.

The past year has been one of challenges and change. My husband and I have been remodeling this house, having moved in two weeks ago.  There is still LOTS to do, but I have a bedroom to sleep in that is 90% finished, and a great bathroom.  Walls have been taken down and rebuilt. My son has done an excellent job with the drywall and painting. The color in the living room is quite mellow for me, allows the light from the sun to reflect. Their is a warmth that comes through, even when it is gloomy and dark.

Anyone who has ever tried a remodeling project will attest to the stress it puts on a relationship. There were many times I wanted to just stop and back out, something inside would keep me going. Add to that my chronic pain issues and my sympathetic pain disorder, I'm amazed at how well we have come through this.  I hope to post some of my projects, even the mundane such as cleaning the wood furniture.

Not much baking has gone on in the past year in our home. My two biggest baking accomplishments of the year were the wedding cake I made in August, and the baking demos I did at the MN State Fair.

I have enjoyed developing and baking recipes made from cake mixes.  One of my goals for the new year, is to come up with a recipe that uses cake mixes, but can be made in small amounts at a time.  With families being smaller, a large cake is not always practical.

I will also post more of my scrapbooking projects. I really enjoy spending time making mini albums using my new Eclips die cutting machine, so watch for those in the future.

As we get closer to spring, you will also find gardening tips, stories of my garden. Two summers ago I started a new garden out here, using the Square Foot Gardening method.  I am amazed at how well the garden did.  This past summer, I had a row that was based on the Lasagna Method, I have never seen tomatoes grow so high with such a huge yield!  Looking forward to trying that again this year!

I encourage those reading this, to take advantage of this quiet time in winter, to think back on your past year, to those thing you may want to change, new goals for the next year. This is a great time to sit back and recharge for the busy months ahead..........