I subscribe to several other Blogs.  Each day my inbox chimes with posts from friends I haven’t met yet but feel that I am coming to know well.  We share a love of different things, and same things, and they are all gracious ladies – and men – who share their knowledge and love of DIY, thoughts and insights on home, faith, and life and occasionally just simply beautiful pictures that feed the soul. Thank you all. 

Yesterday, there was a thread running through many of the posts concerning the “word” for 2013.  I am relatively new to the Blog world but gather that this is a traditional New Year’s resolution - to choose a word, embracing its meaning and purpose for your life in the coming year.  The posts were sweet and heartfelt; the kind of conversation you would share with close friends and family and they made me think about what word I would choose as we look towards 2014.  And I have decided that my word choice is, Courage.   

All you need is 20 seconds of insane Courage
and
I promise you
Something great will come of it.
                       ~ Benjamin Mee / We Bought a Zoo

I find this a crazy, liberating, and perfect thought; especially in light of my word choice.  You see, for the past several years I have, like many, been working towards a new vocation.  I just had not quite yet figured out what it was.  Then several months ago while searching online for chalk paint I stumbled on the Miss Mustard Seed blog site http://missmustardseed.com.  It was the first time I’d really read a Blog (it’s okay - gasp/ laugh/ roll your eyes - I get it :}  It also quite literally changed my life.  Well, more precisely, it gave me a much needed push in the right  direction.   Within weeks I had launched The Quirky Nest blog with a great deal of help from my Hero, the Technology Specialist in Residence.

Then this past weekend it happened, I finally got a glimpse of where the path was leading, and why I need to find my courage.  We stopped by Seneca Cannery Antiques, one of our favorite hunting-gathering spots, and as we were looking around, my Hero said, “You could do this, open a shop here” and the wonderful thing was that he echoed just what I was thinking.   Now, he is a man of action where given sufficient time I would have surely talked myself out of the adventure.  Therefore, wasting no time, today we met with the manager to find out what it takes to set up business at the Cannery and to add my name to the waiting list for a space.  Reference that “20 seconds of courage” quote. 

I am a firm believer in stepping out on Faith, as is my Hero.   We are in awe of how our lives have evolved over the past decades (a long story to be recited in the not too distance future, promise). So, God, we trust you; lead on and I will do my very best to follow.  For now, I’m working on getting that Courage thing going.

And, there is soooo much to do!!!

Happy New Year, dear hearts!

Cindy

If we are lucky, we get a moment or two during the Holidays that are filled with surprise. The ones that stop us in our tracks, fill us with wonder and maybe even elicit a giggle or two.  One of those moments arrived in the form of a squirrel. Yep, walking right across my living room carpet.  Really, come to think of it, it was more like a stroll. As though visiting humans in their natural habitat was a completely normal everyday occurrence for him. And though I am using the pronoun "him", in truth I didn't actually check so it could have been a girl squirrel.  It was kind of hard to tell under the circumstances.

After saying, "Well, hey Cutie", I had the squirrels attention and I guess he figured it was a good time to pick up the pace a bit because he sort of loped into the hallway. I followed, trying to shoo him away from heading upstairs and getting into my Hero's guitars, or maybe worse, waking up any or all of The Kids. Visions of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation loomed in my head.   Fortunately, he chose to ignore the stairs and instead did a couple of short kinda slow laps around this odd little section of wall where the living room, dining room, hallway and office all meet before trotting off through the dining room, into the kitchen, and right past the feet of my unsuspecting Hero before disappearing into the laundry-pantry.

My Hero was sitting at the kitchen table (sans his "office") working on his computer and was a bit baffled by my explanation that a squirrel had just walked right past him and was now taking up residence our pantry. Understandably, this is not something that happens to a person every day and it took a moment to sink. But he was quick to take me at my word and jumped into action guarding the doorway in case the little interloper decided to try to make a break for it back into the house.

I went in, feeling that the squirrel and I were now at least introduced and he might be a little less wary of me than the stranger I'd just invited to the party.  But the little scamp was nowhere to be found, and this is a tiny room mind you.  In the meantime my brilliant Hero constructed a makeshift barricade and propped open the back door creating a lovely inviting pathway to the great outdoors.  Still not able to see the little dickens, I waggled a broom handle in behind the washing machine and that was just enough encouragement to get him moving again.  I knew this because my Hero said, "It's okay.  He just walked out the door.....I mean - he just walked(!) out the door."  There is something just a tiny bit unsettling about a squirrel that feels that comfortable being in your home. You know? 

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera close at hand, so completely missed this photo op.  But then a single picture just wouldn't have quite captured the whole event.

And in case you are wondering, yes we did figure out how he got in. Remember that ancient oil burning furnace that we had removed?  Well, the chimney is still in place, covered and closed, packed with a bunch of insulation and duct taped...but if a squirrel is really determined....

Hope all your holidays were merry and bright.

And squirrel free. 

HUGS !!!

Cindy

So sorry to have been gone for so long.  As it turns out, newer versions of Word won’t run if you are still using an old version of Windows Vista.  I know, antique and not in a good way. 

This all started with a simple automatic update, after which one little thing didn’t work quite right, then something else didn’t work at all…. Ugh.  Anyway, my Hero has now fully backed up my sweet old 2006 laptop onto an external hard drive (highly recommended, as it turns out) and then installed Windows 7.  (We opted not to be overly optimistic and go for Windows 8.)  A new Word Office Professional Plus 2013 is still sitting patiently in its box until we know that this Windows update is working well, and this post is sort of its trial run.

In the spirit of full transparency - I am not a Geek, though I do like to think of myself as a Fringe-Geek.  I like Geeks, many in my family are Geeks running the gamut from entry level Geek to majorly high-tech Geek.  When they are all together it’s fun to sit and watch their conversations.  I watch because the truth is I may as well be sitting in the middle of the UN during a highly energized discussion; the language barrier is about equal. 

So, though I am very optimistic about being able to jump in and create new posts to The Quirky Nest without delay, if I do drop out of sight again be assured that it’s simply another technical delay and I will return as quickly as possible.  I missed being able to post about what we were up to, and share holiday tidbits as all my fellow Bloggers were doing (Soooooo many wonderful Blogs and so little time to enjoy all of them.  Please check out the ones I have listed, and each one will list others you will find fun and informative – like I said sooooooo many wonderful Blogs.)

Moving forward, please cross your fingers for us and send positive Geekified thoughts our way that we are back up and running for good.

HUGS to ALL,

Cindy

 

A little over three months ago, while looking for information on chalk paint, I stumbled on a blog named Miss Mustard Seed written by a wonderful woman named Marian.  And I was hooked.  So many blogs, so little time, offering so much information, fun, and friendship.  I had heard about on-line communities, but just never got it.  Now I do.  And I want to join in. 

With encouragement from my Hero, I began pulling together ideas on what I could share. As a lifelong decorator ( I truly believe the first piece of furniture I ever moved was my crib ), with a creative can-do spirit, and a frugal-to-the-bone temperament and a new(ish) relationship I felt fairly confident that I had some things to bring to the table.  I also honestly want to hear back from others, the sharing of your ideas and opinions and comments.  Conversations.

What I am not good at is this computer stuff.  After writing a few pieces to launch my blog with, I ground to a halt trying to figure out what next.  What am I missing that needs to be done.  Writing isn’t my problem, how my blog functions is.  There are so many fantastic blogs, so polished, with so much to offer and so well done; I was, and am, totally overwhelmed. 

Then, after a week on the web with “0” comments, which honestly did not surprise me, I was a little concerned that I had missed something important.  And so I went back in and reset some things and am crossing my fingers that this time I have it set up right.  If, by chance, you did try to leave a comment and couldn’t, I do very sincerely apologize.   Please, please try again.

So, after all this rambling, what do you think?  Am I crazy?  Keep going?  I think so.  It’s not in me to give up easily on something I’ve committed to.  But I could really use your thoughts and help on what to do and, or, how to do things better. 

Thank you for hanging in there with me through the rambles.  I hope to hear from you!

Cindy