Wednesday, July 20, 2011

A new journal

Confession time! I am a great list maker. I have many wonderful intentions. I enjoy writing. I have been successful in journaling in an on and off again fashion. When I am out of the country for an extended period of time, I am very faithful to record my impressions. When I am home, not so much. And mostly, not at all. There are several journals in various places in my home...in boxes in the upstairs "office", in baskets by the bed, in a pile by the fav' chair. One or two of them have daily or almost daily journal entries. Others were kept for a few weeks or a few months and then forgotten.

Last year a friend told me about her new journal. This one is for serious business...it's a ten year journal!! While surfing 'round Amazon.com, I came across 5 year journals but they are very small...like a 6x8 inch page! I called said friend and asked about hers. The genius of this journal is that each page has 4 lines for that day and all ten years of that day are on one page! So it doesn't require long entries although there are pages and pages for "continued".(There are 493 pages so there are "extra" pages, planning pages, overview pages, calendar pages-for 12 years- an address book and the "how to get the greatest value from Journal 10+" pages.) It seemed time for me to get serious about journaling! I probably shouldn't reveal this until I've been successful for a while but I am so excited that I'm sharing about this on the VERY FIRST DAY!!  The Journal10+ arrived today!!
   It would have been great to have one for the past ten years...those have been great and fortunately I did journal faithfully while in Kenya, Belize and Ireland. Wish I'd kept a better journal of other things. But this is my opportunity!
  In case you are interested, you can check it out for yourself at www.journal10.com. It is published by Because Time Flies. Now to start filling in the pages ....

Worth Waiting For....

Yes, some things ARE worth waiting for. About ten years ago I decided I needed/wanted "new" bedroom furniture. I had an assortment of mismatched pieces. I began the search. The bedroom is small as is the budget so there was, of course, little that would be suitable. Bedroom furniture these days seems to be massive. I guess that is because newer homes have bedroom suites, not little rooms intended only for sleeping and storing your clothes. I searched and searched. And I waited. In 2008 I visited at a home in North Carolina filled with wonderful antique pieces. My interest in old things came to the fore again. I began checking at our wonderful local resale shop....The Treasure Mart in Kokomo. Every two or three months, I was poking around in the drafty, cold building in winter and sweltering hot and stuffy three story warehouse in summer. Nothing. However, I did find a wonderful oak dropleaf table with 3 pressedback chairs for my dining room. Great deal at $185. It was my plan to become very intentional about hospitality and have friends in regularly. To date, some 18 months later, I have had two such occasions...but the intent is still there!

However, the bedroom remain mismatched. Early in June I had the pleasure of another visit to the same lovely home in NC and my desire for bedroom furniture was resurrected. A few weeks ago a friend and I spent an afternoon together and went to The Treasure Mart to reminisce over things we remembered. There are dishes that everyone's mother and even grandmother had. There are school desks from the 40s and the 60s. There are old doilies, junk jewelry, fine china, tools, tins, wall hangings, clocks and yes, lots of furniture. Some is battered and bruised; other pieces redeemable. AND there in the middle of June, I found THE BEDROOM SUITE! This one is probably from the 30s or 40s. It's a "Waterfall" style. There was a double bed, vanity with mirror and bench and a tall chest of drawers with side wardrobe. The price was $495. This is the one I have been looking for these past ten years!! So I went home and measured and then returned to purchase! This time there was a small notice on the vanity announcing that the suite is 40% off!! Oh...this IS my day! Just what I wanted and less than $300.
The bedroom is still small. I need to downsize my queen size brass bed to the double Waterfall bed but that will come. I found two period boudoir lamps. Several years ago I had made a filet crochet that is just a bit long for the middle section but does ok. I found the doilies under the lamps at a garage sale for 50 cents. Note the veneer on the corners. 
My little "cottage" style home is over 100 years old. I think the furniture thinks it has "come home." It's cozy and I love it. Yep, some things are worth waiting for.
My little cottage...