Finding time...

Winter is upon us here in Minnesota, and I gotta tell you, I love winter. The snow, water proof boots, thick socks, hot drinks, gray clouds, blue skies, cold air, bundled faces... not a thing I don't like about it.

2011 was insane. Just beyond comprehension. We started out thinking we would be leaving Wisconsin and moving to Tuscaloosa, but after celebrating Theo's promotion we learned we were Minnesota bound. We spent a good chunk of the year living seperately, hard enough for any family, but a military family that also never knows when we could be seperated again by deployment, it is like stealing borrowed time. If that makes sense? We begantrying to sell our house, which we did- in one day, but then that fell apart when the buyer's bank assessed our house at 20,000 lower than we owed... we tried a short sale for a few months, and now have spent 4 months trying to do a voluntary foreclosure. Legally Theo has to live where he's assigned, and we couldn't afford to live in two places. Hands tied. Then, Theo had this entire foot rebuilt, complete with metal plates, screws, and cadaver bone. Yipes. He spent 3 months on crutches, conviently right after we moved... so I had to basically unpack alone. I tell you friends, that about killed me. I also stubbornly moved a good 1/3 of my garden with me, and found thousands and thousands of hours of weeds and invasives to pull out here at our new rental home. If the moving in didn't kill me, the garden *almost* did. I almost quit my passion. But, tough as can be, I made it to fall and Theo began walking again, and I began resting, and knitting, and letting my back heal, and actually acknowledging my fibromyalgia.

I'm coming off my busiest fall ever, having knit my little hands to pieces for my Etsy shop. Making, selling, creating, had me start to believe in dreams again. Life got a little rosier, just when it really needed to. We ha da delightful two weeks with my mom sightseeing Minnesota winter (as pictured previously). And Christmas was just nice. Nice and relaxing. Once all the Christmas decorations came down and the house was cleaned up, I felt a massive weight off my shoulders. There has never been a better time to start fresh. I was so ready to move forward and never look back. On a real level. None of the promises, lofty non sense, just commited to simply being different... eating better things, purging excess, getting down to the details again, in terms of our home, and our love, and our stuff.

This winter feels like a reprieve. I am so thankful for it. I've been knitting, and reading blogs, and watching television (a year ago I could say I had no interest in TV, and now... I'm loving it). I watch Paula Dean's son's cooking show, E! News, The View, and a million dramas and comedies. I've been decorating. Framing pictures. Organizing... although my little army or tornadoes tears up most of the shit I organize. lol.

This week, I whupped out the scrapbooking stuff. In our move I lost my designated scrapbook room, so I decided to take the china out of the china cabinet and fill it with my supplies. I put them in my collection of pottery. I'll have to take pictures... looks very cute. So right now more than half my dining room table is covered in my supplies. 6 photo boxes of pictures. Long story, but I finally printed 3 years of pictures last year, and then, when we found out we were moving, I never had time to scrap it all... I am so behind. And I love it. More time to reflect. And I love to crank out layouts. I don't like to linger and debate what to say or do... just go. It has been cleansing, and somewhere inside me I'm feeling a resonating completion. Telling your family's story just feels good.

Here are some the layouts I made this week (and a few recent months):

One for the 2011 album:

Happy winter!