A Merry Little Christmas

Bray is in the holiday spirit. And so am I and the other hounds. Did a little decorating to have a merry little Christmas. Not so easy putting up the jolly holly with my other hip still needing surgery, but I got my favorite angels up, a few English mice, and new purchases from my two favorite antique shops - Antiques in Old Town and Vintage Village.  I'd say we are pretty festive here at home!

Vintage handmade Santas purchased on EBay years ago.

 

 

My lovely tree in a divine bucket, a purchase from my friend My Vintage Heart a dealer at Vintage Village. This was a must have. Too lazy to haul my huge tree out of the closet and this one fit on my wonderful painted chest in front of the window, a purchase from another friend, Cheryl Alexander at Antiques in Old Town.

 

 

Mantel full of old and new treasures. The Peace sign from Vintage Village but all the other treasures are full of memories from years past.

 

 

I tucked this little book in the wreath. It is from a trip with my mother to London in 1989. Every year I have a small vignette that includes this book and three mice that came home with me from that trip, too. 

 

 

Santa Mouse from England

 

 

And Mr. & Mrs. Mouse, also from that wonderful trip!

 

 

I love my old garden statues. They dress up nicely for the holidays!

 

 

My front door always displays this vintage trellis, but the addition of a French wreath and jingle bells add holiday cheer! Again, all from my two favorite shops!

 

 

 

This looks like cement but is lightweight. Love the old chippy paint!

 

 

Close-up of the wise man and his lamb.

 

 

From years past a prim angel handing over an old hand painted sign for Saint Augustine! The sign is up all year long, reminding me of my mother who still lives there!

 

 

This year round prim angel keeps a watch on my house!

 

 

 

My garden theme continues in the dining room. A small white tree with blue Poinsettias  and a prim holiday angel in an antique flower box.

 

 

 

A close-up photo.

 

 

 

Another angel sits with gardening books and other garden treasures.

 

 

And is there anything prettier than a tree lit at night, no matter the size or type!

 

 

Under the tree an old mother and child statue from the days I had my shop in Old Town Lilburn. I priced her so high she would not sell. She reminds me that at Christmas, and all year long, how lucky we are to be loved and to share our love with friends and family. The true meaning of Christmas.

 

 

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season filled with love!

 

 

Coming Home

 My booth at Antiques In Old Town - complete with a show case for my jewelry.

The scene is set for me to fill with treasures!

Today time turned back for me and I am returning to my love of selling antiques. Only this go round I will sell small items and jewelry, some vintage pieces and many repurposed and made into new treasures that hold a story of their own. My days of lugging large cupboards are over - at least for now until my hip surgery is a thing of the past!

While I've been looking for a change in where I live, I overlooked that I lived happily with my shop when I was in Old Town, Lilburn. There was a magic being in that space and with the people I met. I was happy there. The shop across the street, where once I had rented space and many of the dealers I considered my friends over the years also rented space, was the cornerstone of the two block area. The owners were my friends, too. I had my shop for all of nine months, nine months that I bloomed as a widow, finding myself in a small community of people who felt like family to me. I wrote about my experience being a shop owner, that never sold anything, but tried to pull together a small artist/writer community. Then my finances reared up hinting I was going broke, and I moved out. My blog posts were on my own blog, on The Patch, an online newspaper, and on The Balancing Act's blog, which was part of Lifetime TV. I had a home away from home in a tiny hub twenty minutes from my house in Decatur.

Perhaps I've come full circle. This is where I need to be now. You can't recreate the past, but you can enjoy the now. And my 'now' will be moving back into a shop that I love in a town that feels like home. Wednesday I will begin filling my showcase and I am anxious to see what I come up with. Having been in the antique business for most of my adult life, I still have things tucked here and there, so when I dig around tomorrow, there is no telling what I'll find. I am excited, finally. The depression I've felt over the last months since my hip replacement surgery lifting, being replaced by a touch of euphoria.

I woke up early, the window open to let in a hint of fall air, the air conditioning unit turned off, so I could breathe deeply and hear myself think. The only sound around me, the snoring of the dogs, who did not share my excitement of rising at 5 am. Every memory I had of those nine months, and every post I wrote, came back to me, filling me with a sense of peace and wonderment, reminding me of all the good things in my life.

Tonight I revisited the past. I felt the warmth of it wrap me in its memories, the magic I felt writing late at night resurfaced, too. I've been a widow over seven years now, but only in the last two years have I felt more alone, and that I blame on health issues. I still have a way to go. My right hip needs surgery, which I hope to postpone until after the first of the new year. My left hip mending nicely. Perhaps in 2016 I will be the bionic woman, with two new hips. For now, I am thrilled to have a change of heart, finding my heart beating with excitement as I call myself an antique dealer once again!

 

Plan B

Plan B  I am back to dreaming big! Just a pretty picture as a reminder that the cottage in my mind lives on!

Sometimes I get so carried away thinking the universe is pointing me in a different direction, to change my life, I confuse myself.  It's not really a senior moment on my part, but a big blip in how I see things in my excitement to do something new.

My messages, signs, desires, all seem to revolve around houses. No matter how I try - I can't exorcise the thought I want to move. No matter what I do, I stay put.

I even spoke to a therapist the first of the year to talk about change.

She was kind. She told me my house fantasy, the big old house with a huge farm table in the kitchen, or the sweet 1800's cottage with lots of rooms and gingerbread trim, had nothing to do with houses, but something more I wanted.

I challenged her with the fact it is an old fantasy, since I was young.

After three sessions, I realized I was having too much fun paying money to have someone listen to my fantasy with undivided attention. I was tossing money away because there is no cure for my house dreams. I love old houses, I love antiques, and yes, she was right. It has so much more to do with how I see life in a new place.

Would I be different?  Probably not. I would be me supercharged. And maybe that is the answer to my never ending question. Why do I want to move? I would be me on steroids in a new house rather than the me that has slowed down. The truth is, if I don't get my other hip fixed, I will be sitting in a new house just like I am here. The answer for the moment is to take care of my health and then figure out what is next. A year of being slowed down in what I do has made me think a quick fix is a move.  Don't ask me how I planned to move 3000 square feet of treasures I love, the packing alone staggering. But in my mind, to get to my dream home . . . easy peasey!

As it turns out, the universe has sent me a sign to stay put, or at least not to move to the little yellow house in Athens.  A house that would make me downsize, which was not my plan, but I got caught up with how charming it was! And I am a sucker for charm!

The house in Athens turned out to have a bit of bad Karma surrounding it. I don't know how things got so strange, but the folks did not want to honor my offer after we all signed it. They put it back on the market while I thought I was selling my house to buy theirs. All has ended well, we've mutually dropped the entire thing and I am here, as always, wondering where I should move!

There is a hint of fall in the air this morning, clearing my head. Plan B goes into action. I love fall. I love to nest in with my dogs, snuggle and watch TV. This fall I may have surgery on my right hip. Then I will be bionic woman with two new hips and a good stride to my walk.

I plan to up my writing and reach out close in to see if I can supercharge myself here in Decatur. Be more than I am in the house I keep trying to leave. Time will tell.

My dreams are still big and perhaps soon I will find my answer to the eternal question of where do I want to live. In the mean time, I will share photos of the houses that haunt me at night on Zillow but elude me during the daylight when I go about hiding from the world just how crazy I am.

Crazy for houses, crazy for dogs, and crazy about life, where ever I root!

It's Almost Been A Year Since My Last Visit Here!

 

Miss Bertha worries that she can't climb stairs to get to the bedroom!

Wow! Where has the year gone? So much has happened and my idea of the perfect home has changed drastically for me. Reality bites. Ouch! I am looking at buying a small yellow ranch house in Athens, Georgia, after drooling over turn of the century Victorian homes in Florida and Georgia. Why the change and what the heck has been going on?

First, last fall I had my house on the market for less than thirty days. I realized I could not move - not my home - but my body. My left hip caused me so much pain I literally stopped in place trying to walk from the jolt that went through my hip and down my leg. At that time I so wanted to move to Florida, to be closer to my mother, and to a little town forty miles from her that offered a wonderful pink Victorian home, three levels, mostly renovated, for a price that was hard to believe. Being in metro Atlanta, it is hard to find anything I can afford now. I could not afford to buy the house I am living in now if I weren't already here for so many years!

 

My Florida dream house currently pending sale to another at $149,000.  Seriously . . .

 

The holidays were a bit of a blur since I also popped something behind my right knee that kept me off my feet for a week, all my party plans on hold as I sat with six dogs, ordered food to be delivered, and sobbed with every romantic Christmas movie Hallmark had to offer.

 

I still got on the computer, Zillow my constant companion, next to the dogs, of course.

 

In January, my right hip started bothering me. Walking on a cane I felt like I was a hundred years old with both hips hurting. Still I postponed surgery. I hate the idea of surgery and I needed to figure out who could come take care of my six-pack of hounds while I was gone.

 

Finally I gave in. Surgery was scheduled for May, but I had almost two months to think about it. To distract myself, I pulled a book together, a picture book about one of my dogs, Miss April in Paris, who dreamed of visiting the city of lights. With the help of my talented sister/designer ( PD King Design) the picture book became a reality and posted on Amazon a few days before I had my surgery.

 

 

Available on Amazon. A portion of all sales goes to animal rescue.

 

While my dog dreamed of Paris, I still dreamed of a cottage style house, a farm house, a Victorian beauty. I wanted an acre or two, with maybe some chickens, or a goat. I still dream of that house, but have found a house that suits me well. And once again, I am off my rocker while still on my walker recovering from hip replacement surgery.

 

I found my perfect little ranch house in Athens, Georgia.

 

 

A far cry from the pink Victorian from last fall, but I do love this house. It is perfect for me and the dogs. Maybe I've watched too much HGTV while stuck at home recovering. OMG what they find behind walls when renovating older homes. The last thing I want - more house problems. Perhaps that Zillow ad on HGTV got to me . . . You are not just buying a house, you are buying a lifestyle. (The wording on TV may have been slightly different, but you get the idea.)

 

What do I want for my lifestyle? I don't want to be secluded on a farm away from civilization. How do I run get dog food at midnight? And I don't want stairs. Yes, I am still having trouble with stairs, but I will mend. I have dogs that could not go up stairs and I want them sleeping with me. Right now I yell "bed!!!!" and six dogs race down the hallway to the bedroom. They are waiting with wagging tails when I appear. How would some of them get up a flight of stairs . . . they wouldn't. So, nix the stairs, I'm down to all one level.

 

I have so many other dreams aside from my house fantasy, the cottage in my mind has changed in shape and appearance. I want to write, paint, make jewelry, do shows again, have fun with friends, perhaps attend classes at the University (when you get to be my age you can audit for free!) and find a way to be out of the house more, instead of constantly dreaming in my head!

 

I spend so much time figuring out where to put my stuff (and lots of that stuff is left over from my antique shop, still trying to thin it out) how to get rid of the last of my late husband's stuff (my three outbuildings are full of office desks from thirty years ago, paint cans, insect sprays, and rotting garden chairs from as many years back). I am weighted down by stuff, stuff that doesn't matter to me. I still love the stuff I love and will haul as much as possible to a new home. But I want to feel lighter in my house so I can enjoy everything on one floor. The cottage above still gives me as much square footage as I have here, minus the basement I can't even get into at the moment. It is perfect for me and the dogs. With four bedrooms and three baths, it will be perfect for friends and family to come visit, too.

 

Now it is up to the universe. I am ready to go. My house just went up for sale. It is a crazy thing to be doing this now. I am over one surgery, but still healing, and I may have to have surgery on my other hip. I am on a walker and can't bend down yet. But I believe that things happen when they should. I've done my part, now let's see if the time is right.

 

A fortune cookie at the beginning of the year had a fortune I liked. By the end of this year your dreams will come true. It took me a few months to figure out just exactly what my dream was. My dream versus my fantasy. There is a difference.

 

I want to be in my new home and walking with my new hips. It can happen. Anything can happen. Perhaps the universe has something entirely different for me. Time will tell. But for the moment the cottage in my mind is a little yellow ranch house that makes me smile thinking of a new start.