A Reintroduction....

Wow, I've been gone away from this little blog of mine for quite some time! I suppose that there is really no excuse except that well, life happened. Ok, a LOT has happened in my life since I last blogged, and a lot is going on in my mind as I sit down at this blog tonight. First, let me briefly tell you what has happened.

1. A bad bout with my depression and anxiety. I was doing decent and I got the not so bright idea to come off of my antidepressant. I really don't like the side effects to my medication, I never have liked the side effects and the only reason that I kept taking it was because all the others I had tried had worse side effects! But, within a month of coming off of my meds, my mitral valve prolapse began to act up, which mimics anxiety attacks...which is one of the main reasons that I was put on this specific antidepressant! After trying to get that under control, to no avail I might add, the constant "anxiety" led to a relapse in my depression. And when it relapsed, it relapsed with a HORRIBLE vengeance Ultimately, I had no other choice but to go back on my meds. So, I've not gotten the bright idea since then to once again come off of these meds...but I HAVE thought about it!

2. But, the biggest change in my life since I last blogged is that my family has moved! In October of 2016, we purchased a home on 2.5 acres of land.

On the property sits a shed that will get converted into my "crafting haven" so that I can quilt, scrapbook, etc. to my hearts content. There is also what was once a rather large woodworking shop, that is going to become my husband's "man cave" or whatever he desires to do with it.

One of the blessings of this house and land is the peace and quiet that I have craved for so long. I have to admit that I fell in love with this property when I fist sat foot on it, but when we closed on it was when I realized that it was the answer to YEARS of prayers. I had prayed for a long time to be able to live in the country and not the city, this home is in the country. I had prayed to have enough land to garden and raise chickens, well there's enough land to garden and raise chickens! But perhaps more than all of that I prayed for peace in my life, and I realized on my first morning here that PEACE was the only feeling I had as I sat outside with a cup of coffee. And when we lived inside the city limits there were solicitors, etc. that would regularly knock on our door. But out here, Houdini is what has knocked on our door! He's not a magician...heck, he's not even a human! But more than once, he's knocked on my front door!

I love hearing the neighbors chickens, watching squirrels playing in trees, seeing rabbits hopping across my field and front yard (they also play hide and go seek under my cedar trees), listening to birds every day, seeing a neighbor's horses, and hearing cows mooing (still don't know who owns the cows though). I've actually realized that we have quite a bit of wildlife out here...some really good ones and some not so good ones...like this guy...

3. America has a new President. Some people in the country are very happy about this, others are very unhappy about this, and I think there's some who aren't sure if they like the new President or not. If you think that I'm going to discuss politics on this blog, umm NO I'm not. But, the election and inauguration of this new President has happened since I last blogged.

Now, for all of the things that have been on my mind.

1. JOURNALING! It turned out that 2016 was actually a really bad year for me as far as keeping a journal was concerned. I made a yearly "divider" for a 3 ring binder that was meant to hold the journal pages, along with the pages from my 2015 journal. And I made a page about the Presidential election that happened in November...and that was it...nothing else. So this year, I decided to take a different approach to my journal, and I made my very own "Junk Journal". I now have an actual notebook that has been altered and functions as a smash book, art journal, collage journal, and "regular" journal. I'm sure that I'll talk more about my junk journal later ;)

2. RECIPES. I have realized that I am actually OBSESSED with recipes! I totally love the things, especially vintage ones! I've been working on a book of "collected" recipes for close to two years now, and it's a junk journal. But when we moved, I found a rather large box of clipped recipes in the back of my bedroom closet. Now the funny thing about that box of clipped recipes is the fact that it has now been moved TWICE. It is mostly recipes that I clipped between 2005 and the end of 2007, perhaps I added a bit to it after that, but I highly doubt it. There are also several hand written recipes, so all of those definitely need to find their way into my recipe junk journal. I've also realized that I need to begin recipe junk journal number 2 because I have recipes that are bigger than my current recipe junk journal, and I'm STILL collecting recipes. I have a feeling that recipe junk journals are something that I will always be making. And this year, I began a Recipe Facebook group called "Recipe Addicts Anonymous"

Ok, I think that this just about covers what's been going on.