Unrecognizable

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My life is almost unrecognizable from the way it was just a year ago.
Sure I do a lot of the same things, but I am very different.

Last year I was trying to bolster myself up so I could ask my husband for a divorce.  

Last year I was getting my antique booth up and running so I might have some money coming in.

Last year I was scared that once again, I would push the idea of divorce out of my mind and go on pretending to be happy. 

Last year I said yes to my friend, Steve, and told him that I would be his caregiver.  He lived alone and needed someone who would help him get to and from dialysis three times a week and be there for him for appointments, doctor visits and ultimately be his caregiver full time (for a few weeks) when he got the call to get his kidney transplant.  This full time role could be years away.  We were told 3 to 5 years.

Last year I was bone weary, emotionally drained, walking through my days praying something good would happen so I could hold on to that feeling to make it until the next day.  

Last year the thought of blogging was so overwhelming that I had to quit.

Last year the thought of taking a picture was mind numbing.

Last year walking into my house every day without my kitty there to greet me was just heartbreaking. 

I seriously felt that everything in my life was sad.  Even volunteering to take Steve to dialysis was sad.  He was usually happy and upbeat when I picked him up to take him to dialysis but by the time I got back a few hours later the dialysis had literally drained him, gave him a headache and he rarely ever felt decent again until the next day.  

It was actually the weekly trips (Tue, Thur and Sat) picking up Steve, taking him to D (as we called it) and then coming back an hour or so before he got unhooked from the dialysis machine, that got me living again.  They say if you can't help yourself then you can help someone else and that will in turn help you.  Well, I decided to listen to whoever THEY is!  I decided that if we had to go through 3 to 5 YEARS of dialysis, I couldn't be heartbroken every single time I dropped him off and picked him up.  I had to make it the best experience possible for both of us.  I had to make the day worth it.  So I just started being my goofy self, I laughed as much as possible, we talked about happy things, I asked questions about Steve's life and teased him about those things later (I love to tease!) and he responded with fun and laughter, too.   It was a light, a big, huge, giant light!  D days were still a bit depressing, but it was almost always a nice time together and I believe Steve got stronger and so did I during that time.

Found on Pinterest - unknown origin

I went on an adventure in August (leaving Steve in the capable hands of our transplant community who shuttled him back and forth while I was gone.)  I once again went up the East Coast and spent a few weeks with friends.  My friend Bob, who I've talked about quite a bit on here, is one of my best friends.  She and I are quite a pair and we always have a good time together.  She needed help getting her house cleaned out so she could put it on the market and I spent two weeks or more maybe with her and we played a little and packed and sorted and had a garage sale and stuff.  We talked and watched Downton Abbey Seasons One and Two and laughed and cried.  It was another incredible adventure.  More light was coming in to make me stronger.

I spent a week in Amish country with my friend Lynn.  She had set up a transplant recipient reunion at her place, so I helped in the final few days before the event.  It was so great to have so many friends from around the country come to the reunion.  My transplant community is my home, I've come to realize that more and more.  I love being a part of it.  I think a spotlight is now shining on me by this time.

I went home to Michigan in October for two weeks.  Home.  I always love being home, but this time I had so much hope for myself that I knew I had it in me to change my life.  It was this trip home that gave me the thinking time without any pressure.  I cried a million tears that trip.  It's funny how coming home can do that.  

To be continued...

Kristin

Gifts and Goodies

I think I'm back to life.  

I swear, working the home show just sucks the life out of me.  I don't know how in the world people can work those things week after week.  Maybe a person can get used to it.  Well, I'm not going to try!  The whole reason why we do the home show is to promote the Monkey Bars Garage Storage System and to drum up interest in the product - ultimately giving estimates and installing.  The show has so far been a success.  We didn't get as many estimate sign ups as we have in previous shows, but nearly all have requested Tom to come out and give an estimate this week and he already has a job scheduled for tomorrow morning.   Life is good. 

Now that I am back in the land of the living and not off vacationing with Bob I can finally show you some of the delightful goodies she brought with her on her visit.  She knows me so well, that of course I loved every little thing.

I have already started reading Tim Gunn's book - Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work.  I love little lessons and Tim - perfect combination.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've watched these two movies. I do already own Music and Lyrics, but I'm going to take this copy to Gulf Shores and leave it in the condo there.  Overboard was recorded on VHS so many many years ago by my sisters, then I'm sure I recorded it on VHS for my own place and now I think I may have it on the DVR.  I'm so happy to have it on DVD :)

The shark in a hula skirt is just so Bob, that's is perfect for me, too!  If she has a shark mailbox it would one day be dressed like this.  If she had a manatee mailbox it'd be dressed like this!!   We have exchanged Christmas ornaments in the past, but I don't recall that I sent her one this past year.  Well, our gift giving has been pretty sporadic the past few years, so I don't think I did. 

Then if all of that wasn't enough, she gave me this gorgeous purse!  It's leather, with pockets and a plaid interior and has a long strap, a very long strap :)  I love it.  I don't have a small purse like this anymore and I've been wanting one - so this couldn't be more perfect.

While we were out and about the very first day of our adventures I found some pottery.  Both of these pieces were found in galleries just a block of Centre St in Fernandina Beach.  There were three galleries in one house.  I got the plate above in the one called "Slightly Off Centre" and the red bowl below was from the Amelia Gallery.  I think my husband has used this bowl a dozen times since I brought it home.  He just loves it.  I guess I made a great choice.

The plate is something I've been looking for for years.  One of my very first blog posts (Broken Pottery) I talked about how I cracked one of my favorite plates.  I've been looking for a fairly deep plate, in a beautiful glaze, that could be my dinner plate.  I have not broken the other pottery plate, so I only neeed one.  This one isn't as thick as my originals, so I'm going to have to be a bit more careful, but it is lovely and just what I wanted. 

So the pottery I bought for me.

and the gifts were given to me.

I guess this post is all about me!

Thanks Bob!!  I love the gifts. 
(Someday I'll get that chicken photo in the mail to you)

Hope you have a great day!
Kristin

Fernandina Beach part I

She's back home, in her snowy little town, but boy oh boy did we have a great week.

We had a lot of fun and millions of things to talk about.

We ate food (lots of food),  drove around town and added a few hundred miles to my odometer, saw a lot of wildlife, shopped a little, visited her friend in Orlando, saw my friends in the hospital and slept with the windows open.

The best vacations we've had together have been the ones spent in the car driving around and chatting.

Since I haven't said much this week, I'll start tonight with a little photo essay of our first few days.

Our first day out I decided to take a route I had never driven before.  It was the scenic drive to Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach.  I really like the sandy tracks off the main roadway.  When we stopped to take mailbox pictures, I took this photo.

Lots of interesting mailbox art.  The dolphin was right next door to the Danish flag with the rope.  The surfers on the big wave was a hundred yards up the same road from the others.  It was clearly an exciting drive for us!

In order to read the menu, you will probably have to click on the photo.  I put dots next to the featured item and that was the Trio of Grilled Cheese ( shown below in the collage)  Oh my goodness it was so so good!

Bob ordered the the grilled cheese trio, too.  We shared the mac and cheese, as one can never have too much cheese in a meal and then we ordered the trio of dessert. 

The bread pudding was the most delicious dessert I've had in a very very long time.  It tasted like a creamy, buttery french toast dessert.  Then we had a chocolate fudge cake and a peach cobbler.

Our waiter was attentive, funny, informed and fantastic.  This was a fabulous meal.


Jack and Diane's
708 Centre Street
Fernandina Beach, FL 32034-3941
(904) 321-1444 ‎

To walk off our fab lunch we walked around a few antique shops.  I asked the person at the front desk if I could take photos because the first few steps in the door were things I had to capture.  She said, "Please!  Photograph anything you'd like!" and I did :)

This hanging hook thing was unusual and very cool.  I saw some kissing folks :) and a Royal Crown sign as well as three or four other RC items.  The most wonderful, awful, tackiest shell sculpture ever!  Loved it!! 

I'm going to end it here and continue the adventures of Bob and Bob tomorrow.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444, from Half-Past Kissing Time, hosts Friday Fragments each week. I have been scribbling little notes all week to add to my fragments post and I have left that note pad in the car.  So this post is going to be really fragmented!  Please visit Mrs. 4444's Fragmented post so you can find even more severely fragmented posters like me.

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 I'm the proud owner of the 75th Anniversary edition of Gone With The Wind.  It came to me wrapped in StarWars wrapping paper with a Santa post it with the name Bob on it.  I'm so excited!  Thanks Bob!!  (My dear friend - we both call each other Bob - sent it to me)  It was a movie that I love dearly, but I don't think I would have ever purchased it.  ...but now that I have it, I've put it on twice!   Bob and I don't normally exchange gifts (or we haven't exchanged gifts in several years), so this was an unexpected delight!

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photo taken by Bob

This same friend is the one who has been wanting to get her paws on green bunny.  I finally gave in and sent it to her.  I loaded up bunny in a box full of cotton balls.   I thought it was only appropriate to do so.  Afterall, bunny does dispense cotton balls from her bunny tail.

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I still have my tree up.  I still have my tree up and have turned the lights on each evening.  I still have my tree up, the lights on and the stockings hung on the door knobs of my entertainment center.  I bet I'll get everything put away in the next week or so, but I have to say that I love the Christmas tree lights so much that I could almost have them up through the entire winter.

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Now that it's the new year I've been thinking about all of the things I'd like to do as a 365 day project or as a 52 week project.  Now it's nearly the 8th and I feel like I can't begin any of these projects because I didn't start on the first.  It's so silly.  I can start at any time, just like I did my blogging.  but I still feel like I've missed out.  Funny, huh?

However - if you are trying to do something several times a week and would like a handy dandy little PDF to mark off your victories - go on over to the The Small Object Steno Pad and grab the free resolution calendar.   I love it!

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My husband, Tom, went to a wedding with a friend in 1974 (or thereabouts.)  On the ride down from Lake Superior State in the Upper Pennisula of Michigan all the way to Gary, Indiana this guy (I think Tom said his name was Cowboy) talked about the band that was going to play at the reception.  He said that the band was going to be famous some day real soon.  So my husband said that he was so very anxious to hear this band and see if his friend was just telling tales.    I just asked him if he actually liked the band and he said not really.  But what does he know.  The band that played at that wedding and who did become famous was Styx and the drummer was the groom's brother.

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I found this incredibly creative anniversary gift that someone made for their spouse.  It involved postage and envelopes - two of my favorite things.   You must click over and see what Emily at Wide Open Spaces did for her husband.  I am truly amazed at the creativity that some people possess.

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I hope that Twenty Ten has started off on the right foot and that the rest of the year is fabulous.  Have a delightful weekend and I hope to see you back here next week if not sooner!  Thanks Mrs. Fours for hosting Friday Fragments each week. 

Have a great day!

Kristin

POTD - Potato Bunny

Potato Bunny - by Kristin Corlett

This is one of the last photos of dear sweet green bunny that I'm going to have. You see, today is Bob's birthday, so in honor of that special day, I decided to stop tormenting her with photos of bunny. 

Happy Birthday, Bob!
Kristin

Bad Bunny

My neighbor parks this Monte Carlo in the spot next to mine in our garage.  It's always so clean and shiny.  I'm petrified that my drivers side door might someday swing too far and touch his car.  It's just nerve wracking. 

...but bunny wanted to sit on the top, so I let her :)

My friend Bob, who is waiting impatiently for Bunny to make her move to New Hampshire, really loves this particular coffee shop that we have here in Jacksonville.  There used to be one next door to my place, but they sold it and moved to a new location.  I found the new location the other day. 

Bunny decided she wanted to go there.

Yep, that's its name...and there is a little donkey next to the name in case you thought it might be a bad word or something *snicker snicker

Bunny also wanted to go inside and see if it was as much fun as the old place.  Ehhh, not so much, but she did enjoy getting her photo taken with the t-shirts and coffee mugs.

Bunny will indeed be making her way to New Hampshire.  
She still has a few more stops to make.

Onward!
Kristin

Maggie, a plate and books

Even today I catch myself saying "my cats" or "I have two cats" when in actuality I don't have two kitties anymore. I only have one. I got Maggie and Mocha in 1996. A woman came to my sisters garage sale when I happened to be there and I was saying that I wanted to get a cat again. This woman spoke up and said that her litter of kitties were ready to go and if I wanted, I could come by and pick one out.

I first spotted Maggie because the way the black wound around her eyes like a bow. I loved the deep dark coloring that she had. She also clung on to me for dear life when I held her up to make sure she really was a girl. I wanted to take all of the kitties home, that's for sure, but Maggie was my first pick.

I needed to have a sister for Maggie. I wanted two girls. I checked all the other kitties and found three more girls. I looked at them all and there was this one that was scared to death. She kept trying to hide. She was so skittish and I loved her immediately. She was lighter in all of the colors - just as Maggie's colors were rich and dark, this kitty was lighter. I chose her and named her Mocha.

Well, in 2006 our lovable, 28 pound Maggie, who loved Tom with all her heart, died. Tom had his liver transplant Dec of 2005 and he was just starting to be able to be with the kitties again when Maggie died. We'd been through a hell of a year and to lose Maggie was a lot to take in. Everyone knew about how much we loved Maggie and so my friend made this plate to commemorate her. Isn't it beautiful?!!

She made it at one of those paint-your-own-pottery places. On the back she signed her name and put Maggie's name and year. I thought it was such a lovely thing to do for us! She told me right away that she made the plate and I've looked forward to seeing it since that very day.

Last Friday, exactly a week ago today, I received a box of books and the Maggie plate. My friend finally got the commemorative plate mailed to me, that she had lovingly painted 2 years earlier. In a way, I'm glad it took a few years, because now I probably won't burst into tears each time I see it.

I love the plate!! Thanks Bob!!

I also look forward to reading these books, too. My friend is an English teacher and an avid reader, so I'm excited to read what she picked out for me.

Have any of you read any of these books? If so, let me know what you think!

Have a fabulous weekend!
Kristin

Spring Peepers

I lived in a house on Bell Hwy in Eaton Rapids, MI. Behind the house was a swamp. I can't help but think about that swamp when I think about spring coming. I think the window glass in that house was as thin as a piece of paper and that the caulking had long since shriveled up and died. The master bedroom had a sliding glass door, right next to my side of the bed and the ice cold breezes that came through there in the winter was welcomed compared to the sounds that the Spring Peepers made. Did you know that Spring Peepers turn into frogs with deep voices? Did you know that frogs talk well beyond spring??

We lived in that place a few years and the frogs drove me absolutely batty. They were so loud. People on the other end of my phone conversation could hear them, when I was in the house with all the doors and windows shut. I told my friend, Bob*, about these frogs. Actually I complained and complained about how I couldn't sleep, they were so loud, and it was only just the beginning of spring! She laughed her funny laugh and twilled - I just love spring peepers! Ha! She came to visit one spring. She was in for a rude awakening. She actually asked at one point -- What is that noise?!! Your Frogs, I said.

She will never, NEVER forget that Spring.

I don't think new windows could even help keep the sounds of those frogs out of the house. There were millions of them. The tad poles that hatched in our unopened pool (of course, on top of the tarp that covered the pool) were in the billions. Billions of baby frogs. Thankfully I don't live there any more. The people who bought the house said they wanted to extend the swamp...make it even more swampy. I disclosed to them that they didn't want more frogs. I told them that the frog noises drove me crazy. They laughed like my friend did - We love frogs!

I doubt they made a bigger swamp after their first spring in that house. The house on Bell Hwy.

Have A Great Spring!
Kristin

*Bob is a name that my friend and I call each other. We are both Bob's.