Pinterest is not an obsession of mine

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No really, Pinterest is not an obsession of mine.
The moon is laughing at the cat. I'm sure I'm the cat in this instance.  I'm totally not giving in that I have an obsession.
It's true I have over 5000 pins and even truer that I have an additional 6000+ likes, but who's counting?!

I am a very conscientious Pinner and that's the reason I have so many likes.  I make sure to follow each link of a pin that I want on my boards and make sure they go right to the photograph and/or the exact page of that information I've pinned.  I don't want to lead anyone to spam links or to the front page of a blog when what we all wanted was the recipe on how to make that really awesome looking casserole that promised to have the neighbors love you even when you forget to bring your trash bins back from the curb! Seriously, don't you hate it when you see something Fabulous and it links to nothing?

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So when I'm in the looking mode, I just click on the little heart as I scroll through.  Later when I have time and desire, I go back and investigate the liked photo.

Recently I discovered that my likes had gotten a bit out of control. Over 6K? That's crazy.
So this past week, while my dear boyfriend has been sick and the TV volume has been so low it might as well have been on mute, I decided to sort through and investigate those likes.

The internet is really an awesome place.
I love how enchanted I am with every new idea.

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Honestly, I had a blast going through so many of the liked pictures.  I daydreamed about my ledge of Mason jars, filled just slightly with sand and a perfectly lit votive in each.  About how my front entry could be so clean and organized and how I might get out the sewing machine and make some Valentine bunting for the mantle I'll build with reclaimed pallets.

Sooo, I do dream a bit, but it's a lot of fun.

I have a DIY board for kids stuff.
I don't have kids.
I don't live near my nieces.
I'm never going to make any of those things, but I. had. to. pin. them!

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I have little hearted more main dishes than I will ever be able to prepare.  
At this moment I have 272 pins on my New to Me Recipes board. That means I have never tried that exact recipe and more than likely I have never had it at all.
My New to Me Recipes don't stop with that board.  I pulled out a few key categories and they have their own board like - Pasta (New to Me), Desserts (New to Me), Macaroni and Cheese, Quinoa, Potluck Foods, Drinks and Gluten Free.

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I do have a board titled  Good Food - I've made it.  That's for the recipes that I've tried and I've liked.  Chances are I've liked it a lot!  The Graveyard Taco Dip was really good - but the fun part was making all the little headstones and the tree.  Mine looked FABULOUS!  I was so excited.  I took it to potluck and not a drop of it made it back home.  It was that good.  Buuut, it's not in my Good Food list yet.  I've gotta do that.

I don't have a board for the ones we didn't like.  If I find we didn't like something I just take it off completely. The Good Food board only has 28 pins on it.  Now I know I've got a lot more than that, but just like the investigation part - sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get everything organized.

So that's what I've been doing with some of my time lately.  I doubt I'll be spending a whole lot of time on Pinterest in the next couple of weeks as Steve seems to be doing a whole lot better today, so I won't need to be finding quiet work for awhile.  This house could really use one of those 1950's Housewives with the sparkling cleaning products to help us out.

Enjoy exploring around Pinterest.
Have a great day!
Kristin

Another kitchen update - wall color

The Kitchen Re-Do

It's been nearly a year since we painted the countertops black and planned on getting the wallpaper off and get some paint on those dull walls.  I peeled some of the paper off many months ago and that's about as far as I got.  One day, in that small span of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas I got a wild hair to tear apart the kitchen. I don't know what I was thinking!  It was just after Thanksgiving that we tackled the wallpaper removal process and amazingly it wasn't too bad!

The bare sheet rock walls had not been primed, but the builders made huge swaths of paint or primer or something around the cabinets, the ceiling and the door frames and trim. So really we only had to deal with a couple of spots that were just drywall.  We spent two days just filling in the divots, holes and other uneven spots and sanding everything as smooth as possible.  It was well worth all of the work - the walls look awesome now that they are painted.  

As soon as we finished painting the kitchen we were in a frenzy to get ourselves ready for Christmas events with our transplant community.  Then, I got a dreaded cold followed six days later by Steve getting the dreaded cold.  Needless to say, the kitchen has remained in a state of not-quite-ready-to-be-photographed-bliss. This photo above, that I shared with Facebook, is all that I have right now.  

Now that we've lived with the kitchen for a few weeks, in it's unfinished state, we've pretty much decided that I'm going to need to paint the cabinets a nice creamy white/off-white.  I have Annie Sloan Chalk Paint already purchased, so that's what I'm going to use.  It'll be so much easier to use than latex and a whole lot less smelly.  I have a small door in the same wood that I'm not using - I took the door off my medicine cabinet in the bathroom - so I can paint that and show Steve.  If he likes it, like I'm sure he will, then I'm going to get going.  I am not going to wait another year to get this project finished.  

The paint color that we used on the wall is: 

Home Depot Behr Brand - Tropical Tide #520D-5. 

I wanted to go one shade darker than this, but Steve wasn't sure.  I love the color we did choose as it's even better in that room than I imagined.  We had originally thought about going more blue, like the Liquid Blue in the next column, but I was really afraid it would look too much like Dawn Dishwashing Liquid!  The green/blue really was the right choice for us.  

I will give another update, with a lot more photos in the coming weeks.  I'm over my cold, Steve is too.  We're anxious to get the house put together again.  It's been a work in progress since I moved in over 6 months ago.  It's time.  It's beyond time.

I hope you have a wonderful start to your New Year 2015. I'm looking forward to this year.

Kristin

Crockpot Mexican Chicken with cream cheese

Food has always been a part of my life, but now it's become something other than just getting something on the table.  My boyfriend Steve and I cook together most of the time.  That's something that my ex-husband and I rarely did, so it kind of made cooking a chore.  Steve and I look up recipes, talk about them and stand in the kitchen together creating them.  He's got a huge list of potential dinner ideas from all of the dishes we have made together this past year.  If we find something interesting that neither one of us has made before, it doesn't matter!  We forge ahead anyway.  We are comfort food people, not necessarily adventurers when it comes to our dinners.  We make things like salisbury steak, pork chops with grilled onions, meatloaf, flatbread pizzas, leafy green salads chock full of veggies and kielbasa and sauerkraut.   Steve has introduced me to Vietnamese and Thai food (when we go out to eat) and I have introduced him to high quality bacon, for the best BLTs at home!  It's win win, that's for sure, and we have such a good time.

Some of the things we find that we'd like to try are of a quantity that's too much for just the two of us, so the potlucks that we go to each month are the times when we pull out the crowd pleasing meals.  Usually, these crowd sized recipes are untried -- yes, yes, we experiment on our friends.

At our latest potluck we made it a Mexican theme.  I am a fan of Mexican food, but I don't like anything hot, so I have to carefully order my food at restaurants.  No hot stuff, no salsa either.  My goal for our potluck was to make something that had  great flavor, tasted like it came from a Mexican kitchen and would still be stove hot and tasty when everyone finally got ready to eat.  If you want something to stay hot for a potluck, it's gotta be made in a crockpot.

My Mexican food repertoire includes chips and cheese, chicken nachos, chicken taquitos and tacos.  Not really innovative or exciting, right?

What does a girl do when she's short on talent?

Google!

Pinterest!

I searched both for "Mexican crockpot meal" and only found a few that fit my no-hot-stuff, no-salsa requirements.  The one I ultimately chose seemed really iffy for some reason.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what I thought was wrong with it, but I was just sure it was going to be bad.

This is real good news to all of you that have stayed with me this far into my ramblings, huh?!

As I mentioned earlier, I do tend to bring brand new, never been tested recipes to potluck.  Thankfully I have only had one fail in all the years, but I was positive this was going to be fail number two.

In actuality, we were lucky to bring home any at all!

I got a little carried away with the sour cream in this photo! This is the way we ate the leftovers - sort of a deconstructed nacho.  Chips, lettuce, sour cream and the crockpot chicken.

Mexican Cream Cheese Crock Pot Chicken

2 Chicken Breasts, boneless/skinless
1 (15 oz) can Black Beans, drained
1 (7 oz) can Green Chiles, chopped
2 (15 oz) cans Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1 (8 oz) can Corn, drained
1 (6 oz) can Sliced Black Olives, drained
1 yellow Onion, chopped (about a cup)
1/2 an envelope Taco Seasoning
8 oz Cream Cheese, cubed

***Now that we've made this a few dozen times we have altered the recipe.  Now we add these -- an additional 15 oz can of black beans, an additional 8 oz can of corn (or frozen), a 20 oz can of chopped green chilies instead of 7oz and 4 more ounces of cream cheese.  We also use additional taco seasoning to taste.

***We have decided to make our own taco seasoning instead of using the prepared envelopes.  2 Tablespoons of taco seasoning = one envelope of store bought (1 1/2 oz)  I will have to post the recipe to the taco mix.  I'll link to it when I get it written.



Now the hard part
Put all ingredients into the crockpot, except the cream cheese.
Turn on crockpot.
4-6 hours on High or 8 hours on Low.

I decided after seeing this photo that we needed to add in another can of diced tomatoes. (It's now reflected in the recipe)  The dish needs just a bit more color.

When chicken is tender, take out of the crockpot and shred.  Add back to pot and add in the cream cheese.  Cook for an additional 30 minutes.

Stir well and serve over rice or quinoa OR serve with tortillas OR serve with tortilla chips.


We used already cooked and shredded chicken, as I had cooked up a bunch the day before in my pressure cooker.  So I added in some homemade frozen turkey stock cubes that I had in the freezer to make up for the lost liquids in already cooked chicken.  I'm sure a 1/4 cup of chicken or vegetable stock would be fine, too.  Since my chicken was already cooked and shredded, I was able to avoid the "burn your hands shredding the chicken" step in the recipe!  It was still full of flavor and tender.

I didn't realize there were so many choices of diced tomatoes, when we went to pick out a can at the store.  I chose the fire roasted diced tomatoes and they gave a nice flavor to the dish, but I'm sure any kind you like will work well.


The dish was a hit and I will make it again.  I might even make it just for us and freeze half of it.  We liked it best as deconstructed nachos with our crispy tortilla chips.  At potluck we served it with corn tortillas so it could be an entire gluten free meal for our GF friends.

Thanks for joining me!
Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

Donate Life - Infant organ donors

I wrote this article for the Jacksonville Transplant Alliance April Newsletter.
I decided that I wanted to share this story with more folks than just those in our transplant community.

April is National Donor Awareness Month and if you are receiving this newsletter you might believe that we are preaching to the choir.  You already know about donor awareness, you know to tell your family about your wishes, you talk to people about being a donor, you talk to people about your transplant or the work you do in the transplant community, etc.  What you might not know is that there is another organ donor group that want to donate and are having difficulty doing so.  

Parents who want to donate the organs of their newborn babies, who for whatever reason, did not survive birth or were born with a defect causing them to live only a day or two, are often told that it is illegal or unethical to donate their organs.  Recently a family learned, eleven weeks into the pregnancy, that their child was going to be born with a brain and skull defect and that the child would not live much past birth.  This family decided to carry the baby to term so that they could donate the organs and tissues.  It took this family up until two days before she gave birth, to find a place that would accept the child as an organ donor.  It shouldn't be that hard.

Some families want to donate their baby's organs and tissue but then also want to have the rest of their body used in research to understand the disease process of babies.  Families are comforted knowing that their child did not die in vain and that the pregnancy ultimately resulted in saving other infants.  In my research I learned that actually determining when an infant no longer has brain function, is actually a difficult determination.  Their brains just aren't formed well enough to be able to test for the tell-tale signs of activity or inactivity.   This is where the illegal or unethical concerns come into play.  

Between 2008 and 2013 only twenty-one infants under a week old were declared eligible to be organ donors.  There were certainly more than 21 infants needing lifesaving organ transplants during those years.  With a little more education going out to the OB-GYN doctors and patients, we can help the effort to get more neonates eligible for donation.  Although some research has been done, doctors and transplant surgeons need to continue to work together, and discover tests that will determine when an infant is brain dead or if a stillborn baby can be eligible for donation.
(source)

Have a great day!
Kristin

POTD - LB 3624

LB 3624
By Kristin Corlett
© 2014

I took a photo of a screw/washer combination. There were dozens of these in the poured concrete sidewalk. I have no idea why they were there.  However, when I posted this on Facebook, one of the comments suggested that they were benchmark leveling markers.  It looks like they very well may be.  

It looks like when I changed the font I lost my ©20 before the 14.  So Kristin Corlett 14 should be Kristin Corlett ©2014.  Ahhh, technology will drive you crazy if you let it.

I took this photo with the Retro Phone App for Android.  It is my absolute most favorite camera app and it's free.  You can use many different camera settings to get different looks but the orange camera is my favorite.  

called The Orange Box
It gives this scrubbed edge to each photo
gives a red/purple color cast
severe scratches and damage to the film and frame.
high contrast

Have a wonderful day!
Kristin

Painted kitchen counter tops

Steve's home has been a bachelor pad for 13 years.  Right after he moved in he got into a car accident that required months of rehab. Not too many weeks after feeling better from the accident he started getting sick from a failing liver and kidney.  He was fortunate and received a liver and kidney transplant, but his recovery was slow.  Needless to say,  he didn't get a whole lot done to make his house his style.  His health has been his focus and his house has just sort of evolved around him.  It is an incredibly comfortable place, but I know he wants more of his personal style in it.

His kitchen still has flowered wallpaper,  the countertop is a green speckled laminate and there is so little counter and cabinet space that we have started using one of the bedrooms as a pantry.  We now call it The Food Room.

I think it is fairly common for a woman to come into a man's space and want to change it.  I know I've done it before!  I've been with Steve for over a year now, friends for nearly 7 years and I haven't bugged him at all about his decorating. However, after hearing him talk about the damaged spot on his kitchen counter again, I thought I would mention what my Mom did to her counter years ago.  She just got out a can of Rustoleum Enamel in black and painted out her bright blue laminate.  It made such a difference!   It also made it possible to put off a full renovation for a dozen years or more.

I suggested this to Steve and he said to go for it!

So go for it we did.

A leaky container of Lime-Away destroyed this section of the counter.

I took everything off the counter of course and took before shots, then I went through the process of prepping the surface for cleaning.   I first washed with hot soapy water, then went over every square inch with a super Magic Eraser and then washed/rinsed the counter with vinegar and water.  I let that all dry real well and then wiped the whole thing down with a cloth soaked with rubbing alcohol to get off anything that could possibly be leftover.  It may have been overkill, but I wanted it to be clean and grease free.

When that dried, I taped off the sink with blue tape.  We will be removing the wallpaper next so there was no need to tape that off.  Whew!  I blue taped some stove parts and a line or two on the fridge.  It took only a few minutes with so little counter top.

I purchased a quart of Rustoleum Enamel in black, a small foam roller that was prepackaged with its own tray, a refill foam roller for coat #2, and a small 1\4" nylon craft brush.  To save cleaning time, I covered the paint tray with aluminum foil.

I used the small brush to paint the tops of the backsplash and to cut in all of the corners where the backsplash meets the counter.  Then I rolled out the paint with the roller.  I made sure I got quite a bit of paint on the counter since it really seemed to level out and become nice and flat.  The final pass with the roller should all be in one direction, giving a seamless look.  I managed to ignore this step on one of our sections and it looks a little uneven.

This is what the damaged spot looks like now.  I didn't sand and try to get it smooth because I didn't think it would actually smooth out since it was the fiber board and not laminate.  It's just so much better now that it's painted. Water no longer is absorbed in that area.  

Did I mention you need ventilation?

This is oil based stuff and it smells to high heaven.  Try not to breathe it in any more than you have to.  If you can prop a window or door open and get a cross breeze going, you're going to much happier for the next couple days.

The second coat can be applied after 24 hours.  I wish I could put on a third coat on the counter area that looks uneven, but honestly, unless you know it's there, no one is going to notice.

I should mention that Steve helped with every step of this makeover.  He cleaned, put away and painted.  I didn't do it all myself, even though that's the way I wrote it!

We have let the counter cure for 3 days now.  Probably longer than most people would, but it's given us time to eat out!

So, all in all, this was an incredibly easy project.  The fume factor is the hardest part and lingers for several days.  However, I would do this again without hesitation!

We aren't done with Steve's kitchen.  The wallpaper is going next, painting the walls after that and who knows what else.  I'm hoping to use chalk paint and paint the cabinets.  All this is just pennies compared to the gut job it really needs! But I do think he is really going to love the new look for many years until he wins the lottery or something.

If you have any questions about painting your laminate,  just ask!

Have a great day!
Kristin

Palm Trees at Sunset

Target Shopping Plaza
around 4:50pm
Eastern Time
Jacksonville, FL
20 Jan 2014
Retro Camera App
© 2014 Kristin Corlett

I was out shopping for Valentines this afternoon and when I came out to the car, the sky looked gorgeous and the palm trees were perfectly silhouetted against the sky.  I wasn't sure how I was going to get a good shot, considering I was in the middle of a parking lot.  So I decided to tip the camera up so that the sky took up most of the frame.  The seagulls were flying around working on getting some dinner, it seemed and they made a perfect entrance into my shot.

Enjoy!
Kristin

Chocolate Covered Everything

It's all the fault of my local grocery store.  Steve purchased a couple bags of the melting chocolate just after Christmas and was waiting for some good looking strawberries to come in.

The other day the strawberries looked pretty good!  The tops were all white, but for the most part the strawberries looked delicious.

The strawberries have been washed and are hanging out on the counter, drying, while the chocolate is melting.   Steve is such a chocolate lover that he actually has a little electric chocolate melting pot.   I had never seen one before, but I have to say, it made the process of dipping the strawberries (and everything else) very easy.   Personally, I'd never used melting chocolate, so I wasn't sure what the difference was between that and chocolate chips.  Holy Smokes!  The melting chocolate was so much easier to use.  Probably using the little chocolate melting pot helped, too!, as the chocolate never got too hot or too cool.  It was perfect from beginning to end.

In order to dip the chocolates we had to grab the green tops, which revealed all the white on the strawberries.  It didn't make for a great photo since nearly all of the red was now covered in chocolate, but believe me when I tell you that the strawberries were real good.  I can't wait until the Florida strawberries are in season.

Who ever heard of leftover chocolate, right???  Well, we had half a pot of chocolate when the strawberries were done.  Looking around the kitchen we found an open bag of pretzel sticks and half a bag of potato chips.

At first we started dipping the pretzel sticks individually.  After about a dozen of them, I started dipping three at a time.  Oooooh, that was the ticket.  Three sticks welded together with chocolate.  So good.

The potato chips were up next.  I'm now a fan of chocolate covered potato chips.  The Ruffles were real salty, compared to the pretzels, but my oh my, I liked them a lot.  Rarely does something have too much salt for me.

We still had some chocolate left, but our arms were tired and we both were a little nervous we'd eat all of our goodies in one sitting.  Oh I jest!   I spooned out the chocolate into quarter size drops on parchment paper and when the chocolate cooled I put it into a ziploc bag for use on another chocolate dipping day.

When strawberries come in season in your area indulge yourself and dip some of them in chocolate for some extra fun!

Have a great day!
Kristin

Fun in Anthropology

My Christmas of 2013 did not include any shopping in the cool shops this year.  My money was tight and I just wasn't in the mood to be in the crowds.  This meant though, that I didn't get a chance to go to some of my favorite places to wander and dream and look at all the Christmas decorations the stores put up.  The Anthropology store is one of my favorites, any time of year, actually.  On Saturday morning I had a couple of hours to myself so I took some time to go visit the store.

I couldn't live with EVERYTHING that Anthropology has for sale, but I find that I like all of the girly flowers on dishes, the fabric wrapped giant letters and strange fabrics on pillows.  The peacock above is from a wonderful pillow that I saw there.  I am so grateful that I have one of their super soft, patchwork comforters.  I have been adoring them for years and a few months ago my Mom gave me the Anthropology comforter that she has had, but recently updated with something else.  I was happy to accept the hand-me-down.  Not to mention, it fit right into my price range - Free!

I think one of the most interesting things about the Anthropology stores are the decorations.  They are so simple at times, but look incredible.  I've seen walls of books that were made into a magical mountain and straws that were strung so that they looked like a waterfall.  One of the Christmas themes this year was the use of birch.  There were a couple dozen of these birch pieces for one vignette, some wrapped with a little bit of white twine and covered with fake, glittery snow.  It was gorgeous!! and it looked so easy.  If I still had a birch tree (I had one in my yard a dozen houses ago) I would start gathering the trimmings and make one of these birch decorations.

As many of you know,  I collect bread bag tags.  I have tried to think out of the box as to what to do with them, Anthropology style, to make them an incredibly wild decorating element in my home.  So far the inspiration has not struck, but by the end of this year, 2014, I will have at least a small wall covered in them.  I've already picked the wall.

I hope you have a great day!
Kristin

Happy New Year 2014

Happy January 2014!!

It's been a long time since I've come around to The Goat, but with a new year comes new ideas.  I have missed my blogging, my photography and my blogging community.  I think my feet are finally on firm ground and I can once again share my love and life.  

Speaking of Love...

I am still head over heels in love with Steve and I don't expect that to change!   Our 1-1-14 photo is above.  We shared our first New Years Eve together as a couple and I expect great things from both of us this coming year.

I want to wish everyone a very happy New Year and I look forward to spending my upcoming year with all of you.

Have a great day!
Kristin

A new start

I am nearly to the end of my current journey.  I believe I did all that I could in my marriage and now with it nearly finished, there is a beginning on the horizon.

If you haven't read the first two parts of the three part series click the following links... Unrecognizable Part 1, Part 2.

© Kristin Corlett

It came over me like a fog, penetrating every fiber of my being, but so quietly that I didn't have any idea until I was completely overcome.  My time spent with Steve, the man I took to Dialysis three times a week, the grocery store trips, the hours of laughing and telling stories... he became my closest friend.   I realized that the moment I made the decision to leave my marriage was when that fog began rolling in.  All of the spaces that I was clearing out were being filled again.  The fog was love.  When I finally realized I had fallen in love with Steve it was like I had been pushed over a cliff.  It was a total free fall.

I didn't want to end one relationship just to dive into another.  No, no no!  It went against everything I thought I wanted.  I needed time to grieve, to let go, to live alone again.  I needed my own space for the first time in 18 years.  What in the world was I going to do?

What can a person do when they have indeed found the love of their life??

I decided I needed to create a plan of action.

I have dinner with Steve most evenings, but I don't spend the night.  Some days we do spend most of the day together, but that is rare.  Personally, I need to get everything closed up - the house emptied and sold, the divorce signed and sealed and over, my own condo into a livable, working space.  I have projects that I want to do, need to do and have to do.  I am going to need to get a job at some point soon.  Even though I have fallen head over heels in love with Steve, we are creating enough space so I can breathe, grieve and spread my wings.  For awhile there I cried every day.  Divorce is emotional, even if you are the one wanting it.

Steve gets to have breathing room, too.  He's been a single man for quite awhile and having a loud, giggling woman in his life is quite the adjustment.

I am truly unrecognizable from the woman I was a year ago.  She was so sad, that I actually hate to admit that it was me.  I can't even remember how many times I found myself with my head in my hands wishing for a more love filled life.  That's really all I wanted.  I wanted to love someone and have them visibly, emotionally and physically love me back.  My dear Tom couldn't and wouldn't do that.  He could say he loved me and he didn't want me to leave but that was the end of what he could give me.  I'm so grateful I followed my heart and moved on.

Source - “The Super Kiss,” by Puerto Rican artist Daniel Irizarri Oquendo

I don't want to bore you with too much intimate information, but I can tell you that this gal is now getting kissed a lot and she's loving it!  It might be because it's a new relationship, but I don't think so.  I think that the fella she fell in love with is a kisser and the gal he fell in love with is a kisser and together they are...silly.

And we hold hands.

A lot.

We are indeed silly, giggling, loving people and we found each other in the midst of chaos.

Oh and did I mention?  Steve received his Kidney transplant April 5th.  He spent four days in the hospital and has been getting better and better and better each day.  No more dialysis.  No more, no more.  I call him my Superman.

A new start, indeed.

A new start for us both.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Unrecognizable continued...

This is part two of my life update, I guess you'd say.  I was thinking that my life today is Unrecognizable to my life last year and I ended up sort of summarizing what I've been doing for a year.  To read part one, click here.

It was in Michigan that I realized that even though I was creating my own happiness, it wasn't going to be enough.  I had to take that leap of faith and ask for a divorce.  It didn't matter that I had no idea where I was to live, where the money was going to come from or how I was going to pay my bills.  All of those things were secondary to the fact that I could not make the necessary changes in my marriage to make it worth staying.   I remember telling myself that as long as we had Mocha, our kitty, that I would stay with Tom.  I didn't realize what a huge promise that was or how powerful that was going to be.  When Mocha passed away in Dec of 2011, my life fell apart and at the time I had no idea why.  It's all because my heart and my soul knew that I had to make that decision.  Do I stay or do I go?   It took me almost a year from her death to actually act, but it was the right thing.

I had been telling my husband on and off for years that things weren't right, we needed to be more affectionate, we should kiss daily, we needed to work on our relationship as a married couple as we were becoming roommates who cooked dinner every so often, etc.   He thought everything was just fine, but I think he just didn't want change.  Asking him for a divorce opened his eyes, that's for sure!   Since it came as such a shock, I decided to give him a couple of months of working together to get us back to a comfortable center, now that he was very aware I was serious.  

We managed to make it through December and January with very little to show for it.  February was our seven day trip to Barbados and I could see that trip would be best spent saying goodbye and getting the closure we both needed.  (see the post here) It was one of the best soul cleansing weeks I have ever had.  I said goodbye, I cried ten million tears and I had a good time with my husband.  By the end of the week I knew deep into my very core that I had done the right thing for both of us.  I love him but our 18 year relationship has run its course.  Now we just had to get to the paperwork.

I have been in my own apartment since March, we have put our condo on the market and we currently have a signed offer, he sold his business to his partner and ultimately moved out of state.  We packed up most of the condo contents together and asked friends to come help us pack and relocate our belongings, too.   Thank goodness for friends!  I thank them every day for helping us.  Tom and I still aren't divorced, the attorney we hired, who handles uncontested divorces has his feet in mud, I swear.  Hopefully before the end of the summer it will be final.  

I intended from the very beginning that there would be no fighting, no anger, nothing to make this awful.  The decision to end the marriage was emotional enough, I wasn't going to allow anger to make its way into the ending.   The only emotions I could control of course were mine.  Thankfully Tom was onboard for a good outcome.  So far our split has been calm.  It hasn't been stress-free, but I am so proud of us.  

Sunshine has absolutely come back into my life. My deep sadness has gone away.  I marvel at the way a body can both protect and heal itself.  Last year was protection mode, that's for sure.  This year is for healing.  

I'll tie up this story into a nice bow in the next installment.  

Kristin

Unrecognizable

tylerknott.com

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

Cat Wedding

My niece changed all of the faces of a wedding party picture on the fridge to cat faces, from her magnet collection.  This is just such a hoot that I laugh every time I see it in my pictures.

Have a great day!
Kristin

He loves me and I love him...

Where we swam in Barbados - just outside of Speightstown
Photo by Kristin Corlett

One of the hardest things I've ever had to do was to admit that I was wrong. I get a lot of practice at that particular sport as I am not as right as I wished I was. Most of the time I can just glide over the fact that I was wrong and just change my position a bit and not actually have to admit the wrongness. If it's not a big issue then that's pretty easy to do.

Sometimes it's the really big things in life that need to be adjusted and that's probably the hardest thing to do, ever. I'm in the middle of one of those Big Things in Life and I can whole heartedly agree, it's just heartbreaking. I've felt for a long time that just a few tweaks in my marriage and I would finally be happy. How hard would it be just change that a little bit? Well, it turns out that it's much harder than I anticipated. I'm ever the optimist as I believe I can do anything, make anything happen and create the life that I want. I've been feeling more and more that my husband and I were not on the same page and a lot of the time not even reading the same book! We don't argue, we don't fight, we just seem to exist in each others space. We aren't even angry with each other. In fact I do love my husband but we are truly living as roommates and have for many years.

If it wasn't for my husband I would not have found the purpose in my life. I've been searching for the place where I fit in for over 40 years. I was beginning to believe that I truly was a lost soul, that I was never going to find the place in the world where my heart would sing and my garden would grow. If it wasn't for my husband needing a liver transplant seven years ago, I would have never found the support group. It took many years of attendance to realize that being a part of that group, in those lives, was where I was meant to be. At the same time I was finding my place with them my marriage had turned from marriage to friendship. He loves me, I love him, but...

Sunset in Barbados - Photo by Kristin Corlett

My husband and I vacation really well together. We seriously do. We usually agree on what to do, where to go eat, how much to rest, how much to sightsee and we have a really great time. Our last vacation together was just last week. We spent a whole week on the Island of Barbados. His parents invited us to come visit and so we did. I would suggest that anyone in the midst of getting a divorce consider renting a beachside cottage and spend a week there. We had tons of alone time, no work, no cell phones, no internet. We talked for hours. We discussed, we bargained, we held hands and we cried. We left the island with some souvenirs, sand flea bites and the realization that we were doing the right thing for both of us and we had a plan.

To be fair, my husband since the very mention of it, does not want the divorce. He's very happy with me as his wife and has never thought of living his life without me. This divorce is all me. I'm the one who isn't happy and I'm the one who wants it. What we came away from in Barbados was that he finally sees my side and accepts that I want the divorce. We discussed finances, furniture, who gets what, what to keep, what to sell and where we will live. We decided to sell our condo. We also discussed how we would live with each other in our lives after the divorce. We don't have children together nor do we have any animals that we need to share, so we could go off into the sunset and never speak again, but he's too much a part of my life for that. I'm sure we'll see how it goes in the future, but I expect we will be good friends.

I wasn't sure I wanted to make this public until we signed the papers, but he announced on facebook the other day about our upcoming divorce, so the cat is out of the bag. It's been made public. It looks like he will live part time in Michigan and part time in Florida. I will live full time in Florida.

The word of the year for me is Intention. I intend to make this the happiest, most agreeable divorce that has ever been filed. So far my year of Intention has been working very well for me. Here's to a successful future for all of us.

Have a great day,
Kristin


FYI - I realize I sound pretty happy-go-lucky about the whole thing.  I lightened the mood for blogging and didn't get into problems and issues.  There's no need to put any of that into print.

I'm in Love

Photo by Kristin Corlett

I'm in Love.

I am!

I just can't help it.

I wake up each morning (or late morning as the case may be)
and I love the mood I'm in.
I love the sheets I'm sleeping in.
I love the comforter that is pushed nearly off the bed by morning.
I love the way the light filters in through the curtains.

I love knowing that I have a day ahead of me to do all sorts of things!
I love the days that I don't have to shower.
I love meeting new people and giving them something to smile about.
I love making people laugh.
I love knowing that there are people out there thinking of me, at least for a few minutes each day.
I love being a part of this world.

I am head-over-heels, absolutely, completely and totally in Love.

How about you?


Have a great day!
Kristin

Follow-through

Source

I am a good friend to have.  It has taken more years than I care to admit to, but I've finally learned how to be a pretty good friend.  However, in order for me to be a friend, you need to be right in front of me.  This is becoming more and more apparent to me. The problem that I seem to have is with the follow-through.  I think I've mentioned a few million times that I work with Liver Transplant Families.  They need friends and they need people to become their friend instantly.  We don't have a lot of time to hash out all of the details of our lives to each other to see if we'd get along, we just love them as they come into our group.  So far it's worked out real well the past 7 years.  

Follow-through.  

Boy that's tough for me.  If someone doesn't call me asking for help or to do something, I just won't call.  If someone emails and asks a question, it seems to take me  F O R E V E R to write them back.  When someone is living right here in the area, we don't send cards when someone isn't feeling well (our group is made up entirely of sick people or people recovering from surgery) but those that live far away, I feel like I should write them a note every so often.  Send an email.  Maybe even make a phone call.  

I don't.

I think I got a butt-dial from someone today out in California.  They didn't leave a message and didn't call back, so I'm assuming that it was a mistake.  However, it made me happy that I was still in their phone!  Then I started thinking about the last time I spoke with them.  It occurred to me that the last three times I've called these folks it's been to tell them that someone had passed away.  I don't want to be the person no one wants to hear from because all I've got is sad news. 

Follow-through.  

I need to work on that.

One of the members of our group got a liver transplant last week.   I haven't been up to see them.  Someone else is having cancer treatments in another state but they've heard hardly a word from me.  If these folks were right in front of me or came to one of our meetings or social events, I would smoother them with love, listen all night long to what's going on or go out of my way to get them something that need.  Once that visual connection is gone it's like Out of Sight, Out of Mind.  

My heart is so big and I care for these folks so much and yet I seem to fail when they might need me most.  One of the main reasons I started asking people (pestering relentlessly is more like it) to move to Jacksonville after their transplant is so the new folks will have dozens of people with big hearts who can fill in the gaps and who have qualities and personalities that appeal to our patients and friends.  I know a few folks who have moved here that are so good with follow-through that it boggles my mind how they do it.  Hmmm, I wonder if they could teach a class?

The quote in the picture above is what started me on this subject.  It struck a nerve.  A good nerve, but also showed a weakness in me.  Thank you to whomever posted that quote.    

Have a great day!

Kristin

Confit Pots

Confit Pots by Kristin Corlett

While in Alabama my Mom and I went to Fairhope, AL for a little shopping and dining excursion.  Hands down, Fairhope is one of the loveliest towns.  Even in the winter time the downtown area is full of flowers, the trees are decorated with lights and almost every building has a unique shop.  This time we shopped the main road and some of the side streets.  On one of those side streets we found an incredible antique shop called Aubergine.  They had just received a shipment of confit pots, straight from France and I admit, I was instantly in love.

When I inquired what a confit pot was I learned that they were pots where meats such as duck and goose were preserved.  (This is where we get duck confit!) They would bury the pots in the ground all the way up to the glazing in order to keep the contents cool and fresh.  This is why so many of the confit pots have dirt ground into the unglazed portions of the pot.  The chips and imperfections are common as they were used regularly in the South of France.

The pots, so gorgeous, were out of my price range, so the only part of them that I came home with was this photograph.

Enjoy!
Kristin

100 ThingsThat Make Me Happy - part IV

A couple of years ago I started a list of 100 Things that make me Happy.  I looked at the list yesterday and realized that I hadn't gotten to 100 things yet and it has been well over a year since I wrote a list.  While I was getting my car serviced and I had an hour long wait ahead of me, I wrote down all of the things I'd posted so far and then HAPPILY added a few dozen more!

I'm still not at 100, but I find that to be just silly.  I find things to be happy about each day, but so many of them are either hard to describe or are just fleeting moments of joy.  The ones I've written so far are pretty standard daily happiness things.

If you'd like to read the entire list, so far, here are the links to Part I, Part II, and Part III.


61.  My red plaid down blanket from Target.  If I had known how awesome that blanket was going to be, I would have purchased more than one.

62.  Finding excellent condition retro furniture.  My heart just goes pitter pat! Even the stuff I can fix up is pretty awesome, but just seeing cool retro furniture is enough. Contrary to popular belief, I don't have to own or buy everything I like :)

63.  Cleaning something really dirty until it shines like the top of the Chrysler Building!

64.  Magic Erasers. Original and Extra Power.  No scent, no bathroom bubbles, just Original or Extra Power.

65. A warm sunny day with no humidity.  This makes me very very happy!

Image Source

66. Having my keys made in cool designs.

67. Kissing.  Yep, I'm a kisser.  If a boy I wanted to date wasn't a good kisser then there was no hope for us!

68. The Liver Transplant Support Group meetings that I attend each Thursday.  I love to go, to be with those people and to be a part of something so wonderful.

69. Thursday lunch with the Support Group friends is a highlight.  This is where we chat and laugh and really get to know one another.

70.  Receiving a message asking if I want to hang out, or have lunch, or meet up somewhere to take photos.  I feel like I do a lot of asking, so when I get the invite I'm thrilled!

Ilee Papergood's 2013 Calendar

71.  Finally being able to use the new calendar! Ilee Papergoods sells a gorgeous calendar.  I didn't get one last year, after having one the previous two years and I missed it.

72. Going to an auction determined to come home with something and doing just that.

73.  I am instantly happy when given a compliment.  It's taken a long time to be able to accept the compliments and not try to brush them off as not true.  It's good to feel happy about receiving them.

74. Painting Furniture.  I enjoy painting furniture more than I ever would have imagined.

75.  Receiving bread bag tags or fortune cookie fortunes from friends.



Have a Great Day!
Kristin

Dick and Jane Book

One of my auction scores from last year (remember waaay back then in 2012?) there was a teacher edition Dick and Jane book.  It had a giant blue hard cover and a flap and snap that could turn that big book into a stand alone piece - like an easel.  The book is almost three feet tall and was designed so that the teacher could stand up in front of the class with her book and the kids would all have their books and everyone could read along.

The teacher's edition that I have is in excellent condition.  You can tell that the pages were flipped and turned a time or two, but the little ones obviously didn't get their hands on this book.

The only ruckus these pages have seen are the antics of Fluffy and Spot with Dick, Jane and Sally running behind.

Each child has their own four page section and Spot and Fluffy have a few pages each, too.

I've had these for a couple of months and I honestly can't decide how to display them and sell them in my booth.  I don't want fingers touching all of the beautiful artwork and I don't want the pages ripped or dropped.  I may have to invest in some heavy duty page protectors like I've seen for large photography.

Thankfully this book came with almost two complete sets of the same book, so I can sell one book whole and the other book as sections.

If anyone of you folks would love to own your own copy, just drop me a line and I'll get back to you about the specific sizes, price, etc.  Kirby3131@gmail.com


Bye, bye.

Just bye.

Kristin says bye!