Living Life Beautifully

It is the start of a new year...... And... it has been a challenge so far. It always seems so hopeful when a new year starts.  It feels like you have the opportunity to start over and do it all right.  The actual fact of the matter is that very little is up to us.  We can do our best but life has it's moments that go far beyond our control.  It is such a wonderful thought to have a spirit of peace and go with the flow. To spend each and every day looking at the beauty and blessings of life and ignore all the bad. The reality is, that the bad comes, and you can't stop it. You go through it for a time and then you pull your bootstraps up and go on with trying your best to do your best and think of the beauty and blessings of life again. This year we will lose our insurance,  we have had to use all our savings for medical bills, owe way to much property tax at the end of the month, we lost our sweet tiny cat Maggie, and we feel overwhelmed and down in the d...

It is a cold, wonderful, winter day. I love the cold.  I love winter. Sitting by the woodstove, drinking chocolate coffee, watching Harry Potter movies one after the other while I do laundry, taking care of little chores here and there and all the animals are curled up in different spots sleeping the cold day away.   2017 has started out really busy for us so far. We have so many things planned for the year, God willing. My house is so full of stuff and every room has a work space.  We do not live that minimal life everyone longs for.  We have many things and find them fun. We are a family that loves memories, old toys, old things, and traditions. The house is drafty, the way old farm houses are, and it makes you think of how things might have been.  You imagine the family in the kitchen where the cook stove kept everything warm. There was a door on the kitchen to keep it warmer, and at night the children would leave the kitchen, run quickly...