january 8th. ( and #8)

Hello beautiful sunny cold winter day.

I welcome this bout of sunshine as it shines on the snow and makes everything sparkly.

First day back to school for my son was yesterday. Super hard to wake up in the morning and get ourselves out the door by 7.35am. How easy it was to slide back into vacation mode during the holidays. But we did it and he would have been on time if there hadn't been a fender bender on the hwy on the way to school. It seems that an suv tried to go around the school bus and crashed into it's back bumper instead. What a horrible sight to see so many red lights flashing and a school bus in the middle of the site. No one was hurt, but it certainly reminded me how unsafe our roads are when there is a lot of ice packed down. Yet another reminder of what it is like to live in the mountains....

Since carpel tunnel syndrome has been flaring up, I decided that yoga on Monday was not a good idea, but rather I would start zumba on Tuesdays. What this meant was that I could finally go to the quilters guild meeting on Monday!! This is a huge deal for me. Yet another source of community but  also another creative outlet. The hall was filled with women, sewing machines, chatter and so on.... there must have been at least 50 women there of all ages. And I was told that the attendance was low yesterday. whew!! I joined!! Received a few projects to sew to help out the guild, met some new friends, met some friends that I already new, had a fun time and was proud of myself for 1. not taking on too many projects, and 2. that I actually got there and joined. I am sure I will have all sorts of stories to tell!

The other creative component to my Mondays is my knitting circle that I am always too early for and have to leave early from in order to pick up my son on time from school. I dearly love the owner of the shop, Maisie Blue, in Murphys California. She and I always have so much to catch up on. Kym runs the sweetest knitting, yarn, book shop that is my favorite place to spend money. She always has such an amazing variety of good cookbooks, yarns, home décor for me to enjoy.
This is also the place for my monthly book club.
Kym decided to offer another session of a build a block knitting class. Can't wait to start. I really hope to increase my knitting skills this year, including how to read a pattern.... Big challenge for me.

So for me, 2pm ends my day and starts my day of being "MOM". We have a very tight schedule between 2pm and bedtime. Especially since I am to be in bed by 7pm at the latest, 6.30 if possible.
Between playing, running errands, cooking dinner, eating, doing homework, bathing, reading, and watching our 30 minutes of food network together... the time flies by.

Lastly, I choose my special something for the day. Yesterday #7 was fudge. Just seemed to fit the day. We had made it early so I didn't have any pictures. I am sure I will make it again soon... and post some sweet pics to drool over...

Today's special something is this home décor idea.

#8. I have created my kitchen into my creative space, one l shape for cooking and baking and the other for my laptop, jewelry making, drawing and such. I have been focusing on every detail. I didn't want my sink to be cluttered with bottles....
so I put my dish soap into a creamer, my dishwasher soap into a tea pot and my hand soap into a cup.
Super easy, super cute....

Another glorious day in the mountains... until tomorrow, 
enjoy!

welcome to my journey.

welcome to my journey.

six months ago today, I moved my 6 year old son, our two small dogs and myself from the heart of silicon valley to a very small town in the sierra mountains.

I can say without a doubt this is the best decision I have ever made.
  
I have been an over-achieving, driven, creative, business minded gal all of my life. eventually, it all caught up with me. I am now on disability with a fixed income. in order to be able to live on $1500 a month, i needed to move from the bay area. we have been living with my mom for the past 2 years. it was great timing, but not healthy for either of us for the long haul.

my mom has a cabin up here. I have spent every summer for the past 15 years visiting this area. i consider it my second home. last summer, while my son and i were spending our summer vacation here, it was obvious to me that this was the time, and this was the place to move to. we looked at the rental market and the real estate market. the timing was perfect to buy and with my mom's help we did. we found a quaint 2 bedroom house, close to town, and needing very few repairs. it all worked out and now this is our home.

immediately our lives simplified. only one market, no box stores, few restaurants, no movie theatre, no bowling alley, no stop lights, no traffic,
only one school with only 155 students, no starbucks, no peets, a small post office... you get the picture.

what we gained was lots of fresh air, numerous lakes to swim, kayak and fish in. a beautiful state park for hiking and exploring, lots of new friends. and the ability to finally take a deep breathe and exhale the stress of the past many years, and so much more.

I have wanted to simplify our lives for years... get back to the basics without
the distractions that move you in the opposite direction.
I wanted to release my full mind and become mindful. 
I wanted to get back to all of the domestic arts that i love; cooking, baking, stitching, knitting, quilting, spinning, felting, weaving, gardening, home decorating... basically creating a heartfelt life and home.

this blog is my journal of my journey...