Bee's Buzzings

Making progress

Aren't these little guys just SO cute??  A glass mirror on one side, and sweet Holiday motifs on the other!  They make great stocking stuffers or hostess gifts. Or keep a supply on hand for those unexpected gift-swapping situations :)

In addition to finally getting some holiday images set up for pocket mirrors, I'm also thrilled to say that I'm making progress in another area of my life as well - and am down another 1.5 pounds this week (for a total of 4.5 so far).  One thing is certain - it's a LOT easier to jog with 4.5 fewer pounds!  Which gives me additional motivation to keep going. 

Will let you know how it continues, but I do know the timing is finally right for me to focus on this now.

In addition to the extra fitness and studio time, we've also been busy with the girls' fall sporting events, yard chores and Vikings football. I love autumn and all the activities we're involved with this time of year!

Hope you have a great night!

Bee

I love new beginnings!

Although it feels more like Winter here with the recent snow, I know it's really still Fall.  And boy-oh-boy do I love Fall!  For me, it's always been the time of year for new beginnings.  Guess I'm still hard-wired to the academic calendar year.  You know - the new shoes, clothes, folders and a fresh set of pencils.  Anything was possible!

I've heard many people agree with me about this.  I mean, seriously, if you're going to start something new, trying to get momentum going in the dead of winter when there are barely 6 hours of daylight (here in Minnesota at least) seems like a recipe for disaster!

And also like many other people, I dislike limbo.  Two things that kept me unsettled for the past 5 or so months were 1) getting the house ready and having it on the market and 2) knowing I still had to get all my bookkeeping done for our extended tax deadline.  And the more stressed I was, the harder it was to eat right.  So now that both those issues are resolved, and *voila* it's the right time of year . . . I'm finally getting back on track to getting this extra weight off and am also back to jogging again.

Will share a bit more later about my preparation and follow through - but for now am just very pleased to say that I lost 3 pounds last week!  woo hoo!

In addition to my own little self-congrats, I'd also like to congratulate Janae and Dianne for being the first two to visit here and comment.  Despite my very bad blogging habits they continue to check in - and I appreciate that!  They're the winners of the first two $15 merchandise awards - some of the spontaneous give aways I mentioned previously.  

My thanks to all of you who have stopped by recently - hope you have a great weekend.  I'll catch up with you soon about the weight loss progress - and with another winner or two :)

Lots of updates . . . and the start of an early winter

I'm always amazed at how quickly time goes by.  It seems every time I turn around another 3 weeks has passed since my last blog post!!  Will try and do better about keeping up. I mean, it's certainly not for a lack of things to share. Since the last post we've had two more birthdays (Katie's 20th and Kristi's 16th) and we also made a big decision about our house.   

Jim and I were both pretty excited about the idea of downsizing and fast-forwarding our plans for an eventual lake place.  So we priced our home somewhat realistically to start (about 10% off 2007 values) . . . or so we thought.  Well, the price brought in a handful of showings - so it must have been 'fair' at the very least.  But things weren't moving as quickly as we'd have liked so we did the updates mentioned earlier (hardwood and appliances), and as further incentive we dropped the price $30,000 in hopes of enticing a quick sale . . . and were unpleasantly surprised to have the showings drop off along with our price.

So after a few weeks of practically no showings we finally decided to drop the price another $23,000 - which put us within about $10,000 of our bottom that we were willing to take.  Of course this would bring some buyers in, right?  Wrong. Nada.  Seriously not one phone call.  So rather than continue to kick ourselves, we finally looked deeper into the market and realized that the statistics spoke for themselves.  Of the 22 homes in our school district in a $200,000 range around our home's value that had come off the market in the previous month, only 2 had sold.  Two additional homes were 'pending' and the other 18 had expired or canceled the listings.  And of those sold and/or pending, I'm willing to bet most if not all were bank owned, and selling at a 30% discount.  Bottom line, having the house on the market proved to be an exercise in futility.

The good news?  There's really nothing about this house I don't like - it's just a little too big for our lives at this point.  But it's now also clean, repair-free, updated and de-cluttered.  Which makes it much easier to keep clean.  So, there IS a silver lining in every cloud!  And now that everything here is in order, I can once again turn my attention back to my studio and some new art - after all the holidays are approaching quickly, too!

Quite frankly, if the recent weather here is an indicator of what this winter is going to be like, I'm feeling VERY thankful we're not moving . . . check out this porch scene out from a week or so ago . . . brrrrrrrrr!

So be on the look out for new art, and (finally!) some contest winners in the weeks ahead.  Maybe even some spontaneous winners . . . peek back often and you may be one of them :)

Classic, Handmade Art . . . Antique Art :)

I spied these wonderful birds at my Aunt's house last February, and have been enamored with them ever since.  Don't you just love them??  And though I've forgotten all the details of their origin (I believe she said they were made by a relative of my uncle's close to a century ago) needless to say their charm will bring smiles to faces for many, many years to come.  It's one of the reasons I love being a 'handmade' artist so much.  And I'm hoping to some day soon bring more 3-D art to life in my own studio.

As you know, It's been another busy year.  But being an eternal optimist, I continue to believe that things will 'settle down' soon so that I might finally achieve a balance with work, home, kids and life that yields less stress, but more accomplishments.  These birds will continue to be my inspiration as I work towards that goal. 

Sometimes keeping it simple and getting back to the basics ensures the longevity of an object, or in this case - a way of life.

Thanks for the wonderful comments of late, and hope things are peaceful and looking brighter where you are, too.  :)