“I am not born to sit still and do nothing. If I lose the game, it shall not be from not striving for it.” Jane Austen ✏️
Entirely relatable for this girl! That Jane Austen . . . she was one wise girl! ⭐️
Author / Brandi Talmadge
Jane Austen Philosophy
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings” – Jane Austen
Jane Austen’s philosophy in this quote has great merit in todays society. We’re all busy in this noisy world, but busy with what? I’m reflecting on the busyness in my life and evaluating what is worthy of my time, and whether or not what I’m doing is making a difference in mine or someone else’s life. Wasted time on an abundance of frivolous busyness dampens the soul and deteriorates the quality of life and moral fiber of mankind. When I look at our society and the excessive destruction of morality occurring, I see too much gluttony in all areas of living, which is destroying our families.
How about you, how does your busyness look? Do you spend time on things that influence and change you and others in a manner that allows positive growth and thus effecting the moral fiber of your family and our society, or do you let each day blindly slip by, hoping the next day will be more fulfilling?
Image courtesy of Jane Austen public domain
Christmas in July
Happy Christmas in July – Today, I have this adorable kitschy retro santa that I finished up just in the knick of time. 🎅🏻 🎄 🥰 Now, off to watch Tom & Jerry with hubby 📺 😺🐭
Vintage Pin Cushions
Vintage planters turned into cute pin cushions. These cuties came from my father-in-laws estate. Not sure why he had them and if he ever used them for anything, but when my husband saw them, he knew I’d surely make them into something for my sewing room/studio. Inspired by Lori Holt, check out her tutorial on how to make pin cushions from vintage finds. 🥰
Another July 2021 Finish
Snuck in another 4th of July finish – just in the knick of time as we enter the last week of July. Fourth of July Sampler by The Humble Sitcher 🥰. Such a cute piece – I’ll be giving it a quick dip into a cozy tea-bath and fashioning it into a pillow tuck 💕 ✂️ ☺️.
Hope you carve out some hobby time in your world – creativity is a health attribute, let’s harness it!
God Bless our Veteran’s
To all who have served in our United State’s Armed Forces – We thank and honor your commitment, dedication and sacrifices made in the honor of our country.
Mike and I were talking about our Veteran’s this morning while having our morning cup of “Joe The Eye Opener” and sharing in our funny side kick’s of childhood learning woe’s – Mike revealed that as a kid he didn’t understand the difference between veteran’s and veterinarian’s! Of course I couldn’t contain my laughter to which he replies “knock it off Miss Yield”. “Oh man – busted!” I too had my own childhood learning woe’s. The yield sign made no sense to me. It was difficult to grasp and I thought the yield sign should just be a stop sign if you might have to stop anyways, I mean really! Funny thinking back on the things that tripped us up as children.
Fox news had a clip on whether or not our current young men and woman of the USA are as willing to join and commit themselves to the United State’s Armed Forces. Certainly a scary thought and had me appreciating our Veteran’s even more so. We salute you today and everyday!
God Bless and Thank You from the bottom of our hearts!
Autumn Nor’easter 2011
Unwelcomed but without any say in the matter, mother nature flew through the North East leaving in her wake 10+ inches of the heaviest snow possible in many areas, broken tree’s, downed power lines and much of the state without electricity. I could hardly believe my eyes when looking out the window the morning after the storm. It was just yesterday that I saw beautiful green grass, colorful mums, vibrant orange pumpkins strewn about our landscape with tree’s full of colorful autumn leaves.
Saturday 10/29/11 7AM (the morning after) – This is what I woke up to. Off to the diner me and hubby went. We love hoping into the Jeep when the weather or roads are foul! Seriously though – we do. Hardly anyone on the roads, the landscape is beautiful and then we’re rewarded with a hardy, warm meal at the diner. My pics in this post were taken with my iPhone 4. It did a pretty good job.
Couldn’t resist this picture of our water fountain. How often do you see a running water fountain covered in snow? You can’t really tell in the picture but it’s running! We’d normally winterize her around Thanksgiving which usually works out until mother nature’s deranged sense of humor spills her guts before Halloween!
The day after we wanted chicken wings for the football game so off I go to grab some. Here’s what I run into after coming around a 90 degree corner – bamb a fallen tree on power lines next to a ledge. UGH!!! The road wasn’t even closed off. Now how the heck am I going to turn my car around – you can’t see behind the picture but there was a log in the road so selecting my turn around spot was tricky and I wasn’t about to drive up under those power lines. I ended up having to get out of the car and rolling the log off the road all the while praying that the power lines the tree is sitting on didn’t give way and come down on me & secondly that another driver didn’t come around that 90 degree corner and hit me. I was a ball of nerves!
Finally accomplish my 20-point turn and thought “are the chicken wings really worth me driving the other way around” which is longer and I’m wondering what hurdles I might run into the other way. So now my brain is fixated on my husband wanting chicken wings and honestly me too so now while I’m hurdling 1/2 cut up tree trunks in the road leaving one passing lane, I’m thinking “chicken wings and football are a perfect match – why didn’t I buy them the other day when I did pre-storm grocery shopping???”. I ended up making the trek for the chicken wings which took me a total of 1 hour 15 minutes when it should’ve only taken 25 minutes. It was so worth it though!
In 2011 I’m Looking Forward To . . .
Many of us make New Year’s Resolutions only to disappoint ourselves by not achieving what we set out to do therefore this year I’m taking a new angle and deciding on what it is I’m looking forward to and setting the plan into action.
1. Study and improve my photo editing skills. I’ve been working on my photography skills but I’m terrible with editing. The first tutorial I’ll be taking was just released by Professional Photographer, Erin Cobb called clean color. The photography community I circle myself in has been raving about this tutorial and it’s been a LONG wait for its release so I can’t wait to get started. The tutorial is for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements and also offers a bundle for both versions .
2. Taking a vacation. It’s been three years since we’ve had a vacation and it is wearing on us. We’re picking a place that is warm, has green grass and flowers, is full of life and fun things to do and experience, pretty much some place that has no snow and is full of all things summer. Top place right now is the Florida Keys. We also have The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park and Savannah Georgia on our list amongst many others but those are the top places that I’d choose from right now. Just gotta compile some money, finalize how the business will function in our absence, and line up our pet sitter.
3. A great year of boating and reconnecting with our “Summer” friends. We so miss them this time of year :(.
4. Boating, flip flops, bathing suits, tank tops, shorts, Mike T’s Margarita’s, hot sunny days, green grass, flowers and even the “GW” (that’s pretty bad for those who have been under that tent for any length of time LOL) – Oh and the list goes on for all things summer related.
5. New Friendships and strengthening existing ones.
6. Growing our business to the next level – well on our way and it’s very exciting!
7. Improving my photography skills.
8. Choosing a color and accessories for our mudroom and finishing it up.
9. Throw rugs for the house – we have some but would like more.
10. Focusing on the new path in both of our personal lives and careers. Funny how the path you think is going to form is completely different in the end. But life throwing curve balls like we’ve been thrown is good for our mind, spirit and our relationship. Honestly it brings new things to the fore front that were never thought about or even realized to begin with and that in itself is positive and refreshing.
11. Focusing in on my plethora of hobbies and cutting out the “stuff” I have for hobbies that I just don’t have time for. This means selling off a bunch of “stuff” and taking that money to use on something useful instead of all this “stuff” sitting around collecting dust. I’ve started this cleaning out, have been selling on Ebay. Not only is it refreshing to reorganize and clean things up but it’s helping clear my mind on things.
2nd Snow Storm 2010 – 2011 Winter
Just when the snow from the first 15″ blizzard was melting away, we’re slammed with another 13″. Oh the joys of winter in New England.
Our home –
Don’t you just love a storm with no wind? All the snow sits so nicely on every single branch of the trees – gorgeous!
What does one do when stuck on an icy hillside in the snow? Well just pull out the trusty winch and get r done. There was all kinds of man testosterone in the air out there this morning. My female advice and the “raised on a farm advice” was to put some chains on the tractors tires. Chains will always save the day in any icy New England storm. My dad’s farm didn’t function without em.
Ordinary Miracle
I felt the need to post about ordinary miracles today. We had our 2nd large snow fall of the season yesterday amongst other ordinary things. I snapped a picture about an hour or so into the storm. Last night we took Scottie out for potty and was greeted by our neighbors dog who had gotten loose while clearing the snow from their driveway. It was pitch dark and we live in the woods where bad things can happen to house pets running in the night so I leash him up and return the not even 1 year-old bouncing Tigger dog to its home. He was all in his glory of having his rooming freedom and attention from new people…bouncy bouncy Tigger dog…for sure he thought this was all about play which gave me a good chuckle as our dog is a mature 13 years young and doesn’t bounce nearly as high as this pup! So we trudge our way through the 13″+ of snow and arrive at my neighbors drive where they’re feverishly working at clearing the snow. I could sense the frustration they had that their dog had gotten loose and inconvenienced me but quite the contrary, I was thankful to have found him and gave him a safe return home. Just another ordinary miracle right? This was no inconvenience to me, I feel a dogs life was saved, who knows what may have happened otherwise. I’d like to think someone would return the favor.
I found this song entitled “Ordinary Miracle” by Sarah Mclachlan featured in Charlotte’s Web. It’s a nice reflection on ordinary miracles. Take a listen to it . . . all I can say is “beautifully put”!
Talmadge House 