Distractions

Distractions are always felt to be negative. However, I have be given a God given distraction. I have embraced this as positive. One month ago, I signed a contract with Lynne to have the Estate Sale this weekend, only to learn in a few days that our close friends were visiting from Arkansas.

Thomas immediately wanted to change the date of the sale, but I said NO. Our friends would understand. We would be out and about with them and away from the house. A God given distraction. I embraced it and I now know it is just what I needed.

I am now looking around. Our distraction has arrived. Everyone has gone to bed and it is just me. I walk through the estate sale looking at everything. I want to make sure that there is nothing I want to keep. I find 3 things, that's all.

As I put them aside, I am surrounded by Neena and Meemaw. I can feel them everywhere. But it is peaceful. They are telling me it is Ok. Enjoy your distraction and let go. As I sit here all alone with them, I smile and feel so comforted.

Tomorrow morning I will wake to my distraction. I can walk, no run away, and toward our new memories. I can't wait for the next phase that God has in store for us.

This distraction does not have any feeling of negative. My close friends are with us, helping us to let go. As we make the next step in our lives, we are focused. We continue to dream.

I will wake up to helping Thomas cook breakfast, hugging on our friends and their children. Letting go with the best distraction ever.

This Ain't Nothin

Going through this estate sale has been so emotional. I'm reminded of Craig Morgan's song "This Ain't Nothing". He tells a story about a man whose house is destroyed by a tornado. It really puts into perspective things, stuff, etc and memories. I keep playing it in my head.

What would my feelings be if a tornado came and destroyed our parents stuff? We have memories that are priceless, that no tornado or estate sale can take away,

Now I have a renewed prospective. This will get me through watching people rummaging. They are only a tornado.

Freeze Frame

How many times in our lives do we just freeze frame. I was working on my master bedroom and this happened.

I knew I had some things in the garage that belonged to Thomas' and my Mom that I wanted to  incorporate. But where to find them?

I have a three car garage that is filled with their memories. It took me this long to deal with their deaths and all their memories that I inherited.

Initially, I wanted to build a shrine to honor our parents. So I could not rid myself of their stuff (memories). So fast forward 3 years:

I now have all their memories. It took me this long to grieve and to realize that what was precious to them was not precious to me. I know they were minimalists and would not want me to have this burden.

Yes, it is a burden to have these memories inherited to Thomas and me. Where do we start, what do we do?

When I started on my bedroom, I started digging. Then I realized it is bigger than me. I started with ebay, and I couldn't get any response to what I asked (remember that this is memories that have emotions attached and not just stuff).

So I freeze framed.

I searched and found someone who does estate sales. Lynne Brown. She has come in with everything in boxes, not knowing what is in there (nor did we). She has been so respectful. Yet everyday we come in with our nightly to do list. It has been tiring.

The sale is this coming weekend. I have worked so hard.

The girls came over and spent 2 weekends going through the attic and their rooms. I have loved seeing them find things that were lost. Heart broken at the things that they chose to trash. This is their stuff not mine. That was huge for me. To let go of trophys, medals, pictures. I thought I would go back and pull these things out of the trash and WHAT? Put it in a box for them to throw out when I'm gone. Letting go. Its hard.

So I freeze framed my  redecorating to deal with these memories.

I will post pictures in the future.

Its OK to freeze frame. 

Reclaiming Cordele

Today I went to Crimson and Clover in downtown Cordele. It was like stepping into Antropologie (which is one of my favorite stores). I was looking for things for a brunch. They have paper runners of different designs and colors. These are perfect for parties.

 







They also have coordinating placemats and napkins. The table runner and placemats are heavy duty paper and the napkins are cloth and last through 6-8 washings.

They just bought Devae Smith's invitation business. Thank you Whitney for all your help today.

We are so lucky to have stores like this and Sakari, Three's Company, Judy's Small World, Savannah Rose, and Flint River Pottery. All are locally owned and operated.

Shop and buy Cordele.

One Step Foward, Ten Steps Backwards, One Step Forward

I have been absent from blog world for 3 weeks. Many things have been happening at Reclaiming The Empty Nest.

First: My youngest daughter got a job in another town, sooooo we have been busy finding her a place to live, getting her moved, and setting up her apartment. I must say it looks great! We have many DIY projects and I will do another post about that. BTW she loves, loves, loves her new job and being back in the town with all her friends. I can hear so much happiness in her voice and that is the most precious sound for a mother. That was one step forward.

Second: We rented Mom's house (which is a guest house in our back yard). We have been renting it furnished. It is filled with Mom's and my mother in law's stuff that up until now we have not had to deal with making decisions about what to do with it. We rented it to someone who has her own things and really didn't need anything but a few pieces of furniture. So if my garage and house weren't already in dire straits, they certainly are now. I love my new neighbor, she is the mother to my next door neighbor and we continue to bless others the way we were able to bless our mothers. This is happening while I have my bedroom tore up for redecorating.

Now I have all this STUFF. It certainly is a treasure trove of antiques and collectibles, but also memories. I really feel like I'm living "Hoarders Buried Alive". But this will make me deal with these things that I have putting off for 3-4 years. Add this to all the STUFF that the girls have dumped at my house and I truly have an empty nest that needs to be reclaimed.

Third: Now I start to deal with all of this. This is my plan:
1. Every night I try to keep my house picked up.
2. Deal with garbage emails. I have already started unsubscribing from a lot of junk email.
3. Set aside a box for Habitat for Humanity donations. Put one thing in that box each day and drop off weekly.
4. List something for sale first on the local swap shops on facebook. If it doesn't sale in 7 days, then list on ebay or put in Habitat box.
5. DO NOT BUY ANYTHING NEW!!!!!!!!!!! Enough said.
6. Go through one box at a time. Luckily it is in the garage and I can bring one in at a time and completely go through everything and deal with it.

This is one step forward. I'm too embarrassed to post any before pictures, but I will keep you updated as I go down this road.

Reclaiming the Pillows

I have been doing a lot of sewing of pillows lately and thought I would show a few projects and speak of how to reclaim your pillows.

 

Pillows are an easy and inexpensive way to update a room. They are so easy to sew. This is a picture of pillows I made for the living room a while back. You can use neutral pieces of furniture and change pillow covers during seasons or holiday., if you have pillow covers that are removeable, this is a really inexpensive update.

I use an evelop closure for pillows that are not used very often such as the Euro pillows for my bed. These are the easiest to make. Here is picture of the back.

I made a flange on the edges to give it a custom look.

If it is a pillow I use alot such as couch pillows, I used covers with invisible zippers. These can be sewn with cording, edging, or fringe to give it a custom look.

If you look closely, you can see the invisible zipper.

I also will use an invisible zipper for just plain seams.

The possibilities are endless. Go to a large fabric store such as Lewis and Sharon, Forsyth Fabrics, or Calico Corners. These can be made with a yard of material. I buy my pillow forms from www.fabric.com. I can get feather inserts for about $10 - $15. They are located in Atlanta and I can get them within 1-2 days. I see these pillows on discount at Joss and Main for $35 - $200.  Even with fabric that is $50 a yard, that is only $60 a pillow.

If this overwhems you, just RUN to the closest TJ Maxx or Home Goods. I found these for $15 to $20 each and put them on my porch. They have invisible zippers so if I get tired of them, I still have the feather pillow insert to reuse.

I am currently finishing the pillows in my master bedroom for the redo. I can't wait to show the after pictures when finished.

Sewing is becoming a lost art. Even if you don't sew and get someone who does this professionally, they too are rare. Please find sewing classes and take them. Get a sewing machine and get going!

Reclaiming My Saturday

While reclaiming my weekends, I finished a wreath project.

It is made with muslin strips. I purchased the monogram at Flint River Pottery here in Cordele.

I got the idea from Down to Earth Style. I did change it a little. I used 14" by 1" strips of muslin. I would recommend to those of you that want to tackle this project: get a much smaller green wire frame than you think you will need. The muslin makes it alot larger. I would also recommend purchasing your mongram first so you know what size of wire frame for the monogram to get.

I have also ordered from Southern Proper Monograms. Here is the monogram I ordered to go in Livvey's room. This picture was taken at Genie's Baby Shower.

Monograms are really the IN thing right now. All these monograms came in raw wood and I painted them with a sponge brush and Apple Barrel  and/or Behr samples paint available at WalMart, Home Depot and craft stores.

I plan on making another burlap wreath that is similar and I will post it when I finish.