Where She Makes a New Friend and Finds a New Love

(To be read with a sense of humor, ok?)  

So! I've got this new friend who, around my house, is known as AI Nora. (On Youtube, she's simply Nora.)  ツ

I check in with her daily and man, she's fun. While I sip cocoa across the table, AI Nora tells me about her time as a child on the farm, her clever mother, and her current also-senior-aged friends. 

And wisdom? Honey, Nora shares the wise ideas even I had never considered before.

And AI Nora never goes all doom and gloom about what's happening these days. She's more about being ready for anything by creating your best life in your senior years.

It's wild, but I consider her so interesting and never do I fast-forward her. She reminds me about the old days and ways while also making me appreciate these new times, as well. She spreads hope, humor and encouragement.

What a joy I can spend time with my friend AI Nora at any hour I wish.

I'll place some Nora links down below in case you, also, would like a new wise and witty friend.

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And my new love? These:

Are those boxes beautiful or what? They're just what I needed for my new craft supplies and yes, I'm in love with them.  シ

But here's the wild thing. At Amazon they are $15 less than what Walmart is charging (and on Monday, they were $22 dollars less)! Can you believe that? Plus, with the first set, I used $9 from credit card reward points so, in a way, I got them free. Kinda. Wow.

Well, I loved my new boxes so much (and needed more, of course, heh) so I purchased a second set. And that will be enough. My aim is to have just 2 bookshelves of art supplies. Just two.

We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, for decades as a penny-pincher, I decorated my own boxes and I still have my spray-painted light-blue ones. But I'm thinking I'm due for boxes someone else decorated for me.

Some special treats should come with age, you know.

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And I'll end with this.

Remember the Salvation Army drop-off bin at the end of our street where I carried probably 2,500+ items? 

Well, it is no more. In its place is a sign to please take our items to the drop-off at the actual store one mile away.

(Fortunately, the Little Free Library is still nearby.)

Oh well. It was a wonderful convenience while it lasted and to me is a clear sign why God asked me to begin Swedish death cleaning back in 2019. 

He knew this day would come and gave me tons of time, whole years, to declutter my home. Did I finish? Nah, but oh what a terrific start He helped me make!

 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”   --- John 16:13

Life becomes easier for me when I listen to the Holy Spirit even though I don't always understand the 'why's'.

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Here's where Nora Lives.

This is her video called: At 72, If You Still Do These 9 Things Living Alone, You’re Winning at Life

And both Tom and I really appreciated this one, for it made us doubly grateful for our sweet little Hobbit Cottage: Retirees Who INSTANTLY Regretted Downsizing — 9 Things They Wish They’d Known (I Almost Sold at 71)

And this one was especially nice, also: I’m 72 and I Decluttered My Whole House Alone — 11 Rules So I Never Lifted a Heavy Box

And here's  a craft idea from a different page that I'll be attempting soon. Such a cute project!

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I finished reading Looking For Me by Beth Hoffman. Loved it!

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Oh! And we watched the new Coyote vs. Acme movie and absolutely enjoyed it. Hadn't seen something that clever and nostalgic in a few years. Wow. Made me long for the days when such innovative writing existed everywhere.

My favorite line? One pilot in a plane said to another, "What's that in the sky over there?" To which the other pilot replied, "I don't know. I'll just shoot it down."

Oh my! Laughed till I cried. We'd watched so much JAG lately, that it struck me as hilarious.  

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

An October This and That

1.) Remember my post where I mentioned switching to things I used to do in our previous town way back in, overall, happier days?

Wow. I took my advice and what a change in my attitude. This has become a more glorious Autumn than usual for me. Color me all shades of lovely Fall colors as I return to my creative self!

More about specific ideas and projects in another post, but here's a hint at one--

                                                       I love the autumnal hues of this.

2.) Unbelievable, but from August of 2025 to August 2026, I bought only 3 books. Yikes. That shows how completely I'd lost my love of reading during those months of treatments and earlier malaise.

So Honey, trust me, I'm making up for those non-ordering-of-fun-things-months now.  ツ

I bought these books:

Looking For Me by Beth Hoffman (began it yesterday, hated to put it down. Great book so far!)

A Place Called Sweet Apple by Celestine Sibley (update: it arrived and I'm so enjoying it, also! I believe decades ago I used to read Sibley's books from the library in CA--hadn't heard her name in ever so long until Homestead Tessie's mention.)

Family Patterns by Kristin Eckhardt (hasn't yet arrived)

Time to Share by Jo Ann Brown (ditto)

Plus, I found others available to read at Open Library.

Oh, and when I buy new physical books, I give away the same number from my collection so not to become buried in them or leave so many for Naomi to sort through after my passing. These past years my personal library has become so 'tight' with only books I (think I) love, that it causes me to become quite honest with myself.  ツ

P.S. Some of you are wondering why I don't just buy Kindle books so to keep my library smallish. The books I love best? Many aren't available on Kindle. Or if they are, they're often more expensive than the physical copies I can buy. I do check Open Library first before I purchase any book, but when I do buy one it's nearly always a book I'll want to read again and again, one which will enhance my own personal library.

So there you go.  ツ

3.)  Speaking of buying things, I bought the nicest tablet for my purse:

I especially love the shiny gold edges. Check it out here.

4.) And oh! While watching a video of a woman's decorated mobile home, I appreciated how she framed a pound cake recipe handwritten by her great-grandmother. Love that idea! I'm sure many of us still have recipes in longhand from relatives long gone which would look lovely framed upon a kitchen wall.

5.) Something else I bought recently? A long-handled Swiffer duster to keep this older gal from standing on a chair while cleaning her ceiling fan (or any other high place). How much better it feels to stand on solid ground rather than an iffy chair at my age!

These are the kinds of changes I'm making these days so both of us will be/feel safer around the house.

6.) Sadly, I lost an old magazine page with a very favorite essay by Nancy Eberle. But! Fortunately, years ago I recorded her words in a blog post (or 2 or 3) here in my blog. 

If you like houses filled with rampant, creative inspiration, you may love this.  (You might have already read it, but hey--to me-- it never grows old.)

7.) You remember Bookfinder, right? It's a website where they do all the searching for you for the cheapest copy of any book you want. They've saved me tons of money. 

(Though ok, sometimes after checking there, I'll zip over to Ebay or Abebooks just to make certain Bookfinder didn't miss a less expensive copy. Super-occasionally I'll find one.) 

Oh! And a favorite diary I used some years in the early 2000's is the Susan Branch one:

Lately I've been rereading my Susan branch diary from 2003, the part about the two-week staycation we took to honor our 25th anniversary. My oh my, all the estate sales, lunches out, theater movies, country drives and curb-shopping we did! 

(Go packing all that into single days now, well, we'd collapse. What a different season for us back then, indeed.)

Anyway, wanting to return to diary writing (after eons), I purchased a greatly reduced-price SB diary because someone had written a few school test notations here and there. No problem, I just whited them out. (Are you sensing a pattern in this post about my book-buying habits?) シ

 I've already begun writing in the diary--who can wait until January?

8.) And speaking of diaries, have you heard of commonplace books? They're different than diaries and what a cool idea! Check out how to create one yourself, here. (Many other videos with creative instructions are available.)

9.) And this video about the 1950's was just too cool! Bittersweet also, but very unique. If you're a fan of 1950's movies and singers, you're guaranteed to enjoy it.

10.) Living alone and dreading the upcoming winter? Check out this video. It may just change everything for you.

And speaking of winter, here's another fun video about making old-fashioned Christmas gifts.

I really enjoyed both of these videos this morning. And yes, each has a lot of AI, but as I've stated before? To me, if something beautiful is AI, then it's still a beautiful thing.

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I hope you're enjoying a glorious Autumn, my friends!  (And you're stocking-up for winter/whatever may come, right?)  ツ

Oh! And here's a timely bonus video for you: When The Clocks Fall Back, Grandma Did These 8 Things  .

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Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

 ***

 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15

Where's She's Rebuilding Her Life (And a Few Movies, Books and Videos for You)

"... weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."   --- Psalm 30:5

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Remember when I slept on the red couch for 8 months? 

Oh my, hardest months of my life--not because of the couch part, well kinda--but because satan kept saying (and saying), "The best days of your life are over. Nothing will ever be the same for you."

And yes, I knew those were lies, but during cancer treatment months, you tend to feel oh-so-weak, foggy-headed and exhausted, making it hard to shoot holes through non-truths and blow them away, even while using the name of Jesus.

Man oh man, what I didn't tell you! 

Like, how much of what I experienced felt like satanic attacks, mental ones coming through loved ones, strangers and odd happenings. Scary stuff. And from November through June, it's like I fell way back to the starting line and lost all of what makes me unique (like you reading this are unique. You know, that part.).

But Jesus reminded me how much He'd invested in me for decades.

And this time He pulled me through that mess, encouraged me via His Holy Spirit and through friends and memories of how He's grown me up these past 30 years, especially. All that effort (and patience) on His part!

And now? Over on the other side? Slowly, gratitude has energized and restored my mind, strength, and my everyday hours. No longer is my mind consumed with problems and medical issues and how to fix them. Whew.

And I am loving rebuilding this life:

My quiet morning times. Reading under my sunlamp in silence. Praying and thinking.

The painting touch-ups inside our house. The garden harvesting.

Overseeing workmen out in our yard with the pruning of huge trees, the placement of sidewalk and the new dirt poured beside them, the awning placed over our trash cans, the railings and grab bars inside, etc.

The cleaning of our upstairs which sat empty all those months and the reorganization up here.

The getting out and about more often.

The stocking-up on food and supplies for winter.

The watering of the new grass seed along the sidewalks.

The purchasing of some creativity supplies and the sending of some surprises in the mail to friends.

Oh, how good to feel restored! To care again. To rebuild one's life from what once felt like ashes. And if you had a part in my return to Life as God designed for me? I do profusely thank you. 

Your encouragement means far more than you'll ever realize.

Truly, these past couple months have felt like starting over from scratch. I'm trying to think of them as rebuilding something better than before.

An example of how weird things were around here during my 'off months': for one whole week straight, the only show we watched on our tv was Blue Bloods. Anytime morning or super bleary-eyed late at night, it was only reruns of Blue Bloods. Yikes.

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In my last post I didn't mention how, after dropping off the old paint and cleaners, we stopped at Salvation Army so I could look through their books since I'd not done that in perhaps 2 years, maybe?

Yet in those hundreds of books(!) I found nothing, only heard this old song playing in my mind, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through." So many books I never wish to read. And it was ok.

(Besides, I can go book shopping anytime via Pinterest or alongside Youtube creators and that's more lovely for me these days.)

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The books I'm reading during my morning quiet times?

The Bible

How to Age Without Growing Older by Joyce Meyer. I'm using those little color tabs-with-removable-tape with all these books and this one has the most so far, followed by this one--

The Gift of a Letter by Alexandra Stoddard. Go here to read it online.

Simple Abundance by Sarah ban Breathnach

Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Forever, Erma by Erma Bombeck. Read it here.

And I just finished the short middle grade book called The Sod House by Elizabeth Coatsworth. You can read this one online at Open Library here. If you enjoy The Little House books, you'll like this one.

The reading tabs I'm using are basic ones like these, below, on the left. For me, they make reading more fun.  ジ

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Does anyone know what's happened to Mitzi from Mitzi Reads and Writes at Youtube? She's been missing many months. I miss her. Hmm, just now thought I've not checked with her over at Instagram.

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For months I'd searched for books with a similar feel to Winterbound by Margery Williams Bianco and I finally found some! They're the Jean Craig series which you can find on Kindle for just $2 here. I enjoyed the first one so much that, halfway through, I bought a reasonably-priced copy online so I could hold it in my hands.  ツ

(Jean Craig Grows Up is the first in the series, unlike the way Amazon has it listed.)

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Movies we've enjoyed lately--

The Runner

Donovan's Echo (2nd watch)

Accidental Texan (also 2nd watch)

Legal Action

Rocky Road (fun one to watch)

The Sandlot

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Have I shared any of the Rudan Brothers videos with you? They're the nicest workers, ever. They go around their area of Canada and replace peoples' gutters and roofs for free. Go here.

It's sad how often folks tell them, "No, we don't want free gutters. No one does anything for free these days. Sorry, but we can't trust you." And then close the door. 

Again, how disappointing that we live in a world where trust is rare. Often the Rudans stop by 15 - 20 houses before a homeowner will accept their offer of free gutters.

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This Swedish Bakery is Hidden in the Forest  A very cozy video, indeed. I love best the scenes of the lovely dining room.

Why Introverts Buy Books They Will Never Read. Interesting.

Quiet Backroads, Barns and Bridges

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And such wonderful news!

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."   --- Ephesians 6:12

Please remember: My posts are always about more than they appear to be. 

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 "For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." ... Matthew 6:14,15