Valentine's Day

Look at these beauties! Now you might think my darling husband gave these to me, but no he didn't. We stopped giving each other Valentine's gifts a few years ago. We still exchange cards, which is lovely.

A dear knitting friend of mine sent these to me. And boy, talk about brightening a room and lifting a spirit out of the winter doldrums - these gorgeous flowers do it.

Of course, Ben had to check them out. Anything that comes in this house has to pass Ben's approval. And Dee's beautiful bouquet passed the picky cat's test.







I've been so lucky to meet some wonderful people online. That's right - Dee and I have never met in person - yet. She lives in Missouri and I live in Virginia. But our mutual love of knitting connected us to begin with and since then we have connected on so many levels. In fact, it's hard for me to remember a time when Dee wasn't in my life. And I hope she feels the same about me.




No matter our age, we need good friends in our lives. I hope as you think about Valentine's Day, you'll think not just of your partner, but of all of your loved ones - family and friends. And count your blessings just like I'm counting mine today.




Now a few more pictures of these beauties.













HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Overhauling

I've found that this new year is all about overhauls. The house, the website, even me.

The house is getting a good decluttering. I'm going through every room and finding things to give away to charity, throw away or move to another place. I'm also spiffing things up a bit with paint, new curtains and/or linens and decorative items. I've even "found" some things that I thought were gone forever. It's all good. And with every donation to charity, I feel the house grow lighter and my mood brighter. Our cat, Ben, doesn't know what to think. Unlike me, he doesn't like change.

I'm excited about the new website. Instead of updating the old website (using Front Page), I decided to go with a website building package. So far I'm really pleased with the ease of design. It helps that I designed the first website and knew what I wanted - more or less.

The overhauled website should go live soon. Just a few more things to add.

I've also tweaked a bit with this blog. I just can't seem to get into the habit of blogging. But in 2011 I'm going to aim for at least once a month.

Overhauling me was on my to-do list this year too. I'm working with a top notch nutritionist to learn how to eat healthier. One month into the new eating plan and so far, so good.

I'm also learning to read the books I crave on my Kindle. I'm so used to hard copy that it was a bit of a transition at first. But now that I'm into it, I find so many pluses for this format. I read faster. I can adjust the print to a size that is comfortable at the end of the day when I do most of my reading. And I always know where I left off reading, because the Kindle bookmarks my place. : )

I'm busy editing the mystery book. Soon, it'll be ready to submit. I'm more excited than I've been in a long time. No matter how many times I read the book, I still love it. And the people that have been my first readers have been very complimentary.

And as always, I have a ton of story ideas waiting to go.

Now if I could just stretch those 24 hour days into about 36....

Kat