It's the Holiday Season Here in the NE Ohio Countryside

After months of working on many, many products for my store, I'm finally taking a break from it all for the moment, anyways. When I can't think straight and my eyes don't focus as well, it's time to rest. So, I'm enjoying some holiday shopping online, just sleeping, and working on projects around the house. Things I had little to no energy for when I was focused on non-stop marathon work. It's fun to work on this ornate table that I'm refinishing. The process is slow and tedious to work on all the nooks and crannies on it with sandpaper but I like detail, so it's all enjoyable to me.

Later in the month, I'm going to the dentist in preparation for some major dental work. First come all the tests then he will make my teeth better looking than they ever were before, while getting rid of some problems in my mouth. My teeth have been the bain of my existence for many years and cost me a lot of money here and there fixing broken teeth. So, one by one, they are going to be redone. Thank goodness for a good cosmetic dental surgeon and a generous supply of novacaine/nitrous oxide! Bring it, doctor, I'm ready.

Last week I got around to putting up the new lace curtains I'd bought a few months ago, in my bedroom. They are just gorgeous, very elegant looking and they don't block too much light out. Perfect. And it transformed the room from basically plain and unremarkable to Buckingham Palace elegance in the blink of an eye. Adding LED window "candles" with sensors to each window afterwards gives the whole house a holiday flair, too. The warm, golden glow looks so beautiful at night against the reflections of the curtains. Love it.

Being as picky as I am about things like curtains, this was a total score! Now, to buy and install more in the other bedrooms and then work on the downstairs windows. By taking time and looking for the perfect drapes, it's all planned out carefully. One room at a time.

The cats have been really enjoying themselves, following eachother here and there, snoozing together underneath the Christmas tree and playing with their toys. They've been very well-behaved, for the most part, when it comes to sharing their house with holiday decorations. This is Matisse's first Christmas here, and he's been enjoying himself playing with (unbreakable) ornaments, hung specifically for him at the base of the tree. He can sit and entertain himself for hours, whacking away at a gold, sparkly "icicle". Beau likes the new toys I bought them. Since Matt came to be with us, Beau has learned to play more. The two of them have been quite the team, just like biological siblings. Sometimes they play-fight, at other times they chirp to one another in a cute little language (being deaf, how do they know that they're communicating?!).

As I sit here in my living room, coffee in hand and a fire in the fireplace, my mind is relaxed and peaceful. Stillness feels good. No husband to give me grief, no boyfriends to worry about, just friends and family, whenever I want to see them. Being a tradition-loving person, it's so wonderful to finally have roots down after previous years of ambitious travel and socializing. Moving out to the country and settling here was the best move I possibly could do. Living in the city is totally overrated. Here there is fresh air to breathe, deer to see outside my windows, and decent shopping within a half hours' drive from here. Not to mention the numerous equestrian sport barns all around. I lived in places like Mexico and Florida to find paradise, when in truth, living in Ohio turned out to be my paradise all along.

google-site-verification: google7067dc8e96d74570.html The Fine Artwork of Carolyn McFann