Recycle. Repurpose. Reuse.
While February usually brings deep snows and frigid temperatures to Ohio, this year we have been enjoying a stretch of unusually warm weather. February and March were to be my months for organizing my dressing room and pairing down my wardrobe. But with temperatures climbing into the 50s, 60s and even reaching a 70° day,… Continue reading Organize It! The Front Porch
Americans spend an enormous number of hours in their cars. I don't particularly like to drive. No, let me rephrase that. I HATE to drive. When I was working, I spent just about an hour a day driving the 14 miles to and from my job. It took me about 25 minutes or so each… Continue reading Lifelong Learning and the Daily Commute
My goal for 2017 is to get my entire house back into perfect order. Five days into January and the Organize It! project is starting well. For the month of January I chose to work on setting up a home office. I've taken over one end of my sun room and now have a small… Continue reading Organize It! Updating the Books
No, I'm not celebrating Boxing Day or Kwanza. I've been planning for and celebrating Christmas since Black Friday. My daughter cooked a delicious Christmas dinner and we had a family gift exchange. Christmas is a big deal in our family. Like most families. But December 26 still remains my favorite holiday. Or really, it's the… Continue reading December 26th: My Favorite Holiday
One year ago tomorrow I quit my job as Public Relations and Marketing Director of a fine arts center. I wasn't old enough to retire. I didn't start collecting a pension or Social Security. I wasn't old enough to tap my retirement fund. My job was neither hard nor horrible and in many ways it… Continue reading Retirement: My One Year Anniversary
It's the first week of September. Kids are back in school. Store shelves are filled with Halloween decor and mums are beginning to bloom.But it's still in the 80's, the calendar says it's summer until September 22, and "gosh darn it! I'm not ready to let go of the season!" So how can we shake… Continue reading My Summer in September Bucket List
Everyone who had retired before me said it would take a year to get settled. I now know what they meant I left my job 10 months ago. I wasn't old enough to retire. It took some planning. Several years of planning in fact. But I finally quit my job. When I left my job… Continue reading Early Retirement: Ten Months In
One of the reasons I love a vacation house is because it doesn't have a lot of clutter. When I decided to create my own "staycation-vacation retreat" and remake my home into something that feels more vacation-home-like, I knew I would have one huge challenge. To live in clutter-free spaces, I must face the problem of organizing and storing all of the… Continue reading The Dressing Room: Making a Staycation-Vacation Retreat at Home
Home at the WhackyShack 