DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG

I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot

George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Thursday, January 11, 2018

One Year on Our Front Porch, 2017!!

Welcome back to my regular blog, Debbie-Dabble Blog......

I have been doing all my Christmas posts over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas......

There are link to my Christmas home Tour for 2017 on my Side Bar if you missed those posts.......

If you missed my post on what My One Little Word for 2018 is.......

Please Click HERE to see why I chose PEACE for My One Little Word for this New Year!!!

I am slowly taking down Christmas and changing over to Winter........

I have been under the weather with a bad Cold so I am moving slower than I would like to and of course, I still do have to go to work.......

My Mother always taught me it was bad manners to "toot your own horn" so to speak so I don't believe in doing a post about my Top Viewed Posts from the past year...

Instead I thought I would pull from my posts and share what our Front Porch has looked like over the past year of 2017........

I thought you might be interested in seeing how I was able to change how the Front Porch looked for the different Holidays and Seasons.........

Remember that I live in a townhouse development of 72 homes and I have attached house on each side of me......

We will start at the beginning of the year, 2017.......

Now this is Winter 2017, not to be confused with Winter 2018 which will be in my next post.....

Winter, 2017

I added burlap bows......

Snowflakes to the garland....

A light up Snowflake to the railing.....

Along with Snowflakes bought at Dollar Tree..........

Then on March 14, The Blizzard of 2017 happened.......

You could barely see our Front Porch........

The snow melted and Spring finally came......

Spring, 2017

I decorated the Porch in the colors of red, orange and yellow for the Spring and Summer......

These colors are considered "warm" colors and are supposed to be welcoming and inviting....

And planted my annuals in those same colors......

I decorated the Porch with garden decor.....

And it was ready for us to spend some relaxing afternoons on.......

The Porch gets the Sun in the evening......

The Summer Patriotic Holidays came along and I transformed the Porch once again........

Summer Patriotic Front Porch, 2017

By simply adding Patriotic Decor in red, white and blue, I changed the whole look of the Porch......

The red, orange and yellow flowers went well with the Patriotic decor......

Fall is my favorite Season of the Year........

And the flowers planted in the colors of red, orange and yellow, helped me transition the Porch from Summer to Fall.......

Fall, 2017

As the annuals died off, I planted Mums.......

Again, I chose Mums in the colors of red, orange and yellow......

A few Halloween touches were also added......

As soon as Halloween was over, the Porch was stripped down and made ready to be decorated for Christmas and Winter.........

Many of the decorations I use for Christmas , stay up through out the Winter......

Since we live in NEPA, the furniture was packed away until Spring, along with most of the decor items......

We rent a storage shed for things like that....

Christmas, 2017

I decorate the Porch for Christmas with garland and wreaths.......

And sleds......

I use red velvet bows......

And snow men.....

Joe cut some greenery from the trees in the woods behind us to fill some of the pots.....

And that is how our Front Porch looked through last year.....

I hope you enjoyed it.......

After Christmas, I packed away anything that was related to Christmas and got the Porch ready to decorate it for Winter.....

My dream house is a Queen Anne Victorian with a huge wrap around Front Porch but that house exists only in my dreams.......

So I decided that if I could not have the house I dream of, I would turn the one I have into the House of my Dreams!!

Even though we do not have a large or covered Front Porch, I made it into one that we could enjoy and one that welcomes visitors to our home, teasing them that there is so much more to see once they step foot inside our home!!

In my next post, I will be sharing how 2 rolls of this ribbon that I bought on Clearance after Christmas........

Tramsformed the entire look of our Front Porch decorated for Winter this year......

So I hope you will be back to visit again when I share how our Front Porch looks all decked out for this Winter in my next post.......

I also want to mention that I will be starting 2 Series of Posts over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, titled "Planning for Christmas" and "Where DO I Put It All?"

The series, "Planning for Christmas" will show you how I use a Christmas Planner ..........

To keep me on track every Christmas....

And I am frequently asked where do I put it all so I will be sharing just that with you......

After all, when you have 23 Christmas Trees in your small townhouse for Christmas, you have to have a plan!!!

Click HERE if you missed my post, 23 Christmas Trees, Christmas Home Tour, 2017!

I will be posting links to those posts from my Christmas Blog, here in my regular Blog.....

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

I am linking up to these parties:

FRIDAY
Friday Features Linky Party
Funtastic Friday
Friday Favorites
Feathered Nest Friday
Home Matters Linky Party
What To Do Weekends
Flaunt It Fridays
Sweet Inspirations Link Party
Awesome Life Friday

SATURDAY
Pink Saturday-Anything Goes!!
Best of the Weekend Party
Simple Saturdays Blog Hop
Saturday Sparks
Share It One More Time Inspiration Party

SUNDAY
Snickerdoodle Sunday
Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Sundays at Home
Silver Pennies Sunday
Happiness is Homemade Linky Party
Nifty Thrifty Sunday

MONDAY
Inspire Me Monday
Inspiration Mondays
Dishing It and Digging It Link Party
Busy Monday

Amaze Me Mondays
Creative Mondays
Celebrate Your Story Monday Night Link Party!
Over the Moon Linky Party
Merry Monday Linky Party
You Are The Star Blog Hop

What'd You Do This Weekend?
Cooking and Crafting with J & J
Metamorphosis Monday
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party
Make It Pretty Monday

TUESDAY
Show and Share Party
Tuesdays At Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesdays

The Scoop

Tuesdays with a Twist

Reader Tip Tuesday Party
Keep in Touch Party

WEDNESDAY

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

New Christmas Buys for 2018 !!!

Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

I have been posting my annual Christmas Home Tour, sharing each room in our townhouse decorated for Christmas...

All of these posts are on my side bar if you missed them!!

I really did not buy a lot of things after Christmas on Clearance for 2 reasons.....

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.........

Hugs,
Deb

Thursday, January 4, 2018

23 Christmas Trees, Christmas Home Tour, 2017

Welcome to my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas!!

I have been posting my annual Christmas Home Tour, sharing each room in our townhouse decorated for Christmas...

All of these posts are on my side bar if you missed them!!

In this post, the final post on my Christmas Home Tour for 2017, I will be showcasing all of my 23 Trees that I had decorated in our home this Holiday Season!!!

CLICK HERE TO READ.......

Hugs,
Deb

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

My One Little Word for 2018

Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy 2018!!!!!!

Welcome back to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!!

Once again, a New Year has begun and that means it is time to pick my One Little Word for 2018!!!

What this means is choosing One Little Word to focus on for the upcoming New Year......

As I have stated in these posts for the past several years, I no longer have New Year's Resolutions but I do have Aspirations for the New Year.......

Last year, My One Little Word was HOPE!!!!!

I chose this word right after our National Election results were in.........

You can read last year's post HERE

So how exactly did I do last year, focusing on HOPE?????

I HOPED to maintain and increase our Financial Wellness by continuing to work with our financial advisor and to live with in our means.....

My greatest HOPE was that the Stock Market would not take a dive after the election and I would not lose my hard earned investments that will allow me to retire early and that allowed Joe to retire early!!!

Once I turned 59 1/2 years old in August, I was able to withdraw the majority of my money from my 401K and I invested it into an annuity where it will sit until Feb. of 2020, when I retire at 62 years of age, I will start getting a fixed monthly payment from it for as long as I live no matter how long that will be.......

So in case the Stock Market turns around and takes that dive, I will not lose a lot of money......

I had other things that I HOPED to achieve this year.......

And again, it goes back to the Aspirations that I have had for the past few years..

I HOPED to achieve a Healthy Lifestyle with weight balance, exercise, good eating habits and sleep......

Weight loss is always an Aspiration for me but now as I age, I realize I need to lose weight to maintain my Health.

In the beginning of last year, I did lose weight and was able to keep it off and not gain weight over this past Holiday Season......

Because of my need for Knee Replacement Surgery in the future, I realize that it is imperative for me to lose even more weight.

As I get closer to my Knee Replacement Surgery, which I hope to put off for another 1 1/2 years, I do need to lose more weight so it will be easier for me after I do have the surgery as far as mobility is concerned.

I had HOPED to take care of some dental issues that I had before I have my Surgery and I am proud to say that I now have a clean bill of Dental Health and all those issues are now a thing of the past.

Exercise is always an issue for me because of my physical issues like a bad back and arthritis but I did adhere much better than the previous year to my schedule of riding my stationary bike which is again to preparation for my Knee surgery.

I also HOPED to improve my Sleep habits as I have worked night shift for over 35 years and I still do work night shift but only part time now.

I am no longer sleeping only 4-5 hours a day and now I am getting at least 7 hours of sleep when I am not working.

However, since I have gotten used to sleeping more normally than not, I am more tired when I do have to work...

I also needed to have an eye exam done and get new glasses which I did do. However, I did learn that I have the beginning of bilateral cataracts but can do without surgery for another 1 1/2 - 2 years....

I HOPED to continue achieving balance in our home through purging and organization......

I continued purging of things that I did not need, want or love around the house.

And if I buy something new, I try to get rid of something that I already have.....

I did do a lot more organizing inside the house and I am satisfied with the outcome of making it a lot easier to find things!!

I HOPED to find the time to read more, craft more, relax more and enjoy the things I love to do and stop and "Smell the Roses"

I had HOPED to relax more and sit and read a book.

Honestly, I failed miserably at this.... So I do need to create more time for me to do just that.....

I HOPED to craft more and that I definitely did.

I crafted a lot for myself and that brought the joy of crafting back into my life!!

However, I have realized that I need to do the crafting that I want to do for Christmas in the Summer or I will never get it done which is exactly what happened this past Holiday Season...

I HOPED to spend more time with those that I love ......

I started having our kids over for Dinner at least every few weeks even though there was no Holiday or event to celebrate.

I also am thrilled to say that I reconnected with an old friend at the end of this past year and I also made a few new friends....

I HOPED that now that Joe is retired that we enjoy spending more time together and get to do more things together.......

What I learned is that Joe being home all the time was not such a good thing for both of us..

After working different shifts for 39 years, I was used to my "Space" and time alone and after a year of retirement, Joe was getting bored and did not know what to do with himself...

So he went and got himself a part time job at Wegman's, working 15-18 hours a week.

Just having that time away from each other has greatly improved our time when we are together.....

2 years ago, I took a step back and bowed out of running several major Fund Raising events at our church, taking an "Out of sight, out of mind" attitude.

I was HOPING to attend church more in the past year and we did do that.

Our church at Christmas

I was also wrestling with the thought of switching Parishes but we have decided to stay where we are...

I even returned as a Hostess for our church's annual Harvest Tea and reconnected with the many friends that we have at our parish.

Okay, so all in all, I think I did not do too badly in achieving what I aspired to do last year!!

SO.........

What is My One Little Word for this year.........

It became quite apparent to me a few weeks before the end of 2017 what word I would choose.....

My One Little Word for 2018 is PEACE!!!!!

I will honestly admit that most of my early life had a lot of Drama, Conflict and Stress in it

About 13 years ago, all that Drama and Conflict that caused me so much stress was gone.....

My most peaceful years have been the last 13.....

I will not go into it but in the past on this blog, I have freely written several times about a Love/Hate relationship with a family member that caused all that Drama and Conflict in my life.....

Near the end of this past year, Drama and Conflict reared it's ugly head once again and burst back on the scene......

I was not used to this after having been without it for close to 13 years.......

So I acted swiftly and removed the elements that were causing all the Drama and Conflict....

And once again, PEACE was restored and all is well.......

So that is why I am choosing PEACE as my One Little Word for this year.......

I realized how much the value of a peaceful life is to me.....

I truly plan to focus on 2 aspects of PEACE.....

PEACE of MIND......

And PEACE of HEART AND SOUL.....

To have PEACE of Mind, I will again work on those Aspirations that I have had for the past few years......

Physical Wellness and Financial Wellness.....

So I will continue my quest to maintain a Healthy Life style and to maximize my finances, saving for an early Retirement.....

I found this online and I feel that these are good steps to take to maintain PEACE in your life....

Ways to maintain peace of mind in tough times:

Learn to trust yourself. ...
Focus on what you're learning. ...
Ease your expectations. ...
Open up to someone you trust. ...
Use hope to drive positive action. ...
Move TOWARDS something instead of AWAY. ...
Take a few steps back. ...
Give yourself time

As far as Peace of Heart and Soul.......

I think I need to practice Gratitude......

There are so many things that I have to be Grateful for and those will bring me PEACE......

I am SO grateful that my children get along and there is no bickering between them.....

Peace means listening to your heart and doing what is right for you.....

I also found this online.....

12 Steps of Self Care

1. If it feels wrong, don't do it!!
2. Say exactly what you mean
3. Trust your Instincts
4. Don't be a People Teaser
5. Never Speak Bad about yourself
6. Never give up on your dreams
7. Don't be afraid to say No!
8. Don't be afraid to say Yes!
9. Be Kind to yourself
10. Let go of what you can't control
11. Stay away from drama and negativity
12. Love

Number 11- Stay away from Drama and Negativity

As I mentioned before, I took steps to rid my life of what was causing Drama, Conflict and Negativity but what I have to do is remember to keep eliminating any elements that steal my PEACE away......

Whether it be situations or people....

I need to practice removing myself from these types of situations at work and at home.......

There is a LOT of Drama that goes on at the change of my shift at work.....

I will start to physically remove myself from the area where it occurs until it is time to give shift report and not get drawn up in things that do not even involve or affect me....

At home, Joe and I have 2 very different Political views with me being an Independent and not subscribing to the Philosophies of any one party.....

The past Presidential Election has caused a lot of Conflict in my own house

We have remedied that by not listening to World News, muting the volume when presidential matters are being discussed on TV and trying, and I do say trying, not to talk Politics at home.

This is not easy when all of our immediate family members share my views and not Joe's...

A long time ago, I leaned not to sweat the "Small Stuff"

As a cancer survivor, you learn to do that........

So my goal this year is to live a life full of PEACE......

And to focus on Maintaining PEACE of Mind and PEACE in my Heart and Soul.........

I also need to take time for myself and to just relax......

I am always on a time schedule and I need to loosen up a bit......

I need to surround myself with the people who are good for me .....

Because after all........

So true, isn't it??????

So there you have it.......

My One Little Word for 2018....

PEACE!!!!

One more thing.....

I thought I would share my updated Profile photo that I took after getting my new glasses.......

I realized that I hadn't shared an updated photo for a few years.....

Have you chosen One Little Word for 2018?????

If you have, you can share it The 2018 One Word Blog Hop, hosted by the authors of Create With Joy!!

This party will be open the entire month of January and you can also share any Traditional Resolutions or Goals that you have for this Shiny Bright New Year that is filled with so much possibilities........

I will close by wishing .........

A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND THOSE THAT ARE DEAR TO YOU!!!!!!

I am still posting over on my Christmas Blog, A Debbie-Dabble Christmas, finishing up the Holiday Season, but will be returning here to my regular blog soon......

My annual Christmas Home Tour, sharing each room in our townhouse decorated for Christmas
is posted on my side bar if you missed them!!

So I hope you will be back to visit again soon.......

And thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!

If you do not have a blog, PLEASE give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment. If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

I am linking up to these parties:

2018 One Word Blog Hop

WEDNESDAY

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's