First New Year's Resolution - check!

I did it! I've been telling myself for 2 years that I was going to start a blog. I made a New Year's resolution - I did it! I hope this will be as much fun as all the blogs I've been reading over the last couple of years. I know, I know - there's still a lot of work to be done. Pictures, links, favorite blogs, etc. All in good time, my pretties! "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step". This is going to be my mantra (because most things I attempt only take me a few steps, that's it).

I can't wait to really get rolling. Holy cow, this is exciting! ( I just know all of you experienced bloggers are rolling your eyes, thinking "oh boy - another one").

This just may save my sanity - you know, so many things you want to say but no one is listening; or you just want a sounding board without hurting the feelings of any one close to you - the one you really want to say these things to! Now if I tell certain people that I now have a blog, and they happen to find and read it, that is for a future decision.

Well, the Holiday season is over. A good thing. This has not been the most joyous of seasons for one reason or another. I am so looking forward to getting back to my normal routine. I miss my spinning wheels! Haven't touched them since the first week in December - too many things to do getting ready for the holidays. Too much confusion, hecticness, demands on my free time. How do we ever get through it and hang on to our sanity? In my case, you can fool a lot of the people sometime.....some of the people a lot of the time.........you know the drill!

Ok, let's get down to basics........let me introduce myself. Yes, I live in Northern Minnesota, not a lifer, but rather a transplant from western New York (Yea Yanks!!). My husband and I retired here 18 years ago after he retired. We had decided a couple of years before that we would move somewhere else to experience a new lifestyle. We searched and searched; we still wanted the 4 seasons; we wanted to get back to basics, to live in a rural area versus the suburbs we knew all our lives; to live simply. Now the fact that we had 2 young boys yet that would have to come with us, gave us another challenge. Not to mention the other 6 kids, all young adults who could very well live on their own but yet most chose to stay at home with mom and dad - did not believe that we had actually bought a property and were moving in 2 months until the moving van was pulling out of the driveway with arms waving frantically "goodbye". Tears were flowing from those left in the distance. "Shock and Awe"?? Politicians don't know the meaning of that phrase!

It's all been good. The 2 boys grew up; we live the way we dreamed; relatives have been out to visit many, many times as we have gone back to visit also. So many comings and goings; kids moving back home, kids leaving; my brother who sold his home in New York 2 years after we moved and moved his family here. But he chose to move to a suburb of Minneapolis. Strange, but it looks like the same neighborhood he left! Same life, same type of friends, same activities, same jobs. I don't get it!

Well, I've been a spinner for over 15 years now. No, I don't have any sheep. I'm not allowed. The conversation with my better half goes something like this: Me: "we should get a couple of lambs. Not ones that will grow huge, just small sheep. Besides, they would be good company for the dog. He loves little kids and making everyone believe he's the boss; they have to be rounded up and protected". Besides, I have their names picked out: "Knit" and "Purl" - both females.

Him: "where are we going to put them? How are we going to corral them? What do we do with them in the winter? What happens when one dies? You'll be crying your eyes out."

Me: "we have 6 1/2 acres of land! You have wood up the wazoo, build a fence. Everyone says all they need is a 3-sided leanto and a lot of hay for bedding in the winter - They have wool coats, for God's sake. If something happens to one of them, we just shear it and give it a good burial."

No dice. But that's ok. I have found websites to buy my wool. And thanks to my subscription to a spinning magazine (am I allowed to give the name here? don't know - and I don't want to run the risk of my blog being banned on the first day), I have also found sheep and wool festivals that we have visited, which also entails a few days of camping, which "Better Half" ( hereafter known as BH) absolutely loves!

So right now I have an extensive assortment of storage containers in various sizes packed with my procurements from such excursions and websites - maybe 200 lbs. worth - in assorted colors, weights and wools. I am living "la vive loca"!!

Oh crap, time to finish the laundry. Join me for the next installment - soon I hope!

Happy Spinning!