All about Frosty

I don't know about you, but when it comes to decorating for Christmas, I've always been a Santa girl.

I mean, aside from all his great points, like the fact that he's jolly all the time, has adorable flying reindeer and has been married to the same woman for a millennium, how can you not love a guy that brings you all those wonderful presents for just a couple of cookies and a glass of milk?

Well, although the old bearded guy still has my heart, I fell in love with another familiar character this year.

Yes, by way of a trash can, that he was found in right after Christmas last year, Frosty walked... errr... rolled?... straight into my heart.

How sad is it that someone just tossed him out onto his faded earmuffs?

And on a side note, not very smart.

Do you know how much these vintage blow molds go for?

A LOT.

So if you have some of these sitting in your garage that you don't want, I'll be happy to take them off your hands ;)

But I digress...

So anyway, since then he's been sitting and waiting all these months to have a makeover, so that he could have his big debut for Christmas.

I got out the painter's tape, some newspaper and spray paint and went to work.

The first day, I only managed to get his hat, buttons and candy cane done, before it started getting dark, but he already looked happier.

The next day I got right back to it.

He was spray painted...

and then I hand painted the bells and berries on his wreath.

His eyes and nose came last.

I could hardly wait for the paint to dry...

At last he was finished!

And now he's back where he belongs and the star of the show :)

Speaking of walking straight into my heart...

See that precious vintage ornament next to the clocks?

It's my "new to me" Christmas ornament this year.

Isn't it adorable?

I love the eyebrows :)

He's too fragile to hang on the tree, but he has a special place on the mantel and in my heart.

So, sorry Santa, but it's all about Frosty, this year ;)

xo

rue

PS

I have a few more things added to my Etsy shop and as a special Christmas gift for just my sweet friends and readers, I'm offering 20% off everything until December 25th.

Just click here or put the code 4ULOVERUE in the code box at checkout.

A Better Life

Remember when I told you that I had been going through some changes around here?

Nope, it's not my constantly changing office.

That's just a picture to pull you in ;)

Actually, one of those big changes was starting the Flylady system.

But not with the original creator, as brilliant as she is.

I found a wonderful woman on YouTube, named Kat, that walked me though the whole process with her videos, but we'll get to that in a minute.

I'm sure you've heard of the Flylady, as she's been around for years.

I know I had.

The ladies in Blogland started going nuts for her years ago and she was all over the place.

I remember checking her blog out and thinking, "I don't need this, because I'm an obsessively clean person."

HA!

The truth is, I'm am OCD, but unless I had the time to clean every single little inch of my home like it was going to be in a magazine, I was lost as to what to do. So before someone would come over, or I would take a picture for my blog, I would go insane like a cleaning madman.

Not that I lived daily in a pigsty, mind you, but let's just say I wasn't on top of it, as I should have been.

Anywho, I was searching the internet for yet another cleaning strategy that might get my act in gear and came across Kat. She was a Flylady that worked for the the original Flylady. 

Apparently, the system got so popular, that flybabies (newbies), were handed off to other women that had been doing the system for years.

I came across one of Kat's videos and was intrigued, so I went to her channel and clicked on the video below that she recommends for newbies and I was hooked!

The video is 40 minutes, but well worth your time.

I followed her advice and started routines, then the weekly plan, then decluttering in zones and now I've reached the cleaning in zones, instead. Albeit with a little decluttering still to do here and there in hidden places ;)

I watch her daily morning videos and live videos that give advice and tips and now my home is presentable all the time and I don't have to go nuts before anyone comes over :)

Kat is no longer an "official Flylady", because she was spreading herself too thin (she takes care of her elderly parents for a week at a time every three weeks), but she still helps us flybabies (now we're called Lions) everyday with her daily videos, under the name "A Better Life with Kat", while still following her version of the Flylady system.

Kat truly cares about every single one of us and you can see it in her live chats especially.

She's definitely changed my life and I'm unbelievably thankful that I found her.

I hope you head on over to her channel and watch her videos :)

And just for fun, check out her other channel called Kat & Mr. B where they read their old love letters and do other fun stuff, like cooking and showing how to make a box for the recent solar eclipse:

I could watch these two all day :)

Thank you so much, Kat, for showing me how to have A Better Life!

xo

rue

PS

This was not a compensated post. I just wanted to share this lovely lady with all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't forget to take your turkey out for a pre-feast ride...

;)

xo

rue

I just know

As I've said before, aside from Christmas time, I'm not much of a seasonal decorator.

I'll bring out a few throws, a couple of pretty scented candles, and place a pumpkin here or there... and that's about the extent for Autumn.

Some old Halloween knick-knacks will make their appearance around October 1st.

Mostly at my daughter's urging ;)

But that's pretty much it.

It's not because I don't like Autumn.

Oh no! Quite the contrary.

As I've gotten older, I love it even more than any other Season.

It's just that when I look around my home, I realize that I don't really need to add "things" to know it's that time of year.

I already know.

I just have to pay attention to the changes outside...

And the way the light moves around on the inside...

I really don't even need to pay attention to the calendar.

I just know :)

xo

rue

PS

I've added more to my Etsy shop and there's a 15% off discount until Thanksgiving Day, if you click "here"

roadtrip to Clifton

Sometime in the late spring or early summer, I visited the town of Clifton.

It almost qualifies as a ghost town and by that I mean that most of the town shops have been abandoned and a lot of the buildings have fallen down, but people still live there.

I always find towns like this sad, but especially a place like this when the surroundings are so beautiful.

It sits nestled in a mountain and it was built because of the mining that went on there and is still ongoing, albeit a little farther away in a neighboring town.

The first part of town has a railroad track that divides the main street, as you can kind of tell by the following pictures.

On one side there is the courthouse:

and neighborhoods...

On the other side are shops, including this hotel:

The old girl has changed quite a bit looking at a picture from inside the hotel.

So has the town.

You can see more pictures of what Clifton used to look like "here".

The couple that owns the Hotel Reardon were kind enough to invite us in to take a look. They're in the process of fixing it up and they allow dogs, so if you're ever up the way and need a place to stay, they'd be happy to have you (They don't have a website, but their number is: 480-599-2819 :)

Farther down, on the same side as the hotel, are more houses, which we decided to walk alongside and take pictures.

I was pleasantly surprised that most of the homes were being restored and still had their old windows intact. 

Moving on down the road, we came across the railroad station, which is still beautiful and well taken care of.

Even further down, there are a couple of main streets that are in disrepair and we couldn't figure out if they were part of Clifton or not, but we're assuming they are. They were mostly just streets of sad abandoned buildings:

Except for this church turned house:

All in all Clifton is still beautiful in it's own way and it looks like there are a few people that want the town to thrive once again.

I truly hope it does :)

xo

rue

Sometimes

As a blogger, sometimes I need a bit of time away.

I focus on my home, my life, my family, my other relationships, and sometimes just me.

Other times, something is keeping me away.

It could be a family issue, a tragedy, a lack of time, or it can be as simple as my mood.

Then there is something I would like to call "Bloggers brain freeze".

That's when I simply cannot think of anything to blog.

I can have ten projects done around the house, lots of trips traveled, and 500 photos, but for some reason I can't bring myself to post.

During these times, visiting blogs also seems to take a backseat.

Well, I do visit here and there, but I rarely say anything.

I guess that would be called "visitors brain freeze".

Then there's the whole "If I post, I must comment back or repay the visit." thing, because if I don't, I feel bad.

That, my friends, is a vicious circle.

Right now, I'm so far behind with visiting and commenting back, I don't know if I'll ever catch up.

Ugh.

So, all this to say...

I'm still here.

And I promise that nothing tragic is going on. 

I've just been focusing on other things, like the ones I mentioned in the beginning of this post.

Some of it I'll be keeping private and some of it I might share in future posts, because I think it might be helpful to some of you.

For right now though, I'm just going to share these wildflowers with you and hope you can forgive me for being an imperfect human.

Please know that I truly appreciate all of you.

I really do.

xo

rue

PS

I'm praying for all those affected by the hurricanes in Texas and Florida.

My heart goes out to you.