December in March

Back to blogging - December arrived with surgery for Paul - a tendon transplant - off work for him for 4 months.  The Doctor & Physical Therapist are very pleased with the results - he has a fully functioning thumb and hand - what a miracle! 

We now look ahead to a surgery on his right wrist where bone spurs will be removed.  He has been wearing a brace on that hand for 1 1/2 years to keep it from bending, (why so long?).  It took over a year for Workman's Comp to agree to pay for the surgeries.  One would almost think that the money belonged to them. 

Left tendon transplant

Greetings and thanks

Christmas calligraphy by my brother, Mark

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my readers! - I enjoy sharing my ideas with all of you.  The blog is a clearing house for all sorts of ideas, plans, thoughts and projects as I maneuver through the creative world of Interior Design.

Finally some Calligraphic Christmas thoughts from my brother, Mark's pen.

Christmas in Bowman

Crib scene

Since we will be in MN for most of Christmas I decided to do a simpler, more understated Christmas here.  Centermost in our celebration is the Crib Scene with Mary, Joseph and Jesus - He definitely is the "Reason for the Season".  What an awesome, undeserved gift he offers us!

Quilted tree and stockings

In the living room I am displaying a tree quilt with only 2 stockings, (for Paul & me), green baubles in the windows, and my expandable trees made of shiny colored discs.  Lots of Christmas colors in the rest of the house - in ornaments, plaids in windows, and wall treatments.    

Front window in Bowman

November Trips

November decorating for the cabin

Dining room

We made 2 trips to the cabin in November - 6 days for Paul and me and another 5 days for him over Thanksgiving.  Still working away on the bathroom tiling - got interrupted when we found out that the screws for the tiling saw had not been included in its shipping box.  So we are not as far along as we hoped to be as the holidays approach and the cabin fills with guests.  They will be arriving from West Virginia, Minnesota, and North Dakota.  Our granddaughter, Josie and my sis Tess helped to decorate the cabin for Christmas.

Sunroom

Beautiful Fall

Indoor fabric reflects outdoor nature

Fall brings with it a change of scenery - where all was lush green with vibrant fun hues - we now see leaves begin their showy performance modeling oranges, yellows, reds, golds, and deep maroon - such rich colors.  The frost tames the colors and they move into browns, tans, and greys.  This is all before the arrival of cold temperatures and blankets of millions of snowflakes - the earth resting.

Our MN trees are loosing their leaves and as they do we try to pick up as many as we can - they get hauled out to the mini forest at the back of our yard - the wind knocks a lot of small branches down so we are continually adding them to the forested area - a nice place for bunnies for winter.  We have lots of wildlife around our yard - we have a small all black squirrel - we've named him Blackie.  Our woods are home to a pair of screech owls - we see them winging through the woods hunting mice we hope. Blue jays, nuthatches, and woodpeckers and red and grey squirrels spend lots of time scratching around the yard.  Deer wind their way through our yard quite often.

Fall Teaching

As my business, Design Consulting has developed I have had many opportunities to share my design skills.  I write a newspaper article every month for our home town newspaper - I started writing them to inform people about the vast world of interior design - my October article will be the 43rd I have written. 

I have had the privilege of doing a number of Career Days  and from those I have had 3 job shadows.  It has been a privilege to work with these students helping to shape their future career decisions.

I've also had the opportunity to host Home Design Parties.  The guests get a tour of my home, a brief  look at my business, lunch, and door prizes - one lady said - "this is just like a spa night for women, but with design".  

Our October trip to the cabin

Now copper

We did get to work on the two September projects in October.  We now have new ivory colored counter tops with speckles of grey, copper and tan.  The new counter tops have completely changed the look of the kitchen.  When the counter tops were red that is all that one saw, now the logs are standing out and the beautiful grain in the cupboard doors is visible - it is like we have a totally different room.  I washed and spray painted all the switch plates and plug-in plates - copper - they look great!

Paul and I mixed cement for our basement bathroom shower area - that is now setting up and he will be able to start tiling the rest of the shower.  When he finishes that he will tile the rest of the bathroom - walls and floor.  We have purchased the vanity, stool, and mirrored medicine cabinet for the space.  Lighting and finishing the ceiling will be the last projects for that room.  We hope to have it finished before we do our first family Christmas at the cabin.