Blogging again

 

It has made me happy to return to blogging about all kinds of stuff.  I guess I could say it is good therapy to keep busy doing something I love on my path to getting "normal" again.  My blogs are listed on the right side of this blog.  Some of them are still closed for now.

My life has reached the point where the heavy grief of losing The Captain and Kiki is a passing phase of grieving.  Instead of crying all the time, I am thinking of all the happy memories that are bringing a smile to my face.  The grief now feels lighter even though it will never go away, manifesting itself into different phases.  I know the coming holidays will be rough again.

The road to online selling has been on my mind and so has the desire to make jewelry and be creative.  A huge part of my life has been creating stuff and I miss that so much. 

As in the past, I will be listing my latest and updated blog posts on this blog.  Here they are for November:

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

Turtle Brownies

Crab au Gratin Pizza

Shrimp Creole

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

Picadillo

Pimento Cheese

Chicken Alfredo Baked Ziti

Stuffed Pizza Bread

Fabulous Frugalista

Avoid Christmas Debt When Cash Is Tight

The Frugal Mindset

Replacing Your Washer or Dryer

Thoughts From A Frugalista

So Many Life Changes

My life has changed in so many ways since the passing of my husband, The Captain, two years ago and having to put my sweet little fur baby Kiki to sleep last year.

It has taken me over two years to regain the desire to do anything I normally did in the past.  I still don't leave the house and I totally quit selling anything or making jewelry.  The only thing I have done is post to my blog, Peace, Love, and Happiness since writing is good therapy for me.  Grief just consumes me and refuses to let go.  It was still a struggle to get through a day without dealing with the grief of my first husband, how I'm dealing with the second.  I'm done!

I've recently started posting to several blogs regularly and will continue to add my other blogs that still remain closed.  The active ones are Peace, Love, and Happiness, Gina's Italian Kitchen, Fabulous Frugalista, Subtropical Garden and soon will continue at LaBelladiva.

While I still plan on reopening stores on eBay and Etsy, I haven't started working on them.  It may take me a while.

Parts of my house remain messed up from Hurricane Irma.  There just hasn't been enough money to finish.  The financial setbacks from The Captain's passing is substantial, but I am doing ok now after making many changes. I have dealt with so much bad stuff that it really doesn't phase me anymore.  I'm just now getting to the point to where I care about anything.

So, I am on my way back to whatever normal is, but will not definitely not replace Kiki and no more love in my life or husbands.  I will be content by myself and it is thankfully starting to happen.

Your prayers are appreciated!

New beginnings

 

There are not enough hours in the day!  I'm getting things ready to reopen a new and improved Crow's Nest Jewels.  My mind never shuts down with all the new ideas.  So . . . sometimes I just have to let out a bit of a scream.

We haven't gotten the house in order since the hurricane and it is so frustrating!  Hurricanes are the only thing I hate about living in Florida.  You never know when you will be the one to get hit.  All of that had gotten to me with depression and anxiety, just wanting to give up.  Then there was Covid . . . but I am in a different frame of mind since I decided that no matter what, I'm getting Crow's Nest Jewels open and doing what I love.  

Creating new jewelry and working with the vintage jewelry is what I love most and I have put it aside way too long.  Moving in another direction has really made a change in my mental attitude.

My Etsy shop will reopen soon, but I will also diversify and sell from my Crow's Nest Jewels Facebook page as well as You Tube for doing auctions and buy it now sales.  So I have lots of work cut out for me, but I am really enjoying the process of creating and making these changes.

Hope everyone is happy and healthy, making it through the craziness of this world we live in.

 

Finally an update!

 

Where has the time gone?  You would think with quarantining it would go by slower.  

Seems like all I do is sit in front of my computer and research for my website. 

Depression got a hold of me after the Hurricane Irma hit our house.  I haven't been the same since.  It really did change my life.

Gardening used to be my therapy for dealing with everything, but with two messed up knees, that is now impossible on a large scale.  My beautiful yard is truly missed.

So . . . with all that said, I know I am blessed and I am content and happy.  Everything happens for a reason.

For now I am concentrating on majorly updating the website.  

Happy holidays to all!

Optimistic Beginnings

This past year has taken me through some weird changes and that has not been a good thing!  Because of that, I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to a renewed spirit and a feeling of optimistic beginnings, like I am entering a new phase of this adventure in life.

I've begun writing new blog posts again and have many ideas for upcoming entries.  Check out Gina Alfani's Facebook Fan Page to keep up with new entries!

I'm back?

Could it be there IS a light at the end of the tunnel?   I think I'm back . . .

Tomorrow's work at the house is plumbing stuff that we failed inspection on for homeowners insurance that is necessary to receive the balance of our disaster relief loan from the SBA.

Before we had the inspection, we thought they would be happy that we have a brand new roof and had no idea they would fail us so miserably . . . but no . . . as it turns out, it has taken half of the money we have left to receive.  Most of it went to electrical work.   Thank God we have had the money to fix what had to be done in order to pass inspection.

I was shocked to find out that our house was an accident waiting to happen with the way it was wired.  The Captain hinted at the potential problems, but I guess he didn't want to alarm me.  We were lucky the house didn't burn down when the tree came down during the hurricane.  The Captain had the insight to turn off the electricity when we evacuated.  Good thing he did!

Does all this explain my depression and lack of interest in just about everything?  

I was feeling hopeless and still do to a certain extent, but at least this part of it is almost done.  When we pass the inspection I will be feeling a whole lot better, even though we may not have enough to fix the back room after having the unexpected inspection repairs.  

This too shall pass . . .

Today is the first day that I had an interest in checking the email account that has all my subscriptions to those websites I like to use for blogging.  Imagine my surprise to find 55,911 unread emails!  So, I dove in and started posting articles to my blogs again.  It was encouraging to have the desire return to do something that I once loved so much.

I can finally say that I feel remnants of my old life coming back.  One day at a time . . . one moment at a time . . . do what it takes to put one foot in front of the other and keep it going.  Depression can be a bitch for sure!

Prayers are appreciated!

Progress . . .

Since my last post many months ago, we finally have major progress . . . we now have a brand new beautiful roof on our house!

We still have a way to go before we are able to move in, but the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen.

Hopefully I will return to my normal posting schedule, but I am honestly so depressed that it is really difficult to continue on as if nothing is wrong.  At times it feels like everything is wrong!  The good news is that I am starting to feel better . . .