Happy Thanksgiving Week!

 

My food blog had lots of new posts added and updates to older posts.  I mentioned in my last post that I miss cooking and besides, this is Thanksgiving week and everyone is getting ready for the big dinner.  Next week I hope to post recipes that will be great for leftovers.

We are back to our tropical weather with less humidity, but by Thanksgiving we should be getting a cold front.  I hope it doesn't get too cold.

Hoping that everyone has an awesome Thanksgiving!

New blog posts

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Spaghetti Aglio E Olio

Black Beans Cuban Style (Frijoles Negros)

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Collection of Ham Posts from Baking to Leftover Ham Recipes

Butter Pecan Cake

Rotel King Ranch Chicken

Frittata with Italian Sausage and Cheese

Updated - Ten smart kitchen storage ideas and DIY projects

One Pot Chili Mac

Toasted Coconut Pound Cake

Updated - Collection of Chicken Recipes

Babyboomer Flashback

A Babyboomer's Flashback

LaBelladiva

Update - Craft Room Organization

Happy Autumn Update

 

Autumn hit Tampa three days last week.  It was quite a surprise to get down to 38 degrees one night.  I hate the cold and would like to enjoy a mild autumn that brings cooler temps and less humidity.  Not an early winter!

Yes, I know I am spoiled with awesome Tampa weather and some of you guys are dealing with snow already.  Some people like the snow, but I can't relate at all.  I wouldn't know what to do living in a snowy climate.

I've been obsessed with posts to my food blog.  Honestly, I miss cooking and am slowly getting back to preparing meals for one, but it is not fun.  I'm working on it and hope to learn to love it.

My workaholic nature has brought me to being behind the computer way too many hours and loving it again.  I'm grateful I have found something that makes me happy again and I'm like a kid with a new toy.

I'm extremely active on x/Twitter joining others in retweeting each others posts.  If you are interested in joining me and bring more people to your website, blog, online store, events, promotions, etc., go to https://x.com/GinaAlfani and simply retreat one or more of my posts and I will retweet yours.  You will automatically be picked up by other retweeters after I retweet yours.  

New updates to my blogs follow . . .

Yes, I'd like to go back in time.

NEW BLOG POSTS

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Puff Pastry Cream Horns

Drop Dumplings for Soup

Pecan Pie Bars With Shortbread Crust

Ten smart kitchen storage ideas and DIY projects

Hot and Spicy Hush Puppies

Southern Sausage Balls

Sandy's Tasty Pasta Meal

The Ultimate Shrimp and Grits

Red Lobster Crab Alfredo

Chocolate Walnut Strudel

Subtropical Gardening

Late fall is the most important time to mulch your flowerbeds

Grow Ginger As A Houseplant – And Have Fresh Ginger All Year Long

Why is my poinsettia losing leaves?

Overwintering perennials and shrubs in containers

LaBelladiva

Drawstring 8-Pocket Jewelry Pouch

Craft Room Organization

Refashioned Flip Flops

My Florida Paradise

Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse

Fabulous Frugalista

Holiday Shopping Mistakes to Avoid This Season

How To Save Money on Black Friday

Peace Love Happiness

Renewed sense of aliveness through gratefulness

Humor and Laughs

New Seatbelt Design

Making up for lost time!

Yes, I've been making up for lost time and feeling like my old self again, the computer geek.

It's about time!

New Blog Posts

Fabulous Frugalista

How to Make Oxiclean - DIY Oxiclean

LaBelladiva

Creating Mosaics the Easy Way

Subtropical Gardening

Grow vegetables from kitchen scraps

Babyboomer Flashback

Don't Recognize The Changing World

My Florida Paradise

I'm Back!

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Coconut-Pecan German Chocolate Pie

Cake with Rum Syrup

The Home Page of My Blogs is Back!

 

The home page of my blogs is back again!

The good news is that with faith and God by my side, I have come out of a terrible grief phase that has taken me two years to struggle through and have finally reached a new phase that has me productive online again.  My blogs are starting to come alive again with new posts that I hope everyone will enjoy.  More of my blogs will become active again soon.

Although I have reached this new grief phase, I guess called the acceptance stage, the grief never goes away.  But . . . I have new angels in heaven to help guide me through the rest of my life.  That is a comfort and what I have accepted.

I'm at the point of gathering up the boxes of my jewelry supplies and jewelry inventory.  Since we came home from my mom's house after the hurricane hit us, I haven't desired to touch any of it and couldn't care less where they were.  I went through a different kind of grief stage after the hurricane and then my mom moved away to another state with my brother.  So it is definite progress in my mental state that I even have the slightest interest in getting that stuff together.

Anyone who is going through a grief time in their life may get comfort from reading my blog Peace Love Happiness.  It has turned into a dealing with grief blog, but could also apply to anyone going through a terrible time in life and needs to have hope and faith that you can get through anything in life.  Take my life experiences and learn from them.  I sure have.

Hope everyone is getting through the changing seasons well.  Here in Florida we don't go through much of a change.  We had a few nights of cooler weather and it was a shocker, but we are back to normal beautiful weather.

Happy Sunday to all . . . have a wonderful new week.  New blog posts will follow . . .

New blog posts:

Peace Love Happiness

Be true to yourself

What is your heart longing for right now?

LaBelladiva

Sew A Messenger Bag The Easy Way

Gina's Italian Kitchen

Pierogi Lasagna Rolls

Collection of Thanksgiving Recipes 

Cheddar Bay Biscuits

Banana Pudding

Macaroni and Cheese

Gina's Mojo Roast Pork

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spicy Crab Cakes

Pastina

Air Fryer Chicken Thighs

What To Make With Chicken Broth

Air Fryer Baked Potato

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 don't 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 . . .

Catching Up

Crows Nest Jewels has reopened and we are currently running a sale through the month of January . . . 25% off over $25.00 orders, no coupon necessary!

We still haven't moved back home.  The tree is finally off the house, however, there is a gaping hole that needs replacing and some supports that cracked.   So much needs to be done before the house is ready to move in.  I'm beyond frustrated and my patience is running thin.  We have been staying with my mom since September, when Hurricane Irma decided to drop a tree on our house.

I'm keeping busy with the store, making new jewelry and learning new jewelry making techniques.  Keeping busy keeps me sane!

The blogs and my website haven't had a real update in quite some time and I plan on getting some updates done soon.

Hope everyone is staying warm!

Disasterous month!

It has been a month since I was home.  Looking back, the whole experience just seems so surreal, like a nightmarish dream.

Something told me to make reservations to evacuate from Hurricane Irma.  I had never done that in the 34 years I've lived there.  My intuition was speaking loudly and I paid attention and decided not to wait since the rooms were going fast.

After two stays at motels, we have settled at my mom's house.  Just when everything seems to be falling into place, the van decides it wants to give us a hard time, making it difficult for The Captain to go back home to deal with contractors placing bids so we can hurry up and submit our appeal to FEMA, who turned down our initial request for assistance.  They said our house is habitable.

There is a tree on the house, leaving gaping holes in the roof, smashing the life out of it more and more as the days pass with storms coming and going.

Anyway, I have written all about this in my blog My Florida Paradise.

I try not to let it get to me, but I have no idea when I can go back home.  Everything was "normal" one day and the next day we were homeless.  It sure is a creepy feeling being so out of control and having to gather as much faith as you can to make getting through it tolerable.

Writing my blog posts have been the last thing on my mind, although I have managed to write a few.  

I'm having to rebuild my Etsy store since I don't have all of my inventory and just want to offer what I can get my hands on immediately.  The Crows Nest is currently in vacation mode until I can get the inventory under control.

All in all I'm still very grateful we did not stay at home to ride out the storm.  That huge tree on the house had to make it feel as if the house was crashing down.  I would have had a heart attack!  The Captain has spared me from seeing the damage and also fears the house is not structurally sound enough to be going in and out regularly.  He also wants me to be safe . . . how sweet!

Actually, the stay at the first motel was very pleasant since early on we knew the hurricane would not hit us at Category 5.  I'll be writing about that experience and the people we ran into along the journey.  The motel was also home to large tree trimming crews, cable people and some from various electric companies . . . along with other evacuees like us from all over Florida.

Count your blessings . . . I always think of the people in Puerto Rico who have truly been devastated and many are still without electricity, food and money with no end in sight.  There is always a situation bleaker than the one you are currently experiencing . . . that is what I think about a lot which helps me keep my head on straight and not totally freak out.

Bad scares and time flying

It wasn't a good week!  My sweet Kiki fell back while trying to jump on the bed and hurt herself pretty bad.  We are guessing that she hit her head.  She trembled and could hardly walk, wouldn't eat or drink water.  It was nighttime and the vet wasn't open, so we decided to baby her and did a lot of praying.  Thank God, by morning she was better, but OMG she gave me such a scare!  I'm not ready to let this baby go . . .

Where has my life gone?  OK, so I'm giving up my age now.  I have to go to the air force base this week to get a new ID card since I will be eligible for Medicare.  What really upsets me is that Social Security will be taking out $130 out of my check that is already way too small for insurance that we were just paying $15 a month for.    Major bummer!

I've been left with that hopeless feeling that depression comes along with . . . I'm not ready to be this old and I came to the realization that my Kiki is getting old and I don't know what I would do without her, she's my baby.

My blogs have been neglected, although I have managed to write some new posts.  I'll update another time.  Peace Love and Happiness has been turned into a private blog . . . I'm not really anonymous anymore and I honesty wrote from my heart . . . too much information!

Hope you are having a fabulous summer!