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

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

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.