I'm Still Around

Hi everyone!!  I'm still doing family things and working around the house right now.  I hadn't planned to take such an extended break, but I must say, it's good to spend (mostly) uninterrupted time with my husband, as well as seeing our parents and son when we can.  Life is too short, and we all know tomorrow is not promised to us.  I love all my family so much; I'm blessed to have them, and they've been so very good to us over the years.

Quite simply, my life would not have been the same without them, and I owe them more than I can ever repay.

I want to thank you all for your kind words and your thoughts and prayers for my dad.  I can't begin to tell you how much they mean to me.  My dad is doing better, but he's still struggling.  He's lost a lot of weight, which is always a concern, but we are hopeful that things will get better.  He and my mom are determined to remain independent for as long as possible; they love their home and their neighborhood, and my sister and I want them to be able to stay there as long as they are able.

I'm hoping to be back to normal blogging next week; I really miss the creative outlet blogging provides me and the connections to all of you.  We've been so busy, and I have a lot to share here.  For now, I'll just tell you that this week got off to a strange start.  If I believed in such things, I'd have to say that there seems to be a poltergeist in our house at the moment.  Sunday evening, I was sitting here at the computer and when I glanced into the kitchen, I noticed that our curtain over the kitchen door looked really crooked.

 I got up and looked closer, and sure enough, it was lower on the right side than the left.  I couldn't imagine that we'd hung it that way -- it was totally not level.  Hal took a look, and discovered that it had slipped off the bracket on the right side.  Then he saw that it had actually gotten caught in the door, and when he lifted the rod off to straighten things out, he found that the side of the rod (which turned out to be plastic) had broken.  I guess when the curtain caught in the door, the tension snapped the plastic part right off. 

Then yesterday afternoon, I was walking through our living room, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the wall looked funny.  I stopped and looked again, and discovered that this mirror --

was no longer on the wall -- it was face down on the sofa.  I was so stunned for a moment I just stood there with my mouth open.  On further examination, I saw that the hook which attached the wire for hanging the mirror had just pulled all the way out.  My husband couldn't believe it when he saw it yesterday evening.  The bulldog hook he put up is still on the wall.  The hook that came out was installed at the factory, and it had a long, heavy screw installed into the wood frame.  We can't imagine how it came out, and we're wondering how we're going to fix it.

In the meantime, I had some breakable (and treasured) items on the sofa, and amazingly, none of them got broken!  I think a few pieces of gilt have broken off the mirror, and I'm hoping they won't be noticeable.  So far, the only damage I've found was to this pretty lady...

She received some noticeable scratches, and I'm wondering if there's a way to cover them up or repair them.  I love this bust; I bought it with my Christmas money a few years ago, and it wasn't cheap.  If anyone out there has any suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading about life here at Forest Manor.  I'll be posting more regularly very soon, so please don't forget about me.  I love writing this little blog, and it just wouldn't be the same without you.  I hope you're all surviving this crazy summer heat.  We've had some bad storms this week, and it's so hot and humid, our windows stayed fogged up for two days.  Best wishes to all of you, and enjoy these last days of summer!

Hugs,

Denise