Welcome And Thanks For Coming Along!

I'm SO excited to be starting on this new journey and I'm very happy that you're here to keep me company! This past year and a half has brought so many exciting and scary changes into my life. Some pluses, some minuses but enough unexpected changes that I have to keep pinching myself to see if I'm dreaming.


On the plus side, I've learned so many new things. Things that I would have thought were beyond me just a few short years ago (blogging to be at the top of my list), and met so many wonderful and interesting people that I'm thrilled to be taking what I've learned and sharing my new found confidence and my zest for what lays ahead in the future, with you.

Through this new blog I hope to do the following in the categories listed above the header:

About: Here I want to share enough information about myself that you feel as though you know me well enough to call me a friend and someone you'd like to spend more time with :)  For starters, I'm happily married to my husband Mark and have been for almost 26 years.  We have two grown sons.  Adam, age 25 and Greg who is 23.  I've always been a stay at home mom and have always tried to supplement our income by having home based businesses.  I guess I'm an entrepreneur of sorts (that, and I have always enjoyed my time at home).

Let's Eat: Some of my favorite things in the world are cooking/baking and cookbooks! The pictures, the ingredients, and the imagination it takes to develop recipes...those are the things that keep me inspired and involved on a day-to-day basis in my kitchen. I love to experiment with food and I always have such fun doing so! This blog section will enable me to be my own "cookbook author" (if you will) and bring my dream of being one, come to life. Hopefully with enough time and experience, maybe I'll even be able to write a decent recipe and take a decent food photo, but until then please bear with me. I hope you can enjoy what I come up with until then.

My Kitchen Table: Here at my kitchen table is where I do almost all of my creative artwork. Most of what you'll see here is my new hand painted tiles and the process I go through from start to finish. I do my best work at this table but it won't just be limited to the painted tiles. From time to time, I hope to go beyond the tiles and show you other crafty type projects I'm involved with. Creativity leads to happiness and happiness is what creativity is all about. Maybe I can inspire you to try something new and I'm sure you'll be inspiring me as well. After all, that's what friends are for!

The Kitchen Sink: This one is for things of interest. Things that are fun. Things that make life easier. Things that make you happy and maybe things that make you think. Here is where I'd also love to hear the ideas you have and for you to say and the things going on in your life. Maybe we can help each other out from time to time and share some of life's trials and tribulations together. Maybe a word of the week, a puzzle, a joke, a story or how we can make a difference in each other’s lives. You know, everything but..."the kitchen sink"!

Dog Bowl:  For those of you who already know me, and those of you who are thinking about getting to know me better, I am a MAJOR dog person! I mean MAJOR! I've always had dogs in my life and I always plan on having them. I could not imagine my life without them. At this point in my life we have two wonderfully spunky and smart fur babies. There is Ivy, our almost 3-year-old Boston terrier. And there is Nellie, our almost 2-year-old terrier mix. They bring so much joy and laughter into my (our) lives that I couldn't imagine writing about day-to-day experiences and not including them. Without a doubt, this is the part of this entire new site that I am most looking forward to sharing with you. My little 4 footed 'dog'ters.

And last but not least...

Step Away From The Kitchen:  As much as I love my kitchen space and spend as much time as possible in and around it's vicinity; it is also a place that has caused me some big trouble over the past year or so. I am happy and proud to tell you that this past October, I successfully quit smoking. I know, I know...Yay for me! (Note the sarcasm in my words.) I'm going on 9 months (but who's counting?) being a non-smoker. As proud and pleased as I am to tell you this, I am also annoyed and frustrated that I have put on a good deal of weight during this difficult time period. The kitchen has been my refuge where I have been drowning my sorrows in food and drink. I have no idea the amount of weight I've gained because I'm literally afraid to step on the scale. What I do know is that my pants are nearly impossible to zip, I have a hard time bending over to tie my shoes, and I have no positive energy to speak of! Well…THIS IS ALL ABOUT TO CHANGE!!! Here's where I will be accountable for my physical fitness and healthy eating lifestyle. I'll be as honest as I can with you and I'll even post pictures of my progress (shriek), when it happens (crossing my fingers AND toes). I've always been a very self-motivated and positive person but unfortunately that girl got lost for a while. I hear she's making a comeback so you might want to stick around and meet her. I know I do :)

Well, there you have it. I hope I haven't bored you right off the bat and I hope this is a place you'd like to visit on a regular basis and maybe, just maybe you'd even like to share it with some of your friends. The more the merrier I like to say.

For now and until later,
Your friend,
Renee

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