A Year in Review and My One Little Word for 2013

Well, here it is ....

The end of 2012 and the beginning of a brand new year, 2013!!

Let's look back on 2012 first, shall we?

I had really good intentions in the beginning of the year .

I wanted 2012 to be my most organized year ever.   My One Little Word for 2012 was TIME.
I felt that by becoming more organized, I would have more TIME to do the things I loved to do with the people that meant the most to me.

So I started with creating a Christmas Planner for the next season.....

Here is my Christmas Planner......

In the beginning of Jan., I took down Christmas decorations and converted some over to Winter and Valentine's Day decorations....

The Front Porch decorated for Winter....

My Kitchen Winter Bird Tree....

At the end of Jan., I knew something was not right. I kept getting this pain in my left side as if a fist was stuck there and it got worse when I would try to eat.

My Living Room Valentine's Day Tree...

Finally after putting it off for a week, I went to the ED which for me was a fate worse than death as I had been there so many times before over the past few years..

All tests were negative so I was sent home but that started 4 months of Dr.'s visits, many tests and more Dr.'s visits.
I could not eat and lost 17 pounds which was a good thing but not the way I did it.

My Dining Room Valentine's Day Tree....

Meanwhile, I willed myself to go to work, come home and decorate our home for the Winter Holidays and then collapse into bed. I had no energy.....

And the TIME that I so wanted , slipped away from me.....

My Den Valentine's Day tree...

Along the way, they also found that in addition to IBS, I had antibodies destroying my thyroid causing me to be hypothyroid.

Ornaments I made for Valentine's Day.....

That actually explained a lot of my problems....

I continued to decorate my department at work and made wreaths for each Holiday....

My St. Patrick's Day tree in the Den....

Finally after being put on medication, I started to feel better.

My Living Room Easter Tree.....

My Dining Room Easter Tree and Village....

  This wreath was a hit at work and I was taking orders for it.  Before I know it, I would be taking orders for wreaths for every Holiday....

My energy was returning and my stomach issues were getting better.....

We had a very warm Spring so we bought new furniture for the  Front Porch  so we could enJOY sitting out there......

Finally, everything was in bloom again.......

Joe was having his own health issues too....

After several months of treating Planter Warts on both feet with acid, he needed to have surgery.....

He  was off from work for 10 weeks because he is a Letter Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and walks all day......

Patriotic Living Room Tree

I made 30 of these wreaths!!

Beach Wreaths.......

 My perennials were stating to bloom in my little Cottage Garden.......

We had a lot of fun  and enJOYed watching the birds in our neighborhood.....

The back yard was filling in nicely.....

With me finally feeling better and with Joe being able to now move around, we got the patio cleaned up and ready for Summer........

And the front porch too.....

We did spend quite a bit of time on the front porch and enJOYed many beautiful sunsets.....

 We continued to enJOY the little critters around our house.....

 There were some projects that I had been putting off and with Joe being home from work, it was the perfect time to take advantage of that.......

I had wanted to refinish this china cupboard since my neighbor gave it to me several years ago.....

 After Joe sanded it down, I refinished it in a Shabby chic look.....

I was thrilled with how it came out....

I enJOYed spending time out in the back yard in the evening.....

I decided it was time to do a project that I had dreamed of doing for years......

I painted a brick floor on the concrete of my patio.....

See the difference......

And now finished......

The faux brick patio floor became one of my Top Ten posts for 2012!!

Encouraged by how the china cupboard came out and inspired by what I saw fellow bloggers do, I decided to refinish 2 tables that Joe had bought at a Flea Market for $6.00!

I stained the top and left the marble insert as is.....

Then after finding the border that I ordered on Ebay about 6 years ago ( I forgot where I put it), Joe and I repainted the Den and added the new border.....

The refinished tables and china cupboard looked great in the room.....

 We actually enJOYed doing it together and didn't kill each other!!!

Decorated the Front Porch for the July 4th Holiday.....

Inspired by my success with painting the patio floor, I spray painted the brick walkways in the back yard with a Rustoleum Primer to freshen them up a bit......

I spruced up my Craft Room and shared it with all of you for the annual Where Women Create Blogger event.....

My Summer Tea Cup and Rose tree.....

Joe is such a good sport about letting me do whatever I want to do in the house so I decided to create a Manly Dresser for him!!

Still kept it in the Victorian style that I love......

Also inspired by fellow Bloggers, I decided to pretty up my computer armoire so I would not have to shut the doors every time company came.....

 Another one of my favorite projects was refinishing these Sewing Machine drawers that I bought at a local Antique Co Op........

 

 More critters visited with me ......

Yep, that is a Ground Hog looking in the Den window at me while I was on the computer!!!!

 After buying this little shelf at Salvation Army for $10 and decoupaging it, I decided to use it on my Craft Table.
Joe then cut a board to place on top of the table , making it larger for me and creating a much bigger work space.......

 This table was a great dumpster find after my neighbor threw her Grandmother's table in our dumpster but then called me to tell me to take it out of there if I wanted it.....

It found a home in my Dining Room.......

More sunsets enJOYed from the Front Porch.......

I really enJOYed browsing Thrift Shops and walked away with some amazing finds and these were my best ones....

A Set of Moss Rose dishes for $10.99.....

 And the BEST buy ever was this set of Blue transferware dishes for $36.00

The post featuring these two buys also became one of my Top Ten Posts!!

I was really feeling a lot better and had my energy back so I decided it was time to create a "Pretty Bathroom" upstairs.....

The boys had been gone out on their own for a few years now and this was the bathroom that they mainly used.
I repainted it and added more border to the existing border in true Victorian Style .......

And really prettied it up so now I have a "Pretty Bathroom"!!

 I did enJOY creating some things for this bathroom.......

 I made the valance from a tablecloth......

 And then using the same tablecloth to create some accessories......

 See the night light?????

 I just couldn't stop myself and decided to redo this little table too.....

I decoupaged pages from an old book on top.....

Fall was coming and I looked at this little wagon that I had for several years out in the front flower bed filled with pumpkins.

I decided it was time to give it new life.....

I liked it so much that I decided to display it inside the house and not outside....

My Autumn Living Room tree.....

My Autumn Village.....

We enJOYed the view from our Front Porch.....

Of course, I decorated the Front Porch for Fall and Autumn.....

Made and sold  more wreaths.......

EnJOYed the last warm days on the patio.....

Went a bit crazy with Halloween decorations.....

My Dining Room Halloween Tree and Village.....

Minerva as a Skeleton Lady......

And More wreaths.....

 I enJOY decorating my Victorian Doll House....

 Then Joe got his big TV and I got the TV stand that I wanted so I would not have a Big Black Box in my Living Room....

 Even though Joe was thrilled, it lead to rearranging and moving furniture in 4 rooms!!!!!!

 This all started when our stove caught fire and we needed to buy a new one.......

 Then it turned into a case of the "Might as Wells" and we also bought a new refrigerator....

 And a new 32 inch TV that was supposed to be for the Living Room ( Joe wanted a bigger TV) ended up in our Bedroom with the old TV Stand from the Living Room.....

 I crafted my heart out for several weeks to be ready for the 2 November Craft Fairs that I do annually....

 And then I started the Christmas decorating but I was behind this year.....

Again, TIME had slipped away from me....

 I finally got finished and ended up with 19 trees but I was exhausted from being behind schedule.....

I did get to use the Christmas Planner that I started this post with but not to the extent that I initially thought I would......

So.............

That was my year of 2012 in review....

My One Little Word for 2012 was TIME....

However, TIME got away from me this past year.....

So I think that I set my expectations way too high.......

2013......

Health issues will once again be forever present as for the past few months, we have been treating Joe's returning Plantar Warts again with acid and are looking into further treatment options....

I need to have repeat studies done in Feb. in regards to my Thyroid....
I continue to need injections in my right knee to enable me to walk without pain.
 I have to watch everything that I eat due to IBS.......

So I have thought long and hard about what my word will be for 2013.....

I have already showed you it in this post.....

You may have thought it was a typo error........

Even with all the problems we had last year, I did manage to enJOY the things and the people that made me Happy( Happy was my Word for 2011)........

 So I chose JOY as my One Little Word for 2013!

Did you see it in this post????  LOL!!

I am not setting any goals or listing any projects for this year.

I am simply going to try to find JOY in whatever this coming year will bring.....

 JOY in my Family , JOY in my Friends and JOY in my Home!!

I will even see the Joy in the beauty of this snow that we are now getting!!

Do you see how much more snow there is in the pic below compared to the first pics???
A 1-4 inch prediction of snow turned into 6 inches of snow!!!!!

 So JOY is my One Little Word for 2013......Have you picked a Word of your own?

Wishing you a very HEALTHY and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

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Hugs,
Debbie