Hello, all!  I cannot believe that I have not been visiting my blog since October of 2017!  Shame on me!  I have been very busy, creatively and family wise, so I am sure you will forgive me. It's also amazing that I have had this blog, and have followed many other blogs, for over 7 years.

So, to catch up a bit from October of 2017...

Once my husband set out on his road to recovery, while slower than I had hoped, he stepped up and brought himself from the brink.  While I was so afraid of his seeming inability to gain momentum to at least return to his prior state of health and mind, it was just a matter of his finding his own core strength and making it happen for himself. I could only be emotionally and sometimes physically supportive; sometimes my ability to step up and build a railing or tear down his garden diminished his self-esteem, which made him sink into that post-trauma level of depression that can be catastrophic for everyone involved.  He shows his age more, as do we all, but his strength is now much greater than that of most men his age.  His determination and his healthy lifestyle are back, he is daunting in his physical stamina, and he has become my helpmate in my furniture rehabbing and creating.

As the New Year of 2019 approaches, hours away, my own determination has directed me to new approaches.  I've quit the vintage shop in which I have rented space for the past 3-4 years - changes made by the owners moved my primo front room spot to a dark back room, and my sales plummeted.  My sense of loyalty kept me struggling in place for a year, and now the time has come to find a new venue or venues for my need to create and share. 

For the past three years I have been setting up in my niece's amazingly fun and successful barn sales, at The Olde Hayfield Barn, right next door to us.  Could I ask for a better arrangement?  I feel like Santa rolling across the back fields with our 'Gator and trailer full of all sorts of useful and fun stuff to sell to my ever-growing fan- and customer-base.  I love my customers, and they seem to be coming back every season to see what new and crazy items I have either rescued, rehabbed, or created.  This past Autumn, I spent 8-12 hours in my garage, painting up awesome vintage furniture pieces and selling them right out the garage door, saving my poor aging back from carrying heavy stuff to and fro, shop and barn.  Return customers are bringing me their own finds to restore and shabby up for their farmhouse or rustic home decor.  It's more fun that I could have ever imagined, and I've made some great friends through Facebook Marketplace, where I advertise my finished products to the general public. Then these great new friends show up at the barn sales.  It can't get any better, but I am working on new ways of advertising, and sharing, and selling more pieces so I can make and paint more pieces!!!  I recently found a desk for a friend and delivered it to her before Christmas. 

I started selling on etsy.com years ago, and as my attention span waned and sparked, so did my etsy account.  Being attentive to my outreaching resources is definitely something I need to improve, because as soon as I pay a little attention to my shop, so do potential buyers!  Duh!  Poshmark is a new outlet for some of the fabulous clothing finds I score or some of my high end clothing from before retirement.  It's a great resource for me, and it is a fun place to shop for more high end clothing (I just can't help myself!)

Now, in the midst of all this paint and sawdust and wire and beads, my life has been totally enchanted and transformed by a sweet little thing named after me, Therese Marie.  She is now 7 years old, and I am so totally in love with this "mini-me", who spends her days with Papaw and me (Nana), and who paints her toy horses, draws alacorns, unicorns, and more on every sheet of paper we will give her.  Her craftiness is unlimited, her imagination uninhibited, and I am so excited that she seems to be an artist by nature.  She is a chicken tamer, dinosaur expert, snake handler, and more.  Her future is as open as she wants it.  She is also, might I say, beautiful, in a way that I have never experienced before. Her uncle and her mother are beautiful people, very much so, but there is an ethereal aura to this child that draws people to her, that she uses to make everyone her friend.  Can you tell how much I love her?

So, tell me what you want me to talk about, as I have lots to say.  I'd love to share a sort of pseudo-autobiography, something to explain how this person that I am became that person.  Everyone has an amazing story of themselves, and I love hearing those stories about other people.  There is a reason for everyone being who they are and acting how they do, thinking how they do, and feeling how they feel.

In the meantime, I think I will start inserting photos of us, of my finds, of my messy world of collecting project pieces, and anything that strikes my fancy.  Maybe I can link my Pinterest to this blog for your pleasure and exploration, certainly my etsy shop is going to be linked, and I am linking to a new website which I just built, www.theresemarievintage.com.  I am so proud of myself, a senior citizen, they tell me, building a website that will connect me to a whole new world of communication and technology.  I love that you are reading this and hope that you will follow me through my adventures and misadventures.  I may be ridiculous, but I am certainly not boring, as they say!!!