Happy Valentine’s Day!

There are big changes coming to my life soon.  Some are a little scary. Some are sad and some are going to be fantastic!  All in all I think when the dust settles, it is going to be fun and exciting!

As some of you may know, I retired on December 31st as a Judge in my hometown.  My husband, Rob is retiring on February 29th from his job of 23 years.  We have always had this dream that when we retire we would buy a cottage on Lake Ontario for the summers and get a place in Sarasota, Florida for the winters.  We have had this plan for many, many years.  Three years ago we made the first part of that dream come true by purchasing a cottage.  We love the cottage.  It is our happy place.  If you follow my blog on a regular basis then you have seen my beautiful sunsets I get to enjoy every night.

Anyway, at that time we both figured that we would retire in 2020, sell our main house and go south for the winters.  My son, Sam, one day said to us that he thinks we should move to Nashville, TN to be near him, his wife and children.  He asked why move to Sarasota where you don’t know anyone when you could be near them?  Plus, my youngest son, Zachary and his family only live 4 hours from Nashville.   We thought about it for about ten minutes and said ok! It is actually the best of both worlds.  I would be near two of my sons and their families for about half a year and near my eldest son, David and his family the other half!

So, we. have spent the last couple of months getting our house ready to put on the market. I don’t know how we accumulated so much stuff!  It has been a hard job but we are almost ready.   The sad part is I have to put my stamp room away.  Sigh. I am hoping we find a house in Nashville that has a room I can use as my craft room!  Plus, I have been doing classes for the last 12 years and I have to end them.  These ladies have been a big part of my life and I am really sad to leave them.  I love being a Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator and will miss them all.  I am hoping to set up some kind of online class in the future, though and I hope all of you will continue to use me as your Demonstrator.

So, in the meantime, I have been madly making cards to try to keep my blog going.   I am been writing blog posts like crazy.    When I realized that I had to put things away it meant I had to make 58 cards for 58 blog posts!   That is a lot of cards and posts to do in a short amount of time. I am apologizing ahead of time if I post something that may not be available due to supplies running out or if something is on backorder.   Buffy, Jackie and I have planned our Stamp Off Challenges to the end of May so I am able to participate in all of them.  I hope to be moving to the cottage in May where I will be able to stamp again.  In the meantime, my cards are definitely going to be CAS (clean and simple).

If you are still ready this you deserve a medal.  The card I made about using the stamp set called Meant To Be and the matching dies called Stitched Be Mine. Both of these products are in the Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalog.  If you purchase these you would be eligible to get the Designer Series Paper I used on this card called Golden Honey Specialty for FREE! during Sale-a-bration!

I wish you all happiness and love.  Go hug someone today.  It can be someone in your family, your neighbor or a stranger.  Most everyone likes a hug every now and then.

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