So you want to know more about me?

Well, obviously you have navigated to the right page.

Here are a few of the key things to know about ME:

• My name is Joan, and I live in rural Oregon, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains,  with my two daughters.  Well, technically I just live with my youngest daughter now, who is 11 years old; my oldest daughter (who is 22 years old) has graduated college and now resides in Southern California, where she works at a private school.
• Our home currently includes (besides my daughter and I) a yellow lab and two lazy housecats.
• Farm girl – born and raised, and settled back near my parents and our family farm.  My daughters grew up/are growing up in the same area I did, and attending the same grade school and high school that I did. 
• I love gardening, sewing, crocheting, baking … mostly, creative types of things.  I am currently rediscovering my love of sewing, and have unearthed my sewing machine after a numerous-year hiatus.
• My favorite color is purple.  Surprise, surprise! 
• I am an avid reader, and I love BBC shows like Sherlock, Dr. Who and Ripper Street.  I love movies in general, and would watch them non-stop, if I could somehow make an actual living at that.  My favorite actresses are Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn or Emma Thompson.  My favorite actor … well, I have several.  But Kenneth Branagh is probably my all-time favorite.
• I recently lost my job, so while I search for a new one I have more time to pursue the creative things that I have somehow lost track of over the years.  I post DIY craft and sewing ideas, and recipes from time to time.
• I started blogging a few years ago, and have another blog (Psalms 68:5 – Restoral) which I have left up but no longer actively post there.  I started blogging right after the death of my husband, and my focus at that point was the grief and the grieving process we were going through at that time.
• Fast forward three and a half years later.  I have “turned a page” – so hence, this blog and it’s name “Starting Over … Again.”  Not just a nod to the restart of my blogging, but a way of saying that I am moving past the grief, picking up the pieces of life and moving on.

So this blog is about the everyday stuff.  The little changes and the big changes.  The struggles of being a widow and a mom, and the unexpected joys that show up along the journey.  The financial challenges that I am going through, and the journey to reach my goal of becoming healthier.

Here you will find the occasional recipe, review and rant.  Nothing too earth-shattering.  But it’s what I talk about because that’s what populates my world right now.  And all this (including me) is a work in progress.  With a little  lot of help from God.

So I hope that you enjoy the musings contained herein.    And while you are in the mood for reading blogs, here are a couple others that are near and dear to my heart.  I would like to suggest them as well, for your reading pleasure.

Here is my oldest daughter’s blog:  These Dusty Bookshelves.  (She’s an English Lit major … so, no surprise there)

And here’s is my sister’s blog:  The Crooked Fence Blog.  She’s hilarious, BTW …. so it’s certainly worth it to check out her blog for a chuckle or two.