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ContessasHome formerly Contessas Garden and Gift, LLC

~ Vintage fine and decorative art, lamps, mirrors, chandeliers, small occasional furniture pieces, classic "hard cover"books, vintage "smalls", and handmade decorative art craft

ContessasHome formerly Contessas Garden and Gift, LLC

Monthly Archives: December 2022

I….Write……

31 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Faith, HOPE, Morning Prayer, Reflections, Sharing

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76 years of life. I am not retired. I work. I own my own gardening business. I still earn a living. I am working at one of my passions and one of the special gifts my Lord and Savior has given me. I have several passions. My brain is curious about so many things and I have cultivated my various interests. So blessed am I.

I just listened to the nightly news,  I don’t like to. Because it digs deep at my soul. Why should I be so fortunate to live so long, to have work that I love, and the internal courage to keep learning, striving for success, caring for loved ones, caring well for my health and keeping fit.  I wonder why I am so “simply….blessed?”

My heart tells me to pray. My heart tells me to believe, my heart tells me to care. But this world is so troubled and I don’t know what I can do to help make it better. It’s overwhelming in my soul.

I am reaching out to explore a writing career. I want to use my life story in some way to give great hope to others. There are thousands of people hoping to do the same thing. So why would  I think that my story, or the way that I  might tell it, could change anything in this world. And why would  I think that I have the gift of writing.

These answers lay in my “calling.” Sometimes we have to try many things to reach our destination. I pray these days for a more clear direction. With Gods help I will proceed.


I pray…. oh my God, hear my prayer.  I know you are calling me. Amen

Birds and Blooms

28 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Birds, Blooms, Houseplants, Sharing, Tonight’s Thought

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November, 2022 Issue


What’s your definition of “getting out into nature?” Maybe for you, it’s sitting on your deck in your very wooded neighborhood watching for the birds to come to the feeders you’ve placed around. Your favorite feathered friends love to come so they can grab a morsel. Or….is your favorite adventure a hike to a national park. Both of these experiences can bring you the sense of peace we all enjoy and deserve. Carve out some time to enjoy the bounty of nature. Your soul will heal and be lifted. Nature is so healing and it may come to you with a sense of “peace” that you deserve and were secretly seeking. 

If you are looking for that same peace and a soothing atmosphere indoors, bring nature into the house by having a few houseplants. Very often your very own mental health can be lifted in your “inner soul” by placing some greenery indoors. Plants can nudge your brain into mindfulness and they create a relaxing and cozy atmosphere in your personal space. All of us need this in the winter months, so that we can keep a “healthy balance .”

I myself bring about ten…end-of-summer plants indoors for the winter. I have taken a few pictures of examples of a few plants from the magazine that you might consider. Plants help to purify the air indoors….so consider one in each room.  Houseplants do make for a healthy and pretty home.  


Tomorrow I will feature the December issue. I thought it worthy to post today on a few features of the November issue.

(We regret the glossy cover photo, but the hard copy of this magazine is “high gloss” and difficult to photograph).

We cannot stress enough, the modest cost of a subscription to this quite informative publication, and if you wish to view it in person, we always offer to drop it by your location for a one week viewing. And then we can pick it up and pass it to another viewer.

“Contessa” says….. it’s a very good thing!

Exploring My Task List From Yesterday

27 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Books, Gardening, Reflections, Sharing, Today's Update

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Today I completed a few exercises to cover some suggestions from yesterday with regard to my pursuing a new career in writing.

One of the suggestions was to read your own writings from some time ago. I surmise this gives you a perspective into your writing skills at that time and perhaps may even reassure you that your writing is actually pretty good. Affirmation perhaps.

………………………

So… I followed the first instruction on my list of ways to avoid putting off beginning to write again, and stop procrastinating. Something has created a road block. Getting past that road block could be just a matter of taking a walk or a run. It’s one of the suggestions on my task list from yesterday. I myself chose an early morning walk at 29 degrees. It does get you going and well worth the chill you feel. An awakening for sure.

But I also decided to go back in time to my blog, and visited my very first post on June 30th of the year 2010. I’ve included the txt of my first post below.  It was interesting…..because I had, by that time, owned my new shop, Contessa’s Garden and Gift for a couple years. I had only just acquired a new digital camera and was still using a “flip phone” and I was teaching myself how to master WordPress, an online yearly subscription tool, that I’ve now subscribed to for over 13 years. I was using a laptop at the time. WordPress opened up a whole new world for me in communicating my gardening and store ownership knowledge, to my customers using the internet. Within a couple years I was into the purchase of an Apple iPhone and so I ditched the digital camera for a camera right on my iPhone. It was a fantastic transition. And it changed my business from known,  to very well known. And my writing skills from good to pretty darn good.

So it’s now almost 2023  and I’m going to take a whole day to read back to where my blog began. Check out my writing style and see where I can improve and learn some things about how my blog has evolved. In terms of “my writings.” I think it might prove to be an eventful exercise🦋.

One of the other tasks on the list from yesterday, was to read a book. I am reading a book right now and this is giving me an insight into the writing style of another author.  It gives me a focus on what this writer is trying to communicate, and in the case of this particular book, it has exercises in teaching you new skills. To see how the author writes and what he is trying to convey is interesting. This reading will broaden my vocabulary, perhaps improve my  spelling and grammar skills, perhaps teach me how to incorporate some humor into my writing and open my eyes to content that I have never read before. 
Of particular interest to me in the book is a technique in a chapter called Progressive Relaxation. The suggestion that if you are not truly in a relaxed mode your creative energy may not flow. For example, you sit down to write or create and you are just not able to spit it out or get the words on paper. It happens. Burn out, can sometimes paralyze creativity. So doing the exercises mentioned in this book might help, and focusing on some mind exercises to “relax” you, could very well be a great answer to turning your writing creativity around. Some deep breathing combined with some muscle tension exercises might create relaxation and bring a calmness into your heart and it might even lower your blood pressure, creating a sense of better, and a more whole relaxation. All good points and ways to combat, what I myself might call brain fatigue or brain fog.  

So today to recap, I explored two items on the task list which could help me to get past my current roadblock that’s keeping me from  creating new “writing,” and new ideas for content.

More exploration tomorrow. Tonight I am reading “past”
 blog postings and my book called; Fighting The Inside Dragons.  New steps to explore in broadening my new writing career.

We will return tomorrow to reference my task list again. I look forward to sharing once again with you.

“Contessa”

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Our First Blog Post from 2010

Gardening Tips for July

30WednesdayJun 2010

Posted by ContessasHome in Garden Tips

≈ 1 Comment

NOW  is a great time to clean up your garden beds and your pot containers.   Remove dead leaves and blossoms.  Cut back your stems by half.  Yes it will temporarily make you plants look bare, but nature is divine and she will  replenish your blossoms and beautiful leaves within about two to three weeks time.  Add fresh Miracle Grow Potting Soil by about one inch to your pot containers.  Push garden dirt towards the roots of your garden flowers.  They will love the attention and the protection they get from fresh, moist dirt around their stems.

Our intense heat in Virginia has been relentless and some flowers are looking a bit weary.  Mid summer is a great time to plant a few new flowers with color.  Try some marigolds, nasturtiums, morning-glory and sunflowers.  The birds will love these new additions and in the fall you will love the fact that these lovely colorful blossoms are still “Hanging In.”

Another great addition for July is to add some Sweet Potato Vine and Coleus.  They provide endless color and if you take clippings once your plants are established, you will be able to bring some in  and place them  in a vase with water.  They will root in a matter of days and you can then create new plants to enjoy and even share with friends.

Lastly, water only in the early morning, or late evening, but do water daily.

A writing career…my new endeavor…!

26 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Today's Update, Tonight’s Thought, Writing

≈ 1 Comment

How to get started? The holidays came. My gardening work came to a close on Friday, December 16th, a little earlier than last year, primarily due to weather., My momentum was triggered by personal preparation for the holidays, and well to be honest I felt like I needed a “break,”’ But for a self motivator that break has turned into a detour into procrastination. So now I will begin  transitioning my disciplined normal self, back to “getting started” again. It’s time to start writing in my New direction

I admit it I’m in a zone. I want to write but I have been writing for my blog for over ten years. It had been great fun and challenging to meet my personal deadlines and communicate to all my followers. Which is not a huge audience. Pressure to keep my gardening clients caught up on my latest gardening tips, and video editing of ongoing projects, whilst working jobs at the same time. This was my most busy year. I’ve completed and posted announcements about holidays, information about specific deadlines for completing certain gardening deadlines, keeping in touch with my audience about ETSY sale activity, yoga class updates and spiritual reflections aimed at my own self improvement, inner spiritual growth and keeping loved ones in tune with my activity  And now I am deciding to expand my writings. But what direction do I go, and do I start a new blog or continue with my current platform and just….matter of fact….just write and see where it takes me…with no specific plan in mind.

So today I happened upon an article;

Number #1…..Re-read all of the things you have already written 

#2…..Make a List

#3…..Read a Book

#4…..Outline your next story

#5…..Brainstorm

#6……Ask a Friend

#7……Go for a walk or a run

#8……lock yourself in a room with no distraction except a piece of paper and a pen

#9….Shut Up and Write anyway

Hey…. I’ve just begun. Tomorrow I’ll start knocking off on this list and see where it takes me. Do Stay Tuned!

“contessa” 

 

Gallery

Memories

25 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in LOVE, Reflections, Sharing, Today's Update

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This gallery contains 30 photos.

A Child Is Born

25 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Faith, HOPE, LOVE, Morning Prayer, Sharing, Special Events

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Glory to God in the highest….and Peace to His people on earth.

•  AMEN •

Advent….a Study…Day 28

24 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Advent Prayer, Advent Study, Evening Prayer, Faith, HOPE, Lighting, LOVE, Scripture, Sharing

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FELIZ  NAVIDAD

A folk tradition of days gone by was to bring the baby Jesus from the nativity at home to Christmas Eve communion and liturgy services. The baby Jesus is supposed to hear and take part in the rituals of Christmas, so families in days gone by took the baby out of his nativity and brought him to church with them. 

1 Peter 2:2-3

INNOCENCE OF INFANTS

Like newborn infants, we long for your pure spiritual milk, so that by it, we may grow into salvation – if indeed we have tasted that the Lord is good. 

 


PRAYER

….my Lord, please give me a taste of your spiritual milk, some of your bread and wine, your own body and blood, that I may have a hunger, and be satisfied with your taste of salvation. Refurbish and restore me…..and all of us, as new Adams and new Eves. 

 

A M E N 


May Peace, Hope, Joy and Love light our way as we illuminate our candles on this Holy Advent Wreath this Christmas Eve.

Advent…a Study….Day 27

23 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Advent Prayer, Advent Study, Evening Prayer, Faith, HOPE, Lighting, LOVE, Scripture, Sharing

≈ 1 Comment

A SACRED CENTER

Can I make a place of innocence my home? In that place, I will be loved. I know that I am called to live at this place of innocence. Jesus chose to live there and he asks me to make it my home too. There I do not have to be afraid. Can I chose to make my innocence my home; think from there, and speak from there?

I know that whenever I choose from my innocence I don’t have to worry about the next ten years. I can just be where I am……always sure that I am not alone, but with him who called me to live as God’s child.

John 17:15-17

I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask  you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

PRAYER

Lord God…help me to ground myself in a sure place where I will be safe. Away from the Herods of this world. During these days of rejoicing….as I await the babe in the stable, wrapped in the swaddling clothes, keep me safe and wrap your embrace around me in your love, just like the babe. 

… in peace, hope, joy and love

we now light the candles of this Advent Wreath….

•A M E N •

…what Christmas is all about…

23 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Sharing, Special Events, Today's Update

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A post shared by Family Research Council (@frcdc)

Christmas Cheer to all!

23 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by ContessasHome in Art, LOVE, Reflections, Sharing, Today's Update

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We hope everyone has a wonderful day today. Our weather is certainly going to be a bit challenging, so please slow down… savor the moments and take extra good care.

Blessings!

“Contessa”

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