Well, here it is 2021! I am so very excited to bring you a new look for my blog as well as a new adventure with me! 

I wanted to spend a few minutes with you and share what is happening with me for this year and a bit of what transpired last year. I am not going to spend any time focusing on last year and how it was difficult or anything cause we all know that. Rather, I would like to share with you what I learned, or actually was reminded of. Once again, I was reminded life is short...and I do mean short!  Through this National Pandemic we across our country have experienced I was reminded I need to be spending as much time with loved ones as I can. Especially those I love most! My hubby is retired, so I decided to completely join him. I retired very early (at 55) from teaching school and was only retired for a year before I opened the Scrapping for Less business. This year taught me it is time to make life in our latter years about  spending time doing what we love: for me that is spending quality time with hubby and family, and crafting!

So, I closed up the business and retired! And boy am I going to enjoy this!

Ok, onto what is happening crafty wise for the new year! I have changed the YouTube channel name to reflect the same name as my blog Fresh and Renewed with Teresa. You will see lots of crafting and collabs on my YouTube channel as well as updates from time to time. 

I wanted to pick a word for the year this year but as I reflected on myself and my personality, I decided to do a word of the month. I will do a weekly blog update on how the progress or reality of that word is impacting my life for that month. 

For the month of January I chose to use a word from my blog title and have chosen the word renewed. 

I feel like I have fresh life this week  in looking at a brand new year, having the strength to embark on this new adventure and also feel revived again to bring my crafting to a new level. 

Thanks so much for spending some time with me today!

 

Reflections!

Hope all of you have a fabulous and wonderful Happy New Year!!! I wanted to take a few minutes here and share some reflections of my year....in many ways it was a really challenging year, I was very ill for almost 2 weeks at the beginning of the year, went out of town to be a caretaker of my sister who was recovering from surgery, only a month later went out of town again, was a caretaker a second time for about 3 weeks immediately after returning home, began the long involved process of opening a website for my business, scaled down to only 1 vehicle, and had knee surgery. So many challenges...but yet within each one of those challenges was a bright spot that would spur me to continue on because so many wonderful things happened in 2016.

I got to see my first grandchild graduate from high school! What a highlight this year!

I opened a website for my business Scrapping for Less! This took many months of sweat, tears, and hard work but it finally opened in October and is thriving and growing!

And finally, the most thrilling and exciting moment of the year was the retirement of my husband from a long life of hard work and support for his family! We have spent the past two months just chilling and relaxing (at least as much as I can and still run this wonderful business that I have!) and getting used to retirement life!

I am looking forward to the wonderful things that 2017 can bring! And if there are challenges along the way as well...bring 'em on cause I know there will be something to learn along the way!

I'm Going Home

Well, I have finished my last day (at least for the next 14 months) of working at a school. Hopefully it is longer and I can go into retirement but that remains to be seen. As I sit here on my couch this morning I am so very thankful for many things...a man who is so wonderful that wants to do whatever possible to make me happy, the ability to create a cozy, home for him, the ability to be able to enjoy my grandchildren to the fullest. So, I have many plans to get going and will let you all know about what is going on more consistently from this point forward. Enjoy this video as it says exactly what I am feeling right now!