WEEK 35 WITH LOTS OF FOOD

 

Hey there.  Glad you came by today.  This past week was one of those whirlwind weeks.  I did manage to get a FO though.

Tarragon the Dragon got completed.  Sewing him together was the hardest part.  Making sure his limbs and wings were even was not easy for me.  He will be mailed to his new owner this week.  I still need to make a frog for her too but.....................I started on the frog this past week and do not like the way it looks.  So..................the frog got frogged.  I am looking for a knitted frog pattern instead of a crocheted one.  I did find one but now need to convince myself it is worth the price the designer is asking for it.  I know I will only make it once and it is almost the price of an entire book of patterns!  I don't mind paying for a pattern and have done so many times.  But the price of this one is almost 3 times what most patterns have cost me.  (sigh) 

As you know, hubby and I took a short (3 day) trip to Las Vegas to see his 93 year old mother.  I took some knitting with me to work on.  There is nothing to show for my trip as I only did one row on my knitting while gone.  

So, what did I do for three days?  Sunday, I drove the entire trip to Las Vegas which is 4.5 hours of drive time.  Not a really long drive, yet it still wears a person out.  Once we got there, we checked into our hotel and realized we had not eaten since early that morning.  We went in search of our favorite restaurant only to find out it was closed due to the seating restrictions.  It was a very small place to begin with and only being allowed 25% of seating made it almost impossible to have more than about 10 customers at a time in there.  We finally decided to go to the 24 hour café.  After we ate, we wandered about the casino for a while, played a few games and then went to bed.

Monday, after a lazy morning, we went to visit my MIL.  It is so hard to visit.  She can not hear us and we can not hear her.  Thankfully, one of the assistants there stays with her and does all the 'translating' back and forth.  We are only allowed 15 minutes at a time to visit too.  After we left my MIL, we went to our dear friends home for an afternoon/evening of relaxation, conversation, fun and food.  It was so nice to see our friends again.  By the time we left there and got back to the hotel, it was time for bed.

Tuesday we got up early as we had an early appointment to visit my MIL.  Each time we go to visit her, we also go to the veteran's cemetery to visit hubby's father.  The two places are only about 1/2 mile apart, which makes it quite convenient.  After our visit, we filled the car with gas and headed back to the hotel for some lunch.  After lunch we went back to our room for a little nap.  Once that had been accomplished we decided it would be fun to play some 

We played 2 sessions of bingo and did not win.  That is ok though.  We had a lot of fun playing and it was nice not to hear the noise of the slot machines going all the time.

Wednesday morning we left for home.  Once again I drove the entire trip.  Don't get me wrong, I love to drive.  Driving the new hybrid car was a dream too.  We were able to make it all the way home without needing to stop for gas.  In fact, we still have not needed to fill the car.  Love the mileage we get from this car!  It also is a very comfortable ride.  Much more comfy than the Prius was.

Thursday I did 2 loads of laundry, made the menus and grocery list.  Why is it, when all the laundry is completed before a trip, it magically fills up as soon as you get home.  We only had 3 days of clothes but still!  Anyway.............I also made a new to me dessert.

This is made in my Pampered Chef brownie pan.  You take a can of cinnamon rolls.  Press them into the little squares, making sure some of the roll comes up on the side of the square.  Add apple pie filling on top of the roll.  (I am sure you could use other pie filling)  Bake at 400 Degrees for 15-20 minutes and you are done.

Mine bubbled over a bit.  Next time I will not add as much pie filling.  I also will not cook them longer than 15 minutes as the roll part got a little hard.

Once completed, I took the cinnamon roll frosting and poured it over them.  Notice the 'fine china' I put them on for their photo shoot LOL.  We add a scoop of ice cream with these and they are delicious.  Next time, I want to try cherry pie filling or blueberry pie filling.

Friday I ran to the grocery store to get our fruits and veggies for the week.  After lunch, I took my BFF to her physical therapy appointment.  She had shoulder surgery and will be in PT for another month.  Since I could not go into the building with her, I sat in my car, in the shade with the windows down enjoying the lovely breeze and fresh air.  I love this time of year in the Arizona Desert.

Saturday I did another load of laundry.  (It is never ending, right?)  Then the plants got watered, the clock got wound and dinner went into the crockpot.  There was Mass in the late afternoon and then we were home for the rest of the night.  I mixed up my sourdough so I could bake a loaf of bread today.  There was quite a bit of time spent on Pinterest finding sourdough recipes, other than bread.  Here are a couple I found,

These looked so good.  I know I have eaten blondies before but can not remember exactly what they tasted like.  That means I need to make some to bring back that memory, right?

These cookies are going to be made today.  Hubby has had a hankerin' for cookies since we returned from our trip.  My Grandma used to make molasses cookies as did my mom.  One of my fond memories is biting into one of these cookies warm from the oven.  YUM!

There were other recipes I found on Pinterest using sourdough.  I figured, if I am going to maintain a starter, I need to start using it more often, including the discard from it.

The bread is out of the oven now.

This is made in my pullman loaf pan.  It took me quite a while to find a recipe for sourdough made in that pan.  I had a horrible time getting this to rise this morning after the overnight rise.  After over an hour, I finally just stuck it in the oven and let it rise and bake at the same time.  It worked pretty well.  It is a little shorter than normal but will taste just fine.

Funny story!!!!!  After grocery shopping, Friday, hubby put the groceries away for me.  I heard him take a deep breath and kind of made a funny noise while exhaling.  I looked and he was holding a loaf of French bread I had bought.  He looked at me and said "What is this?".  I thought he must be loosing it to ask that question.  I said "It's a loaf of French bread."  He looked all around the kitchen and then said "Why did you buy this?".  Then it dawned on me.  I have not bought a loaf of bread for 18 months!  But, because of our trip, and other obligations, I had not had time to make a loaf since we had gotten home.  I started to laugh and told him I knew we would need bread to go with our shrimp dinner that evening so bought this.  We had the bread that evening and it was the most tasteless bread I had ever eaten. (And it was fresh from their bakery!) Cardboard would have had more flavor.  Yup, we are spoiled now.  Lessoned learned.  After vacation, plan on making bread immediately!

Until Next Time.................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS:  Hubby and I get Covid dose #2 on Tuesday night.  We are getting the Pfizer vaccine.  Will let you know how we do with it.

A QUICK NOTE

 

Hubby and I arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon.  We took that day and just relaxed and enjoyed the amenities of our hotel.  We were a little surprised to see the favorite restaurant at our hotel was closed due to Covid.  Hubby was so sad.  There were still plenty of other places to still find sustenance.  

Monday, we had the morning to just hang out and have a slow morning.  We ate a lovely brunch and then went to go visit my mother in law at her facility.  We only get to spend 15 minutes with her and we are separated from each other via plexiglass.  It is very hard for her to hear us and hard for us to hear her.  Luckily, there is a staff member that stays with my MIL and she does a lot of translating for us.

After our visit, we went to the veteran's cemetery to visit my father in law's grave.  While there we happened upon an interment in process, complete with a bagpiper.  It was so beautiful.  We stopped and rolled down our windows just so we could hear the bagpiper.

Once we left the cemetery, we headed to our friends home on the other side of the city.  We had such a lovely afternoon/evening with them.  It was very relaxing also.  I got to discuss knitting, sourdough baking as well as finding out how all of their family was doing.  When we got back to the hotel, we went straight to our room.  No need to do anything else as the day was perfect just the way it was.

Today, we had an early visit scheduled with my MIL.  There was no time to even eat breakfast before we left.  My MIL lives about 30 minutes from where we are staying.  Traffic in Las Vegas is 24/7 rush hour.  We stopped off at the cemetery, once again, before we went for our visit.  The cemetery is about 1/4 mile away from where my MIL is staying.  That makes it nice to be able to visit both parents that way.

After our MIL visit, we filled the car with gas and came back to the hotel.  Hubby and I checked out what time we wanted to go and play bingo and then went into the casino and played for a little bit until the place we wanted to have lunch at was open.

This is where we had lunch.  The food there is so yummy.  It is so retro too.  Social distancing is done well there too.  As of this week, public places such as restaurants are now allowed to open up to 35%.  When the first of March comes, things will be opened up to 50%.

Tonight, we will go and play bingo at 7 and 9.  That will be the big excitement for our day.  Then to bed and up early so we can drive back home on Wednesday.

My knitting has not been touched yet.  I might pick it up after publishing this post.  We decided to come to our room to rest up before dinner and bingo.  Afterall......we are old folk now. LOL

Until next time.........................................................

WEEK 34 OF MY 10TH YOP

 

Today's post will be a bit longer than normal.  I am not going to apologize for that either.  There has been so much happening this past week, I need to get it posted here so I can make room in my brain for other things.

CRAFTING

I have a finish this week.

Daughter's socks are finished.  They are still waiting in my house for the new owner since we were in covid quarantine until Friday.  No one was allowed into our home.  She will receive them soon.  I will probably take them to her next week.  She is getting ready for some minor surgery and I think they would be so nice to have to wear while recovering.

Once the socks were done, I started on Tarragon the Dragon.  He is 90% completed.

All that is left is for me to knit are his front legs, sew them on and then sew on the wings.  The wings are pinned on right now as I did not want to sew them on until I had the placement of everything the way I want it.  I have enjoyed working on this item.  I will say, amigurumi is still not high on my list of things to make.  Once Tarragon is done, I will start on Fred the Frog.

I did pick up another item to craft once the weather gets too warm to work with yarn.

My intention is to make this and give it to my daughter for her to hang in her office.  This is one of her favorite sayings.  The people she works with will be able to relate too.  Shhhhh, it is a surprise for her.

BAKING

I actually got the opportunity to make some buns for us to have for breakfast over the next few days.

These are Sourdough Cranberry Pecan buns.  The recipe is from the Emilie Raffa  "Artisan Sourdough Made Simple" cookbook.  They are so yummy.  There is not a strong sourdough taste to them.  The best part is, there is no sugar in them.  The recipe calls for molasses as the sweetener.  Not to mention the cranberries help with that too.  Hubby agreed, I can make these again.

LOST AND FOUND

I lost my fountain pen over a week ago.  It was the first fountain pen I had ever owned.  I liked writing with it.  When using it I almost felt 'artistic'.  Hubby and I looked all over for the silly thing and finally realized the dogs probably took it somewhere and chewed it up.  (They love pens and pencils)  I went on Amazon and decided to find another fountain pen.  This time I wanted one I could either use cartridges or fill from an ink bottle.

I chose this Dryden pen.  It is a medium point as was my other one, but, this one actually writes between medium and fine point.  I really like it.  There has not been any leaking from it (which my other one was wont to do).  It came in a lovely cloth case that can hold the pen and 2 cartridges.

Thursday, hubby was cleaning the living room and moving furniture and found this:

My original fountain pen.  It is a Cross pen and normally, Cross is the only pen I use.  This was a very inexpensive pen to start with.  So, I was not surprised when it would leak on my hand.  I was also not surprised when it bled through paper and sometimes had a blob of ink when writing.  The one thing I love about it is..............it is super quite when writing with it.  No matter what grade of paper I use.  The Dryden pen has a bit of a scratching sound to it while writing.

A positive for fountain pens.....................you do not to add any pressure to write with them.  That is a huge plus for us RA sufferers.  I can write for much longer periods of time with a fountain pen.

PERSONAL LIFE

It has been a very stressful week.  Not only have I been concerned about my local son and his family dealing with covid, I have also been worried about my TX son dealing with covid too (the rest of his family tested negative)  Then the big winter storm hit TX and I get a text stating their electricity went out at 7AM on Monday.  Now I am a bit concerned since the temps where he lives were in the single digits.  They do not have any gas appliances in their home so there was no way for them to cook or even try and get some warmth in the house.  They did have one pipe freeze on them but they grabbed a terra cotta pot, bricks and candles and made a little heater to try and get it unfrozen..................it worked.

They finally got electricity back at midnight Thursday night/Friday morning.  They also were on a boil water order until Saturday.  What a mess that was.  I felt so bad for them.  Yet, here I am, almost 1000 miles away.  Nothing I could do to help them.  Now they are going through their fridge and freezer to find out how much food was lost during the outage.  At least their insurance will reimburse them for food loss.

Today, hubby and I are getting ready to leave and go visit hubby's mom.  She will be 94 in May!  We have not seen her since October.  My dogs know something is up.  The whole house is clean, we have a suitcase out, and they are getting special food.  Our dog sitter is so great.  She was all excited when I asked her if she would like to come and spend a little time with the 'kids'.  

OK, I think that is all for today.  I need to go and pack my suitcase and get out of here.  I grabbed one of my WIP's to take with me on the trip. (Not the dragon or frog)  Not sure how much knitting I will get done on it.  I will be spending one afternoon/evening with a knitting friend so I know there will be progress made that day.  If enough gets done on it I will post a photo of it next week.

Until Next Time..................Happy Crafting and Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Last Day

 

Oh my goodness!  I can hardly believe this is the last day of our quarantine.  It will be nice to be able to get out and about again tomorrow.  There are so many things hubby and I need to accomplish before we leave Sunday.

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Let me tell you about the last few days since I was here last.

First off, our son and his family in Texas are still without electricity.  That has been going on since early Monday morning.  As of yesterday, they were informed they need to boil any water they get from their faucet until further notice.  How do you boil water if you only have an electric stove?  My son said he is going to try and boil it on his gas bbq.  Water pipes are busting all around him.  He is afraid to open his deep freeze to see how much of his food has spoiled.  He knows everything in his fridge is spoiled.  All this on top of the fact he has covid and his daughter has bronchitis.  Please say a prayer for all people being affected by this winter storm as well as the one that is coming through again this weekend.

As for me, I have been busy putting a puzzle together.  It finally got finished this morning.

I received this from a dear friend who has since passed away.  It was not an easy puzzle to complete.  Especially since there was one piece missing.  It is now back in the box and I will donate it with a note on it that there is 1 piece missing.

The only other item I have been working on is a dragon for my TX grand daughter.

Say hello to Taragon.  His body was fun to do as it is all done in one piece.  The tail was done separately and then attached.

The long piece is the spiked spine and the little piece is a wing.  I still need to make 3 more wings and sew them together.  Then the spine and wings will be sewn onto the body.  After that.......arms and legs will be done.  It has been an interesting knit.  I am not normally a toy maker so this is a challenge for me to do.

Today, I made some more focaccia bread.  This time I added garlic salt to the dough and sprinkled Italian seasoning on the top.  I just tried a piece and it is much tastier than the last one I made.

I hope all of you are staying warm and safe.

Until next time.............................................................................................

Shrove Tuesday

I grew up in Wichita Kansas.  It was a good childhood and I loved the four seasons we had there.  Each year on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday we celebrated Shrove Tuesday.  (The expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "absolve")  There is a little town in Kansas named Liberal.  Actually, 90% of the towns in Kansas are little.  Anyway, each year on Shrove Tuesday, the town of Liberal, Kansas and Olney, Buckinghamshire, England, would have a 415 yard race of women running and flipping pancakes the entire time.

The Olney tradition dates to around 1445. Legend holds that a woman in Olney was making pancakes when the church bells began ringing to announce the service. Carrying her frying pan and wearing an apron, she raced to arrive at church on time. In subsequent years, others in the community joined in the race. The prize was the "Kiss of Peace" from the verger, or bell ringer.  

The Liberal/Olney competition began when members of the Liberal Junior Chamber of Commerce learned about the Olney race and proposed a friendly competition with the English community. The contest, which continues today, requires that runners wear a traditional apron and scarf and carry a frying pan in which they toss a pancake at the beginning and ending of the race. The event concludes with presentation of awards and a church service.

In other parts of the US we celebrate Fat Tuesday, or in French "Mardi Gras".  It is the last big hurrah before the season of Lent begins.  There are parades, beads, king cakes and plenty of partying and often drunkeness during that day.

I was in New Orleans one year just before Mardi Gras.  These people take this celebration seriously.  There are king cakes in every store, beads hanging from balconies as well as lots of purple and gold decorations on every home.

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.  It is the start of 40 days of Lent.  (Sundays do not count in the 40 days)  Because, hubby and I still have 3 days of quarantine, we will not be going to Mass this year.  We will watch it on YouTube.  Also this year, when distributing ashes, they will not be placed on the forehead but sprinkled on the top of your head.  (This is what our parish is doing)  

What are some of the traditions where you live?

Because it is shrove Tuesday, I made us sourdough pancakes for breakfast.

They were quite tasty and there is enough left for us to have them again for a few days.  YUM!  Before you ask..........I did not run 415 yards while flipping them.  I walked 3 feet from stove to counter placing them on a plate with a spatula.  

Until next time....................................................................................

WEEK 33 AND LIFE

 

Hey there!  Welcome.  Ready to read about my exciting week?  Let's go!

CRAFTING

Only one item got worked on this week:

Daughter's second sock.  I have about 59 more rows before the toe.  Most of this was done yesterday while on a 6 hour zoom call with our church.  I so love self striping yarn.  Makes knitting a lot of fun.

I got a text from one of my Texas Grand Kids asking if I could make her a dragon and a frog.  I was so excited to be asked to make something for someone.  I have the patterns picked out for both projects.

This is Fred the Frog and will be started as soon as the sock is completed.  Instead of a frown on his face, I am going to give him a smile.

Meet Tarragon the Gentle Dragon.  This will be the dragon I knit for her.  My fingers are crossed that neither of these patterns are too complicated.  Toy making is not something I have done too much of.  The thought of sewing all those little pieces together is a bit foreboding.  But, for a grandchild............anything.

BAKING

This week saw quite a bit of baking going on at my house.  I kind of go in spurts when I bake.  Other than making my usual loaf of sandwich bread I made these:

Mini Banana/Cranberry breads.  These mini loaf pans were a little treat I got for myself just before Christmas.  These 4 pans equal one regular sized loaf.  I liked doing them in these pans.  We kept one loaf out, one in the fridge and 2 in the freezer.  This way half of the big loaf does not get stale and yucky.

I have been in the mood to do something with Arthur the sourdough starter.  Arthur was removed from the fridge this week and started to get regular feedings again.  I have been perusing my sourdough cookbook for ideas.  This is what I decided to make.

Sourdough garlic/rosemary focaccia bread.  We had some of it last night for dinner with our spaghetti.  It was quite delicious.  Arthur is still being fed and will become something else yet this week.  Not sure what, but I am sure it will be yummy.

LIFE HAPPENS

Hubby and I got a call Monday from our son that lives here in town.  He and our grand daughter had both tested positive for Covid.  UGH!  Since we had been with them on Saturday evening, we knew we had to quarantine for 14 days as well as get tested.  Finding a place to give a rapid covid test is not an easy task.  I spent two days trying to get appointments for hubby and I to get this done.  Well................hubby decided to look into the saliva test that is done by our local university.  TA-DA!  He found out they were doing the test just a few miles from our house and had an opening that afternoon.  Since it was 5 days since our exposure, we knew it was the prime time to go and get tested.  Let me just say, this is not as easy a test as you think.  Thirty minutes before the test you can not put anything in your mouth including water!  Since you are already a bit nervous about the possibility of having covid, and now you need to produce enough saliva to fill a little bottle................it seems the salivary glands just clamped close.  Of course, my husband had no issue filling his bottle.  I took a bit longer and just barely got enough.

Here are the results:

We both are negative!  Unfortunately, our son's wife tested positive the next day.  The three of them have lost their sense of taste and smell.  They all started with a headache and body aches.  Then it went to nasal congestion with a cough.  They DO NOT have any problems breathing though. PTL!

Wednesday, our son in Texas let us know he tested positive for Covid!  Luckily, his wife tested negative and they are staying in separate areas of their home.  He has flu/cold like symptoms but no breathing issues.  He is just starting to loose his sense of taste and smell.

Out of our 4 kids, 3 of their homes have been infected.  We have one more in the Seattle, WA area and so far he is fine.  He works from home which probably has helped.

Hubby and I are still going to continue our 14 day quarantine.  We will be free this coming Friday.  That means we will be leaving next Sunday to go and visit his mother in Las Vegas.  The hotel we have reservations for was so nice. When we called to cancel our trip for today (the 14th).  They just put our reservation to next week and said it was no problem.  I am sure they were happy to know we were taking responsibility to not possibly pass on this virus.

Today is Valentine's day and since we are in quarantine, nothing much will be happening here.  I am doing laundry, there will be Mass on TV, then there is a golf tournament and the Daytona 500 to watch.  Our day is so exciting.  I don't know if I can handle all the excitement LOL.

Because of the threat of Covid, I did not do any decluttering this week.  We are still well ahead of the group's schedule though.  Maybe this week I will get to some more of it.  That way, I can take all the donations to Goodwill on Friday and they will be out of the house.

Anything fun happening in your home?  

Until next time.......................Happy Crafting and Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!

This is part of the YOP ravelry group.  If you would like to join us, please do.  To see what others are doing in this group go to this LINK.

Glorious Day

 

It is a glorious day here in my town.  We are in the 70's with lots of sunshine and a light breeze.  I would love to be walking about the neighborhood, but will be satisfied with sitting in my backyard enjoying this weather.  It is going to get cold again (for us) on Sunday with rain chances in the forecast.  Then right back into the 70's next week.

Hubby and I are getting ready to head out and go get our Covid test.  We are getting the saliva test done.  It will take 2-3 days to get the results.  That is okay as we still have another week of quarantine to live through.  

Our local son and his daughter have both lost their sense of taste and smell.  They said, it is really hard to get excited about eating when you can not taste your food.  My poor Daughter in Law said it is kind of hard to make a great dinner and no one 'appreciates' it.  Since no one can taste anything, I decided not to make bread and brownies for them.  Once their taste buds come back I will treat them to some homemade goodies.

Speaking of sons..................the one that lives in Texas tested positive yesterday.  He has the headache, body ache, fatigue and a low grade fever.  No breathing issues...PTL.

Today, I did make a loaf of bread, took Arthur our of the fridge and started feeding him again, worked on the puzzle and checked up on all my sick kids.  No decluttering again today but that is ok.  We are quite a bit ahead of the posted schedule.  Not to mention, I don't want to end up with lots of boxes and bags sitting around for a week or two.  My OCD will not appreciate that scene.

I have pork chops laid out for dinner tonight.  We will have that, some fresh homemade bread and cooked veggies.  There is a Fireball Whiskey pumpkin pie for desert.  I made the pie a week ago and it is so yummy. I ordered groceries to be picked up tomorrow and made sure to order more pumpkin so I can make the pie again.

Until next time..................................................................

MEH

 

Not much to report today.  It is a strange phenomenon.  During the government 'stay at home' request, I had no issue with it.  I stayed energetic and motivated. There was no problem getting things done in a timely manner and finding things that needed doing.

Being in quarantine is a whole different thing.  Sunday and Monday, hubby and I managed to really get things going and got quite a bit done.  Yesterday and today, neither of us has any desire to do anything.  Hubby has helped me look for my lost fountain pen and that is about all for him.  Besides looking for my pen I have also scoured my sourdough recipe book looking for ideas and have worked on the jigsaw puzzle.  That's it!  

We both feel fine and maybe that is the issue.  We do not have any symptoms of Covid PTL.  I did talk to my daughter in law today and it sounds like she started the virus last night.  I was really hoping it would pass her by.  Her hubby and daughter are no worse but no better either.  Still no fever and no breathing issues PTL!  They just feel crappy with body aches, chills, extreme fatigue and headaches.  Since Josie is doing school online, she is not missing any school.  That is one plus about virtual learning.  

Josh, even though he works from home, has been asked to stay out of work until he is 100%.  That is probably a good thing.  That way he can get all the rest he needs.

The hardest part of this for me is, knowing my family is sick and I can do nothing to help them out!  Normally, I would be doing grocery runs, baking bread, making some homemade treats and offering to help with anything that needed to be done.  I just might go ahead and make them a loaf of bread and a few goodies and just leave it on their doorstep.  Non-contact delivery could happen, right?  That would also give me a purpose and get me out of this MEH mood.  Gosh, who knew writing my blog would inspire me?

Tonight, we will be having leftovers from last night's "Taco Tuesday".  Since we are going to be in town at least a week longer than planned, I am making a grocery list and will do an online order with curbside pick up this week.  I have never done this before so it will be a bit of an adventure for me.

Until next time................................................................................ 

A Day Off

 

So the title says it all.  I am taking today off from decluttering.  Now, don't think I have been just sitting around eating bon bons and watching chic flicks.  Nope.......I have been busy doing house wife things.

Hubby and I woke up about 4:30 this morning and decided to get up and start our day early.  Half of the house got swept, mopped and dusted by the hubby.  My jobs were; wash our bedding and remake the bed, water the plants, wind the clock, clean and cut up the fresh veggies and make some phone calls.

Of course, I guess I could have spread some of this out over a few days, seeing hubby and I won't be going anywhere for the next 2 weeks.  Yup, we are in quarantine until the 20th.  Our son and grand daughter tested positive for Covid yesterday.  Since we were with them on Saturday, we need to quarantine for 14 days from Saturday.  We will go and get tested on Friday (per our Dr) and if that is negative and we stay symptom free we can resume life on the 20th.

Our son and his daughter do not have a fever but have the headache, chills, body aches and fatigue at this point.  We are praying that is as bad as it gets.

This meant we had to cancel our trip to Vegas.  We did go ahead and make reservations for the next week in hopes we will be able to go then.  

Now, hubby and I are going to watch a movie and just enjoy some quiet time.

Until next time.........................................................

Making Space Kind Of

 

Today for my decluttering I scheduled myself to do our guest bath and also the powder room.  It took me all of 30 minutes to complete both of those rooms.  That meant I had time to do other things today. So, what did I do?

There were 30 minutes spent exercising on my teeter recumbent free step.

Then there was time to do 2 loads of laundry as well as making some banana cranberry bread.

The little loaf pans were a gift to myself around Christmas time.  It is the first time for me to use them.  This way, after the bread cools off, I can freeze three of the little loaves and leave one out for us to eat over the next few days.  When I make banana bread in the regular loaf pan it gets kind of stale by the time we get to the end of the loaf.  That is one of the issues of living in a 2 person household.

There was also time for me to work on the jigsaw puzzle I set up last week.  My daughter in law came by on Saturday and helped out with the puzzle but it still has a long way to go.

The above photo is what it will look like when done.  It is about 1/4 done at this point.  Because so much if it just blends from one color into another, it is quite a challenge.  That's ok, though, it is not like I have a deadline for it to be completed.

The dryer just buzzed, so time for me to go and fold the towels and put them away.

Until next time...................................................

YOP WEEK 32

 

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!  Do you have any big plans for this special day in the USA?  Hubby and I are going to spend it at home with our dogs.  Our son and his wife did invite us over to their place.  Which was very nice but, we decided to just stay home.  We will, however, need to do a short grocery run today before the game starts.  Hopefully, everyone will be home getting ready for the game so we won't need to deal with crazy football fans grabbing last minute snacks.

Let's talk about my week of craftiness.  Or lack there of.

This is the only item I worked on as far as knitting or crocheting went.  Sock #1 is getting really close to the toe and then sock #2 will be cast on immediately.

I did turn on the sewing machine this week.

 I made these jammy pants for my son about 3-4 years ago.  The first time he put them on, the elastic broke.  They have been sitting in my mending pile since then.  They are now back at their respective owners house.  It's not that I hate to sew or mend.  It's that I enjoy knitting and crocheting so much more.  The only thing left in my mending basket is a dress that needs to be hemmed.  I want to buy a rolled hem foot for my machine to make that process easier for me.  Once I have that foot, I will hem the dress.  Then there will be about 7 other dresses that will have their hems realigned and hemmed up.

See the way this dress hem is so much longer in the back than the front?  I love these dresses for their ease of wearing them.  I am not a fan of the hi/lo hem anymore.  I have cut the hem on one of my dresses and am going to see if when I hem it up I will fall in love with it again.  Hopefully I will.  Otherwise, all those dresses will be heading to my donation pile.  (No that is not me in the photo)

That is all for crafting this week.

DECLUTTERING

This week I finished up my craft room.  How nice to be able to walk in there and not be attacked by copious amounts of 'stuff'.  The walk in closet was my biggest challenge.  It is so easy to just throw stuff in there with the thought of 'I will get to it later'.  Well, later happened this week.

This is the part of the closet you see when you open the door.  On the left is what it looked like before I started on it.  The right, is what it looks like today.  The closet took me 2 and a half days to complete.  My donations from the closet included 2 kitchen trash bags, one of the plastic storage boxes, a large cardboard box as well as several items that did not fit into any boxes because of their size.  It filled the back of my SUV with the back seats folded down.

This coming week is going to be my guest bath, powder room, linen closet and Josie's room.  That should completely fill up my week.

PERSONAL NEWS

Hubby and I got our first Covid vaccine this past week.  We received the Pfizer vaccine.  Going at 1:30 in the morning made for a loooong day/night but we were in and out of the vaccination center easily.  Hubby had a little sore arm the next day, I had and still have a red injection site.  It was sore to the touch the first two days but now it is just red.  We were told these were all possible side effects with the first dose.  We are scheduled for our second dose already too.  They scheduled us before we left the injection site.  That sure makes it easy.  The best part of our injection site we went to is.....................we never left our car.  Just rolled down the windows and they came to the car and gave the injection.  Of course there were 4 stations we had to stop at before the injection was given, for interview questions about our health.  

St Vincent De Paul came on Friday and we finally have the 447 boxed up books out of our family room.  Sure does make it easier to walk around in there LOL.  I still have not decided what to put on the shelves, framing the fireplace, in the family room.  Right now, I am enjoying seeing empty space.  When we get to the declutter of the family room, I will make a decision then.

Hubby and I are leaving on Valentine's Day to go to Las Vegas to visit his mom.  We will only be gone 3 days.  While we are there, we will get to see our dear, dear friends (R & P) that are more like family than friends.  The P is the person I call when I need help with bread making or knitting or medical questions.  We make sure we see them each time we get to Vegas.  It is so nice to just sit and relax at their home for a few hours.  It is a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the casino we stay at.

So, if I don't update next week, it will be because I am on the road.  My update may be later in the week.  It all depends on what time we leave on Sunday.

Until Next Time......................................Happy Crafting & Stay Well!!!!!!!!!!!

MAKING SPACE

 

Ahhhhhh, it is Friday and hubby and I are ready to enjoy a nice laid back weekend.  It has been a whirlwind of a week.  Hubby is still working on decluttering the office.  He is being so good and going through every file and shredding things as he goes along.  We were able to remove the Barristers Case from the office and gave it to Josie's family for storage of precious things they don't want Thor to chew up.  That gives me the room to set up my photo printer in the office now instead of the guest room.  He may need another week in the office and that is fine with me.  He has been doing such a lovely job and things are looking so neat and organized.  

I spent the week working on my craft room.  I took the last load of items to Goodwill yesterday.  I am trying to make a conscious effort to remove the items as soon as I have enough to fill the back of my SUV (with the back seats folded down).  

This is just a sample of the things I found in my craft room that left the building.  Ribbon, jewelry making supplies, antique lace, and decorative tins.  There was plenty more but this shows you the kind of things I have been hanging onto for many years.  All this plus much more was from the closet in there.  I had 2 kitchen garbage bags, a storage box & a cardboard box full of items as well as rolls of satin material, shelves and little organizing containers to donate.  

Here are the after Photos.

This is the right side shelf all those 45 year old closets have above where the clothes hang.

Middle shelf

Left shelf.  All nice and cleaned out.  

Left side of the closet.  I actually can see floor space again.

Middle of the closet.  Don't tell anyone, but I have empty cubbies.  I was going to get rid of the clown photo but.................It is the only thing I have from my step dad.  He collected clowns and gave this to my boys when they were young.  You twist his nose and he plays "Send in the Clowns".  None of the kids want it at the present time.  They think he is scary looking.  Guess we should have taken them to the circus more often.  

And, this is the left side of the closet.  It was hard to get a photo of this because of the small space to stick my hand in.  The project bags in the top right cubby are ones I am thinking about doing.  They have the pattern and yarn in them already.  I am just not sure if the pattern and yarn are a good match yet, so they sit and wait while I contemplate.

I actually finished the craft room on Wednesday.  Once I got going in there, I just could not stop.  That gave me all day Thursday to run errands.  I wanted to get everything completed before today (Friday).  Why?  Because......................early this morning (1:30am) hubby and I had an appointment to receive our first Covid vaccine injection.  We drove 45 minutes to get to the site where they were giving the injections.  Once there, we were 'interviewed' 3 times, got our injection, sat for 20 minutes to make sure there were no adverse side effects and then were able to leave.  Drove another 45 minutes home and finally got to bed about 2:30 this morning.  It only took 30 minutes from the time we got to the injection site until we were done.  It was the drive to and from that took the longest at 90 minutes total.  The nice thing is, we got to stay in our car throughout the entire thing.  We have seen so many places where you have to stand in line for hours.  We also got an appointment for our next injection in 4 weeks.  This time we took a little earlier time slot. (10pm)  The reason we are taking the late times is because of traffic.  If we go in the late evenings/ early mornings, traffic is pretty light.  Otherwise, it could take us up to 2 hours to get to the injection site.

As for how we feel after the injection.............................we both feel fine.  Not even a sore arm.  The one thing I told hubby was to make sure your arm is totally relaxed and after the injection start moving it all around to help with soreness.  Plus, we drank a lot of water after we got the shot. Seems to have worked...............so far.  If you are wondering......we got the Pfizer vaccine.  It is the one I actually wanted so was happy to find out that is the one we received.

Hubby is planning on cleaning our living room today.  St Vincent came this morning and picked up all the boxes of books that have been living in there for the past 2 weeks.  It is so nice to be getting things out of the house.  Even my hubby has commented on how we are really moving along and being critical on what we are keeping and what we are moving out of the house.

While hubby is doing the living room, I am going to go through our 1 linen closet.  It has been bothering me for about 3 weeks.  I went to put the guest room sheets and comforter in there and discovered there was no room for anything.  Time to find out what I have 'stuffed' in there over the years.

Until next time.................................................................