Where Did 'IT' Go?

 

This morning, I realized I have had no desire to knit, cross stitch, crochet or sew.  It's not like this just happened today either.  This has been going on since Sunday.  There is a pair of socks sitting to the right of me.  A cross stitch sampler laying to my left.  Crochet projects are just a room away from where I sit in the evening.  Sewing materials are in the room with the crochet projects. It's not like I don't have anything to work on.

Monday evening I forced myself to pick up the socks and put a few rows on them.  And when I say I forced myself, I truly mean it.  What is going on?  Seldom have I ever gone through this kind of a crafting slump.  The idea of casting on a new project does not even appeal to me.  Someone needs to take my temperature LOL!

What is bringing me joy at the moment is reading, journaling and listening to music.  Another thing bringing me joys is working in the kitchen.  Every few months I go through all our kitchen cabinets and drawers and cull out the things that are not being used or are useful for us.   It is amazing how much 'stuff' I am able to get out of my house each time I do this.  My closet is on the clean out list too.  I have clothes in there that have not been on my body for over 5 years!  They need to go to a new home too.  

So, maybe, it is not that my mojo has left.  Maybe it is the fact it has shifted to doing other things for a little while.  I am sure this decluttering bug will not last too long.  But while it is here I will take advantage of it and move things out of my home!  Could this be what experts call 'spring fever'?

Has spring fever hit you?  What changes happen to you when it hit?

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

WEEK 39 OF YOP 11

 

Seems I am getting a later than normal start today in writing my YOP blog.  It has been a nice lazy morning that I have been enjoying.  Isn't that the way Sundays are supposed to be?  Lazy?  It is one of the reasons we go to church on Saturday evening.  Not to mention it gives a nice 'end' to the week and sets up the beginning of the next week.  Double win-win.

My knitting this week kind of took a back seat to other things that needed to get completed.  So this is all I have to show for the week.

I finished my third 1/2 sock.  I now have plenty of them but will probably still make more down the road, just because I have so much leftover sock yarn.

Then I worked a bit on my RCR socks.

Once  finished the gusset I decided to put them on magic loop to complete them.  Not thinking I will complete them this week.  There are other things I want to do while our weather is super nice here.  

Speaking of weather......The last 3 days we have been in the 90's here.  While I am not quite ready for the heat to hit, it is a good reminder I need to get some outside stuff completed before it gets so warm I don't want to spend copious amounts of time outside.  Granted, we are expecting rain this coming week and a drop in temperatures, but still, I know the heat is coming and I need to be prepared.  

This past week, I did a lot cleaning up from having company the weekend before.  There were extra towels to wash, 3 sets of bedding to remove from beds (still need to wash those), fridge to rearrange (they always store their cold things in our fridge), and making sure all their items are out of my house (found 2 things that were left behind).

The one thing different I did this past week was going to Bookman's.  It is a used book store where you can trade in your books for credit or cash.  I had quite a few books to trade as well as puzzles.  Naturally, they only took about 10 books but I did receive almost $20 credit for them.  Since Josie's house at school (yes, it is kind of like Hogwart's in a parochial setting.) was having a book drive, I decided to use my credits to get some books for her drive.  The trick was, they were to be for 0-5 yr olds.  I was able to get 7 books for her to take to her school.  It was so much fun looking at all those picture books again.  BTW, Josie's house is St Anne's house.  Each house has their own special t-shirts and colors associated with them too.  See?  Kind of like Harry Potter.

The other thing out of the ordinary I did this week was go clothes shopping.  UGH!  I hate to shop for clothing.  The idea was to find some blouses and pants/skirts for church.  I scored on the blouses but struck out on the bottom part.  All the pants I found were just too heavy for our summers and there were absolutely zero skirts in my size!  I even tried on dresses and found nothing that made me happy.  I spent two days doing this shopping.  I do have 2 pairs of pants I wear to church.  One is a winter pant and I will melt in it this summer.  The other I have worn for the past 3 years and it is starting to show the wear and tear.  I found another pair of pants just like the ones I use now for summer.  Went to try them on (in the same size I have now) and could not even get them past my knees!  Seriously?  I went up 2 sizes and still could not get them on.  Needless to say, I was so angry, I just left the store.  I weigh less now than I did 3 years ago too!  I guess I could make some pants or a skirt.  This may be my best option yet.

Well, that is enough about me.  How about you?  What is on your needles/hooks?  How is your weather?

Until Next Time..................................Happy Crafting & Pray for Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TERRIFIC TUESDAY

 

How is your day going? 

Have you ever gotten up in the morning and made the conscious decision that you are going to have a grand day no matter what comes your way?  This is something I have been trying to do for some time now.  Some days it works and some days it is a struggle to maintain the positive attitude.

Today, I have been able to keep my attitude positive even with the few set backs that have come at me.  My mom used to say it was looking for the silver lining in the issue.

Yesterday it was very hard to find that silver lining in some of the issues that arose. But, by the end of the day, I had found it and went to bed with a smile on my face.

Granted, there are times where it may take me a few days to find that silver lining in an issue or problem.  But, if I keep the faith, the gray clouds go away and the sunshine comes out for me.

How do you handle the road blocks that come at you?

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

WEEK 38 OF YOP 11

 

Happy first day of spring.  Although, where I live, spring has been around for the past 3 weeks.  Summer will be here, for me, next month.  I have been enjoying the cool crisp mornings and the warm and sunny afternoons.  There are so many things blooming too.  Citrus trees, acacia trees, palo verde trees, mesquite trees, and flowers of all kinds.  The air here is heavy with the smells of the citrus and acacia trees.  When you drive down our streets the trees are heavy with yellow and white blooms.  So pretty.  In the next month or two our Saguaro cactus will be in full bloom.  That is a glorious sight to behold too.  Who knew the desert could have so much beauty in her flora.  But, that is not why you are here.  Let's take a look at what happened in my crafting realm.

I have finishes!

Do you know what this is?  No, it is not a baby mitten. 

 It is a half sock.  Why would I want a half sock?

Because I wear crocs year round.  My left foot has been 'deformed' thanks to my RA.  So, the half sock keeps my toes from rubbing and getting sore.  I have the half sock on in this photo.

This is the second half sock.  I got the idea after I ordered 4 pair from Amazon.  Then I thought, why should I pay for these when I have TONS of scrap sock yarn laying around just begging to be used.

This is the third half sock I started this week but did not finish.  They only take a day to make so it is a nice fast project.  To make these, I start out with 56 stitches and do 10 rows of 2x2 ribbing.  Then I increase to 64 stitches and work it until the sock measures 3 inches.  Then I do my rounded toe decreases and finally Kitchener the toe closed.  Easy peasy.  

I worked on my RCR socks too, but not a lot.

Actually, I only worked on this one sock and did just a few rows of the gusset.  The half socks were needed more since it is starting to get warm here.

Last week I told you I had not worked on my cross stitch at all.  It made me feel bad.  So I picked it up this week and worked on it quite a bit.

It is a slow process but so enjoyable.  It is not even half done but I already can envision what it will look like when completed.

That is all the crafting.  But wait.................there is something growing in my Aero-Garden!

Little cherry tomatoes are popping up all over the plants.  There are still a lot of blossoms on the plants too.  I think there is going to be quite a few of these beauties in the near future.  These have been growing for 63 days now.  This now gives me a timeline as to how long it takes for the tomatoes to appear.  The blossoms have been set for the past 2 weeks.  

We had company come on Friday and they left early this morning.  It was nice to see my hubby's brother again along with our great nephew and another friend of theirs.  They were not at the house much though.  They came down for basketball and hockey games.  They were going to try and take in a spring training game but the tickets for those have gone up to more than going to a regular season game!  Crazy!

I got a present this week.

It is a Ninja Creami.  We are having so much fun with it.  Hubby and I both love ice cream, sorbet, and gelatto.  This machine makes it so easy and fun.  Plus, this way you know what is in your sweet treat.  It has only been here for less then a week and so far I have made 2 different flavors of sorbet and one ice cream.  With summer coming on, this will be used a lot.  Nothing better than having a cold sweet treat on a summer evening.

What's happening in your neck of the woods?

Until Next Time...........................Happy Crafting & Pray for Peace!!!!!!!!!

YOP WEEK 37

 

Hey there.  Nice to have you back again.  Hope your week was good.  Mine was interesting.  Here is some of what happened.

Socks!

These are now on the gusset.  Nope, they do not match 100%.  No, I don't really care.  They are going to be in my shoes so only a small portion of the rolled top will show.

Vixynn!

Only added about 4 rows on this.  But when you realize there are 236 stitches in each round, that makes for some progress.

The cross stitch did not get touched at all.  This past week was mostly spent on finishing up the remodel of the bathrooms.  And yes, they are completed...............sort of.  

This is the master bath.

And here is the guest bath.

You can read all about the adventures of the final days of the remodel here.

I finished up getting a few decorations for the guest bath as well as a new shower curtain and towels to go with the 'beach' theme I have chosen to be in there.  The master bath does not have a 'theme'.  Since it is open to our bedroom, it goes with what the bedroom colors are.  I do one thing to kind of separate it from the bedroom......

Putting a curtain rod with sheer panels on it give a bit of separation between the two spaces.  

On Wednesday, hubby and I spent 6 hours out and about getting the finishing touches for the bathrooms.  That meant on Thursday, I got to go out alone for 3 hours to return items that did not work and find things that would.  Let me tell you.......remodeling is not for sissies.

Housework has not been happening for the past 4 weeks.  Why bother to dust and vacuum when the next day workers tramp through the house and bring in all sorts of dust and grime.  So, on Friday, hubby cleaned and I did copious loads of laundry to get the house back in shape.  We have company coming in next weekend and we needed to have everything ready for them.

Menus are completed, groceries have been bought, the guest beds have clean sheets ready to go on them and the guest bath is ready for company too.  Phew!  

I have not given you an update on the Aero-Garden for a while.  Today is day 56 of the gardening.  It has gone quite well.  Our two lettuce pods produced up until yesterday. I finally harvested the last of the lettuce from them.  We have used nothing but that lettuce for over a month.  What a joy it has been to just go into our front room and cut off leaves for salads, tacos and sandwiches.  Here is how it looks now.

The basil is still going strong and I have harvested off of it 3-4 times.  The smell of it is lovely too.

The tomato buds are kind of hard to see here.  But, both plants are loaded with the little yellow flowers.  We check it each day hoping to see actual tomatoes coming to life.  These tomato plants are big and strong.  I am amazed at how healthy they are.

When they started to come up, I was instructed to remove all but one stalk.  As big as these babies are, I now know why.  Next time I plant, I will not do two tomato plants next to each other.  In fact, I will probably only do one plant and on one side as one plant will take up an entire side by itself.  I am happy we finally got one of these.  The temptation is to get another one only bigger so I can grow more veggies.  This is my type of gardening!

Yesterday, hubby had a meeting at church all morning.  I took the time to finish up the copious amounts of laundry and pick up the 6 items needed for this weeks menus.  We went to Mass last night and then enjoyed a relaxing evening with a lovely home cooked meal.  Today we have chosen to do only what brings us joy.  For me, I will be working on my 3 projects that are by my chair.  Hubby will be watching a golf tournament.  A perfect way to begin our week.

Until Next Time...............................Happy Crafting & Pray for Peace!!!!!!!

REMODEL

 

I can hardly believe it.  We finally are able to use all 3 of our bathrooms!  Monday our handyman (Dave) arrived to finish installing sinks, mirrors, fans, towel bars and other minor stuff.  He is such a great guy.

The first thing he did was install the HUGE mirror in our guest bath.  He had his dad come to help him with it.  As they were lifting it up to put on the wall, I hear some unlady like language coming from the bathroom.  My first though is "OH NO!  Not my new counter tops".  Then Dave comes out to tell me they broke a corner of the mirror off but he would be happy to build a frame for it so we could still use it.  Heck no!  This is my excuse to go shopping to replace the 50 year old mirror that was so outdated and a pain to clean.

As I am on my way to At Home (love this store) I get a phone call from hubby to inform me the large mirror in the master bath got a corner broken off also.  Not a problem.  I am already going to buy mirrors so I will just add more to the list.  I am just thankful the counter tops are not being damaged.

While shopping for mirrors, hubby calls again and I immediately answer with "what got broken now".  He laughs and tells me nothing but could I stop at the hardware store to pick up our special order.  What a relief that was!

After Dave finished we went to pay him and he tried to refuse any payment because of the damage he did.  Well, we refused to accept that since he had spent 7 hours working on everything and the mirrors were just a minor inconvenience.  Besides, those bathroom mirrors needed to be updated.

So, now I can show you photos of the bathrooms.

This is our guest bath.  I so love the new mirrors in there.  Before it was just one long mirror across the entire length of the that wall.  We have a bit of touch up to do on the walls but that is not too big a deal.

Here is the master bath.  Yes, we find it strange there are 2 sinks in the guest bath and only 1 sink in the master.  I will say, it worked well when we had 3 children living with us.  

This replaced the mirror that covered this entire wall.  

This mirror replaces a non broken mirror.  I just fell in love with it when I saw it and since it was 50% off..................had to have it.  This sits over my vanity.

A close up of the quartz counter tops.  The flooring for the master bath has the same look to it as this.  The flooring for the guest bath matches the color of the cabinets and looks like bamboo.

Since there is no door between the master bedroom and the master bath, I hang these sheers to give it a little more sense of being separate.  The shower and toilet have a door but not this area.

Now that this is done, we are just about finished with putting everything away.  I have already disposed of a huge box of 'trash'.  I am sure there will be a bit more after I finish the last of the items today.

Thanks for stopping by.

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

YOP WEEK 36

 

Hello again and welcome.  There is much going on so let's get this thing rolling.

Last week I started on a cross stitch kit.  It had been sitting around the house for a while and I was just not feeling the urge to work on any type of knit or crochet project.

It has received quite a bit of love this past week.  Cross stitch is not a 'fast' project but it is certainly fun to watch it take shape.  There is still a lot of work to do on this.  I do enjoy working on this each day.

Remember my Vixynn sweater?

I put it on the other day and was just not happy with where this 'empire' waist hit me.  It is waaaaay to low to really be an empire and did nothing for my figure.  Not that my figure is anything to write home about but this did not help it at all.  So, I did this:

I frogged It back to about 2 inches below the armholes.  And here is where it is as of this morning.

The red arrow is where it was after frogging it.  So, I have done the decorative rows that start the bottom ruffle.  I also went down one needle size as the bottom of this sweater was just a tad too big for my liking.  I really want this to fit well as it is quite comfy and will be perfect for our warmer days that are coming.

My Las Vegas knitting friend and I were texting each other a couple of days ago.  She sent me a photo of an RCR sock she had completed.  It was her first RCR sock and she was quite excited about it.  That was all the inspiration I needed.  Into my craftroom I went and looked through my stash to find something to spark my joy.

RCR socks are on the needles and both are ready for me to start the heels.  With the RCR I do not panic about matching stripes.  If I can get the tops to be almost identical, that is good enough.  The rest of the sock is stuck inside a tennis shoe or Croc and is not seen by anyone but myself.  This yarn is Cozy Toes from Hobby Lobby in the colorway April Zing.  It makes me think of spring and Easter.

That is all the crafting I have done this week.  I did order some yarn for hubby for socks.

This is from Leading Men Fiber Arts.  This is the photo from their website and does not even begin to show how gorgeous the colors are.  The main color is really more of a purple mauve.  Once I finish the socks on the needles I will cast on this loveliness and you will be able to see the colors much better.  Hubby really likes it too.

In other news......................................................

We drained our pool last Sunday.  Well, it actually took until Thursday for it to drain completely.  

See that nasty white line?  That is from our hard water here.  That went all the way around the pool.

The white line on the tile is gone.  The white line on the bottom of the photo is from the 'sand blasting' residue.  It brushed right off the side of the pool and is all gone now.  Our pool guy came out yesterday and cleaned everything up and we are in the process of refilling the pool right now.  It should be done around noon today.  Then we will put the the start up chemicals in it and get it running for several hours to clean up any residue left from the tile cleaning.  After that, hubby will clean the filters and it will be good to go once it the temperatures get warm enough to heat the water so I can jump in.  Probably around June.

On Friday, our bathroom counter tops were delivered and installed.  I would have taken a photo but I really want the bathrooms to be completely done before I drop a photo on here.  Hubby and I painted on Thursday night so the rooms would be all nice and fresh when the counter tops were in.  Our handyman will be back on Monday to finish up installing things like the sinks, lights, towel bars, drawer pulls etc.  It will be nice to have completed bathrooms again.  Right now, hubby and I are using a powder room to do our hair and brush our teeth.  It is the only room with a mirror in it.  I never realized we didn't have any other mirrors in our house other than in our bathrooms.

Today, I will be placing the items to be installed in the rooms they go in.  This will make it easier for our guy to just come in and get it done.  We have one wall we need to paint over again as it did not cover as well as it should have.  I will do that after everything else is completed.  It is just a small area so I can even do it with a brush.

The next items on our big 'to do' list is getting someone to come and lay the flooring in our back room and in our bathrooms. (We have the flooring)  Also, we need to get the house painted again.  It has been 10 or 11 years and with the intensity of our sun in the summer, paint fades quickly here.  So we will be getting quotes on that too.  It never ends, does it.  The last thing will be getting new carpeting for our bedroom.  It is the only room in the house with carpeting and we like stepping out of bed onto a nice soft floor.

Then this afternoon, I will be going to see our Grand Daughter in the a play.  Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief.  She is in the ensemble as well as her BFF (our adopted grand daughter).  This is the closing performance so it should be fun to see.  I always loved our closing night shows.  It seemed they were our best shows and we had the most fun with them.

I will leave you with a photo of Enrique.  He is quite the character.

How can this even be comfortable?

Until Next Time.....................................Happy Crafting & Pray for Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ASH WEDNESDAY & FLORA

 

Hubby and I got up super early this morning (5am) so we could go to Mass at 6:30am.  After Mass we got hubby a cup of coffee, went to Ace Hardware for some BBQ supplies, on to the water store to fill our bottles for our cooler and finally to the grocery store to pick up just a few items since it is 10% for seniors today.  

Once we got home (3 hours later) I got groceries put away, fed our dogs and sat down to do my morning meditation readings.  It is a gorgeous day outside so I decided it was time to take a walk and see what was happening around our neighborhood.  I have pictures!

Orchid tree

Close up of the orchid tree flowers

This tree has been blooming for almost a month now.  No aroma comes from it but the beauty of it is breath taking.  Pardon the 'split' on the total tree photo.  It was hard to see what I was shooting as the sun was directly on my phone's screen.

Acacia 'tree' smells so good

I wish I could describe the smell this tree emits.  It is such a sweet but pungent aroma.  I am one of the few that finds it a pleasant smell.  Once this looses it smell the citrus trees start blooming and then that sweet sweet fragrance fills our air.  

Aloe is blooming

Usually the blooms are BRIGHT red.  This one has just started to bloom so it is a little anemic at this time.

Love the flowers around the sego palm tree

Geraniums under the palm tree

I see this beauty everyday from my kitchen window.  During Christmas they put LED lights all the way up the trunk of this tree.  It gives me joy all year long.

These flowers bloom all year LOL

The flowers above are being seen more and more around these parts.  The metal flowers add some lovely bright color especially in the heat of the summer when most everything else is turning brown from the heat.

Our neighbors front yard of wild flowers

There used to be several yards with these orange and yellow flowers in them.  Now we are down to only a couple of them in the neighborhood.  From what we have seen, they are quite a mess and lots of trouble to clean up after they complete their bloom cycle.  I still like seeing them.

With all the sadness in the world today, I thought I would had a little joy to your life with my photos.  Hopefully, at least one of these photos put a little smile on your face today.

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