WEEK 44 IN REVIEW

 

Yes, it is time for another update.  It was another busy week at Casa de Noce.  Here is a snap shot of my week.

Sunday - after my update, I vacuum sealed up some roasts, fed my sourdough starter, watered indoor plants, boiled eggs, baked a loaf of bread and cooked up bacon.

Monday - Our TX transplanted family came over and installed a new ceiling fan in our livingroom and got our outdoor cantilever umbrella set up.  After that, we took them to lunch and then went to their house and helped organize their garage so they could get their EV car in there so they could charge it.  It was nice to spend the day with them.

Tuesday - It was laundry day.  I am trying to spread out the laundry throughout the week.  So today I only did one load.  Then I did some straightening up of 'problem' areas.  Called my Dr's office to update my RX.  Cleaned the woodfire grill/smoker and cleaned out the pool skimmer.  In the evening I finally finished the shawl.

I like the way it sits so nicely on the shoulders and 'hugs' you.  So glad to get this off the needles.  But then, I was stuck as to what I was going to make next.  When in doubt....

RCR socks for the win.  

Wednesday - I spent most of the morning in the kitchen making Sourdough crackers, cleaning veggies and baking carrot cake cupcakes.  YUM!

Thursday - It was a really different day.  I got up at 5am to take my TX DIL to have minor surgery on her wrist.  By the time we got home it was already noon and I was spent.  Nothing else got done for the day and that was fine by me.

Friday - I got the menus for the week made as well as the grocery list.  Then, off to the grocery store we went to fill our larder.  We sat back and relaxed in the evening and I worked on the MKAL gnome

 This is a photo of the gnome.  I am not thinking you can figure out what is going on with it.  Even my hubby who sits right next to me while I work on this can not figure it out yet.  I have learned 3 new knitting skills.  One of them I do not want to ever repeat!  It's called welting.  It was so hard on my hands, I do not want to repeat it...........EVER!  

Saturday - Another early wake up of 5:30 to go and pick up food for our church's food bank.  We only ended up with 10 pounds of food this week.  Hopefully the other 4 people were gifted with more than us.  I did a load of laundry and then we went to Mass.  When we got home I made a marinade for our Sunday Carne Asada meat.  YUM!

Today - Later today I will be making sourdough tortillas to go with our Carne Asada.  There will also be jalapeno poppers made for hubby for lunch.  For desert I am making a no bake cheesecake pie.  I will also prepare some ice cream for us to eat later this week.  We have found that having just a bit of something sweet in the evenings really seems to make the perfect ending to our day.

Speaking of sweets........One day in the past couple of weeks, we had spent the entire day out of the house.  By the time we got home we had missed lunch and dinner.  We were both kind of hungry but not wanting something heavy so.....................We had ice cream for our missed meals.  Being an adult means you can break all the rules!

That completes my week.  Our weather was miserably warm (for this time of year) until Thursday.  Then it cooled back down and had some lovely breezes.  We will be able to enjoy this weather today and then.............zip, back up to the 90's and getting darn close to 100! *sigh* it happens ever year.

Here is your chuckle for the day

And to give you your AWE for the day.................

He sleeps like this every morning after he eats breakfast.  Love these cuddles.

Until Next Time...........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 43

 Summer is showing it's head here in Arizona.  Our temps are flirting with 100F!  I finally had to turn on our A/C this week. *sigh*  My shorts have appeared in my daily wear.  I have put my sweaters, long pants and long sleeved shirts into hibernation for the next 6 months. 

My knitting took a bit of a hit this week.  I was busy with helping family and friends out.  That means I was away from home quite a bit and even though my knitting traveled with me, it was not picked up as often as it would have been if I had been at home.

Here is what progress I have made on the Wrap Me Easy shawl.

The progress keeper shows where I was.  The third skein of yarn is in use and that will be the last skein for this project.  The rows are super long now so that skein is getting used rapidly.  I am hoping to be completed with this by next week.

The Gnome MKAL started on Thursday with clue one.  My knitting of the first clue did not commence until yesterday.  I still have part of clue one to do and clue 2 came out yesterday also.  It is printed and waiting for me.  The last part of clue one is casting on with a crochet provisional cast on.  So, most of you are thinking 'no big deal'.  Well it is for me.  I crochet left handed and knit right handed!  Trying to hold a crochet hook in my right hand and make it move is not going well at all.  Since my house is quiet this morning, I am going to sit infront of my computer and try it again in slow motion.  I will accomplish this task yet.  Not to mention it will add to another knitting skill to my repertoire. 

Here are the colors I am using for this MKAL.  I will not be showing the gnome in progress as it is a mystery and I do not want to give anything away in case someone making it is not to the point I am.  I will say, the first 2 pieces I made do not make any sense to me......yet.  

So that wraps up my crafting this week.

Yesterday, I reorganized my baking shelf in my pantry.

Since I bake bread weekly I need my ingredients handy.  I also got back into making our ice cream and working with my sourdough.  Everyone in my family knows this shelf is for nothing other than baking supplies.  I trained them well. There were a few items that ended up in the trash can and other things I found where I had more than one container of them.  That all got decluttered and put together.

I also got out into our backroom (the work room) and got 2 of our wire racks organized and decluttered.  Gosh, it feels good to accomplish that.  

Today I am finishing up some laundry that didn't get done because of other commitments this past week. There will also be a loaf of bread baked. I also finished up vacuum sealing the meat we bought at the grocery on Friday.  We have a stand alone ice make and we have that going today too.  With the temperatures going up, we are using more ice in our beverages to keep them cool. The indoor plants need some water too.  Hopefully, with doing all these little mundane things today, I will be able to just kick back tomorrow and work on the shawl and Gnome.

I made ice cream yesterday which we will have for desert tonight.  I have a Ninja Creami and it makes just enough ice cream for two people to share.  Love it!  

While taking care of my BFF's dogs, I saw this in her front yard as I was leaving.

Hopefully mom and her ducklings are all ok.  The reason I was taking care of dogs is, there was a coyote walking down her street as she was leaving for work.  So, she locked up her doggy door so they couldn't get out.  Me, being the good friend I am, went to give them a potty break.  But, the ducks were the highlight of my day!

Oh, when we went grocery shopping, they were giving out samples of wine!  I am always on the look out for a tasty wine to sip in the evenings.  Well, there was one there I fell in love with.

What a funny name for a wine brand.  This is a Pinot Noir.  I am not a big red fan but this one was so smooth and ended with a little sweet flavor.  I am all about sweet!

That my friends is all I can think of right now.  We have not started on the backyard yet.  Hubby tried to slice the end of his finger off last weekend, so we are letting it heal before we dive into it.

Here is your chuckle for the day................

Until Next Time.....................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 42

 

Here I am again.  Not much in the way of crafting this week

Still working on the Wrap Me Up shawl.  The blue dots are where I was last week.  I have used one skein of yarn and am half way through the second skein.  I have one more skein to use to complete this shawl.  So, plan on seeing it again next week and possibly again the week after that.

That is all I did.  Our weather has been gorgeous this week so hubby and I have been out and about getting our backyard ready for pool season.  We found a cantilever umbrella to use for shade so I can cook outdoors in the summertime.

This should offer plenty of shade and since I can tilt it all sorts of directions, will make it darn near perfect.  It was delivered yesterday.  We still need to put it together.  That should happen this week.  We have pathway lights to install in the front yard too.  We did manage to get our outdoor rolling cart put together.  It holds our Ninja Woodfire Grill and Ninja Woodfire Oven.  So, no all our outdoor cooking appliances are on wheels.  I am so looking forward to cooking outdoors more this year.  Helps keep our house cool inside when the heat gets up to 100+F.

And, that is all of the news from Arizona.  Here are photos of our great grandchildren.

Liam age 6

Sophia age 7 months

My Joys!

Until Next Time.........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEK 41

 

YOP UPDATE FOR WEEK 41 OF YEAR 13

The above photo was my phone screen saver for many moons.  It is a fiber enthusiast dream room.

Any who.......This week flew by for me.  I am finally off of antibiotics and feel so much better.  The cough is so minor now and my ribs are beginning to heal.  Well, they were until I tripped and fell over a parking lot stop block on Thursday night. I fell flat down on my face but managed to keep my head from hitting the pavement.

And, no, I was not at a bar, I was at church!  Luckily, I only got a nasty raspberry on my knee and a small one on my elbow. Hubby was right there\ to help me get up.  Note to self...........when dark outside, look down, periodically, when walking.  So, the fall did jar my ribs a bit but they really are feeling better.

Do you remember this from last week?

Well, it still looks like that.  I still have not decided if I will make it into a cowl or frog it.  So, it sits in time out in my WIP basket until further notice.

With that being out of my sight, I decided I needed to cast something else on.

This is Wrap Me Easy.  A free shawl pattern on Ravelry.  I like the way it will lay over the shoulders when worn.  I am making it in Knit Picks Brava Worsted in the colorway Alfalfa.  I am not a green person at all.  But, I do love this bright color and think it may cheer someone up who is feeling a bit punked.  It is also a super easy TV knit project.  I am about 1/3 of the way done with it.  It will become slower going from here on as it increases 7 stitches every other row.

That is all for crafting this past week.  Our grand daughter from Wyoming was in town so we spent some time with her.  It was so good to be with her.  

Hubby and I are working on getting a large shade item for our backyard that we can cook under.  We had found a gazebo we liked but neither of us liked how it needed to be anchored to our cool decking or our yard.  So now we are looking at cantilever umbrellas.  They seem a bit more feasible for our smallish backyard with our pool.  Without any shade in our backyard, it is impossible to cook outdoors in the middle of our summers.

Josh is doing ok.  He felt a bit unsteady last week.  He met with his Dr and was informed he is a bit dehydrated.  He was 'told' to get that water down and stay away from tea and coffee and all caffeinated beverages since they are diuretics.  His wife and I kind of rolled our eyes as we have been telling him that for months!  Hopefully he got the message this time.

I will leave you with a little 'dad joke'  humor I found.

Until Next Time.......................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!

WEEK 40 / EASTER MONDAY

 

Yes, I know I am a day late for my blog post.  Last week was Holy Week which goes into Easter so I was quite busy with church life and family time.  Today it is much quieter and has given me time to sit down at my laptop and type up an update.

I worked on the shawl this past week and managed to get another pattern repeat done.

I do not like it at all.  I like the pattern and I like the yarn but I do not like the two together.  The yarn has too much 'memory' in it and will not block out to the correct size.  So, now I am debating on whether to continue and make it into a cowl or just frog the whole thing and move on to something else.  I am leaning towards the latter.

I pulled out my cross stitch and did a bit of work on it.

The blue circle is where I put some stitches in.  It is hard to see since it was very pale gray on white fabric.  It took me several hours just to do those few stitches.

That is all for crafting this week.  I am feeling much better but the nasty cough is still hanging on.  I finally managed to bruise a couple of ribs from coughing.  Otherwise, I feel great.  The Dr did give me a consult this week and we will be spacing out my RA injections to every 3 weeks instead of weekly and hopefully this will give my immune system a chance to heal between shots.  If not, she will put me on something else.  

I bought a book!  Most of the books I read are on my kindle.  In fact, I am finishing up the last book of the  Garage Sale mystery series by Shelly Harris.  If you like cozy mysteries, this is a great series to read.  But, the book I bought, I have been trying to get through Libby for some time.  I finally gave up and ordered from ThriftBooks.

So many of you have already read it and loved it so I am going on those recommendations and will start it as soon as I finish the one on my Kindle.

I got a little gift from my daughter and her husband for Easter.

Two gnew gnomes!  They are so different from any other I own. There was also some yummy chocolates in the basket too. They are so thoughtful.

I also signed up for the Gnome News is Good News MKAL with Imagined Landscape that will start the middle of this month.  I am waiting for my yarn to arrive that I ordered for it.  Is anyone else going to do that MKAL?

Here is your chuckle for the day/week?

Until Next Time........................Happy Crafting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!