Making Space

 

After yesterday's detour, hubby and I were able to focus on our 91 day organization challenge.  This week is the Master Closet and the Master Bath.  The idea is to pull everything out and sort out what is needed and what needs to leave your space.  Cleaning and remodeling is not part of this challenge.  There is a deep cleaning challenge later in the year though.

Today, hubby and I focused on our closets.  Since I had gone through mine just a few months ago, I really did not have too much more to remove.  Don't get me wrong, there were still items in there that got removed for good, just not as much as hubby had on his side.

Here is a quick snap of what was removed between both of our closets.

Amazing right?  Do you see Enrique at the head of the bed?  No, he was not given away.  He was a bit nervous though.  I was waiting to see if we would bring out a suitcase in preparations of a trip.  He is much happier now that there was not a suitcase involved today.

Hubby just left with four 33 gallon bags and 5 boxes of items to be donated as well as 3 kitchen sized garbage bags of trash.  Whoosh....out of the house so we are not tempted to pull anything out of it.

Here are the after photos.

My finished closet.  So happy to have it totally organized and easy to find what I want.

Hubby's closet.  I am so proud of him.  Although, I do think he could have reduced his number of daily pants and shorts.  Maybe he will as we go along on this journey.

The master closet was scheduled for 4 days.  So glad we got it done in 1 day. I am looking forward to doing the master bath tomorrow.  I know there are things stuck in our cabinets that need to find a new home (probably the trash can).  It will be nice to have it 100% organized too.  

Now, I can sit down and work on the Havana....................again.......................still!  When I finish this long term project y'all will know without me having to post about it.  I will be screaming so loud, even those of you across the pond will be able to hear it.

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

We Interrupt This Program......

 

Today was to be day 1 of the 91 day declutter challenge.  Hrumph.....That didn't happen.  

This day was the day to clean out the master closet of clothes that no longer are needed/wanted/fit.  I was really looking forward to doing that little chore.  I already knew what I wanted to cull out of there.  Hubby was on board with doing his closet too.  

What did we do instead?  We took down Christmas.  Hubby did the outdoors decorations and I did the inside decorations.  While we were taking things down, I made several decisions of what I wanted to keep for the future and what I was going to donate.  So, in all actuality, I did do some decluttering today.  It felt so good to reduce our storage boxes by four.  We also disposed of our flocked Christmas tree.  It was a hot mess to deal with.  Never will we have a flocked tree again.  Total time to undecorate was about 4 hours.  

Tomorrow, hubby and I will do double duty on the decluttering.  I am not thinking it will take much time.  I had gone through my closet in October and removed quite a few items then.  Hubby, on the other hand, has not gone through his closet in quite some time.  So, I am sure he will take much longer than I will.

While we were undecorating I baked a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread.  As I am writing this, I have a pan of corn bread in the oven.  It will go with our ham and beans that we are having for dinner tonight.  My house smells so good right now.

Corn bread is done!  Now I am going to take a little down time and work on the Havana blanket until it is time to put the beans and ham bone in the Ninja Foodi, to cook.

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

WEEK 27 OF YOP 10

 

Hello everyone and welcome.  Pull up a chair, grab something to drink and a little snack and let's talk about what has been happening here at Casa de Noce.

CRAFTING

I am quite proud of myself.  I managed to stay monogamous to the Havana this past week.  In doing that, it has grown significantly since last Sunday.

There were 46 rows added to it in the past week.   That leaves 96 rows left before it is completed.

 

Here it is stretched out on our family room floor.  Once the crocheting is done, the twisted fringe edging will need to be evened up so it looks a bit more 'professional'.  Once that is done, it will be finding it's way to it's new owner.  If all goes well, and nothing major comes up, I think I could have this done in 2 weeks.  We will see.

MAKING SPACE FOR WHAT MATTERS

I have not given up on decluttering.  In fact, starting tomorrow, I will be joining the 91 day declutter challenge.  I did this several years ago but life got in the way and I dropped it after the first 6 weeks.  This year, hubby has decided to join me on the journey.  That will be a big help.  YOP blogger, Becki, has totally inspired me to really get this house cleaned out of all non-essential items.  I know 91 days will not be enough time to completely get every area of our property decluttered, but it will do most of our home.  Our backyard sheds will be on us to do after the house is done.

KITCHEN FUN

There has been some baking done over the past few days.  

I am in love with my Jubilee pan from King Arthur Baking Company.  It makes our 'quick' bread so pretty.  This one is Wild Blueberry from Krusteaz.  Our local Kroger has had these mixes on sale for the past month.  It is the perfect bread to have for breakfast.  Next one to be made is Meyer Lemon Pound Cake.  It too, will be made in this pan.

There has also been sourdough bread made over the past few days.  No photo this time.  It looks just like the last loaf I made.

NEW YEARS

Did any of you do anything exciting for New Years Eve or for New Years Day?  Being an owner of two dogs, we stay home New Years Eve.  We have neighbors that think it is wonderful to shot off fireworks from 6:30 until well after midnight.  My dogs are not a fan of the noise.  My oldest dog got so worked up this year she refused to eat dinner and was panting from nerves.

This is where they stayed most of the evening.  If they weren't buried in the chair with me, they were under my hubby's arms.  Don't get me wrong.  I have not issue with fireworks.  My main concern is, we are in a bit of a drought and so, everything around us is extremely dry.  Fire hazards are high right now.  That being said, I will say, our neighbors were very good about cleaning up after themselves once it was all over.  Oh, and when I say neighbors, I am talking about ALL of them.  We live in a corner house so we got it from three different sides.

What would a new year be without a new journal.  This year I have something totally different for me.  It is less of a journal and more of just a planner.

Hubby saw this on one of his websites he visits and thought it would be fun for me.  Instead of me needing to make my own pages, this one already has all the dates and times in it so it is easy for me to add my 'to do' list to each day.  Since my journals in the past were mostly bullet journals with 'to do' lists, this fits the bill quite nicely.  There are also pages where I can track my exercises and devotions.  In the back there are recipes related to holidays or special feast days on our church.  For January 6th it has the recipe for a King Cake in honor of the three Wiseman that went to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus.  No, I am not make one but it was fun to read about it and all the ingredients that goes into it.  There is also a section for activities to do with children.  Since I do not have any small ones living at home, I will probably not do those either.  Yet, again, it is fun to read them and the reasoning behind each activity.

There are pages in the back to write or paste in my own recipes as well as prayer requests I receive.  It took me over a week to totally get it set up to my satisfaction.  There may still need to be some tweaking over the next few day, but as of last night, I think I have it where it will work well for me.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

Thank you for all the well wishes for my son in law and for myself.  My son in law is doing quite well but still has that nasty fatigue that goes with Covid.  He has another week off of work and then will be out of his 14 day quarantine.  His wife (our daughter) will receive another test this week to make sure she did not contract the virus and if she is clear, then she will be heading back to work as well.

As for me...................I am surviving.  LOL  Luckily, my shingles were caught early and I was started on an anti-viral drug right away.  It seems to be helping as most of them are already scabbed over.  The itching is what is the worse.  Yesterday was the first day I had any real pain with them but as of this morning, it has subsided quite a bit.  I will be talking to my rheumatologist about receiving the Shingrix injection.  Thank you to whoever posted about that on my last post.  I do not want to go through this again.

It is time for me to do a little housework and then settle in to work on the Havana blanket.

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

PS:  I have added links to all items discussed on this page.  If you want more info on anything talked about on here, click the link and it will appear in a new window.  Thanks for stopping by!

Seriously???

 

Well, we all know 2020 has not been our favorite year, right?  There are only 32 more hours left in this year.  THANK GOODNESS.

Yesterday I informed you my son in law tested positive for Covid-19.  Just to clear things up, this is not Josie's dad.  This is my daughter's husband.  They do not have any children but have gifted us with 4 grand dogs.  He still feels craptastic and is not happy that he is not being allowed to just stay in bed all the time.  My daughter is making him get up every few hours to walk about the house to keep him working his lungs.  She is also forcing fluids down him and making him take his temperature in the morning and evening.  In other words.............he is a horrible patient!  

To make things even more fun for the end of this year..................I went to the Doctor today.  I was pretty sure I knew what was wrong with me and darn it, I was right.  I have shingles!!!!  But wait, there's more.  I have it in two different spots.  One area is on the right side of my abdomen and the other is on the middle of my spine.  The Doctor was impressed.  I wasn't.  So now I am on Anti-Viral drugs for the next week.  OK, I can hear y'all saying "why didn't you take the shingles vaccine".  Because, it is a live vaccine and the drugs I was on for RA would not allow me to take a live vaccine.  Heck, I wasn't even allowed to take the flu or pneumonia shot while on that medication.  Don't worry, I took the flu shot and pneumonia shot this year.

I am not in a huge amount of pain. It is uncomfortable and it itches.  The Dr told me to use Hydrocortisone cream on it and that is helping quite a bit.  (sigh)  I really can not complain too much.  My health has been pretty great for several years.  This is just a little hiccup along the road of life.

Other than that, life is pretty normal around here.  I did a load of laundry, fed Arthur, worked some more on my new journal, talked to our son who lives in TX, prepared items to be returned to Amazon and have worked on the Havana blanket.  See?  Normal day.

I will be back to blog on Sunday.  For the next few days I want to kick back and just watch this year fade into the sunset.

Until next year............................................................. 

Finding New Things

 

Hello and happy Tuesday.  I hope your day/week is going smoothly.  The past couple of days have been interesting for me.  Last time I dropped by here was Sunday Morning.  Well!  I have been on the go since I posted that.  Here is a some things that have been done at my house since we last talked.

Sunday:

I made a NY Cheesecake in my Ninja Foodi.......so yummy

Prepped dough for sourdough bread

Made a loaf of cranberry orange bread

Did a load of laundry

Monday:

Started setting up my 2021 Journal....so much fun

Baked a pullman loaf of sourdough bread

Cleaned out the fridge.....gross

Downloaded some audio books

Worked on the Havana

Tuesday..................today

Finally put away the gifts we got for Christmas

Wound the clock

Watered all the plants (inside)

Fed Arthur (sourdough starter)

Started exploring Craftsy Classes

That last one is very exciting for me.  I had no idea Craftsy had so many different classes I can take.  I was got a one year premium membership for a very small price.  I decided to go and have a look around to see what is available.  I have already found several classes I will be taking.  Now here is the shocker.................they are not all knitting or crocheting classes.  They have ones to learn to draw, paint, garden, photography and a whole bunch more.  

Do any of you belong to Craftsy?  What classes have you taken?

This afternoon, I am going to work on my Havana again. I got quite a few rows added yesterday.  I need to keep at it so I can get it out of my house.  I figure I have another month before it will be done though.  

We just got a call from our daughter.  Her husband tested positive for Covid.  Luckily we have not been near them for 9 days and when we were together, we all wore masks and kept our distance.  As strange as that sounds, they wanted to be careful as his office has had several cases of covid as well as one case of TB in the past month.  Hubby and I will monitor ourselves for the next few days but our PCP feels we are pretty well in the clear.  Our daughter also got tested ans she is negative.....................thank goodness.  Yet, she still needs to quarantine for 10 days and then get tested again before she goes back to work.  Her husband said he feels like he has the flu.  (He got tested for that too)  I feel so bad for them.  

OK, I am off to work on the Havana and listen to my audio book for a while.

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

WEEK 26 OF YOP 10

 

Hey guys......................how are ya doing?  Are you all ready for a new year to roll in?  Seems my neighbors are really excited about it as they are already shooting off fireworks each evening.  Maybe they are practicing for the BIG night!  My dogs are not happy about it either.  Loud noises terrify them both.  Needless to say, that is one holiday hubby and I do not spend outside of our home.

Let's talk about some crafting, OK?  We are at the halfway point for those of us that do our YOP from July 1 to June 30!  Unbelievable.   My YOP list will be updated today too.  You can access from my home page.  

Anyway,  I am trying so hard to stay monogamous in my knitting and crocheting.  Finishing up some of my WIP's is on the top of my priority list at the moment.  My goal is to complete the Havana blanket that was intended for my Grand Daughter for when she goes away to college.  That idea changed this week.  She received a quilt from her other Grandmother.  It is the quilt that was made for her to use when visiting that Grandmother.  I can see why it is so special for her.  The quilt is absolutely beautiful.  She will be using that quilt from now on so there is no need for her to have the Havana I am making.  No, my feelings are not hurt at all.  I think it is wonderful that she will have a quilt to bring her comfort and lovely memories when she is away from home.  So what to do with the Havana?  No worries.  My daughter saw it the other day and fell in love with it.  So guess who is going to be receiving it once I complete it.  Exactly, my daughter.  

I just started pattern section 4 this week.

The progress keeper shows where I was last week.  There are 7 pattern sections.  Each section is 12 rows and they are repeat 3 times.  There is still a ways to go on this.  Remember, I made this bigger than the original pattern called for.  This will fit a queen sized bed when completed.   

Truth be told, I did take a little detour on Christmas Eve.  

 My local Daughter in Law made a comment on how much she liked her daughter's seeded band hat I had made for her a couple of years ago.  She wished she had one too.  Well, HELLO!  You don't need to hit me over the head to let me know that was a hint.  I dug through my stash and found this lovely black yarn with sparkles in it.  (Those white 'spots' are the sparkles)  I decided to start it on Christmas eve afternoon and was lucky enough to finish Christmas morning in time to gift it to her later that day.  She was so excited.  She wore it all day long.  She is a very knit worthy person.  She and her mom both knit so she knows what goes into the craft.

That is the only detour I took from my Havana this past week.  I PROMISE.

Hubby and I both woke up about 3:30 this morning.  Since we did not have any plans for the day we decided to go ahead and get up.  We can always take a little snooze later in the day if needed.

Getting up that early we have managed to make our menus for the next 10 days, get the grocery list made out and I will be heading to the store as soon as I post this.  That only leaves me 3 items on my to do list for today.  (Empty the dishwasher, feed Arthur (Sourdough),  start dough for sourdough bread to be baked tomorrow.)

Speaking of sourdough.............................

Look at that beauty!  That is the first boule of sourdough I have made that actually turned out and we could eat.  I found the perfect recipe for the boule.........finally.  The next sourdough I am making will be in the pullman loaf pan.  I made it before but my starter was not truly ripe yet.  It now has a wonderful sourdough taste to it so I am excited to make it again for sandwich bread.  The boule was good to have as a side with our evening meals and I will be making it again too.

Next week is a quiet week for us.  There are no plans on my calendar for anything unusual.  THANK GOODNESS!  Christmas is such an emotional time for me.  Between Christmas and the end of January, I will be reliving the anniversaries of my entire family's deaths.  My Dad was in January 1976, Mom in December 2017 and Brother in January 2019.  They say time heals all wounds.  It may, but there is still a scar that doesn't go away................ever. 

So, hold your loved ones tight.  Tell them you love them.  Forgive them for any hurts they may have caused you.  Make sure they know you love and care for them.  You never know if there will be another opportunity to do any of these things.  The three words I cherish to hear from my family are "I love you"!

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

Almost

 

Oh my goodness...............can you feel it?  It is so close!  Christmas!!!!!!!  Remember when you were a kid and it seemed like it took forever for Christmas to arrive?  Now that you are an adult, it seems to come quicker each year.  The week of Christmas even goes faster than other weeks of the year.  Then you go to sleep on Christmas Day and the next thing you know, it is a different year.  (thank goodness when this one is over)

The past few days have been quite busy for me.  Yesterday Hubby and I were gone almost all day picking up his Christmas gift.

He is now the proud owner of a 2021 Hyundai Sonata Limited hybrid.  This will be the last car we will ever buy.  We have reached THAT age that buying another car is not feasible.  We loved our Prius for in town driving but it was not a very comfortable car to be in.  We have owned a Sonata before and loved it.  This one has a lot of safety features on it that assists you when driving.  (Something else that is good for us old folks)  So now, he has his forever car and I have my forever SUV.  We are both extremely happy.

Being gone all day yesterday meant I got zero done on my to do list.  That meant all those to do's got transferred to today's list.  I am proud to say, I have completed the list and it isn't even noon.  It does help that I got up at 5 and started on the list pronto.  

Here is what has happened today.  

First thing I did was throw a load of laundry in the machine.  It was either that or buy more underwear LOL.  Once that was underway I made this for breakfast.

Krusteaz cinnamon swirl coffee cake.  Hubby asked me to make one of these.  As you can see he got some as soon as he got up this morning.  

Today was also bread making day.

Another pullman loaf done and it is cooling as I type this.  While the dough was being made in the bread machine, I decided we needed some sweets for Christmas day.

Scotch treats!  Well, that is what my mom called them.  These are the easiest things to make.  Here is the recipe:

6 ounces butterscotch chips

 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (We always used Jiff)

3 cups rice krispies cereal (generic store brand is fine)

Melt butterscotch chips and peanut butter in a glass container in the microwave.  (Do not use high power as this will scorch the chips.  I use 70% power for 2 minutes)  Stir in the rice krispies until well coated.  Pour into a buttered 8X8 pan.  Press it down until it feels fairly firm. I use a piece of waxed paper under my hand to press it down)  Cool in the fridge.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

This takes me about 5 minutes start to finish to make these.  I made 2 batches of them this morning and they are in the fridge now cooling/setting up.  Our entire family loves these and requests them every year.  This is my 5th and 6th batch I have made this year.

I pulled Arthur out of the fridge so I could feed him again.

Even when he is in the fridge he seems to still be making bubbles of yummy goodness.

Tomorrow, we will be getting the house all cleaned up so we can enjoy the coming holidays.  I still have gifts to wrap/bag up for our gift exchange.  Other than that, we are pretty well ready for the BIG day.  How about you?

It is now time for lunch.  After lunch I will work on the Havana blanket some more.

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