MAKING SPACE WEEK 2

 

Good golly!  It is Monday and I got a message last night informing me I did not need to dog/teen watch today.  That meant I had all day to do a few items I was not able to complete yesterday.

Waking up at 5am was a big plus for me.  By 8 in the morning, I was showered, dressed and heading out the door to pick up the 6 items needed from the grocery store.  It was nice to get in and out of there in less than 30 minutes. 

When I got home, hubby was already working on decluttering his side of the dresser and his side of the headboard of our bead.  I was totally impressed.  He had a few things he did not know whether he should dump or keep and I only kept one item on that list.  It was a jewelry box by dad bought in Japan during WWII.  I just did not have the heart to get rid of it.  (Sigh) At least, not this time.  While hubby finished up his area, I dumped everything out of our cedar chest.  All that went back into it was 1 set of sheets.  Five sets of king sized sheets were given away to Goodwill and one set of brand new flannel sheets is going to my son and his wife.

The box is holding all of our 'dust collectors'.  We had so many little knick knacks sitting around in our room.  This will make hubby's job of dusting go much quicker now.  The blue Rubbermaid hamper is full with all the purses I am donating.  I only kept 2 everyday purses, 1 clear purse (They are require here for concerts and ball games), and 1 evening bag.  

These bags are full of clothes from both hubby and myself.  We both agreed it was shameful at the amount of items we had that could be used by others.  Remember, we had cleaned out our closets last week so these bags are separate from those clothes that left the house.

The only item not shown is a pair of crutches I used about 15 years ago when I had foot surgery.  They were so dusty, I had to take them outside to clean them off and I still sneezed while doing it.  

That completes the challenge for week 2.  I know we are way ahead and that is ok with me.  I know we will slow down in a couple of weeks when we are called to do the craft room and hubby will be working on his 'shop' that week.

We will continue to follow the schedule as far as what room is next to work on.  Next room to be decluttered is Kitchen and Pantry.  This is one room I love to organize.  Since the pandemic hit, I have been doing so much more cooking and baking.  That means I have been adding items to my kitchen to enhance my baking and cooking skills.  With my daughter selling Pampered Chef and my dear friend introducing me to King Arthur Flour company, my kitchenware has really expanded.  I have also been learning how to make 99% of baked goods from scratch.  And in that learning experience, I have learned how to substitute honey for sugar and how to add healthy items to baked goods to enhance them.  (Flax seed, chia seeds and wheat bran)  I have also learned how to use my pressure cooker to make healthy meals for us as well as my air fryer to replace 'fried' foods.  

The only thing I have not added to, since the pandemic hit, is my yarn stash!  Aren't you proud of me?

Do any of you find you have been adding to any of your kitchen or craft items since the pandemic hit?  Have any of you learned any new skills in that time frame?  

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

WEEK 28 OF MY 10TH YEAR

 

Welcome back.  It is once again time for my week in review/update.

I am happy to report, I stayed totally monogamous to the Havana this week.

There were 60 rows completed this week.  That leaves 36 rows and the crocheting part will be completed.  Then it will be getting the twisted fringe evened out and whoosh......it will go to it's new home.  I am so glad I learned this technique.  One thing I would do differently is NOT use worsted weight yarn again.  DK would be a much better choice for one of these types of blankets.  The mosaic crochet makes a very dense fabric.   I do have another mosaic blanket I am going to make and this time I will be using all the DK yarn I already have in my stash.  Some of that yarn has been hanging around for YEARS.  It will be nice to stash bust my DK and then only purchase more when I have a project that calls for it.  

Before I start another blanket, I still have other WIP projects that need my attention.  (Two to be exact)  My daughter has also requested a pair of socks and said she would love a pair of the Rose City Rollers.  Those may get cast on very soon as I am needing a traveling project over the next week.  There is teen/dog watching happening this coming week and the Havana is not really portable at this point.  That will remain my after dinner/ TV watching project.  Hopefully I will be able to complete it by next Sunday's update.

Something got done this week that has not happened in quite a while.

I worked on and completed a puzzle.  It was nice to have something different to do.  This puzzle only took a few hours to complete as it was only 500 pieces.  Me thinks I will put another puzzle out this afternoon.  I love being able to just go and put a few pieces in at a time and then leave it for other ventures.

Hubby has been going to the grocery store for me over the past 2 weeks.  (Stupid shingles!)  I may decide to let him go more often.

These found their way home with him this week.  I love having flowers in the house.  They just brighten up any area they are put.  When we lived in PA, he would bring home flowers every week that he was in town.  (He traveled 2-3 weeks a month)  It was never expected so a nice gesture of love from him.

My shingles are basically gone.  They all scabbed over and most of that is gone too.  YIPPEE!  I was very fortunate to have caught them early and was put on an anti-viral drug to help with the process.  I don't seem to have any of the post-herpetic pain that is associated with shingles either.  Yes I was truly fortunate.

Today, I will be doing laundry and working on decluttering the Master Bedroom.  With me being gone several hours a day next week, I need to get a head start on some stuff.  I do not want to fall behind on the decluttering or I will never get caught up again.  There will also be menus made for the next 10 days, a grocery list made, and of course, working on the Havana.  I baked a loaf of bread yesterday, so that is done for the week.  I might make some type of sweets for us yet too.  We like just a little sweet thing after dinner in the evenings.  There are some new baking pans at my house that need to be used so why not make something sweet and yummy in them.

I hope all of you are having a great day.  

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

DAY OFF

 

Hubby and I took today off from decluttering.  We finished the 6 day challenge list in 2 days.  Next week we won't be so lucky, though.  I have dog/teen duty next week so only have the morning hours to work on the rest of the Master Bedroom.  Since we didn't have decluttering to do today, we started on cleaning the rest of the house.  Half was completed today and the rest will be completed tomorrow.  This leaves us the weekend to just enjoy life.

Yesterday I was talking about how I was working 2 rows of mosaic crochet at the same time.  I think I need to explain something first.  The Mosaic crochet I am doing are patterns by Tinna Thorudottir.  When doing this mosaic crochet, you never turn your work.  You always work on the right side of the fabric. (left to right if right handed or right to left if left handed)  Here is a photo of working the 2 rows at once.

You can see the light blue yarn on my hook.  The dark blue yarn is dormant at the moment.  Once I work the light blue within 1 stitch of the dark blue, I will start working with the dark blue again.

Here are both yarns off the hook.  I am getting ready to pick up the dark blue and work some more stitches with it and then will go back and work with the lighter blue.

I timed myself today to see if I really was saving any time.  I am actually saving 10 minutes by doing the two rows simultaneously.  When doing 12 rows in each section that is a BIG time saver.  That saves me 30 minutes per section.  

The Havana is getting so close to being finished.  I have 60 more rows to complete and then the twisted fringe to even up.  Do any of you get itchy when you get close to the end of a BIG project?  I am looking at my other 2 knitted WIP's deciding if I am going to complete them or frog them.  I am pretty sure, one of them will be frogged.  The other one is debatable as to what I will do with it.  The only other WIP's I have are cross stitch and I will save those for when the weather here gets too darn hot to have yarn on my lap.

Time to go and make some dinner for my dogs and us humans.

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

MAKING SPACE

 

Hubby and I took apart the Master Bathroom today.  Luckily for us, it is not a large area.  It consists of 3 drawers and 3 under vanity cabinets.  We did manage to clean out one 13 gallon bag of trash.  There was not much in there to donate so will hang onto the few items until we do the Master Bedroom next week.  We completed a 6 day assignment in 2 days!  I do not expect this to be the rule for the remainder of this challenge.  There are some rooms that will take the entire 6 days.  (craft room)

Since it did not take to long to complete that assignment, I was able to do a load of laundry, water the plants, wind the clock, empty the dishwasher and feed Arthur.  Once I post this, I will be working on my Havana.

Speaking of the Havana......Those of you who have done mosaic crochet........have you ever done 2 rows at the same time?  I just discovered how to do that last night.  It sure makes it go much quicker.  I actually might get this thing done before the end of the month!

How do I do it?  I start one row and go about 50 stitches and then go back and start the next row and work until I catch up to the first row I started.  Does that make sense?  I will try and get some photos of it today when I am working on it and post them tomorrow if you want to see them.

Time to go and hang up the laundry.

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

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!