Come and Gone

Another week come and gone, Its Sunday already and the next week starts in the morning. Its been a quiet week. Slipping by quickly and quietly with not much to recommend itself. I am struggling to find anything to blog about.

I did forget to mention that last week I managed to straighten out the shed. I got the desk tucked into a corner where it will stay for the meantime, until I find a place for it in the house or I manage to convince myself to get rid of it. I also need to get the last of the wine bottles sent off to Princess Diva so that will free up some more space.

This week I really did not do much of anything at all. I finished the doily, its currently waiting for a wash and a starching. KitKat and I did our weekly supper but we went to her place and started to watch the first season of Animal Kingdom on Netflix. Its a money saving measure, I don't want to give up my social outings but I need to find some ways to cut costs. Pot luck is one way to do that.

I got the top sewn up for Sweet Pea's crib quilt on Saturday. Before I did that I had the most lovely sushi lunch with The Hostess. She treated me, which was very generous of her. We had a nice catch up over green tea and spicy crab. We managed to chatter for two hours before we parted ways and I headed home to the sewing machine.

I kept my nose to the grindstone, put Ozark on Netflix and did not come up for air until I had the top put together. Today I washed up the backing and I will start to quilt it this week. I also started to make the crocheted Gremlins for The Sailor and KitKat.

Laundry, soup making, and some general house work filled in the rest. Not a very action packed weekend. In short it has been a quiet week. I have not even got any pictures set up so I can post them. Never fear I shall post as soon as I have moved them from my phone to the computer. The few that there are.

I do not see anything changing much in this coming week. Month end will have slowed down so work should not be so hectic. I am going to try and get my "one room per day" cleaning schedule back into action. I like having a reasonably tidy house. I want to keep it this way.

Ok I am out of news, I got nothin'. Its time for bed anyway, so I will say good night.

Toodles
Linda

Short and Sweet...... or Short an dull ........you choose

So I finally got a picture taken of the quilt I will be using in the Safe and Warm fund raiser raffle this year. Princess Diva found the top in a charity shop, I quilted it up and hey presto, its done and ready to raise some cash for a cause dear to my heart

Its a pretty bow tie quilt and it worked up so quick and easy. I am very pleased with it. Now I am going to move onto making the crib set for Sweet Pea. I am in charge of the quilt and the bumper pads because that is what I like to give to the new babies.

I have been busy finishing some Mosaic tile projects. I got my grout on on Sunday and got three out of four done.

One set of house numbers and then a set of stars. I would have got the bench grouted but I ran out of black grout. I have a lot of white but white just is not going to cut it for the bench. So I need a pay day before that happens.

|I sold three puppets and got an order for one more. I also got an order for a doily. I have not made a doily in years. Took some doing to get my fingers used to working with that fine yarn again but I managed. I have an order for three gremlins as well. Never made a gremlin so that will be  challenge.  I will be busy from now to Christmas. Oh yes I have three dishcloths to knit as well. I have my own things I want to make for Christmas so all this should keep me out of trouble for a while.

We had snow on the weekend. Not much but snow on the first day of fall was not at all funny. If it was not dusting down snow, it was raining and cold and grey and windy and well fallish. It was a good weekend to be snug in the house, doing crafts and watching things that have been taped for ever. My PVR has never been so empty.

I cracked and turned the furnace up a hair. I also need to finish that sweater I have been knitting myself for years.Yeesh.

The Banker is home from her vacation down east with her Sweet Baboo. Its fun to be able to relate to where she went. I have been there and its nice to participate in the conversations, not just be on the sidelines saying "I want to go there someday". I want to go back of course, but I have been there once at least. Its nice to have her back again. We had a lot to catch up on.

Book club started up again after the summer off. Its nice to see everyone again and catch up on how everyone spent their summers. A bit like school starting again but so much more fun. We are going to an author reading for our next meeting so there is no book selection this month.

That's all I got. Short and sweet with nothing very exciting in the mix.

Better luck next time

Toodles
Linda

All Done

I didn't post on the weekend because I was feeling sorry for myself and I didn't want to have a blog post full of "oh poor me, my vacation is over". Well it is and I am back to work. Spent the night feeling like a kid on the Sunday night before you have to go back to school. No different than any other Sunday night, just harder because I had had two free weeks.  It is what it is and I am grateful for my job, I am just ready to be done working.

I had a good time off. I didn't get doing a lot of what I had hoped to. Time and money did not lend itself to doing all I had hoped but I got a lot done and I had a good rest. Lots of veranda time and that is precious at this time of the year.

I finally got the wine bottle boarder put in around the flower bed and that has only been two and a half years in the making. I have no excuse to have taken so long to get it done but that's what happened.

It looks really  nice when the sun hits the bottles. That gap at the back, on the left, is intentional. I want to put a trellis or an old gate there to make a bit of a barrier by the back. I am keeping my eye open for the right something.  Hard to tell I got the girl from next door to rake my yard. The tree is still shedding its leaves.

The little school desk finally made its way out to the shed. I have no room for it in the house and yet I do not want to part with it. So I put it out in the shed. I took the picture in the shed so I could not be accused of just moving it around the house to take the picture.

Now there is an empty spot in the dining room, at long last!!

The tote box you see is not  mine. It has baby things in it that the mom wants me to turn onto a quilt and the box further behind it has the stuff to make Sweet Pea's baby quilt. They have been stacked out of the way since this picture was taken.

I got the quilt finished for the safe and warm raffle. It quilted up so nice and quick. I hate to say it but quilting goes a lot faster without the cats all over it. I did miss them a whole lot though. It didn't seem right for them not to be there

I have not taken the full picture yet but I will soon enough and then I shall post a better picture.

I made a trip to Walmart and got some meat. I walked two aisles farther than I did the last time I was there. I went to Michael's the same day. Lots of walking for me but it feels great because it means I am getting my independence back. I am starting to make myself just do it, go and see how far I can get. The farther the better.

KitKat and I spent Saturday afternoon making cards. I got my Christmas ones done so I may actually get some sent out this year. I truly enjoy spending an afternoon making stuff with someone who likes to do the same thing

We were well supervised as she has three cats. We were watched from above:

and from below. So many things to sniff and stick ones nose into. What is a Cat to do???

Poor things spent the entire afternoon keeping an eye on us. By the time the Sailor and Teddy Bear joined us for supper and a movie the cats were pooped and all three found a comfy spot and snoozed.

So that's it, back to work and back to a bit of a new routine. Still working on me, working on doing more than just laying on the couch in the evening. I so badly just wanted to come straight home tonight but I made myself go pick up some pictures I had printed and then I went and got gas, THEN I came home. This is the second night in a row I have made my lunch in the evening instead of doing it in the morning. These things are so little and such no brainers for the majority of people but for me they are triumphs. Attempts at changing my life of late.

Onward and upward.

Toddles

Linda

Half TIme

I cannot believe a entire week has gone already. I have to admit that I have loved every minute of it. I may have mentioned it a million times before but I do like to be at home.

So what have I done this week? I went second hand store shopping for the first time in ages. I got this lot for about $7.00.

I cannot believe I bought another picture. I have no idea where I am going to hang it but I fell in love at first sight. The CD's I used to have on cassette tape but I threw out all my cassettes. I was tickled to find these. I just hope they play.

I finally got some stuff to the basement. I was going to ask someone to do this for me but I need to get back to doing more for myself. This has been in my dining room for months. The cats passed in July and the yellow container and the litter box are what I am keeping in case I decide to get another kitty at some point.

Finally, they have made their way to the basement. I took a picture in the basement so I could not be accused of just moving things out of the way to take the picture.

I have been chipping away at the mile long "to do" list as well as doing something fun for me. I made this because I happened across this material I bought some time ago.

There is a lot of quilting on this thing that you cannot really see because of the pattern but I am very pleased with it. Have I mentioned I like autumn? I have not done the decorating I did last year but trust me I love autumn. I will put the things out on the veranda for sure. What else I put out in the house is debatable.

I finally made laundry soap. I want to make another batch tomorrow but at least I have one done.  I pulled the freezer out and cleaned behind there. I gave the upstairs bathroom a scrubbing, which has not been done for a while and it needed a deep clean. I took the clothes out of my chest of drawers and sorted them. Pitched out a half garbage bag of old stuff that is no longer fit for even weekend wear, tidied the stuff I do wear and put everything in its place. I need to tackle the closet next.

I also got going on purging the magazines. I LOVE magazines and for the longest time I felt I needed to keep a million of them because heaven knows I was going to need to refer to them ALOT. Well we all know that is just crazy talk. I have gotten rid of a ton of them in the past and I am much better about not keeping them now but I still have three of those under the bed storage containers full of glossy shinny magazines. So I started to drag them downstairs, flip through them and then toss them into the recycle pile.

Some of them are so old they had cigarette ads in them!! Yikes.

I only pulled out six pages of all the ones I HAD to keep because they were so full of things I would need in future. I have one more container to go through and I will work on that tomorrow. I even got rid of the SPECIAL editions that I thought were so important but have never looked at since I bought the things. 

I am going to finish the wine bottle boarder this coming week. I am going to start to quilt the safe and warm raffle quilt. Princess Diva found an unfinished quilt top at a charity shop, I added a boarder and now its ready to get quilted. I really like the pattern.

Tater Tot started Kindergarten this month and Zoomer started university. Yikes that makes me feel old. Its lovely to watch these youngsters grow up. The Wee Girl turns three today. Sweet Pea is growing like a weed and I am going to apply for my pension this next week. Time is a funny thing.

That's all that I can think of that I got done this week. There was lots of coffee on the veranda in the mornings. The occasional nap was had and some just doing nothing happened. I expect much more of the same for the coming week.

Toodles

Linda

And the Staycation Begins

So my staycation has begun. I am so happy to know that for the next two weeks I do not have to hear the alarm. I do not have to go out if I don't feel like it and I can putter about the house doing things. I may have mentioned it a million times but I am very happy to be at home. I would like to go somewhere but my bank account says stay put so put I will stay.

I did get a little "away" in. The Banker, Teddy Bear, KitKat and I went to the lake for a day. Oh my it was wonderful. My chariot came to pick me up. Teddy Bear whisked us to The Banker's house. The Banker was the designated driver for the day.

Once we all got into the same car, after a tour of The Banker and Sweet Baboo's camper remodel. They have a truck camper and have been fixing it up. He has done a fantastic job. We hit the road with a stop for essential fuels first.

We were off and running. It was the perfect day, sunny but not hot. We usually make a day trip to the lake once a year but last year The Banker had broken her foot and I am not a big walker anymore so we never made it. It was lovely to get going again this year.

We got in on the last local flea market of the year. I actually walked all the way around it! I was concerned that maybe I had over estimated how far I could go. There were no sitting spots around but I found a spot to park my butt for a bit. Ran into some folks I have not seen for a while and had a nice chat. It was so good to be out, doing what I love to do, shop around a flea market, with my good friends. I have not done that for awhile.

We ate breakfast at the local bakery in the park. THE BEST PLACE to eat breakfast. We walked some more then I parked myself on a park bench and let the others shop. The only thing I wanted was a snow globe ( I did buy a new brooch at the flea market and some saskatoon jam)

. I sat near this lovely piano and listened to people play

People just walking about the park, would stop and play. They ranged from kids, just making noise to some really good musicians.

 We had a great day. No snow globes to be found but a good time was had by all

We stopped at a popular book store/coffee shop on the way back for break. Then we headed back home. I did not do all the wandering around I would have before but I did far more that I have done in the last year since I devloped bulging disks in my spine.  I was so happy I did as much as I did. It needs to keep on

The Banker told me she is going to go to Scotland next year. Its just a matter of who goes with her, me or Sweet Baboo. I figured that was coming and in fact if she had hot said it I was going to. I cannot keep her waiting forever if I am never going to be able to go. So I have some time to try and get into shape, and MAYBE get some weight off. That is a constant battle that I win a little and then get defeated. I am still 90 lbs down from my all time high but I REALLY have a long way to go yet. It would help so many things. I will see what I can do.

I was amazed today, I was not as sore as I anticipated being. I have not done a lot today but I am getting around quite nicely thank you. So since I was not completely stiffened up I did a bit around the house. I emptied twp overflowing baskets of containers.

I recycled what I could and threw out some. Its made a big difference. I also sorted these two baskets out. They hold the containers that I use for lunches. Now what I know about me is I feel that if one is good, two is better and eleventy million is FABULOUS. I am trying to cut that out. So now these two only hold the minimum of what I will use in a week. 

Salad, protein and pudding containers for a week with a few extra in case. NOT so many anymore that  they do not fit and overflow the baskets. GO ME!! I have four lids to find. I have no idea where the little bastards disappear to. I will find them!!

I was going to make Laundry soap today but that did not happen. I did get the kitchen cleaned, the dishwasher emptied and a lot of odd dishes washed. I have a garbage bag full of recycle to go to the dumpster.

I also got groceries today and tried out my new toy. 

Excellent $2.00 investment. I got almost the entire lot into the house without my arms falling off. I still have a bag of potatoes and two bottles of vinegar in the car but man, it was so slick and quick. I should have gotten one a long time ago.

I have has a lovely lazy day today. I have ambitions now to do a lot more for myself from now on. I am determined to be able to get around the stores again myself. I want my independence back. Not to mention I miss getting out and about. I have dear friends who look after me far better than I deserve and as such I do not want to overwork them and have them get sick of me always asking for favours.

Tomorrow I have a list of things to do and if they do not get done its ok and if not that is ok too. I am on vacation, I can be lazy but I have high hopes that things will keep on getting done.

Toodles

Linda