Joy in the Kitchen part 2

This is what I did today, so far I have gotten everything done that I hoped to do and there is still the evening left to work on more puppets. Anyhoo here is my nice clean kitchen floor. TAHHH DAHHH!!! See that space in front of the basket and along the table. I have not seen that piece of floor in weeks as that is where a pile of boxes used to live. They have gone to a charity shop in search of new homes.

 A pork roast is cooking away nicely in the slow cooker. This will provide a lovely supper tonight and sandwiches for the coming week.

Six loaves of freshly made bread cooling on the table. I love homemade bread and I love the whole process of making it. I always wonder why I put off doing it because it really is not a terrible job.

Homemade turkey soup bubbling on the stove. Half will be frozen and the other half will be lunches for the coming work week. Yummy

Now I could try and say I made all these puppets today but that would be a really big untruth. I have almost made a loon to go with the eagle, otter,beaver, white tailed deer and the owl. I am hoping to finish the loon and maybe a raccoon before the day is done. I included this picture so you could see I really do make puppets. These are going to the local university for a reading program when I have them all done.

A little surprise, something not on the to do list. A rhubarb crumble turned up this afternoon. A little treat for a good days work. The rhubarb turned out to be very juicy but that's ok. it will all eat up very nicely over the coming week with a cup of tea or two.

Well I am off to make the rest of supper, eat, then park myself in my chair for some serious crocheting and tv watching.

Linda



Joy in the Kitchen

I am going to wash my kitchen floor and I am so excited. Its pathetic I know but when you have not been able to do this in WEEKS its fabulous just be able to do it. I have finally got the garage sale leftovers out of the kitchen and have donated them to a local charity shop. The camper cushions are out of my living room, the boxes are out of the kitchen and if I could sell those damn dining room chairs I think I would have a spontaneous org**im.  Must get those chairs up on the Internet again and hopefully they will sell. If not its off to the basement for them.

So this is the deal for today, start a batch of bread that I did not make last weekend, defrost some stock to make soup, throw a roast in the slow cooker, do the dishes, wash the kitchen floor ( insert choir of heavenly voices) and then work on my puppets for the rest of the afternoon. Oh yes and take my angel food cake pan to my friend so she can make cakes for her nieces bridal shower.

There is lots of other stuff to be done, the usual ordinary chores that make up my weekends. If I have time I am going to work on a project that I will share in a later post. I love when I find an idea on line and I can go ahead and do it with stuff I have around the house, in other words it does not cost me a dime. :-) The puppets are a priority this weekend though. I got an additional order from the university and since I am broke as usual I want to get it done and get me some cash.

Well the bread needs to get underway and I have a million things on my to do list that I can't wait to check off. Later!!

Linda

Sometimes I just shake my head at myself

I started a quilt top this weekend, this is nothing new to me. I made my first quilt when I was 13 years old and since next month I will be 52 (crap when did that happen???????) I am not new to this quilting game. I have made hundreds of quilts literally. I have the photo album to prove it. Once in a while I can do something dumb that leaves me shaking my head and wondering wtf?

Evidence of being dense:
Example 1:  Notice that you cannot see the points on the diamond shaped piece, the disappear into the seam. Very rookie looking quilt patch. Its puckering and looks sloppy.

Example 2

This is what it should look like, crisp, clean and nothing disappearing into the seams.

This is how it should look when you actually take the time to figure out what you should be doing and how you are to sew the patches together instead of plowing ahead willy nilly and behaving like you have never seen a quilt patch in your life. I did 10 of these babies before I clued into what I was doing wrong. Hmmph. So now I have got a clue, I need to rip out what I did and redo it properly. Why I didn't stop after the first one and get it straight I have no idea.

If I said I liked nothing better than ripping back a bunch of work you would know I was being sarcastic right??

Linda

I am a weed killer

The rain stopped and I finally managed to get out in the yard and do something. The flowerbeds are mostly weeded. The lawn has been mowed and the edges have been trimmed. All I really need to do now is go out an pick up all the mess that I tend to leave here and there. A lot of it remains from last year. I tend to pull out weeds and then leave little piles of dead things around. Why, I don't know, it looks very bad. I may go do that later. It feels wonderful to have gotten the place looking half decent anyway.

I still need to get the veranda stuff out of the shed, chairs and things to make the place look homey. I need to get flowers and plant those flower beds that I have gotten weeded and worked up. Next pay day that will be on the list. I am not putting in as many pots of flowers, no money in the budget for that malarkey this year, maybe next.

Well I need to deliver my spare tables to my friend E. She is moving out of her house and is having a garage sale this coming weekend. Once that is done I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon being crafty and baking bread. All in all its been a good productive weekend.

Linda

Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Do without

My mom was a woman who was all about economy, economy of things, of movement, of space, and financially. I sadly did not inherit a lot of those traits. I always seem to be in a clutter, I am always broke and I cannot pack as many things into a small space as she could. That woman was a marvel at putting food into a fridge. She could pack an entire turkey dinner into an already stuffed fridge better than anyone I ever met. Its a talent I wish I had but I digress.

Mom was big on not wasting anything that could be useful in some way. She was green long before it was fashionable, in the fact that she was a big recycler and she did not even know it. I did get this from her, I do not like to see things go to waste and I do like to find a use for something that would otherwise be thrown out. So that is why I have turned this basket of left over dish cloth yarn

                              into this, (and no smarty pants its not dishcloths). These are mop heads.

for one of those mops that use the disposable cloths.

I like the mop, it was a gift, its light weight and does a good job. The only fault I have with it is the disposable paper mop heads. These knitted cotton cloths work really well. They are great to turn the dry mop into a wet mop. These are perfect for scrubbing floors. They also do a decent job of dry mopping  too when you want to get the hair up off the floor. Between the cat and myself there is a lot of hair in this house. I had tried some flannel mop heads and then some flour sack ones but they did not work like I wanted them to. These do.

I am pleasantly tired and am headed to bed, content in the fact that I got a lot of things done today. Its still raining but that's OK, maybe it will stop tomorrow and I can pretend I am a gardener (which I am most certainly not).

Linda



Before and After

Lets see if I can figure out how to do this add pictures thing to this blog of mine. I want to do a before and after of my attack on my sewing/craft room that had totally gotten out of control

                                                                 God help me this is a mess

Aw much better

I hang my head in shame

soo much better

Its amazing how fast it gets this way

this is how I like it to look

The work in progress baskets

quilt tops waiting for me to get busy and get them quilted. Soon my babies soon!!!

This only took me two hours. I got a box of donation stuff, two garbage bags full of garbage and things are now back in the places where they are supposed to live. Its still raining so I think I will tackle another project as this one is now ready to be stroked off the list. The kitchen is also almost fit for viewing. I still need to wash the floor but until I make the trip to take the stuff to the local charity shop, there is no point. I will do that tomorrow.

I may just take a whack at my recipe book as there is still plenty of afternoon left. The thing is I have a zillion recipes, I will never live long enough to make them all and the fact is if I don't start cooking more I will never make any of them. I copy them, clip them, save them, collect them from friends but don't ever really make them. Biggest reason being that when I want to make something, I cannot find the recipe because it could be in one of a hundred places where I stack this stuff.  My goal is to put the ones I will make, or have tried and really like into a binder then  recycle the ones that I will never use. I have the binder, all I need it to get at it. I have already emptied an accordion file of recipes some time ago but I have not transferred the keepers to the binder. This method works for me because I have all my special Christmas recipes in one album and it saves me a lot of hassle when I go to making the things I love to make at Christmas time. I know you can find any recipe  on the Internet and I do not need even the binder  but I am old school I like to have the paper in my hand. :-) besides I do not have a lap top, my computer is in the craft room and I would have to print out every recipe in order to make it each time. WASTE WASTE WASTE not good for the environment all that printing.

I am a collector, I could be a hoarder if I let myself. My goal is to keep things from getting totally out of control. I will always have clutter but I need to control it, keep it at bay and not let it take over. I am getting better, its work but I am getting better. Well before the mood passes and my knitting or my quilting calls to me I need to get at the recipe binder.

Since to day I am in a sort it out, clean it out mood, it would be a good time to get going on this. 

Later, Linda



The Best Laid Plans

Well I had plans, big plans, big yard working plans for this long weekend. I bounced out of bed this morning completely intending to get out there and get stuff done. Make my house look like someone actually lived here and that it was not an abandoned building. It's raining. Now I have lived here long enough to know that long weekend in the summer equals rain and I had decided that I would still go out and work because weeds are easier to pull when the ground is damp. Right?? Apparently I am a wimp. Its pouring, its windy, its yucky and after I got back from groceries I was cold and miserable so I decided to switch plans. Yard work later house work now.

So in order to consol myself because my day was not turning out like I had hoped I treated myself to breakfast at McDonalds. Its one of those guilty pleasures that makes people go EWWWW when you tell them you actually like McDonald's breakfasts. Breakfast burritos, chock full of stuff that is not good for me but I don't care, they are yummy. They do have really good coffee too. Its strong but its really good and its driving the damp cold out of my bones this morning.

The new plan is wash out the fridge, clean the kitchen, wash kitchen floor. Box up all the donation stuff to go to a second hand store which is currently all over my kitchen table. Then once the kitchen is done I am going to tackle the sewing/craft room. I may never be seen again. It needs to be done though, the place is over run with supplies, junk, projects and nothing has been put where it should be. A place for everything and everything in its place. Maybe I will try taking before and after pictures and see if I can post them. Time I learned how to do that. I know I love to see pictures on other peoples blogs.

Well my coffee is almost finished and before HGTV sucks me in and waste the day, I need to get my butt into the kitchen and start to work. I have an entire page, two columns on my "to do" list today so I need to get busy. Turn up the music, I am goin' in.

Linda

Crankypants has left the building

I was right, as always, because I know me very well. I got myself out and started to do some stuff and I feel better mentally. The pains and aches are still there but SO MUCH better in my head.

After I finished my coffee this morning I went over to a friend's place and dug up some peonies she was giving away. When I got home, I dug out the raspberry canes behind the shed. I loved having the canes but  there is no room in this yard for them. I will miss snacking on fresh raspberries when I come home from work this summer but needs must and out they came. In their place went the peony plants. A much better choice for that space. I moved on to yanking out some of the daisy plants that constantly threaten to choke out every plant in my flower bed and got an entire box full of them. I finally got the skeletons of last years plants removed from the main flower bed. Having accomplished that and finding I still had a little bit of energy left,  I started to lay down the cement pads that will eventually grow into a little patio space under my kitchen window. Another friend gave me 7 pads which is a great start on the patio. I manage to dig  in three pads in before my back said enough for today!! I hauled out the rain barrels and got them where they were are supposed to be. My goal is to have the yard looking as nice as possible with as little maintenance as possible.

I got the floors mopped and vacuumed inside before I completed pooped out for the day. This week my plan is to start cleaning the house one room at a time and getting it back to being how it should be. I need to do this for my own sanity. I also need to keep working on my projects that are all part of my second job "Linda's Finishing Touch" has enough work going for it to keep me out of trouble for awhile. Its all good.

So the challenge for me this week will be to do a room each night I am home. Tuesday night I am having sushi with my friend Cook but other than that I should be able to keep to my plan. (Since this blog is open to the word I am not going to use real names. People that know me will know who I am referring to, either by initials or by something they do very well or a nickname. ) My schedule is opening up and I should have more time to be at home.

The pity party that started this morning is over. I am back on track and so glad I got some things done this weekend. As long as I keep going foreward and improving its great, its when I start staying sorry for myself or moving backward that I will need to worry.  If that ever happens I have a good circle of friends who will snap me out of it I am sure!!

Linda

Ms Crankypants

Well I woke up this morning, cranky, achy, out of sorts and just down right grumpy. I think I need to just buckle down, get stuck in and get things back under control. My house is a total tip. my yard is a disgrace and those chairs and left over yard sale stuff are making me crazy. My book club is going to  be here is a couple of weeks and if I don't pull my finger out they won't be able to get in the house let alone find somewhere to sit.

I am also resentful today, I am so sick of the arthritis that live in my ankles, knees and hips and makes moving around painful. It makes it hard to go all the things I want to do. As I sit here I feel like I can do it all, rush about, clean, rake, shovel, shift, bend and lift until all the jobs are done, then I stand up. Reality smacks me in the face and I move about like an invalid. ARRRGH!!!!!!!! Makes me nuts. Some days are worse than others and today is worse.

I am going to go and finish my coffee, maybe that will snap me out of this crank I am in. Something has to . I can be as cranky as I want to be, it does not change the fact this work has to be done AND once its done I will feel much better. In spite of what some may think I do not like my house out of order, I like it to look cared for and loved, neat and clean. This is my "to do" list  for today, drink coffee, stop feeling sorry for my self and just get on with it!!

Linda

stuck like glue!

Well those dining room chairs of mine have resisted being sold once again. I throw my hands up and shake my head and walk away. Well not totally because I have handed the sales pitch over to someone else who has had great success shifting things on the local web page so work your magic T is all I can say.

Other than the dang chairs it was a good day. Sun was shining, not too warm, no rain, lots of laughs, margaritas for breakfast and chili for lunch. The yard sale went really well. I sold a few things and a most of what is left over will get donated to a local charity shop. I am going to keep one or two things.

I have to admit when I walked around my house this morning it was nice to not have sale stuff all over the place. Its been more and more like an episode of hoarders around here the last little while. I actually ate breakfast at the kitchen table this morning, I can move through the dining room with out going sideways, its heavenly. SO I do not want all this stuff back in my house. It needs to go to someone else's house, not back into mine.

I have decided that the magazine rack/end table that did not sell I am going to re-glue, paint and mosaic tile the top with glass and then I will keep it. I have been bitten by the tiling bug and now I think I need to tile everything!! :-)

Oh I am tired though, garage sales are a lot of work. What I need to do is have some supper, a nap and then spend a quiet evening knitting. Tomorrow I will deal with the mess in the kitchen. I need to repack the leftover sale stuff, tuck it back into the car and then on Monday donate it. I am hoping for a burst of energy tomorrow as there is yard work to be done as well that I have not gotten around to yet. The new plants are growing up in the midst of the old.

Linda

I heart garage sales

I loooooooooooove garage sales, second hand stores, antique shops, thrift stores, auction sales, rummage sales, and bartering or swapping for stuff. I love it. This weekend I am on the other end of the deal, I am doing the selling. Most importantly I am putting my dining room chairs up for sale, I am just putting it out there in the universe that it would be really nice if my chairs would sell.

These chairs have made it well known that they do not wish to be sold but I have no room for them anymore and I need the money to be honest. So far they have avoided, swap and shopon our local radio station, the local web page classifieds, they have dodged several auction sales ( not because of a lack of bidding but that they never made it to the sale for various reasons) and word of mouth has failed to shift them. They are really nice, antique maple ladder backed chairs so its not like they is ugly or nothin' like that there, They just do not seem to want to be sold. Sigh. I would keep them if I had the room but I have no storage space in my little old house.

Say a prayer for me and send a lovely buyer to my garage sale on Sunday with lots of disposable cash in their hand and let them fall instantly in love with my chairs.

Linda

The TO DO List

I love lists, I make lists all the time, to do lists, to get lists, wish lists, accomplished lists, its goes on and on. Some days I think I need a list of all my lists. I could not function without them, they help me remember things, they keep me on track and  they give me a tremendous sense of satisfaction when I get to cross something off my list. I am even one of those people that will add things to the list just so I can scratch it off.

Every Thursday I make a list of the things that I hope to accomplish over the weekend. Its always ambitious and very seldom do I ever cross everything off over the course of the weekend but I do mostly get 50% of the chores done. Right now I am having a break. |I have been hard at it since 9:00 am and I must say I am kicking butt on my list for this weekend but Lordy there are still a lot of things to do. I may score a 80% on this weekends list. Go me!!

I am amazed at how I can let things slide. Little things that there really is no reason to let slide. For example, I finally put the light switch plate back up in my porch. IT WAS TWO LITTLE SCREWS people and the plate has been sitting on my kitchen counter since last fall when I painted the porch. WHY do I do this??? (yes, yes I do have a separate list of these little jobs that need to be done. Shut up.)

My biggest goal this weekend is getting at least 6 puppets made. I have two done so far and hope to get two more done before bed tonight. I am not only making puppets, I am managing to get my Angel DVDs watched. Multi tasking at its best :-)  I am just finishing up season three. Not sure what I will watch when these are done. I may have to find myself a new DVD series to collect. I may also get a hat crocheted for a very special young lady I know. She is patiently waiting for it and I really should get it done. I have also vacuumed, hand washed a pile of dishes, got groceries, went to a garage sale, swept the veranda, fixed the down spout on the  front of the house, and made stock to freeze for future soup making. I made breakfast, well I bought breakfast and brought it home but I did make supper and now I am blogging.

Well enough lolly gagging, time to get back to work. I need to great a coyote and a killer whale before I can sleep tonight.

Linda

What to do, what to do??

Well its nice to be back on the Internet after having no service for a few days. Not to mention its nice to have a few free minutes just to sit down and blog. I have suddenly transformed into a social butterfly this week and I have had something one each night with no let up into the middle of next week. Believe me, I am not complaining, I tend to spend too much time on my own so its good for me to get out and move amongst the real folk.

Yesterday I had an opportunity presented to me that came totally out of left field and blew me out of the water. It turns out one of the big book stores in our area has expressed an interest in selling my puppets. ACK!!! what to do, what to do??? Do I have faith that this is one of those if the universe brings you too it, it will bring you through it thingys or am I getting excited about nothing. Do I go for it and hope my poor hands can take the strain or do I decline?? This is so exciting and terrifying at the same time. I will, of course, try to be all grown up and at least meet/talk to the person about all this before I dither myself into a blubbering mass of jelly. I tend to do that when things, really good things, come out of the blue like this. Big old book store people may have totally different expectation than what I can live up to. So must meet first, talk and then I can dither myself silly.

If nothing comes of this, if it for some reason does not pan out, I will forever be pleased that they even thought of me. All silliness aside I have always felt that in creating these little puppet critters, I was making  something very special. I just don't know what to do with it, how to make it reach its potential. I am totally open to this being the way to do it. Oh I can feel myself getting dizzy even as we speak!! Deep breaths, count to ten and then calm down. What is meant to be will be. The universe is unfolding as it should and all those other catch phrases I can't think of right now.

Stay tuned this could be the begining of a very wild ride!!

Linda

Sunday Snowy Sunday

Well its not still snowing but looking out my living room window it could be the dead of winter not spring with the blanket of thick wet snow that is covering everything. Blah!! My neighbour shoveled his side walk this morning. I am not so inclined. Mother Nature can just take her old snow back, thank you very much, I have no intention of shoveling the white stuff on the first of May.

Feeling a little more productive today. I grouted the bathroom back splash, washed eleventy million dishes, got the laundry humming along and am knitting some cloths to use on my swiffer sweeper. I am not fond of the disposable cloths as they are just land fill waste so I am using left over cotton from the dish clothes I knit to makes some swiffer mop heads. This eliminates the waste, uses up my left overs and lets me keep using my mop. Win win all round I would say.

I should be making puppets or working on a quilt but I just want to knit today. I'll go back to puppets tonight after supper but for now I am only interested in sitting, knitting and watching DVD's. The housework can just wait, today is for doing what I please and it pleases me to sit in my chair.

Linda