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