Its Been a Minute

 Well it has been some time since I sat down to do a blog post. This last month has been a bit of a gong show with all sorts happening, good and better and some not so good but that is life. I would say its been a pivotal time in my life. Time to face cold hard truths and face facts and be a grown up. Can't say I'm a fan but needs must and even though I'm not happy about it all but I will do what I must and get on with things.Its the grown up thing to do. 

So I will hit the highlights. I'm not sure I can remember all that things that have happened this last month but I will do my best. Plus I'm not sharing it all, this in the internet after all.  Busy and the Carpenter were here and they turned my shower from this

Into this: Isn't it just the most beautiful thing??? I could not be happier with it. Its awesome and just exactly what I had dreamed of since moving into the house.

Its so nice to have a shower and have room to actually move around. I am in love and not ashamed to admit it.

Busy helped me to do some purging, organizing and cleaning while they were here. My house did not know what hit it but man oh man was it nice to have it done. The Carpenter helped too, in-between his jobs. I was more decorative, a sort of decision maker, observer if you will.

Formulating a battle plan.

I will never ever be able to thank them for all that they have done for me. Its overwhelming.

Lots of changes happening. Lots of new things to learn and deal with. I am taking it one day at a time and doing my best to get myself back on track and headed in the right direction. All I will say on this subject is thank God for my family and friends, they are the very best and I could not manage without them.

I did not sit on my arse the entire time. I did stuff, for example I purged and cleaned my two little china cabinets

I am also working on the craft room. My one upstairs spare room is waiting in the wings for its turn. It has become a catchall for things and needs a good straightening. So much to do but the place is really looking great.

I have mitts to knit for Busy and I have started to make hats and scarves for the safe and warm shelter. I am also very pleased to say I sent 7 quilts to the women's shelter. I have a top made for another donation quilt already, just need to get it quilted.

I am thinking my goal is to get some of my crafting supplies used up before I go gathering anything else. I have way too much stuff packed into my little craft room and it needs to be used. 

Another thing to look forward to is we have a scrapbooking weekend coming up and that is always a super fun time. 

I am hoping to get back into a routine of blogging each week again. I am seriously hoping that all the upheaval of the last two months will settle down and I can get back into a more normal routine. We can always hope.

Toodles, Linda

What to Say for Myself

I got this from Amazon and could not wait to dive into it. Its been so long since the last book. I love this series.

I am not sure what I am going to blog about today, I am really scrambling to find something to write about. I have not been out of the house since I came home from the hospital on Christmas eve and the three weeks before that I was sick. End result its been a minute. When you stay at home the scope for blogging fodder narrows. I just want to assure you I am not complaining, I have had no desire to go anywhere. I am perfectly content to stay in my house and stay out of the cold.

My car is not in running order at the moment and I will need to deal with that at some point. Its just a couple of phone calls, one to the garage and one to get it towed to the garage but I have to arrange to get it back home. I have not taken a look at the back sidewalk to see if my walker will go down it. I am hoping that it will. Another thing I need to look into. Its not a huge problem just needs to be dealt with. 

Did I mention I can't find my shoe? I have one pair of runners and I can only find one of them so far. Now to be fair I have only give a very half hearted search for it. Without it I would not be able to go out even if I wanted to. I imagine it had gotten kicked under the couch or a chair in the living room and if I actually gave it some sort of effort I would find it. My life is full of first world problems at the moment.

So just so you don't get the impression that I have been lounging about doing nothing I have been making a bit of an effort. I have an appointment for the home care lady to come and look over the house to assess my need for help. I have found a commissioner of oaths to sign some of the legal documents that I need to deal with. I did my own laundry for the first time in weeks. Three loads and it was an effort learning to maneuver around with the walker and laundry baskets full of clothes but I did it. Its all fresh and clean and hanging in the dining room drying. The house is still tidy and I have a little list of things that I want to take care of before Busy and the Carpenter arrive back next week to work on the shower. I submitted my claim for the last of the equipment I needed to Blue Cross, now its fingers crossed that they cough up some money. They have been good so far.

I have no pictures to share this time. Maybe I will next post. Right now I am thinking I need to get going on something crafty. I have been thinking about it for some time but have not actually done it. I did get a mitt pattern printed out but have yet to actually get knitting. I have several quilt tops that are ready to be sandwiched and quilted but they will have to wait until after the shower reno. 

I ordered the last of the photos for 2021. If it works out that we can do a scrap booking weekend I will be ready to go to scrapbook July to December. I hope we can but with this omicron variant one never knows what is going to happen. I will be prepared in any case.

Well that is it. I got nothin else. Til next time

Toodles Linda

 

One Step at a Time

 Ok I am on the mend, of that there is no doubt. Its not going as fast as I would like it to and I get impatient with how tired I feel all the time but I am making myself focus on the fact that I am soooo much better than I was at this time last month. I hate that I am always in pain but that is not going away so I accept it.

I am continuing to putter away at getting the house to where it should be and to where I like it. I have to admit having the house tidy has made a world of difference to my mood and state of well being. I now need to find a project to work on, Crafting is a big part of me and I have not done anything for a very long time. I may just start to knit some mitts for Busy. She would like some red ones and I have a pattern that I want to try out.

I had one of my best ideas ever the other day. As I am trying to get the craft room organized, I came across a perennial problem, scraps of quilt batting. They are too big to throw away and I do use them but they take up a lot of space.

This is not even all of it, I have another bag stuffed full of the stuff. I have no place to store it. This is when I had my brain wave. I saw on YouTube that Dollartree sells large vacuum sealed storage bags. They DO!! $1.25 and they work rather well. I got some and stuffed all my stash into two of them.

On the left is the one after being vacuumed and the one on the right is prevacuum. I was thrilled

I now have it all in two reasonably small packages, Its easy to store and it will stay clean and I can reseal them when I need to. I think this is one of my better ideas I have ever had. Plus I actually have a spot to store them in a closet in the craft room. No longer stuffed behind the chairs in the living room BONUS!!

The craft room is coming along. There still is too much stuff piled into too small of a room but it looks far better than it did awhile ago.

I don't know if you can see the difference but I can and it feels easier to think in this room now things are getting put into their proper places.

I went to sew myself a new cover for my kitchen aid mixer. Mice had eaten most of the old one. Well I discovered that my sewing machine was not functioning. A teeny tiny piece had come detached in the bobbin area and needs to be fixed. Dang it! Thank goodness I have this little beauty. My Featherweight. I just love this little machine, I found out that she was made in October 1952 and still works wonderfully.

                                                  

Thanks to having her as back up, I got a new cover sewn up in no time at all. 

                                                            

I got my bath chair yesterday, thanks to Amazon. My house is really starting to look like an old lady house these days, walkers, grab bars and bath chairs but hey it is what it is. I am entering a new phase of my life and these are the tools that I need to function. No point in fighting it, lets just roll with it all.

Well I need to find my mitt pattern and get it printed out. I am not sure what else I am going to do today. I have ordered pictures, dealt with some paper work and done some cleaning in my bedroom. Its good to be productive.

Toodles Linda

Its Been a Minute

 In theory I am in my sewing room cleaning and purging as it has yet again gotten out of hand and needs to be beaten into submission. In reality I am taking some time to do a blog post because its been a minute since I last posted anything, I have had an interesting December, one in which I scared the beejeebus out of everyone I know and myself most of all.

I got sick, really sick, the don't mess around get to the hospital sick and I did not realize it. I'm not going to go into deep detail as I am sure I have told everyone and his dog the story, suffice it to say I am more grateful than I can ever say to my wonderful friends who watch over me. They came, they saw, they called the ambulance and I was in the hospital before I knew it. I stayed there for two weeks while I got back on my feet. I am home again and while I have come a long way, I am still weak and tired and I play out very easily. 

The Carpenter and Busy came to stay with me after I got home and worked like rented mules cleaning my house. All I can say is it was a filthy mess but its not that way anymore. The last three years have been harder on my that I realized and I let things get on top of me. I knew it was happening but it was just so much easier to ignore the day to day things one should do. Skim the surface and keep the black hole I had fallen into a secret than to face it all.  

I am so very blessed with my family and my friends. I have no idea what I did to deserve them but I am grateful beyond measure that they are part of my life. So many thing happened here, the house has been cleaned, grab bars have been installed, a recliner now lives in my living room and a new higher toilet is in situ. They are coming back at month end to enlarge the shower for me. They are far more generous to me than I deserve.

This has all been done without and criticism or blame, just help and support. I am so grateful for that. I learned a long time ago one cannot die of embarrassment no matter how hard you try. I know how bad things got and I know I let it happen. This whole incident scared me to the core and I need to pull myself up by the boot straps and take better care of myself and my house. So things are in motion and I am starting on a new path. One that will be a better plan than the last one I had.

So now I am taking things one day at a time, doing what I can to keep on with the getting the house under control again. To that end I should get going on this craft room,. Looking at it all makes me want to run ten miles but I just need to do a little at a time and before I know it, it will be done,

Hopefully I get back to blogging regularly again.

Toodles, Linda

Christmas Countdown

 I am so happy, I found a fellow to do my shoveling for me. He is $30.00 cheaper than what my last guy was going to charge me for this year. Makes me happy! Not to mention  the fact that I do not have to worry about the snow piling up and me not being able to get it cleared. He has been here twice so far. It snows, he comes, that is how I like it to work. Check goes that item off the list of things that I need to do. Happy dance of joy.

I finished the Christmas quilt and got the top all put together. I have not taken a picture of it. The reason for that is I have been dithering about the boarder. Should I  have one? Should I leave it small and use it as a wall hanging? Draped over the couch? Well I have made a decision. I am going to add a piano key boarder. I will make it scrappy so I can use up more of my material stash. I see a red boarder on the quilt when I imagine the end product, but I do not have enough red Christmas material to make a proper boarder. I am not buying cloth for the top of the quilt. I will buy backing but I want to use the stash for the top. So a scrappy boarder it is. Others have done it and they look so cute in their pictures on Facebook. 

The Banker stopped in on Monday for a visit and very kindly brought my outdoor Christmas decor up from the basement. I have started to get the seasonal stuff changed out. I finally took the Autumn stuff off the veranda and added the poinsettias and the Christmas wreath. I will get the lights, garland and Frosty in place at some point soon. I am only planning to put up two trees this year. They are both up on the main floor and waiting for me to get decorating. I am in the mood so it will happen shortly.

I am going to try giving a try to be minimalist in my decor this year. This little idea is causing much hilarity amongst the No Cooks. For some reason they have no faith in the fact that I will be able to be restrained in the decorating department. GO FIGURE!!

On another topic, I had to laugh at myself because so often this is how I operate. I have been giving some thought to my budget and how I can tighten it up. Think, think, plot, plan and then I promptly turned around and placed three orders to Amazon for things I wanted but did not technically need. I am a danger unto myself!!

I am so excited to get my nose into this book! Its the latest of the Outlander series and I just adore those books. I have been waiting for ages for this to come out. I also bought the fourth book in the Discovery of Witches series. I thought there was only three but there are four. Very excited about that as well. 

I have been making memory quilts for a former co-worker. She brought over her husbands shirts and I am making her two quilts for Christmas gifts. 

Thankfully, she wanted big squares so the shirts would be very recognizable. That makes it super simple for me. I will be able to get them done, probably this week if nothing goes sideways. I am actually going to go finish the binding on the first one once I am done with this blog post.

I got my winter tires put on yesterday but they ended up on the wrong rims. Its a long silly story so lets just leave it there. I will get them transferred to the correct rims on Friday, then next week I will get the car into the garage to get winterized and get the gas gauge looked at . This will make me as ready as I can be to travel for Christmas. Weather willing and the virus does not run amok, I have plans to actually see my family over the holidays.

Not much else to talk about. I have a couple of things to do before I get a the quilt. Well I really have a million things I could do but I am only doing two before I settle onto my chair and finish binding the quilt. 

Toodles, Linda

Back in the Saddle Again

 Hey look, its Tuesday and I's posting a blog. Things are back to normal, or as close as can be, for the moment. So normal that I actually got a hair cut this last week. Its so nice to have my hair out of my face and back to looking neat and tidy. I do have to admit I was tempted to just let it grow out but I resisted and decided to get the cut. No picture because its the same 'do as the last three times.

I got to live through one of the events I live in dread of, this week.  I ran out of gas, in a busy intersection, during morning rush hour. Sigh. I knew my gas gauge was acting funny so I thought while its telling me I have 168 liters of fuel, I shall go get some gas just in case. Well the gauge was a big fat liar face and I ended up as a traffic obstruction on Tuesday morning. On the up side CAA was excellent and got a truck to me asap. At least three people stopped and offered to help. There may have been more but I was in a total flap and I do not remember. I do remember thanking several people for the offer of help. A VERY NICE police man stopped to see what I was doing. He initially thought I was texting while at the stop light. Once he found out I was texting, for help and not for fun, he pulled his cruiser up beside my car and stayed with me until the truck arrived. A little gas and I was on my way. I will be getting my car into the garage to get the gauge fixed, along with some other maintenance as soon as I can.

Then later in the same day, my snow removal guy texted me to inform me that he is shutting down his business due to his truck being out of commission and he cannot afford to fix it. I am devastated. I feel bad for him, but worse for me. So right now I am trying to find a replacement person. Not as easy as one would think. I am hoping I can soon get someone locked in as I need this. I cannot do it on my own. 

Enough of the disasters, lets move on to funner things. I finished my scrap afghan. Well its all sewn together. There are some ends to weave in and and edging to crochet but the bulk of it is finished.

I was thinking I would donate it but now I think I'll keep it for a bit. Its super solid and warm so I;ll use it for a bit then donate it later on maybe.

The last of the Christmas quilt blocks has been done. I dithered over the material but then used a Christmas scrap piece. This means I made all the blocks for this quilt completely from my Christmas stash. That was my intention from the beginning.

I may not get back at this quilt until after Christmas. I have other projects that need to be completed for Christmas so it may have to wait. I have been busy making things, but I cannot show them as they are gifts, I will take pictures and show them off after the recipients have them. Christmas secrets!! I love them.

I did decide that masks are not going to be going away anytime soon so I may as well have some fun. I love a good theme so I decided I would make some winter masks as I am tired of the ones I have. So while the Christmas stash material was out I took some time and made these.

These will be good for the whole winter. I was tempted to make a Christmas specific one but I didn't.

Our book club managed to get together for the first time in two or more years. It astounds me how wonderful it feels to be able to get together and do normal things. Things we took for granted not that long ago. Things like spend time with friends. We have picked a book and decided on a future meeting date and had a lovely evening chatting and snacking. It truly was wonderful.

I made black bean burgers. They were not too bad. I don't have the right recipe just yet but I will make them again. I have wanted to try some meatless recipes for a while now. Not because I plan to give up meat. I am too fond of bacon for that idea but having a couple of meatless meals will be ok. I have a recipe for lentil patties that I want to try and I want to keep working on the black bean recipe. Its all in the pursuit of healthy eating and budget benefiting.

So now I need to go and tackle that mountain of laundry. I have been hiding out in my craft room all morning and I can't avoid it anymore. 

Toodles, Linda

 

Quick Check In

 Happy Friday one and all!. I realize I am a tad late with my blog post this week. Its been a little bit of a gong show this week so I never did get around to getting at it on Tuesday. In that light I decided to just post a little nugget this week and give it my best shot to get back to my regular time table next week. I live in hope.

Winter has arrived and while we did not get the big bang of snow predicted, we got enough and its not going anywhere. The snowflakes are here to stay!! My snow shoveling man came twice to clear the sidewalks and then texted me to say he had a catastrophic break down with his truck that he cannot afford to fix so he has had to shut down his business for the season. I felt bad for him but worse for me. I went into a panic. Needless to say I am currently in hot pursuit of a new guy. Phone calls have been made, messages left and I am just waiting to have my property viewed and estimates given. Would it not be lovely if this ended up costing me less in the long run? I feel a little selfish thinking that way but dang, I need to budget the best I can these days, as we all do.

Christmas quilt update: This was last weeks blocks and let me tell you the bows were a pain in the butt. I have actually redone them so I won't loose the points when I sew the blocks together.

On Tuesday we received the last set of blocks. They complete the top and once I get them put together, the top can be sewn together into the flimsy. I have not done them yet because I am having a bit of a dilemma, The blocks  require a more brown material but I have no real brown Christmas material. I could use other brown or I could buy something. I don't want to do that because I only started this quilt to use my stash. Using a brown from my other stash is not technically Christmas scraps. .Am I over thinking this? Yes I am but that is how I roll. I will make up my mind soon.

I have been making little animal hats lately. I finished these first:

Then she ordered two more and I made these this week.

I love the little shark!! I am also very happy to have these made. I have two quilts to make for a lady and they need to get done for Christmas. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend???

Last week The Banker and I managed to watch the second season of Discovery of Witches. I loved it and cannot wait for the third season. I also discovered that there are FOUR books in this series not three like I always thought. I have an order into Amazon even as we speak. I really need to get back into the rhythm of reading and stop with all the YouTube videos as night.

Busy texted me that she has already got her Christmas tree up !! I am amazed!!. I need to get going on that too as there are still a million pumpkins out and about here. With all the snow they look a bit out of place. I usually wait until Dec 1 but I feel like I am being left out as so many people are getting the Christmas stuff up.

I have been playing around with the idea that I will just put out just a few decor bits this year. Minimalist if you will, instead of my usual Christmas threw up in my house. I am thinking only three trees this year not 6. We will see how I do. I am not good at minimal. I lean more to excess!! Wish me luck.

I have more to tell but if I tell it all in this post I will be scrambling next week. So I am going to save some for then. 

Toodles, Linda