The Purge of 2018

Like most people I start the new year with high hopes, new resolve to improve, get healthy, make changes and it all goes to hell about this time of the year. I am happy to say that while I am not doing as well in some aspects of my life, others are ticking along nicely.

The current thing I am most happy about is the great purge. I said that once I got the quilt done I was going to start on the craft room and danged if I didn't. I dove into the cupboard in the corner and went to work shredding documents and clearing out old records that are so outdated it is not even funny. I got started some time last week and I think I will be done tomorrow. Now to be fair, I have a small shredder and it overheats in minutes. Boxes like this

turned onto boxes like this

and bags like this began to show up in the dining room

I only had three bankers boxes full of stuff and believe me I was wishing for a burn barrel. But I have been happily filling bags with shredding since a bonfire in the back yard was not on the agenda and like I said I should be done by some point tomorrow. Then more magic happens. I get to turn this

into a proper organized, inventoried storage area full of things that I need to keep, use and have no real place to put at the moment. I cannot wait to get going on this space. My hope is to get some of the stuff that is taking up space on the floor in my craft room, can be put into this cupboard, out of the way and give me back my walking space.

So far I have found things I forgot I had. Decided there is more that can go and am just feeling so glad that I actually made myself get at this project. The house looks like a horrible mess but its got to get messy to get better. To know that it is headed to ward the getting better is the best.

I also had another little project asked of me. A co-worker has animals and right now his sheep are lambing. Newborn lamb ears are in danger of frostbite in this cold weather. My supervisor suggested to him that I could make something He asked and I thought I could. A little research and I was told lamb heads are about the size of a cat's head. I have cats I could do this. Google offered up no patterns so I went to work on making a pattern of my own.

 I made the first one and went looking for a model who was willing 

Lucy was not all that thrilled with being part of the new adventure. So I moved onto my tried and true partner. Desi to the rescue

He may not be happy about the deal but he tolerates me putting things on his head and I don't fear for my health as I sleep if I use him. Lucy would take you out in a heartbeat. Anyway this was the first trial and I got the top part to high. there is too much space at the top of the head,  it needs to fit tighter to the crown. SO onto prototype number 2.

I got the fit better this time round. Desi is so not happy because I woke him up out of a sound sleep to see the fit and he was a little miffed. A good belly rub and some chin scratches assuaged his snit, all was well with us once again. A 1/2 teaspoon of cheez whiz helped too. The fit was good and little lamb ears will now be warm and cozy.

I am so very pleased that I could help out. I have made him a half dozen so far. Two green, two gold and two black. I am using left over yarn which is great. 

Tomorrow is a holiday so no alarm clock for me on a Monday morning, complete bliss. I have another cold going, Had one over Christmas, now having another one. Ugg. But enough about my bad behavior. Tomorrow I will repeat what I have been doing most of this weekend. Shred, do a load of laundry, knit or crochet, more laundry then shred again. I work around the machine overheating.

This afternoon I took a break and went to see LadyBird with Teddy Bear. We went to the afternoon matinee at the university, then an early supper. She let me stop and pick up some things so I did not have to go out tomorrow if I did not wish to. Eggs and bread for breakfast, I am set. It was a very nice afternoon. I have such good friends and I do like spending time with them. The movie was good, odd but good.

Well I think I will sit and knit for a bit then head to bed. I have a "sleeping in" on the agenda for tomorrow and I can't wait.

Toodles

Linda

Pancakes for Supper

I like pancakes just once in a while and lately I have been craving them so I made pancakes and sausage for supper tonight. I didn't make soup, I didn't make porridge but I made pancakes. They really just are a syrup delivery system aren't they??

I have had a lovely weekend. Teddy Bear, KitKat, and I spent Saturday at the Banker's scrapbooking.

I am trying to finish the 2017 album that I worked on in November at our fun scrapbooking weekend.  I nearly have it finished. We had such a good day. Lots of laughs, lots of creativity. Its so good to have others around for this sort of thing. You exchange ideas, advise and you can show off your pages for approval or improvement suggestions or at times a complete re do because it doesn't look right.

we trade papers and use each others equipment. Its a lot of fun. 

 Today I continued on with the book. I am hoping to get it completely finished. Well at least as much as I can do. I need to get a couple of pictures printed and some embellishments and I am done. I have already started the list for this year's book.

Its just past supper time and I have not started the laundry, and the kitchen is a bit of a mess but the book will be finished by the end of the day. I will at least do one load of laundry before tomorrow. It will be nice to have pants to wear to work.

So that has been my weekend. Good friends and making stuff. I like it.

Now that the quilt is finished, this week I am going to start to purge all the old paper from this house, OId bills, old bank statements old crap that is taking up valuable real estate in my house. I want to find room to get some of the boxes off the floor in the craft room. I'd like to be able to walk in there without the fear of ending up trapped if I trip.This is part of the January purge that I got side tracked on but I am determined to do even if I am late.

So that is my weekend. I am trying not to focus on the fact that it is Monday tomorrow. Why do the weekends go by so fast.??? Aw well. I have next  Friday afternoon off and its a three day weekend  so its all really good.

Toodles
Linda

Ding Dong the Quilt is Done

Just needs a brushing and a washing and it will be ready to go to my friend's daughter's social and hopefully it will raise them some money. I am so tickled its done. I was late getting it started and I had visions of working on it til all hours the night before it was needed. However I surprised myself and got it done two weeks ahead of schedule. I am doing a bit of a happy dance. I had an audience as I got stuck in and spent the best part of the weekend with my needle. Apparently quilting as a spectator sport is super relaxing.

Next quilt on the docket is the one for my room. I am tired of not having the room finished so onto that quilt, even if I have no idea what I am doing past the center section. I will pray for inspiration as I go along. Once its done I may paint some of the furniture in my room but I have to give that some thought yet as to whether I will do it. Some thought also needs to be taken if I do just as to what will I do to it. So many possibilities.

For the now I am back to knitting dishcloths. I have orders for 20 of them that I acquired before Christmas. To date I have managed 6 of them and the blue one on the needles is number 7. Two hours to get one done so I can do two in a night if I wish. I don't usually do that, it gives my hands too much of a work out.  Oh yes and I made a couple of dinosaur puppets since Christmas as well. I even managed a new pattern for a different dinosaur. I thinks she is super cute but I wish now I had made her pink

Needless to say not much has happened here this weekend but quilting. I picked up my grocery order, went and put gas in the car then I came home and have not been out since. My other great accomplishment besides the quilt is the fact that I did roast a turkey today

I bought it for Thanksgiving and it never got put in the oven so I did it today. Its a little thing and its missing a leg but it cooked up nicely. At least now I have sandwich meat for a bit. It made a nice supper for me tonight too but I admit I am really looking forward to turkey buns next week.

Toodles
Linda

Life's mysteries and miracles

So I came home the other day, flipped on the tv and plopped myself down on the couch. Afghan and a big orange cat on my hip. My almost daily nap time. Yes I nap now, since I have moved into a certain age I find at the end of the day, I need some down time. It be honest I am beat So to the sturm and drang of the Young and the Restless, I drift off quickly and peacefully to sleep. I will sleep for a half hour or an hour and I am sure if I could roll over, I may never get up until morning. This little event has given me pause for thought.

Why is it that I can drit off so easily on the couch and yet in bed its a battle royale to head to the land of Nod? Well I think I have figured it out. Its the TV. The artificial noise and confusion on the box drowns out the noise and confusion in my head. With the box on, I can;t hear the roof that needs shingles, the fridge that is on it last legs, the car that needs its brakes tended to and the eye glasses that need to be replaced before I end up with a permanent squint. The bills, the prescriptions, the legs, the weight, the never ending list of things that need attention. The incessant chatter and worry dances round  inside my head like a pack of drunken monkeys. The tv drowns it out, I focus on something else and I can sleep. I am sure my life is no different than any other adult who lives pay to pay. I just was puzzled as to why sleeping on the couch was easy and in bed, I love my bed so its not that, is still a fight after all these years. Turns out my brain does not like to shut off.

Yesterday I held the tiniest little peanut of a human in my hands. So small, so perfect, so precious. Her little bum just fit into the palm of my hand and my fingers went all the way up her wee back to the base of her neck. Her delicate little head fit neatly into the palm of my other hand. A co-worker's granddaughter making her first visit to the office to be shown off and admired. The grand prize at the end of a dangerous and harrowing pregnancy/delivery. Just one little cuddle and one is reminded that miracles do happen, good things come along, the bad passes, life trundles along full of ups and downs. You need to savour the ups and with the bad, let go and let God. So delicate, so perfect, so unspoiled and full of promise.I don;t know just what exactly made me feel so at peace and in awe but I feel so much better after my brief encounter with that little miracle.

Back to the mudane, the bread and butter details of my life. My weekend was filled with quilting. Just one quick trip to Michaels and the rest of the time was needle, thread, thimble and hoops. I made great progress on the quilt and it will be done by this weekend if not before.

I am also busy making a new dinosaur puppet. Its been a while since I created a new puppet so its a bit of an adventure. I will share pictures once I am finished. Dishcloths are also on the needles so I have plenty to keep me going. The purging project has slowed because I am wanting to get the quilt finished but I have a list of things that will get a full body tackle once this quilt is done and dusted.

Sad news this week, Birthday Twin's husband lost his battle with cancer. I feel so sad for her. I would like to be with her but that was not in the cards. I have no vacation time left and could not afford the trip even if I could get off. So we text and I try my best to make her feel less alone and supported. Its hard but she knows I am there for her. Right now its all funeral and family visiting, his not her's. Her brother has opted not to attend. We will continue to text as she finds her new normal. Thank goodness for technology, at least we can stay in touch.

I am not whining, at least I do not intend to. I just need at times to write things out. It helps me process, get new perspective and its cathartic for me. I am finding my new normal in a way. We all have to as we age and our circumstances shift and change. I need to focus on the good, keep improving the me that is and be thankful for the many many blessings in my life. I am after all a work in progress.

Toodles
Linda

Company Came and Went

Best friend was here for the weekend. I was so happy to see her. It was a short visit but a good one none the less. She got here on Friday night for No Cook. Then we had Saturday to chat and visit and gossip and talk. This morning we went out for breakfast, she went to church, packed up her car and headed out to the next stop on her list of places to be.

The house is very quiet and empty after company leaves. I did have a list of things to do after she was gone but..........

I did next to nothing after she left. I made porridge for next week breakfast, cooked a roast and made rice crispy cake. Had a nap and went out at some point in all that craziness and got cat food and paper towels. My to do list is pushed off until next week.

Can you stand the pace??
Me either

Toodles,
Linda

Snippets and Random Stuff

I am not sure what it is, cabin fever? depression? the cold or what but I am out of sorts and restless. Avoiding reality but cannot find the right thing to distract me from the craptastic stuff I don't want to deal with. End result is its just random stuff in my blog post today, because I am feeling very random.

* I am out of something to read AGAIN. I bought a book for myself as a Christmas gift, a fairly good sized book and I devoured it in 4 evenings. Then I bought Jan Arden's book "Feeding my Mother" and that went in a couple of days. Now I am out of something new to read. Curses!! I am rereading the Outlander series just to have a book to read. Yes I have heard of the library but I have issues with that.

* I finally have started to take down the Christmas stuff. FINALLY

* I am doing a purging challenge for January and I am still on track. I can actually see spots of space on the counters in my sewing room. I am determined to keep this up and not drop out before the month is over

* Over the weekend I turned this:

Into this:

 Now I just need to get the backing so I can get quilting it.

* The Banker and Sweet Baboo are back home after a month away. I went for coffee at her place yesterday along with KitKat. Its nice to have her back.

* Its freakin' cold outside and I want it to go away. It does not need to be colder than 25 below or hotter than +25. Anything more than that is showing off

* I am making some scarves from excess yarn that I will donate, Gives me something to do, uses up yarn that may otherwise be wasted  and may keep someone warm.

* I found the perfect basket to keep my kerig pods in and best of all I found it in the house so it didn't cost me a thing. Also justifies my basket collecting

* I thought my pinched nerve was getting better, so I didn't take my pain meds for a couple of days. I was very wrong. The meds were apparently working and I was a twit to stop them. I am back on them now. Sigh.

* getting my hair cut tomorrow, thank goodness.

* I'm all out of nothing to tell.

Toodles,
Linda

Back to Reality

First of all I think I have finally kicked this cold thingy that has plagued me for the last three weeks or more. The sore throat is gone, the sore eyes are gone, the stuffy congested stuff is gone. My throat is still feeling like its coated with something nasty, nothing a bottle brush wouldn't fix if I could get in there and start scrubbing. I am putting my faith in the fact the its almost gone and I am feeling very much better. Still horribly tired but I am always tired so I don't know if this fatigue is normal or part of the cold. Whatever, I will take it, I had gotten very sick and tired of being sick and tired. I drank loads of this

Lemon juice, vinegar, honey and a pinch of cinnamon in hot water. It really helped the soar throat. Found the recipe on Pinterest and I was glad that I did.

So my first few days home I did not do much, knit, napped, watched tv. Just generally was lazy. I went out Friday morning for groceries (love that Click and Collect) then I went out again on Friday night for supper and I did not poke my nose out of the house again until Tuesday morning. Too FREAKIN cold to be out and about. _51 with the windchill kept me in the house.

I decided to get at some of the jobs I have piled up but have not tackled yet. To get started I spent 6 hours on Sunday mending a crocheted table cloth for a lady at work.

It had tons of holes and loose threads.

I turned them into this

I fixed as much as I could see but I am sure I missed some spots. It was a really big job but I am glad its done. I am not sure if she was or not. She seemed a little surprised that I thought she should pay me for doing it. She never really said for sure one way or the other but I just got that feeling. I did not ask her to pay me anywhere near what someone else may have and yet I felt like it was considered too much. Oh well she does not have to ask me again.

I also started to knit up some of my dish cloth yarn scraps into cleaning rags.

I will get four of them by the time I am done. Next I need to start a quilt for a friend. She asked me to make one for her daughter's social as an auction item. I will get going on that tomorrow. She needs it for February so tomorrow is a good start time.

Speaking of starting things, I have started a challenge with KitKat to get some things purged out of the house. Her family is doing it so I am tagging along. What ever the date is,  that is the number of things you get rid of for that day. For example, on Jan 1st you get rid of one thing, on the 2nd its two thing and so on until the last day when you get rid of 31 things. I had my doubts when I started but since there are no rules as to what the things are, I think I can do this. I have a donation box in the kitchen and there is the recycle bin and the garbage.

I am on track so far and my goal is to get some of the boxes in the sewing room emptied and then move some of the boxes that are sitting about on the floor into cupboards and make some room in here. You would think that someone with mobility issues would not live in an obstacle course but I do seem to insist on it. I have so much paper and crap in this room I could probably do this purge all year. Another thing I want to purge out is my recipe books. For someone who doesn't and can't cook I have a lot of cook books. A lot I will never use, they need to thinned out.

I emptied some plastic shoe boxes today of tons of crappy little stuff, threw out most and put the rest where it belongs. Now I am taking a page out of The Banker's book. I put my cordless drill in one box with all the bits. the heavy duty staplers and staples in another box. My cameras in another. Nails in another. They all have places to belong to now and all the stuff is in one place. My brand new Flexor screw driver got another box. Now I know where everything will be when I need it.

I can see improvement in the craft room but not another living soul would be able to see it but me. There is a very long way to go yet. I found my accordion file case that I thought I had thrown out. Now I can sort my scrapbooking stickers and get them organized. Tiny steps but steps in the right direction.

I started to take down the Christmas decorations today but I did not get too far. I got one tree done and  will do the other before I head to bed. Once again I need to go into the basement, bring some containers up, fill them then take them back down. I find it hard going up and down the basement steps but its not impossible and its just something I need to do. Correction, I need to stop whining about it and just do it.

I got all the Christmas stuff home from the office which I was sure would take me forever. I used my big Ikea bag and it only took a couple of days. The office looks so bare now all the decorations have gone.

So its back to reality, the holiday season has come and gone. The Banker and Sweet Baboo will be back next weekend. I will be happy to have her back home. I have a quilt to make, more dishcloths to knit and purging to attend to. I have a budget to tighten and bad habits to break. It will be interesting to see what actually gets done.

Wish me luck!!

Happy New Year to one and all!!

Toodles,
Linda