Have you ever slept all day?

 I think I did one time when I had the flu but not really because I had kids and you really couldn't!  But yesterday when I got up I was sort of light headed so I took a little power nap in my chair thinking that would perk me up but it didn't and I didn't feel like eating.  I always make my bed in the morning so I hate to crawl back in bed but I did!  I slept until 12:30 p.m.  I got up and had some soup and crackers and crawled back in bed.  I didn't have a fever but was a little dizzy.   I watched some t.v. and then slept for another 3 hours.  I had some snacks and watched more t.v. and went to sleep about 8:00 p.m. and slept until 4:30 this morning.  I feel great today!  I rarely ever get sick but I do "crash " like that every once in awhile. I think God makes me dizzy otherwise I won't lay down.  LOL! Although, I can't remember ever sleeping that long!

So, we never lost power from the ice storm.  The worst of it went South of us but we do have ice. Since we have no sanding or salting of streets it is still icy out there and it has been in the 20's all week.  It will stay icy until it melts on its own.  I don't know how the mail people are managing.  I had to wear my Yak Traks to get to the mail box.  

I got some more supplies in the mail...............I got my quilting ruler........

 

and a pattern that I had joined a club for the series but I won't do that again. They send them individually and you have to pay for shipping each time. I usually wait until I have several things to order to save on shipping.  No more clubs for me.  They don't specify a month but the design seems to indicate the season...........you can put them all on one big piece of fabric or do them individually.  I will do them individually. 

I didn't photograph my floss but it came in for my "small" and I started it this morning.  It is 1 over 2 which I have not done before....it makes it look more primitive I think.  This is "turkey time" and there is my little turkey............

I made "Moon Over My Hammie" for my lunch/brunch the other day and it was delicious!  Connie had mentioned it so I went on the internet and got a recipe and I think I will make another today.  Thank you, Connie!  It's basically a grilled ham, omelet and cheese sandwich.  Very good!

I also made some chocolate chip cookies..........

My grandson, Grayson is now commenting on my blog. Beware, he  is a little techno! He sent a link to my blog to his principal! LOL!  Amy said there's no stopping him.  He and Sam each have their own You Tube channel where they show their Lego creations.  I think Amy is right! LOL!  She keeps a close on them though.

Today is catch up on laundry, cleaning and more!  Oh, I used the mop portion of my new robotic vacuum/mop and it did great!  It only used water too which surprised me but it did a good job.

I hope you are all safe and warm and well!  It is very cold here!

Happy Trails!!!

Treasures, ice storm and minestrone soup

 Well, yesterday was a busy Monday per usual.  Garbages needed to get emptied, re-lined and the big one out to the street.  They were predicting an ice storm this week so I called my prescriptions in and got them filled.  I made minestrone soup.  This is definitely soup weather and it is cold down here!  This is before it got cooked...........

I got treasures in the mail too!  These are my "light" fabrics I ordered for the Mystery Quilt and they got here fast from a lady in Vincent, Iowa.  She has a brick and mortar store also besides being on Etsy.

She also sent a free quilt pattern..............

I got my glass head pins for quilting that Kathleen Tracy recommended.  I needed some good pins as mine are old, dull, and many are bent.

The greatest treasure of all was my Frivol kit from Moda!  There are many of them but they are no longer made........I got #8 which is by Sandy Koop (fabric designer) and her American Jane fabric....

You get a quilt pattern, the fabric, the tin it comes in and another extra which in mine was another little tin which I think I will put my new pins in...........L O V E !!!

It was also sock washing day for my hand knitted socks.  I was washing them in the machine but they were getting pretty scruffed up so I decided to go back to hand washing with the wool soap.

Too many hours of knitting go into them to not take good care of them.

I used my new robotic vacuum today in the kitchen and it worked really well.  Tomorrow I'll try the mop feature.  

I bought a book today for my Kindle that Mrs.Darcy recommended and it seemed like a perfect book for me at this time..........I've not cared for where I am  very much (the South) and I definitely don't like the house I am living in.  (Forgive me Lord as I know I am blessed beyond belief.)  So, sometimes books appear just when you need them and I think maybe this one is just such a book!

I'll let you know!  Meanwhile, we have an ice storm warning!  Oh no!  I still haven't recovered from the one back in 2010!  No heat or electric for over a week.  I have a fireplace but I discovered the guy had sold me green wood which only smoked.  This time, I am set with plenty of good wood, food and I picked up my prescriptions yesterday.  They are saying it will start tonight and go through Thursday and there will be power outages and they are telling everyone to stay home and off the roads.  Around here you don't just go into a ditch...you go off the side of a mountain! LOL! I pray everyone is safe and warm and dry and has plenty to eat!

Happy Trails!!!

YOP Week #32

 I missed last week's YOP update.  I was tired and really didn't have anything to show for the week.  This week I have a few things but not much! LOL!

My cross stitch rotation is going well so far............the Star I work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.......the lighting is terrible...very dark and gloomy out and cold....brrrrr!  The polar vortex is here.   My "putty" colored floss arrived so I was able to finish the first star completely.  Only 15 more to go! LOL!

I worked on Betsy Glover on Sunday......
 

Saturday was Blackbird Designs...........

I was supposed to work on a "small" on Tuesday and Thursday and I did but I had to tear it out.   I had tried to use the one of 2 colors I had but it wasn't at a good starting place and I ended up making a mistake in the counting.  I ordered the rest of the floss I needed and will wait until it arrives to start it again.  It should arrive this week.

I worked on my sock #2 and finished the leg so now I am doing the heel flap on sock #1.  

These are the "dark to medium" fabrics for Block #1 of the Mystery Quilt by Kathleen Tracy.  It requires 4 dark /medium fabrics and 4 light fabrics...... 

I had 2 of the 4 lights and had to order more so I am waiting for them............

As for my hexies.................I finished #11 of the full hexies and so those are done but not really....

here's #10..........

and here's #11.............unfortunately there is not enough contrast in the last row and the connecting hexies are going to be a light tan or beige print so that last round has to be replaced with something with more contrast.  After that is done I will have 2 lengthwise half hexies, 6 width-wise half hexies, and 4 -1/4 hexies not counting the interconnecting hexies for which I need to order 1/2 yard of fabric.

I did not work on the snowman nor did I make another project bag but much of my time was spent cleaning and clearing.  That mojo doesn't come about often enough so when it does I have to go with it!  LOL!

Today I'll be making minestrone soup, a Mediterranean salad and bread.  I'll be watching the Super Bowl later tonight and doing a little knitting and cross stitching in-between.  I hope you are safe and well and are making "all the things"!

Happy Trails!!!

Cold, windy, rainy and cozy!

 It's a good day for baking cookies so I did!  I actually had the dough made but needed to roll them out and bake them.  It was a recipe for Swedish Gingersnap Cookies from the New York Times.....excellent!

They are the best gingersnap cookies I've ever had.

I worked on Betsy Glover today as I didn't work on it last Sunday when it was scheduled..

I finished my non-fiction book..............excellent and a keeper............I'm pretty certain that this was a re-read.............

 My next non-fiction is the cookbook I got for my birthday from my daughter and her family............I love reading cookbooks that tell a story............I wonder what I'll make first?

I finished a sample magazine which was very good but I will probably never refurbish an old house again and the advertisers were quality but very high dollar!  I love old houses and I love saving them and restoring them.  I've done several.  If you are in the market, this magazine is very thorough and very informative.  I had a house similar to the one on the cover....mine was an old Dutch colonial and I spent years fixing it up but alas I had to leave it when I took another job out of state.

My next magazine is an old National Geographic..............

and my current fiction I am now reading is ............

Amazon states:

From the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist comes a captivating and brilliantly realized story of two young women—a Caribbean immigrant in 1960s London, and a bohemian woman in 1930s Spain—and the powerful mystery that ties them together.

England, 1967. Odelle Bastien is a Caribbean émigré trying to make her way in London. When she starts working at the prestigious Skelton Institute of Art, she discovers a painting rumored to be the work of Isaac Robles, a young artist of immense talent and vision whose mysterious death has confounded the art world for decades. The excitement over the painting is matched by the intrigue around the conflicting stories of its discovery. Drawn into a complex web of secrets and deceptions, Odelle does not know what to believe or who she can trust, including her mesmerizing colleague, Marjorie Quick.

Spain, 1936. Olive Schloss, the daughter of a Viennese Jewish art dealer and an English heiress, follows her parents to Arazuelo, a poor, restless village on the southern coast. She grows close to Teresa, a young housekeeper, and Teresa’s half-brother, Isaac Robles, an idealistic and ambitious painter newly returned from the Barcelona salons. A dilettante buoyed by the revolutionary fervor that will soon erupt into civil war, Isaac dreams of being a painter as famous as his countryman Picasso.

Raised in poverty, these illegitimate children of the local landowner revel in exploiting the wealthy Anglo-Austrians. Insinuating themselves into the Schloss family’s lives, Teresa and Isaac help Olive conceal her artistic talents with devastating consequences that will echo into the decades to come.

Rendered in exquisite detail, The Muse is a passionate and enthralling tale of desire, ambition, and the ways in which the tides of history inevitably shape and define our lives.

So far it reads well but I have no idea where it is going.

I worked on the porch today and got rid of more boxes and papers and put some things where they belonged which was not on the porch! LOL!  I washed a load of rugs and did some other menial cleaning.   I hope you had a good day and that you are safe and well and happy!

P.S.  I started watching Tango in Halifax (a series) on Netflix....it's a drama but good so far.

Happy Trails!!! 

No excuses........just no mojo for anything....

 It must be a mid-winter slump but I am slow and by the time I get going it's time for supper!  Sunday I made out my menu and grocery list and ordered groceries.  Monday I picked them up and unloaded, de-bagged, disinfected and put away.  Yesterday I cleaned up the kitchen, did laundry, and roasted brussel sprouts....so easy and so good!  I haven't done much crafting although I did work on my last full hexie last night.  On breaks I've been working on the Star.....

I did receive some treasures last week which I forgot to show you...........

I also joined a Mystery Quilt on Kathleen Tracy's FB group.  It's all free you just have to provide your own material.  These are "little" quilts; like doll size.  She has free patterns on her website too which I have used before.  Just Google her and you'll find it all.  So I printed off the directions for January and February...........she gives excellent directions and tips and tricks.

It's been sunny and 50's today and yesterday.  Rain is supposed to fall tomorrow and then a deep freeze of below zero next week!  I did watch a good movie of which I had read the book years ago.  It is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society on Netflix.  I highly recommend!  It's very good and there's some true history behind it too regarding World War 2.  I also caught up with The Crown series.

That's all for now!  I hope you are all safe and well!

Happy Trails!!!
  

Missing in action again............

 For good reason though!  We had snow yesterday!  I was so happy....we still have a little but not much.

Those flakes were as big as silver dollars!  Not sure why there is no color.........

For some reason I got sick the night before from the eggplant parmesan.....I have no idea why...it was fresh ingredients unless my system just can't take eggplant anymore.  So, I didn't get a lot of sleep plus I got a great phone call the day before that I had an appointment to get my first shot of the Covid vaccine!  I was to go to the pharmacy and pick up the voucher and fill out the paperwork and then go to the Methodist Church between 11-12.  I did and it was crowded!  Everyone was wearing masks but it was like social hour and they were not social distancing.   Plus they take your temp and the woman taking temps was standing with a group of women jabbering.  She also touched the temp thing to my forehead while the idea is not to touch it!  What a bozo!  A little old lady came over and wanted to stand right next to me.  She said she wanted to stay out of the way.....evidently not my way!   I just kept moving around to keep away from people and after about a 1/2 hour I was called up and it was my favorite gal pharmacist, Jennifer giving the shots with her trusty sidekick, Christine doing the paperwork.  What is it about me that I have no patience for these old people.  I am old!!!  But I'm not stupid...yet.  I got out of there and came home and promptly took a nap for 3 hours!  I don't think it was the shot but the lack of sleep the night before.  My arm is a bit sore today but no worse than any shot.

I go back in 21 days for the 2nd shot.  I got the Moderna vaccine.  I am trying to catch up around here....just one day and I have fallen behind! I'll try and catch up with everyone's blogs tomorrow.  I am very grateful for the vaccine!   

Happy  Trails!!!

Monday

 I love Mondays now that I'm retired.  I loved my job/career but I am a homebody.  I was able to work from home on occasion and I loved it!  I mentioned yesterday about my rotation schedule of craft projects.  Well, I have the same thing for my cleaning and de-cluttering/organizing projects.  

At the beginning of this year I wrote down all the things I want/need to do in all areas.  It was a brain dump.  Then I have a list of monthly chores, weekly chores, and daily chores that are repetitive.  For my weekly plan which I usually do on Monday morning, I incorporate items from the Master List, the monthly chores and the weekly chores.  After I have my weekly plan I divide it among the days of the week and id my BIG ROCKS or the most important items that need to be done that day.  High on the list are always food and clean clothes.  

Today was make the eggplant parmesan that I didn't get around to yesterday but I had a supper for last night.  My next cleaning and organizing project is the porch.  I had a bunch of blankets out there that I had used to cover my plants outside when we had frosts.  Those are in the washer now.  The other BIG ROCK  was empty and reline the garbages and get the big container out to the street as they pick  up early on Tuesdays.  Once the BIG ROCKS are done then I pick other things to do on my list.  Even if I get nothing else done I know the most important things to keep my home running smoothly are finished for the day.  Trust me, my list for today had lots on it!  What doesn't get done today will go on tomorrow's list so nothing falls between the cracks.  If I think of new things during the day I write them down with an S in front of them which reminds me to schedule them.  So far, I'm off to a good start and still getting things done.

 We had a great storm this morning with thunder and lightening and a driving rain.  I lit the candles and had a cozy morning enjoying my coffee and catching up on the news.

I finally got my eggplant parmesan put together and it is waiting to go in the oven............I had to use my camera flash today because it was so dark in the house.........

I worked on hexies while watching the game last night.  I only made it to halftime and that was it for me so I had to logon this morning to find out Kansas City won!!!  Yay!!! This will be the last full hexie and the rest are partials.

Today I worked on The Star on breaks............

Every day I get an email from the Modern Mrs. Darcy book blog and podcast.  She tells you about good books that are on sale.  Some of those ebook sellers have the worst taste in books but Mrs. Darcy is right up my alley!  I picked up this one today....downloaded to my kindle.  Most of them are $1.99 to $4.99 and some are audio too.  Anyway, I picked up 2 today............most of the ones she chooses she has read or have been recommended to her numerous times by her readers.   She said she loved this one so I got it............

I also picked up this one.......because don't we all want to write a book before we die?  I think I'd better hurry up!

I'm currently still reading Sylvia Browne's  A Psychic's Guide to our World and Beyond...The Other Side and Back.............it makes a lot of sense to me..........and then I'm almost finished with Murphy's Law by Rhys Bowen; a mystery series about a girl from Ireland that my daughter recommended....so far, so good!

I'm going to go sit down and go through some paperwork.....ughh!  But it must be done!

Happy Trails!!!